jorj7

Hello Again,

Here's my story about the Pony Express run on Sunday. I'm sure each participant has there own tales to tell.

We started off late on Sunday morning. Super Sports were schedule to go at 10:30, but finally they started us at noon.
There were 10 cars signed up in SS, but only 8 made the starting line, Four from 170 class and four from 160. I was
gridded last (so I can take photos). The other cars were away, and I was at the starting line when Race Control got a call that
a car was off just passed the second speed trap. It was car 396, a highly modified Corvette (Rick Doria's old car), the last
170 car. It had blown a tire at about 200 mph (199 officially, 204 according to the driver). They managed to stay upright, but
left lots of car parts on the road and in the bushes. After clean up, they let the remaining 170 cars go to the turnaround
and had the 160 cars restart. I finally got started at 1:20 PM.

My plan was to run 172+ for the first 47 miles. This is the flat high plains section of the course. Go through the 10 miles
of the Gap at 135+ and run the southern high altitude (6,000 ft) section at 160 avg. About 30 miles into the race, the water temp
climbed up to the bottom of the red zone. The car was running very well, the oil pressure was fine, just the temp was up. I
decided to continue, but slowed to 165+ until I got to the Gap. Once I slowed for the tighter turns, the temps dropped to the
195 degree range. So I pushed it through the Gap at an 138 mph avg and started on the southern section. We were
behind schedule, so I decided to up the speeds and try and get the time back. I ended up running the southern
section at an 165 avg and was only 1 mph avg off our planned average (162 mph), but the temps were back in the red zone.

When we stopped at the turnaround to get gas, coolant was leaking out of the engine bay onto the ground. So after
filling up (only took 18 gallons for 84 miles), I took the car to the back of the high school and ran a hose over the radiator
to drop the temps and refilled the coolant tank. I also found the problem. The flap between the radiator air flow and oil cooler
air flow was loose, and was blocking the radiator. I think Don H. knows about this problem. I secured the flap and was ready
to run the return leg, but...

The wiring for the fans and the intercooler pump started smoking really bad. I had to disconnect the wires from the power source
Paul and I tried to figure out what was up, but couldn't get the fans and pump running again. I decided to make the run back,
but limit my boost to 4 psi (by throttle control).

They started the Super Sports back on the return leg around 3:30 PM. There was only 4 of us left, 2 170's and 2 160's. I figured
if I could reach the finish line, I'd at least get 2nd. I was going to take it easy until I see how the car would run without fans or
the intercooler pump. After a few miles at speed, things looked good. The temps stayed in the 190 range, so I picked up the
speed. I managed to do the southern section at 159 mph avg, and the Gap at 138 mph again. On the final 8.7 miles after
the Gap I ran at an 171 averaged while keeping the temps out of the red. I finished 17 seconds behind schedule, but was still within 1
mph of the 160 mph average.

Monday morning, I had to try and fix the electrical problem before driving back to the Bay Area. I jumped the fuse panel again, and
this time everything worked fine (no smoke and the fans worked). I figure some coolant or the water from the hose shorted out the fans
curcuit, and when it dried out, it was fine.

I was good to know it wasn't the engine or supercharger that was the problem, just a flimsy piece of plastic held on by a couple of metal
clips. I'll make sure to secure it better before the next event.



Anyway thanks to Paul for his help at the event, DEVEK for installing the external fuel sump, and Tim Murphy and Carl at 928 Motorsports
for their support.

Richard S

Hey George, I just noticed.....no side mirrors. And looks like you mounted the video camera in a new spot too. Hit any wildlife this trip?

