Goodbye 901

The 901 went back to Colorado the other to roam free with many other SPEC racers. Adieu. You taught me much.

944 Active Aero or Cheeky Wink?

There I am, leading the 944 national champ and my engine builder Dave Dirks, into the almost 90 degree left-hander at the end of High Plains Raceway's short straight. Or starting straight. The corner highlighted by the red circle in the above track map.

Now, I removed my headlight motors and armature, but left the wiring and bulbs in place in case ever needed. And, my car is already at legal minimum weight.

But I never did affix the headlights in place. But should I.

I always noticed both headlights popped up on hard braking. And finally got an image to prove it. This snap was taken by Mitchell Taylor, the son of a fellow racer, Chuck Taylor. Click the photo for a much larger image.

Gives the car a bit of McLaren style active aero on a shoestring budget.

That is how I like to think of it. Not that it is just winking at the corners with my dodgy bodywork.

SPEC 944 Race Video

Just finished up a long, hot, crowded and incredible weekend of racing at High Plains Raceway.

Yes, this writer actually races. Not many of us do.

I had a very good weekend for being rusty from not racing all season. But the car ran great even in 95-plus degree heat. Thanks to the mocal oil cooler.

My rustyness really showed up in qualifying where I was a second and a half off my race pace. In the races I consistently put in a top five lap time. But couldn't qualify in the top five. Ugh.

The video above shows me running in 4th, that is my green car, until 10:20 or so in the video where the sunglare had me miss my braking point at the end of the long straight. Things happen fast at 120MPH but luckily I was able to keep it straight but fell back to 7th. As one of my co-races put it, you had "6 wheels off at turn 4 and 5".

That was Saturday, on Sunday I had my best racing, moving up from 9th to finish 5th. And avoiding quite a bit of contact.

Helping a Fellow Racer

Try this on for size - you just buy a new-to-you racecar and take it to the track to run her. And, as you are letting the car idle and cool down after your last session you hear an unmistakable knocking sound.

You feel your stomach get tight.

You get dizzy.

Yep, you just spun a rod bearing.

What a way to get into racing. So, in the spirit of our series where a lot of people helped me get on track I've been helping another racer get the blown motor out and swap in a new-ish one. Just with refreshed bearings and baffled oil pan.

Somehow, working on others cars is so much more enjoyable. I guess it is that you can just drive away and not have to look at the broken heap.

Race Car Motto

Every race car/team needs a motto. Something to rally around.

And the Hunt for 901 Writer Racing 944 has a motto. And now that it is in vinyl, it is official.

Really, if you don't finish last it is a successful weekend. So, "If you're not last, you're first!" is the motto. It is a little rejiggering of a Ricky Bobby quote. Listen to Ricky explain it to you here. He didn't trademark my version of it.

This won out over "Press on Regardless" and "Fast. Cheap. Reliable. Pick Two."

And the placement on the rear valance I think may be a nice distraction as other racers try to figure out what it means.

Cayenne in Action. Desktop Quality Pic.

This is the follow up email to last week pics. A friend of mine who drove his Focus SVT at the open track day grabbed this shot of the Cayenne towing, or is it 944 drafting, on the deserted HIghway 36.

Deserted except for cops who make sure you don't speed on the way to the track.

I do need to tell my friend to clean his lens though. Geez.

New Race Program vs. Old Race Program

Finally put all my stuff together and got the 'new old' race program hooked up and took her to the track.

Pretty fun comparison shot. Wow! The Cayenne makes towing sooooooo much easier than the Wagoneer. The Waggy got the job done for sure, but it swayed and groaned around the road. Wagging more than Ulysses' dog.

I believe I've lost some of my grassroots cred with this setup, but the 901 looks great. I have more pride of ownership of it now. And being 1" lower, it handled easier(not faster though) than last year. But ease of driving means more consistent lap times and better tire wear.

Out of pocket additional expenses(those not covered by selling other cars and parts) to upgrade the tow car and paint the race car as well as get new tires and alignment and decals? Near as I can figure $1,000. No one is cheaper than a Connecticut Yankee.

Corner Balancing the SPEC Car

The last item on my list to get my SPEC 944 ready for a test day was to corner balance it.

Ideally, I should have done this before I got my alignment, but the timing didn't work out. And I knew the car would be close to balanced as it was sitting level at 4 3/4 inches at all four corners as measured from the rockers.

So, having borrowed some scales from 944 SPEC director locally, I set them up in my garage and got to work. The number I was really concerned about was my cross-weight.

Now, I won't explain, but you can find out all about corner balancing here.

Right from the get go, my cross-weight was 49.81%. Which is about perfect.

But wait, I didn't check how level my garage floor was. Checking, it was 2 inches lower in the back than the front. Oops. After leveling the scales my cross weight was 48.1%. Not good enough.

