Racing 2015

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Re: Racing 2015

I will just leave this here.

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: Racing 2015

Ouch!!!

[Stonewall]

Re: Racing 2015

I guess his mirrors stopped working?

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Re: Racing 2015

He did say he didn't see me.

But at 230kph it wasn't the best spot to connect.

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Re: Racing 2015

Some pictures from the weekend

[MechEngg]

Re: Racing 2015

Lol.
Looks like a fun weekend!

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Re: Racing 2015

Hey it gets hot in there!

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Re: Racing 2015

Friday June 19 Q1 & Race 1

After we had arrived and set up on Thursday most of our competitors had done the test day so we where already on the back foot a little. We both had some decent rubber on the cars left over from Castrol a couple weeks ago and plan to slowly work up speed during the 15min qualy session in the morning and hopefully get a clean lap near the end.

My dads previous best lap was a 1:31.3 (In an older 1985 Swift DB3)
My best lap was a 1:27.2 (Last year in the Mygale when we first got the car)

We end up qualifying 2nd and 4th my time is 1:26.8 (0.4 sec up on last year) and my dad gets a 1:29.2 (over 2 seconds up on his best) I am only 3 tenths off the pole sitter so i feel pretty good since i didn't really get many laps as my car was bottoming out badly. I destroyed my front splitter which i had just replaced and had to make a ride height adjustment as i forgot i had moved to the Avon tires which are shorter than my old Hoosiers.



The race is one of the closest races i have ever had from the start to the finish never more than a few car lengths separate me and the pole sitter Greg and we also have Steve on our asses for the first half of the race before we break free. If you have 30min watch it all as there are a number of close calls screw ups passes re-passes etc. very very fun stuff.

Sadly for my dad he manages to plow into the back of one of the other guys in the tight stuff (You see the spun car late in the video) and totally destroys his good front wing package and the nose of his car. He does bring it home in 4th place though.

My best time of the race is 1:25.782 (1.4sec up on last years time)
Old mans best of 1:28.104 (So he is 3sec up on last year)

I have to say the new aero package on the car was really helping I hit on avg 139mph this year instead of last years 135mph and with the setup changes we made over last season the car could handle the tight section the best of any car there and turn 2 was very good (not the best but good). Old man said his car was pushing a lot but i have a feeling that is more his driving style than anything as he seems to be getting to shallow on entry a lot of the time. He forgot to turn on the video for day one so no video of his crash.

Will do race 2 when i get time to upload.

[RSS]

Re: Racing 2015

Saturday Q2/Race 2

So we are still repairing the old mans nose with spare parts we have around so he does not make it out for qualy in the morning as we are up at around 8:30am.

I am on a new set of rubber that i am scrubbing in for our next race weekend in BC so i plan on doing a only about 5/6 laps to get the tires hot slowly and then get a good lap in and pull off. I am starting my first fast lap around lap 4 when we have a caution with a car stalled in turn 1/2 so i have to abort and slow down. so now we have 2/3 laps under yellow waiting for the car to be pulled. After they clear the car I go straight to hot laps as i want to get these tires hot then off the car. I only get around 3 laps in before I start coming up on traffic so i pull in.

I do a at of 1:25.538 (My fastest lap ever)

Coming in I hear that i have poll and we all thought that until around lunch when I go to grab the timing sheets and find out Greg on his last lap out got me by about a tenth of a second.

Well no biggie as starting on the front row is fine I just don't want to be stuck behind Steve as he is fast in a straight line and hard to pass at the best of time.

Race Video


Another close race with Greg where we switch the lead back once or twice early on then i manage to break the draft and pull out a small lead. In traffic i gain a bit more room and he is unable to close the gap. We run very similar times and i put down around 10 laps at 1:25.8 so almost a qualifiying pace for much of the race.

