Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 14 2003, 01:14 AM

http://www.opentrackracing.com

Never driven with these guys before, but I've heard good things. $125 for 2.5 hours of track time is hard to beat. You "have to" miss work though (weekday events). I usually work at home Wednesdays anyway, so this time my...phone, yeah that's it...terrible phone problems. I was there working all day, honest. Oh, you tried to call? Hmmm....

Anyways, I got the fuel tank venting and seat moving issues fixed, and a few other trivialities from the last event.

Haven't gotten my new "Design by Ya-Roon" numbers made up yet, but not really necessary for this event. Next time.

This is really just a test/tuning day for fun, but I'm anxious to see how the car does on the faster track. At Streets of Willow I only see a few seconds of 4th gear in this car and nowhere near top speed, probably 90-ish. Wednesday we will see top speed or very close to it, in the turn 7-8 section and the end of the front straight. Should be interesting. I most likely will be by-far the lowest powered, and maybe oldest, car out there with this group. Race prepped 996's, Vipers, Vettes, NSX's etc will probably be there.

Posted by: vortrex Jan 14 2003, 01:19 AM

is that 2.5 hrs of you running all you want, or do you have to wait your "turn"?

there are some serious cars on that site! should be very interesting to hear your stories.

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 14 2003, 01:24 AM

No, IIRC there are 3 run groups, 30 minute sessions, rotating throughout the day. There is an optional cup race at the end of the day for the red (fast) group.

I am in the "slow" group, which should be anything but slow.

Most of the website pics are obviously the pretty hardcore guys, but there supposedly is a good sized newbie/street car/drivers ed contingent too.

I might have a chance against that Celica on the web site, LOL

Posted by: vortrex Jan 14 2003, 01:27 AM

you can probably take this guy, B says ferrari's are junk, maybe it will fall apart mid lap.

Posted by: L8Apex Jan 14 2003, 01:37 AM

the Ferrari owner, I know that guy,well sorta....

I talked to him all weekend at the POC event up at Thunderhill back in July. His trailer is just beautiful. air conditioned, 3 car trailer, with satelite and like 20 compartments and still room for a fridge and tires.

The Ferrari is a 360GT car. Faster than a 360 challenge, but slow enough to run with the GT3R's at Lemans. He owns that 996TT in the background and also has a RUF 996, custom built. :cursor:

Posted by: Brad Roberts Jan 14 2003, 01:39 AM

I'm going to assume that one is a ProDrive built Ferrari (ALMS GTS car) ProDrive gets them and guts them of everything Ferrari except the engine and trans.. then they go through that.

Be careful who you run with Chris. We have some serious shitty groups up here that we all stear clear of.

Ask Tony.


B

Posted by: Brad Roberts Jan 14 2003, 01:42 AM

ha ha.. keep going in the pics. The Ferrari ended up WRECKED..LOL

Chris..that group appears to be mostly POC guy's from your area.

I recognize more than 3/4 of the cars.

B

Posted by: Tony C Jan 14 2003, 10:14 AM

The 360GT cars are made by Ferrari for ALMS or FIA racing, you don't see them much in ALMS because they are not quite fast enough. One of them however won the Grand-am championship, beating the Racer's Group this year. The 550 Marenello's are the ones made be Prodrive and are wickedly fast and are in no-way a Ferrari except for the engine and main tub.

Chris, that group is OK, I wouldn't be supprised if you come back and tell us kill stories about what $100K+ cars you wre faster than. At most of these events it's 80% driver and 20% car. I can reguarly kill 996tt and 360's with my MOM"S stock Boxster S. It is frustrating down the straights however if you have an asshole driver. In those cercumstances I tiell them they are number one!

-Tony

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 15 2003, 08:09 PM

Damn, I love this car.

Had a great day playing with (mostly) high-powered American Iron out at Willow. I ran in the "blue" run group, the middle one. (The red group was mostly 400+HP cars, and they didn't invite my little VW to play.)

There were quite a few "offs" and several cars suffered damage. No car-to-car impacts, but certain areas at Willow do not have friendly runoff. One Z06 Vette got its front lower bodywork chewed up, enough to need a flatbed home. One Viper bent up his suspension. A Mitsubishitti BROKE a front brake rotor into pieces. (NO idea how he did that.) And the really classic one, a guy in a RENTAL Mustang un-beaded 2 tires. Peeled 'em clear off the rim. I dunno if he was 20PSI down on pressure, or what.

