A Successful Weekend at Road America

Photos by Tim Winker, Alex Bellus and Optima Batteries.

After our DNS at Brainerd, Fart-hinder Racing (a.k.a. Vintage Ice And Gravel Rally Racing Association / VIAGRRA) was looking to get some track time to make up for it at the Road America "Drift Into Winter" ChumpCar race.

A test session at Brainerd six weeks prior had revealed a few areas that needed attention, most notably the brakes. It turns out that when the anti-lock brake system was neutered in the first racing season, it de-activated the ABS pump which acted as a power boost for the brakes. As a result, the pedal was very hard, and the rear brakes were not working at all. They had not worked since the Saab's first race in 2010! A few hours of study and it was determined that the ABS pump could be activated by re-connecting a few wires that had been clipped out. Sure enough it worked. A few other minor details were cleared up, and we even had time to add a front air dam. With two weeks before the race, the car was ready to go!

The two-day, 16-hour race was primarily the Central Region Chumpionship, but there were only 27 cars entered for that, with teams from Minnesota to Texas participating. An additional 60 cars made the green flag on Saturday morning for a total of 87 cars on track. Fart-hinder Racing was grateful to be among them.

In addition to the usual drivers -- Mark Fitzpatrick, Mike Mandy, Travis McCormick and car owner Tim Winker -- John Stiller from Detroit would join us again. Our primary goal for the weekend was to drive fast and spend as little time as possible in the pits. Finishing in the top half would be a bonus.

Tim was the first on the track, taking the first few laps to get comfortable behind the wheel again and taking no chances. After passing a couple of slower cars, it wasn't long before the front runners were putting the Saab a lap down. Tim's early lap times were over 40 seconds per lap slower than the lead group. He picked the speed up a bit, but the bone stock, 200,000 mile Saab engine provided by Hanover European Parts didn't have the snort of the freshly built, higher horsepower engines in the BMWs. Tim's fast lap was 3:29.07 for an average of just under 70 mph on the 4.1 mile track. With the speedometer working again, it showed over 100 mph at the end of the main straight and as much as 110 on the slightly downhill straight before turn 5.

Collapsed front suspension due to ball joint failure.

The 9-hour session on Saturday was divided into five driving stints of an hour and 45 minutes apiece, with a little time left over for pit stops. Tim came in after his full stint and handed over to Mark. On his fifth lap, the Saab's suspension failed in turn eight, the Carousel. The car was hauled back to the paddock on a flat bed and deposited in our stall. It was quickly obvious that the lower left ball joint had failed. The tire was pushed back against the fender, the inner axle joint was pulled out, and the shock absorber had separated from the lower A-arm. Among the spares we had suspension uprights for both sides, so set about removing a ball joint from one, while we also removed the ball joint pieces from the car. The upper A-arm looked a little twisted so we tried to tweak that back into shape before installing the lower joint. It all went back together with little difficulty, but we didn't have the proper sized nut for the lower shock mount. Since were were parked next to the other Saab 900 team entered, Team Failcar, we raided their spares for a nut, only to find that the threads on our car had been stripped. We contemplated drilling a hole in the stud to pin the nut into place, but eventually just pounded the end of the stud flat, like a rivet.

Mark went back onto the track after nearly two hours, 40 laps behind the lead car. It wasn't long before he trusted the car enough to give it his full effort again. He came in at his specified time and turned the car over to Mike.

Mike had never driven the Road America course before, so spent the first few laps getting used to the course and the car. His stint behind the wheel was uneventful and he came in after a little over an hour.

John was up next and also had an uneventful ride, other than besting Tim's so-far quick lap. His time was 3:27.89, for an average of 70 mph.

Mark and Travis prepare to check under the hood,
while Mike helps John get strapped into place.

John turned the car over to Travis, the most aggressive driver on the team. It wasn't long before his lap times were quicker than the rest of the team, eventually turning a 3:20.97! With a little over a half hour remaining, Travis brought the car in for Mark to get some more laps before the end of the day. The checkered flag was given at about 5:40 pm, nine hours after the green flag was dropped.

