Ron Earp
Admin
The SCCA was back at Charlotte Motorspeedway last week after about a six year hiatus. We figured it'd be a good time for us to test the T70 at a venue different from our usual VIR test grounds. In typical fashion a race car never disappoints when taken out for testing....
CMS is a cool track. It is much smaller than Dayonta with respect to the oval and the infield is tight and interesting. I've never driven CMS before and the Youtube video below shows my first lap ever at the track. In short, it is a lot of fun although I didn't push the car at all. We were there simply to test but on this occasion it was an actual race so this is officially the first "race" that I've entered with the car. In fact, it was a double weekend and there were two races to race, both to be completed on Saturday.
Unfortunately, due to the silly SCCA grouping policies I was stuck in the group with the big bore cars - ex-NASCARS and the like. One car that particularly stuck out was a stock car bodied as a Ford Falcon with a 876 hp engine, a really cool looking car and it was super fast. Anyhow, no racing for me as I was the only car in the ITE class. Tell you what though, this car attracts people like nothing else I've ever seen. You don't see cars like this in an SCCA paddock and people are definitely interested in it. After a couple of hours I moved my chair out of my garage space so I didn't have to answer the same questions over and over - I know that's bad but it does get tiring.
On track the car behaved very well the first session out for practice and qualifying. I'd reach terminal velocity of around 140 just entering NASCAR three and then I'd basically coast through that turn, maintain some speed in NASCAR four, then accelerate out. I was driving slow and taking it easy as I didn't want to hurt the car and it was my first time at CMS. Even at 130 mph though during the race the GT1 cars would literally blow my doors off with closure rates of what I'd estimate 40 mph. Anyhow, I qualified on the pole for ITE - yes!
Even though the day was hot water and oil pressures were great, oil temps, both transaxle and engine oil, were also much improved due to a heat shield Jeff G and I fabricated that went between the muffler and transaxle. Now we had operating transaxle temps of around 200F instead of 240F.
The race session didn't go too well though. Within about two laps the car developed a stumble that got worse as the session wore on. At first it seemed that the stumble occurred while cornering in the infield only. Then, it spread to the exit onto the banking. And eventually it occurred on the banking too even when going straight. I strongly feel it is fuel related but I was not being a good driver and didn't check my fuel pressure gauge like I should have. I was just too distracted trying to avoid getting run over by the fast cars in the group. I was happy to see the checker out and bring the car back in. What is troubling is that this problem comes on the back of two very successful VIR test weekends with nary a hint of trouble.
After that episode I withdrew from the second race since I didn't want to pay $XXX to run around and troubleshoot. There wasn't much time in the garages to do much sorting of the car and I wasn't in the mood to mess with it anyhow. However, it did net a win for the car and Team Yellow Snow.
Fortunately, I was able to get my race on at CMS as I split a nighttime ride in my buddy's ITS Miata, which of course ran flawlessly and with which we were able to take a first in class win. Nighttime under the lights at CMS is something to see and the infield is damn challenging in the dark!! Anyhow, here's a video and a picture of Robert and I putting the registration sticker on the T70 for the first race entered. All in all a successful, but a bit frustrating, weekend.
First Lap at CMS in the T70 - YouTube
CMS is a cool track. It is much smaller than Dayonta with respect to the oval and the infield is tight and interesting. I've never driven CMS before and the Youtube video below shows my first lap ever at the track. In short, it is a lot of fun although I didn't push the car at all. We were there simply to test but on this occasion it was an actual race so this is officially the first "race" that I've entered with the car. In fact, it was a double weekend and there were two races to race, both to be completed on Saturday.
Unfortunately, due to the silly SCCA grouping policies I was stuck in the group with the big bore cars - ex-NASCARS and the like. One car that particularly stuck out was a stock car bodied as a Ford Falcon with a 876 hp engine, a really cool looking car and it was super fast. Anyhow, no racing for me as I was the only car in the ITE class. Tell you what though, this car attracts people like nothing else I've ever seen. You don't see cars like this in an SCCA paddock and people are definitely interested in it. After a couple of hours I moved my chair out of my garage space so I didn't have to answer the same questions over and over - I know that's bad but it does get tiring.
On track the car behaved very well the first session out for practice and qualifying. I'd reach terminal velocity of around 140 just entering NASCAR three and then I'd basically coast through that turn, maintain some speed in NASCAR four, then accelerate out. I was driving slow and taking it easy as I didn't want to hurt the car and it was my first time at CMS. Even at 130 mph though during the race the GT1 cars would literally blow my doors off with closure rates of what I'd estimate 40 mph. Anyhow, I qualified on the pole for ITE - yes!
Even though the day was hot water and oil pressures were great, oil temps, both transaxle and engine oil, were also much improved due to a heat shield Jeff G and I fabricated that went between the muffler and transaxle. Now we had operating transaxle temps of around 200F instead of 240F.
The race session didn't go too well though. Within about two laps the car developed a stumble that got worse as the session wore on. At first it seemed that the stumble occurred while cornering in the infield only. Then, it spread to the exit onto the banking. And eventually it occurred on the banking too even when going straight. I strongly feel it is fuel related but I was not being a good driver and didn't check my fuel pressure gauge like I should have. I was just too distracted trying to avoid getting run over by the fast cars in the group. I was happy to see the checker out and bring the car back in. What is troubling is that this problem comes on the back of two very successful VIR test weekends with nary a hint of trouble.
After that episode I withdrew from the second race since I didn't want to pay $XXX to run around and troubleshoot. There wasn't much time in the garages to do much sorting of the car and I wasn't in the mood to mess with it anyhow. However, it did net a win for the car and Team Yellow Snow.
Fortunately, I was able to get my race on at CMS as I split a nighttime ride in my buddy's ITS Miata, which of course ran flawlessly and with which we were able to take a first in class win. Nighttime under the lights at CMS is something to see and the infield is damn challenging in the dark!! Anyhow, here's a video and a picture of Robert and I putting the registration sticker on the T70 for the first race entered. All in all a successful, but a bit frustrating, weekend.
First Lap at CMS in the T70 - YouTube
