Sunday, December 19, 2010

Awesome DTM nostalgia

E30 M3 FTW!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Rental Car Insanity

Only to a rental car company could a Chevy Impala be considered a full size car.

Thursday, December 09, 2010

1 Series M

I've not been a fan of BMW styling for many years, but i have to say the new 1 series M look quite nice. Not real pretty, just kinda mean. I like it.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Finnish Roll Cage Testing

They don't call them Flying Finns for for nothing.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Chevy Volt is NOT an electric car

I was discussing the upcoming Chevy Volt with a colleague yesterday who proudly how the US is getting into the electric vehicle business because "even Chevy makes an electric car".

I pointed out the the Volt - despite it's electric name - is in fact a hybrid, no different that a Toyota Prius. "No, No, No, it's an electric car" he stammered, "the gasoline engine only charges the batteries"

I beg to differ...

The new Chevy Volt is no more an EV that a Toyota Prius. It uses the gasoline engine to assist the electric motor to drive the wheels when necessary. You see my colleague made the mistake of actually listening to GM.

GM has recently uh.. 'adjusted' many of the original claims about the car. The first one to go as the 230 MPG claim. How didn't see this one coming. In August 2008 then-CEO Fritz Henderson claimed "230 MPG in city driving". Popular Mechanics recently tested a pre-production model and saw about 37 MPG, more than a little short the original GM claims.

I could write that off and new product optimism. What pisses me off is that contrary to 2+ years of PR claims, it's not even an electric car. It's a plug-in hybrid very similar to the current Toyota Prius.

GM now claims the original description was misleading because they wanted to ensure all their patents were approved before disclosing the real nature of the drive system. So, dishonestly is fine in the name of IP protection.

I'm not saying the Volt isn't fuel efficient, or that it's a bad car. I'm saying when you call something an electric vehicle for 2+ years and then launch a hybrid partially driven by it's gasoline engine, some people are going to cry "foul".

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Izzy gets sick -- again

It's hard to believe that there are some places that so remote that you can't get wireless data service. On Saturday I learned that Pt. Reyes Station, CA is one of those places. 30 miles from central San Francisco yet a thousand miles away. The wife and I went up there to visit my newly rediscovered bubba Mike at Black Mountain Cycles and to procure some of that fine cheese at the Cowgirl Creamery.

Sure, that sound remote. But the fully grasp remote (in the 2010 context) take the long and bumpy drive through the Pt Reyes National Seashore to the Pt. Reyes Lighthouse. Out there you are on the dark side of the moon -- no cell service at all.

I know this because this is exactly where Izzy (the wife's E46 328ci) decided that power steering should be a optional luxury. So less than 100 yards from the parking lot and ~25 miles from cell service, Izzy started making Bad Sounds (tm) from the front end so strong they shook the steering wheel.

At first I though 'flat tire' but the sound was clearly tied engine speed which aint a flat tire. The fact that Izzy was now steering like a supertanker is what we call a clue. Nothing was amiss under the hood, even the power-steering fluid was still full so we reviewed our options. Hmmm.. ten cars in the parking lot but no people. ~25 miles back to town. No cell service. Ok, so we drive it.

What a workout. All in I drove that thing almost 50 twisty, turny mountainous miles in the quest to get home. The worst miles were the 10 miles stuck behind a tourist bus at 25 MPH. Three days on, I'm still a little sore.

Safely home, a little time on the internets showed that E46s share the habit of failing PS pumps. Typically the shaft between the pulley and the pump fails. Not ours, ours failed inside the pump, creating a loud buzzing sound that felt like something very heavy fell off and was dragging along the ground under the car.

My new cali-style mechanic (frosted hair and all) is now replacing the pump, reservoir (with built-in filter) and a couple of hoses. He's also going to replace both idler pulleys as a preventative measure as well. Tally: $1k

Ouch. Oh, I never did get to see that damn lighthouse but the bike shop was spectacular (How many Charley Cunningham road bikes have YOU seen?) and the cheese sublime.

Friday, October 08, 2010

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Listenin'

While the internet give anyone the ability to publish their thoughts, some thought are more worthy than others. I recently discovered Adam Carolla records a really entertaining daily podcast. I listened to him for years on Loveline and really appreciate his sense of humor. He's also a real car guy and records a weekly show that is focused exclusively on cars. After discovering the AC show, I found that stand-up comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan also does a daily show.

