Maven

eh....No HHR in my garage, just a Cobalt thats already got the Sport Ryders, I am real interested in seeing the Xa's though.

Justice Pete

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdiyI3vcwdo

Vehicle and suspension testing create a number of variables. To make our test session data from New Jersey Motorsports Park as reliable and accurate as possible we used to excellent drivers with different driving styles. Chris is an aggressive driver who likes his car loose. Stan is a technical driver who likes his car balanced. Both Stan and Chris are fast, but they are fast in different areas on the track because of their driving styles. In our NJMP session their performances were amazingly even across a wide range of vehicles. Tested on March 30, 2009 at http://www.njmotorsportspark.com/


Vehicles:
2006 Chrysler 300C, Arrington 426 HEMI, Pedderised Track II GSR, OE Tires and Wheels
2008 Charger, Stock with Cold Air Intake, Exhaust and Tune
2008 Pontiac G8 Pedderised Track II GSR, Bridgestone, ProCharged
2008 Pontiac G8 Pedderised Xa Track eXtreme, Bridgestone, ProCharged
2008 Pontiac G8 Pedderised Xa Track eXtreme, Michelin, ProCharged
2008 Pontiac G8 Stock
2008 SRT 8 Charger, Pedderised Track II GSR, OE Tires and Wheels
GTO 2005 Pedderised
HHR SS 2008 Pedderised

Drivers:
Chris Brannon
Personal:
Chris was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. He lives in Mountain Home, Arkansas and has road raced since 2002. He is the father of three and is still married to his first wife! He has been a driving instructor since 2004. He has Pro raced in multiple series. Chris has been heavily involved in the performance and collector car markets for the past 15 years. He has been very involved in auto and aftermarket parts testing/ development.
Racing History/ Experience:
2008: raced wheel to wheel in American Sedan Pontiac GTO
Did the road course testing on Shelby GT700KR
Ran and developed the first GTO ever in American Sedan and the first fuel injected one as well.
Achieved multiple wins and a couple of 2nd place finishes
2007: raced in Grand Am Cup FR500 C Mustangs for Black Forrest
Also ran the Pontiac GTO
2006: won Midwest National Championship in Touring 2 Pontiac GTO
Won first road race in a production based GTO in history
Received Pro racing license
Started Product development and testing with Pedders USA, LLC
2005: Built, developed and campaigned first production based road racing GTO
With the help of: Pedders, Jeg’s, GM performance, and Kumho Tires
2004: raced the Pontiac Formula Firebird to numerous wins and many podiums setting several track records, sponsored by Good Year
acquired many wins, numerous 2nd, and 3rd place finishes
tied in points previous divisional points champion
began instructing, driver coaching and car set up
2003: campaigned the Touring 1 Z06 Corvette and Touring 2 Pontiac Firebird
was awarded with “Rookie Road Racer” of the year
setting several track records, sponsored by Good Year
2002: Went from watching racing on TV to doing it! Received Novice Racing permit, Regional race license, followed by National race license.
Favorite Tracks: *VIR, Road Atlanta, Road America, Sebring, and Daytona

