UTCC / Hyperfest 2018
05-21-2018, 04:55 PM
#141
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What an epic shot. Worth quoting the image:
The car on Sunday:
I just landed in CA this morning and back at work. Thankfully Emilio did some updates through the weekend, it was such a whirlwind I didn't get a chance to do any of that. The 949 Racing never give up spirit was in full force, and I owe every one of those guys. Both cars in the wall Friday, and both cars back up and running and running FAST later in the weekend. We were wrenching, cutting, duct taping, jury rigging, etc. non-stop for three days. 100% worth it. I begged my way in to HPDE to run the car Sunday for some dry laps, and bruised and battered the car was still really, really quick. Officially the two fastest Miatas to ever run VIR, and 949 took podiums in both TTU and SU.
Certainly not how I would have liked the weekend to go but we turned it around and ended up with some pretty awesome results to hang our hats on, plus a ton of great data and lessons learned. Lots of pics to come.
I just landed in CA this morning and back at work. Thankfully Emilio did some updates through the weekend, it was such a whirlwind I didn't get a chance to do any of that. The 949 Racing never give up spirit was in full force, and I owe every one of those guys. Both cars in the wall Friday, and both cars back up and running and running FAST later in the weekend. We were wrenching, cutting, duct taping, jury rigging, etc. non-stop for three days. 100% worth it. I begged my way in to HPDE to run the car Sunday for some dry laps, and bruised and battered the car was still really, really quick. Officially the two fastest Miatas to ever run VIR, and 949 took podiums in both TTU and SU.
Certainly not how I would have liked the weekend to go but we turned it around and ended up with some pretty awesome results to hang our hats on, plus a ton of great data and lessons learned. Lots of pics to come.
Last edited by ThePass; 05-22-2018 at 12:47 PM.
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05-22-2018, 02:30 PM
#145
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05-22-2018, 06:34 PM
#150
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Pics from the weekend.
Pre-carnage, in all its glory:
I was pretty heartbroken abut the contact with the wall. The number of hours lost, the cost, the impact on the weekend. I was down for a while.
But that was not how the weekend was going to end. Everyone sprang into action to help get the car into running for again. Adapting 949's backup S1 splitter to the car. Since none of the factory structure exists in the nose, we had to make crude brackets and cables on the spot:
Exhaust was nestled within the damaged skirt, tip conveniently resting on the titanium shield, so we left it this way:
Hammered and bent things as much as possible, then lots of zip ties and duct tape to hold everything together. The FR got toed out from the hit so Sonny did an on-the-spot toe correction. Aside from the wheel not pointing straight, it actually felt pretty good.
About an hour before trying to go back out, we discovered the power steering rack had cracked, unfixable track-side. We scavenged a couple other AN lines from the PS system to create a loop from the pump out back up to the reservoir IN so the pump was just recirculating its own fluid so that it wouldn't burn itself up (belt routing needs the PS pulley to be present). Duct taped over the open fittings on the rack and just let it be an open air depowered rack. Feedback was actually decent.
Montage by Sonny, going out for the Saturday UTCC session in the pouring rain (again). Feeling triumphant just to drive the car:
About the time we almost had Hyper patched up, Emilio brought Bullet back in from wall contact. Splitter was pretzeled pretty good and the endplate had ripped out of the wing.
Repairing the splitter, this pic is after removing everything from the splitter, placing it over an edge and while John stood on it I jumped up and down on the corner to flatten it back out as much as possible:
Re-mounting the splitter, bending supports back to straight-ish,etc:
We used whatever we had to reinforce broken parts. Endplates were repurposed many times over. This one supported the back edge of Bullet's splitter on the subframe (Sonny's pic):
Strategy coaching for the race:
Bullet back in fighting shape for Sunday's Thunder Race. Serious company:
Crushing it:
With the straight pair of small endpaltes on Bullet, we needed to put the bent pair of small endplates on Hyper that had been on Bullet. Emilio hammering one straight, after scraping JB weld off of it (it had served as a mixing tray for JB weld a couple hours prior)
Same all-thread treatment to my wing to get endplates back on it:
Speeds on Sunday in the dry pulled the splitter out of the mounts and it was dragging on the track:
More endplates sacrificed to reinforce the splitter. Then we added more cables and duct tape.
The splitter held. The car went fast. Success.
Pre-carnage, in all its glory:
I was pretty heartbroken abut the contact with the wall. The number of hours lost, the cost, the impact on the weekend. I was down for a while.
But that was not how the weekend was going to end. Everyone sprang into action to help get the car into running for again. Adapting 949's backup S1 splitter to the car. Since none of the factory structure exists in the nose, we had to make crude brackets and cables on the spot:
Exhaust was nestled within the damaged skirt, tip conveniently resting on the titanium shield, so we left it this way:
Hammered and bent things as much as possible, then lots of zip ties and duct tape to hold everything together. The FR got toed out from the hit so Sonny did an on-the-spot toe correction. Aside from the wheel not pointing straight, it actually felt pretty good.
About an hour before trying to go back out, we discovered the power steering rack had cracked, unfixable track-side. We scavenged a couple other AN lines from the PS system to create a loop from the pump out back up to the reservoir IN so the pump was just recirculating its own fluid so that it wouldn't burn itself up (belt routing needs the PS pulley to be present). Duct taped over the open fittings on the rack and just let it be an open air depowered rack. Feedback was actually decent.
