:. Racing .:. 2010 Last Chance Rationals
Results:
The 5th Element
Typically, the weeks leading up to this race were an absolute thrash. The reason? Trying to get the brand-spankin' new WF-1 bodywork fitted to my car.
Before the Miller race in mid-August, I'd had the front bellcranks lowered as necessary, gotten the shocks redone by Chris at the Shock Shop, and installed a WRD rear diff which came up
serendipitously (used) on the DSR forum, along with removing the dry sump and installing a lightweight battery.
So, for this race, "all I had to do" was to install the new WF-1 bodywork. That turned out to be a fair amount of work, between doing the final trimming, fitment, and getting everything
fitted *just so* to the car, getting the dzus springs installed, so it'd be easy to deal with during the weekend. That involved removing a lot of old bracketry, relocating the coolers
a little bit, and making some new mounts for things like the header tank, kill switch, and the new cables/rods to help support the floor. Everything was done in time for Thursday night
to be a drink-beer-and-sticker-up-the-car night. This was accomplished with gusto.
The real shocker of the whole process was setting the car on the scales for the first time and seeing the total come out - 790#! So, just as I'd hoped, the combination of lighter bodywork and
all the other bits netted over 100# weight loss in the car. Well, actually, updating with some post-Runoffs info, it looks like this was a bit optimistic, as we hit the scales at
1020#, about 70# lighter than before.
Even so, just the box of brackets and ducting that came off the car in the conversion process weighed over 20#, so I was absolutely ecstatic about the weight loss.
So, excitement back at a real high level, we loaded up for the Friday test day and ran some laps to make sure that nothing was going to fall off the car. Fortunately, nothing did -
initial laps were all quite drama free, the only issue being the speed sensor magnet coming adrift again. Initial observations from the driver's seat were that the forward visibility is a
bit better in the WF-1, and less cockpit buffeting as well. Water temps were on the order of 30-40* cooler than the 1g bodywork for similar ambient (datalogged) temperature, and oil temps
about 20* cooler. After the intial laps, I ran a few more, running a bit harder. Even in busy traffic, I was under all my previous bests, well into the 1:40 range. Top speeds were best
ever of 138-ish mph on the back straight, even at approx 90* ambient, with a headwind, where I normally see closer to 133-134 or so. Most exciting was the increase in corner speed in T4, the fastest corner,
where now I only needed one downshift instead of two going through that corner. Wow!
So, basically, wins all around. I was stoked, and called it a day. I had to take a trip into Denver to get my Hoosier stickers for contingency, since with Paul Leonard (Radical DSR)
and Jay Messenger (Dauntless / MX-1) had arrive to play as well, and that meant tires were there for winning. Rob Adams was also present in his CSR Radical, Richard Cottrill
in the Speads F1000, and a whole passel of S2's of varying levels of prep.
Saturday and Sunday were both forecasted to be at least 95 degrees, and they delivered both days. Most thermometers were reading over 100* in paddock, and the datalogger temp was
recording 110* in the cockpit, higher than ever before that I've seen - it was nasty hot, and many cars had heat related issues. The track itself was a greasy mess as well -
between incidents, dirt on apexes, and general slickerieness, it was an interesting few days.
For my part, the water T on the car was now right where you'd want it - 200-205 or so, versus the 230-235 at Miller with the 1g bodywork.
Oil T was hot at 255-260, but still better than the 270ish from Miller (measured in main oil gallery). Addressing this for next summer will be on my to-do list for the winter.
Saturday
Saturday started off seemingly just as simply as Friday, until lap 4 of practice when I came up to T1, began my downshift, and the engine pegged itself. Stuck throttle.
I kept the clutch in, shut off the motor, and got whoa'd down as much as I could before going off the end of the track at T1. Sat there for a minute to take stock, and was eventually
flat-towed back into paddock. A quick analysis showed that the pedal had gotten stuck under my throttle stop (ironic). I fixed that, but then in the post-session check-over,
noticed that the chain had once again gone completely slack and was missing o-rings.
*&!@#%!!!
A further quick analysis showed that the cause was due to the rear sprocket having worked loose, so all fingers pointing to idiot mechanic (your humble narrator) on that one.
Two new sprockets and yet another *&!@#%!!! new chain later, and we buttoned it up with about 10 minutes to spare before qualifying.
As a side note, I spoke with Richard briefly about chains, and he said they've quit using EK chains entirely - too much stretch - and returned to using solely DID chains. I've also
felt like the EK's were taking more looking after than did the RK GXW I ran previously, so for what that's worth, add that to your knowledge base. I think my approach will be to buy some
DID chain, since that's pretty well what everybody else seems to use with good results.