So, with some minor,(less than a quarter turn of my coil overs) on both front corners I was able to get the cross-weight to 49.51%. Ahh, good enough.

The above chart is courtesy of here. My numbers are on the left. I was not about to try and get to their perfect numbers as it is a bit of waste of time. I mean fuel load, tire wear all effect the corner balancing.

But, I am in the sweet spot and can't wait to get out on track.

Four Hour Paint Job Video. In 30 Seconds.

This saturday the 901 Brown Bomber became the 901 Li'l Leprechaun.

Seriously, it only took four hours to wash, tape, prime and paint the car.

Before that I had probably 20 hours in sanding and prep.

Material costs, including misc. supplies was $408. And that was with single-stage urethane. There is no such thing as a cheap paint job with shortcuts.

It came out really well. Can't wait to buff it out and reassemble. And then, place my new decals on.

Almost too nice to race. Almost.

Sanding. Sanding. Sanding for...

A 944 doesn't look too big until you start to sand it.

I am sanding down the 944 in preparation for a new coat of paint. Scheme is a secret, but I think all my readers will be pleased. I am only going to tell that it will not be a respray in Sable Brown Metallic.

Lots of excellent inspiration out in the world, that is for sure. So, this is exciting. And arm-numbing preparing the car.

Front Bushing Refresh. Slight Differences. Slight Pain.

So, I went to get an alignment and the race shop said my bushings were compromised and I should replace them before wasting $150 on an alignment.

OK. Well then, those bushings only lasted about 7 race weekends. It was the front of the arm bushings that were particularly shot. The arm moves backwards and severely mangles them. There is no good aftermarket bushing for the front of the arm(Weltmeister discontinued their ineffective solution). The red Weltmeister bushings in the rear of the arm were in fine shape, but I figured why not spend the $17 and put in new ones of those as well.

Getting out the old front bushings is tedious. But installing them was a breeze using this threaded rod technique. Worked a charm.

It was when I replaced the driver side a-arm, I had an inkling it was bent a bit, that I noticed the new one was not the exact same shape as the old(original) arm. The Weltmeister sway mounts with hard plastic pieces that distribute the load and mark where to drill the arm. They fit the original arms perfectly. They did not fit the new arms perfectly, so I had dremel them down a bit to get them to sit in the same part of the a-arm. All new bushings should sharpen up that handling again and was what was probably responsible for the wheel wobble I was experiencing at the end of the season.

Further Adventures in 944 Torsion Bar Adjustment

Now that the racing season is over, I decided to make some of the larger changes that I refrained from during the season. I wanted to complete the races this year with basically the same set-up so I could work on my driving and get used to the tracks, not different set-ups.

The work today, it was sunny but brisk in Denver this late November Saturday, was to lower the rear of the car. I went out thinking it would be a one hour job. It took three and a half. Why? Me make stupid mistake sometimes.

So, I jack the car up, unhook the shocks and get ready to easily remove the torsion bars. Or so I thought. I had drilled holes in the rockers and affixed tabs to the torsion bars to specifically make this job easier.

But no matter what I did, I could not get the torsion bars to budge. And since they were new and well-greased I knew they should easily slide out when the splines, pressure and planets aligned. But no go.

I used the standard approach of a jack under the trailing arm to move up and down and get the torsion bars to be de-stressed. But still, they would not slide out. Even when asking for my neighbor to come over and help I could not get the bars to move. I was frustrated.

So, after two hours I jacked the car higher and removed the jack stand from under the torsion tube carrier(that is the round end that sticks out into the wheel well). I was about to call it a day. But then I decided to try removing the bar again. And it worked. WTF?

My best guess is the weight of the car on the torsion tube carrier was just enough to tweak the angle of the carrier and wedge the bar in place. Once my idiocy was uncovered I got to lowering the car. I was running at 5.5 to 5.75 inches on the rear measured ground to rocker at the seam. This was WAY HIGH for a leading 944 SPEC car. I wanted to get down to 4.5. A full inch lower. Many of the winners run 4 inches flat.

I got the passenger side in one shot. The drier side took three tries. There is no exact formula to this, just trial and error. But one trick is to make a mark on the shock, and measure form there. So, that is what I did, make a mark and jacked the trailing arm up one inch and then reinserted the torsion bar.

Just take a look at the pictures. Once inch does not sound like much but the look is dramatically different. I hope the handling is dramatically tighter. I think this will make a big difference in quick transition corners and also on the high-speed sweepers on some courses that have a big 'pucker' factor in my car as it wags its tail.

Final height adjustments will be made in the spring with my new race tires when I corner balance at the beginning of the season. There is 3/4 of an inch of adjustment available in the trailing arm set up without reindexing.

