Well, it was great to get back on track.
With the help of the son of one of the previous owners of my previous
car, two weekend days of work leading up to this past weekend put the
car almost back together (although that "almost" came back to bite me a little bit). We went through the car—checked and bled the brakes and clutch, changed the engine oil and made sure everything was properly
bolted, and when it was all done, we discovered that:
1. We needed new brake pads all around.
No problem! Our local race supplier, (shameless plug for Frank Micucci
of driversedgeautosport.com) promised to have brake pads for me first
thing Saturday morning and changing pads on a formula car such as mine
is normally a 15 minute job at most.
2. The battery needed to be replaced. The car has an alternator, so it
will run if started with a jump battery, but then you need someone to
come to pre-grid to jump you again when the one minute signal is given,
and if you should happen to kill the engine in a spin... ...well, not
having a working battery makes for too many problems.
No problem! After much searching for a less expensive option than the Odyssey PC545 (now renamed ODS-AGM15L) which really was overkill for a
car that wasn't running a total loss system (thanks to the Honda engine
rule requiring that an alternator be included) and which was out of
stock in the locations that had it for the best price, I found out that lithium-ion batteries have come down in price a lot, and I could get a
200A (cranking amps) NOCO NLP5 for $127 from Amazon with free 2-day delivery. 1.5lb vs 11.4lb.
So all was looking good, except:
1. It appears that quality control at Hawk Performance isn't all it used
to be, and when I went to install my new Hawk "Blue" pads into the LD20 calipers... ...they wouldn't fit! At first, I assumed I hadn't retracted
the caliper pistons far enough, but closer inspection showed that it was
the overall width of the backing plate that was just marginally too big.
It appears that the backing plates are punched out of sheet steel and
the punching dies are starting to wear out.
Fortunately, in a racing paddock you have neighbours and my neighbour
(and good friend) Marty Knoll (shameless plug for MK Technologies; maker
of quality pit equipment for racing at almost every level) had a trailer with both an angle grinder, a vise, and electric power (note to self:
add DeWalt cordless angle grinder to my tool arsenal), and so I was
looking at the depressing prospect of spending perhaps 30-40 minutes grinding down the width of 8 pads so that they'd fit properly.
Even more fortunately, when I grabbed the first pad of the 8 to fit onto
my car, I by chance grabbed the one that fit the worse of all of them.
So the grinding ended up taking only 15 minutes or so. But still, that's
a 15 minute job that ended up being 30-40 minutes; maybe even a few more
as I discovered I'd run out of the cotter pins that we use to hold the
pads in place and I had to round up some new ones.
2. And I'd forgotten just what a pain it was to get beneath the cover
that reveals both the battery and the car's ECU and actually change the battery. It was clear that it was worth removing one of the front suspension's coil-over dampers to gain better access. And then...
...I hadn't reckoned with the fact that the new battery was a lot
shorter from terminal to terminal than the Odyssey I was replacing. The Odyssey was 5.56" between terminals and the NLP5 from NOCO was only 4.5" long overall. Fortunately, the NOCO had enough different options for connecting the main leads that I was able to use the connection from the side of the battery to make everything fit.
So with both of those jobs running long (and with a 20 minute forced
hiatus in the time before the first session for the drivers meeting), I ended up missing the practice/qualifying session for the combined open
wheel and sports racers group. Honestly, not a big deal, but it did mean that I would have to bed my brakes on the pace lap for the first race
(which was pretty easy as I was starting from the back and I wasn't
changing compounds anyway).
So, first race (and all of these sessions are short in vintage racing—15 minutes) I started from the back of the pack, hung back enough that I
could do "lunges" forward followed by hard braking to get enough heat
into the pads and rotors, and when the green flag dropped, I quickly got
by all the Formula Vees, the very slowest of the Formula Fs and worked
my way past Erle and Keith and was hoping that the race would last long enough that I could close up on the single FC in the field and take the outright victory (he was a novice, and I'd already noticed on the
practice day Friday that he wasn't yet running good enough lines, so
there was probably a chance). No luck. I don't have times yet, but first
in FF, second overall and I was probably 2-3 seconds faster than the
next fasted FF even running on two year old used tires.
Next race, my best time in Race 1 meant that I was gridded 2nd next to
the FC, so I figured I was in with a chance of winning outright. As the
race started, I found it pretty easy to keep up with him on the first lap—not really a surprise, but I think it surprised him and so after keeping pace with him for all of lap 1 and most of lap 2, he eased off a little in turn 9 of that lap and let me by. Talking to him afterwards,
he confirmed what I thought at the time: he wanted to watch my lines for
a while and figure out how a 1.5l Formula F Honda with maybe 118
horsepower could keep up with his 145hp Pinto-engined FC. And for the
next however-many laps of the race we did that. And he learned that if
you want to be fast, you have to use ALL the road.
I'll post a video shortly and you can see for yourself how much room he leaves on corner exit.
But for the last 3 laps of the race, he clearly felt that he'd learned enough, and I sensed that he was going to try and get back past me for
the win. And that's when he learned that being faster and getting past someone are two very different things.
Unless you have so much greater power and speed on the straights (and assuming you drive a line that lets you unleash that speed and power at
the corner that exits onto the straight), you're going to have to pass
in a braking zone at the end of the straight. And suddenly, I wasn't
driving a line that used all the width of the track—entering from wide
and exiting from wide. Suddenly, I was braking for each corner where
there was a realistic opportunity to pass from the MIDDLE of the track.
For three laps, I defended each time he was in a position to make a late-braking pass attempt.
The first time I did it in turn 1 of the ante-penultimate lap, he tried
to late-brake and go around the outside of me, and that is almost never
a winning strategy unless you're trying it in the first of two linked corners. Then outside becomes inside in the second corner...
...but then of course, you'd defend that differently. 😎
So for three laps, I frustrated all his attempts to get around me, and I took the outright race win.
Tomorrow would tell a different story, but we'll get to that.
Well, it was great to get back on track.I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
Well, it was great to get back on track.
On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
Well, it was great to get back on track.I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
Sunday morning dawned (very, very thankfully) under cooler temperatures, cloudy skies and even a very small amount of rain. The high for the day
was forecast to be down from too high to something that was at least bearable. That having been said, it still ended up a day where hydration
was key. I think I drank 2-2.5 litres of water.
I arrive at the track at about 8am with very little to do, and as we
were going to be the first group out for warm-up, and as it was going to
be a track just damp enough to need rain tires, but which would dry out quickly enough that you'd then destroy your rain tires...
...I just decided to give the warm-up a pass. I'd learned all I needed
to learn about the track (where the new bumps were, where the organizers
had added penalty cones for track limits violations, etc), and about the
car (I need to add some rear brake bias.
So I thought I'd have nothing more to do than to add a little nitrogen
to my tires (American Racers tend to leak a little—especially the highly cantilevered rear tires, and so need refilling at least once when the
day begins), give the brake bias knob a couple of turns to "more rear",
and unpack for the day.
But then I noticed a 6" diameter puddle of oil right below the Van
Diemen's combined bell-housing/oil tank/oil overflow tank. What's more
from the colour and odor, it could be gearbox oil.
I was all set to start looking at the bottom of the car for any
indication of where the oil was coming from when my shared crewman, Tom, noticed the faint trail of oil from the sight glass of the overflow
tank. Since I started running the car in 2018, I'd never seen any
indication that the overflow tank was full, but it certainly was now
(after we'd changed the engine oil and as all racers do: added enough to make sure that some would end up in the overflow tank).
