Road America - Oktober Festing

This was the first time we were able to race the Saab at one of America's great road courses. Mark Fitzpatrick from Duluth, who had been one of the drivers in Jasper's Mustang at BIR, was back for a shot at driving the Saab. We had a couple of newcomers to ChumpCar as drivers: John Stiller from the Detroit area is a friend of Mark's from the auto industry. And just a few weeks before the race Tim got an email from Travis McCormick from Waterloo, Iowa. John and Travis met the rest of the team for the first time at the track. The race weekend consisted of a pair of 7-hour races, one Saturday and one Sunday.

Tim started on Saturday and immediately had a problem with the #92 Vintage Ice And Gravel Rally Racing Association (VIAGRRA) Saab 900 stalling in right hand turns. When the engine fired up again it was with a loud BANG accompanied by several feet of flame out the tailpipe. After about four frustrating laps and an hour in the pits, we replaced the ignition coil and the car ran fine. Tim took a few quick laps and brought the car in so the pay-and-drive guys could get more track time. There were a few more issues during the day: losing lube from the gearbox and a loose exhaust, but overall the car ran good, albeit slow.
Prior to Day 2 we found and patched a leak via the "Shift Up" light switch which was broken off the gearbox. Some J-B Weld and a Leinenkugel's bottle cap cured that. Also switched to a heavier gearbox lube as we decided the Redline MTL was just too slippery for a gearbox with 200K on it. And we chained the exhaust to the body so it would not fall down again.


Fluids looked good most of Sunday, with the exception of the brake fluid level which kept dropping. That was causing occasional lack of clutch pedal (brake and clutch share the same reservoir). John managed to spin the car and biff the wall coming out of the Carousel and was worried that he had destroyed the front end. It took us several minutes to find the damage; a small dent in the left front corner of the hood and fender.
After Mark, John and Travis had finished their driving stints, Tim decided to let Peter Merkle (a.k.a. Stiggy) have a few laps since the old guy would be happy with an hour or so behind the wheel. Stiggy drove it so hard that the brakes finally gave out. The pads wore completely out and fluid was leaking past the caliper piston. When he handed the car over to Tim for the final 40 minutes, there was very little brake pedal feel and it went quickly to the floor. Wink went off a couple of times because there was no fluid left. He came in to have it topped off with about 20 minutes remaining, and ran the last portion of the race slowly, using the transmission to slow the car.

But we did see the checkered flag. We were classified in 48th place out of 60 on Saturday, and 35th out of 53 on Sunday. Not quite the weekend we had hoped for, but everyone got track time. There were two 1st time drivers and one 2nd time driver on the team and all had a good time despite the adversity.

The #92 Saab is for sale as Tim has a different race car project to work on. Lots of spares, pretty easy car to work on, room for lots more HP.

Drivin' a Moostang

Mark, Mike and I met up with Jasper Drengler and Brad Nelson, and had a damn good time racing Jasper's V6 Mustang at Brainerd. It was a pair of 7 hour races. We finished both days, but not without some drama.

Though Jasper had installed a surge tank to keep gasoline flowing to the engine as the tank ran down, we still had some fuel starvation issues. Tim managed to go wide entering the cloverleaf and hit a concrete berm, damaging a wheel and flattening a tire.

The 'Stang finished both days, but had to make a few extra pit stops for fuel. Jasper was the final driver on Sunday, when the V6 dropped to 5 cylinders. It slowed down but Jasper was able to make it to the checkered flag.

Results:
Saturday - 13th of 39 starters.
Sunday - 18th of 32 atarters

We will be at Brainerd, but...

... not with the Saab. And not under the Fart-hinder Racing nor V.I.A.G.R.R.A. team names. Instead we have teamed up with Jasper Drengler in his purple Mustang. Jasper was short drivers as well, but together we will have five drivers. In addition to Jasper and Tim Winker, the drivers will be Brad Nelson, Mark Fizpatrick and Mike Helmecki. Brad has driven with Jasper before. Mark and Mike are newcomers to ChumpCar, though both have done the High-Performance Driving Experience in their own cars at Brainerd.

The car has been entered in the past as My Little Pony. Might have to see if I can come up with a better name/theme for BIR. Jasper believes it has the potential to run in the Top Five overall, even with all the BMWs that are expected to be competing on the 2.5 mile Competition Course at Brainerd.

One more driver. Who's next?

Allow me to introduce Mark Fitzpatrick, who stopped by the shop on Friday to give me a check toward racing in the B.I.R. ChumpCar races. He doesn't exactly fit the job "requirements" but those were really just preferences. He is a bit younger than that, and has been a race fan for many years. He has driven his Miata in earnest on the BIR Competition Course, so has some familiarity with speed.