I am really, really happy so far with how my car is coming together. Tony C was right - I was able to hang about in the middle of the middle run group. I passed quite a few people including 4.6L Mustang GT's and 1.8T Audi TT Quattros. I hung pretty well with the ITS RX-7 (with an incredibly obnoxious rotory exhaust sound). And I had the absolutely lowest HP car at the event. The only thing close power-wise was probably the MINI Cooper S, and a couple of the rice cars, but most of them were in yellow group.

Only problem, so to speak, is that we haven't gotten around to the front oil cooler on my car yet...so it wanted to cook itself. They ran 30 minute sessions, and I typically came off between the 15 and 25 minute mark. The cooler will get done within the next couple weeks. More suspension tuning (bump steer, play with rear springs etc) and Hoosiers will come soon too.

The other bummer is that I haven't had the time/money to get a HotLap timer yet, so I have no clue about lap times. It "felt" pretty decent though. From turn 1 thru 5 or 6, I suspect I was quicker than a whole lot of people. Of course from 7 thru 9 and up the front straight, I'm barely pulling 120-125mph pedal-to-the-metal, so definitely no threat to the big V8 cars.

PICS -- oh yeah, can't forget that. They are still uploading, which will take a while, but will be here:

http://www.nosubstitute.org/events/OTR15Jan03

Posted by: bernbomb914 Jan 15 2003, 09:01 PM

Thanks Chris
Great pics. looks like you had great weather. good luck on future runs.

Bernbomb914

Posted by: Jeroen Jan 15 2003, 09:31 PM

Hey Chris,

Serious case of track-envy here... haven't been on a track for over a year

Was that yellow "prototype" one of those hyabusa engined cars?

Cheers,

Jeroen

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 15 2003, 09:35 PM

Nobody seemed too sure what exactly that car is. I think I heard "Formula 2000" or "Spec 2000" (an SCCA class?)

It was very impressive, whatever it is. Really moved. They had a pro or near-pro driver behind the wheel and were shooting some kind of video piece.

Posted by: Tony C Jan 15 2003, 09:58 PM

Jeroen, Yes that is one of the Radical cars, owned by Mark Dalen, just an average "club racer". That one has the hyabusa engine and runs SCCA CSR and is VERY uncompetitive.

Chris,Glad you had fun, I knew you would do better than you thought.

-Tony

Posted by: bhfast Jan 15 2003, 10:00 PM

it's from a company called radical motorsport in the UK. and yes they are motorcycle engines by suzuki, either 1100 or 1300cc.http://www.radicalmotorsport.com they have anywhere from 130-250hp at about 1100lbs

Posted by: Jeroen Jan 15 2003, 10:07 PM

thought it was a radical, just wasn't sure
thanks

jeroen

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 15 2003, 10:10 PM

OK, that makes sense. I heard them talking about "Radical" and the trailer did say Mark Dalen.

I wonder if the car is uncompetitive, or Mark...he wasn't driving it today.

I betcha they were shooting a promo piece (i.e. infomercial) for the car mfr.

Posted by: Tony C Jan 15 2003, 10:15 PM

For it's class the car is VERY uncompetitive. A competitive SCCA CSR car is a carbon tub atlantic of F3 car with sports racer body work, has 300+ hp, and weighs about 1100-1200lbs. A Radical has 180hp, tube frame, and weighs 1300+ lbs.

I am sure Mark was driving as that's him in the driving suit atleast. The car is very fast in comparrison to a modified street car, but a real CSR car is 5+ seconds a lap faster!

-Tony

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 15 2003, 10:21 PM

Very interesting stuff. I am SO not up to speed on SCCA / spec-racer stuff. Whatever I can catch on Speed Channel is about it.

The older guy bent over the car in that pic, I assume is Mark. There was a younger blonde dude doing most of the driving and video shots today. Must've been the hired gun.

Posted by: Tony C Jan 15 2003, 10:26 PM

Interesting! Yes Mark is the one in the blue suit. I have no clue who the other guy is. Yes SCCA requires a lot of useless knowledge. Going to the Runoff's and every National race west of the rockies over the past three years keeps one well informed!

-Tony

Posted by: L8Apex Jan 15 2003, 10:26 PM

damn, you got me all excited about going to a track day next saturday. MUST finish the 914 and find some 15" race tires! Probably gonna have to resort to the CRX... front wheel drive push mobile

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 15 2003, 10:32 PM

L8Apex, I'm still "undecided" on how much I like these Kumho Ecsta V700's, but one positive factor is they are readily available and relatively cheap. About $110/ea new, full tread, I think. Mine have survived several hours of pretty aggressive track time so far, plus driving to-from events and the shop (I NEED a trailer), and are not gone yet.