No problem! (Are we sensing a theme, here? 😉). I'll just find a catch
pan (my own having been accidentally left at the shop, take out the
small drain plug, and seal it all back up!
Only no one had one close handy either. But Erle had what appeared to be
an aluminum tray for baked goods (muffins or maybe cinnamon buns) that
might do the job. It was certainly short enough to fit beneath the drain hole with the car only up on short stands.
I took out the drain plug, and out came the oil, and... ...that catch
tank was pretty big. I started to get concerned that we might be
overflowing the available vessel, but...
No problem!
...the flow started to slow as it got higher and higher in the tray, and
I thought I was in the clear...
...when it became apparent that there was a hole in the tray a little
more than half way up. And now I had a 3 feet in diameter puddle of oil
in my paddock space. Lots of oil absorbents later, it was gone.
Let's get to the racing.
First race of the day, as the day before, the grid was set from the
fastest laps done in the race before that. Warm-up was just that; not a qualifying session. So the FC was on pole and I was gridded next to him. This time, when the flag dropped, Chris had clearly learned a lot from watching me drive (his best lap this race was nearly 2 seconds faster
than his best from Saturday), and there was no way I was going to be
able to keep pace with him. And John, in the Mallock sports racer with a
2 litre tuned Vauxhall engine was going to be my fight, and it ended up being a fair fight. He could pull away for a while, but only by using
his brakes to the point where they'd overheat and he'd have to moderate
his pace.
So the finish was: 1. Chris in the FC; 2. John in the sports racer 37 seconds back; 3. me in the Van Diemen less than a second behind John.
Still a pretty good result for running on 2 year old tires.
The next race (race 5 of the event) at the egging-on of my crew, I
pulled the restrictor to see if it might be possible to run with the FC
and beat the Mallock. It wasn't—possible to run with the FC; he still
had about a 12% horsepower advantage as well as downforce and Hoosier
tires. The Mallock had problems and so didn't factor.
What WAS cool, though, is that there was an original Lotus 41 Formula 2
car from the late 1960s that was being driven by Doug (not that Doug; another Doug) who normally drove a Dodge Viper. It had much more rubber
than mine and while the engine was a 1.6 litre mill, it was a Cosworth
FVA engine with WAY more horsepower than any Formula F; Ford or Honda.
The Cosworth FVA was a "proof of concept" engine designed to show Ford
what Cosworth could do before they built the famous Ford-Cosworth DFV.
It makes something on the order of 200-225hp.
The only saving grace was that this was Doug's first time running the car—his first time in any open wheel racer, so it was taking him a while to come to grips with it. This led to us having a super-fun dice with
him leading off the start, me passing him for 2nd place, then him
passing me again as he got better and better in the car. Our regular on-track photographer, Brent Martin...
(shameless plug: martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com)
...was at turn 3 and he must have got dozens of shots of the two cars, separate by at least 30 years, going through nose to tail.
In the end, Doug got the better of the battle, but it was so much fun to
be a part of (and I wasn't bright enough to have had my GoPro mounted
for the race!), and we finished:
1. FC; 2. Lotus 41 F2; 3. Me VD RF98-2 FF only 1.2 seconds behind Doug.
And for the last race... ...well... ...I was already gassed. It might
not have been as hot as Saturday, but it was hot enough.
I simply decided to relax, and ease off to play with Erle Archer in his
1979 Tiga. I left the restrictor pulled, but I played games with myself
by going through corners in one gear too high, or not using all the
throttle down the straight...
...and in the end...
...because this was the race for which you get a plaque as the
"Abbotsford Trophy" winner in FF...
...I backed off coming off turn 9 to let a legal FF take the checkered
flag.
As the race played out, Erle was leading as we started the final lap,
but he left the door too wide open to pass up entering turn 2, and I
felt I needed to get past him once more for the fun of it. Then I left
the door open in turn 3, and he didn't pass.
So I did the only thing that seemed right.
All-in-all, a great weekend of racing just for fun; no points. We saw
some people and cars that don't normally come out, including Ross
Bentley...
(shameless plug: speedsecrets.com)
...an alumnus of racing with the SCCBC who went on to drive
(occasionally) in IndyCar, and who has become a highly sought-after
driving coach.
Now, there are three weekends left in the season, and I hope to make all three. I think I can win all 9 of the races, but I suspect that with the points lower (because there will probably be fewer FF drivers out), I
don't think that I can win the club championship.
Still, there are some folks who didn't make it out to the "Historics"
that I'd still like to see on the track.
Cheers!
On 8/13/2024 4:40 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
Well, it was great to get back on track.I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
Sunday morning dawned (very, very thankfully) under cooler
temperatures, cloudy skies and even a very small amount of rain. The
high for the day was forecast to be down from too high to something
that was at least bearable. That having been said, it still ended up a
day where hydration was key. I think I drank 2-2.5 litres of water.
I arrive at the track at about 8am with very little to do, and as we
were going to be the first group out for warm-up, and as it was going
to be a track just damp enough to need rain tires, but which would dry
out quickly enough that you'd then destroy your rain tires...
...I just decided to give the warm-up a pass. I'd learned all I needed
to learn about the track (where the new bumps were, where the
organizers had added penalty cones for track limits violations, etc),
and about the car (I need to add some rear brake bias.
So I thought I'd have nothing more to do than to add a little nitrogen
to my tires (American Racers tend to leak a little—especially the
highly cantilevered rear tires, and so need refilling at least once
when the day begins), give the brake bias knob a couple of turns to
"more rear", and unpack for the day.
But then I noticed a 6" diameter puddle of oil right below the Van
Diemen's combined bell-housing/oil tank/oil overflow tank. What's more
from the colour and odor, it could be gearbox oil.
I was all set to start looking at the bottom of the car for any
indication of where the oil was coming from when my shared crewman,
Tom, noticed the faint trail of oil from the sight glass of the
overflow tank. Since I started running the car in 2018, I'd never seen
any indication that the overflow tank was full, but it certainly was
now (after we'd changed the engine oil and as all racers do: added
enough to make sure that some would end up in the overflow tank).
No problem! (Are we sensing a theme, here? 😉). I'll just find a catch
pan (my own having been accidentally left at the shop, take out the
small drain plug, and seal it all back up!
Only no one had one close handy either. But Erle had what appeared to
be an aluminum tray for baked goods (muffins or maybe cinnamon buns)
that might do the job. It was certainly short enough to fit beneath
the drain hole with the car only up on short stands.
I took out the drain plug, and out came the oil, and... ...that catch
tank was pretty big. I started to get concerned that we might be
overflowing the available vessel, but...
No problem!
...the flow started to slow as it got higher and higher in the tray,
and I thought I was in the clear...
...when it became apparent that there was a hole in the tray a little
more than half way up. And now I had a 3 feet in diameter puddle of
oil in my paddock space. Lots of oil absorbents later, it was gone.
Let's get to the racing.
First race of the day, as the day before, the grid was set from the
fastest laps done in the race before that. Warm-up was just that; not
a qualifying session. So the FC was on pole and I was gridded next to
him. This time, when the flag dropped, Chris had clearly learned a lot
from watching me drive (his best lap this race was nearly 2 seconds
faster than his best from Saturday), and there was no way I was going
to be able to keep pace with him. And John, in the Mallock sports
racer with a 2 litre tuned Vauxhall engine was going to be my fight,
and it ended up being a fair fight. He could pull away for a while,
but only by using his brakes to the point where they'd overheat and
he'd have to moderate his pace.
