ablesnead Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 I just got home from the Sebring Twin 7"S.....Wow ! I love this stuff....perfect weather , great event ....But boy does my driving need work !...I think there were 23 EC cars....Starts were mad., I'm B class with 170 HP at best...3 and 4 hundred HP cars threading through the pack at a start is a test of discipline ...I am glad for all the class availability to all HP levels... but It would be awesome to have a non EC race once ..I raced Imsa back in the day , where prototypes had 60 miles an hour on GTU....just whinning that I can;t afford to be a big dog I guess....but KUDOS for Champ making racing fun.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakks Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 I don’t think the EC cars were an issue. I had good experiences with all of them as they passed when they could without taking any unnecessary risks. Were there a lot of them? Yes, but imagine had there not been any. The race was more enjoyable with those extra “23” cars out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snorman Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 We didn't notice any issues with the EC cars. In fact, I didn't notice any of them were particularly fast except for the Cayman race car. S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomphot Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 We had one of those awful EC cars. In EC due to our shocks. There were gen 1 Miatas in A that were faster and sure seemed to have more HP somehow than us. You can’t clump all ECs into the same catagory. I thought it was a great time, very clean with lots of room to race and respect given to all. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smitham32803 Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 Success... we finally did it, we finished a whole event. It tool 4 races and 3 motors but finally the Corvette took the checkered flag. It was a long weekend with only 2 of us racing an pitting but we did it. Now back to work to fix the newly discovered issues like fuel system (we were only using 10gal of our 20gal tank) and repair some damaged wheels. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoparBoyy Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 The Mazda and Cobra did amazing. Our mazda isn't suited to short races and we knew going in it would be a challenge for a class win. On Saturday the car got a damaged oil cooler that soaked the whole car and actually got into the clutch. So the last stint the clutch was started to slip. Our team did a crack job after dinner, we changed the clutch in the 626 in 1hr 17mins. Sunday went well and the car ran strong but only 4th in class. The Cobra did amazing as well, we had a goal and it we hit it out of the park. Its been over a year of planning, teamwork, and lots and lots of testing. Its truly rewarding to bring home some hardware. We have a lot to fix on both cars for Road Atlanta and its going to be a quick turnaround time, hopefully we can try and make a race of it. They were tough races and big thanks to Jay and Ray from tech, i think they went above and beyond this race. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintodave Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 Congrats on a great run! After Sat's race, I told @Snorman "damn, that thing TURNS". Time to step up our suspension game for 2019, I have some things that have been on the "to do" list for a while but haven't gotten to, but we'll be doing quite a bit of testing @ Chin days next year. Pretty happy I got the car into the 2:35's running a comfortable race pace, especially after learning our go-to tire pressure gauge is 6 PSI off!!! We were running around on balloons all day Saturday at 38-40 PSI. Oof. Sunday morning, I don't know what made me want to check it, but I said to myself "let's compare our two gauges....." Shame about our systemic failure of cheap whatever-brand (read: probably Chinesium) rocker studs. Didn't see that one coming. Thought we had a fluke Saturday, @rockerbarc and crew were kind enough to source up some studs for us, we literally went to their buddy's shop and removed a couple OEM studs from a motor he had. About 30 seconds of racing Sunday morning and another stud popped. Decided it wasn't worth the thrashing to change all of the remaining 14 studs and reset the valves for a 7 hour race that was only a few hours from home so we just packed it up. Back to using name brand American stuff. That bit me on the initial build with using Chinesium stamped rockers as well (stuck a pushrod through the rockers), think I'd have learned my lesson. 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 Video editing, race start till red flag day 2 Heads up @Philippe , "Eds got my back" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee Chris Huggins Posted December 31, 2018 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) 11 hours ago, jakks said: I don’t think the EC cars were an issue. I had good experiences with all of them as they passed when they could without taking any unnecessary risks. Were there a lot of them? Yes, but imagine had there not been any. The race was more enjoyable with those extra “23” cars out there. Ec cars (well one in particular) was an issue for us sadly. When you have 300 plus hp, and a huge speed differential, drivers who don’t know patience or generally what they are doing and have no skin in a car can be a danger to those around. on the other hand, kudos to that cayman team. They were super patient and courteous all weekend. congrats to crowd control and damson for hard fought victories. This was one of the fastest overall fields I have ever raced against. Sebring is a hell of an awesome track and I hope to be back! Edited December 31, 2018 by Huggy 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 The Cayman was sahleens. They are good racers and have and I believe currently still do race that car professionally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chip Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 50 minutes ago, Huggy said: Sebring is a hell of an awesome track and I hope to be back! Next time should be with the 246! