[CountTracula]

Checkered Flag Racing Association (and invitation only club) is holding a track day at Infineon on 5/5. Strangely, despite the beautiful weather, the event is undersold so I am soliciting track addicts from NorCal who know me to contact me if they would like to attend this event.

Cheers,
-- Nick

 

[LarryB]

Already sign up for May 4th. And will be at Laguna the week before. Doubt I'd do it but either PM or post up the cost / run session details. Thanks.

 

[CountTracula]

Its $295 for 5 x 30 min sessions.

 

[loki]

Dang.
Ol' #66 down for the count after blowing clouds of white smoke at THill a week ago. After 99 track days it's "rebuild time". Hopefully back later in May.

 

[CountTracula]

Dang, Alan. You've had too many troubles lately. I hope you get it fixed up soon.

 

[deddie]

Would love to go Nick, but it looks like I may have sent a valve into a piston yesterday at THill - on the second lap of session #1.

Dave

 

[CountTracula]

Ouch, Dave. Let me know if you need any help fixing it!

 

[Mr. Know]

Would love to go Nick, but it looks like I may have sent a valve into a piston yesterday at THill - on the second lap of session #1.

Dave

-eek- :wallbang: Any idea what went wrong?

 

[deddie]

I think general track abuse was the culprit. I really can't blame the car. I have exceeded 8500 RPM on downshifts and rev-matching (which sometimes becomes "overrev-matching") more times than I can remember. I was still warming up on lap 2 when the engine sputtered at about 6500 RPM (at the apex of turn 2), immediately followed by a very loud and constant rattle from the engine. My power was completely gone as well. I pulled off and waited for the tow. I am fairly confident that the problem is valve-related, hopefully no other damage occurred. I should know for sure tomorrow.

 

[robains]

Deddie,

Fuel starve or oil starve -- what tires are you using? T2 is the exact same spot I ran into fuel starve (1st time destroyed the motor, 2nd time I got lucky but lost a valve later on the street) -- 3rd motor should be good I hope (knocking on wood).

Loki,

99 events on a single motor is pretty good, congrats!

Nick,

$295 kinda pricey for a one day deal, but I'm interested -- who should I contact?

Rob.

 

[deddie]

Rob -

I am running A005 tires. Technically, I only ran them for one lap (since I just got them). Since it was lap #1 (on new-to-me tires) I was not pushing especially hard.

I have a properly functioning accusump, so oil starvation should not be the issue (plus, I don't believe I was pulling enough G's to invoke oil starvation). When my problem happened, my first thought was oil. I changed the oil before the event and started panicking that maybe I did not tighten the drail plug. Upon inspection, my oil was fine.

I thought about fuel starvation, but my issue seems way worse than fuel. Unbelieveably loud metal-to-metal sound coming from the engine and the motor continued to run through turns 3, 4 and 5 (the sound got progressively worse and louder). I killed the engine after I crested the top of turn 5 and coasted onto the dirt on the right. Other than the initial sputter in turn 2, the engine did not sputter through turns 3, 4 and 5, but the engine would not "make power". It somewhat held power, but pushing down the accelerator resulted in the loud metallic rattling. It seemed like I had fuel. Plus, my fuel tank was completely full.

 

[spf4000]

Ugh, I'm gonna be in Japan again. Any track days going on at Sears, Laguna, or Thunderhill on 5/2 and 5/3? (doubtful, but I thought I'd ask anyway)

 

[robains]

deddie,

Are you data logging fuel pressure, AFR, or oil pressure? I posted some of my video with oil pressure and AFR data for Thunderhill -- you can easily see at T2 the fuel starve problem (tank slosh) as the AFR goes from 11.2 to 16 and engine loses power. This will cause excessive heat resulting in detonation and in my case destroyed the piston rings which proceeded to scar the cylinder wall on engine #1.

You may have broken a valve stem top.

How many G's were you pulling and how many gallons of gas were in your tank?

Here's my video, fast forward to the 11:00 min - that's Turn 2, look at the A/F and listen to the engine appear lose power - this is fuel starve.

<object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2717206&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2717206&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/2717206">Thunderhill 12-13-08 - Session 3 - Lotus Exige S</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/robainscough">Rob Ainscough</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.

 

[deddie]

deddie,

Are you data logging fuel pressure, AFR, or oil pressure? I posted some of my video with oil pressure and AFR data for Thunderhill -- you can easily see at T2 the fuel starve problem (tank slosh) as the AFR goes from 11.2 to 16 and engine loses power. This will cause excessive heat resulting in detonation and in my case destroyed the piston rings which proceeded to scar the cylinder wall on engine #1.

You may have broken a valve stem top.

How many G's were you pulling and how many gallons of gas were in your tank?

Here's my video, fast forward to the 11:00 min - that's Turn 2, look at the A/F and listen to the engine appear lose power - this is fuel starve.

Not logging anything. I should be, but I am not. I am just getting in and driving as fast as I can. My buddy calls me Cole Trickle because I don't know a lot about cars. Tank was completely full.

 

[robains]

Yeah, my fuel tank was completely full also when it starved. I have Phil's surge tank solution now, that should solve the problem.

Back to running Sears, I looked up "Checkered Flag Racing Association" but can't seem to find a valid contact Email. Any suggestions on how to get signed up for this Sears event?

Thanks, Rob.

 

[robains]

Tried to send an Email to the cfra.net and it got bounced back?

 

[CountTracula]

I just sent you a PM about it. Hope to see you there.

 

[robains]

Thank you Nick! Responded.