So the finish was: 1. Chris in the FC; 2. John in the sports racer 37
seconds back; 3. me in the Van Diemen less than a second behind John.
Still a pretty good result for running on 2 year old tires.
The next race (race 5 of the event) at the egging-on of my crew, I
pulled the restrictor to see if it might be possible to run with the
FC and beat the Mallock. It wasn't—possible to run with the FC; he
still had about a 12% horsepower advantage as well as downforce and
Hoosier tires. The Mallock had problems and so didn't factor.
What WAS cool, though, is that there was an original Lotus 41 Formula
2 car from the late 1960s that was being driven by Doug (not that
Doug; another Doug) who normally drove a Dodge Viper. It had much more
rubber than mine and while the engine was a 1.6 litre mill, it was a
Cosworth FVA engine with WAY more horsepower than any Formula F; Ford
or Honda.
The Cosworth FVA was a "proof of concept" engine designed to show Ford
what Cosworth could do before they built the famous Ford-Cosworth DFV.
It makes something on the order of 200-225hp.
The only saving grace was that this was Doug's first time running the
car—his first time in any open wheel racer, so it was taking him a
while to come to grips with it. This led to us having a super-fun dice
with him leading off the start, me passing him for 2nd place, then him
passing me again as he got better and better in the car. Our regular
on-track photographer, Brent Martin...
(shameless plug: martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com)
...was at turn 3 and he must have got dozens of shots of the two cars,
separate by at least 30 years, going through nose to tail.
In the end, Doug got the better of the battle, but it was so much fun
to be a part of (and I wasn't bright enough to have had my GoPro
mounted for the race!), and we finished:
1. FC; 2. Lotus 41 F2; 3. Me VD RF98-2 FF only 1.2 seconds behind Doug.
And for the last race... ...well... ...I was already gassed. It might
not have been as hot as Saturday, but it was hot enough.
I simply decided to relax, and ease off to play with Erle Archer in
his 1979 Tiga. I left the restrictor pulled, but I played games with
myself by going through corners in one gear too high, or not using all
the throttle down the straight...
...and in the end...
...because this was the race for which you get a plaque as the
"Abbotsford Trophy" winner in FF...
...I backed off coming off turn 9 to let a legal FF take the checkered
flag.
As the race played out, Erle was leading as we started the final lap,
but he left the door too wide open to pass up entering turn 2, and I
felt I needed to get past him once more for the fun of it. Then I left
the door open in turn 3, and he didn't pass.
So I did the only thing that seemed right.
All-in-all, a great weekend of racing just for fun; no points. We saw
some people and cars that don't normally come out, including Ross
Bentley...
(shameless plug: speedsecrets.com)
...an alumnus of racing with the SCCBC who went on to drive
(occasionally) in IndyCar, and who has become a highly sought-after
driving coach.
Now, there are three weekends left in the season, and I hope to make
all three. I think I can win all 9 of the races, but I suspect that
with the points lower (because there will probably be fewer FF drivers
out), I don't think that I can win the club championship.
Still, there are some folks who didn't make it out to the "Historics"
that I'd still like to see on the track.
Cheers!
So to sum up, absent Floer, McKay and others, Alan Baker can beat the
few FF back-runners left that he has regularly beaten easily in the past.
On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
Well, it was great to get back on track.
And here's the only video from the weekend:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVuZ8X978iM>
On 2024-08-17 13:12, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/13/2024 4:40 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
Well, it was great to get back on track.I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
Sunday morning dawned (very, very thankfully) under cooler
temperatures, cloudy skies and even a very small amount of rain. The
high for the day was forecast to be down from too high to something
that was at least bearable. That having been said, it still ended up
a day where hydration was key. I think I drank 2-2.5 litres of water.
I arrive at the track at about 8am with very little to do, and as we
were going to be the first group out for warm-up, and as it was going
to be a track just damp enough to need rain tires, but which would
dry out quickly enough that you'd then destroy your rain tires...
...I just decided to give the warm-up a pass. I'd learned all I
needed to learn about the track (where the new bumps were, where the
organizers had added penalty cones for track limits violations, etc),
and about the car (I need to add some rear brake bias.
So I thought I'd have nothing more to do than to add a little
nitrogen to my tires (American Racers tend to leak a
little—especially the highly cantilevered rear tires, and so need
refilling at least once when the day begins), give the brake bias
knob a couple of turns to "more rear", and unpack for the day.
But then I noticed a 6" diameter puddle of oil right below the Van
Diemen's combined bell-housing/oil tank/oil overflow tank. What's
more from the colour and odor, it could be gearbox oil.
I was all set to start looking at the bottom of the car for any
indication of where the oil was coming from when my shared crewman,
Tom, noticed the faint trail of oil from the sight glass of the
overflow tank. Since I started running the car in 2018, I'd never
seen any indication that the overflow tank was full, but it certainly
was now (after we'd changed the engine oil and as all racers do:
added enough to make sure that some would end up in the overflow tank).
No problem! (Are we sensing a theme, here? 😉). I'll just find a
catch pan (my own having been accidentally left at the shop, take out
the small drain plug, and seal it all back up!
Only no one had one close handy either. But Erle had what appeared to
be an aluminum tray for baked goods (muffins or maybe cinnamon buns)
that might do the job. It was certainly short enough to fit beneath
the drain hole with the car only up on short stands.
I took out the drain plug, and out came the oil, and... ...that catch
tank was pretty big. I started to get concerned that we might be
overflowing the available vessel, but...
No problem!
...the flow started to slow as it got higher and higher in the tray,
and I thought I was in the clear...
...when it became apparent that there was a hole in the tray a little
more than half way up. And now I had a 3 feet in diameter puddle of
oil in my paddock space. Lots of oil absorbents later, it was gone.
Let's get to the racing.
First race of the day, as the day before, the grid was set from the
fastest laps done in the race before that. Warm-up was just that; not
a qualifying session. So the FC was on pole and I was gridded next to
him. This time, when the flag dropped, Chris had clearly learned a
lot from watching me drive (his best lap this race was nearly 2
seconds faster than his best from Saturday), and there was no way I
was going to be able to keep pace with him. And John, in the Mallock
sports racer with a 2 litre tuned Vauxhall engine was going to be my
fight, and it ended up being a fair fight. He could pull away for a
while, but only by using his brakes to the point where they'd
overheat and he'd have to moderate his pace.
So the finish was: 1. Chris in the FC; 2. John in the sports racer 37
seconds back; 3. me in the Van Diemen less than a second behind John.
Still a pretty good result for running on 2 year old tires.
The next race (race 5 of the event) at the egging-on of my crew, I
pulled the restrictor to see if it might be possible to run with the
FC and beat the Mallock. It wasn't—possible to run with the FC; he
still had about a 12% horsepower advantage as well as downforce and
Hoosier tires. The Mallock had problems and so didn't factor.
What WAS cool, though, is that there was an original Lotus 41 Formula
2 car from the late 1960s that was being driven by Doug (not that
Doug; another Doug) who normally drove a Dodge Viper. It had much
more rubber than mine and while the engine was a 1.6 litre mill, it
was a Cosworth FVA engine with WAY more horsepower than any Formula
F; Ford or Honda.
The Cosworth FVA was a "proof of concept" engine designed to show
Ford what Cosworth could do before they built the famous
Ford-Cosworth DFV. It makes something on the order of 200-225hp.
