Starting to look like a race car.
Photography by David S. Wallens
The clock is ticking–only two weeks to go before our Elantra N begins its One Lap of America journey.
So far, we’ve perused and purchased, procured partnerships and proven performance on track. Now we prep for the party.
After anxiously watching daily tracking updates, all of our parts arrived on schedule earlier this week. Huzzah!
The first step to prepare our Elantra N for the upcoming Tire Rack One Lap of America Presented by Grassroots Motorsports was to mount up our 265/35R18 Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RZ tires on our 18x9.5-inch Superspeed FlowForm RF03RR wheels.
Normally we’d do this ourselves since we have the equipment, but the RZs have a history of being hard to mount due to the incredibly stiff sidewalls. In particular, getting the tire to take air can sometimes require incantations and special sauce–aka profanities and extra-thick lube.
Further, once it begins to air up, it can often take well over 100 psi to fully seat the beads–despite the warning on the sidewall not to exceed 40 psi. This is why Tire Rack and its parent, Discount Tire, use an inflation cage to trap shrapnel from wheel explosions.
So we opted to “pay up” and have Discount Tire do the work. And this wasn’t just any Discount Tire, mind you. This particular store is where many Daytona-based race teams have their slicks and Hoosier R-comps mounted up. This crew knows all the tricks and had us outta there in under an hour.
Back at the GRM shop, our Elantra went up on the lift to have its fluids changed out. Engine oil was replaced with 5.5 quarts of fresh Red Line 5W-30.
The stock DCT fluid was then drained, and in went 3 liters of Motul Multi DCTF, which is reported to deliver smoother shifts for a longer duration. There’s also a High Torque version of this fluid, but it can be hard to find. We’ll look into that once we up the power levels.
Brakes were next on the agenda, with Porterfield R4 track pads inserted up front and R4-S street compound in the rear. The rotors had already been recently changed out, so we left those.
Unlike our Ioniq 5 N we drove last year–with its finicky computer-controlled separate e-brake assembly–the Elantra N uses a traditional cable-operated parking brake integral to the rear brake caliper. So we simply used the same tool to wind in the piston as on a Miata. Easy-peasy.
We then completed our brake service with a full flush using AP Racing Radi-Cal Factory R DOT 5.1 with a Motive pressure bleeder.
Our final step before bolting on our wheels was alignment. Camber bolts were inserted at the front, all the other mounting bolts for the strut were loosened, and inward force was applied while retightening to achieve max camber for this setup. For the rear, we simply maxed out the eccentrics.
We weighed both the stock (left) and aftermarket (right) wheels/tires.
We then used toe plates to adjust toe back to normal track settings, since the camber change alters it significantly. Results?
LF: -3° RF: -2.6°
LR: -2.6° RR: -2.25°
Toe: Zero front, 1/16 in. rear
The final step was to bolt our wheels and tires back onto the car, but not before some quick cleanup on the studs and hub with a wire brush. One of the quirks of the Elantra N is its one-piece drive axle/hub assembly that makes stud replacement impossible using normal methods. We expect to rotate tires at least once during the trip to even out wear, so we wanted to reduce the risk of cross-threading.
Next stop: the sticker shop.
Starting to look like a race car.
And what’s next? Still need to make it look like a race car, right? (I’ve said too much.)
Can we talk about 5W30 in place of the manufacturer spec 0W30? Fine as long as you don’t have any really cold starts, right?
CrashDummy said:Can we talk about 5W30 in place of the manufacturer spec 0W30? Fine as long as you don’t have any really cold starts, right?
Should be fine so long as you're not trying to start the car in subzero conditions. I run 5w-30 in my N and haven't run into any issues since the car is only driven in California.
David S. Wallens said:Starting to look like a race car.
The magic of white wheels :) Because otherwise, it looks stock.
Thanks for the heads up on RZs, I'll make sure I get a coworker to mount any that show up here!
Why the R4/R4S compound split? You'd have more braking torque at all temps with the R4 and a brake force distribution closer to what the factory engineers designed for.
CrashDummy said:Can we talk about 5W30 in place of the manufacturer spec 0W30? Fine as long as you don’t have any really cold starts, right?
Without getting too deep into Bob is the Oil Guy territory, the simple answer is we wanted a higher viscosity base stock.
The lower number is the base viscosity. From there, modifiers are added that thicken the oil to the higher number at operating temp. Those modifiers wear out and the higher number comes down over time.
Our eventual track oil viscosity choice will be 5w40, so when we do longer sessions in the Texas summer and the oil temps really climb, we'll have more headroom at the top end.
There's a good GRM article here somewhere on oil viscosity for tracked cars. "Operating temp" means different things to different cars in different situations.
Keith Tanner said:Why the R4/R4S compound split? You'd have more braking torque at all temps with the R4 and a brake force distribution closer to what the factory engineers designed for.
^^ This assumes the factory pads are same compound front and rear.
We did this based on advice from other N owners who track their cars. Took the conservative approach to avoid ice mode.
More here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/2023-elantra-n/elantra-n-porterfield-brakes/
In reply to Andy Hollis :
Thanks, I don't always read all the "we just got this shiny part for our project car!" articles, as testing is more interesting.
Since you're probably (hopefully) increasing the weight transfer due to harder max braking with those sticky tires, less rear brake torque might be a good idea.
But this car's being built on a pretty short timeframe, with no verification that this is actually the right choice. Any thoughts on maybe starting a little earlier for next year? Then you can confirm the wheel/tire package doesn't rub, that you're making the right choice on brake pads and even have enough time to source the ideal transmission fluid. I mean, you're doing a lot better than last year already, but maybe there's more room in the schedule?
Keith Tanner said:In reply to Andy Hollis :
Any thoughts on maybe starting a little earlier for next year? Then you can confirm the wheel/tire package doesn't rub, that you're making the right choice on brake pads and even have enough time to source the ideal transmission fluid. I mean, you're doing a lot better than last year already, but maybe there's more room in the schedule?
We are starting almost a year earlier for next year. 
This car will be getting more mods and testing throughout the year for another run next year -- in a much more advanced state. More power, real suspension, aero and who knows what else.
Displaying 1-10 of 17 commentsView all comments on the GRM forums
You'll need to log in to post.