Mark works in the sales department at Kia of Duluth, so will not be available to work on the racer on Saturdays, but is willing to spend a few evenings that may be scheduled.

Welcome aboard Mark!

Also heard back from Ken Cich and from David Byrka, who both declined, though both were quite interested in participating. Who's next to sign up?

Four weeks to the BIR race

and still no drivers. As a consequence, I have not done much work on the race car since it looks like there will be no one to drive it.
Spent most of Saturday trying to finish salvaging parts off an '87 900 that needs to go to the crusher.

I did get the race car running. Charged up a battery, and it fired right off! Even drove it down the road and back. The only problem is that it stalls at idle. 

Here is my list of things to do to get the car race ready:

- Remove the headlights and install the blank grill (did this on Sunday afternoon). Add a front spoiler.

- Replace the frost plug that blew out. This will involve removing the exhaust manifold.

- Replace the transmission. The engine and gearbox have to come out for this operation. The one that is in the car has a bad 2nd gear synchro. The donor gearbox is from the above mentioned '87 900. There are at least two more gearboxes in the garage. The "Frankenbox" needs 3rd gear. There is another gearbox that was torn apart and never re-assembled. It had gotten stuck in 3rd gear. As you might surmise, 3rd gear is a weak spot.

- Check wheel bearings. After nearly 1400 miles on the banking at Iowa Speedway, I would suspect the front bearings to be tired. Likewise the A-arm bushings.

- Buy tires. At least 4, and there are 6 or 8 usable tires left from last year.

And the list of things I would like to do, but are not absolutely necessary:

- Replace the driver's seat. The old Mod Plastia will do the job, but a new padded seat would be much better.

- Build or locate a spare engine. I have a couple of dismantled engines and new bearings, chain, etc.

- Relocate the battery so it isn't in the way of ingress/egress.

- Remove/relocate the top door bar on the roll cage. It makes getting in/out difficult for old guys. 

- There are a few dents and tire marks to deal with... or not. Decal removal, paint? Depends on time available.

- There might be a little wiring to do. The only thing I recall is taillights, but we won't need them for the Brainerd races since they are run in daylight.

Only 3 weekends left to work on the race car before the Brainerd race. Still no definite YES responses. A $300 deposit will hold a spot for you. Check or PayPal works for me.

If you need to rent race gear, contact David Schall at Race Suit Rental. http://racesuitrental.com/ He will bring the suit/helmet to the track and save you the shipping costs.

They're Ba-ack!

Ignore previous blog entry (dated March 31, 2012).

ChumpCar wants Fart-hinder Racing to participate at the Brainerd races on June 30 / July 1. That means DRIVERS WANTED! The Saab is entered, but we need drivers to help pay the bills, so sign up ASAP.

Here are the job requirements:
1.) Ice racing, rally, road racing, autocross, rallycross or other motor sports experience.
2.) Age 50 or above.
3.) More interested in having a good time than being competitive, because the Saab is not very competitive at BIR.
4.) Willing to do some work on the car to get it ready.

I have been telling those already invited to participate to budget about $1000 for the weekend's racing, plus personal expenses such as travel, food and lodging.

Why older guys, you may ask? You may ask.

The team name for 2012 will be Vintage Ice And Gravel Rally Racing Association... V.I.A.G.R.R.A.

If there's time, the car will be painted pastel blue.

Contact Tim Winker via e-mail, Facebook or by phone. (None of which are listed here because any likely candidates should be able to find a way to reach me.)

Closing down Fart-hinder Racing

No one showed up for any meetings called this year, and it's time to register for the B.I.R. race this week. With no confirmed drivers, it's time to call it quits.

The 900 race car and its many spares are for sale. It would make a good starter car for someone. Once sorted, it lasted the entire 25 hours at Iowa and is ready for more. Make me an offer.

Three months to the race at BIR

Need to have a meeting of potential Fart-hinder team members ASAP. Entry deadline for the BIR race is next week. Driver? Crew? Team chef? What would you like to do?

Let's get together on Thursday, March 22, at Clyde Iron in Duluth. How about 6:00 PM?

Road America in April? Probably not.

The deadlines for registration and payment of entry fees for the April 21-22 ChumpCar race at Road America have passed, so I guess we won't be competing there. Too bad, cuz it's a fun track.

In the meantime, the Saab rests quietly under a car cover with little snow on it.

2/19/12 update: Did I say quietly? I charged up a battery and put it into the race car today. It fired right up. I let it run a couple of minutes, but not too long because there is no coolant in the system.

Fart-hinder in print

The tale of the Iowa ChumpCar race from our blog has been picked up by the Intermarque Monthly magazine out of the Twin Cities. Here is a downloadable version.

http://intermarque.org/images/IMM1203.pdf