The only saving grace was that this was Doug's first time running the
car—his first time in any open wheel racer, so it was taking him a
while to come to grips with it. This led to us having a super-fun
dice with him leading off the start, me passing him for 2nd place,
then him passing me again as he got better and better in the car. Our
regular on-track photographer, Brent Martin...
(shameless plug: martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com)
...was at turn 3 and he must have got dozens of shots of the two
cars, separate by at least 30 years, going through nose to tail.
In the end, Doug got the better of the battle, but it was so much fun
to be a part of (and I wasn't bright enough to have had my GoPro
mounted for the race!), and we finished:
1. FC; 2. Lotus 41 F2; 3. Me VD RF98-2 FF only 1.2 seconds behind Doug.
And for the last race... ...well... ...I was already gassed. It might
not have been as hot as Saturday, but it was hot enough.
I simply decided to relax, and ease off to play with Erle Archer in
his 1979 Tiga. I left the restrictor pulled, but I played games with
myself by going through corners in one gear too high, or not using
all the throttle down the straight...
...and in the end...
...because this was the race for which you get a plaque as the
"Abbotsford Trophy" winner in FF...
...I backed off coming off turn 9 to let a legal FF take the
checkered flag.
As the race played out, Erle was leading as we started the final lap,
but he left the door too wide open to pass up entering turn 2, and I
felt I needed to get past him once more for the fun of it. Then I
left the door open in turn 3, and he didn't pass.
So I did the only thing that seemed right.
All-in-all, a great weekend of racing just for fun; no points. We saw
some people and cars that don't normally come out, including Ross
Bentley...
(shameless plug: speedsecrets.com)
...an alumnus of racing with the SCCBC who went on to drive
(occasionally) in IndyCar, and who has become a highly sought-after
driving coach.
Now, there are three weekends left in the season, and I hope to make
all three. I think I can win all 9 of the races, but I suspect that
with the points lower (because there will probably be fewer FF
drivers out), I don't think that I can win the club championship.
Still, there are some folks who didn't make it out to the "Historics"
that I'd still like to see on the track.
Cheers!
So to sum up, absent Floer, McKay and others, Alan Baker can beat the
few FF back-runners left that he has regularly beaten easily in the past.
LOL!
And stay with a Formula 2 car with close to double the horsepower.
And beat an FC car with:
More than 20% more horsepower.
Stickier tires
Downforce.
All while on two year old tires.
:-)
On 8/17/2024 6:13 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-17 13:12, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/13/2024 4:40 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
Well, it was great to get back on track.I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
Sunday morning dawned (very, very thankfully) under cooler
temperatures, cloudy skies and even a very small amount of rain. The
high for the day was forecast to be down from too high to something
that was at least bearable. That having been said, it still ended up
a day where hydration was key. I think I drank 2-2.5 litres of water.
I arrive at the track at about 8am with very little to do, and as we
were going to be the first group out for warm-up, and as it was
going to be a track just damp enough to need rain tires, but which
would dry out quickly enough that you'd then destroy your rain tires... >>>>
...I just decided to give the warm-up a pass. I'd learned all I
needed to learn about the track (where the new bumps were, where the
organizers had added penalty cones for track limits violations,
etc), and about the car (I need to add some rear brake bias.
So I thought I'd have nothing more to do than to add a little
nitrogen to my tires (American Racers tend to leak a
little—especially the highly cantilevered rear tires, and so need
refilling at least once when the day begins), give the brake bias
knob a couple of turns to "more rear", and unpack for the day.
But then I noticed a 6" diameter puddle of oil right below the Van
Diemen's combined bell-housing/oil tank/oil overflow tank. What's
more from the colour and odor, it could be gearbox oil.
I was all set to start looking at the bottom of the car for any
indication of where the oil was coming from when my shared crewman,
Tom, noticed the faint trail of oil from the sight glass of the
overflow tank. Since I started running the car in 2018, I'd never
seen any indication that the overflow tank was full, but it
certainly was now (after we'd changed the engine oil and as all
racers do: added enough to make sure that some would end up in the
overflow tank).
No problem! (Are we sensing a theme, here? 😉). I'll just find a
catch pan (my own having been accidentally left at the shop, take
out the small drain plug, and seal it all back up!
Only no one had one close handy either. But Erle had what appeared
to be an aluminum tray for baked goods (muffins or maybe cinnamon
buns) that might do the job. It was certainly short enough to fit
beneath the drain hole with the car only up on short stands.
I took out the drain plug, and out came the oil, and... ...that
catch tank was pretty big. I started to get concerned that we might
be overflowing the available vessel, but...
No problem!
...the flow started to slow as it got higher and higher in the tray,
and I thought I was in the clear...
...when it became apparent that there was a hole in the tray a
little more than half way up. And now I had a 3 feet in diameter
puddle of oil in my paddock space. Lots of oil absorbents later, it
was gone.
Let's get to the racing.
First race of the day, as the day before, the grid was set from the
fastest laps done in the race before that. Warm-up was just that;
not a qualifying session. So the FC was on pole and I was gridded
next to him. This time, when the flag dropped, Chris had clearly
learned a lot from watching me drive (his best lap this race was
nearly 2 seconds faster than his best from Saturday), and there was
no way I was going to be able to keep pace with him. And John, in
the Mallock sports racer with a 2 litre tuned Vauxhall engine was
going to be my fight, and it ended up being a fair fight. He could
pull away for a while, but only by using his brakes to the point
where they'd overheat and he'd have to moderate his pace.
So the finish was: 1. Chris in the FC; 2. John in the sports racer
37 seconds back; 3. me in the Van Diemen less than a second behind
John.
Still a pretty good result for running on 2 year old tires.
The next race (race 5 of the event) at the egging-on of my crew, I
pulled the restrictor to see if it might be possible to run with the
FC and beat the Mallock. It wasn't—possible to run with the FC; he
still had about a 12% horsepower advantage as well as downforce and
Hoosier tires. The Mallock had problems and so didn't factor.
What WAS cool, though, is that there was an original Lotus 41
Formula 2 car from the late 1960s that was being driven by Doug (not
that Doug; another Doug) who normally drove a Dodge Viper. It had
much more rubber than mine and while the engine was a 1.6 litre
mill, it was a Cosworth FVA engine with WAY more horsepower than any
Formula F; Ford or Honda.
The Cosworth FVA was a "proof of concept" engine designed to show
Ford what Cosworth could do before they built the famous
Ford-Cosworth DFV. It makes something on the order of 200-225hp.
The only saving grace was that this was Doug's first time running
the car—his first time in any open wheel racer, so it was taking him >>>> a while to come to grips with it. This led to us having a super-fun
dice with him leading off the start, me passing him for 2nd place,
then him passing me again as he got better and better in the car.
Our regular on-track photographer, Brent Martin...
(shameless plug: martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com)
...was at turn 3 and he must have got dozens of shots of the two
cars, separate by at least 30 years, going through nose to tail.
In the end, Doug got the better of the battle, but it was so much
fun to be a part of (and I wasn't bright enough to have had my GoPro
mounted for the race!), and we finished:
1. FC; 2. Lotus 41 F2; 3. Me VD RF98-2 FF only 1.2 seconds behind Doug. >>>>
And for the last race... ...well... ...I was already gassed. It
might not have been as hot as Saturday, but it was hot enough.
I simply decided to relax, and ease off to play with Erle Archer in
his 1979 Tiga. I left the restrictor pulled, but I played games with
myself by going through corners in one gear too high, or not using
all the throttle down the straight...
...and in the end...
...because this was the race for which you get a plaque as the
"Abbotsford Trophy" winner in FF...
