Roebling Double National report – July 2007…wounded ducks…and more sound avoidance
07-03-2007, 08:59 AM
#1
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Roebling Double National report – July 2007…wounded ducks…and more sound avoidance
Roebling Double National report – July 2007…wounded ducks…and more sound avoidance
Well this past weekend was an exercise in reliability more than anything else. I think just about everyone had car issues of some type…some more major than others.
I managed to put my old #7 Kumho Corvette war horse on the pole for both Saturday and Sunday’s races with Phil Croyle within a tenth or two. Thursday’s test day went well with Lance’s help despite a few sound readings over 103 dbs?!?!! That allowed me to qualify really well on Friday.
For Saturday, Phil was lined up right behind me on the inside, but did not get a very good start, so a few GT (2 and 3) cars slid in between us for the first lap or two. By about the 3d lap though, he was right behind me and I made sure to protect the inside line into 1.
We went lap after lap like that until about lap 11. A GT1 car passed Phil in the short chute between 7 and 8 which allowed me to get a good entry and exit from 8 with a car in between us. When I looked in my mirrors on the exit, all I saw was the GT1 car passing me on the right…no Phil. Then I heard Butch on the radio saying that Phil had “blown up” and that’s when I saw the big smoke cloud in my mirrors. He apparently lost the bottom end of the engine and really oiled down the turn. The next few laps were just oil avoidance and hitting my marks. That was the 5th win of the season for me. Jorge apparently spun in the oil and got hit lightly in the RF by an AS car so he had some cutting and taping to do for the next day. Jerry Onks had been complaining about a possible clutch issue and I started to feel some vibrations in the steering wheel toward the end of the race (more on that later). Russ may have been the only one who didn’t have any serious problems, but he was having some power steering leakage.
Here are the final results from race #1:
Me 1:16.6
Jerry Onks 1:17.2
Russ Snow 1:17.1
Jorge Nazario 1:20.1
Phil Croyle 1:16.0
For Sunday, I could have gone out on sticker tires and done another qual run, but I really figured my 16.1 would be good enough, so I saved the tires. It turns out, by not turning a few laps and checking out the car, that nearly cost me the second race!
Since Phil was done for the weekend, it was just the four of us. Because of the top speed vs cornering ability, the race officials decided to do a split start… “slicks shod cars” were in the first group and “DOT shod cars” were the next. I was on the pole for that group and got a decent start and led into turn 1 again. For the next few laps, I pulled out a bit of a lead and everything was going as planned. But I noticed that my brake pedal was going a bit too far down. Roebling is very easy on brakes, so that was really odd. It kept getting worse and the vibration in the front end (steering) was getting worse too. I thought maybe the power steering was going out and spraying fluid on the rotors. As the race wore on, I had to pump the brakes to get any pedal at all and Jerry slowly closed the gap. With about a lap to go, he was right on my *** and I was obviously a wounded duck in his sights. On the penultimate lap, I knew if I didn’t lead into 1, it was over for me, so I protected my line. I think he also may have missed a shift down the straight (clutch issues) which allowed me to pump the brakes over and over and still make the corner. The vibration at this point was terrible and I didn’t think the car was going to make it back around. It was pushing severely and the brakes were non-existent. I chose the inside line into every corner and really slowed down in the middle of 7 trying to get the best possible run out and into turn 8. Whatever problem I was having was also robbing the engine of power and making the car pull left too, but I made it thru 8 and managed to keep him behind me to the finish. He could have easily “moved” me out of the way in turns 5 thru 7, but credit him for racing me clean the whole way. Roebling is a good test track, but nearly impossible to pass.
On the cool down lap, I finally heard what the issue was – the LF wheel bearing was totally shot…crunching and grinding the whole way around. When impound was over, we took the car back to the paddock, jacked it up, and the wheel was basically just hanging on by a thread. You can move each “side” of the tire at least 2 inches in any direction. Basically, I think my car had probably 4 degrees of negative camber turning left and 2 degrees of positive camber turning right. Down the straight, it had about 2” of toe out (or in) and was very wobbly. This wobbling was causing the pads to back off the rotor so when I hit the brakes, the pedal would go to the floor. Here’s a link to the video I made last night and just how bad that hub was - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZtPPhkSKyw
The ring part is completely separated from the hub. Quite honestly it was a near miracle that I finished…and didn’t hit anyone.
Here’s how we ended up:
Me 1:17.1 (must have been really early!)
Jerry 1:17.8
Russ 1:18.3
Jorge 1:18.8
Phil DNS
Both races were well in the 90s and ultra high humidity too. Rich Shafer’s Cool Shirt is truly a wonderful thing!!!!!!
I’ve talked about physical conditioning before, but this weekend was a perfect example. During both of my races, my heart rate was between 120-180 for over 20 minutes and the peak HR during the first race was 173…and the second race was 179!!
That makes it 6 wins on the season for me, so unless something really odd happens, that should wrap up the 2007 SEDIV points chase.
