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It was a weekend of some major downs, and some good ups! I'd first really like to thank everyone who put the weekend together and made it happen. The guys from TVR, George Bugg, Craig Farr, Mark Rothermel, you guys are awesome! Thanks to John W8 and Ricky Ragan from the ALSCCA crew! Thanks to workers, Cholewa, C and Sara, Nick V, Griffin, Mike Cavanaugh, and Chuck Schultz!
Saturday was a really rough day. We had worked all winter to get the cars ready, make some improvements, and thought we were good to go. Well, right out of the box, my car wasn't running right. It would lean out on part throttle which was really evident when trying to roll into the throttle coming off a turn, or when getting off the gas and then getting back on during shifting. It was ok at WOT, but wasn't really drive-able and of course, fear that the engine was going to break under the lean conditions didn't help. So we started working on the tune with the ecu. Didn't seem to help. We recalibrated the O2 sensor and changed spark plugs which had become pretty dirty and fouled (the car was running really rich under idle). And then we also found that the Air flow meter sensor was unplugged. OK, surely with all that the car would be fixed. AND IT WAS!!! at least for a session and a half before the engine started cutting out and sputtering. WOT, part throttle, idle, it was all running rough. So then we started looking at fuel, that wasn't the case. Then finally, Andrew (british guy with another e30) noticed that the Crankshaft Position Sensor was being rubbed against one of the pulleys and it had eaten through the CPS's shielding and part of the wires. We replaced my CPS with John's and voila, the car was back to normal!
Now you may ask yourself, well what are you going to do with John's car now that it doesn't have a CPS and won't run without one. Well, bad news. John's car had been running well for the first two sessions. He had managed to run a 1:12.0 which was pretty dang good. Since my car was down, I took my last session in his car. While I was on my 4th or 5th lap, the engine went down on power and started getting a knocking noise coming from the engine. I thought we had broken a rocker arm or something like that in the head. We opened the valve cover and everything looked good. Pulled some of the oil, and there were no metal shavings. However, consensus from a couple people think that a rod bearing was spun. So either way, the engine needs to be pulled and torn down. BUMMER!!!!
But Sunday brought some happiness to the weekend. My car was up and running, and was running perfectly!!! So John, Jamie McKinell, and myself all drove my car Sunday in each of our sessions. The new Hankook RS-3 were AMAZING!!!! Besides the rubber from the track, the tires still aren't worn down past the "ventus" and "fire" markings on the rubber. The tires gripped like mad and although we were feeling some tread squirm, once you trusted the tires to stick, we put in some good times. John ended up with a 1:12.4, Jamie with a 1:14, and myself with a 1:11.4. It was a great day on Sunday, but boy was the weekend exhausting.
But one of the funnest/learning experiences I had this weekend was something that I hadn't experienced before. Having done mostly autox, I have never been able to compare times between two or more events, as with autox, the course always changes. But with this being my third TT out at TGPR, I was finally able to start looking at how the car is different, hopefully better, than previous events. But a funny thing happened. After the first few runs on sunday, with a fully healthy car, the times were slow. REAL SLOW!!!! I would come of the track feeling as though I had pushed the car hard, was improving on my times, and hopefully make ground on my previous 1:10.9 from November of last year out at TGPR. But as I started talking to other drivers, everyone was feeling the same thing. The track wasn't as fast as it had been in the past. For some reason, the conditions weren't as favorable. It was strange for me feeling like I am faster, but my times were slower. A real learning experience which is completely different from autox. But that's what makes this stuff fun.
Saturday was a really rough day. We had worked all winter to get the cars ready, make some improvements, and thought we were good to go. Well, right out of the box, my car wasn't running right. It would lean out on part throttle which was really evident when trying to roll into the throttle coming off a turn, or when getting off the gas and then getting back on during shifting. It was ok at WOT, but wasn't really drive-able and of course, fear that the engine was going to break under the lean conditions didn't help. So we started working on the tune with the ecu. Didn't seem to help. We recalibrated the O2 sensor and changed spark plugs which had become pretty dirty and fouled (the car was running really rich under idle). And then we also found that the Air flow meter sensor was unplugged. OK, surely with all that the car would be fixed. AND IT WAS!!! at least for a session and a half before the engine started cutting out and sputtering. WOT, part throttle, idle, it was all running rough. So then we started looking at fuel, that wasn't the case. Then finally, Andrew (british guy with another e30) noticed that the Crankshaft Position Sensor was being rubbed against one of the pulleys and it had eaten through the CPS's shielding and part of the wires. We replaced my CPS with John's and voila, the car was back to normal!
Now you may ask yourself, well what are you going to do with John's car now that it doesn't have a CPS and won't run without one. Well, bad news. John's car had been running well for the first two sessions. He had managed to run a 1:12.0 which was pretty dang good. Since my car was down, I took my last session in his car. While I was on my 4th or 5th lap, the engine went down on power and started getting a knocking noise coming from the engine. I thought we had broken a rocker arm or something like that in the head. We opened the valve cover and everything looked good. Pulled some of the oil, and there were no metal shavings. However, consensus from a couple people think that a rod bearing was spun. So either way, the engine needs to be pulled and torn down. BUMMER!!!!
But Sunday brought some happiness to the weekend. My car was up and running, and was running perfectly!!! So John, Jamie McKinell, and myself all drove my car Sunday in each of our sessions. The new Hankook RS-3 were AMAZING!!!! Besides the rubber from the track, the tires still aren't worn down past the "ventus" and "fire" markings on the rubber. The tires gripped like mad and although we were feeling some tread squirm, once you trusted the tires to stick, we put in some good times. John ended up with a 1:12.4, Jamie with a 1:14, and myself with a 1:11.4. It was a great day on Sunday, but boy was the weekend exhausting.
But one of the funnest/learning experiences I had this weekend was something that I hadn't experienced before. Having done mostly autox, I have never been able to compare times between two or more events, as with autox, the course always changes. But with this being my third TT out at TGPR, I was finally able to start looking at how the car is different, hopefully better, than previous events. But a funny thing happened. After the first few runs on sunday, with a fully healthy car, the times were slow. REAL SLOW!!!! I would come of the track feeling as though I had pushed the car hard, was improving on my times, and hopefully make ground on my previous 1:10.9 from November of last year out at TGPR. But as I started talking to other drivers, everyone was feeling the same thing. The track wasn't as fast as it had been in the past. For some reason, the conditions weren't as favorable. It was strange for me feeling like I am faster, but my times were slower. A real learning experience which is completely different from autox. But that's what makes this stuff fun.
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