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMoneyWasters Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 After 15 fun laps the #229 car sheared off all the lug studs on the left rear wheel. I felt a vibration coming around 7 and pulled off line. Managed to limp around to the pits. Apparently the fender was keeping the wheel on but it was rotating around on the rotor. Fun trying to load it into an enclosed trailer with 3 wheels. Time to convert to 5 lugs. Leaving pit road on a forklift is no fun. BTW, damn that Jeep was fast!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakks Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 48 minutes ago, BigMoneyWasters said: After 15 fun laps the #229 car sheared off all the lug studs on the left rear wheel. I felt a vibration coming around 7 and pulled off line. Managed to limp around to the pits. Apparently the fender was keeping the wheel on but it was rotating around on the rotor. Fun trying to load it into an enclosed trailer with 3 wheels. Time to convert to 5 lugs. Leaving pit road on a forklift is no fun. BTW, damn that Jeep was fast!! I wouldn’t waste resources trying to 5 lug swap. Studs should at LEAST be a 2 year maintenance plan. Plenty of us have been using 4 lug for years with little to no issues. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopar 4 Life Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 2018 was a bad year for my team. Wreck at Daytona ended our veteran neon from 2010. Month later my trailer was broken into pretty much cleaning it out. I was glad to get on track again before 2018 closed out with the doom cruiser. Set a 2.37 and I ran into some minor teething issues. Was able to finish both days. Everyone got plenty of seat time and gave me a small to do list for Road America. Better brakes for sure and more heat shielding for the alternator. And figure what broke inside my fuel cell only allowing 1/2 to be used. Had a blast at Sebring. See you at the next one! 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakks Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 7 minutes ago, Mopar 4 Life said: 2018 was a bad year for my team. Wreck at Daytona ended our veteran neon from 2010. Month later my trailer was broken into pretty much cleaning it out. I was glad to get on track again before 2018 closed out with the doom cruiser. Set a 2.37 and I ran into some minor teething issues. Was able to finish both days. Everyone got plenty of seat time and gave me a small to do list for Road America. Better brakes for sure and more heat shielding for the alternator. And figure what broke inside my fuel cell only allowing 1/2 to be used. Had a blast at Sebring. See you at the next one! You guys were a pleasure to be pitted beside. Hope you guys get that car sorted. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 That doom thing is no joke, all you see is a little puff between shifts as it blows by. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyKid Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 PartsBadger (414 Mazda Miata) had a not so great weekend, but a great learning experience. First Off - Thank You to Sam and Daniel at LowTide Motorsports https://lowtidemotorsports.com/ We are a 2 driver team from Milwaukee and we needed crew. LowTide Motorsports was that and then some. It was our second race and first time at Sebring, which is an amazing track! Day 1, first lap, our transmission got stuck in gear. The LowTide crew got us swapped out in about an hour, but it then became a test day. We spent the rest of the day dealing with high temps and learning the track. We ended the day with engine temps running at 235-240 and needed a solution for Sunday. I reached out to Justin, who runs with a miata team, and he graciously offered up his radiator in the spare car he brought, so long as I took it out and brought it back in the condition it started in. He said is was the blue miata on the trailer in the paddock. I got dinner with the fam, got back to the track and looked for his blue Miata. I found the miata, took a picture of it and sent it to Justin just to confirm its the right one. I didn't get a reply for about 5 minutes but figured the car matched, the radiator brand matched, and the location seemed to match he must have just rolled it off the trailer and put the hood up for me, so i uninstalled the radiator and put it in the Miata. Then at some point my phone went into airplane mode. I tested the car again and it was still getting hot, so I popped the thermostat for good measure and went back to the RV for shut eye at 10:30pm...Then I check my phone, turn off airplane mode and get all my old text messages. Turns out that WAS NOT HIS CAR. I had just literally stole someones radiator. A bunch of loud cuss words came out and my Co-Driver went to install the stolen radiator while I tried to find the owner. Luckily the owner of the car was back and incredibly considerate and understanding. We had a great conversation and returned his radiator. Thank you Karl (EC Miata) for that! We then reinstalled our stock radiator and hit the hay a little after mid-night. Day 2 comes and we are off to a great start. We finish the first stint in the lead overall(non EC) and the car feels great. Temps are now running around 220-230 without the thermostat. But one of our wing supports let loose (Which Bill specifically mentioned we should reinforce). We had a stumble at the pits repairing that and I having trouble breathing with my visor down and start tossing my cookies which cost us an extra minute in the pits. We are also doing worse on fuel than we thought and we tell my co-driver to short shift to save fuel and we drop to 2nd place. Meanwhile the medics come to check me out ($$$). I feel much better once my helmet is off and I get some water. About an hour later we see on the live feed my Co-driver is driving slow and the car is making racket. He pulls in and it turns