Don't clown the photos, it is riding high in front. But that is because I was too tired to lower the front down so that the car, according to Dave Dirks(my engine builder and 2010 944 SPEC national champion), is co-planer. Which in my case means 4.5 inches from ground to rocker at all four corners.

Improving a race car just doesn't happen in the race season. In fact, it is best to make the big changes during downtime so that when the season rolls around, all a racer has to do is worry about tire pressure and showing up.

Now, off to the couch to relax, rest my back and fall asleep warmed by a rather special Imperial Stout.

Out Flat at Last Race of the Year

No, I didn't suffer a twinge of dyslexia in my post headline. Yesterday was going great. My first time at Pueblo a very fast 2.2 mile track until the main race at the end of the day.

Five minutes before grid did one last tire pressure check and WHAT. I had a flat. Scrambling, another SPEC racer lent me his 4 year old near dead RA-1. The results were not good. No idea what the pressure in that tire was. I was just happy to get it on and get in the race. But at the beginning of the third lap, when the tires were at full temp, I realized just how important a set of equally conditioned and pressured tires were. I was suffering massive push. And trying to keep up with the 944 SPEC national champ had me off the track. Twice. So I called it a day.

But I still had a great time at Pueblo. I was able to qualify sixth then finish the qualifying race in fifth out of fourteen. Oh well, that is racing. Better a flat than something more pricey to fix. So, now I will either do one lapping day to end the year on a high note, or just pack it up.

In the pics you can see how Pueblo's front straight uses the drag strip portion of the park. You come out on it flat out of turn 10 at about 80MPH and hit what I suspect is about 115 at the end of the straight.

Then there is a pic of Graham suggesting I add some coolant to the car. Good fun that my wife and son were able to see me in the qualifying race and had left by the time of the main where I flatted.

One note, my motor seems to be breaking in nicely. Revving a bit quicker and offering what seems a bit more mid range torque. Especially when I wrapped cardboard around my oil cooler to raise the temps. I couldn't get the oil above 160 degrees in the am. So for the qual race I wrapped it and saw my temps a better 200 degrees. Warm oil is fast oil, to a point. You don't want to go above 240.

When Toyo RA-1 Start Getting Fast

Just raced on July 3rd at PPIR. We raced it backwards so we were all rookies on this track.

I don't know if it was confidence in the car, the even playing field or what, but I did very well. Was in the top 4 of the RM SPEC 944 group all day. Was nice to be up front and competing for FTOD and the win. 

But what I do know, is that my tires are just coming into their sweet spot. No one ever showed me what RA-1s should look like when they start being fast. But the above pic shows them just getting there. I am about 18 heat cycles in. All the tread blocks are just worn down. What a difference. They are now so much stickier and more progressive. I think they will be great for me for the last two races on my calendar.

Memorial Day Race Weekend Recap

Sorry, this took so long, but I was waiting for pictures. Am still waiting. I will add them when one of the photogs from the race posts them up. 

Now, on to the recap. First, on Saturday during the warm-up I ran a 2:21 lap. Not bad, and not pushing too hard. So I decide on a goal of 2:17 for the weekend.

In the qualifying race. I ran a 2:19 and this put me in 9th out of 18 cars. I finished the main race in the same place with a time of 2:17.

Goal reached. So set new goal. A 2:16.

Hit that on Sunday qualifying and the ran a 2:15:02 in the main race. Sweet. This was the fifth fastest lap time even though I finished the race 8th. 

It was great to be really in the mix. Lots of banging. Three of the four corners of the car got some other color paint on them. That is how close this racing is. It is incredible. Sure there are faster cars, but none that run as close as us.

Finally, on Monday in the enduro, my co-driver Chris Mosera of Garage Films and I managed to finish 9th out of 21 cars. And third out of the six or seven 944s. What a weekend. 

The only carnage was a set of wheel bearings from having a grease seal fail. But after a total of 5 and a half hours of hard racing to only need $40 in repairs was great. Engine was solid, brakes, suspension all doing well.

And for the next race, my RA-1s are just coming into the sweet spot, so they should be fast when we head to PPIR over July 4th.

I spent an open lapping day at High Plains Raceway breaking in my new motor. 

Glad to report it was uneventful.

With my old Hankooks aired up, don't want to was the RA-1s, I trailered the 901 out to HPR. I did not hook up the oil cooler as the ambient temps were low and incase something went kablamo I did not want to also replace that. 

But with a brand new radiator, the car barely got above the first temperature mark on the original water temperature gauge and struggled to break 170 on the new oil temperature gauge. Granted, I was hardly pushing the engine at race levels.

I did three 30-minute sessions. The first session kept it under 4,500 RPMS, just basically make sure the car ran and did not have a huge leak or something.

Second session did a few pulls in third up to about 5,000 RPMs on each lap. 

