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drgitlin posted:Road America is up in four weeks, really looking forward to going back to a track where I don't have to spend the first hour of my stint learning where it goes. Entry was capped at 75 so it's going to be hectic. What will you be driving at Road America this weekend? I'm headed there with the NorthLoop Motorsports guys and will be in the Grey and Orange E30, pretty sure I'm first driver in Saturday and likely Sunday.
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Oct 17, 2012 14:57
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drgitlin posted:Look forward to racing with you this weekend - with Tubby not in attendance maybe some of us have a chance at the win! Congrats on the 8th place Saturday. What happened Sunday, saw your car getting towed in a few times. We arrived with three cars, one was dead within the first two hours on day one. The other two cars did ok. 24 was the quick car so the guys who do most/all of the prep work on the car drove that one, 26th Saturday (4 drivers and some issues) and 9th Sunday (5 drivers). 27 was really down on power and we didn't expect it to finish but we managed a 25th Saturday (4 drivers) and 26th Sunday (7 drivers). Somehow I ended up being the quickest driver in the 27 car, 2 seconds faster on Saturday and 4 seconds faster on Sunday with a best lap of 3:15.9. Had fun and will be doing another event. Have video that I'll get around to posting at some point. Brother took around 3000 pictures. Here's me getting strapped in. 
NitroSpazzz fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Oct 22, 2012 |
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Oct 22, 2012 14:18
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Some carnage from early Saturday morning in corner 5 and 6. Nothing like trying to win the race in the first couple minutes, this was my introduction to racing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygERumU2eq4 Should have footage from my "fast" Sunday stint later this week, my SD card was left with the NLM crew so they could grab what footage they wanted.
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Oct 23, 2012 15:10
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kimbo305 posted:Driving from the shop, at normal street speeds, I could only pick up a tiny amount of difference in behavior, despite quite a few corrections to toe. If I don't have a data acquisition system and I don't drive all the same corners (like at a track) all the time, how hard do I have to drive a car to pick up on the effects of changes in settings? Put another way, does having lots of experience make you more sensitive? I noticed I could feel small changes to the way the car felt once I had enough experience to drive consistently. Having more experience will also tell you how that change should change the handling of the car so you might be looking for it more if that makes sense. Toe change, especially if dramatic, will show up pretty easily and more at the track.
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Nov 12, 2012 14:46
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Well Chump Car has officially corrupted my family. I bought a Miata two days after I got back to Tennessee, it will be built to spec Miata rules. Dad has some work in Illinois so he is driving from there to NC to look at this track prepped E30 M3: 
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Nov 14, 2012 01:53
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aventari posted:that is hottt He may end up pulling the S14 and keeping it as a spare for his street/show E30 M3 (yes he has the best garage) and putting in a S52 E36 M3 motor.
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Nov 14, 2012 15:08
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I looked at karts as an option before picking up the Miata. If I had more tracks within a 4 hour drive I would have a kart in the garage right now instead of a Miata. Tires are cheap, track time is cheap, racing (non-top level competitive) is cheap. You can buy a year or two old kart for $5k or so. If the rebuilds are anything like other two strokes it's $3-500.
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Dec 18, 2012 17:29
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Phone posted:Or do the obnoxious thing and claim that an SW20 MR2 with a Camry V6 making 270hp is a $500 car. drat that car was so much faster than anything else at the track when we were at Road America. 10 seconds better on fastest lap of the day. In track day and chump car related news here is out in progress, needing a ton of work chump.  Pretty sure it's going to end up pink because they keep referring to it as Malibu barbie. We installed a Danmar 2 post (10k lb) lift in the other stall yesterday to make everything easier. Seats, harnesses, helmets, bushings and maintenance items are on the way now. Deciding what we are going to do for a cage then suspension and stuff while I'm in WI for a bit. First race is Road America April 20-21. In my track Miata news not much, sold a bike to fund the build. Joining Mazdaspeed shortly and ordering all the suspension and brake stuff as well as all fluids. Still trying to decide what I'm doing for a cage, trying out a couple seats next week. NitroSpazzz fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Dec 22, 2012 |
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Dec 22, 2012 15:59
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I'll toss in another vote for E30, I tracked one for three years 3-5 events a year and it's now being used as a chump car. Bought the car for $1500, tossed about that much at the suspension, gutted it and had a blast. Still street legal and was my daily driver during the summer. You can likely pick one up that someone has put some money into (suspension, brakes, engine, etc) for <$5k on E30 forums like E30tech or r3vlimited. poo poo my brother just bought one with SpecE30 suspension, new gas tank, new brakes and some other stuff freshened up for $1700.