Both are available on-line and on a mobile phone via Stitcher. The Stitcher app makes it easy to listen to the shows in the car without having to download them or sync in advance.

Deep Thoughts

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
Albert Einstein

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

JB007 for Sale

THE quintessential James Bond car is crossing the auction block at the RM in London. The Aston Martin DB5 used in the movies Goldfinger and Thunderball is expected to sell for as much as $5 Mil and in doing so set a new price record for film car.

There were two DB-5s used during principal photography on Goldfinger. The second car was stolen from the Miami Airport in 1997 and has yet to be recovered. The DB-5 body is easily my favorite among Aston Martin cars, More fluid that the earlier cars and not yet burdened by the heaviness of later models, it strikes a fine balance.



Note: JB007 sold for $4.5MM.

Senna TAG

I learned today that TAG Heuer made no less than 5 different Ayrton Senna commemorative watch models. I discovered three different versions while shopping for mine, but didn't know there were so many. I now own a 2002 model (top right) and have seen two different versons, one with the Senna signature on the face and one (mine) without. It turns out there are actually two Link models without the signature (2001 and my 2002) and a completely different watch from 1994.

I love mine, it's a bit coarse and weights a metric ton but has been a faithful everyday companion for almost 4 years. It replaced my previous TAG Heuer S/EL Chrono, a quartz watch I wore daily for over 10 years. There is just something about the look of a black-faced chronograph that just looks right to me.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

USGP Track layout announced

Looks really cool. I wonder of it will ever be open for amateur events?

The Stig - Self outing


The identity of The Stig was revealed today after the BBC lost a court case to keep Ex-F3 driver Ben Collins from publishing an autobiography about his time in the role.

Not exactly the best kept secret ever, but at least now occasional viewers can stop claiming the Michael Schumacher was the Stig

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Best Driving Instructor video ever...

Every instructor has had this guy at least once. I've had him twice.


Monday, August 02, 2010

Endurance

I'll be crewing again for one of the teams driving in the WERC enduro at Thunderhill August 21st.

Friday, July 02, 2010

Landing in California


So, we're here -- you know, in California again. We have moved most of out stuff into our (old) new house and are now focused on un-boxing everything. The M3 is living in the driveway while we try to find a better place for all the stuff piled high in the garage. The long weekend should allow us to make some real headway.

I applied to instruct with the local NASA chapter but will have to wait until the next instructor certification session to start. Apparently 10+ years of teaching and three instructor certifications (NASA-RM, PCA and POC) aren't enough here.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Izzy gets sick

My wife's 3 series -- called Izzy after the BMW Isetta -- got sick a few days before moving to California. The coolant reservoir cracked while she was in traffic on a particularly warm day. She heard/felt it let go and quickly pulled off.

This is a common failure among older BMWs. The plastic reservoir (and many other cooling system parts) becomes brittle with age and heat and cracks. In this case however, it looks like the controller for the auxiliary fan failed causing the car to overheat which caused the reservoir to fail. Izzy has traveled over 150k miles now so was overdue for a complete cooling system overhaul so that what we did. Radiator, hoses, belts, water pump, thermostat, everything.

We were quite lucky, most cars don't survive a cooling system failure on a hot day. Only Kathy's quick response prevented this from becoming a full-on nuclear meltdown. Well done, you have saved Izzy's life.

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

M3 : Shipped

Yesterday afternnon I dropped the M3 off at DAS Auto Shippers for it's trip to our new home in California. It should take about 7 days so I can pick it up next Monday in Livermore. Driving it to the drop-off point reminded my how much I like that car -- even on the street.

Friday, May 14, 2010

A brief pause

I've taken a new job and am going to scale back my track activities for the rest of the season. I'll also be moving back to the Bay Area. I'll pick up blogging again after I get settled out there...

Monday, April 19, 2010

NASA TT @ Buttonwillow


I survived my weekend in California and got a glimpse of what to expect at Nationals this fall. The level of prep is significantly higher than here in Colorado. Many of the TT cars are full-on race cars that are trailered to the track.

