build.drive.break.repeat

Have you ever heard the phrase “GIGO” also known as “Garbage in Garbage out”?  This phrase should be your mantra if you intend to take advantage of the race car data acquisition system you invested in.

For many, an AiM Data Acquisition system is just an overpriced lap timer.  It’s not because it is complicated or hard to use.  Many times it’s just the fact that when you try to retrieve data, it does not make all that much sense.  You know, when you overlay laps the data traces don’t line up, the start finish lines are not in the same place for two different sessions, or some sensors are not giving you a reading that looks correct.

The reason for this is GIGO.  The data logger is just a recorder.  It can’t think for you and does not know what you want to get out of it.  It’s just recording whatever it sees.  You just laid down one hell of a fast lap, but the logger only recorded rubbish.

Here are a few easy steps to get you started this season collecting mountains of clean and useful data.

You must start of by calibrating your system, consistently.  You should test and calibrate each sensor every single time before heading to the track.  Do it in the same place every time.  If you are using a system with an internal accelerometer, be sure to calibrate (zero) the sensor on flat ground.  When the car is sitting still on flat ground, you should get a reading of 0g.

Other sensors like potentiometers should also be calibrated.  Steering angle (SA) and throttle position sensor (TPS) usually use a sting, rotary, or liner potentiometer to record their position.  An example of a properly calibrated TPS would display 0% when the throttle is closed and display 100% when the throttle is wide open.  It seems simple, but it’s one of the most overlooks items I see on my clients cars.

Be sure to reset the date and time every day too.  This will sync the data logger’s clock with the clock on your PC.  This is helpful when you are looking for a specific session in your data folder.  If you log the wrong date and time, you will have a hard time determining what session it is.

After calibrating the sensors, I also like to check the operation of all of the channels I have installed.  For AiM systems, this is very easy to do.  Just open the Race Studio 2 software and click on the “Online” button.  If your PC is connected to the logger, and the logger is switched on, this opens a screen that shows all of your sensor outputs in real time.  Engine RPM, speed, oil pressure, TPS, voltage, and everything else you are logging will be displayed.

If the car is on jack stands, start the engine and put the transmission in gear.  Does the engine RPM and speed display correctly?  Do a reality check.  Does the data being displayed seem to jive with what you are expecting?  If the engine is idling and the RPM reads 2700 rpm, you know that can’t be right… or you have yourself one hell of a bad ass car.  Is the oil pressure and water temperature rising correctly as the engine warms up?  Test the lap timer by waving the timing beacon in front of the receiver on the car and seeing if the lap count goes up with each pass. (Note, be sure to pause between passes with the beacon at least as long as the obscure time you have set up in the configuration.)

If you are using an AiM GPS Module, AiM SmartyCam, or AiM Solo it is good to check that the system is getting a good satellite signal.  Also check that you have the GPS file for the track you are going to loaded so you will get proper lap times, start/finish line position, and a correct track map displayed on your video overlays.

Once all of the sensors are tested and calibrated, you are now ready to load the car on the trailer and head to the track.  Once you get to the track, you won’t have much free time to tinker with the system, so taking the time now to get it all sorted out will pay dividends when you get home and have tons of great data and video to stare at for days.

If you have a specific question about calibrating your AiM data system, just shoot me an email at carlo@tcmotorsports.net and I will be happy to help you.  If I don’t know the correct answer, I promise to make up a really great one.

“I’m testing at Super Fun Track this weekend.”  The first time you say it, you really feel like a rock start.  TESTING a race car!  How bad ass is that?!  You have visions of a Formula 1 private test in Barcelona.  But, what really happens is it turns into a track day where you drive around for five sessions having never lifted the hood on the race car, or opened your driving notebook.

Been there, done that, got the T-Shirt.  Once you start the driving day, you get caught up in the fun of driving, and since the car is not trying to kill you, you hear your grandpa saying, “Damn it, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  So, call it what it really is.  It’s a track day, not a test.  It’s OK to go to the track to just have some fun driving around.

But at some point, just having fun at a track day leads to you getting your bumper handed to you at a race meeting.  So let’s talk about going to the track to actually TEST the driver or the car so you can move up on the grid at that big race this summer.

Step one- you must have a plan.  Don Kitch at ProFormance Racing School always says, “Plan your work, and work your plan.”

 To test the driver, you will need a few basic tools.  You will need note book, pencil, and maybe a lap timer or stop watch at a bare minimum.  The plan for the day should not include just driving around for five sessions doing exactly the same thing.  Try a bunch of different lines and see what line let’s you get on the power quicker coming out of the corner or sets you up better for the long straights.  Work on some basic skills like releasing the brakes earlier at corner entry.   Maybe have a session where you slow down a bit and just work on hitting every apex, every time, by less than a few inches of accuracy.  Back up what you see from the seat by hanging a video camera off the side of the car to see how close you are actually getting to that cone.  When I am coaching someone and I whip out the GoPro with the suction cup mount for the fender, my clients get that “Oh crap he’s going to make me prove it” look on their face.

You could also try driving off-line to simulate overtaking another car in the braking zone, or even around the outside of the corner.  A few years ago, I was driving in a GRAND-AM race at New Jersey Motorsports Park and I qualified in P2 (outside front row next to Andrew Caddell).  I wanted to know what the grip was like on the outside of Turn 1 since if I was going to try to overtake for the lead on lap one, that’s where I would have to do it.  In the warm-up session before the race, I drove every lap on the outside line of Turn 1 to see if I would have enough grip on the dirty part of the track to pull off a pass.  What did I find?  The track was way too dirty to pull off a pass.  Good thing I TESTED it!  If I had gotten brave at the drop of the green and tried to overtake the pole sitter there, I would have found myself in the weeds.  But I now knew it was impossible to pass there, so I never even tried it during the race.

Driving faster around racing circuit is not usually about growing larger attachments and sticking your neck out, it’s about arming yourself with knowledge by testing ideas before having to actually use those ideas in competition.

Let’s move to testing the car.  This can be daunting for people who have limited experience with race car testing, or a limited understanding of vehicle dynamics.  Others are just afraid to turn a knob on the car, for fear of making a good handling car bad.  I once fit in to all of those categories.

At one test day we made about 20 adjustments to a PRO3 car we were working on.  Some adjustments were totally new to us; others were for validating things we already knew.  We got slower every session but the data we gathered and the problems we solved will help us later.

You have to try new things.  You will likely go backwards after some adjustments.  Don’t be afraid, I’ll help you with this right now.

What was Step 1?  Oh yeah, have a plan.  Before you even load the trailer to head to the track, you should have already ran the entire test day on paper.  Time is short (and expensive) at a test day and you will have none to waste.  Know exactly what parts you want to test.  Maybe it’s sway bars or ride height adjustments.  Running through the adjustments (sweeping) on the shocks is also a good idea.  You could collect data by adjusting tire pressures from low to high and see what it does to tire temperature and overall car feel.  One critical step in testing is taking accurate notes.  If you adjust something, you must be able to adjust it back to precisely where you stated.  Always have a base starting point to work from (position 1).  For example, when testing shocks, position 1 may always be full soft.

Now that you know what you want to test, you’ll need to gather your tools.  If you are adjusting sway bars for example, you’ll need a jack, some stands, and a couple wrenches to move from one adjustment hole to the other.  Practice this adjustment through the full sweep of adjustments in your garage before you get to the track to be sure you don’t run into any snags and know how to do it quickly.  Have a script of what adjustments you will make at the track already planned.  Here is an example:

• Session 1: Front bar set to position 1 (soft), rear bar set to position 1 (soft)
• Session 2: Front bar set to position 3 (full stiff) , rear bar set to position 3 (full stiff)
• Session 3: Front bar set to position 3, rear bar set to position 1
• Session 4: Front bar set to position 1, rear bar set to position 3
• Session 5:  Front bar set to position 1, rear bar disconnected

The goal is to know what you will change, try it, then write down the results.  Does the car react quicker or slower to steering inputs?  Did the balance shift from understeer to oversteer?  Do you get more or less inside wheel spin?  Is the front inside tire lifting off the track more or less now?  Did lap or sector times improve or get worse?  You can analyze the results later if all you are trying to do is sweep the settings and collect data.  Sometimes, the results you are expecting are not what you get, so try it even if it seems like it might be a wrong move.  I have stumbled upon some interesting setups by accident.