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Feb 10, 2013 15:58
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Hog Obituary posted:e: you know E46s are pretty cheap nowadays... even a 330 ZHP is like $8k-9k. E36 M3s are also getting down there -- I just worry that the weight is going to make all the consumables/parts more expensive. A bit more on this. E46 while fun is a fat pig on the track and really not a good choice. E36 M3 is a great price if you have a bit more $$$ to toss around. Very good on the track stock, better with sticky rubber and better brake pads. My Dad's been running on as a track toy for the past 5-6 years with no trouble.
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Feb 11, 2013 11:12
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Think there are a couple people who post in this thread that have run Chump Car, me included. It is a lot of fun and a great way to get on the track if you have a few like minded friends. Another option is arrive and drive with a Chump team, I did the Road America October race this way with Northloop Motorsports. Now I'm planning on doing a couple events with NLM this year as well as working with 4 other guys building a car and doing a couple races with them.
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Feb 16, 2013 16:25
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Blooot posted:So I wasn't planning on tracking my 2010 GTI (it lives as my wife and I's daily/city car), but I bought some summer wheels for it (17x7.5 RPF1s) and they came with some used NT01s on them. Not wanting to waste race tires in my possession I signed up to lap at Laguna in early April. If this is your first track day (assuming it is) then flush your brakes and have fun. You'll be running novice pace so you don't need race pads and can likely get by just fine with any FRESH off the shelf brake fluid. The stock pads on the GTI will work fine as long as they aren't worn down to a questionable level. If you have been to the track before and run faster then pads, fluid and have fun.
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Mar 5, 2013 19:17
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ColdPie posted:While we're on the topic, any suggestions for a brake fluid pressure bleeder? I've done it by hand, but I remember reading a pressure bleeder goes a whole lot faster. I used a vacuum bleeder - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AAJSOE/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Use it for oil changes and brake flushing just has an adapter to fit brake bleed nipples. I also have a pressure system that I use sometime - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002KM5L0/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Depending on your car this might not work well, old Porsche's don't like to be pressurized from the reservoir and will piss fluid out the overflow. BraveUlysses posted:Anyone have a guide for setting up a race seats? Quick and dirty version height - as low as possible while still safe and offering good visibility position - be able to push clutch to floor with slight bend in knee back angle - be able to rest wrists on top of steering wheel WITH shoulders in contact with seat back driver mirror - head against window, just be able to see back corner of car passenger mirror - head in middle of car, just be able to see back corner of car Of course if you are strangely proportioned this can be tricky. Sliders are nice but if it's just you bolt it to the floor/risers and be done with it. NitroSpazzz fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Mar 5, 2013 |
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Mar 5, 2013 22:10
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ColdPie posted:For a car that you track a couple times a year, but mostly drive on the street, is it common to just have two sets of pads and swap them out on track days? I've been looking at reviews for the pads you mentioned, and most seem to complain about the noise when street driving. There doesn't seem to be a good compromise that works for both track and street driving. Sounds like a bit of a chore to do every time you head to the track, but it also sounds worth the effort. Yup I keep a set of track pads and wheels/tires for track days. Drive to/from the track and daily on your street stuff then get to the track swap and play, or drive to/from the track on your track stuff depending on how far it is. Pretty common with the group I do event with.
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Mar 8, 2013 14:23
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DJ Commie posted:I'm considering writing a cheap/free little eBook in the future about how to make a durable, reliable, and fun crapcan racecar since we've been enormously successful with such small budgets and total lack of technical information about the car I use. Anyone interested in that? I'd go over the basics of race alignments, team management, and ways to turn around problem situations and technical issues. I'd read it, heck I'd even pay for a copy if you decided to charge.
