34 replies to this topic

[Jim Drago]

Barber was our first race in a new car. This weekend was the maiden voyage for our car. I built a NA car and swapped a VVT engine into the car.  It makes good power and very fun driving a lighter car on harder tires that make 25+ more HP than our SM cars.. We installed the Penske shocks on it as well.  So much for $500 cars etc than many envision. There are a lot of them, but to do well you need to build a very good car and prep it very well.. Everything and anything can fail in 8 hours straight.  We did have a chuckle talking about our Champ car with Penske shocks and the amount of time and money we invested in this car  

 

The conditions were terrible. Freezing cold and pouring rain for the entire weekend.  If you wanted rain practice, we certainly got some. 

Saturday could not have gone any better... The way Champ car works, they assign you a pit stall, then they use a random number App to pick the starting number. I believe it was 20 this time.. Meaning 20 was pole.. there were 48 cars and meant we were starting like 4-5 cars from DFL   I started.. It felt like I passed 140 cars in my stint, I may have but only 39 for position.  I came in in 5th place and had to rationalize with myself not to try and attack the last five positions after the final restart of my stint. I knew Todd Buras was going in next and is an amazing rain driver and the last thing we needed to do was damage the car or stick it in the gravel and give up 1 hour and 45 minutes of progress.   Todd got in and went straight to the lead and pulled a 1 minute plus gap with no issues. Mike Novak was next, Mike had never seen the track before which was literally baptism by rain.. He held his own and brought the car in after his stint we were p2 and put Todd back in to finish it off. At the end, Todd was flying, running 6 seconds a lap plus faster than all on track.  Several slow down, slow down radio calls. But no errors and we managed to win overall, not just our class.  We were all extremely tired, soaking wet and cold... but really happy. 

 

Sunday.. Not so much. All the teething issues we missed on Saturday.. We found several on Sunday. Nothing major. But we have a list of things to do before Sebring. 

 

 It was a lot of fun. It took two years of convincing by many on here that run Champ car for me to finally get involved. It was a lot of fun even in the miserable conditions. For those of you who haven't raced in these races, give it a try.  The on track stuff is pure fun and a lot less stressful than Sm racing IMO. The team camaraderie is also an added benefit.  We are all fortunate as there are so many talented drivers in SM. If you put a decent car together and have three mid pack SM drivers, you will have a VERY formidable team IMO. It's all about preparation, team work, strategy and a little racing luck.  

 

For those of you who get facebook.. Pretty funny winning interview with three very tired,cold and wet drivers. 

https://www.facebook...41278409700870/

 

[Danica Davison]

Seriously, congrats on your win! I knew when it was 100% forecast for rain at a track like barber, you guys would win overall if the car stayed together.  Having a team of good SM drivers will win races if the car performs.

 

As far at the $500 car comment goes. Obviously it is impossible to have a $500 race car with all of the safety equipment needed and all the goodies you want to add. But, what MOST teams do (unlike you lol), they start out with a cheaper build and work on finishing races and slowly improve the car after each race. Our car, Buras' car, Rob Greenwood's car, and the car Preston Pardus runs in, have all been works in progress over the last couple years of races.  Each race we find something new we want to add to make it better, faster, more durable, more comfortable, etc, which keeps the costs low when they are all spread out.

 

I look forward to Sebring to have what I think will be FOUR Miatas challenging the faster cars for overall wins.  Let the shit talking begin

[Jim Drago]

Seriously, congrats on your win! I knew when it was 100% forecast for rain at a track like barber, you guys would win overall if the car stayed together.  Having a team of good SM drivers will win races if the car performs.

 

As far at the $500 car comment goes. Obviously it is impossible to have a $500 race car with all of the safety equipment needed and all the goodies you want to add. But, what MOST teams do (unlike you lol), they start out with a cheaper build and work on finishing races and slowly improve the car after each race. Our car, Buras' car, Rob Greenwood's car, and the car Preston Pardus runs in, have all been works in progress over the last couple years of races.  Each race we find something new we want to add to make it better, faster, more durable, more comfortable, etc, which keeps the costs low when they are all spread out.

 

I look forward to Sebring to have what I think will be FOUR Miatas challenging the faster cars for overall wins.  Let the shit talking begin

Doing it all at once certainly has its benefits, but you are correct.. It is easily as expensive as a Sm build, actually more sop as it is all the same labor and same or more parts.  Tires were the only cheaper item.   And like you said.. I kept a list of what we needed to fixed and change.. the list got pretty long, pretty fast

 

Who are all the Sm guys with teams at Sebring? 

