Saabmarine’s First Track Day // CoTA May 2019
I’m playing a bit of catch up here, so this is a recap of something that happened in May 2019. Being posted in January 2026.
Sorry about that.
My friend Nik and I signed up for a track weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX. The (most relevant) mods to the Saab were:
COBB Stage 2+ tune
Crucial Racing (?) downpipe
COBB Big Brake kit (Stoptech ST40 fronts, Stoptech ST22 rear, both with SR34 pad compound)
Most interior removed
Sparco seats, harness bar, six-point harnesses
I wanted to do some data logging, but wasn’t interested in spending $1,000+ for a logger at that time, so I spent some time designing a logger based on a Raspberry Pi, the 7” Pi screen, a 10-bit ADC, and a GPS board from Adafruit.
I had it mostly working, but during final construction a couple days before, I accidentally hooked up the +14V from my bench supply to the 3.3V inputs and let the smoke out.
Without time to get new pieces, I was out of luck. So I went on Amazon and bought a 5 pack of LCD displays. Using some sensors that I’d already installed, I made some voltage dividers for the temp sensors and hooked the 5V oil pressure sensor straight. Then one for the battery.
I can’t remember now what the thresholds were, but it was more of a “look at em on the straight and make sure they’re not over/under some random number.” It was not very helpful.
With most of the other stuff buttoned up, we towed the car up on Nik’s trailer, behind his F150.
We rented a garage spot near some other racing friends. Nik and I shared driving duties, alternating back and forth throughout the weekend.
I know now that the machinery at CoTA is ridiculous, but this was my first time there. This is me being concerned about literal race cars in my group.
McLaren’s and GT3RS’s everywhere.
I did, in fact, try, but I doubt this gentleman noticed my efforts.
The car handled fine and the brakes were good, but it was very down on power.
The fastest the car felt was leaving the pits. With 90 degree air temps in the afternoon, I think the tiny top-mount intercooler was heatsoaking badly and we didn’t have much power to start with.
The best I could manage was a 2:48. It honestly would have been plenty of fun if I hadn’t had to spend so much of the time with one arm out the window, pulled over off-line for a point by.
I vowed never to return with such little power.
We did drive the car back on the trailer after a drama-free weekend.
A little bit of rain during unloading, but no problem really.
Parked back at Nik’s house north of Houston, TX.