With my new heat shields in place, I eagerly headed to another event to unleash the Cruze on the race track. It was a return to VIR for the NASA Hyperfest, a motorsport enthusiast’s dreamland. The air was charged with the thrill of racing, drifting, burnouts, music, and much more. You should go if you have never been—it’s a fun experience.
Anyway, I jumped into the HPDE 3 group and hoped there would be no issues arising with the car. I did the same as the last time on the track, driving at a moderate pace for a few laps and then bringing the car back to the paddock to inspect everything. The new heat shields were doing what they were designed to do. There were no signs of the cam cover warping or any oil leaking. The rest of the car checked out, so I felt good about increasing the pace.
Over the next few sessions on track, I started pushing the car a little harder as I was learning the track more and more, lap after lap. The brakes felt good, and the engine felt strong during acceleration. However, I felt some turbo lag when accelerating out of the turns, especially slow-speed turns when the RPMs were lower.
Despite the turbo lag, I felt more confident in the car during each session. The handling felt good. KW did an excellent job with the coil-overs to dial out some of the understeer prevalent in front-wheel-drive vehicles. There was quite a bit of body roll, but that’s to be expected for a street set-up.
I was sliding around in the seat quite a bit, so seats with better bolstering are a possible future upgrade. Some sensors are also not accessible through the OBDII port, so I will look into ways to get access to those. Logging throttle position, brake pressure, steering input, and other sensors with the AEM dash would allow me to compare different laps and improve my driving skills.
Reflecting on the weekend, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. The heat-related issues with the cam cover were successfully resolved, and no other significant problems arose. I’ve identified areas for improvement and upgrades, a testament to this project’s continuous learning and growth. From sliding around in the seat to addressing the turbo lag, each challenge is an opportunity for improvement.
DS