The team gave the car a once over, checking for loose nuts and bolts or anything that looked out of the ordinary. Mark reminded Travis to check the ball joint bolts that had been replaced. Good thing because they were quite loose, apparently had only been put on finger tight and not snugged down with a wrench. They were tightened properly before the car was lowered off the jack. Tires were swapped front to rear for the second day's action.

It should be mentioned that the weather was a little cooler than normal for late October, and there was frost on the cars when we got up on Sunday morning. There was a bit of fog in the air as the cars took to the track but it quickly burned off into a lovely autumn day, though it remained cool.

Mike heads into turn 1 on the first lap.

Mike was first up for Sunday's 7-hours of racing, and other than having to stop in the pits for a loose wire to the ABS pump, had no incidents. John, Mark and Travis each took their time in the racing seat, each besting their previous day's fast lap. Once again Travis was quickest of the team with a 3:17.50, an average speed of 73.7 mph.

By the time Tim got aboard for the final hour and a half, it was starting to rain. After a few laps the rain came down harder and several cars spun on the wet surface. A full course yellow was declared so safety crews could retrieve the broken and damaged cars. More than a few had gone off and impacted a barrier, and would not make it back to the race. Tim spun once in turn 12, and got quite loose in 14, prompting him to pull into the pits to see if maybe a rear tire had gone flat. All tires looked good, so it was back on track. Lap times were much slower due to the rain, but Tim was passing cars that had drivers apparently being extra cautious to finish the final hour.

The checkered flag was dropped at the appointed time and it was over. Another BMW had won overall, and the first place trophy in the non-Chumpionship category went to a BMW from Duluth. The Fart-hinder Saab was unofficially classified in 44th place overall.

We toasted the weekend with a selection of beer from Lake Superior Brewing Company, who had kindly provided us with a couple of cases of their product.

Our primary goal had been achieved. We finished with little difficulty and every driver got a load of track time. The car came home with no body damage, only a crinkled front spoiler from the ball joint incident. We finished ahead of the BMWs Tubby Butterman, British-American Racing, Cheap Shot and several other top teams that did not make it to the finish. Smiles all around.

Thanks to our sponsors: eEuroparts.com, Hanover European Parts, Lake Superior Brewing Company and Airport Signs and Graphics.

Tim, John, Travis, Mike, Mark, and a rather twisted air dam.

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.

More on engines (and Moron engines)

The engine that Tim built for this season's racing ran into a number of issues. The engine came out of a 1993 900S purchased for parts. The car was pretty rusty, but had a good engine. Unfortunately it also had an automatic transmission. On the plus side we figured we could strip the car, sell off the transmission and some other parts, take the remains in for recycling, and recoup our investment with a small profit.

For those who have followed the saga of Fart-hinder Racing (a.k.a. V.I.A.G.R.R.A.), you may recall that we have had several other engines, all 2.1-liter normally-aspirated from 1991-93 Saab 900s. The engine that we ran last year at Road America was Engine #3. It had about 200,000 miles on it when it was put in the racer, and has about 40 racing hours between Iowa (2011) and R.A. (2012) on top of that. It puffed a bit of smoke out the tailpipe when shifting. A compression check indicated that cylinder #1 was weak.

At least it looked good.

We will refer to this latest as Engine #4. The compression and leakdown tests looked good, but the 900 it came from had 195K miles on the odo. It was decided to renew the internal wear parts, the seals, gaskets, bearings and timing chain. An engine from the first season (Engine #1) only had about 15 racing hours on it, and the bearings and timing chain looked great so they were placed back into service. In addition, the head from that first season was chosen as it had been planed and cleaned up, and was in better condition than the other heads.

Bolt for A/T on the left,
for manual gearbox on the right.

