Racing 2014

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Well another year of Racing is upon us a new car and maybe some new tracks.

Planned Schedule

May 29 - June 1 Spokane County Raceway (Spokane, Washington)
July 12 - 13 Castrol Raceway (Nisku, Alberta)
Aug 23 - 24 Castrol Raceway (Nisku, Alberta)
Aug 30 - Sept 1 Mission Raceway (Mission, BC)
Sept 20 - 21 The Ridge (Shelton, Washington)

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Re: Racing 2014

A little sample of the first weekend before the write up.

[PRY4SNO]

Re: Racing 2014

Sweet deal! Hopefully I can make it out to one or both of your events at Castrol.

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Re: Racing 2014

Spokane 2014

Well this year I went down a day early to run the test day on Thursday as I had never driven the car and thought it would be a good shake down.

First session out just took it easy on the car and did some laps car felt alright maybe a bit heavy on the steering but that was probably because i was using a set of the 8"/10" Radials that came with the car.

Next session the plan was to scrub in my new set of Hoosier 6"/8" Bias Plys. Well that plan didn't go very well as second gear exploded about half way thru my scrub routine.

Spent the rest of the day cleaning out the gearbox and putting it back together.

The smaller gear is supposed to have teeth similar to the larger gear.


So much for the test day.

Friday starts with Qualifying 1 right away we do a couple out laps then we get pulled into the pits under full course black flag.(Somebody stranded on track)

Eventually we get going again and a few laps out while passing slower traffic I get pushed off the road at about 180kph drop 2 wheels in the dirt and go for a ride. Manage to keep it pointed straight and pull it back on track. I end up qualifying p3 with a time of 1:27.3 which is about 1.5sec faster than my fastest lap in the old car.

When back in the pits have a chat with the fellow who ran me off the road and then take a look at the car.

Had some damage to the front splitter and right sidepod. But my new secondary camera was in the side pod at the time of the accident and its lens is damaged beyond repair and i don't have spares for it so no multiple camera angles like i wanted.

Race 1
Start goes well as i move into P2 but only manage to hold it for about 3 laps the car that passes me is about 0.5sec/lap faster than me. Race is pretty calm until with 2 laps to go he slows on the front straight and i regain 2nd and finish there. (He had a battery failure)

Best lap time was another 1:27.3

Hare N Hound Qualy
Nothing to eventful my usual time of 1:27.3

Qualifying 2
Go out do the usual 2 or 3 warm up laps then start to push a little to get thru traffic. Come upon a Formula Mazda and plan to pass him once we get onto the front straight but as we approach the front straight he suddenly drives off the track. With 2 wheels in the dirt he spins the car 90 degrees in front of me and i have a heart attack going 160kph at 8am on a Saturday morning. As i am contemplaiting the fact that i am about to t-bone his car and right off my new car on its second day his car makes another sudden spin now facing me head on. Luckily has it does this it shoots off the course backwards and up a hill and into a wall missing me completely. Instead of going into the hot pits and wait for them to clean the track i just pull it behind the wall and just take whatever position i already have. No need to play russian roulette again as this is the second time during qualifying that someone has tried to kill me.

Go up in the stands and take some pics while i calm down.












End up P6 with a time of 1:32.0

Race 2
Hoping to make it up to P3 by the end of this race and drop my times down to a 1:26 as i am starting mid pack I doubt i have a chance at anything more. On the start move to 5th right away and to 4th by the end of turn 2. Another lap down and i am up to P4 and not very far behind P2 so i begin to push. To my amazement I am catching the P2 car which usually has me covered by 0.5sec/lap. I manage to work my way by around lap 6/7 and pull a small gap. (I later found out that his rear wing had failed into a higher downforce setting) Trying to work on my lap times to increase my gap i end up graining the tires at about the 25min mark of the race. Car is almost undriveable for the last couple laps tried to cool them and see if they would come back but no dice in the 25C weather.

Finish P2 - Best lap 1:27.1 (Getting Close)

Hare N Hound Race
I am a bit worried about this race as with grain tires its going to be tough to handle the car. Since i did not get a good scrub on the tires during the test day the life of these tires is greatly reduced. On the warm up lap the car has a really bad wobble feels like a wheel balance issue probably from the graining build up. Lap 1 Turn 4 i miss a down shift and spin so i just decide to pull off on an access road and not interfear with the race until i get this wheel issue fixed.

