RPM Motors to the Rescue at SCCA T1 National Race!
03-04-2010, 08:42 PM
#1
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
RPM Motors to the Rescue at SCCA T1 National Race!
We had a single national race at Willow Springs International Raceway this past weekend. I got the pole, but my weekend went downhill from there. I will post photos and such shortly.
The grid was set with four of the first five cars being T1 C5 Corvettes. The flag dropped and by turn two the first four positions were me, Steve Schmidt (driving Mike McGinley's old car), Ryan Cashin and Roy Benedetti. By the famous turn Nine at WSIR Schmidt caught me off guard and came ripping into the turn on the inside of me and I had to give up the position. Shortly after that Cashin went past and all I could do is watch them go. They were running a good 1 to 1.5 seconds faster than me. They drove a great race despite their hardest attempts to give the race back to me, but I was not deserving. I will let those two guys tell that part of the story.
There are two other interesting story lines in this race.
I will post that later tonight in this thread.
Oli
The grid was set with four of the first five cars being T1 C5 Corvettes. The flag dropped and by turn two the first four positions were me, Steve Schmidt (driving Mike McGinley's old car), Ryan Cashin and Roy Benedetti. By the famous turn Nine at WSIR Schmidt caught me off guard and came ripping into the turn on the inside of me and I had to give up the position. Shortly after that Cashin went past and all I could do is watch them go. They were running a good 1 to 1.5 seconds faster than me. They drove a great race despite their hardest attempts to give the race back to me, but I was not deserving. I will let those two guys tell that part of the story.
There are two other interesting story lines in this race.
- Lap records
- What happened to my car
I will post that later tonight in this thread.
Oli
03-04-2010, 08:46 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Here is the story on my race weekend with pictures.
On Saturday we had a wet practice session and I went out on some thrashed scrubs as my rain tires were not even mounted on my wheels. You can probably count on one hand the number of days in the year WSIR sees measurable rainfall in the high desert. I putted around as Spec Miatas on rain tires were passing me. On one of the laps I botched the downhill braking into Turn Five and I decided to drive straight off. WSIR has a bad case of rocks off track and Turn Five is particularly egregious in that regard. The walnut to fist sized and shaped rocks sounded awful as the got thrown up onto the underside of the car as I went off at about 50 MPH.
Saturday rained on and off all day long. We really lucked out in qualifying. We went out in a hole in the clouds on a 99% dry track. I probably had the best set of scrubs on the car of the whole T1 field and banged out a 1:30.12 lap. I felt like that would be good for the pole position, but I knew I had more speed in the car and I wanted to post under 1:30. I was setting up exiting Turn Eight for a really hard charge through the infamous WSIR Turn Nine when I felt a vague vibration, but the puff of smoke out of the back of the car was unmistakable. I also immediately smell a funny smell. At one moment I though my car had just burped some motor oil as they will on occassion with a nearly simultaneous burning smell. For an instant I had a thought for the first time ever that my car was catching on fire as I prepared to reach for the fire pulls. The track exit is just after Turn Nine so I pulled off as I kept watching my mirror and watched for flames.
I scored the Pole as I thought and got the head tech steward walking over with the little red slip telling me I was smoking. After going back to my paddock I looked under the car. I could see my left rear axle boot appear to be leaking and I figured that was the issue. Roy Benedetti of T1 #97 had a crew guy, Ethan, who wanted to make a few extra bucks so in the on and off rain I let him change out the axle. I just happened to have a new one in the trailer.
That repair got done and everyone was leaving the track or already gone. I jumped into the car about 20 minutes later for a test drive and I found my car would not shift into second without a hard pull and would then grind and pop out. I thought to myself, "What the heck did Ethan do that would cause that?" I bit more driving around the paddock revealed that the whole shifter lever was moving up and down in my hand as I applied throttle. I figured, "Crap, something else is broken!" I figured it was some sort of bracket that was broken or missing bolt(s).
Steve Schmidt, the Mike McGinley car driver :-) and the legendary local Beemer driver John Norris helped me jack up the car to check it out. As I rolled under the car on rain soaked tarmac this is what I saw.
On Saturday we had a wet practice session and I went out on some thrashed scrubs as my rain tires were not even mounted on my wheels. You can probably count on one hand the number of days in the year WSIR sees measurable rainfall in the high desert. I putted around as Spec Miatas on rain tires were passing me. On one of the laps I botched the downhill braking into Turn Five and I decided to drive straight off. WSIR has a bad case of rocks off track and Turn Five is particularly egregious in that regard. The walnut to fist sized and shaped rocks sounded awful as the got thrown up onto the underside of the car as I went off at about 50 MPH.
Saturday rained on and off all day long. We really lucked out in qualifying. We went out in a hole in the clouds on a 99% dry track. I probably had the best set of scrubs on the car of the whole T1 field and banged out a 1:30.12 lap. I felt like that would be good for the pole position, but I knew I had more speed in the car and I wanted to post under 1:30. I was setting up exiting Turn Eight for a really hard charge through the infamous WSIR Turn Nine when I felt a vague vibration, but the puff of smoke out of the back of the car was unmistakable. I also immediately smell a funny smell. At one moment I though my car had just burped some motor oil as they will on occassion with a nearly simultaneous burning smell. For an instant I had a thought for the first time ever that my car was catching on fire as I prepared to reach for the fire pulls. The track exit is just after Turn Nine so I pulled off as I kept watching my mirror and watched for flames.
