Posted by micah | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 23-12-2011
We’re heading back from our awesome day at Laguna Seca. Lots has already been posted on the Facebook page about the race this week but to sum it up in a word: AWESOME! The whole trip has gone about as well as it could.
The morning started out early. Our hotel was close to the track but due to the size of the parking lot we had to unhitch the trailer on a street a few blocks from the hotel and then drive the truck back to the hotel. The mechanics of the whole operation was pretty simple but it meant we had to leave more time to get to the track. The race track did not allow us on the premises until after 7am and the race started at 9am. As a result we had a very limited amount of time to unload the trailer, setup the pits, and last minute prep the race car.
Arrival at the track was pretty hectic. With only 3 drivers and no crew we had a lot to do and not a lot of time. Most of the pits had been claimed when we arrived and the pits were busy. Luckily Greg with Racey Diva saved us a spot! (Thanks greg!)
Chris looks tired while we contemplate unloading the truck and trailer.
Thankfully the new trailer is stupid easy to use. No hefting boxes out of the pickup, we can leave most everything in the trailer, roll the car out, fill the back with the pit equipment, and drive to the pits.
I think we had the whole pits setup in about 25 minutes, and then we set to work with the car. We were pretty close on all of the prep, only a few last minute things to check. I had already spent a bunch of time working out the bugs with the video setup. On the trip down I tested out the camera run times and micro SD card capacities. I found out two quirks with the ContourHD and the memory cards we use, the mic gain is a little high on the recording side to get good sound quality in our videos. I dialed it back and found a good compromise that eliminated distortion. The other quirk was that micro SD cards of the types we use come formatted FAT-16 which means that they will never allow more than 4GB of recorded data. I discovered this as I transferred video that I had taken of the pre-race tech which you can view here. Once I re-formatted them as FAT-32 we were in business and able to record way more than 4GB per driver stint.
The rest of race prep was pretty simple, we went through the normal pre-race checklist, oil, tires, windshield. Chris added his beta telemetry kit to the vehicle, and I checked out our pesky oil leak that had cropped up since PIR. This is what I found:
Is there where an oil plug should sit?
I wasn’t terribly amused but there was nothing we could do at this point. The plug got cross-threaded somewhere along the way as we were fiddling with the temperature sender and while I’m sure we made note of it at the time, we never got around to fixing it and had totally forgotten about it on the way to the track. Instead of fiddling with it any more (and maybe making it worse!), we just left it.
I was up first to drive. I don’t know how this was decided (ahaha executive decision! -leo) but I was simply informed. I usually don’t like going first on the track, even though this wasn’t my first race, I still get the jitters before I get in the car. Given the rapid pace of the morning there wasn’t a lot of time to prepare, I had enough time to get the prep done, then wander over to the drivers meeting, quickly change into the race gear, and then get out in the car to hit the pace laps.
Everything was going quite well to this point, but of course, something always has to go wrong right? We went through the normal driver change stuff and right at the end before I was to go out, the radio didn’t transmit from the car. Looking down on the button we found the wires had pulled out of the button on the wheel completely. Somewhere along the way we had pulled the wheel too far from the mount and the button had suffered dearly.
(Leo Narrating at this point) You can still run a race with one way radios so we quickly unplugged the PTT button and sent micah out on track. We gave him updates as the green flag dropped and by his ability to keep turning laps, we assumed everything was ok. Chris and I then started working on the button. Stripping some of the wires back, we were able to resolder the leads and reenforced it with some 5 min (that took an hour) epoxy.
Micah had a good stint pulling out a 1:57:674 as his best lap time. We picked up a couple of positions from the low 30s (of 37) up to 25th. Turns out we didn’t need the radio anyway. We look a long pit stop (at least 8 minutes, 3 minutes + beyond the minimum). We were concerned about the oil (we were still full), tire pressures, PTT button, and general driver fitment changes. Everything went well, it just took time. We could really feel the affect of only have 3 people on the team for this race. Another crew would be made a big difference.
Micah reported he was concerned about temperatures. Mainly oil temps and brake temps. The water temps were solid though. He was shifting a bit early to try to help manage the load.
