The Red Drift ///Machine

[bigjae46]

Falken RT660 review

These are great budget tires that I think are faster than Toyo RRs. 275/40R17 set me back $1026 plus tax.

First, definitely takes an extra lap to get them to temp. My hot target for RRs is 30psi which puts me at about 22-23psi cold. I bumped these up to 24psi which got me to about 31psi. I will try higher pressures to see at what point it gets worse. I think I'll settle around 32psi.

First, they are the opposite of the RRs - stronger front end with a weaker rear. Once they were up to temp, the front end had more bite and feel especially under braking. Braking is the RR's biggest weakness. The rear end felt vague with the Falkens. It was more difficult to throttle steer. Maybe slightly higher pressures in the rear could help with this. I'm guessing there is a difference in sidewall stiffness.

I have 12 heat cycles on them so far and the wear looks minimal.

So far these are relatively faster 200 treadwear tires for a budget and seem to last. Looking like a great DE tire.

[bigjae46]

Onto NASA Houston Spring Fling! Only my 2nd event and a lot of learning.

TT4 only had 1 entrant so I ended up running TT3. Not really ready for TT3 but these Falken RT660s will carry me to victory! I am going against a fast driver in a fast car (E92 M3) - I'm pretty sure I was his last instructor 6 years ago. I know for a fact he's a fast driver so it should be a good challenge.

I had to be at my best to have a chance and I wasn't. When I analyze data, I usually want to see a couple of things:

- 2 best sectors in the best lap
- a best rolling lap which includes 2 or more best sectors in a lap
- sectors should generally be within .1-.3 seconds of each other

If I meet those 3 criteria, I'm driving well and consistently. And this data is useful to figure out where I can find lap time.

Despite my weight being optimized within 10lbs of my min weight...I never got there. Got smoked by 3 seconds.

- Falken RT660s won't cut it in TT3...not even close. At least for this platform.
- Ballast can be used to tune the handling. It might be possible to improve or even optimize L-F and F-R balance with careful ballast placement. The biggest limitation is mounting location.
- Excuse here...the TC Klines are about dead. I think the right front strut didn't like going off and catching air back in Jan. The splitter scrapes a more often on left handers and it feels bouncy.

I could have been about 1-1.5 seconds closer but I don't think I could have beaten him. I did outrun a C7 vette and a CTS-V on slicks.

[bigjae46]

Wow no kidding, that floppy hood is really letting a shitload of air pressure under the hood. Definitely seal that up! Also, did you delete the radiator shroud/guide in front of the radiator? It looks like your telltales are showing the air being directed around the radiator. I would have expected the nostril telltales to be way more straight lined into the radiator with ducting and hood vents. Very cool, thank you for sharing

I still have the front ducting. I need OE kidney grilles so the air doesnt spill between the hood and the ducting.

[Bry5on]

Wow no kidding, that floppy hood is really letting a shitload of air pressure under the hood. Definitely seal that up! Also, did you delete the radiator shroud/guide in front of the radiator? It looks like your telltales are showing the air being directed around the radiator. I would have expected the nostril telltales to be way more straight lined into the radiator with ducting and hood vents. Very cool, thank you for sharing

[bigjae46]

Oh man I am curious to see this video footage. Can you add some telltales around your hood exit too?? Do you have open brake ducts?

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/special-interests/track-autox/283550-aero-testing

[bigjae46]

Oh man I am curious to see this video footage. Can you add some telltales around your hood exit too?? Do you have open brake ducts?

I do! It is in the track forum. I’m on my mobile so I can post it here later.

I’ve found that I get slightly better cooling if I cover the cabin air inlet and the gap between the hood and windshield.

The gurneys in front if the hood vents makes a BIG difference. Not sure what the right size is. In the video I took I had a 1.5” gurney and you saw a long tail of recirculation which might indicate air extraction from what I’ve been told. Could be wrong about it.

Its been experiments so far. I’ll get a baseline in the summer and decide what to do after that.

[Bry5on]

Oh man I am curious to see this video footage. Can you add some telltales around your hood exit too?? Do you have open brake ducts?

[bigjae46]

My CF strut plates installed



Here is the camera setup

[bigjae46]

It's been a rough start to the year - had the off track excursion, damage repair, tune issues...haven't had a clean weekend yet.

