It was great meeting you yesterday! Thanks for helping create such a welcoming event...my son and I had a blast and really enjoyed it. Everyone couldn't have been nicer and we especially appreciated the ride alongs folks gave us (and my son's buddy who was spectating). The only downside is that I didn't get to ride in your kart! I was working on course while you were driving. Maybe next time!
Is this Friday night a test and tune at Gainesville Raceway? Maybe we'll come watch!
Glad yall came up and enjoyed! Yea, bummer yall werent in my heat, hopefully next time you can jump in! It gets high scores for passenger enjoyment.
Yep, this friday night. Going to make a decision based on forecast mid-day friday to load it... or not!
Aidan always gets great shots... here are a few:
codriver getting it ^
codriver's very tight entry to green cone element^
my broader entry....
Did he cone it???
In reply to jfryjfry :
nope!
Put together an side-by-side comparison of my best run and my co-drivers. As always, there was more time to be lost out there.
Still, happy that i put down 3 runs consecutively that each would have been FTD. Certainly never done that before!
Today i am going to load the truck and mate the trailer and plan on at least towing it down to Gainesville tomorrow. Then its all up to the weather (and tech!)...
finally!
My first time back at a drag strip (in the drivers seat) since running a nearly stock S10 in college more than 15 years ago! It was the kart's first trip!
My kiddos even got to go watch.... and cheer!!
Not bad overall, was hoping for low 12s, only got down to 12.6 and that was on my second pass. Ran pass 1 at 22psi, which rose to around 25psi after my second run.
Dropped tire pressure after that run and then got decent traction on my street tires, but induced much tire or axle hop in 1st and 2nd gear.. that persisted for passes 3-5, even less throttle, still shook like crazy..
Wasnt going for wins, but did walk away 5-0!
I doubt i will get back before the GRM $2k challenge, but atleast i remember how to drive straight and i have some idea where to set the tire pressure.
Ran with Central FL (CFR) on Daytona's kart track on Sunday. Put a heat cycle on the A7 scrubs for the first time.. Grip was good, but my times (comparatively) werent any better. Some of that has to be attributed to it being my first time on this surface whereas the drivers i compare too run here a couple times a year.... And... we almost exclusively stayed in the 2400-3600 RPM range. that aint the happy zone for the engine at all!
Didnt FTD... A few formula cars and a GT3 finished just ahead of me, raw times.
Had a blast though!
Always good to see you! It's very different running in the other direction. Hopefully, you'll get a chance to get that a try sometime
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
Likewise! Will definitely try to make one Daytona event a year and from the looks of it, the other direction may be a bit quicker!
Video includes Buck and my best runs of the day. The speed plot suggests i was a smidge quicker on the few parts of the course that allowed for acceleration.
Enjoy!
I have about a month between events now. No real plans. May try to finally put a 'walk around' video together describing the modifications made over the last 5 years (almost to the day i started strppping it)!
If just one photograph could completely sum up an entire event; this would be the one.
After a disasterous event, i have done all the tweaks that i think will get the LS1-KART back on track...
Since the rear grip had been so good, i backed a bit of rear camber (and front camber) out particularly to go drag racing a couple months ago. Well, it definitely wasnt happy in the ~1.5-2.0 deg range of rear camber.
I had to fully disassemble the rear suspension (again) but its now back to 3.5deg in the rear and 4.5deg in the front. i expect it to be good, very good, this weekend at The FIRM. This event is a bid of a tune-up for the GRM Challenge as i havent run a bunch in the past couple months. Certainly not well either.
And, naturally, a new set of RT660s should help inspire confidence too! Only plan on putting 3 runs on them this weekend, saving the goodness for next weekend!
Congratulations on your fast time of the day yesterday, and thanks again for another well run event by Buccaneer SCCA.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:Congratulations on your fast time of the day yesterday, and thanks again for another well run event by Buccaneer SCCA.
Appreciate it!!
Think that was surely one of the best courses we have thrown together there.