Montage by Sonny, going out for the Saturday UTCC session in the pouring rain (again). Feeling triumphant just to drive the car:
About the time we almost had Hyper patched up, Emilio brought Bullet back in from wall contact. Splitter was pretzeled pretty good and the endplate had ripped out of the wing.
Repairing the splitter, this pic is after removing everything from the splitter, placing it over an edge and while John stood on it I jumped up and down on the corner to flatten it back out as much as possible:
Re-mounting the splitter, bending supports back to straight-ish,etc:
We used whatever we had to reinforce broken parts. Endplates were repurposed many times over. This one supported the back edge of Bullet's splitter on the subframe (Sonny's pic):
Strategy coaching for the race:
Bullet back in fighting shape for Sunday's Thunder Race. Serious company:
Crushing it:
With the straight pair of small endpaltes on Bullet, we needed to put the bent pair of small endplates on Hyper that had been on Bullet. Emilio hammering one straight, after scraping JB weld off of it (it had served as a mixing tray for JB weld a couple hours prior)
Same all-thread treatment to my wing to get endplates back on it:
Speeds on Sunday in the dry pulled the splitter out of the mounts and it was dragging on the track:
More endplates sacrificed to reinforce the splitter. Then we added more cables and duct tape.
The splitter held. The car went fast. Success.
Last edited by ThePass; 06-07-2018 at 01:57 PM.
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05-22-2018, 06:50 PM
#151
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I couldn't run in TT because I don't yet have my NASA license. Sunday they squeezed me in to HPDE3, for which I was thankful - I was just happy to get to do some dry laps at VIR.
Session 3 I got a couple traffic-free laps and ran a 1:58.9
Looking at TT results for Sunday:
https://racehero.io/events/nasa-ma-vir-hyperfest-and-grm-utcc-2018/results
If I had ran TT I would have taken 3rd overall for the entire day, behind only two TTU cars (Dan Raver in the LS7 Superlight and Sonny in Bullet). Faster than every entry in TT1, TT2, etc.
Session 3 I got a couple traffic-free laps and ran a 1:58.9
Looking at TT results for Sunday:
https://racehero.io/events/nasa-ma-vir-hyperfest-and-grm-utcc-2018/results
If I had ran TT I would have taken 3rd overall for the entire day, behind only two TTU cars (Dan Raver in the LS7 Superlight and Sonny in Bullet). Faster than every entry in TT1, TT2, etc.
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05-23-2018, 01:46 PM
#155
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2:03 and 2:02 laps in traffic, just getting the feel of the track. Taking it really easy around traffic and waiting for point-bys. Not pushing the braking zones much. Next session went 1:58 but GoPro didn't get it.
135mph peak through the esses, at the second apex.
Still plenty of time left to find, I can count the number of dry traffic-free laps I got on one hand, but it was just great to be moving around VIR with some pace and start to feel the flow of the track.
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05-23-2018, 11:02 PM
#156
Poking through data tonight getting ready to put some videos together. Fun facts
Top speed in the wet was 146mph by me on Friday on the H2O's. Top speed overall was Sonny on his second fastest lap at 159.1mph in the dry Saturday morning. Oh so close to 160. Jeebus.
Top speed in the wet was 146mph by me on Friday on the H2O's. Top speed overall was Sonny on his second fastest lap at 159.1mph in the dry Saturday morning. Oh so close to 160. Jeebus.
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05-24-2018, 02:18 PM
#157
5th and 6th dry laps ever on VIR, me driving. Not quite dialed in to track yet. Data showed it wasn't making full boost, not sure why. Dipping to 9psi around 6800 then ramping to 15-17psi above 7200. On the dyno it made 23-25psi from 3800-7800. I could see and feel in driving, never figured it out. Symptom came and went.
Hit same top speed in full wet conditions on Friday. Guessing the rad and intercooler being wet the whole time upped power quite a bit. More investigating on the boost leak required.
245 A7's with something like 10 cycles on them. Pulled the end plates off the splitter and trimmed the wing almost flat.
About 88° ambient during this lap. I think the car had a a 1:55 in it on fresh tires in the cooler morning session with this aero config. Maybe a 1:53 without the boost leak.
Hit same top speed in full wet conditions on Friday. Guessing the rad and intercooler being wet the whole time upped power quite a bit. More investigating on the boost leak required.
245 A7's with something like 10 cycles on them. Pulled the end plates off the splitter and trimmed the wing almost flat.
About 88° ambient during this lap. I think the car had a a 1:55 in it on fresh tires in the cooler morning session with this aero config. Maybe a 1:53 without the boost leak.
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Last edited by emilio700; 05-24-2018 at 11:56 PM.
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05-24-2018, 10:48 PM
#158
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Massively glad we got a bit of sim time in. With the limited number of laps we had the opportunity to do, it was crucial to at least know which way the track went 
VIR definitely has some great pucker up and send it sections that requires confidence in both the track and the car. Loved it. There was certainly more time in both cars just with some additional seat time.
VIR definitely has some great pucker up and send it sections that requires confidence in both the track and the car. Loved it. There was certainly more time in both cars just with some additional seat time.
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