 

Me

Team Danica

Preston and Agent Chrome

BSI 

Team Buras Glazed and confused 1

Team Novak Glazed and confused 2

Team V2 

 

Any others?   Some of the florida teams should just enter with a Sm  

[38bfast]

The cost ends up the same in the end of doing it all up front vs over time, ish. Actually its a bit cheaper if you just take the big hit up front. You don't have to redo things that have been done. Guess it all depends on your objective. If you just want to do it on the cheap and not shoot for finishing or much less go for the win it will cost way less. But once you want to go for the win (Thanks Novak) the cost go up fast. 

 

This season we tried to do it on the cheap building from an old 1.6 SM. A lot of time and money went into de-F the old tired SM. It would have been cheaper to start from scratch. We were competitive for podium finishes but not for the win. and when you put me into drive even less. The biggest thing to being competitive is fuel burn and making it to the finish without braking, screwing up stops, no penalties and fast responsible drivers. We finished 4 out of 5 this year. (lost a motor due to a Water-pump belt that fell off). 

 

So like Jim says its the same as a SM build and a bit more. And between races we replace more parts. One 24 hour race is a full season of racing SM. 

 

From what I have seen is the cost of a seat is $1500 per driver. I can not see how that covers the cost to do this. We went through 160 gallons of fuel doing a 24 hour race. 

 

That all being said It is fun. It's different than racing SM as it is not racing for .1 of a second or every inch on the track. So If you have 4 guys that want to race it's cheaper that campaigning 4 cars. 

 

Going for the overall win in a 99 or VVT powered Miata is a up hill battle. It can be done but everything has to be in the Miatas favor for that event. The C class cars seem to be more suited for getting the overall win. Knovak has a plan to see if he can give the Miata what it needs to make it more of a contender for the overall. Fuel is going to be the limiting factor. 

 

Oh, All the Campcar people are supper friendly. 

[Michael Novak]

Ok ----Here is the official---call out for Danny Steyn and OPM to come to the Sebring New Years Champcar race.....

 

 

Tom---Get it together......

 

 

Everyone else---Grab your NA SM ---move the kill switch to a center location and fire system and it is ready to go. We have 80 hours on our champcar and two small bumps---less than a average SM weekend. NBs are legal but you might have to remove a couple of items to keep within the 500 points...  Rob G.---correct?

[Jim Drago]

I also don't want to scare anyone off.. My goal unfortunately was to win.. Hard to break that habit.. But you can do this for a lot less than i spent, still be competitive and reliable.  Fuel mileage, strategy, reliability  and no mistakes is more important than outright speed.

 

I second calling out OPM.. that way we have the parts trick there for all of us

 

Jim

[Tom Sager]

I also don't want to scare anyone off.. My goal unfortunately was to win.. Hard to break that habit.. But you can do this for a lot less than i spent, still be competitive and reliable.  Fuel mileage, strategy, reliability  and no mistakes is more important than outright speed.

 

I second calling out OPM.. that way we have the parts trick there for all of us

 

Jim

 

You're saving people the pain of entering a gradually escalating arms race.  People know now that if you want to win, bring your best stuff.  Lead with your nukes.

[Jim Drago]

You're saving people the pain of entering a gradually escalating arms race.  People know now that if you want to win, bring your best stuff.  Lead with your nukes.

we are far from the fastest car, even in A.  The honda stuff will always be faster IMO.. reliability and fuel economy are priority 

[38bfast]

The BMW luftwaffe is always in force at these events. They are very fast (E36-46) but for the most part don't finish. There have been several Sabb 9.3s that are very fast and carry lots of fuel but are hard to keep in parts. The Hondas are fast but have axel and bearing issues. The Miata just keep on plugging along. 

 

I do wish that Campcar would give more recognition to their classes. All the real cool trophies are for the overall (why Novak is so focused on overall now). You do get a trophy for a class win but its not one of the really cool ones, and nothing for 2nd and down in class. Even in their broadcast the mostly focus on first overall. 

 

Just for reference there is A,B,C,D and EC classes. EC is a class that is not eligible for trophies. 

[Mitch Reading]

What's the meaning behind separate classes... A and B?  Assuming one is faster than the other, is there a hard rule on whets in which class or is it like AER where its based on a real time algorithm and driver performance? 

[LarryKing]

"All the Campcar people are supper friendly"

How are they at breakfast?

[Danica Davison]

"All the Campcar people are supper friendly"

How are they at breakfast?

