Let's just drive fast

Sometimes you just want to drive fast. To push your car to its limits, as fast as possible through the corners and hard on the throttle until you have to stomp hard on the brakes for the next turn. Just you and the machine, exploring the maximums of adhesion. Unfortunately there are laws that restrict that sort of activity on the public roads, and it tends to annoy other drivers. It's worse when you have a race car with a loud exhaust and no lights.

You can go racing, of course, but for those of us who participate in ChumpCar World Series, that means about three races a year within reasonable driving distance.

Regular readers of our blog (both of you) will recall that we were unable to start the ChumpCar race at Brainerd due to an engine issue. Tim did build another engine, which he refers to as "the engine I hope we never have to use". That's because it's a pain in the butt to swap engines. Instead we installed a good used 2.1-liter Saab engine acquired from Hanover European Parts. Bone stock with many miles on it.

It was wet as we unloaded, but the rain
was pretty much over for the day.

It ran pretty well on first fire-up after installation, but the only way to be sure it worked good enough prior to the next race at Road America was to get some track time. Fortunately, the BIR Performance Driving School has track days. And they offer a special rate for ChumpCar testing.


Every few weeks, the track allows drivers to take their cars on the course for a day of play. That usually means street legal cars that can go wa-a-a-ay past the posted speed limits. Cars like Corvettes, Porsches, BMWs, Mustangs, Lotuses (Loti?) and the occasional Panoz. We took the Fart-hinder Racing (a.k.a. V.I.A.G.R.R.A.) Saab 900S for a day of play. Three team drivers were on hand to flog the Saab: Mark Fitzpatrick, Mike Mandy and Tim Winker.

Mark slid off into the soft, wet sand across from the pits.

The day began with Severe Thunderstorm Warnings and very heavy rain. But there was a classroom session and rides with the school's instructors, so by the time we were released for the first track session, the rain had stopped and the track was merely wet.

We did encounter a few issues: A small coolant leak at the throttle body, which disappeared after a couple of track sessions, the wipers did not work, the tachometer still does not work, and the rear brakes seemed to be doing little if anything to slow the car. None of this mattered in the big picture. The Saab was on the race track and turning laps at full speed!

There are a couple of places on the BIR track that have a higher pucker factor, notably Turn 2, where the fastest cars lift or brake for a moment. It is possible to take it flat out in the Saab, but we slowed a little due to the wet conditions and since we weren't racing against anyone. Turn 8, the Cloverleaf, also gave us all difficulty, but every driver has the same issue as to the quickest way through there. Tim spun the car there a time or two when the surface was still wet. Mark had a problem on the straight in front of the pits and slid into the sand where the car became mired up to the axles. A hard tug from the tow truck and it was back on track, shedding sand on the straightaway.

Mike dives at Turn 12 in the wet.

As the track dried out and we became more familiar with the car, our confidence levels also went up. We didn't keep lap times, but it was obvious that the car was faster on the track. We each took at least three 1/2 hour sessions and came away full.

We have just over a month to work on the problems we encountered, and to make a few minor improvements prior to the race at Road America.