Nelson Ledges Chump Car Race 10/8-9
10-09-2011, 06:58 PM
#1
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Nelson Ledges Chump Car Race 10/8-9
What a great weekend...perfect racing weather, old friends and 25 hours and 25 minutes of incredible racing! Props to the Dragon team and RennBay/A Part Above teams. The dedication you guys had to finish the race after all of the problems was amazing!
The Dragon Team
Dan getting ready to drive first leg of the race.
Andy turning a wrench like he did the entire weekend...for both 944 teams!
Renn Bay / A Part Above camp
John??? getting ready to run
Other great 944 inspirations racing this weekend as well. "Team Cuzz" with Dan P, Brian (Cuzz) and others. It was awsome to see you guys too! You all ran great!!!
The Dragon Team
Dan getting ready to drive first leg of the race.
Andy turning a wrench like he did the entire weekend...for both 944 teams!
Renn Bay / A Part Above camp
John??? getting ready to run
Other great 944 inspirations racing this weekend as well. "Team Cuzz" with Dan P, Brian (Cuzz) and others. It was awsome to see you guys too! You all ran great!!!
10-10-2011, 02:02 PM
#3
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We were there with the "Chump Z" (1974 260Z). Spent more than two hours messing with fuel pumps. Ended up 30th OA. Had a good time.
There were a lot of jackasses on the track though. Idiots. ChumpCar needs to start getting serious with penalties if they want this crap to stop. Five minutes for a black flag, then 10 for the second one? How about an hour for the second one? Go home if there is a third.
What's the story on Team Cuz being listed as DNF?
There were a lot of jackasses on the track though. Idiots. ChumpCar needs to start getting serious with penalties if they want this crap to stop. Five minutes for a black flag, then 10 for the second one? How about an hour for the second one? Go home if there is a third.
What's the story on Team Cuz being listed as DNF?
10-10-2011, 02:59 PM
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I saw you. Your team had a nice run too. Sorry I did not mention that as I don't think we have every formally met! Next time I won't be so shy and I'll say Hi.
I'm gonna send Dan P and Cuz an email. They were listed as 17th last I saw, then 40th and now DNF. I will post what I find out. That little Corrado amazed me.
I agree on the jackass driving too. MR2 Biohazard and the Civic that wrecked DedBull 2 times we standouts to me as a spectator. Amen to 5 mins, 1 hour and pack your **** up if it happens a 3rd time! Alan, Andy and I went down and talked to the MR2 guys about their driving during the overnight and they were receptive and said they would share the message with the other team members.
You guys are out there for fun for crying out loud...althought those were some badass trophies!
None the less glad noone got hurt and nice to see ChumpCar stop the race to give a stern reminder.
I'm gonna send Dan P and Cuz an email. They were listed as 17th last I saw, then 40th and now DNF. I will post what I find out. That little Corrado amazed me.
I agree on the jackass driving too. MR2 Biohazard and the Civic that wrecked DedBull 2 times we standouts to me as a spectator. Amen to 5 mins, 1 hour and pack your **** up if it happens a 3rd time! Alan, Andy and I went down and talked to the MR2 guys about their driving during the overnight and they were receptive and said they would share the message with the other team members.
You guys are out there for fun for crying out loud...althought those were some badass trophies!
None the less glad noone got hurt and nice to see ChumpCar stop the race to give a stern reminder.
10-10-2011, 05:22 PM
#6
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awsome times for sure- i agree about the penalties- not enough for being rough and driving stupid out there and e36 for $500 c'mon!!!
Scott i think you were out when i was. Someone in the Z was giving me nice point by's so i always gave the wave back. Thanks.
My recolection of the weekend was slightly longer and more painful so let me relive it for you......
Thurday- got to the track about 9pm and set up camp to the light of the generator. Brought and tent and did not have any poles in the bag. Ended up sleeping in the back of my truck all weekend. Did get a good spot next to the bridge where i usually camp during the Fest. Froze my arz off trying to sleep.
Friday- after thawing out we took the car out for some test laps and found that w/ our new tires- ES100 yokohama- we were pushing hard through many corners. Trying to raise/lower pressures only helped minimally. The car ran fine and we were pretty fast out there running into the 1:25 range around Nelson. The middle of the day we found one of our new struts was moving around in the strut housing and was due to a missing bushing we werent aware of. Fixed that and headed back out.
That night we signed up for the night runs and tried to get everyone accustomed to the track by candle light. After our last session the car came in w/ a bad idle and puffing smoke. Head gasket blew even though our temps had been perfect all day- probl. due to some radiator issues we have had at the last couple events. Four hours later, new head gasket in and car was running. Sleep
Saturday- up early for some Dave and Toni's Bistro (the only place for) breakfast and on the track by 10 for the start. Car ran well first two hours, lots of crashes and off course cars but we ended my session in 5th place. Ben in next and once back out from the driver change we were 11th place and he brought us up to 7th. Sam in for the next two hours and we started picking up spots when the ball joint pin on the ps control arm sheared off going into the Oak Tree turn. Limped the car in and we had to do a simultaneous lower control arm (thanks Travis) and radiator swap since somehow we picked up a hole in the front. Got the car together in about an hour and decided to set the camber alittle less for our street tires and found the ds spindle camber adjustment had come loose. Back out on track and the car was much much better w/ almost no push at all. 40th place.
