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Chuck

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Everything posted by Chuck

  1. What will be the workaround since the AMP agreement with Luke is that no one can even leave their car at the site overnight, let alone stay in motorhome overnight?
  2. Did you guys go? Maybe just to watch, even? I asked Harry to bring along the diagnostic tool to return to Mark--but I don't see you guys in the results today on Monday.
  3. Just buy GOOD quality very high load rated trailer tires, keep an eye on them, and don't worry about having a single axle. Started doing this while I was in the Army- every time I stop, I walk around the tow vehicle and trailer and look at the tires and feel them and the bearing caps. Same thing again ('cept bearing caps) before resuming driving if it's been a long stop. Been using single axle trailers since about 1994. This is my heaviest car yet, but only weighs about 840 lbs. and all the equipment including which has about 16 ft of alum ramp, bring the load to about 1000 lbs. in a 900 lbs. V-nosed box single axle trailer with a ramp door in back. Before I got too old, I used to go to Topeka for the SCCA Pro Finale and Solo National each year from here. Never had a second thought about single axle. Never ever had an issue. About a 23 hour tow, and in hot weather too. Finally, I did have a humdinger of a blow out that threw the tread about 3 years ago on way to Marana Airport from Prescott. I left at 3:30 am and it was so dark I didn't notice the tire had gone soft. I replaced it in Anthem and still made the event. No different than having a tire blow out on a dual axle. The tire really came apart. It wasn't a "soft" failure. The flap flap flap noise of the tread leaving is really what alerted me- the trailer didn't do anything really funny that I felt in the tow vehicle. Another tactic to make any trailer towing more reliable is to use remote tire temperature and pressure senders (screw on) and stand alone programmable alarm display in the cab. Tire-minder is one brand I have one now and it has enough channels so when I start using my little (single rear tire, no dually) motorhome to tow with, I can monitor its tires too.
  4. Looks like some wide slicks were fitted to it at one point. Sports Racer Renault used threaded street tires. Here is one Solo idea since it looks like a little heavy, but well-constructed chassis. It could run SCCA Solo B-Mod as a sports racer using wide Solo compound slicks and an upgraded motor. BM allows up to 3 L at 1275 lbs. (includes driver's weight). Bear in mind, no forced induction Since it was set up for a transverse FWD motor and transaxle, a modern high factory HP drivetrain might retrofit. Another possible use is for SCCA solo D-Mod since it might work out better for weight. The driving position would need to be offset a little to one side or the other of center. It currently has a pretty wide cockpit, so that might be practical. Driver's hips just need to be one side of the centerline. Then could run a fully built (300 HP?) 2L NA or up to 1438 cc turbo with restrictor (Chevy Cruze turbo motor for example) could in place of the Renault. 1400 lbs. min weight including driver. The current bodywork would have to modified or another fitted to look like some sort of recognizable production car that had a rear or mid-engine- like a Lotus Europa (Bodies can be bought from Banks) Karman Ghia, or Porsche 356 perhaps. Fiberglass Porsche 356 bodies are available from Beck. These are just ideas with no guarantee there wouldn't be a lot of work involved. One would have to measure the chassis for motor swaps to see just how much.