Unfortunately the re-assembly of Engine #4 met some setbacks. The only flywheel bolts Tim could locate were from the flex plate for the automatic transmission. The unfortunate part was that they are about 1/4" longer than those for a manual gearbox flywheel. They came out the back side of the rear crankshaft flange and jammed against the #5 main bearing housing. Once the proper bolts were installed, the engine turned over, but it never felt quite right.

With only a short amount of running time on the "new" engine, water was discovered in the oil. That turned out to be a couple of timing cover bolts that are hidden behind the water pump pulley. And they are critical bolts, sealing an area where a major water passage feeds the water pump. Under pressure, water from the cooling system could leak into the oil, which it did. Replacement of those bolts did not take, so we chose not to race rather than risk destroying the engine.

Circles are where the flywheel bolts pushed against
the rear bearing housing

Post-race inspection indicates that the #5 main bearing housing was slightly warped when the wrong flywheel bolts were torqued into place. Not much, maybe a few thousandths of an inch, but enough that Tim decided to give up on that engine block. And the water in the oil apparently condensed on the camshafts which caused them to rust, enough that they probably should not be used again. The engine builder is a moron..

So Engine #3 is back in play. A teardown revealed rather worn rod bearings (down to the copper), and mildly worn main bearings, but the crankshaft looks pretty good. New bearings, new seals and it should be running. Not certain yet which head will be used. Either take the cams from a good head and use them in the planed head, or take a head into the machine shop and have a full valve job done.

As if that were not enough, Mike at Hanover European Parts has offered us a running engine. That would be engine #5. It would be nice to have a known running engine as a backup.

We have decided to take the car to an Open Track Day at Brainerd in early September. They have a special rate for ChumpCar teams, and we can have up to five drivers. Looks like we have a full slate lined up already, with five of us hoping to get some track time.

The BIR Jinx Strikes Again

When Fart-Hinder Racing was formed in 2010 to compete in the ChumpCar World Series race at Brainerd, the team built the entire car in about eight weeks. We got to the track in plenty of time, and our 1992 Saab 900S was among the cars to take the green flag for that first race. Despite some clandestine back road testing prior to the event, it was only a few laps before the first driver, Greg Wold, brought the car into the pits with a knocking noise. It was diagnosed as a rod bearing and we didn't have a spare engine so we were done for the weekend.

At BIR in 2011.

There were two races scheduled at BIR in 2011. Greg, Darrell and John had teamed up with Bill "Crash" Collins to race a Dodge Dakota because Bill ran a truck driving school and was willing to pay the expenses as sponsorship. It was decorated to look like Tow Mater from the CARS movies. Tim couldn't come up with a team of drivers so the Saab missed the first BIR race. A few weeks prior to the second race Tim got an offer from Dave Steen to form a team which included Dave's son, Rick Moe and Jim Seubert from the Porsche Club, and former Indy driver Herm Johnson. Tim made an effort to prep the car, but he did it largely on his own and the car suffered from several ailments early in the race including a water pump failure. A chronic overheating problem ultimately put the Saab out of the event after only a few hours on the track.

In 2012, Mark Fitzpatrick and Mike Helmicki agreed to join Tim for the BIR race weekend, but we needed a fourth driver to make a team. Instead we joined up with Jasper Drengler's team and drove his V6 Mustang. The Saab stayed home until the Road America race later in the season.

Which brings us to 2013. The Saab was entered under the team name "Vintage Ice and Gravel Rally Racing Association" (VIAGRRA). Mark Fitzpatrick was back, along with Mike Mandy from Ely, and Travis McCormick who drove with us at Road America last year. The engine and gearbox in the 900 had a lot of hard racing miles. The engine had about 200,000 on it before it was installed in the racer, and it had about an additional 40 hours of racing. A compression test revealed a problem with the #1 cylinder, probably bad valves. And the gearbox was as stock unit that had not been rebuilt before it was put into service in the race car. So Tim felt that a new(er) engine and gearbox would be a very good idea.

