March Memories VIR 2009 - A 260Z Outing

[Ron Earp]

TST Manages a Good Weekend<o></o>
<o> </o>
Despite a number of off season problems TST (Team Stinking Turd) managed to make the opening 2009 race at VIR. Unfortunately we only debuted with one car, the 260Z. The TR8 is still laid up undergoing the fuel injection conversion and I suppose we were lucky to get the 260Z there since the motor was rebuilt by me just seven days before.<o></o>
<o> </o>
The 2008/2009 off season was to bring many improvements for the Z. New suspension, new camber plates, and a pro built L26 motor for the Z. As it ended up most of the off season was spent on tearing the TR8 apart and getting it prepped for the fuel injection conversion as well as putting in a new Rover motor. That left a few weeks for the Z. The big problem started when the engine builder told us the pro motor wouldn’t be ready in time for VIR. At that point we had about two weeks to rebuild the broken spare motor and get it in the car. <o></o>
<o> </o>
With the help of another of our engine builders we got the block and head prepped in record time. We built the engine up, installed it, and got it fired up one week before the race and everything seemed ok. No dyno time though. The arrival of the new trailer occurred one day before the race and there were problems to solve there as well – like the car couldn’t be put on the trailer! Plan B was to use Jeff’s trailer but at 730pm on Friday night Jeff reported his trailer was stolen.

Plan C involved winching the car on the new trailer, fit be damned, and ripping some bits of the car and trailer from their mounting locations. Still, by 9pm Friday we were ready to rock with a new motor, no dyno time, and a suspension setup we’d never tried before.<o></o>

<o>

</o> We planned to only perform two events, half the races, for the weekend. One sprint race and one 1.5 hour race. Sat qualifying and practice went well for us and the car ran flawlessly – power was much improved and our new handling setup was the bomb. Having the rear of the Z setup with -3.25 camber was worlds of improvement over the -1.5 we were forced to run with the old stuff. <o></o>
<o> </o>
Jeff qualified us on the pole for the 1.5 hour race with a 2:17, the fastest we’ve ever run in the Z. I qualified in second place for the sprint race, only 0.5s off the pole setter. Things were looking up for TST’s 2009 year.<o></o>
<o> </o>
With Sat’s 1.5 hour race Jeff started the race and was to hand off to me at the halfway mark. Race start was uneventfully but Jeff dropped a shift and we lost a few positions on the start. He made them back up within a few laps and we were running 2^nd. He ran strong for half the race, no problems or contact, and came in for the pits. I hopped in and ran the rest of the race, but at a slower pace than Jeff did. For some reason I just wasn’t getting my groove on although the car was just fine. I held on to second place and we finished took the checker with no problems – a solid podium finish for us! <o></o>

Jeff did a great job in the race and maintained very fast times with good consistency, awesome job. Doubly hard because he was in the early traffic with lots of those pesky Spec Racer Fords around, low-door-stop-looking cars that are hard to see and fast where you are not.
<o> </o>
Sunday’s sprint race came fairly early after being out at the VIR pub eating and drinking. Plus, we dialed the clocks ahead that weekend.

Still, I felt good and was ready to go. I had 2^nd for the ITS starting so I’d be right behind the only two ITR cars, a BMW driven by our friend Rickey Thompson and some sort of tarted up Type Arrrgggghhhhh Honda VTEC Yo! Car. The race started with no problems in turn one, always a good sign.

