Sunday, September 12, 2010

BMW CCA September Club Race

Saturday
Missed qualifying and had a water pump failure early in the day. Fixed with a new water pump with Jim and Chuck's help. Repaired for the race which started on a damp track and dried out. Worked my way up to behind Chuck and then started falling back as the transmission began to pop out of 3rd gear

INSERT VIDEO

Sunday
Put new(used) brakes on, but missed practice and qualifying again. Ended up battling with Jim Levie for much of the race but had to deal with a long brake pedal and a ride through the grass outside of one. Most entertaining part was watching the corner marshals progressively get more and more aggressive with the passing flag as Jim and I battled side by side with traffic coming up from behind to lap us.

INSERT VIDEO

Friday, August 27, 2010

Engine #3 Leakdown Test

Leakdown Test
1- 74% loss
2- 55% loss
3- 44% loss
4- 26% loss
5- 38% loss
6- 26% loss



Not good... time to build the spare engine in the garage.



Sunday, August 15, 2010

Engine #3: Compression Test

After the poor outing at Road Atlanta, I decided to do some engine diagnostic work and see whether this one is worth saving or scrapping:

Compression Test
1- 129 psi
2- 122 psi
3- 133 psi
4- 160 psi
5- 150 psi
6- 170 psi

Monday, August 9, 2010

Hotlanta Challenge at Road Atlanta

This event marked my second race weekend of the 2010 season. While I took the majority of the front part of the season to build an engine, that initiative was put on hiatus as we removed 200 cubic yards of debris from under our front yard.


Saturday I had a pretty good view of the excitement in turn 4 at the start and made a decision to go for the motorcycle chicane to avoid potrntial carnage. Lako saved it and everyone avoided him with Laura getting the raw end rubbing the tire wall after moving to avoid Steve. After that I had a good time mixing it up with Jim, John, and Shaun through the rest of the race. In hindsight I was overdriving the car a little resulting in a ride through the gravel trap (and the air) exiting turn 5 on the last lap. Here is Saturday's video:



Shaun had some great video of our battle as well:


2010 August Road Atlanta NASA Saturday Race from Shaun on Vimeo.

Sunday was similar where I found myself driving up through from the back as much as I could. My race ended early as the main battery cable broke loose and shorted out against the hood bracket and burning off the electrical tape. Here is the video:



Time to start work on the engine to get some power and back up towards the front.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Spec Exhaust

Spec exhaust is finally installed on the car. Thanks to Amos at Patton's (no relation) automotive for great service and good price. Now to get ready for this weekend at Road Atlanta.