Rich

dr bob

The 'wiring smoking really bad' begs for a thermal circuit breaker. I'm speculating that the fan powers off the jump-start terminal through a relay? The original S4 fans have dedicated power feeds from the battery, through dedicated fuses in the main panel, then on to the switching unit on the front apron. If I was starting this project from scratch, I'd use the existing wiring in the back, but install a thermal breaker back there at the source. Tie the fans into the factory wiring to the controller at the front apron, and put jumpers or oversize fuses in the main panel. Let the self-resetting thermal breaker protect the wiring from letting all the smoke out. Having two separate feeds also means that one fan getting wet won't take out all your cooling... hey, Fritz thought of that in the original design, wadya know. Anyway, there may be a more reliable way to power your fans.

The poor-man's option on this is to find some plug-in thermal breakers that directly replace the ATO fuses in the panel. They are around, almost commonly available. They just won't save the smoke in the rear sections of wiring, between the battery and the main panel.

Good job making it through the run, and taking first in class! Well done!

Tony

Please let us know when you have the Videos up. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the last ones!
Great job!

Tony

No roof antenna either!

Tahoe Shark

Congrats George,

You're getting there. Don't forget that most of the SS cars are trailered to the event, you drive there. Most of the SS cars have also got a lot more money in them, but you are just as competitive and a whole lot more reliable than they are. Keep up the good work and we will see you out there again next year.

jorj7

Bob,

I'm running the fans off 2 different circuits with 30 amp inline fuses powered from the jump post in
the engine compartment, both have 30 amp relays tripped by a switch in the driver's compartment.
The switch takes power from the cigarette lighter. The relays and fuses are located in the passenger
side wheel well with the intercooler radiator, fan, and pump. When I had the relays in the engine
compartment they melted....

jorj7

Rich,

Yep, I mounted the video camera on the front rollcage bar. The old location
made it hard to position and turn on once I put in the barrier between the
fuel cell and passenger compartment. That plus the new seats, 5 pt harnesses,
and head restraints made it impossible to turn on while strapped in, so I had
to have the starting line crew try and hit the record button. As a result I didn't
get any video from the last 2 races. With the new set up, Tim can position and
see the monitor while strapped in, as well as hit the record button. So I do have
video from this race.

Tony,

I probably won't get to the video for at least a month. I've got the event photo CDROM
out in the next two weeks, them I'm off to Hawaii for 2 week. I will say that looking at
the video so far, the quality looks better then the last Pony Express video, and similar to the
Gambler's Run video from last year.

jorj7

Rich,

No birds this time, just bugs, lots of bugs...

Paul Romano's Landry Saab, that also ran the SS 160 class, wasn't as lucky. Hit two large birds,
one off the hood and one in the passenger side windshield. It's a good thing he didn't have a navigator.



He finished, but it wasn't pretty... By the way, it looks like a Saab Sonnet, with custom body
work and has a supercharged V8.

Richard S

That pretty much answers the question...."open face or full face helmet?"

Rich

jorj7

Tino,

It's an Open Road Race in Nevada run on highway 305 from Battle Mt to Austin.
Here's the promoter's website: http://openroadracing.com
and here's a link to our NorCal928 page about ORR:
http://www.norcal928.org/road_racing.htm

This is a perfect environment for a 928.

Look's like he deleted his post...

Bill Ball

George:

Heh, heh, I like this: "slowed to 165+"

Those must have been some hefty birds - that's load of damage to Paul's car.

Glad your gas mileage went up! Looks like you have a real cooling capacity problem. So do I. I know it's nothing wrong with the cooling system - it's simply not up to the task.

How was the oil consumption?

See you after Hawaii.

m21sniper

"Those must have been some hefty birds - that's load of damage to Paul's car."

LOL, normally only pilots have to worry about such things.

John Veninger

Great job!!!

jorj7

Bill,

I used 1 1/2 quarts on the 84 mile first leg and a little over a quart on the return 46 mile leg.
This time I remembered to empty the catch can at the turn around. The car still blew out
some smoke under heavy acceleration and boost. I adjusted the tensioner on the s/c belt to
keep the max boost in the 6 psi range before the race to help with gas mileage and blow by.

Here's a photo taken by my son, Josh: