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Chuck

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Everything posted by Chuck

  1. You have an interesting query about light proximity, Kenneth. Some thoughts: More start light spacing will reduce criticality of performing a good launch in any individual's car (the ET penalty for stalling, bogging , or lighting the tires too much may not be quite as profound) , but in the end, those in your class with cars that are AWD, have a more sophiscated launch control, more tire, or are more rear heavy will ALL still have an advantage even with more spacing to the light- they will simply be going faster when they do trip the light Doing a right angle course "running" start before the lights, where one has to maybe let up going around the tight corner before tripping lights have been a traditional equalizer. But I question that it actually accomplishes anything worthwhile with the right angle. Those who have a weak or no limited slip are definitely at more of a disadvantage in a tight bend before the lights. And those with LSDs, wear them out more quickly. In the end, all the basic traction attributes I mentioned above will STILL let those other guys in your class get on it sooner in the right angle and be faster at the start light. Last, while solo by its very nature is standing start, it still isn't Pro solo or 1/4 mile drag racing, so at least reaction time is not part of our bag of tricks to master!
  2. Hmm, I reckon "If ever" might just be a matter of time since Dan never made it a secret that AMP was not originally intended to be a "forever" thing. Then again, only Dan himself knows what he will do and when. Last weekend arriving from the West, I sorta wondered what's going in on the giant plot on the West side of AMP with all the earth moving equipment. Google maps doesn't update often enough to show it yet. I really can't imagine a nicer autocross site than AMP. Well, maybe ultra grippy weathered WW2 concrete without frost heaves would do it==but not much of that available anywhere anymore. To your question: Same day events might be multiple SCCA regions, NASA, or marque clubs. Its amazing to me if all there is to Marque clubs in the Phoenix area is just PCA. At Marina airport in CA, we used to have BMW, Corvette, Golden Gate Lotus, SCCA, American Autocross Series, PCA ,Lockheed Mart ,and one other club whose name I don't remember ALL running separate events. It was being used almost every single weekend of the year.- sometimes, one club on Sat and and the other on Sunday. It was nice and smooth, didn't generate much of its own dust, but wasn't fabulous grip concrete. Grip was no better than AMP- possibly not even as good. Owned by the City of Marina and they decided to sell it off for homesites or something. Anyway, if one wants to cruise around on Google maps, there are probably more and more large lots with no parking stops or light poles at abandoned factory or warehouse sites around Phoenix. I'd start on the West side just off the big I-10 truck route curve
  3. I looked at the training site back when we first learned of it (perhaps even more than 10 years ago) and even watched some of the training . It has pros and cons- Pros: 1) pavement looked like it's above parking lot quality (better integrity, less black dust) 2)- there is quite a large parking lot outside of the training pavement fence, possibly still? plenty for both grid an non-grid general parking plus trailers, motorhomes. Cons: 1. Exactly what Ken said above. If they have a lot of their own cones set up-- that's a labor problem for somebody (probably us) - unless we get innovative about leaving them all in place and designing them into our courses. Are we actually serious about new sites? Is this going to be a necessity with the new Region, where at times, there may be same day events in the greater Phoenix area?
  4. Oh, there are worse feelings than that! Even w/out cone (44.2 s), I was probably still 3.8 s off the PAX pace (Using DRowse who also ran D group as a reference: I should have had 40.5 raws). Possibly one of my worst examples ever driving- drove like a sissy through the slaloms and hard braking areas. The car is working fairly well, but while not having any problem for the very 1st time this year with stalling and coasting off the start line, engine was loading up after the 1st long sweeper at part throttle and was misfiring during long diagonal at the half way point. Might finally be time to give up on this EFI over-ride box and try another one. Might also have erred by having a little too much mechanical and aero understeer cranked in for this event. Thanks to my competitors and event officials for tolerating an old fool!