A test day is not always about going fast.  It can also be about trying things for the sake of trying things.  You may only be looking for changes to the car in certain areas, not the entire lap.  Sometimes I drive most of the lap at a reduced pace and then ramp up my pace for a specific sector of the track to test the changes.

Now that you have swept the adjustments of a specific part of the car, you now have a better understanding of what happens when you actually need to make an adjustment in competition.  This could be critical at a race meeting, where instead of guessing at an adjustment before the green flag, you are now making a confident and informed decision based on experience and data.

Do you have a specific question about testing or are having a hard time deciding where to start?  Shoot me an email at carlo@tcmotorsports.net and I’ll help you with some ideas.

How can you compare the pinnacle of motorsports- Formula 1, with lowly club racing? Having raced at both the professional level and club level in production based sports cars; I can share with you what I learned from experience. 

Formula 1 is exciting because the cars are beautiful, made of exotic materials, use the latest technologies available and campaign races at far reaching venues.

 Come to think of it, club racing is exactly the same.  Drivers and team think their cars are beautiful.  Exotic materials like carbon fiber, titanium and other lightweight composite materials are making their way into club racing.  Many teams use technologies like data acquisition and driving six hours in an old pickup truck is pretty far reaching.

In the Pacific Northwest, the biggest and most rapidly growing class around is PRO3.  It has about 60 cars built and about 40 show up on given weekends (let’s see F1 do that), and the numbers go up every day.  It is a single make class using the E30 chassis BMW 325is with rules limiting modifications to help create close and safe racing while keeping budgets contained.  For the most part, this has worked, but since it is racing, someone always wants to beat someone to the finish line.  Even at the club racing, teams need to be creative with how they develop the cars and how they spend their time and financial budgets.

Every year I see new parts being invented just for this one class.  The rule book gets reinterpreted every winter and creative new solutions show up in the spring.  In the winter before the 2010 PRO3 season, I had created a list of things I wanted to test and develop on the cars.  I even tested some of the concepts and they showed promise.  While it was within the letter of the rules, it was not in the spirit of the rules.  Before the season started, I submitted and wrote a series of new rules to protect the class from the areas I wanted to develop.  Sounds a lot like the double diffuser in F1, huh?

 Advanced technologies are being used like on-board data acquisition and video to give teams the edge in car development.  If you pay close attention, you will see PRO3 cars with thermocouples measuring and logging, in real-time, things like brake disc temperatures among other things, as well as systems to measure aerodynamic efficiencies.

 Drivers are hiring professional race driver coaches to help them take full advantage of the car they have.  And as teams get more comfortable with the economic climate, they also get more comfortable with spending.  This arms race is a GREAT thing actually.  This continuous development keeps many local businesses alive as well as trickles down the previous technology to newer teams or teams with less resources.  The new developments also improve the class as a whole by forcing everyone to try just a little harder all the time.  If they don’t, they will find themselves on the bottom pretty quick.

The same happens in F1.  Some newer teams use top level teams old technology and previous season designs, giving them a chance to play in a class they might not otherwise be able to afford.

Finally, not all drivers get paid in F1 either.  Many actually write a check so they have a chance to drive.  The same happens in club racing.  It’s called ‘arrive and drive’ and it happens at all levels of motorsport.  In F1 they just hide it better so the average spectator does not see the race as a bunch of wealthy guys playing with expensive toys.  Without arrive and drive in motorsport, the fields would be much thinner and some important advances in the sport would not happen.

Really, the only thing I can see different about F1 and club racing is maybe the decimal point placement in the budget. Other than that, it’s still all about spending as much as you can stand, and train your driver and team to have more skill than your competitors.

Last month during a Conference race weekend at Portland International Raceway (PIR), we mounted a GoPro camera to catch the rear suspension of a BMW PRO3 race car in action. The view is facing forward just behind the right rear suspension. We’ve added some captions to orient you if you’re not familiar with PIR. Check out the video below!

Be sure to watch the takaways after you watch the video.

Here are some of the things you’ll see in this video:

• Suspension movement
• Sway bar movement
• Differential movement 
• Tire flexing
• FIA curbing as the driver hits his marks (and sometimes goes beyond).

What do you see or notice in the video?

Whether you’re drivng a street, track, or race car, at some point you’ll wonder, “When should I replace my brake rotors?“  In today’s video, I’ll show you four front Brembo rotors from BMW PRO3 E30 race cars in four stages of use and abuse and explain what to look for when deciding when to replace your brake rotors.

Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:

• A brand new brake rotor is sexy
• A properly bedded used brake rotor has some small heat checks
• A brake rotor that should be replaced has a greater amount of heat checks that are longer, as well as fractures
• A brake rotor that is no longer round should not be used. 

How do you determine when to replace your brake rotors? Please share in the comment section below!

Do you have all of the personal safety equipment you need to go racing or to a high performance driver education (HPDE) day?  Over the years I’ve developed a list of gear that I always have in its own bag, ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Here’s a list of what’s in my gear bag:

• Helmet (in its own bag) along with one clear and one tinted visor
• HANS device
• Nomex suit
• Nomex (or Carbonex) underwear
• 2 pairs of Nomex gloves (after I get a new pair, I keep the old pair as a spare)
• 2 balaclavas (these get sweaty so it’s nice to have two)
• Nomex shoes/boots
• 2 pairs of Nomex socks (these get sweaty like balaclavas so it’s nice to have a spare pair)
• Earbuds (to use with the radio)
• Earplugs (to use without the radio)
• Helmet freshener
• Extra underwear (just making sure you’re paying attention!).

Check that all of your gear is in excellent condition (no holes, frayed seams, or stains like grease or fuel) and that it still meets the specifications of the series you’re driving in.

The best way to keep your gear working the way it was designed and have it last a long time is to only wear your drivers gear when you are driving on track. (Plus, there’s no better way to say “I’m new to this” than to wear your drivers gear all day.) Take the couple of minutes to change out of your gear after each session to make sure your gear works the way it was intended when you need it.

Don’t have everything on the list?  You’ve still got time to get it before the season starts. What’s in your gear bag?

Author- Taryn Sparacio

Although fires are rare in club road racing and at track days, they do happen.  And, when they do, fires can be very destructive and dangerous.  In this post, I’ll cover basic information about fire systems for your race car or track car, from hand held bottles to full suppression systems, what to keep in mind when installing them, and what kind of maintenance they need.

Hand Held Fire Extinguishers
The minimum requirement for your race car or track car is a hand held fire extinguisher. Get a good one! Not some cheap ABC rated extinguisher from the hardware store designed to put out a little fire in an office waste paper basket, but one designed to put out race car fires.

Our pick for extinguishing medium is Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF). This is the same stuff they put out jet airplane and space ship fires (foam the runway!). They use it because the liquid helps cool the hot parts of the car that are on fire, helping the fire stay out once it is extinguished. It also creates a film that prevents oxygen from getting to the flames, which is what puts it out.

Fire Suppression Systems
If you can afford it, I would consider getting both a hand held AFFF and a built in fire suppression system. The full system gives you protection that a hand held can never provide. If the car is moving at high speeds, chances are you won’t be able to use a hand held, but you CAN simply pull the handle on a system to do the job for you while you focus on bringing the car to a halt or bailing out.

The full system should be AFFF and should have five or six nozzles. The more nozzles the better (they are what shoot the foam at the fire)! If you have a fuel cell, then you can direct one or two at the cell. Another two or three should be mounted in the driver’s compartment, and the last two should be mounted in the engine compartment.

Installation of Fire Suppression Systems
Have the fire suppression system installed by a professional shop that understands fire systems and race car crashes if possible. They know what works and what doesn’t work because they’ve seen a lot of systems (done the right way and wrong way) and installed a lot of systems themselves.

The system bottle should be mounted in the driver’s compartment very securely. Build a sturdy mount that is welded to the car, and use nuts and bolts to secure the bottle base to the mount; sheetmetal screws are not acceptable. (Yes, we’ve acutally seen that.)

The pull handles should be mounted to metal. Never mount the pull handles on anything that is plastic or that is attached to anything plastic. If the car is hot and the plastic handle or the panel the handle is mounted to melts, when you pull the handle you will likely pull the handle and maybe the entire panel right off in your  hand.

Also put the pull handle where you can reach it with your eyes closed. If your race car cockpit fills with smoke, you won’t be able to see anything anyway, so plan for that.