I scored the Pole as I thought and got the head tech steward walking over with the little red slip telling me I was smoking. After going back to my paddock I looked under the car. I could see my left rear axle boot appear to be leaking and I figured that was the issue. Roy Benedetti of T1 #97 had a crew guy, Ethan, who wanted to make a few extra bucks so in the on and off rain I let him change out the axle. I just happened to have a new one in the trailer.
That repair got done and everyone was leaving the track or already gone. I jumped into the car about 20 minutes later for a test drive and I found my car would not shift into second without a hard pull and would then grind and pop out. I thought to myself, "What the heck did Ethan do that would cause that?" I bit more driving around the paddock revealed that the whole shifter lever was moving up and down in my hand as I applied throttle. I figured, "Crap, something else is broken!" I figured it was some sort of bracket that was broken or missing bolt(s).
Steve Schmidt, the Mike McGinley car driver :-) and the legendary local Beemer driver John Norris helped me jack up the car to check it out. As I rolled under the car on rain soaked tarmac this is what I saw.
03-04-2010, 09:59 PM
#4
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Thanks for the set-up Carl on the next part of the story....
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After seeing that rough saw cut in the torque tube and seeing where it was at I figured that the bushing/coupling disintegrated and my weekend was over. I was bummed because I needed all four SoPac National races to qualify for the Runoffs at Road America. Now I would be a DNS the next morning.
I put away my stuff and drove off to the motel demoralized and disgusted. It was now almost 6 PM on Saturday as I car pooled Schmidt and Norris back to our rooms. I called Charlie Williams of RPM Motors, one of the most highly regarded Corvette Performance guys in California. He has a shop about 60 miles from the track in Santa Clarita. He answered his cell phone and when I told him the story he told me to bring the car to his shop. I asked him how he would get the work done that night and he said he would "...find a way." I told Charlie I would be at his shop around 8 PM. I dropped off Norris, but Schmidt would not let me leave him at the Townhouse Motel. He insisted on helping me despite the prospect of an all nighter. We raced back to the track to get the car and drive an hour to RPM Motors.
We made good time and got to RPM Motors about 7:45 PM and unloaded the car. To my surprise Charlie was there along with two of his employees and a friend. By 8 PM the car was on the lift and getting wrenched upon. Here are a couple photos of what disassembly revealed.
---------------------------------------------------------
After seeing that rough saw cut in the torque tube and seeing where it was at I figured that the bushing/coupling disintegrated and my weekend was over. I was bummed because I needed all four SoPac National races to qualify for the Runoffs at Road America. Now I would be a DNS the next morning.
I put away my stuff and drove off to the motel demoralized and disgusted. It was now almost 6 PM on Saturday as I car pooled Schmidt and Norris back to our rooms. I called Charlie Williams of RPM Motors, one of the most highly regarded Corvette Performance guys in California. He has a shop about 60 miles from the track in Santa Clarita. He answered his cell phone and when I told him the story he told me to bring the car to his shop. I asked him how he would get the work done that night and he said he would "...find a way." I told Charlie I would be at his shop around 8 PM. I dropped off Norris, but Schmidt would not let me leave him at the Townhouse Motel. He insisted on helping me despite the prospect of an all nighter. We raced back to the track to get the car and drive an hour to RPM Motors.
We made good time and got to RPM Motors about 7:45 PM and unloaded the car. To my surprise Charlie was there along with two of his employees and a friend. By 8 PM the car was on the lift and getting wrenched upon. Here are a couple photos of what disassembly revealed.
03-04-2010, 10:08 PM
#5
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Charlie did not have a new torque tube, but he had a used one that needed some work. Through a lot of hard work and creative thinking they managed to rebuild a good torque tube from his parts and mine. By around midnight they had put together a soundly performing torque tube assembly.
Here Ed and Ron proudly hold there handy work. It is now after midnight.
Here is my car on the lift around 1 AM Sunday morning as it goes back together.
By 2 AM the car was together, I had done a test drive around the parking lot and the car felt great. Good ol' #22 went back into the trailer. There is no way to tell you all in words how well Charlie, Ed, Ron and Charlie's friend Chris all worked together as a team. Without talking much everything went back together quickly. There were many issues and problems all throughout the evening, but these pros were not rattled or discouraged. They seemed to work with synchronization as though they had practiced the reassembly of the car many times. I did not say anything aloud, but it was impressive.
Steve and I were thrashed and headed back to the beautiful Town House Motel for a much needed rest and turned in at 3 AM. I told Steve I was getting up at 6 AM to be at the track for the first of two practices at 8 AM to shake down the car.
.
Here Ed and Ron proudly hold there handy work. It is now after midnight.
Here is my car on the lift around 1 AM Sunday morning as it goes back together.