  5. Ah Jim, you lament lack of ICE music? An appealing combination on traction, overall weight , ICE sound, and no torque holes are the AWD Hybrids like the NSX or upcoming Corvette e-ray. My only point here is that there is a bigger classing issue looming than just "what do we do with the Plaids, 3's, and dog FWD Bolts, Volts, etc.?" Another important item of real concern that Scott brought up is the no-cage hot rod issue. Again -its not just Tesla Plaid's that are getting thrown off NHRA and other strips for being too fast w/out full cages. We see lots of U-tube videos that are filmed on non-NHRA strips now. The Drags Times dude with his stock appearing no-cage cars like this: (1) FIRST 765LT in the 8's * McLaren 765LT 1/4 Mile Drag Race Testing - Bing video I haven't followed this gal Emelia Harford's every U-tube episode, but I believe she was tossed at at least one event for being too fast w/out a cage. She evidently has a stock RWD C8 with upgraded engine internals and twin turbos which exceeds 1000 HP now. 9.36 s 1/4 mile time on a 100 degree day. Possibly not too far off from the upcoming Corvette factory stock 900 HP. Here is another factory hot rod from Rimac with absolutely no aftermarket tuning mods that runs in the 8's.
  6. Hear you on that! We seem to have no problem finding new potential ways to pollute ourselves out of existence. Then again, maybe we can recycle the lithium as a pharmaceutical to treat manic depression!
  7. I'm not arguing for any particular solution myself. I won't be trying to convince anybody of anything- those with at true interest should definitely write letters to the SEB once member input is requested. I'm just a little intrigued by all this and am making a few observations so that you might have a better idea of the big picture. Scott, you make a good point on safely aspect regarding 9.6 s 1/4 mile times. But we need to recognize that the big battery EVs aren't the only factory stock vehicles that are Waaay out there in performance-land now. Latest McLaren 720s is 9.9 s 1/4 mile in street trim 2.7 s 0-60. It only weighs 3150 lbs. What does a big battery 9.6 s 1/4 mile Tesla in street trim weigh? 4600 lbs? Kind of a no brainer which would be a lot faster thru a close spaced slalom on the same size tires. Also along the fast ICE lines... The e-Ray AWD 650 HP C8 Corvette is not intended to be the top of the line C8. The Corvette C-8 Twin Turbo is predicted to be 900 HP straight from the factory Not sure I like the idea, but many mfg, apparently Corvette included, say they intend to totally eliminate gas versions of their cars in a few years.
  8. Brand new, never installed. Hellwig Rear Sway Bar 7767 for the 2WD/4WD Dodge Ram 3500, 4500 and 5500 Cab & Chassis provides increased stiffness for improved handling, comfort and safety, in both everyday driving and in heavy, tow/haul conditions. Solid, 1-1/4 inch heat treated chromoly steel. 7767 | Hellwig Rear Sway Bar | 1-1/4 Inch Diameter (truckspring.com) Cost $286. Sell for 1/2 price. Located in Prescott. Can bring to solo events. -Chuck
  9. Agreed, it should be interesting to follow! A special committee of experts is how it should be done. Years ago now, I served on the APAC when a total departure replacement for AP was proposed. It became known as XP.
  10. Highest placing Tesla 3 in SS was 26th. Then 10, 11, 13, 15 in the 16 car ASP class. None ran in 18 car SM class. ESP was a little faster then SS: Wong in Camaro won at 111.67 and SS was won at 112.014. ASP was won at 108.89, quite a bit faster than ESP. SM was 106.9 by Todd Kean in a 240 followed by Strelnieks in a GTR. Bear in mind possible inaccuracies comparing class times since the event was spread out over 4 days along with AM vs PM with differing track conditions. Just a guess on my part with a very small sample population, but based upon these National times and what I saw Brian do on what looked like 200 W tires beating Wong's ESP a little at Marana, Tesla 3 ought not to be in SS for sure. I'm inclined to use the Mark Daddio/ Brian Peters level of driving and car prep as the best indicator of true potential for any car. Then, fairest place to put the 3 might be ESP with a special 200 TW tire restriction or ASP on solo-only tires. Given that full street trim weight doesn't appear to come off easily from any EV, I have some doubt that Tesla 3 would be competitive in SM. I guess it could go a lot of different ways to be fair to everyone. It might be possible to still try a EV class just for Tesla 3's and similar EV cars around the 3500 lbs. Tesla street weight, then perhaps still try to spread the not so fast EVs like Bolts and so on where they seem work among the ICE classes. The high HP mid-engine AWD hybrids like the 573/600? in 2020 HP NSX and rumored 650 HP e-ray Corvette hybrid AWD C8 are another interesting classing discussion. There you may have less overall weight along with better braking from a significant rearwards weight bias than any sedan EV while retaining an EV's immense single gear +AWD acceleration.