I qualified 1st OA and on pole, with Paul in his Radical 2nd. Jay was getting tentatively up to speed and shaking the rust off, and broke into the 49's during Saturday's race,
and was justifiably very pleased about the progress with his car. the MX-1 looks really evil on track, and Jay's definitely got some thoughtful touches in the design. I
wouldn't be surprised to see Jay justifiably raising the asking price on that as the car gets more hours, speed and results under its belt - neat car.
The race went relatively routinely for me, though it was a messy one - cars everywhere on track, including an FC parked on the outside of T7, which led to a really,
really scary near-miss incident with the tow truck as Paul came through about 30 seconds later. About six guys nearly bought their ticket, but for quick thinking on their parts, and
the part of the tow truck driver.
Ultimately, three guys bailed off into the dirt like Paul, and three more had no choice but to go OVER the tow line, which the tow-truck driver had been able to slack, just in time. Really scary.
Other than that, I just clicked off my laps, had some fun chasing down cars, and took the checker. Overall, just amazed with the handling of the car. The weight reduction makes it feel more like a big go-kart than like a car. The turn in is even better than before, and the extra downforce/grip is just crazy. Especially, the back end stability is remarkable, you can absolutely CHUCK the car into a corner and it just turns.
Some analysis of the new bits:
First, I must put in a huge plug: The shock work done by Chris Billings has been just absolutely transforming. HPR is extremely smooth - on the level of Miller Motorsports Park,
both of which are even better than Road America. That said, there are two spots that have begun to pick up some bumpiness though, the inside line of the long T7 "High Plains Drifter"
uphill sweeper, and mid-to-exit of T10, the last portion of "To Hell on a Bobsled". Previously in T7, the car would bottom somewhat, skitter, and lose grip through that bumpy portion,
and generally beat up the driver as well. In T10, I could hear the front tires chirping over the bumps as you go through there with significant lateral load. So, I was very curious to
see, in particular, how the new shocks would handle those problem areas.
With the new valving, the car just soaks up those irregularities, moves slightly on its suspension, but that's it. Especially in T10, I was able to just FLY through the latter part of the
corner, since the car didn't wash out slightly on exit like it used to. Apex and exit speeds in T10 especially were WAY up on what they used to be, due in part to the new compliance of the car.
Additionally, having spent the past year entirely confused as to why I can't run my car as low as the rest of the Stohrs, some component of the new valving (much more bump damping perhaps?) is such that I can now get the car right down to the prescribed front ride height, and have no rubbing at all on the front splitter, whereas before I was going through half a dozen rub blocks a day, at least 1/2" higher than before. So, send Chris your business, he knows what he's doing.
Also noteworthy is the new WRD diff, which seems to be very driveable, in the sense that you have more control over what it's doing, via the throttle. In the slow corners, T2, T6, and
T8 I noticed it especially. Off the throttle the car is not, uh, differentiating, but as soon as you pick up the throttle, you can feel the car immediately start to want to turn, which
makes mid-to-exit behavior much more controllable than before. It's a bit more point-and-shoot, since you can get on the gas harder and earlier, and the car is much more willing to rotate.
The end result of the car's handling now is tremendous corner-entry stability from the new aero and shock package, and excellent corner-exit traction and rotation, the net result of which is
just one heck of a lot of fun to drive fast.
In short, it nearly felt like a brand new car...that I was already comfortable driving, and it just put a huge grin on my face. Great fun!
Sunday
Sunday morning was slightly cooler than Saturday, and with a cleanish track, and few people headed out for practice, I thought this might be my best chance to re-take the HPR overall lap record,
which a fellow in a March Indy Car had reset earlier in the year, at a 1:40.197. Despite the headwind, I was able to get two nearly clean laps, both of which showed 1:40.1x on my dash, so I
knew I was close, but no idea if I'd actually done it. Trying not to be completely immature about the whole thing, I poked my head into the timing trailer, and sure enough - a 1:40.181 was on
the computers, so I did it, but just barely! Credit that to the lighter weight, the new body, and the new Stohr rear wings, complete with the third "5th Element" flap to really crank in
the downforce.
Once again the car was looking like there was nothing much to do, so we just settled down in the AC, watched the mercury rise, and waited for the race. Unfortunately,
in Qualifying, Jay noticed some high temperatures, discovered an oil leak, and a low fuel pressure issue, so he packed up, bringing our DSR count down to two. This time around, it was
Rob Adams in his CSR Prosport next to me, with Paul somewhat further back in the field this time. Once again I was able to motor away in the Stohr, and ran my usual program of having fun
chasing down cars, though I backed off just before the checkers to watch a fun battle between Christine Jerrits and an FC, to make sure they'd get their full race distance.
So that wraps up the local race season, and now it's two weeks to Runoffs, give the car a healthy once-over in the intermediary, and see if I can have a good run at Elkhart this year, before
it's time to put away the race car and dust off the skis...
See ya'll in Wisconsin!
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