out the exhaust fell off and the weld on the wing broke. So we pull off the wing and we are between pit windows and confused on what to do. We decide to short fuel and swap drivers and continue as is. We exit the pits about 5th overall, but struggling to keep pace with the imbalance of the car and short shifting to keep exhaust heat down. About an hour into that stint, I was struggling greatly and my driving was all over the place. I was not making good choices and in the video you can tell I wasn't really "with it". During the double yellow I end up driving into the tire wall at the exit of 17, the impact was dramatic but not very hard. I start getting really hot waiting for the safety crew and can't get my visor open. I get out of the car and feel really bad and start vomiting. I get in the ambulance($$$) and can feel my blood pressure dropping and was getting pretty scared. The hospital transport($$$) comes and puts on the CO monitor and finds I have carbon monoxide poisoning. After 4 bags of IV fluid and a tank of oxygen($$$) I start feeling better and they discharge me. When I get back to the track every thing is loaded up, so a big thank you to LowTide for taking care of that. Overall we learned several valuable lessons about taking care of ourselves and will now be investing in window vents and cool suits. We will also be changing our exhaust setup and making contingency plans. Its just not worth risking our health and it will certainly end up costing much more with an out of network ER visit. We've got a lot of changes to make for Road Atlanta and hopefully we've got the bugs worked out and can finish strong there. We will be looking for a 3rd driver for Road Atlanta, ideally a Pro or top tier driver with Miata experience! The car is fast and has the potential to win. PM me if you are interested. Thanks Everyone for the Great Competition! Roy Dietsch (Team PartsBadger) 1 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Round3Racing Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 I gotta say...when I saw your car, the first thing that I thought about was the "station wagon effect". I have had CO poisoning before and I am super sensitive to it now. I was thinking that you guys better have a real good source of fresh air in that car. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheJohnDavison Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 Dear Parts Badger team. I am sincerely glad you are okay from from the carbon monoxide poisoning and I sure do hope you get that car safer to where that doesn’t occur again. That is some scary stuff there. With that being said, it was a little disappointing that the contact in Turn 1, which took us out of the race on day 2, wasn’t mentioned in your recap. I believe this was the driver before you, and I wonder if he was also feeling a little loopy, since he did not think this was his fault at all. Without making contact with our car, I firmly believe your car would have been in the tire wall here, as it would have never made the corner at that angle and speed. Thank you to that driver for causing us to be in the pits for 50 minutes fixing our car and ending our race. 1 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 27 minutes ago, LuckyKid said: carbon monoxide poisoning We were pitting right @ pit in, servicing our car, wondering exactly how that transpired while under caution, saw 2 medic vans and got worried... glad you are ok! On a side note, those 2 back to back incidences caused the pace truck to really slow the entire field down giving us just enough time to get fuel, driver, cool suit AND replace the RR brakes before getting lapped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakks Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 After watching some of the driving/racecraft of you guys it was the one car I tried to avoid and gave plenty of room to in front of me. That car was super loose even before the wing departure. I wonder if you need some a rear bumper/shelf area to help the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopar 4 Life Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) 4 hours ago, jakks said: You guys were a pleasure to be pitted beside. Hope you guys get that car sorted. Thank you, I felt out of sorts all weekend. I couldn’t find most of my tools, and I’m a tool whore, lol. It was my first race after my trailer theft. I thought I had most things but I was making lists all weekend for stuff to buy Edited December 31, 2018 by Mopar 4 Life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyKid Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, TheJohnDavison said: Dear Parts Badger team. I am sincerely glad you are okay from from the carbon monoxide poisoning and I sure do hope you get that car safer to where that doesn’t occur again. That is some scary stuff there. With that being said, it was a little disappointing that the contact in Turn 1, which took us out of the race on day 2, wasn’t mentioned in your recap. I believe this was the driver before you, and I wonder if he was also feeling a little loopy, since he did not think this was his fault at all. Without making contact with our car, I firmly believe your car would have been in the tire wall here, as it would have never made the corner at that angle and speed. Thank you to that driver for causing us to be in the pits for 50 minutes fixing our car and ending our race. I'm sorry that occurred. But you pointed him by and then turned in on him, I saw it in our video. You can barely see your point by in your video. We do make a corner at that speed. That incident occurred his first couple laps and before the exhaust broke. Edited December 31, 2018 by LuckyKid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smitham32803 Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 My wife made a video of our weekend. The link below should work. fb://group/?id=944027485692477&view=permalink&object_id=2059072290854652 It was our first finish so my team partner and I were super excited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.