Phil and I battled hard all year, but he’s definitely got a better feel for the shocks right now. I’m getting closer and hopefully will be there by October. We unfortunately made some light contact at Road Atlanta which slightly mars an otherwise really clean year. For now though, I really need to thank those awesome Kumho tires and Rudy and Mike for their help, Mike, Dan and Chris at Carbotech brakes, Mike Scornavacchi for buying me this strong (and reliable) engine, Joe, Kurt and the whole Phoenix crew, Gary Hoffman at Hardbar, Moton Shocks, Jerry McKinney, Cool Shirt, Lance and Ben for helping me out this weekend (and others), my honey Michelle for her support and chief work, and of course my arrogant, confrontational and intimidating crew chief Butch Kummer. Yeah bud, we do work well together!!!!! It’s been a helluva year!
Despite quite a few cars still reading much higher dbs only at Roebling, I commend the staff of the region and SCCA for taking an interest and investigating some possibilities. I still think there’s a problem, but in the mean time, I’ll keep bringing my ghetto pipes and pointing them toward the infield.
Have a great 4th of July and we’ll see you all in Topeka!!
Well this past weekend was an exercise in reliability more than anything else. I think just about everyone had car issues of some type…some more major than others.
I managed to put my old #7 Kumho Corvette war horse on the pole for both Saturday and Sunday’s races with Phil Croyle within a tenth or two. Thursday’s test day went well with Lance’s help despite a few sound readings over 103 dbs?!?!! That allowed me to qualify really well on Friday.
For Saturday, Phil was lined up right behind me on the inside, but did not get a very good start, so a few GT (2 and 3) cars slid in between us for the first lap or two. By about the 3d lap though, he was right behind me and I made sure to protect the inside line into 1.
We went lap after lap like that until about lap 11. A GT1 car passed Phil in the short chute between 7 and 8 which allowed me to get a good entry and exit from 8 with a car in between us. When I looked in my mirrors on the exit, all I saw was the GT1 car passing me on the right…no Phil. Then I heard Butch on the radio saying that Phil had “blown up” and that’s when I saw the big smoke cloud in my mirrors. He apparently lost the bottom end of the engine and really oiled down the turn. The next few laps were just oil avoidance and hitting my marks. That was the 5th win of the season for me. Jorge apparently spun in the oil and got hit lightly in the RF by an AS car so he had some cutting and taping to do for the next day. Jerry Onks had been complaining about a possible clutch issue and I started to feel some vibrations in the steering wheel toward the end of the race (more on that later). Russ may have been the only one who didn’t have any serious problems, but he was having some power steering leakage.
Here are the final results from race #1:
Me 1:16.6
Jerry Onks 1:17.2
Russ Snow 1:17.1
Jorge Nazario 1:20.1
Phil Croyle 1:16.0
For Sunday, I could have gone out on sticker tires and done another qual run, but I really figured my 16.1 would be good enough, so I saved the tires. It turns out, by not turning a few laps and checking out the car, that nearly cost me the second race!
Since Phil was done for the weekend, it was just the four of us. Because of the top speed vs cornering ability, the race officials decided to do a split start… “slicks shod cars” were in the first group and “DOT shod cars” were the next. I was on the pole for that group and got a decent start and led into turn 1 again. For the next few laps, I pulled out a bit of a lead and everything was going as planned. But I noticed that my brake pedal was going a bit too far down. Roebling is very easy on brakes, so that was really odd. It kept getting worse and the vibration in the front end (steering) was getting worse too. I thought maybe the power steering was going out and spraying fluid on the rotors. As the race wore on, I had to pump the brakes to get any pedal at all and Jerry slowly closed the gap. With about a lap to go, he was right on my *** and I was obviously a wounded duck in his sights. On the penultimate lap, I knew if I didn’t lead into 1, it was over for me, so I protected my line. I think he also may have missed a shift down the straight (clutch issues) which allowed me to pump the brakes over and over and still make the corner. The vibration at this point was terrible and I didn’t think the car was going to make it back around. It was pushing severely and the brakes were non-existent. I chose the inside line into every corner and really slowed down in the middle of 7 trying to get the best possible run out and into turn 8. Whatever problem I was having was also robbing the engine of power and making the car pull left too, but I made it thru 8 and managed to keep him behind me to the finish. He could have easily “moved” me out of the way in turns 5 thru 7, but credit him for racing me clean the whole way. Roebling is a good test track, but nearly impossible to pass.
On the cool down lap, I finally heard what the issue was – the LF wheel bearing was totally shot…crunching and grinding the whole way around. When impound was over, we took the car back to the paddock, jacked it up, and the wheel was basically just hanging on by a thread. You can move each “side” of the tire at least 2 inches in any direction. Basically, I think my car had probably 4 degrees of negative camber turning left and 2 degrees of positive camber turning right. Down the straight, it had about 2” of toe out (or in) and was very wobbly. This wobbling was causing the pads to back off the rotor so when I hit the brakes, the pedal would go to the floor. Here’s a link to the video I made last night and just how bad that hub was - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZtPPhkSKyw
The ring part is completely separated from the hub. Quite honestly it was a near miracle that I finished…and didn’t hit anyone.
Here’s how we ended up:
Me 1:17.1 (must have been really early!)
