Track day sponsored by a local ford dealer. I'm in one of the few GM cars (two camaros, one corvette) that showed up.

https://vimeo.com/45772822

17 sec clip.... Full vid soon.


Costas
cars and such...



EDITED: Instead of making new threads, I'll just keep adding on to this one :-)

Full vid.

https://vimeo.com/45770575

Loved the new setup/balance...sadly the car was designed and built when the old bias ply tires were the norm. I've always ran radials and then switched to the 'jumbos' which are worth even more time (due to more grip). The lateral grip/braking forces ended up cracking an upper control arm mount. EEEK.

Engineer has designed a 'bomb-proof' fix that only adds about 2lbs....should be back up and running soon.


Costas
cars and such...

I love watching scratcher vids!

What's new about the set-up?

It didn't seem like you had much trouble getting a 1:51, how much time is still on the table?


I wish my Jerico squealed like yours does, it must be my poly engine mounts that damp out some of it.

Stan,

Thanks, glad you liked it! Driving that car is just stupidfun...

The setup changes revolved around the premiss I floated in the tire temp chapter (http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch192.htm) on wdms. That is, I can get the correct camber in a corner by utilizing a lot of castor and little static camber or I can take some castor out and run a bit more static. Running high castor really gives an incredible amount of weight jacking in corners and can contribute to poor low speed (sub 50) handling characteristics (push) and that just chaps me.

So this setup was a lower ride height than my typical and with a good deal less castor and then, of course, rebalancing the cross weights to 0. I'm rear heavy also, but not as much as I'd like. I will say this setup is by far the fastest on the car so far. Wahoo!

As for time on the table...I'm not really sure. My guess is another two seconds maybe? A 1:49. I should be back there later in the year (cooler) with hopefully more rubber laid down (it had been raining) and we'll see. If I regeared for the track (from a 4.11 to a 4.56), I'd feel comfy with a 1:49 fairly easy....meh, we'll see.

I also love the gear whine :-)


Costas
cars and such...

Hi,
I changed the thread title so I can just keep adding stuff here instead of making new threads. Figure this way would be easier :-)

Old writeup on TX2K12 finally published: http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch193.htm


ZOMG I SPUN SCRATCHER!!! https://vimeo.com/44211628


Taking my wife for some laps: https://vimeo.com/48857808

(She pulls out her iphone and takes some pics and vids...lol)

At the recent ECR event I cracked an upper control arm mount and that has since been removed (both sides) and replaced with bigger/stronger parts with some mods....Story/pics coming soon as well as a chapter on the ECR event.

Next event: NARRA (www.narraonline.com) at TWS in a few weeks.

Costas
cars and such...

your dog engagement tranny... is that w/ straight teeth or helical ?

It's a jerico 4 speed and it has straight cut teeth.

Costas
cars and such...

Swapping out gears (while watching Star Wars....heh)







Full writeup and moar pics here: http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch163.htm


Costas
cars and such...

That car is awesome to look at in detail. Just wondering, what is the reasoning with the tank-like front hubs on that car? Did all the camaro GT cars get built with those?

"May the force be with you" <whack with the hammer>

Wide 5 hubs. I don't know much about the history with them etc, but the bearings and snouts are massive, and they move the lugs out to a very large bolt circle diameter. I'm sure Costas can tell you more.

Stan is right, they are wide-5 hubs.

http://www.colemanracing.com/Hub-Wide-5-Fr...e-55-P3626.aspx

No, most GT1 and Trans-Am cars run a standard 'grand national' style hub with 5x5 bolt circle and the top guys run center-lock hubs with only 1 big central lugnut.

My car was designed and built to go as fast as possible as inexpensively as possible while still being durable. It is nearly all from the coleman racing catalog which is plain jane circle-track parts. When you knock a corner off a top flight tube-car you've just spend thousands of dollars on control arms and uprights. With my car, you may spend a few hundred. I pay for cost savings in a bit of weight, but it's fine with me.

The Wide-5 hub is indeed big but it is hollow aluminum and very light for what it is. The benefits include very light wheels (no center mass), HUGE bearings that last and last (they are similar to a 3/4 ton truck in size), and they are extremely durable. Big brakes can work, zero-scrub offsets can work, and even I can't crossthread a lugnut on a 1" stud (at least I've not done it yet!!).