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Mar 21, 2013 14:42
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kill me now posted:Cancelled due to snow I could deal with because then I would at least get my money back. You're looking at rainy track days all wrong. Rainy days are great because you can work on playing with your car at the edge of traction at lower (less expensive) speeds. Go slide around for a day in the rain and have a great time while everyone else is sitting in the pit bitching about the weather. I always love rainy days because I'm usually one of the few cars out there playing with the STI/EVO guys.
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Apr 5, 2013 15:38
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Finally building up the E21 for track days and general fun driving and I'm not sure what route to go on the suspension. Are something like Ground Control coilovers an overkill for a car that's going to see 3-4 track days a season? I was planning on going with Bilstein Sport shocks and H&R Race springs but they don't make the race springs for the E21, only sport. Coilovers would be nice but drat they are expensive. Otherwise I have a parts car that is donating full front and rear subframes and suspension which I am cleaning/painting, replacing anything worn out and putting in polyurethane bushings.
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May 27, 2013 04:25
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G-Mach posted:My friend is a big believer that a person should start off doing Autox and then work up from there. You can put a lot of what you learn in AutoX and apply it to big tracks. I'll counter this by saying some of the worst students I've had at HPDE's were guys that had been doing Autox for years. Trying to get them to slow down the inputs and smooth everything out usually took a couple sessions before we could even start to really work on proper lines and stuff. To be fair I haven't had to set a speed limit or take the keys away from any past autox guys, they usually at least listen. Me, I'm decently quick on a road course but absolute garbage at autox. drat I need to finish up the 320i and get a track day scheduled.
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Jun 5, 2013 13:12
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ColdPie posted:Had an awesome HPDE up at BIR yesterday. My instructor had one other student, so I did my first session solo. Second session, the instructor basically told me he had nothing to say other than to continue refining my line and technique. I took it as a pretty major compliment. He was thrilled to see someone "my age" both driving a manual and heel-toeing. I ran solo for the rest of the day. BIR is a great track, did you run the competition/short course or the long? As for traction control I wouldn't bother disabling it until it starts to be a nuisance or you feel it kicking in and disrupting the balance of the car. The traction control on the newer BMW's is pretty decent and will let you play around a bit before it kicks in. Instead of prepping a car for Chump ($$$) I'd see about renting a spot on an team for an event. I'll recommend Northloop Motorsports (http://northloopmotorsport.com/) because I'm good friends with the owner, they are running my old E30 and my Dad and I did our first Chump race with them.
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Sep 2, 2013 16:09
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ColdPie posted:The mile long front straight of the long course both interests and scares me. It depends a ton on the car you're driving but it REALLY shows you how much the corner before the straight matters. In the E30 I loved turn 10 but the straight was pretty boring. Car tops out at ~130mph so you get on the straight and move over to let the high top speed cars by. Flat out through 1 is awesome, slight lift going into 2 and now you're headed into turn 3 with cool'ish brakes at top speed. It's a rush and worth it if you ever see a club running the full course. Also gives you a chance to check gauges, tighten harnesses, check your email, update facebook, etc.
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Sep 6, 2013 14:09
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I always bring a camp chair and if I have space an easy-up canopy. Depending on how things are setup I bring a small tarp to put all my junk on then fold over, keeps it contained and dry if it rains. I'm always cold so I usually have a spare sweatshirt. Have fun e: Coldpie is right whatever water you have planned isn't enough. I usually either buy two 1-gallon jugs or one of those packs with 24 12oz bottles. I'll also grab a power/gator-ade and salty snacks. Dehydration at the track sucks and is dangerous. NitroSpazzz fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Sep 28, 2013 |
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Sep 28, 2013 18:13
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Phone posted:The Chump team Fatcow and I helped out on has a really brilliant setup for fuel. Talking like 1 minute for 10 gallons of gas using two 5 gallon jugs. Fuel time and getting it as quick as possible is one thing we spent a lot of time working on. Our jugs as purchased took a little over a minute each to empty (5gal), we modified them and can do 12-13 gallons in just over a minute and 15 seconds. Gives you so much more time to think about tires, check fluids or just stage and be ready to go.