I worked my way up a finished second or third in TTD but to put my performance in perspective: I'm 10 seconds off the TTD record and 6 seconds off the TTE record. That a lot. In fact the TTC time is faster than the BMWCCA IP M3 LTW I crewed for over the weekend. Fast!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Helmets

Helmets are quite difficult to pack for air travel. I finally caved and used a bag that was too big to carry on. I hate checking luggage.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Packing for NASA TT @ Buttonwillow

Somehow flying to an event seems more stressful than driving.

Don't forget these important things:

  1. Helmet, gloves, suit, socks, balaclava
  2. Earplugs
  3. NASA License
  4. Traqmate + cables
  5. Instructor intercom
Or these slightly less important things:

  • 2 Long Sleeve Shirts
  • 2 pr pants
  • 2xSox/2xUnd
  • Hat
  • Sunscreen
  • Camera

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Monday, April 12, 2010

NASA TT @ PPIR

It was a little like bringing a gun to a knife fight. Arriving at the track with an untested race car is rarely good for confidence and this weekend was no different. I was pretty anxious especially considering PPIR is an Oval with an infield road section. Driving NASCAR corners is always exciting given the high speeds and concrete walls. During the fist session I was really happy with the car. It was really tight but that is exactly where I expected it to be. Each session I loosened it up a bit with shock adjustments. It just got better and better through the weekend.

By Saturday afternoon I had turned a 1:06.5, fast enough to win TTC be 4 seconds. Sunday I never quite matched that time as I gave passenger rides most of the day. Late in the afternoon, I tried to better it but missed tire pressures a bit and only did a 1:06.7.

Results
Saturday times merged
Sunday times merged

Not bad for an untested car on new track configuration. Next Event: Buttonwillow next weekend (in a different car) and then Pueblo in three weeks.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Tools at the track

I've been carrying the same tool box to the track since I started racing my first M3 in 1997. The large metal box, a Kennedy 1022 I think, was a gift from my father many years earlier and sat unused under the workbench for a while after upgrading to a full-sized roll-away in the garage. While it has served faithfully for many years, it's size and weight -- 22 Lbs empty -- have become more of an issue while loading and unloading the car. The large size of the box makes it too easy to throw in parts and tools, and the lay-out of the box was not particularly well suited to storing auto repair tools.

Since I'm planning on driving to many events this year, I decided to lighten the load a bit. First I cut the number of tools I bring to the tracl to the bare minimum. I inventoried everything in the box keeping only the essentials. Gone are my 16 oz. ball-peen and dead-blow hammers, nearly the entire 1/2" drive socket set, hex-keys, screwdrivers, wire-cutters, and a bunch of other junk that has taken up shop in the bottom of the box over the last couple of years.

I knew I wanted a tool bag instead of a tool box -- the soft construction makes packing the car easier -- but I initially wanted a bag large enough for my Snap-on Torque Wrench which is over 24" inches long. An on-line search showed few soft bags in that size, so I decided on a smaller bag and to keep the over-sized torque wrench in my 16 Gal. Tote instead.

I found a Husky 16" Large Mouth Tool Bag that seems to work very well. It has ~20 internal pockets and a dozen external pockets. I moved at the necessary tools into the bag yesterday and they fit really well. The size and weight of my tools have reduced by at least 25% and the soft bag is much easier to pack the the steel of the box.

It's probably not as waterproof at the Kennedy so I've added a couple of trash bag to one of the external pockets in case it rains. The bag will debut at the NASA event at Pikes Peak next weekend, we'll see how it does.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

G/C Setup tips

One of the keys to properly setting up any suspension is the ability to accurately reproduce settings. The Bump adjustment of the Advanced Design shock is based on a reference location -- turning the knob until one of the printed numbers point at a specific point. The problem is that there is no indication of that location on the shock.

Making some kind of mark on the chassis to represent this point makes setting up Bump much easier. I made 4 small triangles and put a pair on the front strut-towers and the other pair on the rear shock mounts.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Suspension setup

Car-related forums are littered with the same n00b question: What coilover should I get for my Blah-Blah-Blah car. Most of the time the poster is only concerned about lowering the car for looks and will never use any of the adjustments available with a coil-over suspension. If, however, you want to really use these adjustments, you've got to learn the fundamentals. You need to know how camber and caster interact as the car turns in. You need to know how ride height changes at one end of the chassis effects mid-corner balance. There are a number of books on chassis engineering and a number of great web-sites that cover everything you would need. Now you may know what each adjustment does, but you won't make proper use of your new knowledge until you learn to think like a test driver and a race engineer. You have to measure and record everything. You have to take copious notes and be organized, methodical and work to a plan. Every session has to be on the clock and all performance measured. Now are you can start to use suspension adjustments to "tune" the suspension and gain real performance results.