Sunday- After all this we started back up the long ladder. Safety break was at 6 or so and we took this time to swap alternators since ours stopped charging. Back on the track and managed to pick up many spots and were in 17th place by the middle of the night. About 1am the car stopped charging again and also was making a grinding noise in the front brakes. Sleep deprived evaluation of the car concluded that our alternator belt shredded and wrapped around the right front brake line, causing our new hawk pads to eat almost the entire rotor away and killed the pads down to almost just metal and a small thin layer of pad material. Our solution was replacing our rotor w/ a spare and swapping one good ds pad onto the ps so we at least had one good pad on both. Metal to metal we would finish the race. Our belt however was a different story. We had no spare. Travis had no spare. We managed to find an old parts car in a field next to one of Nelson Ledges barns and grabbed the decent looking alternator belt from that and went back out after another hour or so down in the pits. We were home free. About 6am i woke up, car still out there. Travis's car was not charging so we could have the belt from their car. During my driver change into the car we swapped the Travis belt on but it ended up being longer than ours and didnt quite fit all that well. After one lap out it evaporated and back in to the pits to reinstall the barn belt, which despite being very chewed up, finished the race. By this point my memory gets vague but i remember we had to swap one rear tire that started to cord and besides that the car was great. I managed to put the car backwards up onto a tire wall in the carousel after going in two wide and the car in front of me decided to slam on their brakes, causing me to get into the grass and spin. After getting pulled off the top of the wall and driving in slow the only damage was to busted taillights and a bent exhaust which we pulled back over and hung back up to the hanger. Sammy was the last one in the car and crossed the finish in 29th place out of 84 or so cars - not bad after having been in the pits over three hours for repairs.
Big thanks to Jason for helping out while you were there, Sam,Ben,Alan and Rob for great driving and keeping the car on the track and also to Andy and John for lots of help in the pits keeping the car running and fueled. Dan.
Scott i think you were out when i was. Someone in the Z was giving me nice point by's so i always gave the wave back. Thanks.
My recolection of the weekend was slightly longer and more painful so let me relive it for you......
Thurday- got to the track about 9pm and set up camp to the light of the generator. Brought and tent and did not have any poles in the bag. Ended up sleeping in the back of my truck all weekend. Did get a good spot next to the bridge where i usually camp during the Fest. Froze my arz off trying to sleep.
Friday- after thawing out we took the car out for some test laps and found that w/ our new tires- ES100 yokohama- we were pushing hard through many corners. Trying to raise/lower pressures only helped minimally. The car ran fine and we were pretty fast out there running into the 1:25 range around Nelson. The middle of the day we found one of our new struts was moving around in the strut housing and was due to a missing bushing we werent aware of. Fixed that and headed back out.
That night we signed up for the night runs and tried to get everyone accustomed to the track by candle light. After our last session the car came in w/ a bad idle and puffing smoke. Head gasket blew even though our temps had been perfect all day- probl. due to some radiator issues we have had at the last couple events. Four hours later, new head gasket in and car was running. Sleep
Saturday- up early for some Dave and Toni's Bistro (the only place for) breakfast and on the track by 10 for the start. Car ran well first two hours, lots of crashes and off course cars but we ended my session in 5th place. Ben in next and once back out from the driver change we were 11th place and he brought us up to 7th. Sam in for the next two hours and we started picking up spots when the ball joint pin on the ps control arm sheared off going into the Oak Tree turn. Limped the car in and we had to do a simultaneous lower control arm (thanks Travis) and radiator swap since somehow we picked up a hole in the front. Got the car together in about an hour and decided to set the camber alittle less for our street tires and found the ds spindle camber adjustment had come loose. Back out on track and the car was much much better w/ almost no push at all. 40th place.
Sunday- After all this we started back up the long ladder. Safety break was at 6 or so and we took this time to swap alternators since ours stopped charging. Back on the track and managed to pick up many spots and were in 17th place by the middle of the night. About 1am the car stopped charging again and also was making a grinding noise in the front brakes. Sleep deprived evaluation of the car concluded that our alternator belt shredded and wrapped around the right front brake line, causing our new hawk pads to eat almost the entire rotor away and killed the pads down to almost just metal and a small thin layer of pad material. Our solution was replacing our rotor w/ a spare and swapping one good ds pad onto the ps so we at least had one good pad on both. Metal to metal we would finish the race. Our belt however was a different story. We had no spare. Travis had no spare. We managed to find an old parts car in a field next to one of Nelson Ledges barns and grabbed the decent looking alternator belt from that and went back out after another hour or so down in the pits. We were home free. About 6am i woke up, car still out there. Travis's car was not charging so we could have the belt from their car. During my driver change into the car we swapped the Travis belt on but it ended up being longer than ours and didnt quite fit all that well. After one lap out it evaporated and back in to the pits to reinstall the barn belt, which despite being very chewed up, finished the race. By this point my memory gets vague but i remember we had to swap one rear tire that started to cord and besides that the car was great. I managed to put the car backwards up onto a tire wall in the carousel after going in two wide and the car in front of me decided to slam on their brakes, causing me to get into the grass and spin. After getting pulled off the top of the wall and driving in slow the only damage was to busted taillights and a bent exhaust which we pulled back over and hung back up to the hanger. Sammy was the last one in the car and crossed the finish in 29th place out of 84 or so cars - not bad after having been in the pits over three hours for repairs.
Big thanks to Jason for helping out while you were there, Sam,Ben,Alan and Rob for great driving and keeping the car on the track and also to Andy and John for lots of help in the pits keeping the car running and fueled. Dan.
10-10-2011, 09:19 PM
#7
Just a car guy
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We were the slowest car on the track. I spent half the time trying to run the line, half the time looking in my mirrors and the other half of the time pointing.
It was a great time. It was good to see all you guys again. I'll post a few pics when I get some sleep....
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10-11-2011, 10:58 PM
#9
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Looks like Andy stealing an alternator belt too...LOL. I still can't believe that both 944 blew their head gaskets. I don't know if you can classify the whatever it was gasket I saw come off your car as an actual head gasket. It reminded me of the glaze on top of Creme Brule!