I was next up to go out. I decided to give it a shot uncorking it and watching. Everything was fine and I got to really push it. Even opening it up I only managed 1:58:601. I think my biggest issue was the two up hill left hand turns. They are super pucker corners. I don’t think I was brave enough to take them at the proper speed. Since they are up hill, you enter at a higher speed than you would ever expect to take a flat turn out. Since you naturally decelerate a little due to the grade, you can really push it a lot harder. The second left up hill was even worse as there was a nice comfy wall near by to keep you honest.
The cork screw was surprising. I didn’t feel it was all that challenging, blind sure, but not that hard, or that important. The turns leading up to it and after were much more important and challenging. It’s almost that its just a “show” corner.
Awesome facility and I quickly found my confidence enough to start passing and moving up field. I got us to 22nd even with the pit stop after my stint. Our second pit stop was much better, getting closer to our 5 minute mark. Chris was up next.
He managed a 1:57:434 and picked us up another couple of places up to 19th.
Temperatures running solid. We were starting to pick up a vibration under braking. Another sign that we aren’t cooling the brakes properly.
Micah took his second stint, pulled a 1:56:890. I then took my second stint, I noticed that the wheel was starting to get a little loose. Like there was play in our quick release adapter. Was it starting to wear out? Our two stints combined got us up to 15th. We went to put chris in the car to finish us out for the race and I discovered the source of the issue. The bolts on the quick release adapter were backing out! A quick snug up got them put back in place.
Turns out the race was finishing a lot sooner than we had expected, which ended up cutting chris’s stint short. The good news was that we were in solid for 15th! A solid stint secured it for us! Our best finish to date in a really competitive field.
The triumphant team and our steed!
Once again the trailer was awesome. Packing up was so easy that we had time to party and make the awards ceremony with time to spare.
Awesome race! Flawless, it was one of the good ones. Smooth, easy, fun, no (bad) drama! I think with this race we have really solidified our platform and now have a good car that can finish races. It’s time to start dialing in our stints, pit spots, and time to make the car a bit faster. This winter, we have built up a pretty healthy project list. Stay tuned for updates as I hope to get back in the swing up updating this here web-log.
ToDo, Winter 2011-2012:
Brake cooling
Fix the stripped oil pan plug
Fix the pin in our seat brace (it kept falling out in the position for chris/micah)
Build a charger box that has all the cradles for the radios and cables for phones and laptops. To try to avoid the chrager mess that happens in the pits.
Micah’s balacalva isn’t fitting him so great and gets uncomfortable after an hour or so, so does leo’s helmet. Gear upgrade time?
See if there is a permanent fix for the steering wheel adapter bolts.
Get our AIV down a little more (maybe an exhaust manifold?)
See if we can get our modified throttle body to work.
Another upgrade in tire width.
Time for a theme!
Work on our second motor, get it more ready… just in case.
… and many more I’m sure.
Having had that steering wheel adapter bolts fall out at Spokane (Mid corner) I recommend drilling all the way through the adapter and running at least 2 bolts to the backside with fiberlock nuts on the backside. Grade 8 bolts and nuts can be found at any hardware store and helps you sleep at night. The problem is you have steel bolts in a Aluminum adapter, and if the bolts loosened up once they will again because the threads in the aluminum are opened up from going back and forth with the steering wheel forces. Send me an email if you have questions.
Pony Excess, very good idea. I’m going to do that this weekend!
Was just Googling around to find some stuff on the race. I was driving the Clutch on Fire MR2 that had the 10 lap battle with you guys at about 1:30 pm local time (looking at timing sheet, it was 4.5 hours in to the race. I was fortunate to have already driven the track in the November race and in an earlier stint that day, so had some confidence in places and managed to find a way by you guys going up the hill. Of course, I ended up in the gravel due to a lockup going into the corkscrew a couple laps later, but was nice batting with you guys for a bit. I actually set my fastest lap on the lap I got past you, a 1:55.777. I posted a video of the battle here on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CHXNG84O2g