...I backed off coming off turn 9 to let a legal FF take the
checkered flag.
As the race played out, Erle was leading as we started the final
lap, but he left the door too wide open to pass up entering turn 2,
and I felt I needed to get past him once more for the fun of it.
Then I left the door open in turn 3, and he didn't pass.
So I did the only thing that seemed right.
All-in-all, a great weekend of racing just for fun; no points. We
saw some people and cars that don't normally come out, including
Ross Bentley...
(shameless plug: speedsecrets.com)
...an alumnus of racing with the SCCBC who went on to drive
(occasionally) in IndyCar, and who has become a highly sought-after
driving coach.
Now, there are three weekends left in the season, and I hope to make
all three. I think I can win all 9 of the races, but I suspect that
with the points lower (because there will probably be fewer FF
drivers out), I don't think that I can win the club championship.
Still, there are some folks who didn't make it out to the
"Historics" that I'd still like to see on the track.
Cheers!
So to sum up, absent Floer, McKay and others, Alan Baker can beat the
few FF back-runners left that he has regularly beaten easily in the
past.
LOL!
And stay with a Formula 2 car with close to double the horsepower.
And beat an FC car with:
More than 20% more horsepower.
Stickier tires
Downforce.
All while on two year old tires.
:-)
Doug and Alan likely could have too.
On 2024-08-30 05:25, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/17/2024 6:13 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-17 13:12, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/13/2024 4:40 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
Well, it was great to get back on track.I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
Sunday morning dawned (very, very thankfully) under cooler
temperatures, cloudy skies and even a very small amount of rain.
The high for the day was forecast to be down from too high to
something that was at least bearable. That having been said, it
still ended up a day where hydration was key. I think I drank 2-2.5 >>>>> litres of water.
I arrive at the track at about 8am with very little to do, and as
we were going to be the first group out for warm-up, and as it was
going to be a track just damp enough to need rain tires, but which
would dry out quickly enough that you'd then destroy your rain
tires...
...I just decided to give the warm-up a pass. I'd learned all I
needed to learn about the track (where the new bumps were, where
the organizers had added penalty cones for track limits violations, >>>>> etc), and about the car (I need to add some rear brake bias.
So I thought I'd have nothing more to do than to add a little
nitrogen to my tires (American Racers tend to leak a
little—especially the highly cantilevered rear tires, and so need >>>>> refilling at least once when the day begins), give the brake bias
knob a couple of turns to "more rear", and unpack for the day.
But then I noticed a 6" diameter puddle of oil right below the Van
Diemen's combined bell-housing/oil tank/oil overflow tank. What's
more from the colour and odor, it could be gearbox oil.
I was all set to start looking at the bottom of the car for any
indication of where the oil was coming from when my shared crewman, >>>>> Tom, noticed the faint trail of oil from the sight glass of the
overflow tank. Since I started running the car in 2018, I'd never
seen any indication that the overflow tank was full, but it
certainly was now (after we'd changed the engine oil and as all
racers do: added enough to make sure that some would end up in the
overflow tank).
No problem! (Are we sensing a theme, here? 😉). I'll just find a
catch pan (my own having been accidentally left at the shop, take
out the small drain plug, and seal it all back up!
Only no one had one close handy either. But Erle had what appeared
to be an aluminum tray for baked goods (muffins or maybe cinnamon
buns) that might do the job. It was certainly short enough to fit
beneath the drain hole with the car only up on short stands.
I took out the drain plug, and out came the oil, and... ...that
catch tank was pretty big. I started to get concerned that we might >>>>> be overflowing the available vessel, but...
No problem!
...the flow started to slow as it got higher and higher in the
tray, and I thought I was in the clear...
...when it became apparent that there was a hole in the tray a
little more than half way up. And now I had a 3 feet in diameter
puddle of oil in my paddock space. Lots of oil absorbents later, it >>>>> was gone.
Let's get to the racing.
First race of the day, as the day before, the grid was set from the >>>>> fastest laps done in the race before that. Warm-up was just that;
not a qualifying session. So the FC was on pole and I was gridded
next to him. This time, when the flag dropped, Chris had clearly
learned a lot from watching me drive (his best lap this race was
nearly 2 seconds faster than his best from Saturday), and there was >>>>> no way I was going to be able to keep pace with him. And John, in
the Mallock sports racer with a 2 litre tuned Vauxhall engine was
going to be my fight, and it ended up being a fair fight. He could
pull away for a while, but only by using his brakes to the point
where they'd overheat and he'd have to moderate his pace.
So the finish was: 1. Chris in the FC; 2. John in the sports racer
37 seconds back; 3. me in the Van Diemen less than a second behind
John.
Still a pretty good result for running on 2 year old tires.
The next race (race 5 of the event) at the egging-on of my crew, I
pulled the restrictor to see if it might be possible to run with
the FC and beat the Mallock. It wasn't—possible to run with the FC; >>>>> he still had about a 12% horsepower advantage as well as downforce
and Hoosier tires. The Mallock had problems and so didn't factor.
What WAS cool, though, is that there was an original Lotus 41
Formula 2 car from the late 1960s that was being driven by Doug
(not that Doug; another Doug) who normally drove a Dodge Viper. It
had much more rubber than mine and while the engine was a 1.6 litre >>>>> mill, it was a Cosworth FVA engine with WAY more horsepower than
any Formula F; Ford or Honda.
The Cosworth FVA was a "proof of concept" engine designed to show
Ford what Cosworth could do before they built the famous
Ford-Cosworth DFV. It makes something on the order of 200-225hp.
The only saving grace was that this was Doug's first time running
the car—his first time in any open wheel racer, so it was taking
him a while to come to grips with it. This led to us having a
super-fun dice with him leading off the start, me passing him for
2nd place, then him passing me again as he got better and better in >>>>> the car. Our regular on-track photographer, Brent Martin...
(shameless plug: martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com)
...was at turn 3 and he must have got dozens of shots of the two
cars, separate by at least 30 years, going through nose to tail.
In the end, Doug got the better of the battle, but it was so much
fun to be a part of (and I wasn't bright enough to have had my
GoPro mounted for the race!), and we finished:
1. FC; 2. Lotus 41 F2; 3. Me VD RF98-2 FF only 1.2 seconds behind
Doug.
And for the last race... ...well... ...I was already gassed. It
might not have been as hot as Saturday, but it was hot enough.
I simply decided to relax, and ease off to play with Erle Archer in >>>>> his 1979 Tiga. I left the restrictor pulled, but I played games
with myself by going through corners in one gear too high, or not
using all the throttle down the straight...
...and in the end...
...because this was the race for which you get a plaque as the
"Abbotsford Trophy" winner in FF...
...I backed off coming off turn 9 to let a legal FF take the
checkered flag.
As the race played out, Erle was leading as we started the final
lap, but he left the door too wide open to pass up entering turn 2, >>>>> and I felt I needed to get past him once more for the fun of it.
Then I left the door open in turn 3, and he didn't pass.
So I did the only thing that seemed right.
All-in-all, a great weekend of racing just for fun; no points. We
saw some people and cars that don't normally come out, including
Ross Bentley...
(shameless plug: speedsecrets.com)
...an alumnus of racing with the SCCBC who went on to drive
(occasionally) in IndyCar, and who has become a highly sought-after >>>>> driving coach.
Now, there are three weekends left in the season, and I hope to
make all three. I think I can win all 9 of the races, but I suspect >>>>> that with the points lower (because there will probably be fewer FF >>>>> drivers out), I don't think that I can win the club championship.