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Oct 1, 2013 23:13
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c355n4 posted:What did you guys use as fuel jugs? We've been looking at the Hunsaker jugs. http://hunsakerusa.com/ A lot of teams use those and they seem to be pretty quick. We had some cheap generic 5-gal jugs that were absolute garbage until we added venting (something like http://www.saferacer.com/scribner-5-gallon-jugs) SNiPER_Magnum posted:How are brake pads measured? I'm debating whether I need a new set of rears or not. New pads list a thickness of 16mm. Is that overall or just the friction material? If the former, it looks like I have 60% left. Thickness is friction material. I try to change them before the pad material is equal to the backing plate thickness as a general rule of thumb. NitroSpazzz fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Oct 2, 2013 |
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Oct 2, 2013 13:01
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Crustashio posted:http://www.essexparts.com/learning-center/cat/brake-pads/post/swapping_pads I've always done this and only thing I do before getting on the track (or on warmup laps) is a few hard, fast stops. Never bothered with dedicated track rotors. Drive to the track on street pads, swap the morning of or night before in the hotel parking lot or paddock and have fun. End of the weekend swap back or drive back on track pads if I didn't feel like letting things cool down.
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Oct 4, 2013 13:37
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I've probably mentioned this before but your track rat porsche is awesome. drgitlin posted:So, there's a new grassroots endurance racing series! http://www.worldracingleague.org/ As soon as I realized Joey was running WRL my interest in it jumped dramatically. I got in touch with my team last night, we're looking at adjusting the schedule to run the BIR WRL race...not sure if we'll run BIR twice next year or drop the Chump one.
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Nov 21, 2013 14:50
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kimbo305 posted:Team O'Neil is having a sale: Thanks for posting that...I'm now figuring out what I need to sell quickly to cover flights the cost of doing https://www.belowzeroicedriving.com.
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Nov 29, 2013 14:16
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BlackMK4 posted:https://vimeo.com/14489137#at=0 Muffinpox posted:He must play a lot of Forza.
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Jan 31, 2014 13:53
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Oh that EVSR is very cool and I really look forward to seeing how those thing progress and work on the track. I've played with a few homemade karts adapted to electric and they were very fast and scary as hell to drive but duration was always an issue. Now I'm kind of looking at building my E21 to electric for short range commuting or track duty depending on battery pack. Keep us updated. Will these be available for rental similar to the Spec Renaults?
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Feb 4, 2014 14:43
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ColdPie posted:No more helmet rentals for me Good choice, I wish I would have bought a decent helmet instead of the cheap POS I am using. My Dad has that helmet at loves it. At some point I'll find time to check out those chump donors for you...sorry work has been nuts and I'm headed to IL for a race tomorrow.
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Apr 2, 2014 12:46
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Got a balaclava too, since I'll need that for ChumpCar. First track day is at the end of May.
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Spent the day at Autobahn Country Club doing a practice day before the Chump race this weekend. Think the high for te day was 41 degrees with steady wind at around 30 mph gusting up to 45+. Standing water on the track was mostly gone by 2pm or so but still some. I got picked to go out as first driver, I've driven on ice with more traction. Holy poo poo it wasn't even fun sliding around because the traction was too unpredictable to do anything with. Second session around 2pm was awesome and I'm really glad I got a second run. Still a bit damp/cold but you could avoid most of the standing water. Car feels good (e30 vert) and we're looking forward to warmer temps this weekend with much less wind.
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Apr 5, 2014 01:12
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nm posted:I have been told, but not personally witnessed that pads with what would seem like reasonable life on the street are bad for the track because they can remove from the backing plate or something. Don't know if that is true or just an old wives' tale. I've run Hawk pads on the street and track for ~12 years, never had an issue with de-lamination. Usually running them strictly on the track but on occasion running them on the street for extended amounts of time if I'm being lazy.
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May 13, 2014 16:45
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I use the cheap OMP gloves for chump race and cooler track days, they're comfortable and are holding up fine so far. One of the guys on our team uses the NecksGen and likes it. As long as it works I can't really see a reason to get a HANS over a NecksGen, especially with the rebates out there now. Dad and I share a HANS and my only complaint is once and a while the buckles on the helmet can be a bit of a pain to release or engage if you're in a hurry.