Qualifying 3
Last probable chance to get a 1:26 this weekend as the morning is the only time cool enough to make the power. Had the wheels re-balanced over night and did some alignment changes to the car as it seemed i had to much toe out on the front. Went out slowly trying to work off as much grain as possible seemed to be working alright the wobble was gone. Pushed hard for the last couple laps and came in.

P2 - 1:27.2 (****)

Race 3
The usual second place car had gearbox issues before Qualy so he is at the back of the pack. My hope is he is far enough back that i can hold onto 2nd the whole race even with my tires not being very good anymore. Race starts fine but after probably 5/6 laps i can already see him up to 4th place behind me and my tires are already starting to go away. We have a fullcourse yellow about half way thru the race which is good because my tires can cool but bad because he closes the gap for free. On the restart i manage to clear about 4 cars right away giving me a gap but it doesn't last long as my tires are now hockey pucks and he is closing fast. Last 2 laps are in the video above on the second last corner we touch and i damage my wing and come how 3rd

Best Lap 1:28.0

Nose Damage


Some pictures from the pits












Will have videos for the races up in the next couple days once i do some editing.

But overall pretty good weekend 2 second places and a 3rd and took 2 sec off my old fastest time. Car still needs a good setup as it doesn't turn in very well and pushes quite badly but hopefully we can sort that out for Castrol.

[PRY4SNO]

Re: Racing 2014

Great results for an inaugural run. I can only imagine how your little chat with the guy who pushed you off track went.

Any ideas to sort out the push (understeer, I presume)? More rear wing or less up front? Damper settings?

Where do you start with the turn in, tie rod length or some alignment settings maybe? You mentioned wanting to give it a go with newer tires first, how did that work?

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Re: Racing 2014

Actually the chat was friendly no need to get bent out of shape just want to make sure it doesn't happen again. Funny thing is Zac was following me and he said he almost crapped himself watching it happen as he was going to follow me by.

It's an everywhere understeer so wing trim would not be a viable solution we use wing for more balance of the car or outright speed. Castrol will be a higher downforce setup compaired to Spokane.

First we need to check our shocks as we think one might be low on gas as the front right was doing some funny stuff under braking. Then a good ride height set and corner balance to get us a starting point usual alignment camber castor and toe. Then back on the scales again to check the corner weights after changes.

Will play with sway bar settings at the track to see if we can get the car to rotate in the slow stuff.

The fact that the tires where shot makes it difficult to judge changes we made at the track with newer tires that will last (If i can scrub them in correctly) it should be easier.

We know we need longer shim bolts as we are already at our minimum camber (bolt limited) and still not where we want to be number wise.

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Re: Racing 2014

Next Setup we are trying

Caster front 3 degrees
Caster rear 4 degrees
Camber front 1 degree
Camber rear 0.5 degrees
springs front 600
springs rear 800
preload front 3.5 turns
preload rear 1 turn
Hi comp front +7
Lo comp front –5
rebound front –5
Hi comp rear +6
Lo comp rear –9
rebound rear –6
nitrogen 125 PSI
toe front 1.5 mm out total 3 mm out
toe rear 1.5 mm in total 3 mm in
ride height front 31 mm
ride height rear 38 mm
roll bar front 14 mm
roll bar rear 10 mm
blades front and rear 1/2 way
tire pressure cold
front 14
rear 15

[Ur0Drivr]

Re: Racing 2014

Looks like a good time Roger!

[BaggedGLI]

Re: Racing 2014

Awesome! Funny Steve Ross used to be our neighbor here at the shop! Didn't realize you guys were going to the same events.

[91wolfie]

Re: Racing 2014

I totally enjoy reading this and the details you put into your thread!

[witchcraftz]

Re: Racing 2014

Sounds like tons of fun.

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Re: Racing 2014

Awesome! Funny Steve Ross used to be our neighbor here at the shop! Didn't realize you guys were going to the same events.

Steve and I drove down together actually. He does a lot of vintage road rally as well.

[BaggedGLI]

Re: Racing 2014

Awesome! Yeah and the cars he does them in are mental. Tell him the guys at CAW say hello next time you see him!

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Re: Racing 2014

Will do he is just off to pick up his gullwing so he wont be back for a bit.

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Re: Racing 2014

Videos

Qualy

Race 1

Race 2