On 2024-08-30 05:25, Tom Elam wrote:
> 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.

Yup.

So?