GTP racing has really taken over in Australia as the formula that the normal "person in the street" can empathise with. When the 5 litre SuperCars and 2 Litre Tourers have about as much relevance to normal road cars as the space shuttle does to a Cessna, that's not surprising....
So what's the make-up of a GTP car? We attended a Mallala Motorsport Park test session on the just-completed Myhill/Ulmer Mitsubishi Magna to find out.
The team didn't pick a Magna from any particular driveline or engine preference: what happened was that they came across a Sports at the right price. The brand new car had been stolen from the holding yard at the Mitsubishi factory in Adelaide. It'd been taken on a joyride, crashed, abandoned, and then dragged back to the yard to await developments. None happened until the team spied it and wondered if Mitsubishi would be interested in having another Magna competing in GTP. (The semi-factory team of Mitsubishi engineer Rob Chadwick already runs a Magna in GTP.) At first it looked like the Magna was going to be theirs for the proverbial song, and even when Mitsubishi decided to put the car out to tender it still didn't end up costing much. In fact, the team estimates that getting the (repaired, obviously!) car to the track in full race trim has cost only $25-30,000.
So, who are we talking about? The car is prepared and fielded by Marion Motors, a South Australian workshop. Proprietor is Jerry Ulmer, with 20-year-old son Trent Ulmer one of the drivers. The other is Jim Myhill. Jim - who recently took a 'package' from IBM, where he had worked in sales - has previously driven in Sports Sedans, Group C, and Superkarts. In 1997 he was the Formula Vee South Australian championship winner. Trent Ulmer - who works as a spray painter at the Mitsubishi factory - also has a strong history in Formula Vee. In addition, he has raced Superkarts - starting as a 12 year old - and in fact needed a special age dispensation to race Formula Vee at only 15 years of age. He came fourth in the Formula Vee Nationals in both 1998 and 1999, in addition to winning his class in the South Australian Hillclimb Championship in 1996 and 1997. In short, both drivers are quite experienced, although their lack of front-wheel drive, large car driving showed on the test day!
So what's been done to the car? Starting under the bonnet, the only changes that have been made are to the engine management maps and the exhaust system - even the intake system must remain standard. The exhaust - fabricated and fitted by D&T Performance - comprises 2¼ inch pipes off each factory manifold, followed by a 2½ inch pipe from the collector. Behind that is a 3-inch pipe that passes through two straight-thru mufflers. The engine management chip has been substantially changed over standard, resulting in good power gains. However, at the time of writing, the car had not been on a dyno so the power output, ignition timing and air/fuel ratios were all unknown.
With so little able to be done to extract more power from the 3.5 litre V6, suspension and brakes become a vital part of making the car competitive. In a radical move, the team runs a spool-type locked front diff (the other GTP Magna uses a viscous LSD), with the locked diff very obvious when the car is manoeuvred around the pits!
The suspension uses coil-over Konis, adjustable for bump, rebound and spring height. At the time of testing, the spring rates being used were 650 lb/inch at the front and 500 lb/inch at the rear. Apparently, the Chadwick Magna runs even higher spring rates! Dunlop Formula R directional 215/50/16's are worn on standard Magna Sport alloys.
The brakes are the Achilles Heel of all Magnas in race trim. During the day of testing that we attended, the master cylinder appeared to be defective, and further, the Hawk brake pads being used by the team weren't giving the retardation that they were chasing. Certainly, the discs were soon looking unbelievably secondhand.... The ABS is still connected and working, while braided brakes lines are used front and rear.
Most of the other changes that are made to the car are to improve safety. A window net, bonnet pins and a dry-break fuel system are installed, as is a foam-filled tank.
Inside the cabin, a full cage is fitted, along with a fire extinguisher and two full harnesses. An extra oil pressure gauge is used, and a switch is fitted to allow the airconditioner condensor fan to be manually turned on, should extra cooling airflow be needed. (The air con system has been removed.) So far, the engine hasn't even looked like overheating, though.
A MSE data logger is also fitted. This is able to record longitudinal acceleration (lateral if turned through 90 degrees), wheel speed and engine rpm. However, during testing, it wasn't being used.
The test session was the very first time that Trent Ulmer had ever driven a road-based car around Mallala. He commented, "I could never heel-and-toe in the Formula Vee - there wasn't room for my feet to do that - so this is a new experience. Being up high in a car means that the whole track looks different - you can see the apexes now!" Jim Myhill has driven many full-sized cars on the track, but his experience with a front wheel drive is quite limited. "You can't make it oversteer," he commented to others in the team. "Even if you get right off the power mid-corner it won't slide at the back.... We need to get the back coming out a bit on turn-in... that's not happening now."
With the dodgy master cylinder, steep learning curve of the team and drivers, and only an initial suspension set-up in place, it was no surprise to note that they were off the pace that will be needed to be competitive in class. However, enthusiasm and hard work will soon change that.
Note: The team is actively looking for sponsors - AutoSpeed is already one! Contact Gerry Ulmer on 08 8298 3759 or Jim Myhill on 08 83791897 if you are interested.
|