56 replies to this topic

[jsgprod]

Yes, I know it says Glob...

I just figured since James is already up there testing I'd get a head start on this for those 'other ones' of ya'll that won't get there until this weekend or next week.

So James, this is all in fun...

I still have to put a skirt on the front before next Monday.

On you?......or the car?

Now have more cam than engine it quits pulling after 6,700 but it doesn't really fall off until about 7300. Yesterday I was right at 7,200 rpm at the end of all the straights. If I had more motor I'd run out of gear or would have to be able to spin up higher. I have brown top pistons for next year and hopefully that'll help.

I'm waiting on tires now. The takeoffs I have been running are done on the left front and it made the carousel and kink more fun than I wanted in the last session yesterday. ;-)

I know you know this but those new tires are just going get you another hundred (or more?) rpm at the end of those same straights . At least it wasn't the rears that were going off in those turns!

I wouldn't be here at all except for TaxMasters owner Pat Cox. He brought my car up and then invited me to fly up with him and run the practice. My car has his stickers on it now!

That kind of goes without saying! Good deal!
Keep us updated,
Jay

[RETROCRX]

Good luck to all the peppers competing at the runoffs........wish I was there. Some of the best racing I've ever been involved in/watched.

Maybe next year...

Rob

[zakats]

bang zoom straight to the moon! one day I'll be racing at RA! Good luck to everybody going out there, stay safe, and take home some glory for RPR!

[Greg Gauper]

Now have more cam than engine it quits pulling after 6,700 but it doesn't really fall off until about 7300. Yesterday I was right at 7,200 rpm at the end of all the straights. If I had more motor I'd run out of gear or would have to be able to spin up higher. I have brown top pistons for next year and hopefully that'll help

What gear ratio and final drive ratio are you pulling 7200 in?
Got any lap times?
Also...how do you like the track?

Edited by Greg Gauper, 15 September 2009 - 02:18 PM.

[jwr914]

I'm running the Mugen box that I got from Keith with the 3.87 final drive. I can't find the gear list he gave me when I bought the box, it's lost in my eMail on one of my four computers. The car is actually pulling better at the track than it did on the dyno. Wish I'd had time to get those brown top pistons in the block. Anyway, I'm thinking the air duct to the intake actually works. ;-)

Times are 2:50 to 2:51 running by myself. The only cars here are GT1, GT2, GT3, T1, a CSR and me. I've learned to go all the way to just before the #1 before I hit the brakes, go to 3rd or 4th and pull myself through the turns. Much better today on the sticker tires. (R35 Hoosier) I know I could go much faster if I had someone to work with but that's just not the case. I've been trying the wings and things line around the carousel and it seems to be working really well on exit speed to give me about 101 into the kink and it scrubs off almost 4 mph. I'm at 108 mph at the 3 marker going into Canada.

This track is almost like running motocross. Blast into the turn and blast out except for the carousel which demands that you enter as fast as you can stand it and then hold on all the way to exit. That turn is the data backbone of the track. Anything you give up there is gone forever.

I still need to put the airdam on the car. I guess at this pace I'll wear the skirt not the car. The new motor and suspension are night and day better than what I ran all year. Every lap I get a little better at understanding what a FWD car needs and how much to trust it. Way different than the Ralt RT4 CSR.

When you get here Greg look for me in paddock 3. The TaxMasters trailer should be pretty easy to find.

The jury is still out on the track, but I love the area. We're staying at the Blue Harbor Condos in Sheboygan this week and next week as well.

James

What gear ratio and final drive ratio are you pulling 7200 in?
Got any lap times?
Also...how do you like the track?

[keithg]

Good luck to all the peppers competing at the runoffs........wish I was there. Some of the best racing I've ever been involved in/watched.

Maybe next year...

Rob

What he said...

[Greg Gauper]

Not too shabby for your first time out.
With those lap times, you will be a solid mid-pack car and have lots of cars to race with.

After several sessions, I suspect you'll find that Road America is actually quite boring to drive in a low powered car. The novelty of the Carousel & Kink wear off after about the third session...

That said, it is hands down one of the funnest tracks to race on IMHO, as the draft comes into play, and there are so many passing opportunities and places to run side-by-side.

I know what you mean about scrubbing speed in the Kink. I loose about 2mph thru there due to tire scrub. You have to turn the wheel as little as possible and be super smooth thru there to keep your speed up. Just wait till you go thru there flat out glued to some guys bumper!

The two places you'll find that you are probably leaving quite a bit of speed on the table are turns 14 & 1. You have to carry exit speed out of 14 in order to make it up that monster hill. Turn 1 is faster than it looks. To me, it is the scariest corner on the track. It's very easy to overslow the car and it takes forever to make up the speed.

Tape a note to your steering wheel to remind yourself....Exit Speed, Exit Speed, Exit Speed!

BTW - I worked the vintage event last weekend. I think I saw your semi parked out in the holding area. Big orange semi right?