In the end, ask yourself this: In the event of major impact will the bottle, tubing, or nozzles…

• …come loose, move or become damaged?
• …become pinched between the cage and the outside sheet metal (door, fender, etc) of the car?
• …get hit by the body of the car and damage the bottle (activating the system inadvertently or damage the bottle head?

If you said “yes” or “maybe” to any of these questions, redo the system!

Maintenance of Your Fire System
Finally, AFFF fires systems should be protected from freezing temperatures unless they have been treated with an anti-freeze from the factory.  If you do not know, ask the manufacturer.  Also, almost all systems should be serviced (e.g., sent to the factory for refill and recharge) every two years to ensure proper operation.

I hope these points enable you to make a smart decision when going to install a fire system in your race car or track car.

A few weeks ago, I walked the track at Portland International Raceway. How did I do in the race? I actually wasn’t driving that weekend. I walked the track so I could help the clients I was coaching get the most out of their outing.

I discovered that there were some slight paving changes at the apex of Turn 1 since the last time I walked it. This meant you could drive the car over the apex much more aggressively and potentially reduce your lap time. (I also learned that the raccoons forage for food on the back straight early in the morning.) 

My walk paid off because one of my clients was quickest of the weekend using the things I learned during my walk.

So, if you are looking to go faster and reduce your lap times, doing the same things over and over again will not give you a different result. Try something different!

My #1 tip going into this weekend is to walk the track, even if it is your home track! When was the last time you walked a track? Have you EVER walked a track? Get to the track early and walk it before the track goes green. If you want to be serious about winning, you need to be serious about waking up early and putting on your sneakers before your competitors have even thought about waking up!

As you walk the track, try these three things:

• Turn around every now and then to see the surface from a different angle—You never know what you might see. Things like dips, cracks, elevation and camber changes may not be obvious looking in the normal direction.
• Feel the surface with the bottom of your shoes—Does the texture and subsequently the grip level change from one place to another?
• Look at what the run off area looks like—Have you found the safe places to drive off the track if you need to because of carrying too much speed? It’s a lot nicer knowing about the big rock or hole hiding in the grass BEFORE driving over it.

Have a great time this weekend and again I encourage you to really work on learning and trying something new this weekend. Pounding around the track doing exactly the same thing over and over again is just a waste of time and money.

Do you have a tip that you use when learning a new track, or getting more familiar with your home track? Leave a comment and help the rest of us learn!

I’ve heard it hundreds of times before, “Carlo, I am getting pulled on the straights but I am all over the guy in the brake zone!” Have you ever noticed that EVERYONE says they are hella wicked on the brakes, but get pulled on the straights? Come on, everyone can’t have exactly the same problem, can they? How can that be?

In reality, getting pulled on the straights is frustrating and can be expensive to fix, especially in single-make classes like Spec Miata, PRO3, SpecE30, Formula Ford, etc. You can’t do much about it, right? You have tried every trick known to man to get more exit speed onto the front straight. Heck, you even tried all of the stuff your competitors recommended (which is always a lie, BTW). But the car ahead of you STILL pulls away… and you always catch them, because after all, you are very good on the brakes.

So what is happening here? Let’s take a moment to look at this in more detail. I’m sorry to say, but this is going to require math! Math is everywhere, it never lies, and it is not subjective.

Take a look at this formula: Rate x Time = Distance (R x T = D). Rate is the speedof your fast-moving performance car. Time is the time gapbetween your fast-moving performance car and the obviously cheating and faster-moving performance car ahead of you. Distance is the amount of groundyou are losing to said cheater car ahead of you.

An Example

You are coming out of the final turn onto the front straight and you are 20 feet (0.27 seconds) from the guy’s bumper ahead of you. At the apex you are both going 50 mph and are both flat on the gas at the same time accelerating out of the corner and down the straight. Slowly you lose ground and your faith in your engine builder.At the end of the straight just before going to the brakes, you are doing 130 mph and are now 52 feet behind and you have lost over twice the ground on the guy ahead. Or have you?

Yes, you have lost ground in terms of feet (distance), but you are just as close as you ever were in terms of time. Time is, after all, how we measure performance around a track. Even though you are now over 52 feet further back, you are still exactly 0.27 seconds backto the car ahead.

The Math (for You Non Believers)

At the Apex of the Corner
Rate = 50 mph
Distance = 20 ft = 0.0038 mi
Time = ?

T = D/R
T = 0.0038 mi/50 mph
T = 0.000076 hr = 0.27 sec

At the End of the Straight
Rate = 130 mph
Distance = 52.2 ft = 0.0099 mi
Time = ?

T = D/R
T = 0.0099 mi/130 mph
T = 0.000076 hr = 0.27 sec

There are also situations where you are actually getting pulled on the straights, and those reasons can include a bad run out of the corner, poor engine performance, excessive driveline loses, bad wheel bearings, and an alignment that has your tires scrubbing down trackto name just a few. Heck, sometimes the guy ahead is actually cheating.

The take away is that you’re probably not hella wicked on the brakes and you’re probably not being pulled on the straights…unless there’s a cheater car in front of you.

In my previous post I discussed the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs’ (ICSCC’s or Conference’s) Novice Program for road racing.  In this post, we’ll discuss the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA’s) Novice Program for road racing. 

Get a Competition License
As with any sanctioning body, before you get on track, you must get a competition license.  Getting an SCCA Competition License is similar to getting an ICSCC Competition License, which we’ve discussed here.  The SCCA Novice Permit Application (and instructions) is here. 

Attend an Approved Driver School
If you have little to no performance driving experience, you will most likely have to attend at least two SCCA-approved driver schools.  However, there are a few scenarios depending on what type of school you take and how you perform in that school:

• If you attend an accredited driving school, like ProFormance Racing School’s two-day competition school, it may count as one, or even both of your required SCCA driver’s schools.   In 2011, ProFormance is holding their two-day competition schools in March, April, May, June, September, and October (click here to see their schedule). 
• If you attend a private racing school before your first SCCA driver school, the Chief Steward of your SCCA driver school may waive your second SCCA driver school.
• If you attend a private racing school after your first SCCA driver school, you must request a waiver from your Divisional Licensing Administrator. You can obtain the address of your Divisional Licensing Administrator by calling Member Services at 800-770-2055.

A list of SCCA driver schools is here. 

Race in Two Races as a Novice
Once you complete your driver school requirements, you’ll then race in two Regional Races as a Novice.  You are thrown in with the “big boys and girls” in these first races, whereas other sanctioning bodies like Conference have you race your first three races with other novices to get acclimated and not so overwhelmed (see our explanation here [insert link]).  After successful completion of your two races as a Novice, you are eligible to receive an SCCA Regional Competition License.

SCCA is a great option if you’re thinking about going road racing.  The club has been around since 1944 and produced more road racers than any other sanctioning body.  To get more information on getting an SCCA Competition License, go to SCCA’s website.

Hope to see you at the track!

We’re all about making things easier for ourselves.  So, we created our own high performance handling cheat sheet.  The card lists the various adjustments you can make to your car to either decrease understeer or decrease oversteer.

In my mind, balance is at the heart of all adjustments you can make to your car. If the car is understeering, meaning you are turning the steering wheel but the car is not turning (also described as push or the car being tight), you want to make adjustments that transfer weight and grip to the front tires.

The same is true if the car is oversteering, meaning you are turning the steering wheel and the rear tires have lost grip (also described as the car being loose).  In this case you want more weight on the rear tires to get them to grip more and work better.  So, make adjustments that transfer weight and grip to the rear tires.

The basic adjustments on our cheat sheet include tire pressure and section; wheel camber, caster, and toe; springs and shocks; anti roll bar (anti sway bar); and weight distribution adjustments.  Of course, some adjustments work better than others for whatever handling issue you’re dealing with, but these will get you started and headed in the right direction. 

We’ll be delving deeper into the why, what, where, when and how each of these adjustments over the next couple of months.

In the meantime, if you’d like a free Guide to High Performance Handling card, send an email to me (taryn at tcmotorsports.net) by May 31, 2011, and I’ll send a card to you at your U.S. address. It’s my way of making your life easier.

There is one thing you should wear every time you drive a race car—ear plugs (or ear buds if you use radios).  Ear plugs play two important roles for a race car driver.

First, ear plugs protect your hearing from the loud race car.  So, you’ll save your hearing and also have less fatigue at the end of the day.

