Race Weekend Number 2 – April 17 & 18
Weather forecast was for rain all weekend, but you show up and take your chances.
We were scheduled to be on Summit Point’s Shenandoah circuit – about a one and half mile circuit with 13 turns and a fairly significant elevation change. I had been emailing with a few folks in the club and since this was my first time on this particular track I asked if anyone would be able to do a walk-around or a drive-around so that I could learn the proper line around the track. Bill, a Formula Vee driver, wrote back that he’d be happy to meet me Friday evening and walk the track. That may sound like a pretty boring, mindless activity, but it’s not. Not only did we walk the proper racing line, Bill pointed out things that I would never have noticed from the cockpit. There are places where the crown of the track means that taking a wide entry to a turn puts you on a part of the track that is off-camber – in other words, instead of banked like the turns on a NASCAR track, it slants in the other direction. Taken too fast you’re much more likely to slide off the track. He pointed out landmarks that could be used for braking points – where you need to start braking in order to slow enough to make the turn, turn-in points – where you get off the brakes and start the turn, turn apexes, etc. He also pointed out areas where there was not very much runoff room. You always like to feel that if you do take a turn too fast and end up spinning or sliding off track, that you’re going to be on solid ground for a while and that barriers like tires, or worse, concrete walls, are pretty far from the track. He also noted several places where, even though there was plenty of runoff space, there was nearly a ditch just past the pavement. These are areas where if you do run off the track, you should just drive through the grass for a ways until you get to a spot where track and ground are roughly even. So with what I learned doing this, now it seems like something I’d sorta like to do on every track I drive.
Saturday dawned wet and misting a little rain. Still, you show up and take your chances. This weekend we were sharing track time with the Woodbridge (Virginia) Kart Klub. I could write a lot about the go-carts – it was really interesting. These little things with not much more than lawn-mower or chain-saw engines were lapping at nearly the same speeds that we were doing in the formula cars. So – the carts were out first and they helped to dry the track a little. By the time my class (the rookie class) went out on track, the track itself was pretty well dry, but then once we were out running laps it began to sprinkle again. Now, rain and slick tires don’t go together well. On a dry track, slicks provide greater traction than treaded tires do because for the same tire width there is more rubber on the road. However – put a little water on the road and the slicks do not have the capability to channel water out from under the tire – then you learn about hydroplaning very quickly. I kept the car on the road, but it was necessary to drive much more cautiously than normal and therefore didn’t provide much opportunity to get any speed going. Also, because speeds were down and the track was wet we were not getting the tires up to temperature and therefore also not getting them up to pressure. Since it was my first laps, the slow pace actually helped me to find my way around the track. On the good news front, we determined that everything we had been doing at the last session at Pocono to try to get second gear to work right had been going in exactly the wrong direction. When we took away all the adjustments from Pocono and adjusted still farther in the opposite direction, suddenly 2nd gear was working just fine. The shift pattern is a standard H with reverse all the way to the left and back – next to where second gear is. We assumed last session that the “gate” was keeping the shifter from moving far enough to the left, so we kept adjusting it so I could pull the shifter farther and farther to the left. Well, it turned out that I was actually over to where reverse should be and it’s a darned good thing that it wouldn’t go into gear. Moving the gate the opposite way made the shifter drop right into second.
By afternoon the weather was only gray but no longer wet. Next event was qualification. The way we do qualification is essentially just a short race. Based on times from the morning practice sessions, I was lined up second for the qualifying race. We went out and ran a warm-up lap, lined up and got the green flag to go racing. I cruised along in 2nd place but was definitely faster than the leader in the turns. So on lap two, coming into turn #12, a 180 degree right hander, I came down the inside of the leader and moved just past him. He apparently didn’t see me and turned into me. When that happened he hit and bent the left rear radius rod (on the picture, that’s the rod that looks like it goes from the top of the left rear wheel forward to the frame just below the cockpit) and also popped off the left valve cover (also clearly visible on the picture). That sent both of us spinning and the missing valve cover meant oil dumped all over the track. Fortunately the damage was fairly minor and neither driver sustained any injury. Of course the other driver saw the situation differently –he did not believe I had passed him before the turn, rather he thought I had made a rookie bonsai move down the inside, endangering him and his car and taking us both out of the race. He claimed that I drove over his rear wheel. The corner worker supported my position – he said that I was at least fully beside my competitor. The situation sort of brings two cardinal rules of racing into conflict. One is that when a passing car has come even with the car being passed, the car being passed must surrender the racing line – so in that case I was totally in the right; the other is that it is ultimately the responsibility of the overtaking driver to execute a safe pass – so in that case, I was wrong. When it was all over it didn’t matter all that much who was right and who was wrong – damage was minor (and unless it’s something flagrant, club policy is that you fix your own car), no one was hurt, and we were both back ready to race within the hour. AJ told me that the lesson I should take from this is to get a book on your fellow drivers - learn what you can about your competitors’ driving style. What I should now know about this particular driver is that he’s not likely to watch his mirrors and is not likely to yield even when he is legitimately being overtaken. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
Next was the “feature” race – 20 laps. Now that doesn’t seem like much – roughly 30 minutes of driving. That just doesn’t seem like any big deal, but it is so much more demanding than you can possibly imagine. I’ll write more about this in a different posting, but let me just say that when the flag was shown indicating that we were at the halfway point I just couldn’t believe it wasn’t the checker. It is physical, it is intense concentration, it is just really demanding. But – I made the 20 laps and vowed to exercise more to be in better physical condition by the time the next race came around.