  5. Roughly 700 lbs. heavier than the Elise design it is based upon. Not an Elise with an EV conversion. 2" longer WB. 2WD and only slightly more stock rim+ tire width didn't make up for the ground "hugging" weight difference. I used to run with the Golden Gate Lotus Club while I lived in CA and only saw a few of these run stock class with mediocre results. Not to say that possibly using a LOT more tire and suspension in another class it might be competitive. Being an old Europa D-Mod guy from the 1970's, the only Elise-like car I truly lust after is the S1 with Rover K-series (properly built and pumped in HP to around 200). There was one fellow who ran GGLC events who was very fast in stock class using a Rover S1. Said it only weighted 1650 lbs. from the factory. That's what a stock iron block Europa TC used to weigh. The Rover K-series engine is actually a beautiful, advanced design that was lighter than the Toyota that came later and a lot lighter than the Honda K20 retrofits into S1's. A few S1's that came into states early on were fitted by the importers with Konda K20's to become fully emissions certified road cars. A more exact weight comparison of Elise engine options: All of this tends towards an engine that weighs in, as standard, fully dressed at 96.5kg. (212 lbs) Compare this to the Honda S2000 engine similarly equipped with standard manifold clutch and fluids at 158 kg (348 lbs) and the Toyota 1.9 VVTi engine at 137kg.(302 lbs) The Rover engine’s compact size and weight are a significant advantage in a lightweight race/sports car of the Lotus 7-type or the Elise. Note, a full race K-Series weighs 78kg including 7kg of fluids. (187.4 lbs total). A fully built Rover K 2L is about 293 HP. To be fair, a Honda K20 can be built to similar NA HP and a lot less than its stock weight by removing balance shaft and variable cam timing, etc. but still be quite a ways from being as light as the Rover. Forced induction and it's a whole different engine story. There is a U-tube video of a street rat in the Phoenix area with a turbo K-20 with sequential 6 or 7 speed in a Toyota MR-S that has over 900 RWHP and easily blows off all super bikes on I-17 🙂 "Hmm couldn't that run in SCCA solo XS-B class?"
  6. Very good course this time. Lot more fun than previous ones that had awkward slaloms lacking a satisfying feeling of getting your rhythm right. Broke the entire left side of my diffuser on 4th timed run and missed 5th. Got all broken pieces out by TOs (had to pull the LHS wheel off), but car had more oversteer and just a little less grip overall w/out the underbody working as it should, so car was about 0.55 s slower. Had to back off quite a bit to make the finish gate. Possibly some of that was just me not being gutsy enough to trust that I could make it.
  7. Thanks very much for the info Clifton. Unfortunately, even the Bell address is not close since that's about a 2 hr. drive from Prescott!
  8. It's probably correct that Ruth is still involved in Solo PAX. I reread the other forum discussion and it was that National office took over Pro Solo PAX from him several years ago.
  9. There are some perhaps not so obvious reasons to have access to a specialized race tire/wheel shop's, a friend's tire machine - or own your own. I recently put together some 3-piece rims where unbeknownst to me, the outer halves were made wrong by the mfg. and about a tenth of an inch too large at the bead seating surface. Discount Tire had a real fit over not being able to get the rubber to push out and seat on these wheels. Said they went up to 90 lbs. air pressure in the cage. They gave my $16 back and told me they wouldn't do my wheels anymore because Discount (and perhaps other companies?) have a corporate policy against working on 2 or 3 piece wheels. I evidently had gotten away with having 100's of tire changes done there at that one convenient Discount tire about 1 mile from my house because nobody there had read their policies. Anyway, at least the wheel mfg. admitted their mistake and new spun outers are on the way.
  10. Rick Ruth doesn't publish any PAX anymore. SCCA National Office took over PAX. I was informed of that about a week ago on another forum where I mentioned how years ago, I contacted Rick because I wanted to understand why B-Mod had taken a large increase in Pro Solo PAX factor. He told me "I don't have a lot of data on B-Mod, I just figured I'd increase it because they seem to have big rear tires".🤑
  11. Sorry Ted, the rear driveshafts ,CVs, and Torsen plus Rack sold within minutes of me posting the ad.
  12. Parts left now with reduced pricing as well: Complete carbureted Honda CBR600 F3 600cc with 4-into-1 header that looks to have been modified for formula car chassis. 100+ HP at 12,000 RPM with 4 carbs. Estimate 75-85 HP with FSAE restrictor and a single carb. Could be increased to 700 cc and probably over 90 HP now with latest FSAE rules. (All figures are for 100 unleaded, but probably no different for E85) Factory carbs and factory airbox with new air cleaner. Vance and Hines ignition electronics, complete harness and Autometer Tach. Includes chassis mounts/braces/rear chassis bulkhead for motor which allow it to sit upright on a flat surface. Was $400, now $250. Note $250 is about 50% of typical Ebay cost for this particular motor. I'm not up for crating and shipping- now has to be a pickup or nearby by delivery by me.
