Two race weekends- 4 poles, and two track records
Team Superlite Cars had its second race weekend at the fabled Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
Following on the success of the first race weekend at Hyperfest at Summit Point, WV, where the team set an official lap record for the Super Unlimited class and easily captured pole position for both day’s races, the team traveled to Mid-Ohio this weekend to run the Superlite Coupe (SLC) at the track where the National Championships will be held in early September this year. The team wanted to get real-world feedback on how the Superlite Coupe could fare at this demanding, and technical track.
It didn’t take long to get a definitive answer, as during Saturday qualifying, team driver Ryan Ellis broke the track record to take the fastest time of the day, as well as pole position for the Super Unlimited class (and the overall pole for the Thunder Group in which the Super Unlimited cars race).
Ryan out-qualified an ex-IMSA GT2 car with a reputed 700+ HP, driven by a driver with significant pro experience, and at his home track. He also bested a deceptively normal- looking Mustang as well. Normal, except for a reputed 1200 HP turbo’d engine. This car pretty much owned the straights.
Fortunately, road racing is more than long straightaways, and the Superlite Coupe owned the corners, and braking zones, and wasn’t too bad on the straights, either… which was apparently enough to make up the difference.
As Saturday’s race began, Ryan was passed at the start by the uber-Mustang, but quickly repassed under braking, and rapidly built up an 8-second lead over the Porsche and Mustang battle behind him. Cruising to what looked like an easy win, after 8 laps Ryan radioed in that he had lost power steering, then the traction control, and then all fire in the car.
Apparently the alternator wasn’t charging the battery, and we were running the car solely on the small race battery charge. And evidently, that wasn’t enough for a 35 minute race.
When the car got back to the pits, the crew pulled out the spare alternator we carry, and swapped it out. And because Fran takes a belt-and-suspenders approach to the car, we also wired in two additional batteries, in case the new alternator decided not to alternate. We figured three batteries in total would be just enough overkill, and put them all on the charger.
Dense fog had cancelled the Sunday warmup, so with an additional 40+ pounds of new lead (and acid) from the new batteries added to the car, Ryan lined up the Superlite Coupe for Sunday’s qualifying session. Nothing like adding weight to the car!
The track was cold, and a little damp, but Ryan managed- again- to wring out the fastest qualifying time of the day to seize the class and group pole position. We had high hopes for the race, as we thought we had solved the charging problem.
Sunday’s race looked to be a repeat of the start of Saturday’s race, with Ryan quickly establishing a 6 to 8-second lead over the rest of the group as he battled through traffic in the 50+ car field. An unexpected spin coming over the hill left the Coupe suddenly just behind what had been the second-place Porsche. Ryan then started to reel in the all carbon-fiber 993 GT2 back into range, but after 15 minutes, he coasted to a stop near the Keyhole. The engine had apparently pushed out its oil, let out a bang - and was dead.
When we got the car back in the pits, we couldn’t see anything wrong with it externally, so we are thinking it might have broken a ring or swallowed a valve. We’ll know for sure tomorrow when we open it up for a look.
The weekend didn’t quite finish the way we wanted, but we did demonstrate what we had always believed- that the SLC has tremendous speed out of the box, and can run with the fastest cars on merit.
We showed up at two different tracks with a new car with no real development, and ran under the lap record at each venue, and sat on the pole for every race the car has entered. The essential Superlite Coupe package has been flawless so far- all of our problems have been engine-related, electrical issues, plumbing problems, etc. When we get past the inevitable teething problems, the SLC will be formidable!
Team Superlite Cars had its second race weekend at the fabled Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
Following on the success of the first race weekend at Hyperfest at Summit Point, WV, where the team set an official lap record for the Super Unlimited class and easily captured pole position for both day’s races, the team traveled to Mid-Ohio this weekend to run the Superlite Coupe (SLC) at the track where the National Championships will be held in early September this year. The team wanted to get real-world feedback on how the Superlite Coupe could fare at this demanding, and technical track.
It didn’t take long to get a definitive answer, as during Saturday qualifying, team driver Ryan Ellis broke the track record to take the fastest time of the day, as well as pole position for the Super Unlimited class (and the overall pole for the Thunder Group in which the Super Unlimited cars race).
Ryan out-qualified an ex-IMSA GT2 car with a reputed 700+ HP, driven by a driver with significant pro experience, and at his home track. He also bested a deceptively normal- looking Mustang as well. Normal, except for a reputed 1200 HP turbo’d engine. This car pretty much owned the straights.
Fortunately, road racing is more than long straightaways, and the Superlite Coupe owned the corners, and braking zones, and wasn’t too bad on the straights, either… which was apparently enough to make up the difference.
As Saturday’s race began, Ryan was passed at the start by the uber-Mustang, but quickly repassed under braking, and rapidly built up an 8-second lead over the Porsche and Mustang battle behind him. Cruising to what looked like an easy win, after 8 laps Ryan radioed in that he had lost power steering, then the traction control, and then all fire in the car.
Apparently the alternator wasn’t charging the battery, and we were running the car solely on the small race battery charge. And evidently, that wasn’t enough for a 35 minute race.
When the car got back to the pits, the crew pulled out the spare alternator we carry, and swapped it out. And because Fran takes a belt-and-suspenders approach to the car, we also wired in two additional batteries, in case the new alternator decided not to alternate. We figured three batteries in total would be just enough overkill, and put them all on the charger.
Dense fog had cancelled the Sunday warmup, so with an additional 40+ pounds of new lead (and acid) from the new batteries added to the car, Ryan lined up the Superlite Coupe for Sunday’s qualifying session. Nothing like adding weight to the car!
The track was cold, and a little damp, but Ryan managed- again- to wring out the fastest qualifying time of the day to seize the class and group pole position. We had high hopes for the race, as we thought we had solved the charging problem.
Sunday’s race looked to be a repeat of the start of Saturday’s race, with Ryan quickly establishing a 6 to 8-second lead over the rest of the group as he battled through traffic in the 50+ car field. An unexpected spin coming over the hill left the Coupe suddenly just behind what had been the second-place Porsche. Ryan then started to reel in the all carbon-fiber 993 GT2 back into range, but after 15 minutes, he coasted to a stop near the Keyhole. The engine had apparently pushed out its oil, let out a bang - and was dead.
When we got the car back in the pits, we couldn’t see anything wrong with it externally, so we are thinking it might have broken a ring or swallowed a valve. We’ll know for sure tomorrow when we open it up for a look.
The weekend didn’t quite finish the way we wanted, but we did demonstrate what we had always believed- that the SLC has tremendous speed out of the box, and can run with the fastest cars on merit.
We showed up at two different tracks with a new car with no real development, and ran under the lap record at each venue, and sat on the pole for every race the car has entered. The essential Superlite Coupe package has been flawless so far- all of our problems have been engine-related, electrical issues, plumbing problems, etc. When we get past the inevitable teething problems, the SLC will be formidable!
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