[jwr914]

OK, today into 2:49 slowest lap a 2:50.03. Still no one to draft and work with. I'm feeling pretty good about 14. Head for the end of the Kohler sign wait, wait, wait go from 5 to 3 and dive for the curbing. 1 is a real gut check. I'm still leaving something there and I don't seem to be able to push my personal limit to go deeper. Brake marker 1 is too late and 2 is way too early. It has to be somewhere in between. Wind starting gusting after lunch and a big blast hit me on entry into the kink. That was exciting (NOT). Nothing like a box kite in a side wind.

I've been trying a modified wings & things line in the carousel and it's giving me great exit speed (94), but I don't know how much time I'm spending in the turn until I get home and look at the data. I put on R35's today and they seem to work perfectly. Killed my Hoosier order for the R45's. Tires just don't get as hot as they do in South Texas. Imagine that.

Yep, that's our orange trailer. See you this weekend. I'm helping a friend drive his rig back up in the morning if I get back. The plane is not booting up right now and I'm in Sheboygan airport watching a guy with a phillips screwdriver, a pair of channel locks and a hammer work on the instrument panel. I just thought turn one scared me. ;-)

James

The two places you'll find that you are probably leaving quite a bit of speed on the table are turns 14 & 1. You have to carry exit speed out of 14 in order to make it up that monster hill. Turn 1 is faster than it looks. To me, it is the scariest corner on the track. It's very easy to overslow the car and it takes forever to make up the speed.

Tape a note to your steering wheel to remind yourself....Exit Speed, Exit Speed, Exit Speed!

BTW - I worked the vintage event last weekend. I think I saw your semi parked out in the holding area. Big orange semi right?

[Greg Gauper]

Yep... turn 1 is a real gut check! I think it's because you have that nasty wall on corner exit, and you have a loooong time to think about it as you climb the hill
Instead of trying to brake deeper for turn 1, go back to using the #2 marker and force yourself to not brake as hard.

It is so easy to 'over slow' the car by braking too deep. If you scrub off too much speed under braking, it takes forever to make it up due to where you are on the acceleration curve.

With the cooler temps forecast for next week, R35's should be fine. They have lots of time to cool off on the long straights.

Edited by Greg Gauper, 16 September 2009 - 10:05 PM.

[anjin]

Instead of trying to brake deeper for turn 1, go back to using the #2 marker and force yourself to not brake as hard.

It is so easy to 'over slow' the car by braking too deep. If you scrub off too much speed under braking, it takes forever to make it up due to where you are on the acceleration curve

Thank you for that - I have been finding it very hard to judge my speed into a couple of corners, and braking late and hard was not making it easier. Brake earlier and softer makes good sense. Particularly as there is sand and wall looking back at me at each one. Now why didn't I think of that myself!

[jwr914]

I'll try that at turn one Monday if it isn't too darn crowded to do anything. A couple of times I did brake early and then roll through the entry sort of like you do in a FA and it didn't hurt my lap time. The thing that gets me about turn 1 is the leveling out just before the turn. I'm so used to going 180 mph after that long of a straight that my instinct is to brake before it levels off to make sure the car doesn't get "light" and go flying off the rear. It's a prefect place to left foot brake but I don't think I can pull 5th gear through there. I'm braking and going to 4th and shifting back to 5th right about the crest going down to 3.

This FWD low horsepower stuff has been hard to learn by myself. But it is fun doing something completely different.

Made it home at midnight, washing nomex socks and getting packed to leave to drive back at 9:00 AM THIS morning. See you Saturday!

James

[Greg Gauper]

James,
I'm paddocked near the Goodyear & Hoosier trucks, down the hill by the tree line.

[jwr914]

Sunday night, we're at Blue Harbor drinking beer and bench racing. Tomorrow we start the first real practice day of the show. It's raining steady outside. Not a big South Texas rain, more like a Seattle rain. But it's steady. Went and picked up my rains for tomorrow. Put on new Autozone shoes (lifetime warrantee). When we bled the brakes today the fluid was pretty nasty. New air dam on and fresh prep. Put my R35s back on figuring the weather won't really be wet enough for rains. We'll see.

James

[jwr914]

Monday over and we made it through two sessions. Morning it was wet and slick. I ran four laps with almost no brake pedal on first press. Had to double pump almost from grid. We put on new rear shoes and bled the system yesterday and it seems the master cylinder rubber thought that was a really bad idea. It gave up the ghost and I came in after getting way too close to several folks. We ran with SM, FP and GTL. It was a pretty good mix under drying conditions. Autozone is overnighting me a new master cylinder and I'll be ready to go out at 5:00 pm. Greg sat this one out, but he's ready to go tomorrow. Meller was even faster than the Sprints today on hand time. Only rain can bring him back to the rest of us it appears.

James

[jsgprod]

It's raining up at Road America this afternoon. Most of this afternoons qualifying sessions have been run in the wet from what I've heard.
SO, for those that are interested just before 5PM central today the HP qualifying session will take place. If you want to follow the live timing, here's the link:
HP/SSC session

Members that I know of:
#15 Greg Gauper
#66 James Rogerson

Watch #61 Dan Meller also, the guy has already broken his own track record in testing this past weekend (in a 91 CRX (non Si) FWIW)

Jay