I spent most of 2011 in, on, or under this thing. This was my first GT program and I guess it went well. We won the GT championship. I pulled back in 2012 to spend more time at home after my daughter was born. They have since pulled out of competition. Coincidence? Maybe. Anyway, I got to do some fun projects on this car that I'm sure you guys could appreciate.
![](http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz110/Front58/IMAG0124.jpg)
The hauler in 2011 form..
![](http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz110/Front58/IMAG0111.jpg)
One of the first things we tackled was brake feel. The GT3R is very much a street car and still has many of the production car compromises. Some of these are magnified by the transition to race car. The brakes are one. Eliminating the power booster leaves a large empty space and reveals a weakness in the design. The panel that the brake masters are attached to is very flimsy (.040 if memory serves) and the brace that connects it to the firewall has 2 legs that are offset. The drivers could feel that after the pressure peaked it would back off as this panel flexed. This was documented in the telemetry as well. Inspection revealed that there was a very visible upward deflection of the whole master cylinder assembly due to the weak firewall. The imagineer envisioned a very elaborate system ( as they do ) and I was originally looking at an improved bracing between the bulkhead and firewall. I finally came up with something much simpler...
![](http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz110/Front58/IMAG0197.jpg)
This started as a piece of rectangular tubing. I cut triangle out of the sides, leaving the top and bottom that was then folded back on itself and welded together. It tied in like this..
![](http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz110/Front58/IMAG0196.jpg)
I made the panel sandwiched between the cage and bulkhead to stiffen the bulkhead as well and then everything was powdercoated white to blend in so the lookieloos at the track wouldn't spot it so easily..
![](http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz110/Front58/IMAG0195.jpg)
Worked very well, but in the search for tenths good is seldom enough.