The chassis designation from the guy who made the run of frames (some he sold bare, others he made rollers and hung bodies, about 44 chassis in all however the buyer wanted them) was 'SBE' and it was for Simple But Effective. I've got a H#LL of a lot less money in my car than anyone that turns lap times even remotely close to me.

Costas
cars and such...

Interesting, thanks for the info and the new website to explore!

And, once you are done with Coleman...

http://daymotorsports.com/
http://stockcarproducts.com/
http://aa-mfg.com/pdshop/shop/
http://smileysracing.com/
https://www.circletracksupply.com/
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Oval-Track-Racing-Parts.html

Not exactly circle-track, more formula car, but they still have good stuff:

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/?iorb=476...m_campaign=BROI


Costas
cars and such...

Breaking Scratcher: http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch201.htm

Note crack where rear of upper control arm mounting tab meets the rear front suspension upright. OOPS.





Fixing Scratcher: http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch203.htm



This picture has nothing to do with the repair, I just really like it.



Put it all back together tonight and setup the front end, event next weekend. Still have some things to do, but it's getting there.


Costas
cars and such...

Excellent the way you document your experience and thoughts ... excellent.
It's a great tool for you (and others) to use and learn from.

Oh and Louis is such a hack ...

Another advantage to wide-5 wheels was that you could own a trailerfull of wheels with different offsests, widths and even diameters and not have to post an armed guard by the trailer 7X24X365, as opposed to regular wheels. I guess it's because you're paying for mostly just barrels. That differentiation has pretty much disappeared. It's certainly not the cheap solution it used to be.

Thanks Mitch, and you are right. After so many events things get forgotten or out of order...and writing it down helps so much. We do this with most of the projects, the crapcan racing, etc.

Gene, I *kindof* agree with you. Wide 5's are still super cheap in 15s, but the 16s gain a bit, but are STILL priced a lot lower and are a helluva lot lighter than comparable wheels. My 16x13s were under 230 per wheel. Everything has gotten more expensive...it's not that wide 5s have gained in price and normal wheel price stayed stagnant.

NARRA event at TWS this weekend and I got a mention and a picture in the press release today.

LINK: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/re...juLoryu-w%3D%3D

"This weekend will see the long anticipated showdown between the two TT-Unlimited class points leaders, Texan Kevin Ferguson (Craftlogic Software Viper ACR) and Arizona native Jeff Bawden (Good Neighbors Support Services Viper SRT-10).

Don't count out Michael Greenberg or local Paul Costas either. Costas (BikiniRacer.com Chevrolet Camaro) dominated the Texas event last year, while Greenberg (Greenberg Cheese Viper Comp Coupe) just took second in the TT-U class at Monticello."

They included a pic of our family with Scratcher and the trophy too. I did put 'Witchdoctor Motorsports' as the primary sponsor....but I guess bikiniracer gets more wow factor (duh!).

From last year:



Costas
cars and such...

Is that a real license plate? Where’s the registration sticker? LMAO!

Stan,
It is a fake plate. My graphics lady does them and they look awesome. She 'dirties' them up and shades them to look like a real plate, but it is just vinyl on white aluminum panel.


(photo by CornerConcepts)


Costas
cars and such...

https://vimeo.com/50067383

Short clip of me using all the road at TWS at the double NARRA event at TWS this past weekend.
Full vids and data to follow.

#LoneCamaro
#SeaOfVipers

Costas
cars and such...

http://thinkfastengineering.com/2012/09/bi...-for-scratcher/


Costas
cars and such...

30 second clip my wife took at TWS Sunday afternoon.

Check the rate of closure on the Vipers at the end of the straight... :-D

http://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/2107...&height=360

**backstory: I did not have fresh tires for this event...so I did minimal running on Saturday, basically enough to take the win, then the same on Sunday morning then on Sunday afternoon I took passengers and killed the tires. I was struggling for grip with the rears out of slow/medium corners, but it sure was fun to take folks out and show them the track from my perspective**


Costas
cars and such...

https://vimeo.com/50276092

First session on Sunday. Well...most of it.

Costas
cars and such...

1 lap (some traffic) of GoProHD goodness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC9BrwkiSH8...mp;feature=plcp


Costas
cars and such...