I drove my mirrors though and really screwed up T4/T5/T6 thus allowing the front running cars to break away. Throughout the race the lead they gathered would wax and wan slightly but they always stayed out in front.<o></o>
<o> </o>
So for the first nine laps I had third place but only just barely – our friend Jeff McCandless in his second generation RX7 was glued to my bumper every lap around. He drove a fantastic race and I could not shake him. His car has a bit more top end than the Z so I always had to have as much of a lead as I could into the corners that dump onto the straight lest he take me. On lap eight we about ran over a spec Miata in the uphill esses and that encounter erased a small lead that I had over Jeff M. Things were now real tight. <o></o>
<o> </o>
On the last lap Jeff M out drives me and manages to edge by me at the end of the back straight into the braking zone, about 1/3 mile short of the finish line – no chance to make it up!!! But, when that was happening out of the corner of my eye I notice that the two front runners in our ITS class, a 240Z and white RX7, are off course. They were racing hard the entire race and took each other out. It looks like Jeff M. might have just won the race and I have a second.<o></o>
<o> </o>
Into impound we go to get weighed and Jeff M. gets put off the side. They direct me into the podium position – first place! WTF?!?!!? Turns out Jeff M. was underweight and DQed, a bad finish for him. That left me in first, the 240Z of Guy Marvin in second, and the RX7 of Chris Hennecy in third. So, by hook and crook I’d won my first sprint race. Wasn’t how I wanted to win one and I wasn’t the fastest driver/car out there, but that sort of thing happens. TST had a good weekend.<o></o>
<o> </o>
I’ll get some pictures up later. Meantime, here is the sprint race in its entirety.

March Memories 260Z SARRC Race 2009



You can easily see how I screw up T4/T5/T6. I learned not to drive my mirrors by making that mistake, a hard lesson. As a personal best this sprint race was good for me. I turned my fastest times ever in the Z at VIR, some 2:18s in race trim and essentially the same lap times as the leaders, so the car has the ability to race up front. With better driving it and the driver can be winning consistently.

Plus, it was really neat to have a motor that I built perform well. I expected to be chasing down gremlins all weekend but we did nothing but change brake pads and run the car. Motor has a very trick dampener/pulley that made by one of GT40s.com's own members that I'll detail later. All in all very enjoyable to have something you built work like it should - doesn't happen enough!

Hoping to do some winning down at the CMP races in two weeks. Gots work to do on the car though……
<o></o>

 

[Garry]

Ron it sounds like you had a great weekend. Congratulations on the win, no matter how you won. Just remember, the other guys may have been faster, but they were not doing it by the rules. Sometimes the good guys do win.:thumbsup:
Garry

 

[Jeff Young]

As always, Dr. Earp is too modest. He ran a GREAT race (I watched the whole thing, tore myself out of bed early in the morning to do it), keeping a slightly faster car (slightly) behind him the whole race. It's HARD to drive witha car on your bumper and he did it.

More importantly, he kept the leaders in sight, and ran times within a half second of them. So, when they got racey on the last lap and knocked each other off at the top of rollercoaster, he was there to take 2nd and ultimately the win once the car that took the checkers was found to be underweight.

Beyond Ron's Sunday drive, the most impressive thing to me about the weekend was the tech side of it. Ron built that motor -- I just turned a few nuts and bolts -- and I can't imagine a pro motor being any stronger (and if it is, watch out!). He did a great job eeking all of the power out of the L26, a true IT build. You guys would be amazed what is acheivable within our rule set.

Second, we actually had a good enough running car that all we had to do was improve the setup. We had too much rear camber and too high tire pressures the first couple of sessions, and we dialed that out and got us a very good handling race car.

I ran a 2:17.1 in it, or 2 seconds faster than I've gone in the TR8, and that was running about 95%. The track record at VIR is mid 2:14, and I'm confident this car can get close.

Racing is ups and downs, and we'll certainly have more downs this year, but this was one of the best weekends we have had to date. Many thanks to the Good Doctor for allowing me to drive the Pirate Ship on Saturday. It's a really, really good race car. I like it.

 

[Malcolm]

Way to go boys, sounds a great weekend! Interesting to hear what you did with camber too. I am thinking the same for my next miata. Did you start with more than -3.25 and dial back to -3.25 or did you reduce from there?

 

[Jeff Young]

Exactly. We had I think 4.5 to start with and it was too much. The car would basically move over half a width under braking and was too darty down the straights. Not sure if it was just camber though as we had about 5 lbs (starting at mid 30s) too much pressure in the tires as well. Knocked that (on Hoosiers) back down to 30 or so to get 38 hot.