By 2 AM the car was together, I had done a test drive around the parking lot and the car felt great. Good ol' #22 went back into the trailer. There is no way to tell you all in words how well Charlie, Ed, Ron and Charlie's friend Chris all worked together as a team. Without talking much everything went back together quickly. There were many issues and problems all throughout the evening, but these pros were not rattled or discouraged. They seemed to work with synchronization as though they had practiced the reassembly of the car many times. I did not say anything aloud, but it was impressive.
Steve and I were thrashed and headed back to the beautiful Town House Motel for a much needed rest and turned in at 3 AM. I told Steve I was getting up at 6 AM to be at the track for the first of two practices at 8 AM to shake down the car.
.
03-04-2010, 11:38 PM
#8
Team Owner
What a great story.
What a great friend Steve is to hang with you through out all that.
Kudos to another Corvette Challenge sponsor for keeping one of our best racers on the track !!!
DH
What a great friend Steve is to hang with you through out all that.
Kudos to another Corvette Challenge sponsor for keeping one of our best racers on the track !!!
DH
03-04-2010, 11:41 PM
#9
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Jul 2004
Location: Wilmington Ca.
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Olie! for someone who has helped me out at the track a couple times with minor issues with my car I am glad to here you were put into good hands with your car problem. The crew at RPM Motors last year spent a good part of a Thursday night and Friday getting my car ready for me to drive to Spring Mountain for Corvette Track Days. RPM
RPM
03-05-2010, 12:12 AM
#11
Le Mans Master
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03-05-2010, 12:50 AM
#13
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Here is a bit more to the story.
----------------------------------
Sunday morning at 8 AM I headed from pre-grid to the racing surface. The drive train felt great, but I felt a shimmy on the right front as I would go from trail-braking to a fully loaded right-front wheel on left turns. I had felt this same shimmy in qualifying, but I forgot about it and did not have time to look into it during the torque tube crisis.
Back into my paddock I pulled the right front wheel and quickly found the problem. My right front single adjustable Penske had a broken fitting where the nitrogen filling hose goes into the shock body. I pulled the shock and consulted with a few track veteran crew chiefs. They said the shock would not work right without nitrogen pressure while one guy said I was screwed as he said the oil was now emulsified since I ran it without pressure and that it needed to be rebuilt. With my race in an hour and no parts to rebuild it I just made a make shift repair and put 150 psi into the shock and it held pressure. I throw it back onto the car and headed to pre-grid for the race.
I rolled over to grid and proudly took my Pole position in front of everyone else. Shortly thereafter we got waved out onto the track. IT WAS RACE TIME!!!
We warmed our tires and brakes and rolled around Turn Nine and got a fairly early green flag and we were off and running. I was first into Turn One on the inside with Steve Schmidt applying a lot of pressure on the outside. Right behind and not missing a beat were Benedetti and Ryan less than a car length back. We were RACING! WHOO HOO!!!
...and the shimmy in my car was gone, too.
----------------------------------
Sunday morning at 8 AM I headed from pre-grid to the racing surface. The drive train felt great, but I felt a shimmy on the right front as I would go from trail-braking to a fully loaded right-front wheel on left turns. I had felt this same shimmy in qualifying, but I forgot about it and did not have time to look into it during the torque tube crisis.
Back into my paddock I pulled the right front wheel and quickly found the problem. My right front single adjustable Penske had a broken fitting where the nitrogen filling hose goes into the shock body. I pulled the shock and consulted with a few track veteran crew chiefs. They said the shock would not work right without nitrogen pressure while one guy said I was screwed as he said the oil was now emulsified since I ran it without pressure and that it needed to be rebuilt. With my race in an hour and no parts to rebuild it I just made a make shift repair and put 150 psi into the shock and it held pressure. I throw it back onto the car and headed to pre-grid for the race.
I rolled over to grid and proudly took my Pole position in front of everyone else. Shortly thereafter we got waved out onto the track. IT WAS RACE TIME!!!
We warmed our tires and brakes and rolled around Turn Nine and got a fairly early green flag and we were off and running. I was first into Turn One on the inside with Steve Schmidt applying a lot of pressure on the outside. Right behind and not missing a beat were Benedetti and Ryan less than a car length back. We were RACING! WHOO HOO!!!
...and the shimmy in my car was gone, too.
03-05-2010, 12:54 AM
#14
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Also, I forgot to mention that I think my four off at Turn Five in the Saturday morning rain practice flung one of those WSIR rocks up to my right front shock and broke off the nitrogen hose fitting from the shock body.
Those damn rocks at WSIR are better than a wall I suppose.
Later I will report how my Sunday went downhill and ended in disappointment....
Those damn rocks at WSIR are better than a wall I suppose.
Later I will report how my Sunday went downhill and ended in disappointment....
03-05-2010, 10:13 AM
#15
Melting Slicks
03-05-2010, 12:17 PM
#16
Team Owner
Great story with a happy ending -
RPM kicks buttt!!!
Thanks,Matt
RPM kicks buttt!!!
Thanks,Matt