Second, and more importantly, you can actually hear the important sounds better with ear plugs in.  I really don’t care if you lose you hearing, but you do want to be able to hear the small sounds that typically get drowned out by the loud sounds of the engine and exhaust.  Ear plugs force you to listen to the car more.  You can hear the tires on the track better, the suspension working, and, with practice, you will have better traction sensing skills because you will have better selective listening skills.

I use custom molded ear buds whenever I drive a race car, whether I’m using radios or not.  (If you’re interested in how to get custom molded ear buds, contact me directly.)  I have found the ear buds have good sound and, more importantly, are comfortable to wear.  There’s no adjusting your ear plugs once your helmet is on, so spend the money to get buds that fit you well and are comfortable!

If you want to be a race car driver, then the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs (ICSCC or Conference) has a great way for you to get started. It’s called the Novice Programand it’s where you get comfortable driving your closed wheel race car on a race track with other Novice race car driversbefore being sent out with the “big boys and girls” or more senior race car drivers in the senior race groups.

There are a two parts to the Novice Program: on track and off track.

1.  On Track
First, of course, is on track. You race three Novice races with other novices where safety and technique are emphasized over speed. The races are held on the Saturday of Conference race weekends (and may be held on additional days if the event is a double or triple race weekend). The day starts with a track tour and a Novice meeting. Then, you get two practice sessions in the middle of the day and then a 30 minute race at the end of the day. These sessions just have Novices in them.

During the Novice race you are observed by Senior Observers who watch from various corner stations around the track and take notes on such things as your line, cornering, shifting, use of mirrors, observation of flags, driving in traffic, etc. During most races they will display different flags to see if you know what to do. For example, they might call a full course caution and release the pace car, even though there is no incident.

There is no prize for winning a Novice race, only credit towards the three Novice races you must complete. So if you break a rule like not obeying flags, chances are you won’t get credit for completing the race and you’ll have to do an additional Novice race. I say this because I’ve seen quite a few people not get credit for a Novice race because they passed another race car under a yellow flag. So, your goals in a Novice race are simple—follow the rules and don’t get noticed!

2.  Off Track
The other part of the Novice Program is off track. You’ll have a few “work assignments” to do, like working a corner station with corner workers to learn what happens behind the scenes when race cars are out on track, and help out in technical inspection (tech) to learn about safety equipment and scales. These work assignments are great ways to become more familiar with how a race weekend runs. When I did my work assignment, the corner workers taught me how to watch how the corner workers throw a flag and use that to get a jump on your competitors.

You will also have to interview at least three Conference racers. These interviews allow you to learn tips, tricks, and strategies from experienced driversas well as get to know a few of the racers you will be racing with in the future.

Once you complete your three Novice races satisfactorily and take a short, written test, the License Director will upgrade your Competition License from Novice to Area. And the square, orange sticker you’ve been racing around with on your car will get a black X through it. It’s a big deal to move from Novice to Area driver because once you’re an Area driver, you get to race with the “big boys and girls” in the senior race groups.

When you complete three races satisfactorily as an Area driver, as well as perform the required work assignments, you will get a new car and license number (you’ll go from a 300-499 number to a 0-199 number), take the orange sticker off of your car, and race as a “big boy or girl” in the senior race groups with an International Road Racing License!

Sound like fun?  Come out and join us! For more about all of this information, look at Conference’s Novice Handbook here.

Garth Stein, the author of the New York Timesbest seller The Art of Racing in the Rain, stopped by TC Motorsports yesterday. He was giving two big supporters of Hugo House in Seattle a “Track Day with Garth,” and we were lucky enough to be part of the day!

Garth, Chris, and Lisa started out their “Track Day with Garth” at ProFormance Racing School (one of our partners), where Don Kitch gave Chris and Lisa a thrill ride around Pacific Raceways in the school’s 2009 BMW M3 Track Taxi. After some lunch (at a “mediocre Chinese food place”), they headed to our Service Center to see a real live racing prep shop and look at some race cars and track  cars.

Carlo showed Garth, Chris, and Lisa some of the race cars and track cars we have in our Service Center at the moment. The cars included a Spec Miata race car (like Garth used to drive), a C6 Z06 Corvette track car, a Porsche 914-6 race car, and a BMW PRO3 race car. We talked about what makes race cars different than street cars (e.g., tires, brakes, suspension, etc.), some of the modifications that are made to make race cars safe and more competitive (fuel cells, cages, etc.), and how you go from simply driving your street car around the track to building it into an all out track car.

During the tour, Garth also told us the entertaining story of how he met Luca Montezemolo, the Chairman of Ferrari, this summer during a special tour at the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy. (For all of you non-Ferrari people, getting a tour of the Ferrari factory AND having the Chairman of Ferrari want to meet you is a BIG deal! I guess that can happen when your main character is named Enzo…Go Enzo!) 

Finally, we had a big favor to ask of Garth. Back in 2004, we made arrangements with Garth to buy his Spec Miata race car from him at the end of the racing season. During the last race of the season, Garth crashed his Spec Miata on the front straight at Pacific Raceways (in the rain, no less). Although the car was totalled, we still bought it from him (at a substantially lower price) and used the car for spare parts. 

While we’ve used most of the parts from Garth’s Spec Miata on our race cars, we still have some of the body pieces, which we dug out of storage and asked Garth to sign for posterity. As we told Garth, if the Smithsonian ever calls, we’ll happily hand over the signed hood!

Thank you to Garth, Chris, and Lisa for stopping by. We had a great time and hope you did, too!

Last weekend we were at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA for the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs (ICSCC or Conference) races.  Among the people we were helping out were 3 drivers who were competing in their first novice road race.  I had the chance to interview each of them after the race and get their impressions and feelings about the experience.  Check out the interviews below!

John Scragg—BMW PRO3
John Scragg started sport driving with ProFormance Racing School (a partner of ours) in his Porsche. He decided he wanted to take the next step in his driving and go racing. So, John decided to build a PRO3 car.  We built the cage, installed all of the safety equipment, provided the suspension and other parts, and did some mechanical work on the car as well as provided technical support and guidance throughout the car build process. Here’s John with his family after the race:

Paul Schmidt—C5 Corvette
Like John, Paul Schmidt started sport driving with ProFormance Racing School (a partner of ours) in his C5 Corvette.  He also wanted to take the next step with his driving and go racing.  Paul decided to turn his Corvette track car into a race car.  Paul didn’t want to make many modifications to the car right now, just the necessary safety modifications to go racing.  We put a plan together that would get Paul on track with the safety equipment he would need; we built the cage and installed all of the safety equipment like the seat, harness, window net, kill switch, and fire system.  Here’s Paul after the race:

Ryan Hieronymus—BMW PRO3
Unlike John and Paul, Ryan Hieronymus had never driven a car on a race track, but he has driven carts and done a lot of simulator racing.  Somehow Ryan convinced his dad, Scott, to let him use his dad’s PRO3 car. Even though Ryan has limited experience in that car, he was running times that would have put him into the top 5 of the PRO3 field.  We are big fans of Ryan because he was the tire manager for our GRAND-AM crew last year supporting the Boss 302R. Here’s Ryan after the race:

Looks like fun, doesn’t it?

If you want to go road racing, you must attend a racing school, which will introduce you to racing at speed, at the edge of control, surrounded by other cars that want to pass you. Keep in mind that track days, car control clinics, or high performance driver education (HPDE) days are NOT racing schoolsand here’s why.

Track days, car control clinics, and HPDE days use car control exercises and/or on-track instruction to teach you how to drive your car. The goal is to make you a better driver by building your skills and confidence; the goal is NOT to go fast. In fact, going fast is frowned upon, especially if you are not learning and displaying the skills that are being taught.

Racing schools are also about driving you car, but they focus on how to get speed out of you and your car. The ultimate goal IS to go fast because that’s what racing is all about. They also introduce you to race-specific information like flags, racing rules (e.g., passing), and on- and off-track procedures (e.g., how to line up behind a pace car and how cars are gridded for a race). Most racing schools have both a ground school and on-track component.

If you’re in the Seattle or Portland areas, the three racing schools below will get you on track and racing with Conference, SCCA, and SOVERN in no time.

July 9–10, 2011 at Pacific Raceways, Kent, WA
The International Race Driver’s Club (IRDC) offers an approved racing school at Pacific Raceways. The morning of July 9 is the ground school, followed by a full day of on-track instruction July 10. Bring your own car (it doesn’t have to be a race car, any street car will do) and helmet. The cost is $250.