  11. Excellent thinking on the day before course setup. That should allow more time for safety and drive-ability tweaks....along with with less stress for the layout crew.
  12. Considering that solo has so many classes, our SEB ought to be able to find a fair spot for almost every EV without splitting all of them out where there will be just a single dominant EV and about 12 obsolete other EVs in a class or 2. ESP for Tesla 3's on 200 TW tires? That's where Brian's 3 would have been running with earlier this year at a Marana event. Shockingly😎 fast Sticking them all in one or 2 "run what ya brung" EV classes is very unfair to the growing solo EV population and would not be very progressive. Solo board has been up to the challenge in the past for classing other extremely high HP factory and modded factory cars. The "unfair advantage" of EV factory software downloads to enhance perf? Bah!, many performance internal combustion cars have software running the shifting, steering response, ABS braking, shocks, cornering balance, and electronic diffs. Is it currently (another pun?) possible to police who has been getting factory SW help on their internal combustion muscle or supercar? or do they even need it, those cars are so well tuned already?
  13. My fresh 493 may be the best engine to use for Solo F-Mod. It fits some chassis much better than the rotary valve (yellow head) which typically has to the lifted up and tilted forward on aluminum bocks so its lower carbs clear above the rear axle. On cars with a jackshaft behind the motor, the same is true. My motor can mount flat on the chassis and clear the jackshaft or jackshaft and center sprocket on some chassis like the Raptor DE- series My Brad Huling built 493 reed valve is not rotary valve like 494 and is a later generation motor than the 494. The 493 and 593 are very close to each other. No restrictor needed on the 493 however. As you can see in the photo, the carbs sit quite a bit higher than on the rotary valve 494. I bought this motor for my ultimate design F500 F-Mod car which I will probably end up parting out now. That car, in partly completed form, will be available in later post with a very good 493 with it. This motor cost me $4300 plus shipping Sell for $2100
  14. Rio Grande Region SCCA – Official Site for the Rio Grande Region SCCA (rgrscca.com) Farmington NM (giant McGee complex parking lot) has been back up and running this year and next event after this Sat-Sun(July 10-11) is July31 and August 1. They are all 2 day events and the 5000 ft+ altitude plus river and canals running through town make it cool there, usually a few degrees one way or the other from SVista and perhaps 15 degrees cooler than Phoenix or Tucson. Figure on 10-12 runs per day. 2 run groups each day and over early. RVs ok overnight on race site. Usually a clump of them.
  15. Scott, a search like this: "U-tube 2021 SCCA Fontana Champ Tour" will dredge up plenty of videos. Example: Tire Rack SCCA Fontana National Champ Tour 2021 - Day 2 Run 4 - YouTube It's very interesting to watch the ones with data recording parameters running along with the video. I was amazed a while back watching a video for a 1987 C4 corvette running at an Optima Street challenge at Fontana who was pulling consistent 1.44 G cornering levels on 200 rating tires.
  16. Missing my BM time in your latest version of report. Only made one run. Not a particularly good one. First time out in over 2 years with many new things to sort out on the car and only had 1/2 hr sleep the night before. Car still dying off the line- no telling what that cost. I checked with timing and it was a 37.74. No threat to PAX since my raw times really should have been in mid 35's. Wonderful event;- thanks to everyone for all their hard work. -Chuck
  17. Nice job Matt, thanks for sharing! -Chuck
  18. Great event. Thanks for all the hard work setting up and running it! -Chuck
  19. To my knowledge, no studies have been completed yet to show possible effectiveness of vaccines in reducing spread (especially now in view of those pesky mutations/varients) ! Now , if someone is truly suffering while wearing a mask, there may be an official workaround on that. I see a few people in stores w/out masks and wonder if maybe they use an official medical reason like COPD or asthma? I imagine that people w/out masks would simply just be expected to stay out of other people's faces in order to experience some personal relief.
