944 Heat Wave Update
While we in the East Coast have been baking in a heat wave, I haven't been idle. I've been toiling away in the garage, giant fan blowing and beer fridge just steps away. First some 44 updates.
Did I tell you how much I hate the paddock at VIR? I'm sure I did, but just in case, it can't hurt to repeat: I hate the paddock at VIR! There, I feel better. I think I would rather bake in the reflector oven in the summer than deal wilth the sand. Case in point, my race tires:
As much as I tried to avoid the paddock sand, parked on the asphalt, waited for my tires to cool, they still picked up lbs of sand and embedded into my race tires. 15 minutes per tire of scraping and brushing got much of the sand and pebbles off, but they still will be like skating on glass the first couple of laps I use them.
Speaking of tires, I added a new gizmo to the cockpit: a tire pressure monitor system for racecars. While F1 cars have gazillon dollar thermal systems for analyzing the pressure and tire temps, my budget is a tad constrained. This was a 100 bucks system and gives me pressures every 5 seconds. It's accurate to 1/10ths so more accurate than my hand gauge.
Whether it gives me any competitive advantage remains to be seen. But if you don't try you'll never know.
Speaking of competitive advantages leads me to another segue way. Way back in the beginning of the season I had my motor dyno'd and broken in after the rebuild. One of the comments from John was it looked like my valves were floating a bit at the top end of the curve as my hp was dropping off pretty good. He said this is typically due to worn tappets or followers in the cam tower. Since list price of the tappets were $120 each and I needed 8 of them - not including any labor, I decided to wait and see how the season goes.
Well after watching Bob and Al walk me up the esses at VIR and seeing Steve motor on past on the long straight, I decided now is the time.
A couple of hours in the garage, my mastercard groaning a bit more, and the new tappets were installed.
I finished my tech inspection - replacing a stuck rear caliper - and the car was ready for the next race at NJMP at the end of July. Time to turn my attention back to the 2002.
Did I tell you how much I hate the paddock at VIR? I'm sure I did, but just in case, it can't hurt to repeat: I hate the paddock at VIR! There, I feel better. I think I would rather bake in the reflector oven in the summer than deal wilth the sand. Case in point, my race tires:
As much as I tried to avoid the paddock sand, parked on the asphalt, waited for my tires to cool, they still picked up lbs of sand and embedded into my race tires. 15 minutes per tire of scraping and brushing got much of the sand and pebbles off, but they still will be like skating on glass the first couple of laps I use them.
Speaking of tires, I added a new gizmo to the cockpit: a tire pressure monitor system for racecars. While F1 cars have gazillon dollar thermal systems for analyzing the pressure and tire temps, my budget is a tad constrained. This was a 100 bucks system and gives me pressures every 5 seconds. It's accurate to 1/10ths so more accurate than my hand gauge.
 |
| Cockpit monitor |
 |
| sensors take the place of stem caps. |
Whether it gives me any competitive advantage remains to be seen. But if you don't try you'll never know.
Speaking of competitive advantages leads me to another segue way. Way back in the beginning of the season I had my motor dyno'd and broken in after the rebuild. One of the comments from John was it looked like my valves were floating a bit at the top end of the curve as my hp was dropping off pretty good. He said this is typically due to worn tappets or followers in the cam tower. Since list price of the tappets were $120 each and I needed 8 of them - not including any labor, I decided to wait and see how the season goes.
Well after watching Bob and Al walk me up the esses at VIR and seeing Steve motor on past on the long straight, I decided now is the time.
 |
| Camtower and tappets. You can see the worn area on the crowns. |
A couple of hours in the garage, my mastercard groaning a bit more, and the new tappets were installed.
I finished my tech inspection - replacing a stuck rear caliper - and the car was ready for the next race at NJMP at the end of July. Time to turn my attention back to the 2002.
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