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New 6/24/05
The Gingerman TCCA event Thursday 6-23, was a pure blast for Ken and I, John Hrinsin, Dave Kegal, Kurt Metros, Paul Nimz and a few other SHO folk (memory failing again here) that showed up with about 20 or so other people (about 30 drivers were at the event). Non-SHO folk were mostly very young Taurus owners that were nice, and gave us old "SHO" folk (Alright, Just Paul and I, OK OK........ I was the only old fart) a nice reception. Basically the SHO group were the instructors and the full "Advanced" class. Everyone else was in novice but six drivers moved up to "intermediate" after the first session, apparently not content to follow my SHO around at a slow pace till the sun cooled and entropy took over.
I eventually picked up the pace, the novice class became very fast and my format worked like a charm again even if I am not charming anymore! :)
I took the '96 SHO V8 to this event, being lazy and not willing to pack up the '89 on the trailer.
In the first session I thought the brakes were going away. I took it easy and just worked the novice class, for a while, but later in the morning I started kicking it up a notch and the brakes were back. Joy in apexville again!
So I went all out, or 95% whichever fits, and really started having fun. Best moment was when I was out exploring yet another of my moveable "limits" and giving someone a thrill ride, when I noticed my son coming on track in front of me. I was able to keep up and was feeling quite manly and thumping my chest at the surprised and somewhat scared passenger. That is, until we both pulled into pit lane and I realized that Ken had been talking to his wife on the cell phone while on the track and was still able to keep in front of me! (not with an earpiece, but with a speakerphone! It makes a difference you know) . Talk about seriously bummed. Later Ken said he wasn't on the phone the entire time, but as he smiled, I may never know if he was sandbagging to make the old man feel good or not.
Doesn't matter, I choose to think I still have my "chops" and forget everything but the good part. :)
It was hot but with a nice breeze. The guy in charge of the control tower kept falling asleep. I had to honk the horn to get him to wake up and wave me onto the track, which he did and in a haze put me out right next to another car already on the track...... Accident avoided I continued to have fun, but kept an eye on the pit lane. Then I decided that having my eye on 100+ degree asphalt was not fun, so I just went about my business with blurred vision.
Ken and I could not stay for the rest of the Taurus Convention, but I hope everyone had fun. I thank Bob Gervais for letting Ken and I be a part of the event, I think we helped make the novice drivers get up to speed a little quicker and safer. Some of them were really good. Here are some snapshots from my memory, such as it is.
The guy from Midas, and Canada (Al) was scary quick but after a couple laps I decided he wasn't going to make me end up upside down reaching over and turning off the car saying "I think we are done" and I relaxed and had fun. His Sable had great brakes (the guy installs brakes all day and had a lot of pride in his work and the special Wagner pads and Canada-only brake fluid that seemed to work like a charm.)
One Taurus with a young driver had upside down calipers (can't be bled properly, can you say "air in the lines?") and a battery that was not tied down (he got it bungee corded to the inspectors satisfaction, but they didn't catch the caliper thing) and two really big exhaust tip/mufflers (the guy was so nice he could give fart-can exhaust a good name!), split a heater hose., The Mustang that was following did a real pretty pirouette on the newly GREEN track right in front of my son riding with another driver. That driver didn't want to slow down for all this action going on right (now) around them. But nobody crashed and the track got cleaned up. The nice guy in the big exhaust Taurus got his car running sans coolant leak, and had a good time. Like many in the Novice class it was his first track experience.
Dave Kegal had a nice expensive race brake rotor come apart, leaving big chunks all over the track, but luckily a chunk stuck in the caliper keeping the piston in, allowing him to still have brake line pressure and get stopped. I am concerned that he got home safe with brakes on only three wheels (only one in front) As he just removed the offending disk, secured the chunk of rotor in the caliper and was bummed because that ended his day.
Then I think it was Kurt and John that went back out at the end of the session after the brake shrapnel thing, and decided to stop on the track to pick up a big chunk of rotor that the track workers missed or else they thought it looked real pretty on the blacktop. But there were still cars on the cool-down lap (although in front of their car), and stopping and getting out of a car in the middle of a race track is a big NO-NO to corner workers and the guy in the tower (now wide awake). They reported to pit lane as ordered and stood and took a rather long and loud tongue lashing from the tower guy and a threat to ban them from all race tracks in north America except maybe the new one going up near Peoria IL.
Once again, as with almost every "driver education" event, it was the instructors that caused the bulk of the black flags with arms out windows, wild gestures and screaming and crying plus bad driving and generally being full of themselves. But enough about me.
I tried to pass a big Lexus V8 that I was catching during the short twisty bits, but I was just blown away how the driver could take the wrong line through a turn, then all of a sudden "EEK" the car would straighten out and he would be gone in a blast of Lexus V8 power (more than my 234.4 in my '96) while I was four wheel drifting to the far side of the track using every inch of the track, the concrete extender and the double secret concrete curb plus some of the dirt beyond, on the exit from every corner. The Lexus would just make a sharp turn and be gone, using about 10% of available track. On street tires no less. ( I also was running street tires, the Yokohama ES 100's that I really think are the bargain of the year in street summer tires). But that quick turn thing bit him later when his tires started coming apart and he had to slow, while I kept trundling along at my usual pace that was not stupendously fast, but still impressive to several 10 year old children in the pits, once I took away the big ball they were playing with so they would pay attention.