 

They are great because Todd Buras always supplies endless amounts of yummy donuts

[Danica Davison]

The BMW luftwaffe is always in force at these events. They are very fast (E36-46) but for the most part don't finish. There have been several Sabb 9.3s that are very fast and carry lots of fuel but are hard to keep in parts. The Hondas are fast but have axel and bearing issues. The Miata just keep on plugging along. 
 
I do wish that Campcar would give more recognition to their classes. All the real cool trophies are for the overall (why Novak is so focused on overall now). You do get a trophy for a class win but its not one of the really cool ones, and nothing for 2nd and down in class. Even in their broadcast the mostly focus on first overall. 
 
Just for reference there is A,B,C,D and EC classes. EC is a class that is not eligible for trophies.

 

Yeah, they only give the cool trophies to the top 3 or top 5 depending on how many trophies they have at that event. My team with Soriano, Wilding, and Mark Dana have now won A class five times I think and we only have one cool trophy because we have finished 4th or 6th overall on a couple of those occasions, which is pretty frustrating.  Since the national championship race at NCM in June, we are now only focused on winning overall.

 

In the southeast, the cars we have to worry about are the Cone Crushers Porsche 944, and all the Lexus SC300s, more than we do the BMWs (because they always break).

 

It also sucks because EC actually get's their own trophy for their class winner but nobody else does unless you finish top overall.

[Jim Drago]

Yeah, they only give the cool trophies to the top 3 or top 5 depending on how many trophies they have at that event. My team with Soriano, Wilding, and Mark Dana have now won A class five times I think and we only have one cool trophy because we have finished 4th or 6th overall on a couple of those occasions, which is pretty frustrating.  Since the national championship race at NCM in June, we are now only focused on winning overall.

 

In the southeast, the cars we have to worry about are the Cone Crushers Porsche 944, and all the Lexus SC300s, more than we do the BMWs (because they always break).

 

It also sucks because EC actually get's their own trophy for their class winner but nobody else does unless you finish top overall.

The cone crusher guys and simon says were both pretty good this weekend

Jim

[Danica Davison]

Also, one pretty cool thing about ChampCar is the tech/impound procedure. After the race is over, the Top 5 overall cars and the class winners all stay on pit lane and go up on jack stands with hoods and trunks open.  You put the log book of everything you have "claimed" you added to the car ... and if anybody spots anything that isn't claimed on any car .. can immediately protest.

 

Obviously champcar is not pulling motors or doing anything super invasive, but at the NCM National Championship race, the winning overall car actually had to pull the rear end out to check the gear ratio because someone assumed it was not what was claimed by the team (but I believe it did pass).

[John Wilding]

Congrats on the great job last weekend Jim, Todd, and Mike! We're looking forward to some good racing in a few weeks! Have a safe holiday and see you then!

[William Keeling]

Doing it all at once certainly has its benefits, but you are correct.. It is easily as expensive as a Sm build, actually more sop as it is all the same labor and same or more parts.  Tires were the only cheaper item.   And like you said.. I kept a list of what we needed to fixed and change.. the list got pretty long, pretty fast

 

Who are all the Sm guys with teams at Sebring? 

 

Me

Team Danica

Preston and Agent Chrome

BSI 

Team Buras Glazed and confused 1

Team Novak Glazed and confused 2

Team V2 

 

Any others?   Some of the florida teams should just enter with a Sm  

one thing is cheaper -- we still run junk yard motors

[Jim Drago]

one thing is cheaper -- we still run junk yard motors

Most are.. But I have built several Champ cars engines and I know Chris and Rossini have as well.  But I do believe more power equals more fuel equals more stops.. 

I'm very concerned about making two hours at speed. We can certainly do it, but will need to do a lot of serious fuel saving. We have a plan.. whether it works or not.. only time will tell

Jim

[William Keeling]

Most are.. But I have built several Champ cars engines and I know Chris and Rossini have as well.  But I do believe more power equals more fuel equals more stops.. 

I'm very concerned about making two hours at speed. We can certainly do it, but will need to do a lot of serious fuel saving. We have a plan.. whether it works or not.. only time will tell

Jim

we did 1:55 with our 1.6 all the time -- never did it with our VVT 1.8

[Jim Drago]

we did 1:55 with our 1.6 all the time -- never did it with our VVT 1.8

uh oh   Barber was not much of a test in that regard..  

Planning on lifting 2/3 way on each straight and coasting into braking zones and short shifting everywhere and running as lean as I think we can stand.. We shall see. I think we can get close.. but only one way to find out