6/23/2006

SVTOA at Texas World Speedway

I went to TWS for the first time this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the track... until my engine stopped during the last session on Saturday. 

The new tow eyelets came in handy as the car was towed back to the paddock, and after a couple of failed attempts to push start it we decided it was well and truly broken and pushed it onto the trailer.

After disassembly and inspection, it appears that oil starvation was the culprit which caused a rod bearing failure, breaking a rod and causing all sorts of pandemonium to occur.

Here's a few pictures of the carnage.

We are in the process of building up a new LS2 402 stroker motor to replace it. 

In the meantime, the car is in the shop having a full roll cage installed.

Stay tuned for details and pictures.

6/17/2006

NASA HPDE at Hallett

As you can see by the picture above, the FRC has gained some stripes!  I patterned these after the 2004 Le Mans Commemorative edition stripes.

Click here for some more pictures that I took at the event.

SVTOA On-Track Nashville

This weekend I instructed at the SVTOA On-Track event at Nashville Superspeedway.  Although the transitions onto and off of the "roval" were abrupt, the track was otherwise enjoyable.  It was fun playing with the Ford GT and seeing some old friends.  Here are some pictures.

NASA HPDE at Hallett

This weekend we attended the NASA High Performance Driver Education event at Hallett.  This marked the first time I've been able to drive Hallett in the "right" direction in the FRC.  NASA put on a great event.  Here are some pictures.

Track Dawgs Tour 2005

This morning we've set off on the first leg of the 2005 Track Dawgs Tour.  Driving from Oklahoma to upstate New York today and tomorrow, our destination is Watkins Glen.  From there we'll head to Gingerman Raceway in Michigan, Autobahn in Illinois, Road America in Wisconsin, and finally to Putnam Park in Indiana.

We'll be posting updates and pictures to the Track Dawgs web site as the week progresses:

www.trackdawgs.com

Shannonville Motorsports Park, Ontario Canada

I spent the weekend at Shannonville Motorsports Park in Ontario, Canada at an SVTOA event with my friends Ron and Jonathan Blevins.  We were blessed with perfect weather and a lot of fun track time.

Over the course of the weekend we were able to run the course in four different configurations.  We also had the opportunity to ride in a Ford GT.

The car is doing very well and we are starting to get it sorted.  Jonathan was able to stick with the GT fairly well on the track which is pretty impressive considering the GT has around 130 RWHP over my car.

We ran GoodYear slicks on Saturday but unfortunately one of the rears was flat on Saturday morning due to a puncture.  We swapped the stock sized hard-as-a-rock Kumho Ecsta run-flats on and were amazed at how well the car did on them.

Here are some pictures from the event:

SVTOA, Shannonville, Ontario, Canada, August 2005

Videos coming soon.

Hallett Motor Racing Circuit

We took the FRC to the High Speed Touring Event at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit this weekend.

The car ran extremely strong with only a few minor troubles during the weekend.  It survived 105 degree ambient temps and we never saw coolant temp exceed 217 degrees.

We had some issues with tire rub due to the large slicks and we will likely be making some changes as a result.

Also, we suspect the PCV system is sucking oil into the intake as there were some instances of oil smoke under hard decelleration.  I will likely be installing a catch can to help this.  You can see the smoke coming from the exhaust in some of the pictures.

Unfortunately, one of the NAPA rotors cracked at the beginning of the last session on Sunday, so I don't think I will be buying any more of those.  At $25 each, they were a deal too good to be true.

All in all the car performed better than I hoped and there were no major problems.  We are heading up to Canada in two weeks for an SVTOA event, then on to Watkins Glen two weeks after that.

Here's a few pictures that I took.

Dyno Runs

I took the FRC in to Powerhouse Performance in Midwest City this morning for some dyno runs.

The car made 418 rear wheel horsepower (SAE Corrected) and 400 ft-lbs. of torque!

Needless to say I was pleased with the results as I was hoping for anything over 400 RWHP.

Here's an image of the DynoJet output (click on it for a larger version):

Also, I video taped the dyno runs so click on one of the links below to view the video:

Dyno Run 2 (320x240 1487 KB)

Dyno Run 2 (640x480 5670 KB)

I'd like to thank Glen Lipinksi for his excellent help in tuning the car and for showing me how to use the tuning software.

We will be taking the car up to Hallett for the first time this weekend to see how it performs on a road course.

OK SCCA Autocross

Went autocrossing with the Oklahoma Region SCCA again today with my friend and co-driver Jonathan Blevins.

Unfortunately, Jonathan didn't set the fast time of the day as he did the last time we went autocrossing.  He was outpaced by a shifter kart.  OK, so he did set the fast time of the day for vehicles that weigh more than 500 lbs.  Nice job!

The car ran great and handled amazingly.  The car has gobs of extra power now and the exhaust sounds great!  I'm looking forward to seeing how it does at Hallett in a couple of weeks.

Here's a whole bunch of pictures that we took.