Still, there are some folks who didn't make it out to the
"Historics" that I'd still like to see on the track.
Cheers!
So to sum up, absent Floer, McKay and others, Alan Baker can beat
the few FF back-runners left that he has regularly beaten easily in
the past.
LOL!
And stay with a Formula 2 car with close to double the horsepower.
And beat an FC car with:
More than 20% more horsepower.
Stickier tires
Downforce.
All while on two year old tires.
:-)
Doug and Alan likely could have too.
Yup.
So?
On 8/30/2024 12:51 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-30 05:25, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/17/2024 6:13 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-17 13:12, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/13/2024 4:40 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
Well, it was great to get back on track.I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
Sunday morning dawned (very, very thankfully) under cooler
temperatures, cloudy skies and even a very small amount of rain.
The high for the day was forecast to be down from too high to
something that was at least bearable. That having been said, it
still ended up a day where hydration was key. I think I drank
2-2.5 litres of water.
I arrive at the track at about 8am with very little to do, and as >>>>>> we were going to be the first group out for warm-up, and as it was >>>>>> going to be a track just damp enough to need rain tires, but which >>>>>> would dry out quickly enough that you'd then destroy your rain
tires...
...I just decided to give the warm-up a pass. I'd learned all I
needed to learn about the track (where the new bumps were, where
the organizers had added penalty cones for track limits
violations, etc), and about the car (I need to add some rear brake >>>>>> bias.
So I thought I'd have nothing more to do than to add a little
nitrogen to my tires (American Racers tend to leak a
little—especially the highly cantilevered rear tires, and so need >>>>>> refilling at least once when the day begins), give the brake bias >>>>>> knob a couple of turns to "more rear", and unpack for the day.
But then I noticed a 6" diameter puddle of oil right below the Van >>>>>> Diemen's combined bell-housing/oil tank/oil overflow tank. What's >>>>>> more from the colour and odor, it could be gearbox oil.
I was all set to start looking at the bottom of the car for any
indication of where the oil was coming from when my shared
crewman, Tom, noticed the faint trail of oil from the sight glass >>>>>> of the overflow tank. Since I started running the car in 2018, I'd >>>>>> never seen any indication that the overflow tank was full, but it >>>>>> certainly was now (after we'd changed the engine oil and as all
racers do: added enough to make sure that some would end up in the >>>>>> overflow tank).
No problem! (Are we sensing a theme, here? 😉). I'll just find a >>>>>> catch pan (my own having been accidentally left at the shop, take >>>>>> out the small drain plug, and seal it all back up!
Only no one had one close handy either. But Erle had what appeared >>>>>> to be an aluminum tray for baked goods (muffins or maybe cinnamon >>>>>> buns) that might do the job. It was certainly short enough to fit >>>>>> beneath the drain hole with the car only up on short stands.
I took out the drain plug, and out came the oil, and... ...that
catch tank was pretty big. I started to get concerned that we
might be overflowing the available vessel, but...
No problem!
...the flow started to slow as it got higher and higher in the
tray, and I thought I was in the clear...
...when it became apparent that there was a hole in the tray a
little more than half way up. And now I had a 3 feet in diameter
puddle of oil in my paddock space. Lots of oil absorbents later,
it was gone.
Let's get to the racing.
First race of the day, as the day before, the grid was set from
the fastest laps done in the race before that. Warm-up was just
that; not a qualifying session. So the FC was on pole and I was
gridded next to him. This time, when the flag dropped, Chris had
clearly learned a lot from watching me drive (his best lap this
race was nearly 2 seconds faster than his best from Saturday), and >>>>>> there was no way I was going to be able to keep pace with him. And >>>>>> John, in the Mallock sports racer with a 2 litre tuned Vauxhall
engine was going to be my fight, and it ended up being a fair
fight. He could pull away for a while, but only by using his
brakes to the point where they'd overheat and he'd have to
moderate his pace.
So the finish was: 1. Chris in the FC; 2. John in the sports racer >>>>>> 37 seconds back; 3. me in the Van Diemen less than a second behind >>>>>> John.
Still a pretty good result for running on 2 year old tires.
The next race (race 5 of the event) at the egging-on of my crew, I >>>>>> pulled the restrictor to see if it might be possible to run with
the FC and beat the Mallock. It wasn't—possible to run with the >>>>>> FC; he still had about a 12% horsepower advantage as well as
downforce and Hoosier tires. The Mallock had problems and so
didn't factor.
What WAS cool, though, is that there was an original Lotus 41
Formula 2 car from the late 1960s that was being driven by Doug
(not that Doug; another Doug) who normally drove a Dodge Viper. It >>>>>> had much more rubber than mine and while the engine was a 1.6
litre mill, it was a Cosworth FVA engine with WAY more horsepower >>>>>> than any Formula F; Ford or Honda.
The Cosworth FVA was a "proof of concept" engine designed to show >>>>>> Ford what Cosworth could do before they built the famous
Ford-Cosworth DFV. It makes something on the order of 200-225hp.
The only saving grace was that this was Doug's first time running >>>>>> the car—his first time in any open wheel racer, so it was taking >>>>>> him a while to come to grips with it. This led to us having a
super-fun dice with him leading off the start, me passing him for >>>>>> 2nd place, then him passing me again as he got better and better
in the car. Our regular on-track photographer, Brent Martin...
(shameless plug: martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com)
...was at turn 3 and he must have got dozens of shots of the two
cars, separate by at least 30 years, going through nose to tail.
In the end, Doug got the better of the battle, but it was so much >>>>>> fun to be a part of (and I wasn't bright enough to have had my
GoPro mounted for the race!), and we finished:
1. FC; 2. Lotus 41 F2; 3. Me VD RF98-2 FF only 1.2 seconds behind >>>>>> Doug.
And for the last race... ...well... ...I was already gassed. It
might not have been as hot as Saturday, but it was hot enough.
I simply decided to relax, and ease off to play with Erle Archer
in his 1979 Tiga. I left the restrictor pulled, but I played games >>>>>> with myself by going through corners in one gear too high, or not >>>>>> using all the throttle down the straight...
...and in the end...
...because this was the race for which you get a plaque as the
"Abbotsford Trophy" winner in FF...
...I backed off coming off turn 9 to let a legal FF take the
checkered flag.
As the race played out, Erle was leading as we started the final
lap, but he left the door too wide open to pass up entering turn
2, and I felt I needed to get past him once more for the fun of
it. Then I left the door open in turn 3, and he didn't pass.
So I did the only thing that seemed right.
All-in-all, a great weekend of racing just for fun; no points. We >>>>>> saw some people and cars that don't normally come out, including
Ross Bentley...
(shameless plug: speedsecrets.com)
...an alumnus of racing with the SCCBC who went on to drive
(occasionally) in IndyCar, and who has become a highly
sought-after driving coach.
Now, there are three weekends left in the season, and I hope to
make all three. I think I can win all 9 of the races, but I
suspect that with the points lower (because there will probably be >>>>>> fewer FF drivers out), I don't think that I can win the club
championship.
Still, there are some folks who didn't make it out to the
"Historics" that I'd still like to see on the track.
Cheers!
So to sum up, absent Floer, McKay and others, Alan Baker can beat
the few FF back-runners left that he has regularly beaten easily in >>>>> the past.
LOL!
And stay with a Formula 2 car with close to double the horsepower.
And beat an FC car with:
More than 20% more horsepower.
Stickier tires
Downforce.
