AMS Evo @ SCCA Runoffs
Oct 10, 2006, 06:26 AM
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AMS Evo @ SCCA Runoffs
This should be the first in a series of daily reports from Heartland Park Topeka, home of the SCCA National Championship Runoffs.
Marty and I pulled away from the DC metro on Saturday afternoon, He in his RV and me with my truck and his car in my trailer. We cruised into the track 27 hours and 1250 miles later. Track and facility appear to be top notch. We promptly got set up and pulled the car out as we had several things to take care of. We worked on the list of prep items until nearly 2am (eastern as we hadn't switched to central yet). Only one little issue
, as Marty pulled out to grab race gas he realized the brakes weren't holding pressure properly. Upon further inspection we realized the left front caliper had melted/burned seals and needed to be rebuilt. It was to late to deal with it then so off to bed for a few hours of sleep.
Morning comes a few short hours later and we go back at it. Pulled the caliper and after a huge learning curve finally got the caliper built and back on the car less the 30 mins before Marty was to go on track. One other little thing...the other side was weeping fluid as well, not bad, but worrisome none-the less. Marty wanted to see the track for the first time so he planned to go out and take it easy.
Whenever Marty says he's going to go out on the track and take it easy it should be an indication that he's gonna end up hammering it regardless. In this case it was the first time he'd ever seen the track surface and he had to qualify as well as learn the track. Even with a soft brake pedal he was able to knock his lap time down and will surely do so even more as he learns the track and we replace the calipers that AMS has overnighted to the track (Thanks again for all the support!). Times etc. can be had via the links provided below (as pulled from Tom D's earlier email).
Tonight we spent the evening with the Subaru Team, lots of track talk with Chuck H., Kristen S., Dave R. and the crew. SCCA had a big bash and the Subie guys asked us to set at their table...since corporate Mitsubishi is unrepresented at these events, we accepted the offer.
Marty isn't on the track till after 5pm local time tomorrow, so hopefully the new parts arrive on-time and we get the car setup for Marty's 2nd qualifying run. Rain is in the forecast so tomorrow's times may be higher than today's, but rest assured the starting position for Marty and his Evo 9 will improve greatly before the big event on Sat
Stay tuned for updates!
CJ
From Tom's email:
First, here's the home page for the Runoffs:
http://tinyurl.com/ge38m
And here's the schedule of events.
http://tinyurl.com/eaqdw
And here's the cool page with a live feed of laptimes as they're
happening.
http://tinyurl.com/4ulky
Marty runs in T2. His schedule is as follows.
Mon 10/09/2006 - 11:45 Qualifying 1
Tue 10/09/2006 - 17:15 Qualifying 2
Wed 10/09/2006 - 09:20 Qualifying 3
Thu 10/09/2006 - 14:50 Qualifying 4
Sat 10/14/2006 - 08:25 Warm up session
Sat 10/14/2006 - 13:30 Race time!
and a few pics...
Marty and I pulled away from the DC metro on Saturday afternoon, He in his RV and me with my truck and his car in my trailer. We cruised into the track 27 hours and 1250 miles later. Track and facility appear to be top notch. We promptly got set up and pulled the car out as we had several things to take care of. We worked on the list of prep items until nearly 2am (eastern as we hadn't switched to central yet). Only one little issue
, as Marty pulled out to grab race gas he realized the brakes weren't holding pressure properly. Upon further inspection we realized the left front caliper had melted/burned seals and needed to be rebuilt. It was to late to deal with it then so off to bed for a few hours of sleep.Morning comes a few short hours later and we go back at it. Pulled the caliper and after a huge learning curve finally got the caliper built and back on the car less the 30 mins before Marty was to go on track. One other little thing...the other side was weeping fluid as well, not bad, but worrisome none-the less. Marty wanted to see the track for the first time so he planned to go out and take it easy.
Whenever Marty says he's going to go out on the track and take it easy it should be an indication that he's gonna end up hammering it regardless. In this case it was the first time he'd ever seen the track surface and he had to qualify as well as learn the track. Even with a soft brake pedal he was able to knock his lap time down and will surely do so even more as he learns the track and we replace the calipers that AMS has overnighted to the track (Thanks again for all the support!). Times etc. can be had via the links provided below (as pulled from Tom D's earlier email).
Tonight we spent the evening with the Subaru Team, lots of track talk with Chuck H., Kristen S., Dave R. and the crew. SCCA had a big bash and the Subie guys asked us to set at their table...since corporate Mitsubishi is unrepresented at these events, we accepted the offer.
Marty isn't on the track till after 5pm local time tomorrow, so hopefully the new parts arrive on-time and we get the car setup for Marty's 2nd qualifying run. Rain is in the forecast so tomorrow's times may be higher than today's, but rest assured the starting position for Marty and his Evo 9 will improve greatly before the big event on Sat
Stay tuned for updates!