Engine Upgrades

After the OKSCCA autocross on 5/29/05, low to no oil pressure was indicated by my gauges.  Connecting an oil pressure tester confirmed the lack of oil pressure, prompting me to begin tearing the engine down in order to replace the oil pump.  As it turns out, the oil pressure relief valve had stuck open, which I understand is relatively common for these cars.

Since the engine is apart anyway, I decided to upgrade to a set of AFR heads, a Comp Cams camshaft, and Kooks long tube headers.  This should increase engine performance substantially while still maintaining excellent driveablility.

As of today, I'm about halfway done with the work as I've reached the reassembly stage.

Here are pictures of the work in progress.  Check back as will be updating these periodically.

United States Grand Prix, Indianapolis Motor Speedway

I think this photo of Ralf Schumacher shortly after his crash on Friday pretty much sums up the whole USGP 2005 experience for me.

I spent this past weekend in Indianapolis at the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix.  We were blessed with excellent weather and exciting practice sessions.  Unfortunately a series of Michelin tire failures inflicted upon the Toyota team eventually turned the race into the most incredible debacles in Formula 1 history.

During the second Friday practice, Ricardo Zonta experienced a rear tire failure which put him into the gravel, then a few minutes later Ralf Schumacher's tire failed and he crashed into the wall in turn 13 and slid right in front of where we were sitting.  Here's a series of pictures that I shot during the crash:

Pictures of Ralf Schumacher Crash

In many of the pictures you can see the damage to the left rear tire that failed.  The crash was eerily reminiscent of Ralf's crash last year in which he suffered a serious back injury.  The speedway installed a new barrier called a "Safer Barrier" which seemed to be effective, since Ralf was able to walk away from the crash.  It was later announced that Ralf would not be participating in the race and would be replaced by Zonta.  Little did we know at the time that there would be a multitude of other drivers that would not be participating in the race.

On Saturday, rumors circulated that Michelin had declared the tires unsafe for use during the race, and during the practice before qualifying, all of the Michelin drivers were bypassing turn 13 altogether, instead driving through the pit road and back out on to the circuit.  It was said that Michelin was flying over a new set of tires from France, and that they had petitioned the FIA to allow the teams to switch to these tires without penalty.  Qualifying continued without incident, with Jarno Trulli capturing the pole position (reportedly with an extremely light fuel load because of the importance of the U.S. market to Toyota).  Later in the afternoon we watched an exciting Porsche Supercup race and an Infiniti Pro Series race in which Marco Andretti (son of Michael, grandson of Mario) led from pole and won easily.

On Saturday evening, we decided to go downtown for dinner, and we ended up following a caravan of Ferrari mechanics to their hotel.  As we left the hotel, Rubens Barrichello and his entourage passed right by us.  We followed them down to an area where there were many restaurants and ended up eating at a nice Japanese sushi restaurant along with Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren-Mercedes.  It was quite an experience seeing these famous drivers out on the town.

On Sunday morning, we arrived at the track in time to watch the Porsche Supercup race, which would turn out to be the most exciting race of the day.  Because we were equipped with radio scanners, we were able to listen in on the Speed TV radio chatter, and we knew something was up long before many other fans in the crowd.  It was learned that the Michelin teams had requested that a chicane be installed before turn 13 to slow the corner down.  It was said that they would not race unless this change was made.  It was also said that the FIA had denied the request and that there was some danger that the FIA would withdraw from the race and remove it from the championship and the teams might then race for show only.  As we listened in anticipation to find out what would happen with the tire situation, the drivers were introduced and the cars were lined up on the grid.  The Speed TV announcers said that the teams were in a meeting and that they were working to reach a compromise.  For a moment it looked like race might actually happen, but it was not meant to be.

The crowd was almost entirely caught off guard by what happened next.  The cars rolled off on their reconnaissance lap, and as they completed the lap, all of the Michelin shod teams rolled into the pits one by one.  Some of the team mechanics looked as if they were going to perform a pit stop, while other teams simply rolled their cars back into the garages.

Only the six Bridgestone cars took the start, and the race became a Bridgestone tire test with Ferrari taking a 1 - 2 finish and moving them up to second place tie in the constructor's championship.  During the race, some unruly fans threw beer cans and water bottles onto the racing surface, but I think overall the crowd was pretty restrained given the circumstances.  We retired to the motorhome shortly after the beer cans started flying to watch the remainder of the race on Speed TV via satellite.

As a fan, I was extremely disappointed with what transpired, but I feel that the FIA has handled the situation appropriately.  It was entirely Michelin's fault for not bringing suitable tires to the race.  Changing the course to accommodate this error would have been a dangerous precedent to set.  Besides, had the situation been reversed and the problem belonged to Bridgestone, I don't doubt for a minute that the Michelin teams would have agreed to such a change.

In the aftermath, I have read and heard many people blaming the problem on Ferrari and their unwillingness to compromise and their refusal to participate in the boycott.  I think Ferrari, Jordan, Minardi, and Bridgestone should be praised for getting out there and running in the race as they were expected to do.  I also agree with the FIA's statement that the Michelin teams could have participated in the race and used lower speeds in turn 13 as dictated by their inferior tires, rather than turning the race into the debacle that it became.

