On 8/17/2024 6:13 PM, Alan wrote:
> On 2024-08-17 13:12, Tom Elam wrote:
>> On 8/13/2024 4:40 PM, Alan wrote:
>>> On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
>>>
>>>> Well, it was great to get back on track.
>>> I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
>>>
>>> Sunday morning dawned (very, very thankfully) under cooler
>>> temperatures, cloudy skies and even a very small amount of rain. The
>>> high for the day was forecast to be down from too high to something
>>> that was at least bearable. That having been said, it still ended up
>>> a day where hydration was key. I think I drank 2-2.5 litres of water.
>>>
>>> I arrive at the track at about 8am with very little to do, and as we
>>> were going to be the first group out for warm-up, and as it was going
>>> to be a track just damp enough to need rain tires, but which would
>>> dry out quickly enough that you'd then destroy your rain tires...
>>>
>>> ...I just decided to give the warm-up a pass. I'd learned all I
>>> needed to learn about the track (where the new bumps were, where the
>>> organizers had added penalty cones for track limits violations, etc),
>>> and about the car (I need to add some rear brake bias.
>>>
>>> So I thought I'd have nothing more to do than to add a little
>>> nitrogen to my tires (American Racers tend to leak a
>>> little—especially the highly cantilevered rear tires, and so need
>>> refilling at least once when the day begins), give the brake bias
>>> knob a couple of turns to "more rear", and unpack for the day.
>>>
>>> But then I noticed a 6" diameter puddle of oil right below the Van
>>> Diemen's combined bell-housing/oil tank/oil overflow tank. What's
>>> more from the colour and odor, it could be gearbox oil.
>>>
>>> I was all set to start looking at the bottom of the car for any
>>> indication of where the oil was coming from when my shared crewman,
>>> Tom, noticed the faint trail of oil from the sight glass of the
>>> overflow tank. Since I started running the car in 2018, I'd never
>>> seen any indication that the overflow tank was full, but it certainly
>>> was now (after we'd changed the engine oil and as all racers do:
>>> added enough to make sure that some would end up in the overflow tank).
>>>
>>> No problem! (Are we sensing a theme, here? 😉). I'll just find a
>>> catch pan (my own having been accidentally left at the shop, take out
>>> the small drain plug, and seal it all back up!
>>>
>>> Only no one had one close handy either. But Erle had what appeared to
>>> be an aluminum tray for baked goods (muffins or maybe cinnamon buns)
>>> that might do the job. It was certainly short enough to fit beneath
>>> the drain hole with the car only up on short stands.
>>>
>>> I took out the drain plug, and out came the oil, and... ...that catch
>>> tank was pretty big. I started to get concerned that we might be
>>> overflowing the available vessel, but...
>>>
>>> No problem!
>>>
>>> ...the flow started to slow as it got higher and higher in the tray,
>>> and I thought I was in the clear...
>>>
>>> ...when it became apparent that there was a hole in the tray a little
>>> more than half way up. And now I had a 3 feet in diameter puddle of
>>> oil in my paddock space. Lots of oil absorbents later, it was gone.
>>>
>>> Let's get to the racing.
>>>
>>> First race of the day, as the day before, the grid was set from the
>>> fastest laps done in the race before that. Warm-up was just that; not
>>> a qualifying session. So the FC was on pole and I was gridded next to
>>> him. This time, when the flag dropped, Chris had clearly learned a
>>> lot from watching me drive (his best lap this race was nearly 2
>>> seconds faster than his best from Saturday), and there was no way I
>>> was going to be able to keep pace with him. And John, in the Mallock
>>> sports racer with a 2 litre tuned Vauxhall engine was going to be my
>>> fight, and it ended up being a fair fight. He could pull away for a
>>> while, but only by using his brakes to the point where they'd
>>> overheat and he'd have to moderate his pace.
>>>
>>> So the finish was: 1. Chris in the FC; 2. John in the sports racer 37
>>> seconds back; 3. me in the Van Diemen less than a second behind John.
>>>
>>> Still a pretty good result for running on 2 year old tires.