August 11–12, 2011 at Portland International Raceway, Portland, OR 
The Cascade Sports Car Club (CSCC) offers an approved racing school at Portland International Raceway. The evening of August 11 is the ground school, followed by a full day of on-track instruction August 12. Bring your own car (it doesn’t have to be a race car, any street car will do) and helmet. The cost is $210.

September 19-20, 2011 at Pacific Raceways, Kent, WA 
ProFormance Racing School (one of our partners) offers an approved racing school at Pacific Raceways. The school is two full days with alternating ground school and on-track instruction, and culminates in a 30 minute race between students. Just bring yourself (car and helmet are provided). The cost is $2,550.

I’m not talking about heat cycles, or the amount of wear.  I’m talking about the actual age of the tire from the day it was constructed.  Would you like to know how to get more life and grip from your tires?  Why is the date that my tire was built important? I share all of my secrets in this blog post.

It’s actually very easy to tell the exact date (within a week) that the tire was manufactured. Each DOT tire has a series of numbers stamped on the sidewall.  Part of this number is the date the tire came out of the mold.  In this image, we can see a number of 97V1611.  The last four digits of the number are 1611.  This number tells us the tire was built on the 16th week of 2011.

Why is this number important?  Simple- newer tires are generally faster.  Ok, maybe I should say that another way.  Old tires are generally slower!  Drivers come to me on race weekends asking why they are not as fast as the other guys, and then ask me what go-fast part they should add to the engine.  The first thing I do is walk over to their car and look at this date on the their tires.  What I find more often than not are tires with dates that are 3-5 years old!  The tires are hard and worn out, no longer flexible and just don’t grip the track.  Especially when it’s cooler outside.

There are some exceptions to the rule.  In some cases, older tires are actually quicker.  We have found that tracks with new pavement tend to like older tires.  Putting a brand new set of tires on the car at Portland International Raceway for example will net you a lap time that is about a half second to one second slower.  Do the same at Pacific Raceways with very old pavement, and your lap times will do just the opposite. So how can you be sure?  Simple- do some testing!

Next time we talk tires, we’ll get into how to get the most life out of what you have, if you need to stretch your tire budget.

In Part 1 of my post about racing harnesses, I talked about points, harness widths and how those work with head restraints (like the HANS), and the different adjustment configurations (pull up vs. pull down).  In this post, Part 2, I’ll go through the sometimes tricky issue of expiration dates and when you really need to replace your belts.

4.  Expiration Dates
The strength of the belt webbing decreases with outdoor exposure and time. So making sure your harnesses are current and not expired is essential. Plus, you’ll pass technical inspection!

Harnesses have to meet either SFI or FIA specifications. Depending on which type of certification a harness has determines when it will expire.

Harnesses with SFI certification expire (and will need to be replaced) two years after the date of manufacture (which is found on the label). Seems simple, but check your sanctioning body’s rules for what two years actually means.

• In SCCA, SFI harnesses manufactured in March 2011 would expire December 31, 2013. The certification expires December 31 of the second year after the date of manufacture.
• In Conference (ICSCC), the same harness manufactured in March 2011 would expire March 31, 2013, nine months earlier than in SCCA. The certification expires two years from the date of manufacture on the last day of the month.

The expiration date of harnesses meeting FIA specifications is much more straight forward. All FIA belts are labeled with their date of expiration, which is December 31 of the year indicated on the label. FIA harnesses are good for no more than five years.

In the case that a harness has an SFI and FIA certification label (like these Sparco belts here), the label with the latest expiration is typically used.

FIA harnesses are more expensive, but if you’re going to be racing more than two years, it might be more cost effective to buy one set of FIA harnesses than buy two or more sets of SFI harnesses.

Conclusion
You want to buy the best safety equipment you can afford. With harnesses, you usually get what you pay for. That doesn’t mean there’s any difference in safety between equally rated harnesses. However, more expensive harnesses are typically more comfortable, and easier to use and adjust. Before you buy, sit in some race cars with different kinds and styles of harnesses so you can chose the best fit for you.

We get asked the same question a lot, “What tire pressures should I run for my street tires at the track?”  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but because of all the different types of tires and cars, there really is no one, magic number to shoot for. However, here’s what you can do to determine the best pressure for YOU to run on YOUR car and YOUR tires—test, measure, and adjust based on sidewall rollover.

Test
Sidewall rollover will let you know if the pressures you’re running are too high or too low.  To do that, pick a pressure to start at. With a cold tire, we recommend starting 3-5 psi below the manufacturer’s recommendation for your car. (As the tire heats up on track, the tire pressure will rise 6-10 psi, which will put you closer to where you want to be.)  Then, make a mark on the side of your tires with white shoe polish, colored chalk, or a grease pen.  There’s a small arrow that shows where the edge of the sidewall is (see the photo).

Measure
Take your car out for a few of laps.  When you come in, take a look at the mark you put on the side of your tire.  If the mark on the sidewall scuffed off below the small arrow, then the tire sidewall rolled over and your tire pressures are probably too low.  If the mark on the sidewall is still there above the small arrow, then the tire sidewall did not roll over and you can lower your tire pressures.

Adjust
Now that you have some data, you can make the appropriate adjustment to your tire pressures. The goal is to have the tires be compliant without having the sidewall roll over.  When you’re adjusting the tire pressures, try just adding or bleeding small amounts (1-2 psi at a time) from your tires in subsequent tests so you can quickly dial in the optimum pressures for your tires. 

Once you’ve got a handle on the best pressure for YOU to run on YOUR car and YOUR tires, then you can start making tire pressure adjustments to tune handling issues such as understeer and oversteer.  Stay tuned, we’ll cover that in another post!

As we get deeper into the racing season (and closer to the end), I am hearing a lot of stories about parts on race cars falling off. Things like brake calipers, axles, differentials, suspension parts. You know, just the minor stuff that prevents you from crashing into immovable objects and such.

Over the years I have learned a LOT about fastener tightening and how to keep parts from falling off of cars. I have only had a few items ever actually fall off a race car. Fortunately, none of those events were serious and I learned some valuable lessons.

Step #1
Start off at square one and nut and bolt the entire car. Get the car up as high as you can and climb under there with every wrench you have. Using a torque wrench and a shop manual, check the tightness of every bolt on the car.

Use Loctite (Blue is best for this application) on the mission critical fasteners (like brake carrier bolts) or bolts that are known to come loose, or bolts where Loctite is required by the manufacturer.

Step #2
Next, use Torque Seal. Torque Seal is also known as anti-sabotage paint or inspector’s lacquer. More than a paint pen, it is a brittle lacquer that will crack if the fastener gets any movement or severe vibration. Torque Seal does not prevent fasteners from working loose, but it gives you a very early visual warning that a bolt or fastener may be starting to move. It’s used on machines like military helicopters and such that see a lot of severe use and maybe less than perfect upkeep.

Here’s a tip: use Orange Torque Seal for at the track repairs, and use another color (like blue shown in the photo) for use at your garage. This way you can be reminded to recheck your work and reseal the bolt when you get back to your garage after the race weekend or event.

Step #3
Your number one defense against having critical fasteners coming loose is inspections! We inspect some fasteners as often as every session. Plus, every car gets a full fastener check before any race session. The Torque Seal applied in Step #2 makes inspections very easy. Instead of getting all of the tools out and checking each fastener’s torque, you can simply complete a quick visual inspection.

There are many other ways to defend yourself against parts falling off a race car. Locking Jet Nuts and safety wire are other great ways, but they are very expensive to retrofit and time consuming.

Just remember these simple rules to keep your fasterners fastened:

1. Nut and bolt all fasteners on the car
2. Apply Torque Seal to all fasteners
3. Perform visual inspections often.

Do you have a technique you like to use to keep the expensive parts attached to your car?

As you approach a corner, you slow down and downshift into the gear you want to be in to exit the corner. The problem comes when you let the clutch out. After pushing in the clutch to change gears, the engine revs drop. When you let the clutch out, the car lurches as the rear tires slide. The answer to this problem is the heel-toe technique!

While there are many videos and how-to articles about heel-toe, this blog post is written for the track driver or club racing driver who is driving a production-based car with a standard H-pattern gear box.

In this post I explain why you should heel-toe, list the 7 steps to heel-toe, share practical tips and tricks, and explain how you can start heel-toeing like a pro! Plus, there’s a video showing a racing driver heel-toeing at speed around a race track so you can see the technique in action.