CJ
From Tom's email:
First, here's the home page for the Runoffs:
http://tinyurl.com/ge38m
And here's the schedule of events.
http://tinyurl.com/eaqdw
And here's the cool page with a live feed of laptimes as they're
happening.
http://tinyurl.com/4ulky
Marty runs in T2. His schedule is as follows.
Mon 10/09/2006 - 11:45 Qualifying 1
Tue 10/09/2006 - 17:15 Qualifying 2
Wed 10/09/2006 - 09:20 Qualifying 3
Thu 10/09/2006 - 14:50 Qualifying 4
Sat 10/14/2006 - 08:25 Warm up session
Sat 10/14/2006 - 13:30 Race time!
and a few pics...
Oct 10, 2006, 09:28 AM
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Good luck. Let us know how the track is and also car turn out? I had wonder if moving from Mid Ohio would reduce the car count. Maybe not the first but we will have to see in the following years.
Oct 10, 2006, 08:12 PM
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Day two of qualifying was a wet one. Woke up to a steady rain that the forecast said would continue and it did. We had to pull the other caliper and do a rebuild on it as it too was a scorched mess. This time it only took a few minutes to do the rebuild and after a little SRF bleeding the brakes we back online. We threw on the Hoosier Rain Radials and the EVO was ready to go.
Marty went out in the pouring rain, only 7 other cars were brave enough to join him. As you can see by the Live results ( http://tinyurl.com/4ulky ) he enjoyed himself rally drifting around the course while most slid around near uncontrollably and without the big grin inside their helmets. He ended up with the top spot for the day, unfortunately they take the best individual time of the four days to establish the starting grid for the big race. So good weather for the next two days will be important.
Session 3 is at 9:20 am tomorrow so we have some prep to do in the morning, hopefully that includes sticker R-comp Hoosiers!
Blurry Pics from today:
Marty went out in the pouring rain, only 7 other cars were brave enough to join him. As you can see by the Live results ( http://tinyurl.com/4ulky ) he enjoyed himself rally drifting around the course while most slid around near uncontrollably and without the big grin inside their helmets. He ended up with the top spot for the day, unfortunately they take the best individual time of the four days to establish the starting grid for the big race. So good weather for the next two days will be important.
Session 3 is at 9:20 am tomorrow so we have some prep to do in the morning, hopefully that includes sticker R-comp Hoosiers!
Blurry Pics from today:
Oct 11, 2006, 01:24 PM
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Excellent! Good write up. Keep us posted. Looks like the 350Z's are running very well towards the upper part of the top 10. Even beating out Chuck H. for the time being.
We were just there for the Pro Finale and Solo2 Championship at HPT. There was a factory World Challenge SRT team testing at the time. What speeds are you hitting on the main stretch?
Any other Evo's competing?
Good luck!
Dave
We were just there for the Pro Finale and Solo2 Championship at HPT. There was a factory World Challenge SRT team testing at the time. What speeds are you hitting on the main stretch?
Any other Evo's competing?
Good luck!
Dave
Oct 11, 2006, 08:08 PM
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Update #3
Day three's qualifications didn't play out as we had hoped. All the intense work we put into the car yesterday didn't pay off, yet. Marty went out as scheduled a little after 9AM onto a cold and slippery track. No problem, he loves that kind of stuff. I knew something was up because he didn't come around on his first lap. He finally rolled up into pit lane and promptly explained that he was getting blue smoke streaming from behind. I checked the oil dipstick, under car etc. and found nothing. He hit the two step and no exhaust issues. We thought that maybe the gear oil cooler lines were leaking on the exhaust so Marty turned off the pump and went out for another run. One lap and he's back in. He unbuckles and jumps out to help trouble shoot. Everything was double checked and nothing was apparent. So back in and out to the track he went in hopes of getting a lap or two in. He ran one fast warm up lap and a hot lap, if you'd call it that tires that were still cold. He dropped 2 secs from his Monday time so at least it wasn't a complete wash.
So back in the paddock we put the car on jack stands in a little bit of a panic. Both of us were thinking something catastrophic might have happened. A look underneath disclosed no signs of oil leaking or other issues. Marty started to check the tires etc. and realized that the right front tire was seriously worn on the inner side from rubbing on the lower strut perch So the two turns down we had done Tuesday before the rain run waited a day to show the results under more aggressive conditions.
With the newly found information we set to prep the car for the all important fourth and final qualification attempt. Of course first on the list was two turns up on the struts, which required them to be removed and the springs compressed. Of course halfway through the first one the spring compressors bound up permanently. So a trip to NAPA was required to get new ones. Once we got that taken care of we were able to finish the struts up and move on to installing the new calipers that AMS had expedited to us. We also took the time to install the special AMS shorty race tailpipe and it fit like a glove...let those F-bodies try and knock this one off Tomorrow we will be able to fit the car with the newly mounted A-compound Hoosiers and send Marty out on his time attack like qualification run. Check back tomorrow or watch the live results...should be a good one!