All while on two year old tires.
:-)
Doug and Alan likely could have too.
Yup.
So?
As you have pointed out in the past lots of details affect race results. What is the Mission Raceway record for these theoretically faster cars?
On 2024-08-30 05:25, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/17/2024 6:13 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-17 13:12, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/13/2024 4:40 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
Well, it was great to get back on track.I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
Sunday morning dawned (very, very thankfully) under cooler
temperatures, cloudy skies and even a very small amount of rain.
The high for the day was forecast to be down from too high to
something that was at least bearable. That having been said, it
still ended up a day where hydration was key. I think I drank 2-2.5 >>>>> litres of water.
I arrive at the track at about 8am with very little to do, and as
we were going to be the first group out for warm-up, and as it was
going to be a track just damp enough to need rain tires, but which
would dry out quickly enough that you'd then destroy your rain
tires...
...I just decided to give the warm-up a pass. I'd learned all I
needed to learn about the track (where the new bumps were, where
the organizers had added penalty cones for track limits violations, >>>>> etc), and about the car (I need to add some rear brake bias.
So I thought I'd have nothing more to do than to add a little
nitrogen to my tires (American Racers tend to leak a
little—especially the highly cantilevered rear tires, and so need >>>>> refilling at least once when the day begins), give the brake bias
knob a couple of turns to "more rear", and unpack for the day.
But then I noticed a 6" diameter puddle of oil right below the Van
Diemen's combined bell-housing/oil tank/oil overflow tank. What's
more from the colour and odor, it could be gearbox oil.
I was all set to start looking at the bottom of the car for any
indication of where the oil was coming from when my shared crewman, >>>>> Tom, noticed the faint trail of oil from the sight glass of the
overflow tank. Since I started running the car in 2018, I'd never
seen any indication that the overflow tank was full, but it
certainly was now (after we'd changed the engine oil and as all
racers do: added enough to make sure that some would end up in the
overflow tank).
No problem! (Are we sensing a theme, here? 😉). I'll just find a
catch pan (my own having been accidentally left at the shop, take
out the small drain plug, and seal it all back up!
Only no one had one close handy either. But Erle had what appeared
to be an aluminum tray for baked goods (muffins or maybe cinnamon
buns) that might do the job. It was certainly short enough to fit
beneath the drain hole with the car only up on short stands.
I took out the drain plug, and out came the oil, and... ...that
catch tank was pretty big. I started to get concerned that we might >>>>> be overflowing the available vessel, but...
No problem!
...the flow started to slow as it got higher and higher in the
tray, and I thought I was in the clear...
...when it became apparent that there was a hole in the tray a
little more than half way up. And now I had a 3 feet in diameter
puddle of oil in my paddock space. Lots of oil absorbents later, it >>>>> was gone.
Let's get to the racing.
First race of the day, as the day before, the grid was set from the >>>>> fastest laps done in the race before that. Warm-up was just that;
not a qualifying session. So the FC was on pole and I was gridded
next to him. This time, when the flag dropped, Chris had clearly
learned a lot from watching me drive (his best lap this race was
nearly 2 seconds faster than his best from Saturday), and there was >>>>> no way I was going to be able to keep pace with him. And John, in
the Mallock sports racer with a 2 litre tuned Vauxhall engine was
going to be my fight, and it ended up being a fair fight. He could
pull away for a while, but only by using his brakes to the point
where they'd overheat and he'd have to moderate his pace.
So the finish was: 1. Chris in the FC; 2. John in the sports racer
37 seconds back; 3. me in the Van Diemen less than a second behind
John.
Still a pretty good result for running on 2 year old tires.
The next race (race 5 of the event) at the egging-on of my crew, I
pulled the restrictor to see if it might be possible to run with
the FC and beat the Mallock. It wasn't—possible to run with the FC; >>>>> he still had about a 12% horsepower advantage as well as downforce
and Hoosier tires. The Mallock had problems and so didn't factor.
What WAS cool, though, is that there was an original Lotus 41
Formula 2 car from the late 1960s that was being driven by Doug
(not that Doug; another Doug) who normally drove a Dodge Viper. It
had much more rubber than mine and while the engine was a 1.6 litre >>>>> mill, it was a Cosworth FVA engine with WAY more horsepower than
any Formula F; Ford or Honda.
The Cosworth FVA was a "proof of concept" engine designed to show
Ford what Cosworth could do before they built the famous
Ford-Cosworth DFV. It makes something on the order of 200-225hp.
The only saving grace was that this was Doug's first time running
the car—his first time in any open wheel racer, so it was taking
him a while to come to grips with it. This led to us having a
super-fun dice with him leading off the start, me passing him for
2nd place, then him passing me again as he got better and better in >>>>> the car. Our regular on-track photographer, Brent Martin...
(shameless plug: martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com)
...was at turn 3 and he must have got dozens of shots of the two
cars, separate by at least 30 years, going through nose to tail.
In the end, Doug got the better of the battle, but it was so much
fun to be a part of (and I wasn't bright enough to have had my
GoPro mounted for the race!), and we finished:
1. FC; 2. Lotus 41 F2; 3. Me VD RF98-2 FF only 1.2 seconds behind
Doug.
And for the last race... ...well... ...I was already gassed. It
might not have been as hot as Saturday, but it was hot enough.
I simply decided to relax, and ease off to play with Erle Archer in >>>>> his 1979 Tiga. I left the restrictor pulled, but I played games
with myself by going through corners in one gear too high, or not
using all the throttle down the straight...
...and in the end...
...because this was the race for which you get a plaque as the
"Abbotsford Trophy" winner in FF...
...I backed off coming off turn 9 to let a legal FF take the
checkered flag.
As the race played out, Erle was leading as we started the final
lap, but he left the door too wide open to pass up entering turn 2, >>>>> and I felt I needed to get past him once more for the fun of it.
Then I left the door open in turn 3, and he didn't pass.
So I did the only thing that seemed right.
All-in-all, a great weekend of racing just for fun; no points. We
saw some people and cars that don't normally come out, including
Ross Bentley...
(shameless plug: speedsecrets.com)
...an alumnus of racing with the SCCBC who went on to drive
(occasionally) in IndyCar, and who has become a highly sought-after >>>>> driving coach.
Now, there are three weekends left in the season, and I hope to
make all three. I think I can win all 9 of the races, but I suspect >>>>> that with the points lower (because there will probably be fewer FF >>>>> drivers out), I don't think that I can win the club championship.
Still, there are some folks who didn't make it out to the
"Historics" that I'd still like to see on the track.
Cheers!
So to sum up, absent Floer, McKay and others, Alan Baker can beat
the few FF back-runners left that he has regularly beaten easily in
the past.
LOL!
And stay with a Formula 2 car with close to double the horsepower.
And beat an FC car with:
More than 20% more horsepower.
Stickier tires
Downforce.
All while on two year old tires.
:-)
Doug and Alan likely could have too.
Yup.
So?
On 8/30/2024 12:51 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-30 05:25, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/17/2024 6:13 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-17 13:12, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/13/2024 4:40 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
Well, it was great to get back on track.I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
Sunday morning dawned (very, very thankfully) under cooler
temperatures, cloudy skies and even a very small amount of rain.
The high for the day was forecast to be down from too high to
something that was at least bearable. That having been said, it
still ended up a day where hydration was key. I think I drank
2-2.5 litres of water.
I arrive at the track at about 8am with very little to do, and as >>>>>> we were going to be the first group out for warm-up, and as it was >>>>>> going to be a track just damp enough to need rain tires, but which >>>>>> would dry out quickly enough that you'd then destroy your rain
tires...