Why Heel-Toe?
Heel-toe (or heel-and-toe) is a technique used by race and track drivers when downshifting gears. It is a trick that involves braking at the same time as quickly pressing (blipping) the gas pedal to spin up the engine and match road speed and engine revs to the next gear down. In other words, you are synchronizing the engine’s speed with road speed.

If you are not able to match the engine’s speed with road speed, you have to ease up on the clutch and drag the engine up to meet the lower gear. Not only does easing up on the clutch take a lot of time (it can add up to seconds over a lap), it is also something you, the driver, can’t control very easily.

Thus, heel-toeing not only reduces stress on the car, it also allows you to make the gear shifting activity concurrent with the rest of the cornering process. Downshifting can happen when you want it to, rather than when the mechanicals have pulled everything into line.

Now, let’s watch the heel-toe technique in action. The driver is driving a BMW E30 PRO3 race car around Portland International Raceway.

youtube qFoKDKpTbwA

7 Steps to Heel-Toe
From the video, you can see that there are 7 distinct steps to heel-toe:

1. Push the brake pedal
2. Push in the clutch
3. Select (downshift) a gear
4. Blip (or quickly press) the throttle while still depressing the brake pedal
5. Release the clutch
6. Release the brake
7. Return your foot to the throttle.

As you can see in the video, these all happen pretty quickly, and can even happen simultaneously depending on the corner.

Practical Tips and Tricks for Your Heel-Toe Downshifts

• Use the ball of your foot and your big toe to press on just the right half of the brake pedal.
• Place your foot on the brake pedal in the same position every time whether you’re going to heel-toe or not.
• Think of your big toe and ball of your foot as a pivot on the brake pedal as you move the rest of your foot to blip the throttle.
• Depending on the position of the pedals in your car, you may be able to keep your foot parallel to the gas pedal and just rock your foot to reach the gas pedal (I can do this in a Spec Miata), or you may need to rotate (or cock) your foot like the driver in the video.
• Wait until the end of the braking zone before you downshift. Use the brakes for what they were designed to do—slow the car. Plus, matching revs is easier when engine RPM is lower.
• You can either downshift one gear at a time like the driver in the video, or skip gears. Personally, I prefer downshifting one gear at a time. For example, I’ll downshift from 5th to 4th gear, then from 4th to 3rd gear, and let out the clutch in between. I find this is better for my rhythm and harder to mess up.
• If you do skip a gear (or gears) when downshifting, I suggest still moving the gear shifter through the gears even if you don’t let the clutch out in between. You’d hate to grab 1st gear instead of 3rd gear.
• Revving the engine to the correct RPM takes practice; every car is different. However, once you figure it out and get the hang of it, it’s a piece of cake.

How to Start Heel-Toeing
Start by sitting in your car with the engine off. Put your big toe and the ball of your foot on the right half of the brake pedal. While depressing the brake pedal, experiment with blipping the throttle. How do you need to position your foot to reach the pedal or so that it’s most comfortable for you?

Once you’ve got the throttle blipping down, add in the clutch and gear shifting and practice running through the entire 7-step sequence. (Remember, the car is still off.)
Now you’re ready to try heel-toe downshifting while driving. While you can practice this technique on the street, I suggest perfecting it at the track.

When I was learning to heel-toe, I did the exact steps outlined above. But, I got frustrated when I practiced on the street because I could never get the revs to match. At my next track day, I tried heel-toe downshifting. To my surprise, it was easier to heel-toe at speed, so much so I had the technique down by the end of the session. Once you’ve got the basics of the technique down, start practicing!

The heel-toe technique is indispensible to track driver and club racers. Do you have any tips and tricks you use to heel-toe downshift? 

Drivers who participate in track days or racing can benefit from increased physical fitness.  Have you noticed that after a weekend at the track (or even a day at a track day) you just want to take some time off… because of your time off?

Not only have you mentally exhausted yourself, but you have physically too.  I bet there has been more than one occasion that you have called it quits before the day or weekend was up because you were exhausted, especially when it’s hot.  Driving exhausted is not safe, and it’s definitely not fast.

When I was driving race cars for a living, on top of my race weekends, I would spend almost eight hours a day behind the wheel of a race car giving hot lap rides for a week or two on end, then head to the next track and repeat throughout the summer.  Some locations were hot and humid (Carolina Motorsports Park in August with 170 degrees cockpit temps and 98% humidity) and it would really take its toll on the body.  I had to be focused because I was giving hot lap rides to our clients and safety was the primary goal.  I also had to be quick because I was getting paid to give rides in a race car.

Without being physically fit, I would not have been able to keep up that kind of schedule… or my job.

This off-season is a great time to work towards getting in shape to have better performance on the track, and be ready to tackle your week at the office after the weekend.  If you are not sharp at the office, you won’t have the opportunity to be sharp in a race car.

Check out this article about fitness including a workout routine for race car drivers.  It may give you some ideas on how to get started on the path to better health and lower lap times.

Here is a great video about how Formula 1 driver Kimi Räikkönen trains for a race season.

Does this image look like gobbledygook to you? Or does it look interesting to you? Have you seen the guys who are going faster than you (and beating you) on track looking at this stuff?

What if I told you it is one of the keys to going fast in a race car, be it a road racing, drag racing, or autocross car. Interested in learning more?

Come see what data acquisition is all about!

TC Motorsports is hosting a Data Acquisition Seminar with AiM Sports to help race and sport drivers get the most out of their car and themselves. Sign up TODAY! Contact Carlo at 253-887-0500 or carlo(at)tcmotorsports.net to RSVP and pay by November 16, 2011, to reserve your spot.

What: Practical data acquisition seminar for race and sport drivers using AiM products (includes lunch!)

Why: Because you want to go faster and have run out of excuses

When: November 19, 2011, from 9:00am to 3:30pm

Where:
TC Motorsports
1302 W Main St, Ste 9
Auburn, WA 98001
253-887-0500
www.tcmotorsports.net

Cost: $50, which includes lunch. Plus, you can apply the $50 to the next TC Motorsports purchase you make before December 31, 2011!

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What is data acquisition and why use it?
• Hardware selection and installation
• Software overview and setup
• Real world logged data and analysis examples (this is the bulk of the session)
• New AiM products
• Questions.

If you are new to data acquisition, you probably have questions about which direction to go and how to do it.

If you are a veteran of data acquisition, the AiM Sports trainer leading the seminar will be able to answer even your most technical questions.

It’s not every day that AiM Sports fly out one of their best trainers to conduct a hands-on workshop like this. In fact, it’s been almost 3 years since the last AiM seminar in the Seattle area, so please join us for this rare opportunity!

Space is limited so sign up TODAY! Call Carlo at 253-887-0500 or email Carlo at carlo(at)tcmotorsports.net to RSVP and pay by November 16, 2011 to secure your spot.

Will you be coming to the seminar?

You know you need to go faster.  You could pour money into your car with upgrade after upgrade.  But at a certain point in racing, you start paying more and more money for smaller and smaller gains.  The cheapest way I’ve found to make your race car faster is to work on the nut behind the wheel—you!  A great way to become a better and faster driver on track is to keep notes. The kind of notes you write depend on what you are trying to accomplish as a driver.

The Learning Driver
If you are learning a new track or are still working on keeping up with the fastest racers in your class, the first step is to walk the track.  You get to look at details of the track you just won’t see at speed in a car.  Make notes about what you see like the track surface(s), any surface transitions, camber of different corners, runoff areas, curbing height and condition, and markers you can use as reference points (make sure they can’t move!). Be sure to put your notes on an accurate track map.

After each of your sessions in the race car, refine the notes on your track map.  Make notes about gear selection; braking, turn in, and exit markers (again, permanent markers that won’t move!); throttle position; braking pressure, pavement and camber changes.  Refine your notes after each session.  I find making notes in between session allows my brain to process the information I’m being bombarded with faster, focus on new information easier, and develop a plan of what exactly I want to work on each time I go on track.

The Experienced Driver
If you are a more experienced racer trying to find those last few tenths of a second, the first step is to walk the track.  Yep, that’s right.  I always walk a track, even if I’ve been there many times.  There’s always something new to see, whether it’s actually something new or something I might not have seen before.  Plus, if Formula 1 drivers walk the track before the start of each weekend, then I can, too (check out F1 drivers walking the track before this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix here).

