The Driver’s Edge 2002: Coupe Quattro

Best Lap Time (2.9 mile course): 2:21

I went testing at Texas World Speedway this past weekend.

New mods:

Abt A8, 17×8, ET35, 5/112 alloy wheels
Sumitomo HTRZ-II tires, 245/40-17 (front)
Bridgestone Potenza S-02 PP, 245/40-17 (rear)
Porsche/Brembo 993tt calipers
Audi Euro-S8 rotors, 323×30
Kerr Friction racing brake pads
Tilton Brake Proportioning Valve
RS2 front bumper cover (well, the only test was that it stayed on the car!)

Previous mods:

Abt sport springs
BOGE Turbo Gas shocks
Delrin suspension bushings

The car behaved very well. I was very happy with all of the modifications. Despite some serious body roll that remains (still no rear swaybar and the shocks were shot), the car handles very well. Even without the rear swaybar, the car is very neutral through corners. The track was wet for some of the weekend and at least three times I went through one particular corner and with a steady steering input, got my rear tires to slide out a bit. By no means does this car plow like most Audis that I have driven.

Braking was very good. The brakes were easily able to lock the front tires at somewhere around 90-100 mph, even with the brake bias set fully to the rear. Unfortunately, the brakes aren’t completely sorted out a) because of the pathetic rear brakes that Audi fit to the CQ, and b) because my ABS isn’t working properly. If I can get more braking in the rear, I won’t mind running without ABS, but in this condition, the fronts were locking too easily. I am leaving way too much braking power on the table to make me happy. I also was running my tire pressures too high for most of the weekend, which didn’t help. Still, nobody that I followed all weekend was able to outbrake me in the infield (though much of that is driver confidence). Kerr Friction racing brake pads remain my personally endorsed favorite pad, period.

The Sumitomo HTRZ-II is a very good tire. It gave good, predictable traction. As far as I can tell, it is also wearing very well.

Despite driving well all weekend and being very happy with the car, I was one second off of my best time that I achieved with none of the above mods (except suspension) and 205/60-15 AVS Intermediate tires! What? Well, because of the way that TWS is designed, I knew that the brakes wouldn’t make a huge difference in lap times. However, I was hoping the extra traction from larger, stickier, and lower profile tires would help. The tires certainly felt better that the stock sized tires, but they didn’t seem to make that much difference. I think what happened is that the effects of the tires, were negated by the negative consequences of heaving a huge amount of rotational mass on my car, in the form of heavier wheels, tires, and brake rotors. Basically, I made my slow car slower and the additional grip wasn’t enough to make up for it. This is something important for you guys with stock motors to think about.

Speaking of that, this track event was the last thing that I was waiting for before putting my car under the knife for its 20V turbo conversion. I will keep you informed as I make some progress. If any better photos of the car show up, I’ll post them.