Posted by: L8Apex Jan 15 2003, 10:41 PM

yeah, I actually do have a set of V700's on some wheels that will only fit my CRX. I used them once at thunderhill and a few autox's. I'm thinking of getting them for the 914 also, or transfer them over for the track day. hehe. They are a bit on the heavy side though. I like them because they don't overheat in the summer unlike the Victoracers. sucks to have 1 flat hoosier

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 15 2003, 10:49 PM

What kind of pressures do the Ecsta V700's like in your experience? I typically ran the Victoracers and Hoosiers around 40psi hot, but I have heard all kinds of conflicting advice. Today the car felt very squirmy at about 29 cold/34-36 hot so I bumped them up about 4psi and it felt a lot better. Less squirm and sidewall deflection. But I didn't have the time, energy or knowledge to really optimize things.

Posted by: L8Apex Jan 16 2003, 02:05 AM

at the track, I usually do about 32-35 cold, depending on the outcoming conditions. usually comes off at about ~40 ish hot, + or -. I think that was the most optimal my car felt. For AutoX, I just pump them up to about 35 no matter what. and take out a few if the car feels funny. But this is on my CRX, front drive, maybe a bit different, but I believe it would be a good starting point. I don't know a lot of people even running these tires at the track that much, so I don't get much feedback on them.

Posted by: J P Stein Jan 16 2003, 04:46 AM

Well great.....we're all over the map on pressure for the V racers. Last time out (AX), I ran 26 & 28 cold (f-r) and they felt the bestest yet.

With the camber I was running, that may have been best.
Dunno what it's gonna be like with 2.5 neg, tho....Prolly start out a bit higher? I may actually have to check temps........WAGs are more fun.

Posted by: L8Apex Jan 16 2003, 05:43 AM

JP, the victoracers are a different compound than the ECSTA V700's. I believe they are softer and heat up much quicker for autox use. i think people run about what you are running for pressures for those tires.

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 16 2003, 09:32 AM

I wasn't as anal about it as I maybe should've been, but I checked tire temps twice. The Ecstas were heating pretty evenly across the tread, which I guess means the camber is OK for them. (This is only with ~ -1.5). The temps were consistent front-to-back on each side of the car, with the "outside" (left, clockwise track) being hotter.

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 16 2003, 09:33 AM

By the way, what the he!! are you guys doing up so late/early, surfing this board at 3am

Posted by: Jeroen Jan 16 2003, 09:36 AM

well... what the heck are you doing here at that ungodly time!

for me, it's 16.40 in the afternoon, so I'm just waisting work-hours

cheers,

Jeroen

Posted by: brant Jan 16 2003, 09:46 AM

Chris,

I just wanted to add my CONGRATS... on a successful outing.

I really appreciate the pictures and write ups... helps motivate me to get back to my projects so that I can play too....

brant

Posted by: Dave_Darling Jan 16 2003, 11:36 AM

L8, re "FWD push-mobile"--

Don't worry, you can still get a CRX to spin. Seen it quite a few times. In the "esses" at Sears Point, actually. The guy I was crewing for just didn't know how to take turn 9 (I think it was 9; 9 is the left-hander and 10 is the right-hander just before pit-in, right?) and looped it four out of ten laps his first time out there in that same spot. Yipe!! Didn't collect anyone, though--he was very careful about letting everyone else get through before he got to that part of the track. Happily, someone clued him in about how to take the turn before his second run group.

Heh, I even got my CRX into a lovely four-wheel drift on the way to work this AM!

--DD

Posted by: L8Apex Jan 16 2003, 11:57 AM

Dave, well, yeah, the car can be loose at times... hehe. About the spin at sears, you must be talking about Tyson? red ITA CRX with like 900lbs springs at the rear.

Posted by: Dave_Darling Jan 16 2003, 11:59 AM

Ah, you know Tyson! Yup, that was his first-ever day at SP, and I was crewing for him.

--DD

Posted by: L8Apex Jan 16 2003, 12:18 PM

hehe,yeah, I know Tyson. I saw his car and was teasing him about it. "Vandals! Damn Vandals!" Then he saw me stuff the 914 into the tires at Laguna a few months later. I told him, "vandals! I just went to go take a dump, and when I come back, they steal my radio and beat up the car!"

Blown out hoosiers.

Posted by: J P Stein Jan 16 2003, 01:51 PM

I get home from wurk at midnight.
That's my story & I'm stickin' to it.