August 19, 2006

Changes since last race (July 29th): 

Rebuilt the carburetors with MY modifications!
My modifications include: 

1.  New emulsion tubes – bored larger and cross drilled.
2.  New Pilot jets – bored larger.
3.  New (full length) vacuum slide springs.
4.  Smaller main jets (.110”)
5.  Opened fuel screws.
6.  Moved slide needles to notch five.

I also recalibrated my LM-1 Data Logging system and it is now fully functional for exhaust oxygen sensor, throttle position and rpm.

Hot Laps: 

The car ran extremely well.  The chassis was neutral in and off the turns, but loose at mid turn.  Engine ran decent, but too cold (160 degrees) – seems RICH to me.

Changes before the Heat:

We changed the carburetor Main Jets to .100”.

Tightened the car by dropping RR air pressure (6psi) and moved the wing back and increased wing angle.

Heat Race: (started on pole and finished second) 

Engine was horrible on the start and did not accelerate – I was beat into turn one by the outside second row starter!  The car handled decent, but I had no power to pass off the corner and was hitting the rev limiter just past the flagstand. 

 I skipped the Dash to make changes to the carburetors.

Changes before Feature: 

Track is getting sealed over (slick) and wide with no cushion to speak of.

Tightened the car with 5psi in RR tire and moved wing back.

My oxygen sensor shows the engine was happier with the .110” Main jets, but that those jets made the engine too rich at low rpm and part throttle.  We put the .110” Main jets back in and dropped the slide needles two notches.

Feature: (started 13th, finished 1st) 

The car handles well on the bottom at the beginning of the race, but the engine still will not pull off the corner when I have to get off the throttle and back on.  I move up to eighth place by lap 4.  The car is decent anywhere I put it, but not as good as I would like – it is getting looser into the corners as the race progresses.  I move into second place behind Tim Koch by lap 15.  Tim is running the top and I am running the bottom. I catch him and pass him, in lapped traffic, down the back straight on lap 22, but I miss the bottom getting into turn three and slide up allowing Tim to get back by me off turn four.  Dang-it, I showed Tim the bottom was faster and he moves to the bottom and starts to slowly pull away (about one car length off each corner).  My car is too loose getting in and that compounds my part throttle engine problem - he is killing me off the corner!  
Tim then makes a fatal mistake and gets into a lapped car – the contact spins Tim and flips the lapped car.  I am now the leader, but my buddy Derrick informs me that Jamie Wilson (#68) was coming hard on the top before the red flag.

During the red flag, Derrick adjusts the wing angle to gain grip into the corner and some air bleeds out of the RR tire as it cools.

On the restart, the engine still stinks under low speed acceleration, but I hold off Jamie through turn two.  The handling is now perfect!  I can drive DEEP into the corner and never come more than 50% off the throttle – this helps the engine pull harder off the corners and I pull away from the pack to take the win.

Wrap-up: 

Sometimes you have to be LUCKY!  We for sure did not have the fastest car tonight (Tim Koch and his MOMO engined Concept Chassis had us covered), but we put ourselves in position to take advantage of the leader’s bad luck!  Trust me, I have given races away in EXACTLY the same manner!

The engine only got to 174 degrees (which is still too cold).  We will review the data logs and adjust the carburetors to hopefully get the engine to pull off the corners and gain some engine temperature next week.  The car setup was nice, but that lack of off corner torque has got to be fixed!  We should be faster next week!

Did I mention that this car is FOR SALE!!!!