What I'm going to describe here is setting up a Ground Control suspension system with Advanced Design Double Adjustable (D/A) shocks. With this system I can adjust nearly everything front and rear: Caster, Camber, Ride-height and Toe.
The shocks are called double adjustable because it provides for two separate resistance adjustments, one changes the shocks resistance to being compressed (Bump) and the other changes the shocks resistance to being extended (Rebound). Single Adjustable shock have a single adjustment the usually only changes Bump resistance. The ability to adjust Bump and Rebound separately is tool that is use to change chassis balance on corner-entry and on corner-exit. Springs and Bars are use to change steady state chassis balance and shocks are used to adjust dynamic chassis balance.

I'm using Bump and Rebound because the first letter corresponds the the color of the knob used to make that adjustment. Red is for Rebound and blue is for Bump. These knobs stick out of the top of the
shock so all adjustments are made under the hood or in the trunk and not from the bottom of the car.

The Advanced Design shocks described here have very different methods for setting Bump and Rebound. The blue knob (Bump adjustment) has three positions and a small detent to indicate the correct position. The red Rebound knob has three full turns of adjustment limited by small stops at full stiff and full soft. Clockwise is always stiffer on these shocks.

Baselining:

This is where you develop a repeatable basic setup for the car. All subsequent adjustments are made from from the baseline. My initial baseline came from Ground-Control and is basically an alignment/ride height guide. I have that on the car now. Once the ride heights are determined all the other adjustments won't alter the corner weights so
I want to get it set before I corner-weight the car.

I want to understand the performance envelope of the shocks so I plan to do a number of short sessions while testing full-soft through full stiff for both Bump and Rebound
.

F-ing weather

For the second year in a row all pre-season testing has been lost to a series of spirng storms. Tomowwow is the last test day and Denver is now expecting 8-12 inches of snow today and tonight.

This means that the first few races will be a thrash trying to get tire temps, alignment, corner weight and balance sorted out instead of trying to drive for the win.

This is why we are going to move back to California, life is too short to have a few days of weather dictate the success of the entire racing season. Fuck this place.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Continental Divide Raceways, Castle Rock, CO

For years I've heard the rumor that there was once a "real racetrack" in Castle Rock but that it had closed many years ago.

Recently I learned the racetrack was called Continental Divide Raceways and was located just 4 miles south of downtown Castle Rock. It was a 2.8 paved mile road course, 0.5 mile oval and 1/4 mile drag strip that opened in 1959. Racing continued until 1979 and reopened in briefly in 1981. The land was sold for development and although little has been developed even now, the asphalt surface was plowed up to ensure cars would not return.

Using Google Earth I was able to find the location of the track. Although the pavement is long gone, the location had a distinctive grandstand cut into the hillside which is still visible. Finding the grandstand showed where the drag-strip was and it too is still visible.

Events held at the track include USAC Road Racing Championships, USAC Stock Car and Indy Car events, and SCCA Trans Am.

As early as 1960, USAC held a Road Racing Championship event at the track. Carrol Shelby in a Scarab Mk II held off 35-40 other drivers for 36 laps to take home $900 in the Continental Divide 100. Attendance was recorded as 8,500. Here is an interview with Carrol Shelby discussing the 1960 race at CDR

Though lightly attended compared with the Riverside and Laguna Seca events, the 1961 even still attracted Ken Miles and Bob Holbert and their Porsche 718 RSs and collection of other including Ferrari 500TR, Maserati Tipo 61 and something called a Devin Volkswagen.

By the mid '60s attendance had climbed to over 10k for major road racing events.

The Rocky Mountain 150 held July 7th 1968 attracted Al Unser, AJ Foyt, Lloyd Ruby and Mario Andrett. Ronny Bucknam lead from pole until a half-shaft failure on lap 23 gave the lead to A.J Foyt who held it to the end.