The third session, basically alternated fast laps with cooling laps, revving up to 6,000 RPMs.

I was expecting the biggest difference to be felt at the top end. So I was surprised when the biggest difference I felt was in the mid-range torque. I could fell the car pull out of those third and fourth gear turns much better.

But the proof will be in the racing on Memorial Day Weekend. In the meantime, I still need to cure some oversteer.

 

Shedding Weight Like Biggest Loser Contestants

I was looking to still drop about 25 pounds from my 944 so that I could adjust my weight with fuel. And, after having Hanksville Hotrods, a 944 SPEC sponsor, remove my stock muffler, I got almost all the way there.

It weighed 21 pounds. Who knows how much junk was inside of it, but dang. That was a lot of weight, especially as it hung way out the back of the car. Past the rear axle. Not an ideal place to have weight. Unless you own a 911.

You'll see in the above pick, that I still have the chrome exhaust tip. That was not a move out of vanity. That was because I was able to use the stock hanger by keeping the tip and very end part.

Report on how it functions soon.

I am sure it will be loud.

PPIR Pics 944 SPEC Race + Comp School

Thanks to Erik from Pattern Draft Imaging, there were some nice shots of the action at PPIR. I am super appreciative as I noted yesterday that I did not take any pictures from my first race.

You can check out all the pics of all the classes here.

That first picture from above was of Comp School. You can see it was a huge field and lots of high HP cars behind so it made for a chaotic, but good learning experience. Getting passed on both sides, etc, etc. Nothing beats experience for feeling comfortable behind the wheel. 

First 944 SPEC Race Report

So, was it worth it? The building of the car. The money. The time. 

Of course.

Just finished my first real 944SPEC race weekend. The #901 finished in one piece and I got a couple of more races in the books, literally. As with NASA your first 4 races are run under a provisional license and you need to get the booked signed off by the race director. This makes sure you know what the heck you are doing out there. Know the flags. Know how to hold your line. So, I have three clean races and need one more. The enduro last year, a race on Saturday and a race Sunday.

How did I do? Ugh. I finished at the back of the pack. But, I am cool with that. My car needs work on getting suspension set up. As a friend of mine, Joe Rothman who is also a PCA instructor noted after one session, "I saw your drifting display." The car, after the RA-1s warmed up got quite oversteery. Not in a snap way. But in a definite way. I would just watch the  cars in front of me stick a turn where I would be sliding. I think I need to loosen the rear weltmeister sway more as well as lower my rear ride height some.

I had never driven PPIR before. And your first time around that oval has you thinking, "did I really torque down all my suspension bits?" In a SPEC 944 you are foot to the floor in fourth, touching 110MPH or so as you drive around the corner. That concrete wall looming large on your right hand side. Bumps near the apex put your heart in your throat. I mean, we have good safety equipment, but not NASCAR spec gear so smacking the wall at those speeds would be brutal.

My first qualifying session I ran a 1:15.8. Almost five full seconds off the next slowest car. By the end of the weekend, I had run a 1:11.3 only a half-second off the slowest car. So I was quite pleased driving a new track. A car that oversteered and an old motor. My new motor will be installed this week. 

Goals for the year are to be able to run mid-pack. And I feel confident now I can get there. Moving up to the sharp end of the pack will take some time for sure. 

Note, I was so busy that I forgot to take any pictures. The only pic I have from the weekend was the one my wife took of me and Graham. Note his firesuit. Getting him race-ready.

More Wiring Removed & Check Your Hoses

In reference to the above pictures, I took some time to remove more of the nefarious, invasive wiring from an alarm and stereo in my 82 Targa. 

The alarm had the most tentacles. With leads going to the decklid, trunklid, glovebox door, lights, horn, etc, etc. I take a slow methodical approach when removing wiring. And this process paid off as each wire I removed I tested for proper ignition and lighting. When I removed one wiring, I noticed the fuel pump did not trigger. So, I made a jumper wire to take the place of the alarm wiring and everything worked as the overall clad workers in Germany intended. 

I do have a question to my readers? See the close up on the one wire. This was stuck to the shift rod tunnel with wires that led to the stereo and amplifier I previously removed. What is it for? Static? Ambient sound? What?

Check Your Hoses. So, with the first 944 SPEC race in less than a week I decided to start up the 901 and see if would run. I am using the old motor for the first race. Approaching the car I saw a puddle under the front that I thought was rain water or snow melt. But, it was antifreeze. Ugh. It looked like the plastic around the temp sender was cracked. So, I started the car in hopes it would make the leak more obvious. It did, once up to temp, I could see steam wisping from around the top radiator hose. A screwdriver set to the clamp proved it loose by three full turns! Was I limp wristed when I installed it last year? But, good maintenance to do. 

Now, to go get unraveled from all those wires...