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May 17, 2014 12:59
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ColdPie posted:Thanks for the suggestions. I found some suggestions online and passed those on to my mechanic, along with a general request to err towards street driving, since it gets more street time than track time. I just got it back from the shop. They pulled the pins and ended up dialing out the toe-in (down from 0.21° and 0.35°!), though the camber remained mostly unchanged. Think that's pretty close to what we run on the Chump except maybe a bit more camber because it looks cool, should feel great on the track. Are you running the full or competition course? Can't remember if they even rent out the full course very often any more. Either way have fun.
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May 22, 2014 23:51
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I'll be in the #86 E30 vert now featuring a tonneau cover so it looks even more like a pickup truck. If I can talk the other guys into it the car might not be red anymore...
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May 23, 2014 13:19
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Had a very wet 12 hour race at BIR yesterday with WRL. Missed ColdPie but got to race with drgitlin's team for a while. Day started and ended very wet with standing water in a few places but we had 5-6 hours of dry racing in the middle of the day as well, temps were pretty nice and even with the rain it was good. I drove first session (2.25hrs) and last session (3.5hrs) so as I was finishing my first session the track was starting to try and a couple laps into my last session it started pouring. Worked good though because no one else enjoys rain driving and I was able to move up through the field pretty good. Our car was in the GP2 class along with drgitlin's GTI and three other cars. We ended up getting first place in GP2 by a pretty good margin and 5th overall. Race for GP2 would have been a lot closer if their GTI didn't have issues. Really like the WRL rules and hope the series takes off. They are very serious about no contact and the power:weight class system is great. This event only had 24 cars start but I think it will get more once people hear about it. We'll likely be doing more WRL races and less ChumpCar races next year. Now a question for you guys. What are you doing for defog when it's raining? We don't have a heater core and even with lots of rain-x I couldn't see poo poo. After pitting (more rain-x) the windshield would fog up in a couple laps. E30 vert, no windows besides windscreen, open other than sheet metal roof. NitroSpazzz fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Jun 1, 2014 |
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Jun 1, 2014 17:51
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Phone posted:Being an instructor has to be a daunting task because it's literally "hey complete stranger, I hope you don't get me maimed in exchange for a discounted entry fee!" The first few laps with a new student are always kind of scary because you don't know what to expect and how well they will listen. Most the time students (especially first time) are timid and you can work up to speed but every once and a while you get some guy always a male student who thinks they are hot poo poo and you have to set strict limits. Hate to hear about this sort of thing happening though. You always know it can happen when you're at the track but things like this just remind you.
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Jun 9, 2014 18:26
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ZincBoy posted:I am still trying to decide if I turn this into a dedicated track car as I am building a Factory Five 818R. I suspect the 818R will not have a class to race in where it is competitive for quite some time. It will be fun for track days and time attack, but if I want to get into wheel to wheel then I think a more class based platform would be better. Would love to see some photos or build thread on the 818R. Looks like a great little toy.
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Jun 22, 2014 12:28
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Aurune posted:Beware, it's a addiction. It starts with a track day. Then a few car mods. Soon you are looking at racing schools. A little speed is never enough. This is very true. I started young with teen car control clinics, then stepped up to HPDE and now I'm doing Chump Car and WRL. Five races this year and now I'm looking at doing a racing or rally school. I also do motorcycle track days because I hate money.
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Jul 14, 2014 12:41
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User Error posted:We somehow came in 6th (out of 22) despite being several seconds slower than most of the cars there. When you're racing these heaps you basically have to not crash or break down and you'll do OK. I think only 8 or 9 cars took the checker flag, but a few of them spent significant time in the garages. This really is the key to Chump and Lemons, a fast car isn't worth poo poo if you spend half the race in the pits or don't finish. We run consistent lap times within a couple seconds (driver dependent) of the fastest cars but usually have no mechanical issues and our pit stops are good so we finish within the top 10-20% most of the time.
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Jul 20, 2014 12:06
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TrueChaos posted:How not to drive your McLaren on a track: Times like this (assuming open track day or similar) I just pull into the hot pits then go back out. Gives you a lap or two of fun before you catch up to the idiot again. Of course he should have been flagged (black or blue) for holding up traffic like that.
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Aug 15, 2014 23:18
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