We had a little trophy party and everyone went home or back to their hotels.
Sunday held predictions of thunderstorms but they held off for the whole day – in fact, by early afternoon when we were doing the races it was bright blue sky and sunshine. With the track dry I was able to get out and put down some good laps. Though the weekend started out wet artificially holding speeds down, over the course of the two days I was able to cut my lap times from about 1:49 on Saturday morning to 1:36 by Sunday afternoon.
The race had a couple more unexpected and undesirable surprises in store for me. Again I started second and was holding my own. Through the morning practices I had begun to develop more confidence in going deeper into the corners before braking, braking a lot harder, and taking the turns a lot faster. For the most part that was really good, but on lap two going downhill, very fast, toward turn five, I got the braking point right but not the braking intensity. So – I “overcooked” turn five and spun off track. While bumping across the grass the fiberglass nose of the car came loose. It’s made to come off, so I wasn’t too worried, but it did mean that I had to wait for someone to come “rescue” me before I could get back on track. The corner worker took the nose the rest of the way off and sent me back onto the track without it. I knew I was now out of contention, but it was at least an opportunity to get some more practice laps. The most significant contribution to getting better and getting faster is seat time, so the practice laps were good. On lap nine, coming down the same hill with the engine revving at about six thousand I heard a pop and then there was no power. I coasted the rest of the way down the hill and off the track to sit and wait for the race to end. The “tow” truck pushed me into the pits, I got out and Chris, AJ and I looked over the engine. There was still plenty of oil and it looked clean, but the engine would not turn at all. Obviously I was done for the weekend.
AJ contacted me later in the week after getting the engine out of the car and torn down. He said that he thought probably when I had contact it was likely that the wheels stopped momentarily with the car still in gear and that this probably cracked the crankshaft. Then it was just a matter of time till the stress of high revs caused catastrophic failure. So – this means a total engine rebuild. I was prepared for some “repair” costs for the season but had hoped I wouldn’t need it – or at least I wouldn’t need it so soon. I’ll have to see how things go, but it’s AJ’s intention to have me racing by the May weekend.
The learning curve is very steep – I have still a lot to learn but I am definitely enjoying the whole experience.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Learning to be a Blogger
OK, so I'm not a good blogger. Picture above is what my car looks like now after Chris Clendening, my "rental" mechanic finished the paint job on both the car and the helmet. It gets lots of oohs and aahs in the paddock. Chris did a great job of capturing my concept.
The two new posts below describe my first weekend - the first time I had the car on track and up to speed.
The second weekend, April 24 and 25 had some difficulties. I'll post the info for those as soon as I get it written up but suffice to say I experienced my first contact with another car, my first spin-out, and my first mechanical DNF (did not finish). Stay tuned - I'll tell all.
Next race weekend is May 22-23 at Summit Point. I'm hoping for better news to write about.
The two new posts below describe my first weekend - the first time I had the car on track and up to speed.
The second weekend, April 24 and 25 had some difficulties. I'll post the info for those as soon as I get it written up but suffice to say I experienced my first contact with another car, my first spin-out, and my first mechanical DNF (did not finish). Stay tuned - I'll tell all.
Next race weekend is May 22-23 at Summit Point. I'm hoping for better news to write about.
Pocono Day Two - Learning to be a Corner Worker
It takes a lot of people to put on a race. There are the registration people, the chief steward (who works the schedule with the other club sharing the track with us, settles disputes, etc.) the Tech Inspector who makes sure all the cars get an inspection to make sure they’re legal and safe, a pit steward who makes sure racers are lined up and that the track is clear before sending us out, race control who gets info from and to everyone who has a walkie-talkie; emergency staff – paramedics and tow vehicles, corner workers – one for each series of turns at the track, and I’ve probably forgotten a few. It is a requirement in our club that every rookie spend one full race day being a corner worker. Since I’m racing in the southern series, the Pocono race does not score points for me so I thought this would be a great time to serve my time as a corner worker.