  20. Figured others might be interested on keeping track of still more places to go since AZ is really suffering. I see AzSolo already has links to San Diego and Cal club but nothing for LasVegas or Rio Grande Region (RGR runs Farmington or UNM). Looked today 12/27/2020 and Rio Grande does not appear to want to run if they are limited to only 30 entrants, but maybe once we get into the Newyear they may try to do something. Rio Grande Region SCCA – Official Site for the Rio Grande Region SCCA (rgrscca.com) Las Vegas: In 2020 people from San Diego were going up to Las Vegas to run and really liked it. HOME | lvrscca Here is a photo which at least shows the LV coning layout. Looks Nationals-like-- but this is just a small section of one course. Your mileage may vary! 🙂 No 2021 schedule yet on their site either -Chuck ( in the frozen white north of AZ)
  21. Covairs are fun affordable solo cars. I ran one for years back in NER in the 1970's. Perhaps just a simple oversight that the Corvair wasn't written into the CAM rules. Covairs are relatively inexpensive to set up and can run very wide rims on all 4 corners w/out much bodywork mod (if any). While not very heavy, they definitely lack HP. I understand the very very best punched-out (2.9L?) flat sixes that are still reliable are only capable of about 200-230 HP crank at best. If you are serious about running and may be running out of AZ Region, it might be worth a letter to the SCCA for official inclusion. Click on this link and use pull down menu in the form for Solo Events board. https://www.crbscca.com My main argument for CAM inclusion would be that Charlie Clark ran his Covair in C-Prepared at the SCCA Nationals for many years. Charlie's was well prepared and driven but always well off the pace for trophies. It is highly doubful that Corvair would ever be an overdog in CAM.
  22. Thanks for taking the time to provide all the info Kim. Please verify A or C-weighted scale, if you can. Or whom to contact at AMP? Choice of scale can sometimes make an even bigger difference than response speed setting. Getting my own meter again could pay for itself in wasted fuel cost of one round trip to AMP if I don't get to run. Not asking to substitute my own test for yours, just want to check and make changes before making the trip for best chance of sucess. BTW, just so you know my attitude: I would not piss and whine If I pass at home and don't at AMP. That's not my way. I understand quite well how factors like differing air density and so on can affect readings. My first job in the Valley in 1992 was as an engineer at Active Noise and Vibration Technologies. One other detail that should be of general interest.... You said this earlier: "AMP limit to get a sticker is 96 dB (fast read) at 50 feet full throttle driving by the meter " You probably know that an old trick to pass sound checks done on one side of the car is to have an exhaust elbow that can be turned away from the side the meter is on. Do you test both sides with a return drive-by in other direction and take worst side? or is it a "don't care" with single pass by meter? Just asking so I know to do a 2 direction drive-by back home at the ranch! My exhaust is absolutely straight back, no left-right angle , but exhaust system heating might make a difference even then. -Chuck
  23. You seem to have thought this out well already and it all seems fair to me. Just an idea: Some of us may have to travel long distances to get to AMP and THEN, AMP might possibly emit excess sound levels during tests, AND some people may want to try add-on mufflers- thus adding to time spent in sound check........ so might it be possible to do sound checks by appt. at some off-site location or at AMP on some other club's event day? This could also lower everyone's anxiety level trying to get it all done prior to an event. As an aside, I have spent years exprimenting with mufflers on this particular motor and believe I have a good chance of passing- but you never can tell! I don't have my own sound meter anymore, but maybe I should buy another. What is the mfg and model plus proper settings to check compliance on my own? An unofficial sound meter prior check might pay for itself in avoiding just one round trip to to AMP fuel cost! -Chuck Voboril
  24. Thanks for sharing your unfortunate but interesting story! Those are terrific pictures to go along with your commentary. -Chuck
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