Old man once again forgets how to work his camera and ends up pulling off after a spin as he hears something draggin underneath the car. Ends up it is just a rub strip come loose he did about 8 laps and had a fast time of 1:28.687

[RSS]

Re: Racing 2015

Sunday Q3/Race 3

So after running some hard 30min races with Greg the last couple days i am begining to worry about tires as the track is normally pretty tough on them. My plan is to do as few laps in Qualy as possible and still put up a good time to be second. I think this will help me near the end of the race and i can take 2 out of 3 races for the weekend.

The old man having his car fixed again but also starting to suffer some tire grain ends up with a time of 1:29.218 only good enough for 5th in class.

I go out and do about 5 laps and get a time of 1:26.808 and i end up third behind Steve!

Race Video


Old man remembers camera at least this time.

I am much faster than Steve in the slow sections it seems but his car is a rocket in a straight line. I try and let him and Greg fight to see if they would make a mistake (Doesn't work) I try and pressure Steve into making a mistake which kind of works but still can't pass with the power advantage. So as I see Greg begining to get a bit more gap I think i need to pass soon if i want a chance at the win. I plan to get on the outside of turn 2 on Steve to slow him into the back straight alowing me to make the pass on turn 5. I don't even get to turn one as Steve doesn't see me when i pull out of the draft and we collide at 230kph wrecking both cars.

Old man with me and Steve out of the picture brings his car home 3rd a nice gift for him on fathers day.

My best lap 1:26.605
Old mans Best 1:28.404

On to mission in a couple weeks if i can get mine fixed.

Currently sitting second in points behind Greg and only 0.5 points up on 3rd.

[Chris]

Re: Racing 2015

Awesome footage and updates! Would love to come check out the race in Nisku in August – is it pretty much open to anyone who wants to go? Or is there a cost / donation or anything?

Would love to get into the sport one day when I have the means to do so, but in the meantime I'll get my racing fix vicariously through you right now!

[RSS]

Re: Racing 2015

If you go to the normal gate at Castrol they will try and charge you $20 for a spectator entry. Or you can try and go to the last entrance down the entry road and tell them you are crewing on the road course. They will make you sign the waiver and usually just let you in as they don't want to deal with road course people.

Doesn't have the means while driving RS4!

Sell street car and come racing it's why i drive a 15 year old broken down audi now.

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Re: Racing 2015

Mission Raceway

Well it was a lovely 12hour drive through the mountains and the cars stayed up on the new stacker we had built for the trailer.




After last race weekends accident we replaced all the suspension and heim joints on the left front corner along with the front left wheel and both front tires from that set. We went with my spare low nose and shock cover and borrowed a mustache style front wing from another guy as my old man was using the spare wing we had assembled and we lent another of our spare wings to another competitior so he could make this race as well. 2 days before we left we notice that the tie rod was too short for our car as the people building it for us used a 2007 Mygale suspension as a template instead of the length i had given him. So the new longer one he rushed out would meet us at the track and I would have to install it there and do a backyard alignment on the car at the track on Friday night.

We arrive at the same time as our buddy who had my parts and go about swapping it out and setting the toe and camber on the car to the best of our ability without scales or level ground.

Saturday

First Openwheel Practice
Me and the old man decide to skip this practice as we are registered for 2 run groups this weekend (Openwheel and FC) we sit in the stands and watch everyone go out and practice. They are all running fairly slowly and when they come in they say the track is very slick.








FC Practice
So we head out for the smaller run group practice as its only our class and we should have some more room out there.

As I fire the car on pre grid I lose my dash in the car and it just says no signal. I turn of and restart the car a couple times and still nothing so I say screw it and just head out at the back of the pack for some laps. As we find out it is very very slippery out there even more so that i have new fronts and old rear tires on the car. Every turn the back of the car wants to pass me and it takes a few laps to get the temps into the tires and then it settles down a little. I manage a time of 1:08.320 which is only 0.04sec of the track record and half a second faster than I ran last year the old man pulls in a time of 1:14.235 he says his tires are toast.