...I just decided to give the warm-up a pass. I'd learned all I
needed to learn about the track (where the new bumps were, where
the organizers had added penalty cones for track limits
violations, etc), and about the car (I need to add some rear brake >>>>>> bias.
So I thought I'd have nothing more to do than to add a little
nitrogen to my tires (American Racers tend to leak a
little—especially the highly cantilevered rear tires, and so need >>>>>> refilling at least once when the day begins), give the brake bias >>>>>> knob a couple of turns to "more rear", and unpack for the day.
But then I noticed a 6" diameter puddle of oil right below the Van >>>>>> Diemen's combined bell-housing/oil tank/oil overflow tank. What's >>>>>> more from the colour and odor, it could be gearbox oil.
I was all set to start looking at the bottom of the car for any
indication of where the oil was coming from when my shared
crewman, Tom, noticed the faint trail of oil from the sight glass >>>>>> of the overflow tank. Since I started running the car in 2018, I'd >>>>>> never seen any indication that the overflow tank was full, but it >>>>>> certainly was now (after we'd changed the engine oil and as all
racers do: added enough to make sure that some would end up in the >>>>>> overflow tank).
No problem! (Are we sensing a theme, here? 😉). I'll just find a >>>>>> catch pan (my own having been accidentally left at the shop, take >>>>>> out the small drain plug, and seal it all back up!
Only no one had one close handy either. But Erle had what appeared >>>>>> to be an aluminum tray for baked goods (muffins or maybe cinnamon >>>>>> buns) that might do the job. It was certainly short enough to fit >>>>>> beneath the drain hole with the car only up on short stands.
I took out the drain plug, and out came the oil, and... ...that
catch tank was pretty big. I started to get concerned that we
might be overflowing the available vessel, but...
No problem!
...the flow started to slow as it got higher and higher in the
tray, and I thought I was in the clear...
...when it became apparent that there was a hole in the tray a
little more than half way up. And now I had a 3 feet in diameter
puddle of oil in my paddock space. Lots of oil absorbents later,
it was gone.
Let's get to the racing.
First race of the day, as the day before, the grid was set from
the fastest laps done in the race before that. Warm-up was just
that; not a qualifying session. So the FC was on pole and I was
gridded next to him. This time, when the flag dropped, Chris had
clearly learned a lot from watching me drive (his best lap this
race was nearly 2 seconds faster than his best from Saturday), and >>>>>> there was no way I was going to be able to keep pace with him. And >>>>>> John, in the Mallock sports racer with a 2 litre tuned Vauxhall
engine was going to be my fight, and it ended up being a fair
fight. He could pull away for a while, but only by using his
brakes to the point where they'd overheat and he'd have to
moderate his pace.
So the finish was: 1. Chris in the FC; 2. John in the sports racer >>>>>> 37 seconds back; 3. me in the Van Diemen less than a second behind >>>>>> John.
Still a pretty good result for running on 2 year old tires.
The next race (race 5 of the event) at the egging-on of my crew, I >>>>>> pulled the restrictor to see if it might be possible to run with
the FC and beat the Mallock. It wasn't—possible to run with the >>>>>> FC; he still had about a 12% horsepower advantage as well as
downforce and Hoosier tires. The Mallock had problems and so
didn't factor.
What WAS cool, though, is that there was an original Lotus 41
Formula 2 car from the late 1960s that was being driven by Doug
(not that Doug; another Doug) who normally drove a Dodge Viper. It >>>>>> had much more rubber than mine and while the engine was a 1.6
litre mill, it was a Cosworth FVA engine with WAY more horsepower >>>>>> than any Formula F; Ford or Honda.
The Cosworth FVA was a "proof of concept" engine designed to show >>>>>> Ford what Cosworth could do before they built the famous
Ford-Cosworth DFV. It makes something on the order of 200-225hp.
The only saving grace was that this was Doug's first time running >>>>>> the car—his first time in any open wheel racer, so it was taking >>>>>> him a while to come to grips with it. This led to us having a
super-fun dice with him leading off the start, me passing him for >>>>>> 2nd place, then him passing me again as he got better and better
in the car. Our regular on-track photographer, Brent Martin...
(shameless plug: martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com)
...was at turn 3 and he must have got dozens of shots of the two
cars, separate by at least 30 years, going through nose to tail.
In the end, Doug got the better of the battle, but it was so much >>>>>> fun to be a part of (and I wasn't bright enough to have had my
GoPro mounted for the race!), and we finished:
1. FC; 2. Lotus 41 F2; 3. Me VD RF98-2 FF only 1.2 seconds behind >>>>>> Doug.
And for the last race... ...well... ...I was already gassed. It
might not have been as hot as Saturday, but it was hot enough.
I simply decided to relax, and ease off to play with Erle Archer
in his 1979 Tiga. I left the restrictor pulled, but I played games >>>>>> with myself by going through corners in one gear too high, or not >>>>>> using all the throttle down the straight...
...and in the end...
...because this was the race for which you get a plaque as the
"Abbotsford Trophy" winner in FF...
...I backed off coming off turn 9 to let a legal FF take the
checkered flag.
As the race played out, Erle was leading as we started the final
lap, but he left the door too wide open to pass up entering turn
2, and I felt I needed to get past him once more for the fun of
it. Then I left the door open in turn 3, and he didn't pass.
So I did the only thing that seemed right.
All-in-all, a great weekend of racing just for fun; no points. We >>>>>> saw some people and cars that don't normally come out, including
Ross Bentley...
(shameless plug: speedsecrets.com)
...an alumnus of racing with the SCCBC who went on to drive
(occasionally) in IndyCar, and who has become a highly
sought-after driving coach.
Now, there are three weekends left in the season, and I hope to
make all three. I think I can win all 9 of the races, but I
suspect that with the points lower (because there will probably be >>>>>> fewer FF drivers out), I don't think that I can win the club
championship.
Still, there are some folks who didn't make it out to the
"Historics" that I'd still like to see on the track.
Cheers!
So to sum up, absent Floer, McKay and others, Alan Baker can beat
the few FF back-runners left that he has regularly beaten easily in >>>>> the past.
LOL!
And stay with a Formula 2 car with close to double the horsepower.
And beat an FC car with:
More than 20% more horsepower.
Stickier tires
Downforce.
All while on two year old tires.
:-)
Doug and Alan likely could have too.
Yup.
So?
So you admit that a FF driven by the top two in SCCBC FF history could
also have placed ahead of the 2 cars you are bragging about beating? So
why the brag?
A few other facts. Your car was the only one in the OW field classified
as "Modern". So technically you were racing against the field
of...yourself.
https://www.bchmr.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BCHMR-2024-Results.pdf
You admitted pulling the restrictor plate. Cheating and bragging about it.
The two cars you are bragging about beating seem consist of a guy (John) from Washington State with nowhere near your Mission Raceway track experience and the local guy (Chris) has not run a SCCBC race since at
least 2021. Yes, I checked the SBBC Championship rankings. As almost
always you omit certain facts that would show the whole picture and to
make you look better.
Now you can start whining and making excuses.
| Sysop: | DaiTengu |
|---|---|
| Location: | Appleton, WI |
| Users: | 991 |
| Nodes: | 10 (0 / 10) |
| Uptime: | 81:10:08 |
| Calls: | 12,949 |
| Calls today: | 3 |
| Files: | 186,574 |
| Messages: | 3,264,663 |