Jerry 1:17.8
Russ 1:18.3
Jorge 1:18.8
Phil DNS
Both races were well in the 90s and ultra high humidity too. Rich Shafer’s Cool Shirt is truly a wonderful thing!!!!!!
I’ve talked about physical conditioning before, but this weekend was a perfect example. During both of my races, my heart rate was between 120-180 for over 20 minutes and the peak HR during the first race was 173…and the second race was 179!!
That makes it 6 wins on the season for me, so unless something really odd happens, that should wrap up the 2007 SEDIV points chase.
Phil and I battled hard all year, but he’s definitely got a better feel for the shocks right now. I’m getting closer and hopefully will be there by October. We unfortunately made some light contact at Road Atlanta which slightly mars an otherwise really clean year. For now though, I really need to thank those awesome Kumho tires and Rudy and Mike for their help, Mike, Dan and Chris at Carbotech brakes, Mike Scornavacchi for buying me this strong (and reliable) engine, Joe, Kurt and the whole Phoenix crew, Gary Hoffman at Hardbar, Moton Shocks, Jerry McKinney, Cool Shirt, Lance and Ben for helping me out this weekend (and others), my honey Michelle for her support and chief work, and of course my arrogant, confrontational and intimidating crew chief Butch Kummer. Yeah bud, we do work well together!!!!! It’s been a helluva year!
Despite quite a few cars still reading much higher dbs only at Roebling, I commend the staff of the region and SCCA for taking an interest and investigating some possibilities. I still think there’s a problem, but in the mean time, I’ll keep bringing my ghetto pipes and pointing them toward the infield.
Have a great 4th of July and we’ll see you all in Topeka!!
Last edited by wtknght1; 07-03-2007 at 09:30 AM.
07-03-2007, 09:11 AM
#2
Le Mans Master
That's an astonishing video; I still don't understand why it didn't come apart completely!
Great writeup on the weekend, also. For those of us that live down at the lower levels, it's great to get an inside POV from all of y'all that run W2W.
Have a good one, and good luck in Topeka!
Mike
Great writeup on the weekend, also. For those of us that live down at the lower levels, it's great to get an inside POV from all of y'all that run W2W.
Have a good one, and good luck in Topeka!
Mike
07-03-2007, 09:28 AM
#3
Safety Car
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And holy sh*t on the wheel bearing
07-03-2007, 02:16 PM
#4
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
The "ring" part of the bearing (that has the wheel studs) must have broken while being pushed back toward the center of the car, because there was just enough of a lip to where the ring could not easily come off the actual bearing part. It's not much of one, but it was apparently strong enough to keep it from flying away. That plus the rotor is somewhat contained inside the caliper bracket, the caliper and the brake pads. I doubt it would have held on though for more than about another lap. U-G-L-Y. 
Jerry is a really good guy, but all I kept thinking about during that last lap was his Viper video from Memphis! ha ha ha The things that run thru your mind during the last few laps of a race are just amazing.
Jerry is a really good guy, but all I kept thinking about during that last lap was his Viper video from Memphis! ha ha ha The things that run thru your mind during the last few laps of a race are just amazing.
07-03-2007, 03:48 PM
#6
Le Mans Master
The "ring" part of the bearing (that has the wheel studs) must have broken while being pushed back toward the center of the car, because there was just enough of a lip to where the ring could not easily come off the actual bearing part. It's not much of one, but it was apparently strong enough to keep it from flying away. That plus the rotor is somewhat contained inside the caliper bracket, the caliper and the brake pads. I doubt it would have held on though for more than about another lap. U-G-L-Y.
Jerry is a really good guy, but all I kept thinking about during that last lap was his Viper video from Memphis! ha ha ha The things that run thru your mind during the last few laps of a race are just amazing.
Jerry is a really good guy, but all I kept thinking about during that last lap was his Viper video from Memphis! ha ha ha The things that run thru your mind during the last few laps of a race are just amazing.
If you weren't a church-going man, you should be now! Someone was looking over you, that's for certain. Absolutely amazing. I am glad it held together, as that could have been real ugly.
Jerry didn't hit Jim as much as they came together at Memphis. So I am not surprised you didn't get any "help" from behind during that last lap or two.
Get that old war-horse back together and freshened up so we can have a good run in October.
07-07-2007, 07:55 PM
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Roebling Road
Congratulations Chris, it was two good races. Did you know that the second race went 2 laps too far? We were carefully counting laps and how many times Phil Simms lapped us in the second group and realized that we were past the time for the checkered flag. And still it went on and on and that seemed like an eternity as the 350Z was in limp home mode.
07-08-2007, 07:54 PM
#11
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
It is just fabulous!!!!! I'm tellin' all you guys out there, this is a super invention that I just love. There's not too many folks out there that are in better shape, but I still use it. The more comfortable you are, the less possibility of making a mistake. Tough it out if you want, but I'll keep using it and driving in comfort!! 
07-08-2007, 07:56 PM
#12
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Congratulations Chris, it was two good races. Did you know that the second race went 2 laps too far? We were carefully counting laps and how many times Phil Simms lapped us in the second group and realized that we were past the time for the checkered flag. And still it went on and on and that seemed like an eternity as the 350Z was in limp home mode.