another big bend report Options

[FrankFS57]

As unfortunate as SuperCricket’s Big Bend experience was this year....mine was fantastic.

We ran the 125 class last year, but sought more of a challenge. So we added a Diff Cooler, a roll bar, a Corbeau seat and headed for the 140 Class. We ran on Kumho 710s because I was worried I was nearing the performance limit of my car and didn't want to be forced to push it on street tires. This was a good decision, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t really versed in how R-compounds feel.

The south run was a joy...only issues were the strong gusty headwind, autox toe-out, and race tires combined to make the car a bit of a handful at 150+. Otherwise it was just pure fun. The speeds really surprised me. I had to recalibrate my brain to move my turn-in point way earlier, and I had to pay special attention in the braking zones as they were earlier and longer then felt natural. It took some getting used too, but I never felt uncomfortable, and there were zero pucker factor moments.

Diff cooler is a must have for the 140 class, mine worked exceptionally.

The north run was a voyage of agony and ecstasy. Early in the course is beautiful combination… a slow blind right into a short, steep downhill straight with a fast downhill right hander. I wanted to really air the Camaro out here. I saw my line and just let’er rip. The GPS caught the corner of my eye as the speed jumped. 157…160…164...168. *bam* I was hard on the brakes, not wanting to get caught speeding (168 is my tech speed, and two of my competitors got clocked over here, and DQed)

Soon after that heat became a real problem, water temp was WAY HOT. I got off the pace and spent a minute or two diagnosing the problem. With the higher ambient temp, I just couldn’t keep cool at 6000rpm in 5th gear. It was fine at about 120, but not past 140. My last possible solution was to run it up to 140 and try 6th.

Thank god, It was news to me, but the Camaro pulls ever so slowly in 6th gear. This brought the revs down and my temp into line, but speed came at a snail’s pace. My dad (navigator) informs me “you are 130mph average, over a minute behind, 30 miles to go” (thank god it’s the fast end of the course)

Shit…oh well, time to get r done. Kicked it up a couple notches and was determined to maintain speed everywhere possible and really let it run on the straights. I tried to hold 140+ through the fast corners and 130+ through the “slow” ones. …then endured the slow climb to 165.

As the miles counted down, my dad was counting up. “134mph average,” he says. A minute or so later, “137mph, almost there.” With 3 miles to go, He hits his stopwatch “you are right on, hold here to the finish.” (our GPS doesn’t give us a decimal place for avg mph, so once we are close, it’s mostly useless)

Our strategy to finish is my dad counts the stopwatch down from 10, and then it’s my job to hit the lights when he hits zero….Felt like we nailed it, and mostly did. I was a little early: 0.564 ahead of perfect time, for an average speed of 140.026 over the 2 legs. The credit really goes to my father though. He has a much more difficult job then I do and he kept us on track for the entire race.

This remains my favorite event of the year. It’s a perfect combination of extreme speed, precision and teamwork. The fact that I can share my love of motorsports with my father really seals the deal.

I think we’ll try the 145mph class next year, but to do that I definitely need a Trans cooler, an oil cooler and a better radiator….and a speedo that doesn’t end at 155. Otherwise, I think the camaro can do it as she sits in F-stock trim.

I can’t recommend the BBORR enough. It rocks.

pic: making up time at 165 in the final miles...
(IMG:http://www.aww-kittah-aww.com/up/files/41/139small_thumb.jpg)

This post has been edited by FrankFS57: Apr 24 2006, 03:41 PM

[AndyJ]

Frank,

I wondered who that car belonged to--wish we could have gotten together.


Andy

[98_1LE]

Good writeup Frank. I have the big LG radiator, and do not believe you will do any better than it. Granatelli has a 200mph conversion for your stock cluster.

[FrankFS57]

Sorry I missed you Andy. I saw your car though and it looked great. Looks like you had some interesting mods to your car, I'd love to swap tech with you from your experiences.

[AndyJ]

Sorry I missed you Andy. I saw your car though and it looked great. Looks like you had some interesting mods to your car, I'd love to swap tech with you from your experiences.

Anytime Frank

[Blainefab]

Frank - Great report! And congrats on such a good finish. When I was running ORR, we figured getting within a second was due to skill and a good plan, but much closer than a second was luck.

