3-Zero

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Nothing would ever get done if not for the last minute.

With the first track day of the season a mere 10 days away, it's getting into crunch time. I need to, at a minimum, re-seal/boot one brake caliper piston, finish bleeding the coolant system and give the NSX a little bit of a shakedown before calling it good to go for now. I somehow doubt I will have time to rebuild the axles before the event, but since the parts are on the way, this can wait.

If the brakes or cooling system fail to pass muster, the backup plan will be to take the MR2 down. I need to address a couple of simple issues with it, like an exhaust leak, and then just bleed the brakes and it should be set to go in a pinch. That would also be a useful test, so I will not be too torn up if the other car doesn't make it in time.

11:19 am est

Saturday, February 5, 2011

The Game is Afoot!

With the first track day of 2011 scheduled for 3/5 @ Little Talladega preparations have begun in earnest.

Right now, both front suspension corners (yes, the entire assemblies) are off of the NSX pending new bushings. Prior to that, I had replaced a split coolant pipe that may have been the source of last seasons consternation in that department. I am also replacing the tie rods, and tie rod ends. Between those and the new bushings, the car should actually be align-able now.

The MR2 hasn't been totally neglected. It received new front strut mounts today, and I have a little exhaust trickery in store as well after a chat with the nice folks at Knoxville Performance. It will also need new shoes before the first autocross. I'm hoping to avoid any more DFL in Pro class this season by actually taking it slightly seriously.

Anyhow, just wanted to pop on here with an update that the winter event-draught is nearly at an end.

10:12 pm est

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Familiar Stomping Grounds.

Everyone's favorite (well, mine anyway) test track, Talladega "Gran Prix" Raceway (TGPR) lies stone's throw from the big oval in Talladega, Alabama. It isn't the longest track at 1.4 miles, but it has a nice variety of turns and is a real test of your brakes and will definitely expose any incongruities with your car's balance. I've had some half dozen days of practice on this track but I learn something new every time I go.

The epiphany this time involved a way to take turn 3 that didn't feel horribly awkward and/or slow. A second revelation manifested itself in the form of a Mitsubishi Evo doing something ridiculous into the 6/7/8 chicane (reference ~11:50 in the first video below.. That, I'm sure, will provide hours of entertainment on my next visit.

I did bring back some video. The first session is probably the more entertaining of the two since it contains other cars. The second contains my FTD on lap 5.

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Southern Discomfort: LeMons racing with the Squirting Coronas.

I journeyed back to Carolina Motorsports Park (CMP) this past weekend, but this time to do some actual racing. Several of my autocross friends had put a team together with a...what's the politically correct term these days?..."Southern, pseudo-Hispanic" theme that drew inspiration from a particular beverage of choice. The beverage in question should be fairly obvious from the team name if not the livery on our Mercedes 300E "LeMon". Our motley crew consisted of five drivers, all autocrossers (three with prior road-course experience), and one significant other who took pictures and talked sense (Thanks Jordi!).

We started fast and our lead-off driver Keith even competed for the lead at points...for about 20 laps anyway. At that point we got black flagged because the lawn-chairs bolted to the trunk apparently obscured our brake lights (pshh, we were braking later than anyone else anyway). The chair problem only took a couple of minutes to fix, the issue with the brake lines however...that took a bit longer. In a classic "it came from E-Bay" moment, we had installed some stainless brake lines before the race, aaaand 3/4 of them had utterly failed. Not sort-of/kinda/maybe failed, I mean they blew their fittings and were dangling in the wheel wells. One was only held on by the cosmetic shrink wrap. Mercifully, Gary (our team captain) had left the 20-year-old rubber Mercedes lines in the toolbox and we managed to turn it around in 20 minutes.

Back on track, our second driver managed to work us back from deep in the 70s into the 60s in spite of a minor agricultural moment early in his stint. The car ran flawlessly for two hours as Aaron picked his way through the field and ticked off the laps. Dry of fuel, we came in and I jumped in the car with a full tank of gas. After a few tragically slow laps where I couldn't find 2nd gear on the automatic box (there was a dog-leg and I couldn't turn my head far enough between the HANS and harnesses to see this), I started to find the pace a little and had gotten the Corona/Good-Beer/AMG mercedes (always wanted to say it like that) down into the 50s (out of 84 cars entered). Tragically, just as I'd ticked off several of the fastest laps of the day on a now-dry track, the head-gasket let go.

We tried literally "everything", but to no avail. For giggles, we put a bucket under the tailpipe as the car was idling (we were adding some stop-leak), and in 20 minutes of idling, the bucket had collected about a gallon of water....thus metaphorically representing the fork denoting exactly how "done" we were. Ah well, there's always next time. Even with a short day it was a blast. Apologies to Gary and Derek, who weren't able to turn a lap.

Winter Meltdown Indeed: 3-Zero moves into 2012.

Carolina Motorsports Park (CMP) isn't the closest track to where we are based in Knoxville, TN. It is, however, not the worst commute, which is why I've been there half a dozen or so times now. As such it's probably the closest thing to a "home track" that I could claim at this point, with Talladega GP a close second. You may recall the last time I made the trip to CMP in February. Mercifully, this trip was more devoid of blizzard. In other great news, the NSX performed...well, as you might expect a Honda should. Although I did find a couple of minor things that need to be addressed, it was a trouble-free weekend on the whole.......also, that thing is a helluva lot of fun to drive when it's acting right.

You'll find some video below from two of the more entertaining sessions of the weekend. The first consists of me following an ex-racer in a blown S2000 around whilst dodging antique mustangs. The second is a busier session, but I get to chase down a not-so-antique Boss 302 pony. The last lap of the second video is a 1:51.xxx and the quickest I have recorded for the weekend. Comment/Critique is welcome.

Video(s) of the Month

Not to be completely outdone by those three British guys, the Hungarians can also throw together a very watch-able car review when pressed....yes, I'm partial.