A Mitsubishi Lancer Evo with turbo, AWD, 300hp? (may have been more or less, I didn't ask about mods or what year it was) and seriously lightened (he took off the rear window wiper/washer) was voted best car to have at a very early spring or late fall event as the engine compartment threw off great huge waves of heat for hours after being parked. It was also seriously fast and we decided if Porter's Subaru equivalent was the same at the SHO convention, we might just disqualify him on grounds of being too hip and fast for conditions..................... and hot for a summer event.
Ken and I ate about 1/2 a cow in Indiana on the way home, decided life was good and talked on CB's the entire way, luckily not on channel 19. That way we didn't have to listen to the whiney griping of the truck drivers we cut off and slowed down. Bunch of complaining wimps!
Excuse me while I remove the Kenworth emblem from my back bumper.
A good time was had by all, I hope Dave made it home safely in his three brake SHO, and I wonder if Bob will ever invite me to another TCCA event. Maybe Ron and Kirk will put in a good word for me? (they, who were conspicuously absent and greatly missed, from all the wailing and self mutilation going on in the pits where the plaintive cry could be heard all day: ..."we went to this track event and all we got was Don instead of Kirk and Ron!".)
And as I stated to a stunned and rapidly receding group of young folks: "This is the most fun you can have in a car with your clothes on", as they tried very hard to change the subject while managing to look extremely uncomfortable at the same time.
Don Mallinson Audi Club of America certified driving instructor (kind of gives a whole new meaning to both Audi and Instructor don't you think?).
The above is totally tongue in cheek. If anyone has a problem with it, please write it down on very thick archive type paper and then chew it up and swallow. Constructive criticism is welcome, please see my assistant "Mr. Bill Takethissuggestionandshoveit" to lodge a complaint. Again, all in fun,......... or is it? :) (smiley face makes all things good again). Peace and love, and keep the rubber side down.
Dyno Don
I think I get the reward for being the only one to read all the way to the bottom!
:-)
Sounds like it was fun... sorry I missed it!
What brand were the rotors that went kaboom?
Dan
Sorry I missed this year. Last year was about the same, whole advanced group caught the black flag on the last session, agri-racing, donuts, Porter, you name it. Was funnier than hell though. Glad you all had a good time.
Larry E
4th lap out and the car started to get hot. This is with a new radiator too. Turned on the heater and this controlled the temps. I think the temps got to around 230F before turning the heater on which really isn't panic zone yet. Rumor has it there is a 2 row "police special" Gen 3 radiator out there in the Texas area.
I have a large Hayden tank style ATX cooler and the OEM AUX cooler but the radiator ATX cooler is out of the loop. Tranny fluid hit 260F on the first outing. I also have a 190F oil t-stat in the loop. Apparently not the best of things for summer time use. I'm going to reinstall my big oil cooer for the ATX before the convention and bypass the t-stat for any use but winter use.
The Kumho Victor Racer v700 tires will change you attitude about road racing. Unbelievable compared to street tires no matter what kind you have. The brakes held up but the rear suspension with the GM arms are now the weak point. I'm going to re-install my GM arm braces.
Paul Nimz
Another problem I had was gasoline puking out the gas cap.... The last couple of weeks I've been smelling gas vapor. Does anyone have experience with vapor management? Do you know the relation between fuel tank pressure voltage and vapor management valve voltage output?
I get around 2.2V to 3.0V tank pressure and .70V to 2.8V valve voltage under normal stop and go/highway driving conditions at 90F. I've also noticed a high flow on the ambient air side of the purge system lately.
Paul
DAMMIT Paul... you've got numbers for everything! The rest of us can't even figure out how many GALLONS go into the tank! :-P
Scary part is, someone else on this list probably has a straight answer for you! :-)
Dan
"I have a large Hayden tank style ATX cooler and the OEM AUX cooler but the radiator ATX cooler is out of the loop. Tranny fluid hit 260F on the first outing. I also have a 190F oil t-stat in the loop. Apparently not the best of things for summer time use. I'm going to reinstall my big oil cooer for the ATX before the convention and bypass the t-stat for any use but winter use."
I should say the t-stat is not the problem and 200F ATX fluid would not bother me. But that the Hayden which is a 26k lbs cooler (what does that mean anyway?) is not enough. It is located in front of the condenser and partially blocked by the actual steel bumper. I feel if this were located in good air flow it would be enough but it is too big to lay down on the plastic horizontal piece over the gill slits. Perhaps a smaller cooler in better airflow would work better? Today driving around in the mixed driving and 90F the fluid got up to 210F after an hour or so.
Paul
I was thinking about one of those "street rod" style coolers that are 3' long and 4" square. Lay that right across the bottom of the metal bumper and it should get good airflow through the lower bumper opening. The thing is, I don't know anything about the efficiency of those coolers, but I'd imagine they are pretty free-flowing.
Dan