Long distance race . . .

Did you drive up there with your tires? And did you have the A/C on or did you have the windows down?

 

I'd love to say yes, but truthfully I trailer'd the car. I new I was going to push the car to its limits and at the time it had the stock shortblock (I had disconnected the rev limiter) and didn't want to break something and have to have it towed some 500 miles back home. So I took the pickup and my car trailer..................A LOT of people trailer their cars.
OK, even though it was hot with the race suit/helmet/shoes I had a plug in fan that I used during the race...............Windows down?????? Do you realize that at 40MPH with the windows down you are wasting as much HP as you would to actually turn on the A/C.....................real race cars don't have A/C!!!!!!!
Oh, one other thing I did was to replace my cats with an off the road Basanni one...........since I already had a Basanni Cat Back system.....another reason I trailer'd it.............wasn't really legal to drive on the road............and was much louder. Remember, this was a 1997 car.
As for the Goodyear Eagles................for doing one race you don't need to spend an arm and leg...............this time anyway...................maybe next time you will need slicks on all four corners once you feel the need to step up a couple of class's..............maybe the 160mph???????
The other thing....................if you can stretch your budget or find someone that has one..................get a video of you driving the car..........and record the conversation between you co-pilot...................I always said I would do this but never did....................and since I probably (or ???????) not do this race again unless I find a fast car to beg/borrow/or steal........it would have been nice to have when I turn 80...........
So, let us know how it goes and if we can be of help in anyway.

John

P.S. I almost forgot..................if you don't have a rear sway.....GET ONE! You will need it.................trust me on this one...........

 

ok great that answers it, just need good tires, need a rear sway bar, and still need a fire extinguisher. I have really good gear, gonna borrow a friend's Hans device, will go over the entire car with Bryant and that should do it.

 

Yes, that sounds good!
Don't forget about your navigator, he/she should also have good safety equipment.
Good Luck and above all...........Have Fun!

 

So when is it happeing? Good luck to you!!!

 

It's a big event, from the 14-18, the day of the race is the 18th.

 

So just don't get all wild and crazy at the before party....................you can really live it up and hoist one for me when you cross the finish line..........."Just keep it between the lines and The Shinny Side Up", have fun and be safe.

When you hit that 14 mile straight just keep your head, because when you are going 120+ for 13 miles and you start to slow for that curve.........you will feel like you could get out of the car and run faster than you are going around the curve............remember..........your navigator should be watching most of the gauges except the tach and speedometer, you need to be picking your next apex and the one after that...................WOW, this is bringing back memories I haven't felt in awhile and it still makes my heart rate to up..................totally exciting!

Just one more little piece of advice from one racer to the next............if you ever find yourself in trouble, don't just slam on the brakes, ease into them and try and steer yourself out of trouble......and if you ever do "On off and on", as we call them in SCCA, where you get two wheels off in the soft stuff, let off on the gas and let the car go straight.........don't immediately try and steer out of it.

God Speed!

 

Did you check to make sure you have the fuel capacity for the distance? You are going to be sucking a lot of petrol at those RPM's.

Sounds exciting. I have a .90 overdrive gear from my G-Force Im not going to use.

 

planning on gearing down for the race. I haven't done the math yet but if I can stay in the 3K range I shouldn't be burning that much more than I normally do at 2K since I have such low compression, the engine is pretty boggy at 2K. I have 16 gallons and it's 90 miles.

 

Don't you have a 5spd? I would think twice about gearing down, but I don't remember what gears you have in it now. Trying to use 5th will be a waste of time...........you will actually slow down unless you've got the HP to keep pulling in 5th. If not you will slow down then slowly gain more speed.................but the longest straight is around 14 miles...............and you need to watch your tech speed. It's all about keeping the motor in the powerband because you will be shifting a lot (it's all about keeping the motor in the torque band where it will produce the most HP/pulling power.....(One Rule of Thumb when road racing is that you leave the corner at the same or faster speed than when you entered it, so if you come into a corner at 100mph, you leave the corner at 100mph)(and remember, never, never, never, never, brake while are in the corner, you brake before the corner)...........what is the top end of your rpm range? and how well is the motor put together? This will determine how hard you push it, or maybe you want to play it safe......................but I would think if you are planning to tackle the 14 mile straight your motor will be doing a little more than 3grand............more like 5grand towards the end..................Let me know what gears you have now, and what the 4th gear in your transmission
is and what tires you think you will be running..................also, you will have two people in the car....................but even if you only got 8 miles to the gallon you have plenty of fuel....................remember to run the good stuff because running the motor for 90 miles.................she is liable to get a little warm (inside the motor....exhaust manifolds....etc)
If it were me I'd just forget about 5th.............you will see what I mean if try and use 5th on the longest straightaway..............but don't linger too long, when you are trying to be competitive seconds make the difference......Here I go again getting caught up in the race as if I'm driving....I'm not, you are!
You make up your mind what you think is best and go out and do some experimenting on your own to see what works or doesn't work for you. The only way you are going to learn is just do it!
Ok, who do I know that has a fast car.................and would he let me borrow them for a quick hour of so......Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

 

I have a 2.94, 1.94, 1.34 and 1.0 gears in the transmission. I'm not planning on running the fifth gear at all. The tires are probably gonna be 25.5" in diameter. I do want to change from my 4.10 gears down to 2.79.
I built the engine with bryant and the bottom end was put together by a reputable engine shop. I can spin the motor to 6800 without any trouble....so far.

 

I don't mean to sound like someone who knows it all, but have you considered going into the Touring class where the Tech speed is 124mph vs. the GT class where the Tech speed is 140mph? Remember, you are shooting for an overall average time for finishing the 90 mile course. I know you understand what the Tech speed is, but can the Maverick really do 140mph and do you really want push it that hard this first time out? If you would choose the T Class and the 110mph group your tech speed would be 124mph and on the straights I'm sure with the right gearing you could not punish the motor and still get to the Tech speed when you need to make up time after negotiating some of those switch backs and hard turns where you have to slow down considerably..................just a thought. Plus, remember this is kind of like bracket racing.........there are a lot guys who have cars that can go faster than their Tech speeds (some have rev limiters that will not allow them to faster than their tech speeds)....."Called Sand Bagging".
Ok, remember, you don't want to base your gearing just on the straight and narrow. With 2.79's you will not be spending much time in 4th at all, maybe with the exception of the 14 mile straightaway. I would say the lowest you should go is 3.25's.............and I would strongly consider 3.55's with the combo you have.............although this would mean that at 124mph during the 14 mile straight stretch you would be at around 5600/5800rpm.........if the motor was put together well this shouldn't be an issue.....if you want to push it that hard.......................I just think the 2.79's are going to keep you in 2nd and 3rd most of the time..............IMHO

 

that's a great point you brought up, I'll talk it over with Bryant. When you do the race for the first time you have to be in the touring class and the tech speed is 124. Maybe next year I'll advance to the next speed if I like the race and stick with it.