I really recommend bumping your toe to zero for the next ORR - your front tire temps were probably way hot from scrub with that toe out. The car will be more comfortable, and pull better with the reduced drag. At a Silver State race, the UNL cars got red flagged (because of a fisherman who got his truck on course) and we had to queue up about 30mi in. One of the faster cars, Derek Eassty's Corvette, was running a RR align with toe out, and when he moved the car to regrid, found that the inside of the Pzeroes were so hot when he stopped that they had bonded to the pavement and ripped a strip of tread off when he moved the car after cooling down. His day was over then, but could have had a blowout at speed because of the overheated tires.

Try extending your chin flap under the radiator down a couple inches, and reinforce it so it doesn't fold back from the airflow. You should be able to see it in that pic at speed. A bigger radiator won't help if it isn't getting enough air. Car has a good attitude otherwise.

Before I got an oil cooler and long tubes, I would run in 5th till oil hit 290, pop it in 6th where it would cool down to 250 and speed would gradually drop from 160 to 140 (stock LT1 at that time), and back to 5th again, and repeat. Our run plots would look like a sawtooth early in the the run where we were banking time.

[Cal]

Thanks for the post on this, Frank. I was hoping to do the Big Bend this year, but my wife threw a monkey wrench in that. I'm in the process now of installing the LGM radiator/oil cooler, swapping my 4.11 third member for 3.50's, and adding a carbon fiber drive shaft. What kind of a diff cooler are you using?

[FrankFS57]

I really recommend bumping your toe to zero for the next ORR...

Try extending your chin flap under the radiator down a couple inches, and reinforce it so it doesn't fold back from the airflow. You should be able to see it in that pic at speed. A bigger radiator won't help if it isn't getting enough air. Car has a good attitude otherwise.

your first suggestion is already on my list for future events, and I'm adding your second recommendation as you make a very good point. Thanks.

What kind of a diff cooler are you using?

I picked up a Mocal Pump and Tru Cool cooler from Racer parts wholesale....and modified a stock diff cover.

Modified Diff Cover (90 degree bends needed to clear the panhard)
Pump Placement (driver side back seat)
Cooler placement

The goal was to create an easy, non-permenant setup that would allow me to uninstall and return to F-stock spec..then re-install the next time I go ORRing.

On the street, with the pump on, it never goes above 160. At big bend it was steady around 240.

This post has been edited by FrankFS57: Apr 24 2006, 08:45 PM

[Cal]

Thanks for the info on the cooler setup. Are you running 3.42 stock gears?

[Shortcutsleeping]

Wow...

REALLY clean install of the pump and cooler Frank! Glad it worked so well!

(IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/cool2.gif)

Costas
cars and such...

[98_1LE]

Nice job on the cooler.

Couple questions:

1. Did you drive or trailer the car?

2. What power mods were done to run 168?

[FrankFS57]

Nice job on the cooler.

Thanks, alot of recognition goes to Costas (shortcutsleeping), Nick (don't know his SN but he's here) and Frank Fertitta for their technical advice and help getting it in.

Couple questions:

1. Did you drive or trailer the car?

2. What power mods were done to run 168?

I drove the car. Power Mods...heheh...an exhaust cutout, and a K&N. Gears are stock.

This post has been edited by FrankFS57: Apr 25 2006, 05:07 AM

[AndyJ]

Thanks for the post on this, Frank. I was hoping to do the Big Bend this year, but my wife threw a monkey wrench in that. I'm in the process now of installing the LGM radiator/oil cooler, swapping my 4.11 third member for 3.50's, and adding a carbon fiber drive shaft. What kind of a diff cooler are you using?

Cal

Are you planning on making it to the Bonneville 100 Or Pony Express 130 this summer?

[NataSS Inc]

Cal

Are you planning on making it to the Bonneville 100 Or Pony Express 130 this summer?

I'll be at both of those events this year.

[Cal]

Thanks for the post on this, Frank. I was hoping to do the Big Bend this year, but my wife threw a monkey wrench in that. I'm in the process now of installing the LGM radiator/oil cooler, swapping my 4.11 third member for 3.50's, and adding a carbon fiber drive shaft. What kind of a diff cooler are you using?

Cal

Are you planning on making it to the Bonneville 100 Or Pony Express 130 this summer?

Andy, I'm hoping to do both; they are right here in my back yard.

Boyce, good to hear you're going to make it. I assume the old lady is going to let you keep the car, then?

Edit: Never mind, I just saw this in another thread, good luck to you.

due to the divorce my car is currently on hold. I will be navigating for a friend a in a fully prepped SRP class corvette. I am pulling nav. duty for him all season. I am going to make a real push to have my load prepped for next season.

This post has been edited by Cal: May 5 2006, 10:34 PM