So back in the paddock we put the car on jack stands in a little bit of a panic. Both of us were thinking something catastrophic might have happened. A look underneath disclosed no signs of oil leaking or other issues. Marty started to check the tires etc. and realized that the right front tire was seriously worn on the inner side from rubbing on the lower strut perch
So the two turns down we had done Tuesday before the rain run waited a day to show the results under more aggressive conditions. With the newly found information we set to prep the car for the all important fourth and final qualification attempt. Of course first on the list was two turns up on the struts, which required them to be removed and the springs compressed. Of course halfway through the first one the spring compressors bound up permanently. So a trip to NAPA was required to get new ones. Once we got that taken care of we were able to finish the struts up and move on to installing the new calipers that AMS had expedited to us. We also took the time to install the special AMS shorty race tailpipe and it fit like a glove...let those F-bodies try and knock this one off
Tomorrow we will be able to fit the car with the newly mounted A-compound Hoosiers and send Marty out on his time attack like qualification run. Check back tomorrow or watch the live results...should be a good one!
Last edited by VR4orceCJ; Oct 11, 2006 at 08:20 PM.
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Oct 11, 2006, 08:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Silencer
Excellent! Good write up. Keep us posted. Looks like the 350Z's are running very well towards the upper part of the top 10. Even beating out Chuck H. for the time being.
We were just there for the Pro Finale and Solo2 Championship at HPT. There was a factory World Challenge SRT team testing at the time. What speeds are you hitting on the main stretch?
Any other Evo's competing?
Good luck!
Dave
We were just there for the Pro Finale and Solo2 Championship at HPT. There was a factory World Challenge SRT team testing at the time. What speeds are you hitting on the main stretch?
Any other Evo's competing?
Good luck!
Dave
Can't comment on speeds etc. as you never know who is lurking... but there are two other Evo's out there. Bill Zigler of Swisher Sweets fame, just got a new motor into his Evo 8 as the first Evo 9 motor he just put in spun a bearing and knocked a hole in the block during testing. The other is Mike Santos in another Evo 8, which is sponsored by Works. As far as the Solo2 site etc. our trailer and RV are parked on your track right now
We have been nice and tried to keep bases on our jack stands and jack to keep the surface nice and smooth for next year.
Last edited by VR4orceCJ; Oct 11, 2006 at 08:33 PM.
Oct 11, 2006, 08:26 PM
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Originally Posted by AMS
Go get 'em!! I wish I could be out there helping. Don't mind me if i call twice a day to check up on you guys.
Martin
Martin
Martin,
Call all you want...I keep my cellphone with me. Marty is on track at 2:50pm tomorrow and soon after we will know the provisional starting position for Saturday's race.
Oct 11, 2006, 08:43 PM
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Marty's been filling me in a little too. I know things will go great. I'm glad we were able to get everything ready in time.
-Martin
-too many Marty/Martin in this thread.
-Martin
-too many Marty/Martin in this thread.
Last edited by VIPGarage; Oct 11, 2006 at 08:46 PM.
Oct 11, 2006, 08:59 PM
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Originally Posted by VIPGarage
Marty's been filling me in a little too. I know things will go great. I'm glad we were able to get everything ready in time.
-Martin
-too many Marty/Martin in this thread.
-Martin
-too many Marty/Martin in this thread.
Martin,
Marty really appreciated the work you guys did to help get his car prep'd for the event. Since I've been "Crew Chief" (and Crew
) I too appreciate it...next time we will have to talk all the Martins into traveling with us that way my hands won't hurt so much... to many brake pads, calipers, struts, wheels and caustic SRF brake fluid. Not to mention...next time we will have two Evos to keep running!
Oct 11, 2006, 09:13 PM
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well hopefully next time we can come along as the crew if it is in the mid-atlantic.
keep up the great work CJ. I know things will go great for all of us down there.
keep up the great work CJ. I know things will go great for all of us down there.
Oct 12, 2006, 08:43 AM
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CJ,
Looks like Marty needs to step it up to a 1:56- 1:57 in order to qualify in the upper 1/3. Will he be able to gain 3-3 1/2 seconds? I'll be watching live at 3:00pm (CST?) or is it (EST). Good luck!
Dave
note: I can't believe this is not a more popular thread with the road racing crowd.
Looks like Marty needs to step it up to a 1:56- 1:57 in order to qualify in the upper 1/3. Will he be able to gain 3-3 1/2 seconds? I'll be watching live at 3:00pm (CST?) or is it (EST). Good luck!
Dave
note: I can't believe this is not a more popular thread with the road racing crowd.