Stan Wilson
FAST FACTS:
Stan Wilson is a four-time road racing champion and four time Tennessee Road Racer of the year. Wilson, who has always loved racing, has been racing for several years.
PERSONAL:
Stan is the co-owner of NetEvidence, Inc. a computer forensic certified investigation company in Nashville, Tennessee. He is also a performance driving instructor. Stan has instructed for NASA, Phil Wick’s Driving Academy, and the National Corvette Museum Driving School.
Stan has also served as a factory test driver for Dodge and tire testing driver for Kumho Tires.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2009 – SCCA Pro Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Playboy Magazine driver
2008 – Partnered with Dodge Motorsports and Kumho Tires to compete in the Touring 1 class of SCCA in a Dodge Viper SRT-10.
2007 – ALMS Top 10 finisher in the GT2 class driving a Dodge Viper Competition Coupe with Cindi Lux for Bob Woodhouse and Dodge Motorsports
2007 - SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Series Rookie of the Year - Driver for Dodge Motorsports
2007 – Grand-American Koni Challenge top 10 finisher at Daytona in a Ford Mustang FR500C driven with Chris Brannon for Black Forest Motorsports
2006 - Champion and Tennessee Road Racer of the Year
Southeast Division SCCA National Champion in Touring 3 driving a Chevrolet Cobalt SS Supercharged race car with 8 wins and 1 second place finish earning 9 pole positions in qualifying. Won the June Sprints at Road America. Also won the 13 Hours of VIR presented by Kumho Tires in a Dodge Neon for 5 Star Motorsports.
2005
Southeast Division SCCA National Championship Runner-Up in a Dodge SRT-4 Touring Car with 1 win, 1 second, 2 thirds, and 1 sixth place finish. One Pole earned in qualifying. 1 Touring 1 start in a Chevrolet Corvette with a second place finish after leading to the half way point. Also won the 13 Hours of VIR presented by Kumho Tires in a Dodge Neon for 5 Star Motorsports.
2004
Partnered with Dodge Motorsports to race a Dodge Viper Competition Coupe in SPEED World Challenge GT for three races. Top 10 finishes in the GT class of World Challenge in addition to two wins in the Viper Racing League and one pole position earned in qualifying at VIR.
2003 - Tennessee Road Racer of the Year
Southeast Division SCCA National Championship Runner-Up with 4 wins, 5 seconds, 1 third, and 1 sixth place finish in a Chevrolet Camaro Z28 LS1 claiming 3 pole positions and the silver medal at the SCCA Valvoline Championship Runoffs. Won the June Sprints at Road America.
2002 – Champion and Tennessee Road Racer of the Year
Southeast Division SCCA National Champion in Showroom Stock with 5 wins, 6 seconds, 1 third, and 1 fourth place finish in a Honda Civic Si claiming 6 pole positions in the process. Also raced the first Acura RSX Type S in SCCA Club racing taking the car to an endurance win at Daytona in its first start.
2001
Southeast Division SCCA National Championship Runner-Up with 4 wins, 5 seconds, 2 thirds, and 1 fifth place finish in a Honda Civic Si claiming 5 pole positions in the process.
2000
Southeast Division SCCA National Championship Runner-Up with 3 wins, 2 seconds, 4 thirds, 2 fourths, and 1 fifth place finish in a Honda Civic Si claiming 5 pole positions in the process.
1999 – Two Time Champion- Tennessee Road Racer of the Year
South Atlantic Road Racing Champion and Endurance Champion in the same season. 12 wins and 4 seconds in a Dodge Neon ACR claming two titles in the same season. Tennessee Road Racer of the Year.
1998
SCCA Regional Factory Stock Autocross Champion in a Chevy Camaro Z28 LT1
Early Career
First began racing at the age of 6 in go karts then moved into drag racing. Between 1996 and 1999 he was a member of NASCAR racing teams in Tennessee. Began his alignment with Sports Car Racing in 1998.

Justice Pete

Stan and Chris did more than run cars for testing, they spent hours and hours with those in attendance interested in improving their driving skills. Even the Hooked on Driving Instructors took advantage of their teaching and coaching skills. One of the great things about attending a Pedders Track Day is learning from the professionals. There isn’t a conversation I have with Stan or Chris that I don’t learn something new. These guys are good and Pedders was thrilled to have them at the track.



In this post, we will cover the Pontiac G8 Skid Pad testing. The Chrysler LX vehicles along with the GTO and HHR will follow as those videos are completed and posted on YouTube. Here are the baseline Skid Pad Results available from automotive publications



Pontiac G8 GT

Automobile .88

Autoweek .85

Car & Driver .82

Edmunds .85

Motor Trend .88 - .90

Road and Track .85

Composite .86

Justice Pete

The NJMP Skip Pad was an excellent surface. The temperatures were good for making power, but poor for tire grip. Our pad for the day was approximately 200’. Tires on all the vehicles were set to 35 PSI cold using the same bourdon tube analog gauge. Both Chris and Stan were in the car at the same time. They would switch from driver to passenger after clock wise and counter clock wise passes had been made. Fully calibrated G Meters were used to record data. Each G Meter was setup for four different vehicles.

G8 GT NJMP Pontiac Skip Pad Results

G8 GT Stock Peak .92 Constant .88
G8 GT Pedderised Soul Shaker / Rick Bottom Peak 1.1 Constant .98 Staggered Bridgestone RE760
G8 GT Pedderised Witt Buick / Pedders Xa Track eXtreme, Michelin Pilot Sport 265/35 on 19x9.5 Wheels Peak 1.03 Constant 1.01
G8 GT Pedders USA, LLC, Xa Track eXtreme, Corner Weighted, Forgeline 19x9.5 43mm Offset, Bridgestone 275/35 Pole Position Tires Peak 1.05 Constant 1.03
Pedderised Composite 1.006

Excuse me will I brag, but Stan and Chris are probably superior drivers to those used in the magazines and their skills showed on the pad and the track. They were dealing with cold asphalt and cold tires. We did not alter setup after any runs. The car were what they were when they were driven to the track and tested as is. Because many of the vehicles were supercharged or had highly built motors (read that as a 426 Arrington HEMI). That extra horsepower is hard to control on a skid pad. With all of these variables, Chris and Stan controlled the variables and delivered exceptional results. As we compared all the vehicles to the published skid pad values we found the NJMP data to be very close OE vehicle to OE vehicle.

