2012 year in review!

2012 started with a 1000 mile roundtrip to Buschur Racing in Ohio in lots of snow and ice.  Out of that trip we yeilded up updated setup, tune and a new primary sponsor.  Shortly thereafter we headed on a near 1400 mile round-trip for my first ever trip to Road Atlanta with help from my Dad as a co-pilot.  Then the car was further gutted and turned over to Izzy's in STL for a proper 6pt cage.  After some teething issues which forced me to rent a car to complete COMP school in April I had my w2w license! 

The next few events were spent feeling out the dynamics of the #929Evo over the course of a 25-35min sprint race; in a single word:  HEAT!  Several upgrades over the rest of the year were made to handle the heat both inside and outside of the car. 

2012 yielded my first podiums & trophies from both Sprint races and Endurance Racing.  The latter courtesy of a GP Racing Products rented E3 Miata where I turned nearly 70 laps at Putnam.  We also set our first PTA track record. 

Some major changes on the personal side of life kicked off in April and really changed the scope of the year.  These somewhat played into my decision to officially put up the #929Evo for sale.  With the fall approaching and some aggressive pricing I was able to find a new home for the car in early September.  After that I wrapped up the year with 1 additional rental in a Chumpcar.

2012 yielded a total of 13 days on track.  10 days in the #929Evo and 3 days in rentals.  In all I competed in 6 different classes (TTA, TTS, ST2, PTA, E0, Chumpcar) in 3 different cars.

Install: DBA Rotors

New DBA rotors will be on the car for the next event.  Thanks to Ken @ KNS Brakes for his recommendation in trying these out.  Ken also shipped me out my first set of Hawk DTC70's as well which will be on the car.

Previously I've been running PowerSlot rotors which have done fairly well.  I did have one crack on me pretty quickly this year, but I firmly believe that was some collateral damage from a faulty caliper I had back in April. 

Either way, I took Ken's advice to try out something from DBA.  They also have some paint on the top of the rotor itself that will turn a different color once a certain temperature is achieved.  Information like this helps you figure out if you're running the right brake pad compound as well as if your cooling is sufficient.  I'll be sure to report back after my first event with them!

1st ever Sprint Race - 6-9-12 @ Gingerman!

After arriving about 10pm and drinking until 2:30am - morning came quick and I made the registration switch from PTA over to ST2 already.  I knew I didn't have a chance in ST2 w/o at least good tires but I wanted to be in the faster rungroup and get used to the traffic.  My goal was simply get the car through the weekend successfully and see how everything felt and reacted over the course of an entire race.  I prepped the car and went out for practice on street tires to feel out the brake updates.  Everything felt solid, although the car pushed hard on the street tires - which it has all year since the cage went in - I ran a 1:47 and had a car spin in front of me and 2 of us had to split to miss it in the track which was fun.  I was weighed afterwards and started doing to the math for the ballast I'd need.

I switched rims to the last of my leftover 2011 255 Hoosiers and stuffed the car full of fuel until it ran back out!  I only ran a few laps and qualified with a 1:41 trying to save the tires as they were pretty beat up from running hard TT sessions last year.  Last year pushing hard on the tire setup I ran a 1:38.8 (current TTA record) so I was in the ballpark.  I made weight, but not by much, so we definitely would need to add ballast.  Another issue was the oil temps.  In my effort to fix the brake cooling issue I admittedly borrowed from the oil cooler flow as well as fixing the hole in the rubbed fenderwell by adding a chunk of plastic.  I think the latter made things worse so I removed it and then worked up a special duct from the 'faux hole' around to the oil cooler.  I was fairly confident this would make things at least manageable. 

With a 3hr gap before the race I had some prep time.  I had a tire that was starting to cord, so I replaced it with an another used 255 I had.  I also was able to secure the ballast I needed, with the help of Jason from GP Racing we secured 25 lbs in the passenger side and another 30 lbs in the trunk.  I'd already topped off every fluid container in the car (oil, radiator, drink bottle, windshield fluid, fuel, etc).  Not knowing how much fuel the car would burn I errored on the heavy side as I didn't want a DQ.

The race went pretty well overall.  All of the ST cars lined up in the 1st of 3 waves; I was 9th of 12 in that group and started on the inside of a very tight T1.  I got a good jump, but all the big V8 N/A cars in front of me pulled harded off the line.  I also realized from my vid I should have been up closer to the car in front; so I'll learn.  I took T1 pretty slow trying to stay clean and dropped below boost in 3rd so I lost some momentum there.  I ran a few 1:42's and after that settled into a pace around 1:45-46 carefully eyeballing my oil temps the entire time around the 280-285 range.  I babied the car, avoiding the high rpms when I could by shifting early and pushing the clutch in to coast into braking zones - all tricks that I know help the oil temps.  Brakes felt good throughout and the tires stayed underneath fairly well since I wasn't pushing hard.  I picked up a few overall spots from traffic and I picked up the pace on the final few laps just to see how the car felt and the tires were giving up for sure.  In all the race lasted 17 laps and I covered about 43 miles.  As for the fuel, after the race I had exactly 1/2 tank but was not weighed.