>>>
>>> The next race (race 5 of the event) at the egging-on of my crew, I
>>> pulled the restrictor to see if it might be possible to run with the
>>> FC and beat the Mallock. It wasn't—possible to run with the FC; he
>>> still had about a 12% horsepower advantage as well as downforce and
>>> Hoosier tires. The Mallock had problems and so didn't factor.
>>>
>>> What WAS cool, though, is that there was an original Lotus 41 Formula
>>> 2 car from the late 1960s that was being driven by Doug (not that
>>> Doug; another Doug) who normally drove a Dodge Viper. It had much
>>> more rubber than mine and while the engine was a 1.6 litre mill, it
>>> was a Cosworth FVA engine with WAY more horsepower than any Formula
>>> F; Ford or Honda.
>>>
>>> The Cosworth FVA was a "proof of concept" engine designed to show
>>> Ford what Cosworth could do before they built the famous
>>> Ford-Cosworth DFV. It makes something on the order of 200-225hp.
>>>
>>> The only saving grace was that this was Doug's first time running the
>>> car—his first time in any open wheel racer, so it was taking him a
>>> while to come to grips with it. This led to us having a super-fun
>>> dice with him leading off the start, me passing him for 2nd place,
>>> then him passing me again as he got better and better in the car. Our
>>> regular on-track photographer, Brent Martin...
>>>
>>> (shameless plug: martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com)
>>>
>>> ...was at turn 3 and he must have got dozens of shots of the two
>>> cars, separate by at least 30 years, going through nose to tail.
>>>
>>> In the end, Doug got the better of the battle, but it was so much fun
>>> to be a part of (and I wasn't bright enough to have had my GoPro
>>> mounted for the race!), and we finished:
>>>
>>> 1. FC; 2. Lotus 41 F2; 3. Me VD RF98-2 FF only 1.2 seconds behind Doug.
>>>
>>> And for the last race... ...well... ...I was already gassed. It might
>>> not have been as hot as Saturday, but it was hot enough.
>>>
>>> I simply decided to relax, and ease off to play with Erle Archer in
>>> his 1979 Tiga. I left the restrictor pulled, but I played games with
>>> myself by going through corners in one gear too high, or not using
>>> all the throttle down the straight...
>>>
>>> ...and in the end...
>>>
>>> ...because this was the race for which you get a plaque as the
>>> "Abbotsford Trophy" winner in FF...
>>>
>>> ...I backed off coming off turn 9 to let a legal FF take the
>>> checkered flag.
>>>
>>> As the race played out, Erle was leading as we started the final lap,
>>> but he left the door too wide open to pass up entering turn 2, and I
>>> felt I needed to get past him once more for the fun of it. Then I
>>> left the door open in turn 3, and he didn't pass.
>>>
>>> So I did the only thing that seemed right.
>>>
>>> All-in-all, a great weekend of racing just for fun; no points. We saw
>>> some people and cars that don't normally come out, including Ross
>>> Bentley...
>>>
>>> (shameless plug: speedsecrets.com)
>>>
>>> ...an alumnus of racing with the SCCBC who went on to drive
>>> (occasionally) in IndyCar, and who has become a highly sought-after
>>> driving coach.
>>>
>>> Now, there are three weekends left in the season, and I hope to make
>>> all three. I think I can win all 9 of the races, but I suspect that
>>> with the points lower (because there will probably be fewer FF
>>> drivers out), I don't think that I can win the club championship.
>>>
>>> Still, there are some folks who didn't make it out to the "Historics"
>>> that I'd still like to see on the track.
>>>
>>> Cheers!
>>
>> So to sum up, absent Floer, McKay and others, Alan Baker can beat the
>> few FF back-runners left that he has regularly beaten easily in the past.
>
> LOL!
>
> And stay with a Formula 2 car with close to double the horsepower.
>
> And beat an FC car with:
>
> More than 20% more horsepower.
>
> Stickier tires
>
> Downforce.
>
> All while on two year old tires.
>
> :-)

Doug and Alan likely could have too.