Re: T70 Spyder Track Day Outing #2 Planned
I agree with what Jeff Y has said - the test day was a success. The car is very close to being right and we are now on the correct path. <o
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Jeff did a good job with the summary but for a few more details: I had the car out for the first 45 min session in some 33F weather, serious cold for those familiar with the typically decent weather here in NC toward late Febuary. The suspension had been placed on full soft and I ran a few laps to check engine, tranny, and overall feel of the car. First observation – the steering was fixed. It was light, fast, and a joy to use. No dartiness and no ill effects jumping curbing. Basically the steering was just like it wasn’t there and it did what you told it to do. Secondly, the suspension was far better that our previous outing. We clearly had set the double adjustable shocks up far too high in our last event. <o
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After a few laps and a bit of heat in the tires I started to push the car. We’d upped the rev limit to 6000 RPM and I was now reaching that about 800 feet before the end of the back straight. 6000 RPM is an honest 144 mph as the car is geared and tyred so moving pretty good. Stability was fine, although I suspect in that 5500-6000 range we’re getting a bit of lift on the nose, but nothing concerning at that speed. As I became more confident I pushed harder. And, the car pushed back. I spun in T4 at about 50 mph just getting a bit confident on corner exit and giving it a boot of throttle. Next lap I looped it in T5/T6 and still haven't figured out what I did there to deserve it. And I had a little bobble out of Oak Tree, probably a lot of throttle but not sure. All in all it was good.
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Back into the pits and a few things were tended to – oil out of the tranny breather (must make a good catch can),and the CV boots were throwing a bit of grease around. We cleaned everything up and put Jeff in the car for the 35 min session. Car ran well, and Jeff drove it a bit harder than I did the first session with no ill effects. He was coming in every 2-3 laps while we were adjusting compression and rebound, so a true setup session more than anything else. The car was getting a bit better but still not “there” as far as driving it all out. He had a couple of offs and we were still chasing the rear a bit and with harder driving the braking was less than optimal with F/R bias.<o
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During lunch we investigated the tranny breather issue, adjusted the brake bias (still don’t have a cockpit adjustable knob, will fix that), checked the suspension setup (found we’d developed a tiny bit of toe out in the front), raised the rear to make sure we didn’t bottom out (we’d made some modifications to the shock mounting ears, they might not have been good modifications!), bled the brakes, and inspected the CV boots. And had a burger. All good, ready for session three. Jeff was selected for session three and I was to run session four which as the last session of the day. The weather had improved dramatically and we now were full sun and around 55F. A welcome change from the poor weather we’ve had for the last few weeks. <o
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Jeff went out with the video camera in the car and I went off to snap some pictures. The session went well, as Jeff has already stated. He ran about eight or nine hard laps and then came in for a general checkout and discussion. The best thing to see was that he had a smile on his face when he stopped and said “That was fun! Awesome!”, the best thing a pit crew can hear. We went to checking the car and tire temps showed we had a shade too much camber in the front at our -1.0, so I imagine we need something around -0.75 or so. Our rears were almost spot on as we’d been adjusting them already. Tire pressures were a tad too high. Water temps good, oil temps tolerable, and diff temp fine. However, the CV boots had let go and sprayed grease all over the rear. We were done for the day, but we’d collected a lot of data and the car was now getting into the zone. I wasn’t bummed about missing the last session as I had not been feeling all that great throughout the day, but I was disappointed that we wouldn’t get one of our crew guys, Jeff G., into the car for some seat time. Jeff G. wasn’t unhappy though as he was pleased to see all of his work had paid off in the form of a good racing car.<o
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All in all a very successful day. Incidentally this test day was run in conjunction with a NASA race weekend. We have both SCCA and NASA logobooks for the Lola so we can do both, but, for those that don’t run NASA (I don’t) it is a different sort of culture. 715am, I’m unloading the trailer, and booming over the PA in a boxer announcing voice comes “Weeeeeelllllllcome to VIR! Bing Bong, it is 715AM……..
NASA time!!!!!” some announcements followed, and then the PA was turned on to some loud music up until the driver’s meeting at 745am. Meanwhile, engines are running, revving, lots of cars with big wings and so on. Now, in stark contrast, just running a race engine before 8am at an SCCA event nets you a nice $100 fine. The NASA driver’s meeting at 745. I look around and something immediately sticks out – the average weight of a NASA driver is far less than the average weight of an SCCA driver. Make of that what you will. The NASA test day was well done and was run ON TIME, the SCCA could definitely take some notes there. Anyway, NASA seem like good people.<o
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So Z work is up next at Garage Earp. The points season starts in two weeks and I want some. The Lola will be put away for a bit but will be street driven while we’re doing some fixing and developing on a couple of minor items such as the CV boots etc.<o
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> One thing we have to change is the windscreen height. It either has to be much taller, or shorter - no two ways around it. Be looking for plexigals cutting tips soon.
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Here are a few photos:
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