They paired me up with Dani Jackson. Dani is one of the few girls who race in the club. She is a high-school chemistry teacher and as I learned during the day, has been racing for quite a few years and has worked closely with my car’s builder, AJ. As a teacher Dani is also a great coach. When we went out to corner number one she began telling me what the duties of a corner worker consist of. Our primary job is to watch the cars go through our turn and the one after where we are stationed and to let the racers know of anything unusual on the track, by displaying the appropriate flag. Unusual includes what you would expect, any kind of accident or spin, any car either slow or stopped on track, any kind of debris that might damage a car or cause it to go off. But it also includes noting oil on the track, wildlife on the track, any emergency equipment on track, or anything else we think needs to be communicated to the racers so that they can stay safe. We also have a walkie-talkie so that we can hear from race control what is going on, when the race will start, how many laps are left, and, of course, so that we can report anything happening in the corners for which we’re responsible. Fortunately we didn’t have to do any emergency things, but corner workers are also the first ones to a wreck and will be responsible for making sure drivers are OK, ignition is turned off (there’s a master kill switch on the back of every car), and generally being a first responder.
I was prepared for a fairly boring day, but as it turned out, with Dani’s coaching, it was anything but. She not only coached about the flagger/corner worker responsibilities, but as we watched racers go by – from rookies to very experienced drivers, she helped me see differences in the line they were taking through the turns, when they hit the brakes, when they accelerated, where they were looking, how they managed passing and being passed – it was really instructive.
Turn one was also a great place to see the vintage cars as they streamed past. There were old Porsches, a couple of old Alfas, a Sunbeam, an original Mini, several MG-As, one MG-TD (the first sports car I ever rode in when I was about six), several Lotuses, a few Triumph TR-3s, and a number of cars I couldn’t identify. It was fun.
So – I can now see why this is a requirement – it gives a driver much greater respect for the corner workers’ job and what they do to help make the whole race day possible.
They paired me up with Dani Jackson. Dani is one of the few girls who race in the club. She is a high-school chemistry teacher and as I learned during the day, has been racing for quite a few years and has worked closely with my car’s builder, AJ. As a teacher Dani is also a great coach. When we went out to corner number one she began telling me what the duties of a corner worker consist of. Our primary job is to watch the cars go through our turn and the one after where we are stationed and to let the racers know of anything unusual on the track, by displaying the appropriate flag. Unusual includes what you would expect, any kind of accident or spin, any car either slow or stopped on track, any kind of debris that might damage a car or cause it to go off. But it also includes noting oil on the track, wildlife on the track, any emergency equipment on track, or anything else we think needs to be communicated to the racers so that they can stay safe. We also have a walkie-talkie so that we can hear from race control what is going on, when the race will start, how many laps are left, and, of course, so that we can report anything happening in the corners for which we’re responsible. Fortunately we didn’t have to do any emergency things, but corner workers are also the first ones to a wreck and will be responsible for making sure drivers are OK, ignition is turned off (there’s a master kill switch on the back of every car), and generally being a first responder.
I was prepared for a fairly boring day, but as it turned out, with Dani’s coaching, it was anything but. She not only coached about the flagger/corner worker responsibilities, but as we watched racers go by – from rookies to very experienced drivers, she helped me see differences in the line they were taking through the turns, when they hit the brakes, when they accelerated, where they were looking, how they managed passing and being passed – it was really instructive.
Turn one was also a great place to see the vintage cars as they streamed past. There were old Porsches, a couple of old Alfas, a Sunbeam, an original Mini, several MG-As, one MG-TD (the first sports car I ever rode in when I was about six), several Lotuses, a few Triumph TR-3s, and a number of cars I couldn’t identify. It was fun.
So – I can now see why this is a requirement – it gives a driver much greater respect for the corner workers’ job and what they do to help make the whole race day possible.
First Race Weekend - Pocono Raceway
Wow – so much to learn…
It was a very cold April 10, 2010 morning at Pocono Raceway. I mean cold like we had snow last night and it was 32 when I arrived at the track at 7:30 – and very windy. The cold, however, did not dampen anyone’s spirit. Our club was here with a Vintage race event – sharing track time. I got some good pics of some very cool vintage racecars as well as new pics of my car and of some of my competitors. I’ve posted a new pic for the homepage of the blog. Once I figure out how to do it, I'll post some pics of the vintage race cars.
I got myself registered and had a short “ground school” with Andy (the designated instructor). I was the only total rookie here, so when Andy heard how many schools I’d been to he pretty much exempted me from going through another extensive ground school – he just wanted to get us on track. Andy is a short, long-haired, British driver with lots of years experience – a really nice guy and a good teacher. Our first session on track was a “follow-the-leader session to get us familiar with the racing line. Should have been a good lesson, but I was having a lot of difficulty with getting the car into second gear. Up shifts seemed to work ok, but on downshifts I was only getting it in gear about once every 3rd or 4th lap. Not a good thing – so I pulled off and went back to the garage.