After each of your sessions in the race car, refine your notes on your track map and in a notebook.  I suggest you write about those specific corners you are working on (usually very long corners or corners that lead onto the longest straights) or other issues you are trying to chase down. Here are some questions to try to answer:

• Is the car floating around (is the suspension too soft)? 
• Is the car skipping off of every bump on the track (is the suspension to hard)? 
• Is the suspension bottoming out or topping out in its travel? 
• What is the overall balance of the car at the limit while braking, during corner entry, mid-corner and track exit while accelerating?
• What are you feeling in your hands?
• What are you feeling in your butt?
• What do you see?

You can save these observations and look at them later to track if the changes you are making to yourself and the car are effective. 

The key to keeping notes, no matter your experience level as a driver, is to consistently complete them immediately after you get out of the car, and then review them.  Having a written record of your experience at a track will save you time and effort, and make you a better and faster driver. 

Do you keep notes?  If you do, what type of information do you record?

At a karting enduro many years ago, one of my teammates asked me what my secret was to going fast. After a few seconds, I said, “I don’t know…I just go where the kart wants to go!” After the laughing subsided, there was a thoughtful nod, “Hmm, that’s interesting.” Over the years, I’ve expanded on my response and developed three basic rules for driving fast. They are the rules I share with all racers who are just starting out, and they are rules that I personally return to time and time again.

Rule #1: Keep Your Foot on the Gas
Pretty simple, right? If your foot’s not on the brake, it should be flat on the gas. And if your foot’s not flat on the gas, why the heck not? In an ideal world (e.g., ropes with no mass and springs with infinite spring rates), the fastest way around a race track would be to have your foot flat on the gas for the entire lap. However, that’s just not possible because the car would not have enough grip for the corners and would fly right off.

When you slow down for corners, some modulation of the throttle is required to keep the car balanced and pointed in the right direction. But the ultimate goal remains—to keep your foot on the gas as much as possible. The question I always ask myself if the gas pedal is not touching the floor is, “Can I press down on the gas pedal more so it WILL touch the floor?” It’s easy to be flat on the gas on a straightaway; it’s more challenging to be flat on the gas mid corner.

Rule #2: Keep the Steering Wheel Straight
Think of it this way, if the steering wheel is turned, you’re scrubbing off speed because of friction and drag. (Think of pushing your car around a parking lot; turn the wheel and it gets a lot harder to push!) Similar to keeping your foot on the gas during the entire lap, in an ideal world, the fastest way around a race track would be to not turn the steering wheel. But, that’s just not possible because your car would go flying off the track.

You need to turn the steering wheel to go around corners. However, the point of this rule is to make sure you’re not turning the steering wheel too much or giving any unnecessary steering inputs because they just slow you down. Open up the wheel (i.e., make it straight) at the exit of a corner, and make the path between as many points on track as straight as possible. For small steering inputs, I use my fingertips so it’s harder for me put in unnecessary inputs that cost speed.

Rule #3: Go Where the Car (or Kart) Wants to Go
If you think about this rule, it’s really not as crazy as it sounds. What this rule says is to not fight the car. (Note that FIGHTING the car is different than DRIVING the car.) For example, once you’re on a given trajectory through a corner, in order to keep your foot on the gas and keep the steering wheel straight, you have to go where the car wants to go. If you fight the car (because you don’t like where it’s headed) by letting your foot off the gas or putting in additional steering inputs, you’ll lose speed.

I’m not saying that if you’re headed off track you should just go off track and not fight it. What I am saying is that you should drive a trajectory, or line, through the corner that allows the car to go where it wants to go at the exitwithout going off track and without you having to make those extra throttle and steering inputs that ultimately slow you down.

I hope these rules are helpful and make you think about your driving in a different way. Do you have any basic driving rules that help you go fast?

Author- Taryn Sparacio

The question every racer asks himself when he goes to put a part on his race car is, “Can I go with the cheap stuff, or should I buy the expensive stuff?” Brake fluid is one of those things that you have a choice…do you buy the cheap stuff or the expensive stuff?

The good news is that there are a lot of brake fluids to choose from that have great performance in the form of temperature capability, but won’t cost you an arm and a leg.  In this post, I’ll explain the basics of brake fluid, explain what to look for when deciding what type of brake fluid to use in your race car, and then let you know what we use in our race cars.

Brake Fluid Basics
Brake fluid is hygroscopic—it wants to absorb any moisture that may be in or around the brake system. When moisture gets into the brake fluid, even in microscopic quantities, it can boil at the extreme temperatures found in a racing brake system. If the moisture in the fluid boils, that will create air bubbles in the system. Because air is compressed much easier than brake fluid, under heavy braking the brake pedal can go to the floor and your race car will not stop. I’ve been there and done that, and it is not fun.

Brake fluid performance is measured by its boiling points:

1. Dry Boiling Point—The boiling point (or temperature) of brand new fluid
2. Wet Boiling Point—the boiling point of old fluid that has absorbed moisture.

Typically, the higher the dry and wet boiling points, especially the wet boiling point, the more the fluid costs (I’ll discuss silicone brake fluids in  another blog post). Most fluids these days have dry boiling points of 550-600 degrees Fahrenheit (°F). Keep in mind that while the brake disc may be running at 700 °F, the fluid is well below that under normal operation on a race track.

How to Choose a Brake Fluid
You have a couple of decisions to make with selecting fluid:

1. Do you want a fluid that has a really high wet boiling point, but costs substantially more money?
2. Or, do you want a fluid that has a moderately high wet boiling point, but costs substantially less money?

Personally, I go with #2. If you replace your fluid once or twice a season, you will be well protected from boiling the fluid. Flushing the brake fluid is a great thing to do anyway while you are keeping tabs on your brake system health. My rule of thumb is when the fluid starts to change color, it’s time to flush it out.

Which Brake Fluids We Use

ATE Type 200 and ATE Super Blue
For our PRO3 and Spec Miata race cars (and cars of similar weight and performance), we use ATE Type 200 (aka ATE Super Gold) and ATE Super Blue with great success. (ATE Type 200 and ATE Super Blue are the exact same fluid, but Super Blue has a blue coloring in it.) We prefer the Type 200 because it is a light gold color and it’s easy to see when the brake fluid is starting to change color and may need to be flushed. ATE Type 200 boiling points are:

• Dry Boiling Point = 536 °F 
• Wet Boiling Point = 396 °F

ATE Type 200 costs between $13 and $15 per liter.  A pretty good deal!

Brembo LCF 600 Plus
When we ran the Ford Mustang Boss 302R, Riley Camaro GS.R, and Ford Racing FR500Ss in GRAND-AM racing (and cars of similar weight and performance), we used Brembo LCF 600 Plus brake fluid with great success. These cars are heavier, going faster speeds, and generating more heat in their braking systems than a PRO3 or Spec Miata race car, so we needed a higher temperature brake fluid. Here are the boiling points for the Brembo LCF 600 Plus:

• Dry Boiling Point = 601 °F 
• Wet Boiling Point = 399 °F

The higher dry boiling point will cost you. Brembo LCF 600 costs about $40 per liter, or 2.5 times what ATE Type 200 costs. (We’ll talk about silicone brake fluids, about $75 per liter with wet boiling points of 500°F+, in another blog post.)

What brake fluid do you use?

Corner balancing is one of the best things you can do to improve the handling characteristics of your street car, track car, or race car that is equipped with a coil over suspension. In fact, the only true way to set up your coil-over suspension is corner balance your car. Sure, you can get the suspension settings “close” without corner balancing, but what’s the point of having a fully-adjustable suspension if you’re just going to get it “close” or “eyeball” the settings?  In this post I’ll explain the what, why, how, and when of corner balancing.

What is Corner Balancing?

Corner balancing is adjusting the ride heights of a vehicle to equalize the load on all four tires to maximize grip and increase performance.  Imagine a table with one leg that is shorter than the other three.  From experience you know that because only three legs are touching the ground the table will wobble (and annoy you during your meal).  The same thing can happen with your suspension if it’s not adjusted correctly with corner balancing.

Why Should You Get Your Car Corner Balanced?
After having a coil over suspension on his car for about a year, one of our clients decided to finally get his car corner balanced. A couple of days later, the client called to say he couldn’t believe the difference in the way the car handled after the corner balance! It made such a difference in the car’s performance that he was kicking himself for not having his car corner balanced right after he installed the suspension.