I've been storing the car at the track which is 40 minutes away. Its great as long as you don't need to work on the car. There are tools and stuff but the logistics have been painful.

Nonetheless, need to get ready for NASA. PCA event needs to go smooth for me. Luckily it did. Got to test the tune, although it was the detune and not the full power tune that I will use at NASA. That's how much of an improvement the Epic tune made, can't really tell the difference. Although at the end of the day I was thinking the car felt kind of dead up to redline.

I like the idea of learning about the airflow around the car to get data instead of blind guessing. The hood, trunk, and roof are easy. Not so simple for the front, back and sides. So I'm experimenting with one of the long arm suction cup mounts and it worked great. Well, just well enough for the GoPro stabilization to make the footage usable. Over the summer I do plan to collect better baseline data especially on the front end. The last thing I need to figure out is getting video from the under the car.

I've exclusively used NT01s and RRs for the last 13 years except for a set of Hankook Z214s. They are cheap and durable AND I wanted to rely on the car and improving my skills to optimize lap times vs throwing on stickier tires. Well, I think I'm about there. Literally chasing 2-3 tenths.

Enter Falken RT660s. 275/40R17s are $1100 per set incl tax! These tires are WAY better under braking. I'd routinely activate the ABS with the RRs, much different with the RT660s. Did a 1:41.8 on the detune in my 2nd session on the RT660s. It wasn't a very lap either.

Excited to see if I can put it together this weekend at NASA.

[bigjae46]

Nice results!

What is "home" coding? Did you DIY the tune?

Downloaded the BIN file and used Hexedit to mess with the coding.

[Slideways]

Got the dyno sorted out. It was an adventure. Home coding caused issues and a delay. Got it done.

337hp/266tq - quite happy!



Then the detune. I was running out of time on the dyno, power kept going out, and it was an all around shit show.

Got it down to 286. Needed to be at 280. Not going to run the detune until the fall anyway.

Nice results!

What is "home" coding? Did you DIY the tune?

[bigjae46]

Got the dyno sorted out. It was an adventure. Home coding caused issues and a delay. Got it done.

337hp/266tq - quite happy!



Then the detune. I was running out of time on the dyno, power kept going out, and it was an all around shit show.

Got it down to 286. Needed to be at 280. Not going to run the detune until the fall anyway.

[bigjae46]

Impressive.

Is the 2615 with driver??

No, just car with fuel

[AXDB]

Not sure if I mentioned it but the goal for 2025 is to set TT4 NASA track records for the TX region. I'm 90% confident that the car can do it as is. But I do want to run TT3 where my car is at a significant tire disadvantage. My car is lighter (duh) but there will be a HP and tire deficit. So I have to out drive other cars with stickier tires and more power. The power disadvantage becomes obvious on long straights - the car just runs out of steam over 120mph due to drag. So I will continue to optimize the weight - first step is to get below 2500lbs. I'm getting closer, an estimated 2525lbs right now (2615 minus 15g of gas - 90lb = 2525). 2nd half of the year - work on drag reduction and hopefully a suspension upgrade.



Lots to do before the first NASA event that I can attend this year. Detune, ballast installation, and test, test, test.

First step is to get some laps in at MSR Cresson and Eagle's Canyon. So event #1 - MSR. Previous PR is a 1:20.1. I'm very happy to say that I was running consistent 1:18's, PR 1:18.4. There are things I need to do to optimize for MSR since it is a smooth track compared to MSR Houston. Virtual best was a 1:17.1 which is a massive delta to the reference lap. I need to close that up and be more consistent sector to sector before I can start fine tuning. Running 2 year old Toyo RRs with a bunch of heat cycles. So an easy extra .5 second gain with just tires.

It was going really well. Mid 90's through Riccochet, happy with the speed everywhere else except for Big Bend.

Then this happened...

Came out as good as I could expect. Car was still drivable, no noises or issues but the car felt sick. Got it home, found a damaged splitter mount and control arm. The ball joint blew up yet it made zero noise. Fixed and ready for more!

Impressive.

Is the 2615 with driver??

[bigjae46]

The front strut and rear spring reinforcements worked! No pics of the strut plates.

Here are the rear spring plates. I used a 1.5” hole saw. The upper plates don’t stay up but not sure if 1.375 will fit. Might just put some double sided tape on it.