And now for something completely different.. ;-)

Rear facing HD cam, taking Nick (former 3rd gen CMC racer) for a quick lap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRvWE6e5EVE...eature=youtu.be


Costas
cars and such...

http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch204.htm

Pics, story, links to more vids...

I'm still working on overlaying some data onto the latest vids from NARRA.


Costas
cars and such...

Its too bad FRRAX doesn't have a 'like' button like facebook

I really want to build a tube frame car...

The official NARRA recap video (28 minutes) from TWS is up. Lots of great action shown from a lot of angles. Scratcher and I get a few nice shots and then they include a short part of my podium interview. Awesome production quality (all 1080p HD!!), make it full screen for sure!!! For my interview they got a good shot of the "ThinkFast Engineering" polo I was wearing. w00t!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLEF220F...player_embedded

Two quick screencaps from the video:




dammit, I need to repaint my rear cage downtubes!!


Costas
cars and such...

sweet deal

Whats the specs on that TT-1 vette that was faster than you?

Nice!

Stan:
Specs on TT1 corvette = Go to doug rippie motorsports, drop off a blank check.

http://dougrippie.com/products/c6-corvette...o-race-machine/

From the link:
Cost is 125K- ??? The price varies depending on parts used. The one above is 150,000 USD

It is a SERIOUS six figure car and <excuse mode = ON> I was on dead dead tires and my best lap still had traffic <excuse mode = OFF>.

We are back at TWS next month with narra and I should be on fairly fresh tires and we'll see if I can get in front of him in my 25k hooptie . NARRA is an 'honor system' as far as tech. They *do* weigh cars, but they have to believe whatever dyno they are given. I'm pretty sure he was on fresh michelin slicks both days. Driver is no slouch for sure, and I'm hopeful he shows up again and I'll wrangle some time to go check out the car a lot closer.

I'm still on my original camshaft that my engine builder laughs at. It was the smallest cam that he figured would work with my heads/intake. I am pondering stepping up a bit on the camshaft (65-85hp easily, over 100hp if we went big) but not sure I'll have the time/money to do it. Scratcher really does not make that much power, it is just fairly light with big tires and good mech and decent aero. Aero will get an upgrade later in 2013 or might get pushed back to 2014 depending on other projects.

Ya'll look at www.narraonline.com for the 2013 schedule. These folks have been great to run with and they have w2w, tt and hpde!


Costas
cars and such...

Aight, semi-fresh new (to me) used tires on order. Registered for Narra.

Got this in my email today:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Redneck challenger to race in Texas.

R U Faster Than a Redneck TV show challenger Jeremy Rohrs and
South Side Performance to debut in Whelen US TimeTrial Championship at NARRA's Texas World Speedway event, Feb 15-17.

Jeremy Rohrs and his South Side Performance (SSP) team will take on the might of American muscle in rounds 1 & 2 of the 2013 Whelen US TimeTrial Championship at Texas World Speedway, Feb 15-17, in what he calls the "perfect preview" to his appearance in Speed Network's new show, R U Faster Than a Redneck.

"This will be a taste of what to expect from the show. Imports and exotic European machinery up against the best the US has to offer, but in the case of the Whelen USTTC we're talking some seriously fast Vettes and Vipers," said Rohrs.

"I will be driving the exact same car at TWS, South Side Performance's 540whp 2010 Nissan GT-R with the exact same setup and power level as it was on R U Faster Than a Redneck."

Hosted by comedian Jon Reep the new TV series debuts Feb 22, the Friday following the Whelen USTTC event at Texas World Speedway.

Shot at Carolina Motorsports Park, which will be visited by the North American Road Racing Association's Whelen US TimeTrial Championship May 3-5, the show pits domestic hot rods against custom imports. Similarly themed, the Whelen USTTC is open to all high performance road and racing cars and features marques such as BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, and Subaru against Corvette, Camaro, Ford and Viper.

Full Story: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/re...0QzTBiDQQ%3D%3D

+++++++++++++++++++++++

So yeah....should be interesting.


Costas
cars and such...

Newsflash = THIS JUST IN:


I R Fastar Than a Redneck!


More details to follow...