.86 Infiniti G37
.87 Ford Shelby GT500
.88 Dodge Charger SRT 8
.88 Pontiac G8 GT
.93 Ford GT500 Super Snake
.94 Audi RS 4
.95 BMW M3
.98 Audi RS R8
.99 Corvette Z06
.99 Porsche 911 Turbo
.99 Porsche Carrera GT
1.00 Porsche 911S
1.0006 Pedders USA, LLC Composite Pontiac G8
1.01 Ferrari Enzo
1.01 Dodge Viper SRT 10
1.02 Pedders USA, LLC Pontiac G8
1.03 Porsche 911 GTZ
1.04 Porsche GT3 RS

Let’s talk about setup on the Pontiac G8 ZETA Chassis which will apply to the soon to be delivered Chevrolet Camaro. The limitations of the OE ZETA chassis are directly related to production limitations and determination to reach a market price point. At Pedders USA, LLC we believe that the billion dollars of chassis development for the GM Global Rear Wheel Drive ZETA chassis has been well spent. The monocoque is solid, very solid. The IRS is among the best in the automotive industry as any price point. The evolution of the McPherson strut front suspension delivers remarkable results. The G8 in OR configuration is a very very good automobile with the potential to be a GREAT Automobile. We took our G8s to NJMP to prove our point.

Eric and Rich Johnson were generous with their time on the Friday before the 30th. They shut down Backstreet Performance to prep the Pedders USA, LLC G8. Eric and their Lead tech Matt worked until the wee hours of the morning to finish the job. Every nut and bolt was checked to make certain the car was track ready. That was the easy part. The more complex part of the equation was corner weighting and alignment.

Finished Ride Heights:
FR 610mm
FL 610mm
RR 595
LR 593

This was an interesting result. We drove in at:

FR 615mm
FL 615mm
RR 585
LR 585

We actually raised the rear and lowered the front to get to the best possible balance.

Corner Values
RF 1,111
LF 1,177
RR 925
LR 1050

Cross Weight
2161 50.7%

Drivers Weight 184
Fuel ¾ of a tank

Most of the magazines publish the front to rear weight ratio for the G8 GT at 51 / 49% Our numbers were different.

Front 53.1% / Rear 46.9%

The Pedders USA, LLC G8 has a ProCharger and coolers for Oil, Tranny and PS all mounted in front of the wheels. We believe this 100 pounds of additional weight created the difference between published numbers and our results. Our vehicle weight with the driver in place was just under 4,300 pounds. We were able to reduce weight in the wheels, tires and suspension while making significant upgrades. The 19x9.5 Forgeline wheels with 275/35/19/XL Pole Position Bridgestone tires reduced weight by just over 9 pounds per wheel over the OE 19x8 245/40 Bridgstone tires. This reduction in mass is HUGE at speed and dramatically improves braking, acceleration and car control. Pedders Xa coilovers reduced the weight at the corners as well. An OE G8 strut assembly weighs in at roughly 20 pounds. We saved another 8 pounds here. While 70 pounds doesn’t sound like a lot in a two ton vehicle, 70 pounds at the corners is significant.

A limiting factor in the corner weighting process are fixed length endlinks. Adjustable endlinks would have improved the results by about 35 pounds per corner making an already well balanced vehicle almost perfect. The typical adjustable endlink uses spherical bearings and looks a lot like a screen door adjuster. They work very well, but at a great expense in NVH. The G8 is a LUXURY performance sedan. We did not want to convert it to a race car with the typical harsh ride and increase in cabin noise. We wanted to make this LUXURY sedan perform like a race car, but ride like a LUXURY car so we passed on the adjustable endlinks – until Pedders can deliver a set of double ball joint adjustable length endlinks that are as quiet as OE endlinks and we don’t expect that to be a long wait.

Production vehicles with limited option lists are very consistent in weight distribution. Using the locking collar measurements as presets for your Xa coilover installation will get you close to a corner weighted vehicle. While the car would not be coner weighted, you starting point for corner weighting will be pretty darn close.

RF 33mm / FR 610mm
LF 29.7mm / FL 610mm
RR 30.5mm / RR 595
LR 38mm / LR 593

dms

A HHR with a skid pad rating of .97 is pretty impressive!

mike
dms