Chris and AJ worked on the car for while, then we tested it in one of the nearby parking lots. It seemed to be better, but still not a smooth shift.
Second practice session was better but I was still having trouble with 2nd. On the other hand – as I was getting 2nd somewhat more often, I did get a chance to get the car up to the edge of traction a few times. We did some more “follow-the-leader” with Andy and when he saw that I was following the line well, he waved me by and of course I immediately went nuts and nearly spun the car. After that I settled down and got in some good laps.
We did some more adjustment with 2nd gear and after lunch I went out for qualifying. I need to explain a little how all of this works. We are broken up into classes so that we’re on track with folks who are of similar experience levels. At Pocono I was one of only three rookies. The other two “rookies” actually had raced before so they were not total race virgins. Also, in classes where there are too few entries, they are grouped with another class. Today there was one Formula Vee entry. Formula Vee has about half the horsepower of the Formula Tyro (my class) so he went out with us. So – during qualifying I was competing against two other “rookies” – I qualified second out of three – not too bad considering that this weekend was the first time I’d had the car on track.
Then there was the race. You know about the one that got away… I think I would have probably at least placed second except for – my difficulties getting into second gear were back and even worse. About half of the race course is taken in second gear and without it the torque to accelerate out of the turns just wasn’t there. Still, I was at least keeping my competition in sight until a plug wire came off – so now with only three gears and three cylinders I was just not competitive. Also, since we didn’t know it was a plug wire, just that the car was making disturbingly abnormal sounds, my “pit crew” (the car builder and my hired mechanic) requested to have me black flagged. I came in on lap 16 out of 20. Still – since there were only three people in my class – I logged a third place finish.
I learned, and I had a great time. Tomorrow I’ve volunteered to be a corner worker so the car goes back in the trailer till the April race at Summit Point.
It was a very cold April 10, 2010 morning at Pocono Raceway. I mean cold like we had snow last night and it was 32 when I arrived at the track at 7:30 – and very windy. The cold, however, did not dampen anyone’s spirit. Our club was here with a Vintage race event – sharing track time. I got some good pics of some very cool vintage racecars as well as new pics of my car and of some of my competitors. I’ve posted a new pic for the homepage of the blog. Once I figure out how to do it, I'll post some pics of the vintage race cars.
I got myself registered and had a short “ground school” with Andy (the designated instructor). I was the only total rookie here, so when Andy heard how many schools I’d been to he pretty much exempted me from going through another extensive ground school – he just wanted to get us on track. Andy is a short, long-haired, British driver with lots of years experience – a really nice guy and a good teacher. Our first session on track was a “follow-the-leader session to get us familiar with the racing line. Should have been a good lesson, but I was having a lot of difficulty with getting the car into second gear. Up shifts seemed to work ok, but on downshifts I was only getting it in gear about once every 3rd or 4th lap. Not a good thing – so I pulled off and went back to the garage.
Chris and AJ worked on the car for while, then we tested it in one of the nearby parking lots. It seemed to be better, but still not a smooth shift.
Second practice session was better but I was still having trouble with 2nd. On the other hand – as I was getting 2nd somewhat more often, I did get a chance to get the car up to the edge of traction a few times. We did some more “follow-the-leader” with Andy and when he saw that I was following the line well, he waved me by and of course I immediately went nuts and nearly spun the car. After that I settled down and got in some good laps.
We did some more adjustment with 2nd gear and after lunch I went out for qualifying. I need to explain a little how all of this works. We are broken up into classes so that we’re on track with folks who are of similar experience levels. At Pocono I was one of only three rookies. The other two “rookies” actually had raced before so they were not total race virgins. Also, in classes where there are too few entries, they are grouped with another class. Today there was one Formula Vee entry. Formula Vee has about half the horsepower of the Formula Tyro (my class) so he went out with us. So – during qualifying I was competing against two other “rookies” – I qualified second out of three – not too bad considering that this weekend was the first time I’d had the car on track.
Then there was the race. You know about the one that got away… I think I would have probably at least placed second except for – my difficulties getting into second gear were back and even worse. About half of the race course is taken in second gear and without it the torque to accelerate out of the turns just wasn’t there. Still, I was at least keeping my competition in sight until a plug wire came off – so now with only three gears and three cylinders I was just not competitive. Also, since we didn’t know it was a plug wire, just that the car was making disturbingly abnormal sounds, my “pit crew” (the car builder and my hired mechanic) requested to have me black flagged. I came in on lap 16 out of 20. Still – since there were only three people in my class – I logged a third place finish.
I learned, and I had a great time. Tomorrow I’ve volunteered to be a corner worker so the car goes back in the trailer till the April race at Summit Point.
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