Road America this weekend

[Slow old poop]

It looks like at least three DSMs will be at SpeedSeekers this weekend at Road America. Me, the Archer Bros. car, and BlackCar, plus a gaggle of 3000GTs. With luck, we will all pit together.

Come join the party. It's in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, a few hours from Chicago, Milwaukee, Mnpls, and other parts of the upper Midwest. As far as I know, spectator admission is either free or just a couple of bucks.

SpeedSeekers (F-Body club) attracts all the weird cars in the Midwest. We've seen an ancient Cadillac with a 454, gobs of Camaros and Corvettes, and Viper-powered pickup trucks. We expect a goodly number of cars to crash on Saturday, so you might be able to buy an entry for $50 or so on Sunday. One year, my buddy, Jon, bought a Sunday entry for $15!

Rich
Maybe my last event (sob!)

 

[talonTSIDriver]

i really wish i would have knew about this even further in advance. I would have resheduled a few things to allow me to attend, too late now.

Maybe next year we can setup a track day in advance and have many of the DSM community attend. Maybe Rich could come and say hi, I'd even let ya co-drive my car Rich if ya want.

Good luck this weekend!

 

[Zero Bar]

If only it were closer and I had the money. Good luck, have fun, and be safe out there!!

 

[logic]

It's a shame that the DSM Shootout was rescheduled to this weekend, or I'd drive up there. Good luck, Rich!

 

[schemauer]

I was only able to attend on Saturday this time but had a good day on the track. Met Rich (Slow Old Poop) and saw Jim (underradar) again. No-one crashed and everyone had a good time.

The Archer car ran flawless all weekend, although, as these things go, it was a bit of a thrash to get it together for the weekend. I had the tranny rebuild before the event and added a Quaife lsd at the same time. There was some delay in getting parts and the correct Quaife for it. I ended up getting it back a week before the event. This was fine, although a bit of a time crunch for me. I have a business, a wife and four kids, so I don't have a lot of time to work on the car! I finished putting the tranny back in the car on Tuesday night.

I had noticed a coolant leak coming from the end of the bypass tube that goes from the water pump, behind the ex manifold to the lower rad hose. I dismissed it as a leak from the clamp and headed off to the dyno (BeyondRedline.com) on Thursday morning. I wanted to tune the car after I had installed a new AFC on top of the VPC that came with the car to allow finer tuning. This would also allow me to run in the new tranny a bit before changing out the fluid for the RA event. The car picked up about 10-15 hp with the addition of the AFC - putting peak hp a little under 220 at 15psi. The car also still dripped coolant. Nothing serious, but enough for the car not to be able to pass tech.

Thursday I tried re-clamping the hose and it still leaked. I then re-clamped it with RTV and let it sit overnight (until Friday morning). It still leaked. This is now the morning of the day before the event. Closer inspection revealed that the clamp was not leaking, it was actually coming from the end of the bypass tube. I pulled the car apart to be able to remove the tube and then I was able to see a small crack in the braze that sealed the main bypass tube to the smaller diameter tube that runs back towards the firewall. It was now about 1:00 on Friday. I took the tube to the shop to have it re-welded. Got this done - and luckily took along with me another bypass tube they had available in the shop.

I went home and installed the welded tube - it still leaked. At this point it's 5:00 on the day before the event and time is running short.

I then pulled it apart again and installed the second tube I got from the shop. After reinstalling all the hoses again a pressure test confirmed no leaks. I reinstalled the ex manifold, reconnected everything, cleaned up the car, and finally loaded it on the trailer at about 11:00 on Friday night.

The car ran great all day Saturday. No leaks or issues. I picked up about 2.5 seconds a lap...not sure if it was the extra hp of the new lsd that was installed. Now running about 2:42.5 lap times. Had no problem passing a load of Vette's, a new 350Z, a few 911's, etc. I could even stay with a new Porsche 911 GT3 through corners - he would pull me on the straights though!!. Not bad for a 15 year old 220 hp car.