Speedhunters Dream Drive
A few weeks back we had the pleasure of hosting Speedhunters at Monticello Motor Club – they came by to do a “Dream Drive” feature with 311RS #01. Save for the cheesy name, the Dream Drive features are pretty cool. They actually get behind the wheel of the car and do an in-depth review.
Their Editorial Manager, Suzy Wallace, flew over from UK for the drive. Why her?? We asked that at first too.. Turns out she owns an Evo 6 and regularly takes it to track days throughout EU. She has run below 8:30 at the ‘Ring, so she is no joke behind the wheel. She did her thing and had some fun in the car which you can read about in the link below.
SPEEDHUNTERS 311RS Dream Drive
Besides Suzy tooting around in #01, we there to take care of some more serious business. Our last trip to Monticello with #01 went well (read about that here. ) With a fresh set of Nitto NT05s on the car and some nice fall weather, Ryan was there to set a fast lap in #01. Our laptime from the previous trip to MMC was 2:29.4 – which was 3 seconds off a Viper ACR-X lap time. We were on a different style tire than the ACR-X, but being so close to the lap time was encouraging.
As mentioned, we had a fresh set of 275/35/18 Nitto NT05s on the car for the day at Monticello. We keep super close tabs on tire pressure – a little goes a long way with tire pressure(s), before and after each track session we’re taking notes to get the most out of the car and to provide the best recommended settings for 311RS owners. With NT05s we like to hit 38psi hot all around.
The goal was to get as close to the Viper ACR-X’s time as possible. In a perfect world we’d best the ACR-X, but running NT05s that was unlikely. Nitto being one of our long-time technical partners, the NT05 is our choice for standard tire on the 311RS. We’d love to run NT01s as standard (they’re optional..), but that’s not realistic for everyone and the NT05 isn’t a terrible tire by any means.
440whp, 3,335lbs, and a track temp of 82*, we set off to record a time later in the afternoon. Our previous 2:29.4 lap time was from my first day at Monticello. I felt much more comfortable on my second visit and pushed hard from the get go. Five laps in succession went as follows – 2:30.3, 2:28.6, 2:28.1, 2:27.4, and 2:27.5. After five laps around Monticello’s challenging track the NT05s begin to lose effectiveness. Regardless, in Ryan’s first session on track we recorded a new fast lap of 2:27.4, right at 2sec faster than our previous best.
Ryan proceeded to take another session in the car to attempt to get even closer to the ACR-X’s lap time. No such luck, again he ran a 2:27.4. All things considered, we were happy with the time. The tires are the real limiting factor here and we can take some comfort in that. With NT01s fitted besting the ACR-X’s lap time would be very realistic. The ACR-X’s come standard with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup R-compounds so some NT01s would only be fair. For now we’ll settle for the fastest time posted at MMC on true street tires, for 311RS that is a good stat to reference but we’d love the overall record, if we’re honest. We’ll be back in the spring.
Have a read through the Speedhunters article, they’ve got some cool insights and of course incredible images. We’re closing in on production, our allocation of ten (10) Evos arrives from Japan in early November, so this final track test with 311RS #01 was a great opportunity to finalize all of the data, settings, numbers, recommendations, etc. for the program. The journey, as they say, is the destination. And it’s been awesome. We can’t wait to produce these cars and get them in the hands of owners! That will be a cool feeling.
If you wish to inquire, please clink the contact link or email us directly at info@311RS.com