Boy Blunder Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 I'm afraid the Batmobile (very non-cheaty 1995 Saturn SL with AIV well below $500) has to be blamed for the first engine failure of the weekend and the dispensing of 5 quarts of Castrols finest on the track during the third lap of the race. Apparently the nice man at the junkyard who sold us this engine to replace the one we lost with a blown head gasket during VIR 's blisterfest LIED !!!. He told us the engine had just been rebuilt before the car was in an accident that sent it to the junkyard. It sure seemed to run nicely when we had it idling in the garage. Thought you all might enjoy the picture." Do you think we can fix it with some JB Weld?"There's another similar hole through the bottomOur team would like to thank Mike and the Chumpstaff for being so accomadating in quickly getting us teched and approved to run our backup car. It was the frst time we ran the Conturd since buying it from another team over the winter. It still has some teething pains to even be mid pack competitive. . Seemed OK through the turns but just wouldn't develop power on the straights.We've learned to adapt in this series with different goals for different races - for this one we simply were happy to still be running at the checkered flag on Sun.Special thanks to the team that brought the gold Audi on Sun. You made our day having someone we could actually pass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Race Control chisek Posted February 16, 2012 Race Control Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 For those of you who were not there, the Saturn brought out the first of FIVE red flags for oil on the track. Road Atlanta almost ran out of oil dry! Sounds about right for a $500 car race..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoFlachump Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 And I was in the car for three of them, including that first that was over 30 minutes. ugh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinanm3atl Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Hope you don't mind... I happened to be walking to get to a new spot. Camera settings were wrong as I was shooting action but you get the idea.Chump Car ChumpCar CCWS Road Atlanta February 2012 081 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on FlickrChump Car ChumpCar CCWS Road Atlanta February 2012 082 by MotorSportMedia - www.racemsm.com, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoserRacing Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Special thanks to the team that brought the gold Audi on Sun. You made our day having someone we could actually pass!Glad we were able to make someone's day! First outing for the car since I bought it in September of '10, our prep work consisted of getting an oil change at Walmart Sunday morning and buying two Federal tires for it. Hope to have more power next time as well, maybe we could actually race! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Flying Tigers Captain Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Hey Batman! Sorry about your bad luck. We, The Flying Tigers were happy to see you guys in the paddock before the weekend started. We were really looking forward to running with you like we did at Roabling last January. I had a lot of fun racing with you guys. You are always fast, clean competitors. Hope we see you at Daytona. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Car54 Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 I apologize for the last red flag of the day on Sunday in the #30 BMW. Our engine let loose in the downhill esses. We lost a ton of oil and water. Autopsy has not been performed yet. I tried to get off the track as soon as I could. I've never had an engine let loose and didn't really understand right away it was the engine as we had some electrical gremlins on Saturday. I would have moved off line immediately but was frantically trying to restart it as I approached T5 and climbed the hill. Glad no one slipped in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chip Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 I apologize for the last red flag of the day on Sunday in the #30 BMW. Our engine let loose in the downhill esses. We lost a ton of oil and water. Autopsy has not been performed yet. I tried to get off the track as soon as I could. I've never had an engine let loose and didn't really understand right away it was the engine as we had some electrical gremlins on Saturday. I would have moved off line immediately but was frantically trying to restart it as I approached T5 and climbed the hill. Glad no one slipped in it.and this right after I got in our car for the last stint- I was 2 cars behind you and I got off line immediately- no issue from there, just made for a really long first lap out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff G 78 Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 How many crapcan races has the Batmobile competed in? It has to be well over 10, no? Great car and theme. Sorry it grenaded on you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Car54 Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 and this right after I got in our car for the last stint- I was 2 cars behind you and I got off line immediately- no issue from there, just made for a really long first lap out Did you see smoke from the back? I never actually could see the road behind me to see how bad I pooped on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chip Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 I don't think there was any smoke because you were flying man, I just saw the nice glistening trail of oil being laid down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Car54 Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 See what flying got me! My goal for that stint was to lay down some clean laps and get us caught up to at least cars that were slower and only a couple laps ahead. That happened on lap 8 of my stint. I drove the first two hours on Saturday and the last 7.5 laps of the race on Sunday. I think I drove about 47 laps all weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malinois Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 " Do you think we can fix it with some JB Weld?"Hell Yeah!! Do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boy Blunder Posted February 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 Thanks for the kind words and understanding. The extra pictures are great and give me even more ammunition for harrassing my brother who was driving at the time in his first ever Chumpcar race. The Batmobile has certainly seen it's share of adversity during it's 10 race career that's now extending into it's fourth year on the Lemons/Chump circuit. One of the highlights was definitily the Roebling race last Feb and dueling it out with the Flying Tigers Miata!! Yeah teh batmobile is small, and yeah even with the upgraded DOHC engine it's underpowered, but it's easy to work on, cheap to get parts, and easy on gas. And actually pretty fun to drive!. For us it's a great shadetree mechanics grassroots racing car that symbolizes what the intent and heart of chumpcar racing is supposed to be about. Keep it simple, keep it cheap, keep it fun!! We look forward to seeing ya'll at Daytona!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostmint Posted February 18, 2012 Report Share Posted February 18, 2012 I'm always rooting for the batmobile. And I I have some interest in understanding what happened there. One thing I can tell you is the date was stamped in the back of the engine bearings so if you care to take it apart and look at the surviving bearings you might get a clue whether it was really rebuilt.Was this the first stint for the batmobile at this track? I wonder if you stacked up all the oil in one side of the pan (driver side likely) on a sweeping RH turn maybe with a little banking. Also if you did any suspension mods maybe you're getting a little more side load and going over the limit. Note I am not the nice man at the junkyard nor I am getting any compensation from him 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.