The cost to the fans was great, and the damage to Formula 1 in the United States may be irreparable.

Here are some more photos we shot during the weekend.

5/29/2005

OKSCCA Autocross

Sticker 12" wide Goodyear racing slicks on CCW wheels +

Penske 8100 double adjustable coil-over racing shocks +

Digital scales and and alignment tools required to set it all up =

Fast Time of The Day by my friend and co-driver Jonathan Blevins at the local OKSCCA autocross!

Click here for some more pictures from the autocross.
 

5/21/2005

Intake Swap

I've completed the installation of an LS6 (Z06) intake manifold and PCV system.  My oil pressure sender had failed and replacing it required the removal of the intake, so it seemed like a good time to swap out the intake as well.  The install went easily once I had all of the right parts.  The car does seem to run a little stronger now.

Here are a few pictures.

5/10/2005

Suspension Tweaks

I spent most of the morning adjusting the ride height and this afternoon I took the car in for an alignment.  It rides and drives much better now.  Here's a picture with it raised:

Next up: corner weighting.

5/07/2005

Suspension Upgrades Completed

Today we got the car put back together by getting the brakes installed and bled.

The ride height in the front is way to low and will have to be raised, but the car runs and drives again and rides well.

Next up is a four wheel alignment and then we will corner weight it with my new Intercomp scales that arrived yesterday:

Click here for a gallery of pictures I've been accumulating of the suspension upgrades.

5/02/2005

Suspension Upgrades, Continued

Getting everything re-assembled now.  Most of the suspension is back on.  My son Preston helped me re-assemble the rear suspension and install the Baer bump steer adjustable tie-rod ends.  With a little more work I should have it driving again by next weekend hopefully.

Here's a picture of the Penske shocks and coilovers that arrived last week:

I had to go get a bottle of nitrogen to fill them with.

Click here for a gallery of pictures I've been accumulating of the suspension upgrades.

4/26/2005

Suspension Upgrades, Continued

While I had everything apart I wanted to install some longer wheel studs with speed start noses on them, but was surprised to find that the ones that ARP makes to fit my car do not have the speed start, even though the rest of their parts do.

I talked with Doug Rippie Motorsports and they informed me that GM Performance parts had some available so I ordered them from my local Chevy dealer and they were exactly what I was looking for.  They are approximately 30mm longer than the stock studs, have a nice long speed start nose and are made from 6177 Chrome Vanadium alloy.  Nice!  Here's a couple of pictures of them:

I bought a set of slightly used Penske 8100 double adjustable racing shocks from the same guy I sold my last set of CCW's to. Small world. I'm converting them to a coil-over setup.

According to Penske, the shocks are designed to be used as coil-overs with a threaded body, and normally ship with the required hardware to run them this way. Unfortunately these shocks were originally sourced from Mallett and did not include the required hardware.

I discovered that Penske will sell you the hardware directly and it's a good thing because Mallett wants $1400 for it with a set of springs and some welding. Mallett claims that lower rear shock mounts aren't optimal and routinely welds a new bracket to the lower control arm when running these as coil-overs. Whether this is truly an appropriate modification I'll never know because I won't be doing business with Mallett.

When I called Chuck Mallett to price necessary coil-over hardware, at first he told me that I was "on my own" and that I should get on the Internet and do some research. He changed his tune a little once I made it sound like I might be interested in paying the full price for his coil-over kit, but with his attitude I don't think I want to do any business with him.

At this point I want to put in a good word for LG Motorsports in Wylie, TX.

I originally ordered a coil-over setup from them back in February. While I was originally a little disappointed by the fact that they charged my credit card before shipping the parts, that my order was delayed, and with the general lack of communication on their part, I must say that I was pleased that when I finally decided to cancel my order they credited my card with no questions asked.

When I contacted Hypercoils for a spring rate recommendation, they referred me to Matt at LG Motorsports since they do a lot of C5 tuning, and Matt made a recommendation for the appropriate spring rates and lengths as a starting point and even priced them to me for less than what Coleman lists them at. They'll continue to get my business.  Hopefully they'll get better at keeping their customers apprised of their order status in the future.

4/18/2005

Suspension Upgrades

I've been working on some suspension upgrades to the FRC.  I've removed the entire suspension and installed VB&P graphite impregnated polyurethane bushings which should help to reduce suspension bind.

Here's a few pictures I took.

2/24/2005

As of today I'm a Corvette owner again!!!

I found a great deal on a white, one-owner, 2000 FRC down in Texas that I just couldn't pass up.  The car was originally ordered at Bob Howard Chevrolet here in Edmond, OK and the previous owner is from here originally.  The moment I saw the ad on Autotrader I knew I'd found my next car.  The car was ordered with just about every option that was available:  HUD, polished wheels, active handling, climage control, fog lamps, etc.

I'd like thank my friend Jonathan Blevins for driving me all the way down to Arlington to pick it up!!

Here are some more pictures I took.