An entry list for the first of two SCCA Tran-Am races held August 26th, 1967, is a Who's Who of American Motorsports:

Mark Donohue, Peter Revson, Dan Gurney George Follmer, Jerry Titus and Milton Minter were all there. Titus took the win in 1967 and Donohue won in 1968

Evel Knievel performed at CDR July 30th 17972.

The last recorded race I find is a Winston West event August 15th, 1982 won by Rick McCray

According to the Chicago Herald-Tribune Driver Jim Mulhall of Littleton was killed on June 8th 1969 at the 1969 Formula A Grand Prix, in a accident that later took the life of mechanic Michael DesJardins.

According to witness Paul Bredenberg;

"I was also at that race. We went to the '69 and '70 Indy car races and the '69 First (and only) Annual Denver Post Grand Prix for SCCA Formula A cars. The Post GP was the eventual demise of the track. The dragstrip was used as the front straight ("The Andretti Straight") and the return road was the pit road. They were separated by a row of 55 gallon rain barrels that were to be filled with water and cabled together. Jim Mulhall was a small-time local Corvette racer who had a chance to drive one of the Indy cars that day. It was a Halibrand Shrike chassis and was offset for oval track racing. It was a yellow #77.

During the race, an absolute DELUGE hit the track in the form of a typical spring storm. Cars tried to stay out on their dry tires but it was senseless to do so. Mulhall's crew signaled him next for rain tires on the next lap. He took one hand off the wheel to signal that he got the message off the board, hit a puddle and aquaplaned 270 degrees, so that the back of the car headed towards the barrels at about a 30 degree angle.
Mulhall's car hit the barrels at about 155 mph.

Guess what? Somebody forgot to fill all of the barrels with water! Barrels went flying into the pit area and the cable snapped and hit Mulhall's helmet, breaking it into several pieces. The car went across the return road, hit the Armco barrier and slid to a stop almost at turn 1 ("Foyt's Corner") with a smashed barrel underneath it. Mulhall died on the way to Swedish Hospital without regaining consciousness and three people in the pits were hurt.


After the lawsuits flew and damages were paid, Sid Langsam lost his heart for the track, and then later was diagnosed with cancer; I think it was prostate cancer, but I'm not sure on that."


Today, the Colorado Region of the SCCA give an award for outstanding contribution to racing in Colorado called the Sid Langsam Award.

Here is a video by the Castle Rock Historical Society showing some great period racing at CDR

Here is video of a sprint car race on the CDR oval in 1960

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Curbs?!?! on Sunday?

It looks like HPR is going to be closed on Sunday to install curbing. Really on a Sunday? Seems a weird day for construction on a racetrack.

HPR Shakedown

On Sunday I'll be taking the car to High Plains Raceway for a shakedown/test session. I hope the weather holds. Beyond making sure the thing works on the track, I'm focused on getting the alignment and overall balance sorted. The main tools will be my new (to me) Longacre tire temp gauge, stopwatch and driver feel.

Tire temperatures will be used to make sure the front and rear camber settings are optimized. Since I've been running Nitto NT-01 for almost a full season I have a handle on the optimum pressure, but I'll be open to making small changes. The primary tuning tool is the driver. I'm going to focus on setting up the car to be comfortable -- aiming for a little oversteer in entry and a little understeer on exit.

This is why double-adjustable shocks are so important, the ability to change how the car behaves before and after the apex. Triple and quad adjustable can also change the behavior at high and low speed both before and after the apex.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Winter Update

After nearly three monts in the shop I got the car back yesterday. It sits a little lower (and a lot stiffer) on the new Ground Control D/A suspension, has a new (used) transmission and a electric cooling fan.

The GC camber plates only allow -2.6 degrees of camber compared with the 3.5 degrees I used with the stock suspension. I suspect the loss of camber won't be a big deal because of the reduction in body roll. The reason a McPherson strut based cars run so much static negative camber is to compensate for the loss of camber that occurs when the suspension compresses - especially the outside that compresses in a corner. With a 550/800 In/Lb springs the car has almost no body roll. I estimate that roll stiffness is in the 1-2 degree per G range now with no rear bar and the largest GC tubular front bar 1" from the end.

It needs a corner weight now and then a testing session to adjust the balance.