4.21.2012 Qualifying at NASA Autobahn

So Saturday and the Evo....
I went out for the warmup session on street tires as I did not have time to change tires as we were first up! I tossed down a very eventful and sideways filled 1:38x on a cold green track in about 50 degree weather on 5yr old Dunlops on my 3rd lap and pulled in.  lol.  It was fun; and the car ran for the first time since the cage!

Qualifying was about 2 hours later. On my 1st hotlap I seen the debris flag at T6 - and quickly found the insanely huge OIL SPILL directly on-line from T6 through T10 when I actually passed said spiller on the backstraight still limping the car around.  IDIOT.  About 5 awesome oil-soaked drifts later for myself, about 6 offs witnessed from other cars and 1 car sitting a full 180 degrees backwards track-center - and just 3 laps - they tossed checker to end quals early. I had just a 1:40x.

I had a 4 hr gap until the race.  I worked on cleaning up some of the wiring from the gauges and getting my oil temp gauge hooked back up (Thx to Boostin Performance for the wiring fix).  I had time to update some of the decals on the car including adding ST2 designations for the race.  More to come...

The vid is from Qualifying.  Not too entirely eventful as most of the sliding action was in front me.

Izzy's Custom Cages - Update #3

More updates from Scott at Izzy's on the cage progress.

 

Road Atlanta - 3.10.12 - Day #1

 The day started with a 7am meeting. The TT group was first out at 8am. I went out on street tires with a goal to learn the track, stay out of the way of the locals, and try to set a fast enough time to stay towards the front of the grid.
The track was... pretty fun. Nothing too crazy. I was motoring down the backstraight and glanced down to see the odo approaching 140 really quick. Damn! Got past that; through the 'S' curve and then I went under the bridge and down the hill into T12. Holy sh1t; it was like the Log Ride - seemed like it was straight down. This was going to take some getting used to...

For S2 - I went back out on the street tires again. I was picking up the track, but definitely coasting down the latter part of the backstraight and down 12 (the huge hill) I netted a 1:39 still on street tires! I was actually pretty proud of that.

For S3 - I bolted on the Hoosier R6's. 2 were new; the other 2 were used so I'd need to scrub everything in. I tried to keep my track positioning in the first 2 laps and control the inevitable skids - which was fun. After a 1:37 I reset my tire pressures and was ready for S4 to hammer it.

S4 - Traffic! By now I was working my way through some of the TTS cars that are 1 class above me and run more HP. I'd catch them in the first part of the track but they could pull away down the long backstraight and down the big hill in T12. Track positioning is definitely important for a flying lap in TT. Best of 1:36.5.

S5 - I was up to 7th on grid by now, but as not everyone went out I was actually 3rd. This proved to be my best track position and allowed me to hammer w/o having to worry about navigating any traffic in front or behind. I had my best laps of the day; with the overall best of 1:34.8 that netted my 1st place out of 3 in my class of TTA and 5th out of 38 overall in TT.

The day turned out great, the Evo made it through it's first track event of 2012 with flying colors, which included a new tune by Buschur Racing. No problems over the ~100 miles on track including a top speed of 149.87 mph on the backstraight and around 130 on the front!
So I quickly rotated the tires and checked the car over before Then off to the NASA awards ceremony just off the main straight.  Above is a good vid from Session #2 looking backwards to demonstrate some of the elevation changes at this track.  Enjoy!

 

Maintenance time! Brake System.

Now that I've got the car back, things need to start moving pretty fast. I had the car teched last week, so it's got it's annual tech inspection for NASA TT (no waiting in line; ever). This week I was able to finally get it off the trailer and parked in the garage where I can begin the needed work. The pic (right) is from Monday in my garage. I've got a pretty long list of annual maintenance items including the brakes, semi-annual fluids, aero work, interior work, etc.

Last night I got the car up on jackstands, pulled the tires off, pulled the rotors off and pulled the calipers off. New parts going back in! I've done this stuff enough I have all the needed tools & wrenches memorized (is that sad?).  I'll toss in some comparison pics below.  First is the calipers I have been running compared to a slightly used (non-tracked) set I picked up that will be going back on. I'll then redo all the seals in the older set, clean them up and keep them around for spares. Thus is the circle of life!

 
Going back on are PowerSlot Cryo treated slotted and directionally veined front rotors. Whew. These are produced by stoptech and I've used them for awhile, although this is my first go-round with the Cryo treatment. I'm hoping the little extra scratch helps them last longer. I think I went through 3 sets of rotors last year.


Also on the slate are dropping in new Hawk DTC-60's brake pads and a full fluid flush with AMSOIL DOT4.  Probably by next week.