Costas
cars and such...

being in Texas doesnt that automaticly qualify you. heck im in south jersey and most people think I qualify. Cant wait to see Scratcher giving the pimp hand to some wana be

see what happens when you don't rear the whole thread , I quess no camaro now im bummed and im going to go kick my dog

Here I thought you'd fit right in with the redneck aspect of all this... Or did you mean to say that you are faster than some other redneck? That must be what you meant...


I'll have to look for this on my DVR!

On the podium interview after winning overall both days, the guy asked me about the redneck thing (me being the #LoneCamaro in the sea of Vipers/Vettes/GTRs) and I said that I didn't really consider myself a redneck, but since I show up with a home-built cobbled together car I was pretty sure the rest of the field saw me as one!

They had HD GoPros going, so I have no idea if any footage is for the show or not. I passed the camo GTR a few times...

One of my favorites from the weekend...a little opposite lock as I turn from the paddock onto the hotpits.



Full story and vids coming soon.


Costas
cars and such...

Still working on my update, have some cool vid to post up too... (I pulled a General Lee at one point...heh)

But the NARRA writeup is done and was just released:

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/-Rednec...aid=tiu5nrMP9PQ

Snippet:
"Costas claims outright Whelen USTTC honors for the 'rednecks' as TV show contestant Rohrs podiums in series debut.

The scales were definitely tipped in favor of the 'rednecks'. Amongst a sea of Vettes, Vipers, Camaros, Mustangs and Chevrolet powered Miatas, only a Porsche and a pair of Nissan GT-Rs dared take on the might of American muscle in rounds 1 and 2 of the 2013 Whelen US TimeTrial Championship at Texas World Speedway (Feb 15-17). All eyes were on the South Side Performance Nissan GT-R of Jeremy Rohrs, one of the contestants in the new R U Faster Than a Redneck TV series that premieres this Friday on SPEED, but it was Paul Costas and his Camaro who stole the show."

If you have a NARRA event you can attend, I strongly recommend it. Great group to run with!

www.narraonline.com

Costas
cars and such...

edit - to fix link

And now....the rest of the story...

http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch208.htm

A very not-pretty lap: https://vimeo.com/60254150


Was a fun event, NARRA folks are great to run with, and the contingencies (I won free pirellis) are getting stronger.

www.narraonline.com


Costas
cars and such...

In the paddock he seems like such a nice guy.... has a little girl coloring and he wears a Powerpuff girl T-shirt... but he is a bad man on the race track

nicely done, congrats! I can't imagine what 1.7G feels like. I can get the occasional, nonsustained, 1.3 in my car when I get my panties un-wadded.

Thanks!

1.7 feels pretty stout. I got to give rides to three more folks at the tx2k track day!

We've got a plan for more DF, so maybe 1.8 will be in our future...

Love this shot




Costas
cars and such...

that is a pretty great shot, car is looking pretty slick

I would love to hang that picture in the garage for inspiration

Thanks guys...

I'm trying to get that last pic in high-res and if it is good then I'll be happy to share it.


Costas
cars and such...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W4gOBSuLzI...eature=youtu.be

Youtube vid of the NARRA event earlier this year at TWS. This is the third installment and Scratcher gets a quick view in the intro slot moving through traffic, then I get a quick interview around the 2 minute mark and then around 2:50 or so some more vid including some slow-mo into the carousel.

Thinking on making the haul to Sebring in November for the season finale of NARRA.

Costas
cars and such...

If you're bored and want to check out some pics. I may load some vid if I get time.

Found some improvement and went faster at a recent test. Saw some cool cars as well!

http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch210.htm

Check out the McLaren trying to get close to an awesome third gen!!! PSHAW!!!





Costas
cars and such...

I enjoy reading everything you post


Even when just the driver mod makes me faster every session? Seriously, over the past year I get faster almost every session without touching the car,,,, just growing ball sack (with a couple exceptions). I could play with my spoiler angle or adjust my front koni's,,, but then I wouldn't know if I got faster because of the tune or driving. I assume your statement is based on the assumption that the driver is using 100% of the cars potential.

In my mind (and everyone tunes differently) you pull enough data to effectively and subjectively view a change as a positive, negative or neutral. More importantly, you're bright enough to do a debrief after a session to help evaluate the performance.