  13. "Something like that one would be entertaining to do again" Hmmm, This is also why a variety of designers should be contributing currently. Anyway Scott...the circle concept you mention liking can be taken off into a number of interesting directions The Curly-Q spiral is one example. 1st saw it at a Golden Gate Lotus Club event. One dives straight in just past the center of a spiral and then go around as the spiral opens up. It was laid out and marked so well that there were zero off-courses at that event. The smallest radius can still be pretty large, so the Curly-Q was not onerous at all for any type or size of car.
  14. Jason, Can I still download the results as an Excel ? I think I've done that in the past and maybe I just forgot how or...? Reason is just to see all my run raw times. Pretty sure I had one in the 38's with a botched slalom. I drove one extra cone in the 1st slalom, so would be a DNF. Motor was running semi-ok that run. Just goes to prove one shouldn't try to seal a glance at the AFR while driving a slalom. Oops, scratch my question! I just saw that the live timing shows all the raw times. Thanks
  15. I have one exactly like that and it has been a terrific jack over similar period. Never any leaks. Maybe a different oil or o-ring material would fix yours? There are shops that specialize in repair of jacks and other hydraulics. Generally pretty cost effective since they have all the tools, parts, and experience, plus might only spend 20 minutes fixing it.
  16. Apologies to all for inconveniences I caused Some of you might be interested in just "wot happened to the orange formula car that only made 2 runs and had to pushed off the course beginning of 3d run" 2 odd phenomena you might find entertaining: 1. First one probably ought to be classed like the famous old driving excuse: "My shift light came on and blinded me!" 2nd run, I got more gutsy on late hard braking for 1st LH turn and my sunglasses slid down my nose and bonked the visor. Surprised me enough to let off the gas, so was about 0.5 s slower- even though faster in the giant LH sweeper 2. Then—the REALLY weird thing: End of that Second run car after LH corner into finish light, it started idling really high -like 5200 RPM. Used kill sw. and brakes to drive back to grid position and pulled off sidepod to look to see if I had broken or stretched throttle return spring. Nope ....and car had recovered and was idling OK again So, started 3d run and started going around very 1st medium speed LH corner- the car plowed wide and it was idling high again. High idle had engaged the clutch and canceled rear wheel brake torque-- but -of course not the front brakes-- so basically only front brakes. I didn't understand what was wrong, so to be safe, didn't want to take a chance using kill sw. and brakes to drive any more since it seemed to be idling even higher. I was thinking it had to be electrical- maybe heating of the ECU or? Anyway..some REALLY nice guys pushed me back to trailer. Got home and looked carefully and saw that a ty-rap loop I made to keep the throttle pedal return lanyard on the pedal was too loose and open, so under road vibration plus LH cornering G-force, it had been jiggling, then sliding over to right and getting caught between the throttle cable attachment and a 45 degree tube in the frame. G-force effects on mechanisms aren't apparent standing still unless you use your noggin! I probably could have tightened up the ty-rap at the event and made all 4 runs if I were only smarter. So, now totally redesigned the return limiter to pedal attachment to be 100% reliable, so this won't ever be an issue again. The newly machined parts are shown below. The change is that the pedal return limit chain is no longer hooked over the pedal/cable bolt and secured from popping off or sliding by a ty-rap, but screwed and clamped on now. Started with a piece of 1/2" hex stock and tapered it on the outboard end. On a happier note, I think I have the Air-fuel mixture very close now- I had changed to different specific gravity fuel in April and got it almost right last run that event. Plug soot ring picture attached that shows about 1.6 mm wide-- ideal is 1- 2 mm. One has to cut the plug open to measure this and I used a hacksaw this time on the threaded end-- but the drag race pros commonly use a 5/8" open ended circle cutter on the other end to cut the metal crimp that holds the ceramic. They like opening the plug from the other end in order to use a block to screw all 8 plugs of a V8 into to keep them in order.
