Sorry to keep you guys hanging
A few turns later he’s on my tail, I wave him past. I match his pace keeping a safe distance back. I am driving at about 60% keeping up with a new and I still have no idea where the limits of the Nemesis are. This is where I realize how good the Nemesis really is. After a couple laps he gets sick of seeing a brand new 25k American made car in his mirror and lets me by. I start stretching Nemesis’ legs, GT quickly disappears. Confidance is growing, I’m starting to use the full width of the track, doing a little trail breaking, I put a wheel on the rumble strip, the car doesn’t bat an eye. As I pass the start/finish line I see a waving checker flag.
Next session I decide the car has had a solid hour of track time, we have got some decent photos and videos, I know the track…it’s time to turn kick it up a couple knotchs. After a couple warm up laps, I stand on the gas at the apex exiting a 90deg right corner, the rear breaks loose…I keep my foot in it, and counter steer the car comes back slowly, again I’m reminded of driving a pickup truck with a posi in snow. By now I’m revving to redline, using the full track, the tires and breaks are up too temp, the is sticking HARD everywhere with no noticeable body roll, dive, or squat. I’m passing everything in site, everything. The video speaks for it’s self. I rip off 10 or so fast laps, the air and oil temps are holding steady, tires aren’t getting greasy, the brake pedal is still rock hard, that Collin Chapman was onto something….As I slow the car on the back straight, I downshift through the gears, just as I would in my previous track car, a mazda rx-7. coming out of the turn, I notice the car’s down on power, and it’s got a slightly deeper , intake/exhaust note, then…POOOOOOOOOOOFF….I push the clutch in, the engine instantly stalls, I smell burning. The instant the car comes to a stop, I’m engulfed in a huge cloud of smoke, and engine oil rolls forward toward my feet, next thing I know I’m looking at the car from 20 yards away, I don’t even remember getting out of the car. Looking at it, the car’s not actually on fire, but there is a lot of white/blue smoke. I figured I just blew an oil cooler line (been there, done that) since I didn’t hear any knocks, bangs, or anything from the engine… The tow truck pulls me back to the pits, we pull the side pods, engine covers, and find a massive hole in the block.
I learned the $-hard-$ way, don’t drive a bike engined car the same way you would drive a standard car. The engine is there to make the car go, not slow it down. However what I did is extremely common for new bike engine car owners. Based on what I’ve read, wait until the last possible instant before you turn in to drop down to the gear you will need to be as you exit the corner, just like a current f1 car.