SO...If you were my student and went to a trackday solo, I'd tell you to do the first session or two with everything the same (equalize air pressure) and get a baseline time. After the second session you'll sit down for 5 minutes away from everyone either looking at a track map or watching a replay of a lap. Dissect each corner into entry, mid, and exit and as you do the lap and prioritize what ONE BENEFIT would help you the most. Let's say it is on entry and the car is simply not getting INTO the corner as quick as you think is possible. Mid and exit are okay. So, we now know the result we need (better turn in) and we know to always begin adjustments on the end of the car that is NOT working until you run out of adjustments and then AND ONLY THEN can we "do damage" to the opposite end of the car to achieve balance. So, in the front we need more turn in. Let's ponder that. First, look at the tires. Are they rolling over too much and bumping pressure might help. OR are they not rolling enough and we're overinflated? Does the turn in suffer on both directions? Can we back off on the sway bar end links to let the car roll and bite a bit more? Can we make a damper change?

(Note: Neil has a great chart in his book, also this is damn handy too: http://www.amazon.com/Carroll-Smiths-Engin...er+in+my+pocket )

So let's say the tires looked great and you backed off on the sway bar end links. Initially you had them totally snug with bulging little bushings, and now you've loosened them 5 rounds a side where they practically rattle (noise does not slow you down, FYI).

Then on the third session one of three things happen. You get faster, slower or stay the same. If you get slower....time to ponder: Assuming you drove well and had clear track, did the setup change NOT help the turn in? Look at your data on turn entry....is the degrees per second turn-in not as good as before? Or time stayed the same? Did the turn in help but it caused you issues on mid or exit now? Or, most likely, you got faster...and you can debrief yourself and say "self, the setup change helped, the car rotate into the corner better and i went faster because of that and because I had more confidence in the car and I'm simply driving better". Now you get to debrief AGAIN pondering 'what ONE change could I make to help my lap times?". And it starts over again. If you're unsure, re-tighten the sway bar end links and drive another session. More than likely you'll say 'fork that!!' and you've successfully learned a quick little trick that can help your setups in the future.

Folks who are vested enough to not only want to go faster but are willing to methodically look at the car, do debriefs, make track notes and also keep records of setups and changes are typically folks who can self-learn assuming they've at least got a baseline procedure to follow. Most any procedure will work and the one I outlined above is the one I use, taught to me by Neil. My last outing I did three sessions flip flopping changes to double verify that they worked.

Now, sometimes you've got to take a sharp car (setup wise) and 'dumb it down' so the driver has a stable car to 'get up to speed' in. Then, when the driver has caught up to the car, we can begin to re-sharpen that car and the driver goes really fast. Now, the setup from step 1 and step 10 ended up being the same, but we had to get the driver up to the ability to drive the damn thing and that took 9 steps. I've had a student who showed up with a prepped c5Z06 on hoosiers and after one session he bolted back on the streets because there was no way he was getting to the level of the car on purple crack. He could almost reach the car's level on streets, but hoohoos were out of the question at that point. A few track days later and we're again ready to bolt on the hoosiers and begin to work our way towards reaching the limits of that combination.

Long and winded and hopefully you followed that....
but that's my .02

Costas
cars and such...

I should probably restate what I said. I've changed to softer rear springs at Grattan because the car was very loose on that particular track. I did that because I could tell something was obviously wrong. What I said before was centered around the thought that if I can't feel anything wrong why should I change it? I'm still getting faster with driving. After every session I look at Harry's lap timer and overlay the video with the data for my fastest lap. I usually focus on the G meter to see if I'm at the edges of the traction circle or not. If not I know I'm not using the cars full potential at that point in time on the track (assuming no elevation change impact etc) and I go back out the next time and work on braking later or whatever it may be. I come back in with a faster time. Repeat. Harry's also has the ability to overlay speed and acceleration data from one lap to another and that is useful in determining why I ran faster one lap than another (in most cases it is because I braked later). I could probably be a bit more aggressive with testing mechanical things even when everything seams ok, but going to the track by myself most of the time means that I'm pretty busy all day and sometimes its nice to sit down with a Gatorade in the shade and think about driving rather then a mechanical thrash in the hot sun

I finally sucked it up and taught myself left foot braking over labor day weekend at Grattan. I went slower during the morning sessions and spun out with a duffed 4-2 downshift but now that I got it I won't ever go back