The kart felt great! FTD at a FIRM event is something i have been shooting for from the beginning, thrilled to have pulled it off!
The ole C5 vette kart was on rails this past Saturday at The FIRM!!
I made 6 scored runs on a set of 275 Hoosier A7 scrubs bought from Pheonix performance and set Fast Time of the Day on run 6, 56.2sec! Held it by 0.25sec!
Made 3 more runs in the afternoon on a brand new set of Falken RT660s, also 275. Posted two runs of 57.1sec on the Falkens. There was surely another 0.5 to 1 second out there to be got on the A7s, even on my FTD run i came in a tad too hot and too pushy on a couple of the road course left turns....
This was my first FTD at The FIRM. 100 drivers posted times and there were some very talented drivers and quality hardware in the field. I would call the A7s only slightly better than the Falkens. I felt the Falkens were a bit more communicative as to when they were starting to let go whereas the A7s would just start to push without notice... Just my take. Considering a set of Falkens on 17's is right at $1000 and the slightly used A7s on 18's are ~ $750, i am torn!!
READY FOR THE SHORT TRIP TO GAINESVILLE!!!
Need to start by saying I am fine. Neck and shoulders are still a bit sore, but, that could just be the stress!
Thank you to all those who reached out.
Not sure how to look at this episode yet. I will say, it has confirmed that safety gear is paramount. I felt kinda foolish wearing a fire-resistant suit and HANS in a 11+ sec car......but, the latter probable saved me serious injury.
I havent completely assessed the carnage yet. Frame is bent at least to the A-pillar.
On my fourth run it spun the tires off the line and tried to get sideways anytime I started rolling into the throttle. I should have shut it down then. However, I didn’t. I wanted to try and get some familiarity with how it would hold so I continued on. When I put it in third and rolled back into the throttle it veered left HARD. I corrected, not wanted to cross in front of the other car, when I turned it back right the rear lost all rear traction (braking probably didn’t help that).
Data says I was goin 80-85 when it veered, slowed to 70-75 before impacting the wall, near head on. Phone data says 6.5G-es at impact. Most of which was on drivers side front. it spun around ~360 degrees and came to a halt.
yes, there is video. should get that edited this week…
not sure whats next. this may be the beginning of the end for the ole vette kart. TBD. ugh.
I'm sorry to see that but glad you're OK- the track was really slippy that day and the kart looked like a handful every run before that, and the hit was LOUD so we were worried for sure until we saw you pop out of the car.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:I'm sorry to see that but glad you're OK- the track was really slippy that day and the kart looked like a handful every run before that, and the hit was LOUD so we were worried for sure until we saw you pop out of the car.
pretty firm believer in HANS device now.. thanks!
heres the video.... including some lovely slow-motion clips.
looking at the results, looks i did manage the fastest overall dynamic time for a car with an engine.. LOL
I replaced the clutch master cylinder and removed all the structure and accessories that were crammed into the front of the engine yesterday. engine started on the first crank and vitals were normal. Seems the driveline is okay. at this point I could put it on the trailer and take it somewhere for evaluation of frame straightening..
List of stuff known destroyed so far… oil cooler. rack and pinion, front suspension cradle….
man, that sucks. Admittedly, I have near zero drag strip prep knowledge. But on a normal, unprepped road, you'd have no problem applying that amount of throttle at that speed. One would think you'd have even less issue doing so on a racing surface meant for exactly this activity. Sorry to see the damage, I hope its fixable.
Lof8 - Andy said:man, that sucks. Admittedly, I have near zero drag strip prep knowledge. But on a normal, unprepped road, you'd have no problem applying that amount of throttle at that speed. One would think you'd have even less issue doing so on a prepped racing surface. Sorry to see the damage, I hope its fixable.
Appreciate it. yea, a couple local highway on ramps routinely see full throttle through 2 & 3 gear without any excitement.
Glad you're safe......please consider R&R this icon is worthy
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