3 or 3.5 degrees was still a bit darty, but manageable, and really helped to put the power down. Car was smokin' fast.

 

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

Great write up - nice one guys! - looks like you had a blast :thumbsup:

My tentative laps last Nov at VIR were a lasting memory I will savour for some time...

Looks like I might be helping Malc soon with his impending new-build Miata so that should be fun too.

 

[Randy V]

Good job boys...

Ron - thanks for sharing!!!

Seems like a TON of camber for the rear... Don't you find that it affects your braking performance?

Ron - Not trying to be too critical - but the driving instructor in me tells me that you're turning in a bit early and driving the bottom of the corners too much rather than making precise and deliberate turn-ins to seek the apex of the corners..
Now I've not driven VIR (looks like a wonderful course) so take that into consideration with my critique..
Also - sometimes it takes just a little more time to shake off the rust accumulated over the long winters.. Then it's off dancing you'll go!

I'll bet that TR8 will be a blast!!!

Sort of a warm-up for the Lola's eventual unveiling...

 

[Ron Earp]

It was a good weekend and one much needed after our rather disastrous off season. Good stuff - Jeff runs a 2:17 which is awesome. Now Jeff drives about anything fast, but that really let's us know the car is there for us if we can use it. That was not the case before the various modifications but we're improving the car and the results are starting to show.

As far as camber goes the Zs down here in the SE region typically run the "East Coast" setup with no rear bar and anywhere from -2.5 to -4 (!!!, a 240Z and he holds the ITS record at Roebling Road if I'm not mistaken). It might seem like a lot on paper but in the car it is flat out hooked up. The car was never like this with the old -1.5 to -2 settings. The rears on the Z are drums and they don't do much of anything for very long so no, it doesn't seem to affect the braking a whole lot.

We currently have the welded differential in the car. I think there will be more time on the table when we go to the recently built clutch pack or even back to the Quaife. That welded is definitely planted but it walks a little here and there, hard to explain. I noticed it instantly when I started racing with it at Daytona and the only reason we use it is that the diff/carrier/rear that the welded is in has the 3.54 gearing. The clutch pack is with a 3.7, and the Quaife with the 3.9. Quaifes are not liked much in Z land and none of the fast guys use them.

As for driving at VIR being early on the turn in, I don't know. This race is a bit atypical for me as I was fending someone off - a rare occurance! Usually I'm trying to catch up! I was deliberately trying to be a bit defensive in many corners. You can't see the rear view but in some of the sections Jeff M is either stuck to the bumper or has pulled out and is trying to edge up on the inside at various places on the track. Some times in T1 I'd try and drag him left and get a good run out of T1, and that would work. But other times when he was too close for comfort I'd brake up, pinch off, and try to catch the torqueless wonder RX7 down low in a RPM/torque hole and pull him out the other side. Sort of changed things up in various corners but I shouldn't do that, I know. I should just drive the car like I normally do, but that is hard when the other car clearly can get you if given the opportunity.

In the end I fought hard but he out drove me and passed me on the last lap. I think by then Jeff M had seen enough to know how to pull the pass off. Had I had more "race craft" experience I'd have stayed left on the straight and made him try and get under me in the braking zome back there. However, that is dangerous. That is how cars one and two ended up punting themselves off track.......just like that.

Fun stuff! We'll tweak the car up for the CMP race in a bit under two weeks. Two points races in one weekend, fantastic track and at least to me an enjoyable town to hang out in. I hope to get some podium shots here soon if I can find out who has them. Sydney is dying to see some "winner's circle" photos.

 

[Randy V]

I certainly understand the line you were taking now. Not having the advantage of seeing your mirrors, I suspected that you might have had someone back there but didn't know. Yes - you have to protect the corner and preserve your quarter panels..

Re: welded diff.
I ran a locked diff one time with my AS Camaro at Brainerd. Going into T1 @ 160mph with a locked diff game me a whole new appreciation for my relationship with God! I vowed that from that point forward - I would run an open diff if I had no LSD or Torsen available.. I have video that I still need to transfer from tape - When I do, I'll be happy to share..