Highlights and Random Notes

Best Ride: Repeat winner Becky’s Purple Porsche RS 3.6. This is an insane ride. Ken timed her at 1:57-58 or so. When I rode with her, she reeled in every car in the instructor group including the Ferrari 355 Cup car. The time/space compression is unreal. It isn’t the outright speed that is so impressive, it’s her ability to pass someone on the gas in what I would call a braking zone, then hammer the brakes and get the car turned without any noticeable drama.
Second Best Ride: Rick’s UrQuattro 20V. This is an UrQuattro with Rick Pitt’s old S6 motor in it. The motor has been modified in a way that is similar to what I am doing (RS2 turbo), so this ride was to give me a glimpse of the sort of performance that I can expect from my project. Oh mommy. That car really gets up and moves. It’s also a very entertaining car, as driven with gusto by Rick, who frankly needs an instructor. At least once, he took the rally-heritage thing a bit too far and just four-wheeled across the apex of turn 4. Still, no muss, no fuss with Quattro power. I am sufficiently inspired to dive into my project as soon as humanly possible.
Best No-Show: Motodyne talked some noise about showing up with a 12V supercharged A4 and beating Rob’s A4. We accepted their $2000 wager, but they didn’t show. I guess we can just take out that money from all of the “lawsuit” judgments they expect to win from the Audi list/webmeisters for the incessant fraud accusations.
Second Best No-Show: There was a hyper-trick Renault Turbo R5 (or whatever they are called) that was at the event. I had never seen one of these cars in person and it is very cool. I was dying to see it on the track, but somebody reported that it was slow in their session, and then I never saw it again for the entire event. Maybe it broke, or went home, or maybe it was there and I just kept missing it. Darn.
Best Audi Lap Time: Rob turned a fantastic 2:08 (and yes, his tires did actually catch on fire) followed closely by Ryan with a 2:09 and perhaps even more impressive, Dave Worley (sp?) with a 2:10 on street tires (and just a chip)! Peter Haas and Brian Leonard also did very, very well with consistent times in the teens.
Worst Audi Lap Time (club): Uh, me. My hypothesis that I had actually slowed down my car with the latest round of mods proved to be true. The added grip of wider tires, did not counteract the slower acceleration I got from heaping tons of additional rotational mass onto my car in the form of bigger wheels/tires and brake rotors. Also, I was running tire pressures that were too high for most of the weekend. Eric advised me to lower the pressures for my final session and they worked much better. Even though I only ran a 2:21 as my best (one second off my lap record), I ran consistent times that overall were better than my last event. So, I’m happy with my driving (sort-of) and I’m happy with my car (sort-of), which worked well all weekend.
Women Drivers: Heidi (last name please?) was turning very low times in the teens with her old 3 Series BMW, no mods, street tires, and a slushbox. Damn. My car is red with embarrassment!
Best Team Manager: Ken Thieme showed up with a professional timing rig (3 pro stopwatches attached to a clipboard with lap timing sheets), so we made him team manager. He did a great job of keeping up with everyone’s times, which isn’t the sexiest job in the world. Thanks, Ken!
Best Team Support: We had a great deal of non-participant support for this event. Special props go to Ken T. and Maria from STAG (San Antonio) who not only committed to showing up (three hour drive), but stayed the entire weekend. That is the kind of support that really makes our little family special. Hugh Johnson and Sean Necker showed up on Saturday and took lots of great photos. Then on Sunday, the entire Fluhr clan showed up: Eric, Ken, and special guests mom and pop Fluhr from Florida (both of whom are Audi fans, go figure).
Worst Allergies: Me.
Worst Ghetto Benz Wheels on an Audi: Rob.
Worst Roadblock: Sadly, there was a non-club silver Audi A6 2.7t turning 3.5 minute lap times. That was almost as embarrassing as Rob being afraid to drive in the rain with his quattro.
Second Worst Roadblock: Another repeat winner, the Pantera Club. Admittedly, they had a couple of fast guys, but my first time out I attached myself to the rear bumper of a Pantera who’s license plate was “MPH 200”. Yeah, tell it to yer girlfriend, pal. Smokey the CQ had no problems with this guy except for the front straight, but I would be back on his ass by Turn 3. Still, I never saw a pass signal. Punk ass bitch.
Best Rental Car: Some guy rented a new Jaguar S and was driving it in the event. There was some gasping at his chutzpah, but did I really overhear this, “Hey, I only promised I wouldn’t take it to Mexico!”? D’oh.
Best Pick’em-up Truck: There was a Ford Lightning SVT with $50,000 in mods that was using the event as a test-n-tune in preparation for the One Lap of America. I didn’t even know this was at the event until I saw this sort of UFO coming up on me during one of my sessions. “WTF is that?” I thought. Next thing I know, this huge thing comes blasting past me, supercharger wailing, and exhaust roaring. Damn. It had several hundred horsepower at the wheels, I later found out. Anyway, he blew a coolant hose later and when he pulled off the track, he tore off an auxiliary oil cooler, so his weekend was done. This allowed ElToro to sneak in some time on Sunday.
Worst Coveting: There is a Porsche RS America that regularly attends TDE events and I really, really want to take that car home with me. There were also a couple of WRX floozies that caught my wandering eye. There was a really tricked-out one with STi mods aplenty. Audi needs to hurry with an RS3, if you know what I’m saying.
Smokiest Car: The Coupe Quattro.
Leakiest Car: The Coupe Quattro.
Best Multiculturism: While our track group mostly consisted of Audi drivers, we also counted VW, BMW, Subaru, Honda, and Pontiac drivers in our group of friends as well. Who says we can’t all get along?

Only one Audi “off” that I am aware of, courtesy of our own Peter “I just can’t resist taking the late passing signal, even though I’m running out of room, am too prideful to lift, and will almost certainly early apex off into the dirt” Haas. Well done! I had a great time! Thanks to all of my friends (new and old alike) that helped make for another special weekend!