Audi Club Golden Gate – Laguna Seca
On March 18th and 19th I had the opportunity to attend Audi Club Golden Gate's "Quattro de Seca" at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. An interesting and unfortunate fact about Laguna is that it has a 92dB sound limit which is measured on the passenger side coming out of turn 5, going up the hill. If you break that limit and are identified you'll receive a black flag...three black flags and you're done for the day. That being said, I wasn't sure my car would pass sound.
I called up the guys at One Stop Race Shop and rented a Spec Miata for the the event in case the S4 didn't pass sound check. ...
My impressions of the car, thus far
I've had the car for almost a month now and have had the opporutnity to drive the car nearly 2k miles...and guess what, I love this car!
While I've yet to get the car on a dyno, I can tell you that it's substantially more powerful than in stock state (one would hope, right?). There's been lots of speculation regarding the actual gains that a supercharger provides versus a car with bolt ons, while I can't speak towards gains from a supercharger only install I do believe that before anybody should even consider a supercharger, they should have the supporting mods.
Anyhow, I digress.
JHM's lightweight flywheel and crank pulley allow the car to rev freely, this is ...
JHM longtube headers and STaSIS cat-back
The parts we were waiting on came back from the machine shop and we were able to complete the exhaust installation. The headers sound great with the cat-back; angry outside of the car while reasonable inside the cabin. The piping is 2.5" through and everything is connected with v-band clamps. You can click the video for a higher quality version.
Thunderhill with ACGG
Last weekend I paid Thunderhill Raceway a visit with the Audi Club of Golden Gate...wow, what an awesome track! Since my car wasn't ready, I decided to rent a Spec Miata for the weekend. and this was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I was able to refine my braking and vehicle control techniques over the two days at the track. The first day was split 50/50 with the first half was braking and vehicle dynamics mixed up with on track sessions; the second day was entirely track time.
Honestly, I can say I've learned more with seat time in the Miata than I would have ...
Three exhaust videos: JHM headers, GMG resonated midsection, and straight pipes
Here are three different videos of the car testing various exhaust options. These two videos are of the JHM headers with the GMG resonated midsection, there are no mufflers attached. This video shows what the car sounds like with only the JHM headers.
Quick walk around video
I brought my camera to the shop today and took a quick walk video walk around. I have some exhaust videos that need to be encoded still.
Video of completed exterior
After picking up the car from JMI Motoring I stopped by Achtuning to use their VAG tool to clear some codes and decipher some of my fault codes. Here's another quick clip from my iPhone, apologies for the crappy quality.