FC Qualy
They told us before the weekend that we could use our FC Qualy time for the OW race so we only have to do 1 Qualy session Today even though some guys go out for both to get laps in. I switch to my good set of tires as does my dad. I tried all I could to get my dash to work but still nothing so I am flying blind and I changed gears from last year so no real reference point for shifting. Another concern is how hot it is getting (34C) and I don't have any oil or water temp alarms since I have no dash. On the pre grid my car does not fire and I need to get bump started after everyone goes out.

Qualy Times
1 16 Roger Smetaniuk 01:07.984
2 8 Michael Lensen 01:09.373
3 94 James Nadolny 01:09.780
4 72 Stephen Ross 01:10.561
5 19 Brian Smetaniuk 01:11.149
6 33 Gavin Aitken 01:11.156
7 68 Wade Anderson 01:11.285
8 77 Brad Law 01:11.598
9 98 Keray Mcewan 01:12.203
10 44 Doug Connon 01:13.849
11 2 Dane Babkirk
12 04 Greg Coffin

So Dane is having clutch issues and the NWFC points leader Greg Coffin who i trail in the points is having a misfire so doesn't go out. I break the track record by about 0.3 and am clear of everyone by over a second. Old man seems to be right in the mix mid pack.

Openwheel Race 1
Well once again the car will not fire on pre grid even after changing battery's so they attempt to bump start me again. It takes the whole pace lap and the race begining before i get fired. The leader is at turn 3 when i leave the pits.



I manage to bring it all the way back to second before i ran out of time.

[RSS]

Re: Racing 2015

Finally back home again so got time to finish video 2.

Sunday

OpenWheel Qualy
Not wanting to have the same grid issues as yesterday we all head out for qualifying. Get stuck behind a bunch of cars again as the car wouldn't fire on pre-grid finally break free and have a couple laps open. Manage a lap time of 1:08.489 good enough to capture pole again. Old man having some electrical/battery issues manages a time of 1:11.549 good enough for 7th on the grid.

FC Practice
We skip as we keep swapping parts out to Greg's car as we try and find the source of his misfire. Also this gives me and the old man time to find our electrical gremlins.

Openwheel Race 2
Car actually fires and get to start from pole!

Push hard for a couple laps to get a gap and then try and work a nice race pace as the money race is up next and i would like to save the car. In the end i had a 20 second gap to second place. Old man loses 5th place on the second last lap and comes home 6th.

FC Feature Race
So this is the money race and if i can win it and Greg does not get any points I will take the lead in the overall Championship. This race is using the qualification from Saturday so I am on pole and the old man should start 5th but we have discovered his alternator is not charging so he doesn't expect to last very long so he starts from the back of the field. Race start goes well other than we forgot to turn on any cameras in pre grid so no video. Get a small gap to second but i can't seem to pull away enough to settle into a slower race pace. The car is getting a little twitchy under breaking and i think that's why i can't seem to pull away. On lap 5 the car bottoms out going into turn 5 under breaking which is odd the car bottomed out and would not stop as i was skidding on the floor of the car. I overshoot the corner and Gavin in second passes me as we head into 7. I am thinking it was just a weird lock up and i stay right on him. As we pass through the fast right left that leads onto the straight my front left wheel faces straight left and I start heading straight at the concrete wall. The right front wheel is still attached and working so I can somewhat steer with it as I am on hard ground and grass mostly. I get the car slowed and end up a few feet from the concrete wall facing away from the track. My dad's race ends shortly after as his car runs out of power on lap 8.

Ends up the lower a-arm bolt to the upright came undone and let go so now i have bent my tie-rod for the second race weekend in a row. Also a fair bit of floor damage to the car as that's what i was sliding on for a while.

Next event is up in Edmonton on Aug 29/30 and hopefully I can fix my suspension / floor / dash / nose / wing by then and have a chance at taking the lead in the championship.

[RSS]

Re: Racing 2015

Well we have a dash again in the car as it seems to have been a lost/corrupt firmware issue.

On to getting my Radon front wing rebuilt along with a new nose to replace all the smashed stuff from Spokane earlier in the season.