A Saab Club guy in So. St. Paul was selling a 1993 900S for parts. It had the 2.1L engine we wanted, but an automatic transmission. The engine passed the compression test, but we pulled it apart to renew gaskets, seals, timing chain and bearings. As long as we were that far into it, we put on a head from the first race season that had been cleaned up and shaved slightly.

With two weeks to go, Tim took a couple of gearboxes to mechanic Mike Speiring, who agreed to assist with building one good gearbox. The job should have taken a day or two, but the gears inside the two boxes were not compatible. That meant several days of tracking down parts and it was nearly a week before all was ready.

Mark and Tim removed the old engine from the car on the Saturday one week before the race. Tim picked away at finishing the engine and gearbox, but there were several setbacks, including having to separate the engine/gearbox unit again to check bearings. The engine would not turn over once the flywheel was installed. The problem turned out to be the wrong flywheel bolts, which were about 1/4" too long and bottomed out on the rear main bearing cap.

Mark and Mike work on a few details
while Travis tries to fix the coolant leak.

Mike drove the long distance from Ely on a regular basis and helped to get a lot of the work done, including removing some spares from the parts car and replacing the front brakes with new parts. He helped install the new drivetrain , which then refused to start. That ultimately turned out to be an engine ground problem, and a battery ground problem.

We made it to the track in time get through tech, then discovered water in the oil. The problem was apparently a couple of missing bolts that pass through the water pump and timing chain cover. The bolts are hidden by the water pump pulley so it was difficult to see and easy to miss. They hold a gasket in place between a water passage and the crankcase oil. Travis attempted to install new bolts but the gasket had failed. We considered heading home to swap in last year's engine, but decided we were all pretty burned out from all the work of the week prior and chose instead to pack it in for the weekend.

In the paddock at Brainerd. Never made it onto the track.

A lot of other drivers came over to express their disappointment that we would not be racing. The car looked good with all of the sponsorship and other decals in place, and there were plenty of positive comments about it.

Tim spent the weekend taking photos and posting regular racing updates on the ChumpCar forum. Mark volunteered to work as a pit marshal. Mike wandered around the track just taking in the action. Travis was able to find a ride with another team, but after a few laps got tapped from behind and spun into a wall which pretty well destroyed the car.

So the BIR jinx continues. We have decided to enter the Road America race in October. With a couple of months to rectify the problems, we might even have a little time left over for improvements. Lest we forget, thanks to the sponsors who support our racing effort: eEuroparts, and Lake Superior Brewing Co. Thanks also to those who helped on this project with advice when things went wrong: Jeff Hofslund at Foreign Affairs of Duluth, Claude Hutchings at Tired Iron Repair in NY, and Jerry Danner at Mile-Hi Body Shop in CO.

Nix on Road America Spring Race

As some of you may have heard, Tim (team owner, chief mechanic, crew chief, driver and all 'round flunky) has been tapped to participate in the Chihuahua Express rally in Mexico. He will be co-driving in the 1968 Porsche 911 pictured here.

Chihuahua Express is based out of the city of Chihuahua, and runs three days. It is like a stage rally in that cars race one at a time on closed public roads. Each day the rally heads in a different direction, traveling out to a lunch break, then back to Chihuahua over the same closed roads.

Originally the Mexico event was scheduled for April 12-14, the weekend prior to the Road America ChumpCar race. Organizers of Chihuahua Express have moved it back a week, to April 19-21, the same weekend as RA-CCWS.

Unless someone wants to buy the Fart-hinder Saab (price is at $2400 including many spares), or rent it and do all the necessary work before then, it will not be at Road America.

If it has not been sold, we may enter the race at Brainerd in July. Anyone who wants to drive needs to let Tim know before mid-April. ChumpCar has changed their entry fees and the number of drivers required. If there are three drivers, plan on $1000 per driver for fees and expenses. If there are four drivers, that drops to $750 apiece. A deposit of $100 required by April 16.