  17. Ohh, very cool! Even larger still. Thanks for clarification Dan.
  18. Interesting on reverting to old format. Both formats have good as well as bad features. Traditional run plan good points: Length of worker time is lessened. On hot/windy/rainy/whatever especially, it is certainly going to be less stressing to be standing/running for only 3 runs max instead of 5 or 6 runs. Length of attendance time at event can also be less if one plans not to run any TOs The traditional Format is a familiar one that is probably the most popular all across the country, but I have seen AM/PM plans many years ago in other regions Traditional run plan bad points: Those who travel longer distances may have to revert to waking up a lot earlier, like 2-4 am, or coming to Phoenix day before and staying overnight. Running in afternoon in old AM/PM format was absolutely wonderful from the travel standpoint. Especially when there is snow in northern AZ. The roads are more likely to be cleared later in AM While easier on workers to work 3 instead of 5 or 6 runs, the temporary AM/PM plan overall was more time efficient over the course of a day. Those who admin the event and have to be there for all runs will have to be there longer now than on the AM/PM plan for same total number of runs Those who want TO's and have to run morning for class runs will have a much longer day than was possible before for 6 runs. In any case, I want to thank the Steering committee for working out and implementing the AM/PM plan. It was a fantastic temporary solution.
  19. Thanks for your efforts to find and acquire a new site. Would the new lot be this one on extreme southeast side of the complex? Looks very promising--at least pits and maybe even grid in lot to West of it maybe?
  20. BBB is largely worthless. They have little to no control over the businesses either to put pressure on them to fix customer problems
  21. This may be the one on the East side of I-10 from Firebird that Don Roberts said many years ago (1994?) was nearly gravel when he tried to do some testing there. So be prepared. But since it may be easy to look at, I'd do it anyway just to be sure no one has improved it. There was another strip on the OTHER side (way West) of Wild horse up against South Mtn that I looked at around 2002. That one had covered parking and the strip was a rather long asphalt in good shape with some short taxiway lanes. It was used for airliner landing training. I cannot find it again, so maybe it is gone now. I think the old Butterfield Stage Rd. was close to it. Did anyone mention Turf Paradise? Looks abandoned and the parking lots are enormous. mapquest phoenix az - Search (bing.com)
  22. Not complaining about my tougher challenge in BM, since on one hand, Matt Ellam has shown what driving talent and mechanical reliability/ tuning/development skills are capable of in BM. A good friend of mine back in the Bay Area did a little of the tricky fabrication work for Tom and Matt, so I have some idea of the level that that car is at. Matt took top PAX out of 1,118 entrants and Jeff Kiesel was 2nd PAX in EM, so maybe that's what it takes to earn a PAX bump for next season BUT in 2021, next closest BM competitor was 4.26 seconds back in what some of us thought could have been at least a comparable, possibly even superior chassis, aero, and tire combo to Matt's. My last AMP event, finally got the engine to run strong for 90+% of a run and handling balance about at same level: good but, but not quite there yet-- but that was only a 40.9 s. Really needed a 38.86 s to match Doug Rowse. 2022 PAX factor for me means that would have needed to be another 0.7 s faster still (Doug gets an increase from 0.823 to 0.83 factor for 2022 or it would be even worse for me). More musings-- all in PAX-land may not be exactly what it seems, if one digs more.... I know I need to be faster ,no matter what, but perhaps don't have to match the bar that Matt has set for BM nationally at local events. Maybe I'll never know how I stack up at Nationals against him since I'm probably way past my prime to make going again worthwhile. Anyway...I don't really know how much different Nebraska is from Phoenix since I haven't gone to Nationals since 2003 , but I looked anyway for non-Nationals events Matt Ellam competed in. His PAX was 957 compared to whom I assume was top PAX (Monty Pack in SS) at a Sacramento Region event . I was 950 compared to Doug Rowse in SS at AMP. I didn't verify for sure that Monty was top PAX, he may not have been, but he was probably close. I found a representative course map of a Sac event which evidently is a solo pad or parking lot at Thunderhill- but probably not significantly different or better than AMP in configuration, grip, or ET.
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