With corner balancing you can work on two different things:

1. Optimize Cornering—Equalize weight/pressure on all four tires
2. Optimize Braking—Equalize weight/pressure on each of the front tires.

In road racing, open tracking, and sport driving, you want to maximize the cornering ability of your car.  You can adjust the cross weights (e.g., left front to right rear) of the car to optimize the balance of the car and ensure that all four tires are exerting equal pressure/weight on the ground.

How Do You Corner Balance Your Car?
Here’s a quick outline of how you corner balance your car:

1. Put your car on a level pad (ours is a state-of-the-art Hunter four camera alignment system; you’ll need to make sure the surface you’re working on is completely level).
2. Place a computerized set of scales under each of your car’s tires. 
3. Ballast the car with your weight. Also make sure you have the appropriate amount of ballast (if needed) in the car.
4. Adjust the fuel load of the car based on when you want the car to be optimally balanced (e.g., the beginning, middle, or end of a session).
5. Set tire pressures to operating, or hot, tire pressures.
6. Adjust the ride heights to the desired height and rake (the difference between the front and rear ride heights).
7. Fine tune the ride heights to get the desired balance and weight on each corner of the car.
8. Proceed with the wheel alignment adjusting camber, caster, and toe while monitoring the corner weights. Because adjusting ride heights changes a car’s wheel alignment angles (e.g., toe and camber), we suggest performing corner balances and four wheel alignments simultaneously.

When Should You Corner Balance Your Car?
Corner balances should be performed in the following instances:

1. After installing an adjustable suspension system
2. Once per year after the initial suspension installation for optimal performance
3. In preparation for different tracks (e.g., different set ups for different tracks)
4. After changing the weight of the car (e.g., adding/removing ballast, installing a fuel cell, losing a lot of weight).

I hope you are not driving on a wobbly table! If you are, I encourage you to corner balance your car to optimize its performance.

Being in the industry that specializes in servicing high performance road cars and race cars, we see a lot of different ways that our clients have prepared their cars over the years.  One thing that sometimes catches us off guard is after we park a race car in the shop for a few days, and then try to fire up the engine, the battery is dead.  How can that be, it ran perfectly a few days ago!

The usual culprit is that the AMB transponder has been hard wired into the electrical system on a circuit that is always powered.  If the transponder is on, it slowly drains the battery and after a few days the battery can die.  So how do we fix this issue?

The first thing that should happen is the transponder should be on a switched power source.  You could put a switch on the dash, and wire it through that.  The down side to this setup is that you must remember to switch it on when you want to be timed on the track and switch it off when you don’t want the battery to drain when parked.  I have seen too many drivers get no lap time in a qualifying session or not be scored in a race because the transponder was not on.

The best and easiest solution to this problem is to wire the kill switch into an existing circuit that is switched when the ignition switch is on.

Here are my top 3 tips for installing your AMB transponder.

1. Mount it at the front of the car so it crosses the finish line before your competition
2. Use a hard-wired unit instead of a rechargeable unit to prevent any human errors with charging it or installing it
3. Hard-wire the unit into an ignition key switched circuit so it is always on when the engine is running

Simple right!?  Turn the engine on and the transponder is on too.  I know every time I wanted to be timed on the track I have also wanted my engine on.

The most popular road racing series in the Pacific Northwest is the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs (ICSCC or Conference).  The first step to going racing is getting a Competition License, which will allow you to compete in Conference’s Novice Program. Here are the four steps you’ll need to do to become a true race car driver.

1.  Take an Accredited Competition Driving School
The first step to get a Competition License is to take an accredited driving school where they’ll teach you about driving the racing line, basic rules of racing (both on and off the track), flags, etc.  At most schools your education will culminate in a mock race start.

The most comprehensive racing school in the area is ProFormance Racing School, which offers a fully accredited two-day competition school at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA.  All training is done in the school’s race-prepared Chevrolet Cobalt SS sedans. (Full disclosure: I am a former instructor at ProFormance and TC Motorsports is a ProFormance Partner.)

If this school doesn’t work for you, another option is to take one of the competition schools that Conference’s Member Clubs offer.  These schools usually consist of a four-hour ground school or classroom session one evening followed by a full day of on track instruction the next day.  You drive your own car at these schools.  Clubs that offer accredited racing schools include:

• Cascade Sports Car Club—driving schools at Portland International Raceway (Portland, OR)
• International Race Driver Club—driving schools at Pacific Raceways (Kent, WA)
• Sports Car Club of British Columbia—driving schools at Mission Raceway Park (Mission, BC).

Be sure to keep your Certificate of Completion from the driving school you attend because you’ll have to send a copy of this form in with your Competition License Application.

2.  Join a Member Club
Conference is just that…a conference of Member Clubs that host races, driver training, and other track events.  Conference also has Affiliate Clubs that don’t host races, but host driver training and other track events.  So, to obtain a Conference Competition License and race in Conference races, you must join either a Member Club or an Affiliate Club.

Although you can join any of the clubs, most people join the Member Club that is nearest to where they live.  Just go to the club’s website, download an application, fill it out, and send it in.  You’ll get a club membership card, which you’ll need to take with you to all of the races you go to (this is a Conference rule), and a receipt of payment, which you’ll send in with your license application (which is discussed below).

Member Clubs are:

• Cascade Sports Car Club (CSCC) based in Portland, OR
• International Race Drivers’ Club (IRDC) based in Seattle, WA
• Northwest Motor Sports (NWMS) based in Spokane, WA
• Sports Car Club of BC (SCCBC) based in Vancouver, BC
• Team Continental (TC) based in Portland, OR.

Affiliate Clubs are:

• Puget Sound Region BMW Car Club of America
• Central Racing Association
• Vancouver Sports Car Club
• Victoria Motor Sports Club.

3.  Go to Your Doctor and Get a Physical
In order to get any type of road racing license, you have to get a doctor to sign off that you’re OK to race.  Conference requires that you (the license applicant) complete a Medical History Application, and that you have your doctor fill out and sign a Physical Exam Form.

As a novice, this is the first time you’ll be applying for a license, so both the Medical History Form and the Physical Exam Form will need to be completed and submitted with your license application.  The Medical History Application is required every year and the Physical Exam Form is required every other year when renewing your license.

4.  Fill out the Conference Competition License Application
Filling out the license application is pretty self explanatory.  However, there are a couple of tricks to keep in mind as a novice:

• Club Affiliation is the Member or Affiliate Club you joined
• As a novice, you don’t have a Competition License # yet, so leave that blank.
• If you don’t have a race car yet or will be renting a race car, just leave the Transponder #, Car Make and Model, and Car Color(s) blank.
• The car number choices for Novices, either closed wheel (C/W or sedans) or open wheel (O/W or formula cars), are 300 through 499.  You’ll have this car number until you upgrade to a senior driver, and then you’ll get to pick a new car number from 0 to 199.

The last step is to make sure all of the boxes at the bottom are checked, which should be easy if you’ve followed this guide!

At any point, you should always feel free to email the Conference License Director with any specific questions you may have.  For instance, if you already have racing experience or have a competition license with another sanctioning body, the License Director makes the call on what you’ll need to do to go racing with Conference.  Email him at license_director@icscc.com.

Conference is a great option if you’re thinking about going road racing in the Pacific Northwest.  It is the largest road-racing sanction body in the Pacific Northwest with big grids, friendly people, and competitive classes. You can learn more about Conference here.

Leave your questions or your own tips about getting a Novice license below.  See you at the track!

Author- Taryn Sparacio

There are many choices for racing belts or harnesses, from the number of places they connect to the body of the car, to their width, whether they work with head restraints (like the HANS), how you can adjust them, and when they expire. 

In this post (Part 1 of 2), we’ll walk through what points are, different harness widths and how those work with head restraints, and then the different configurations for adjusting the harnesses.  Looking at all of these options will help you make the best choice when choosing a harness for you and your car.

1.  Points
You can choose between 5, 6, and 7 point (PT) harnesses.  The number of points signifies the number of places the harness attaches to the car.  The practical difference between the three is the number of sub-belts; the 5 PT has 1 antisubmarine belt (sub belt), the 6 PT has 2 sub belts, and the 7 PT has 3 sub belts.  All three of these harnesses are legal in most club racing classes, however, 6 and 7 PT harnesses are recommended.

2.  Width and Working with Head Restraints
A 6 or 7 PT harness is made up of the following belts:

• A 2 or 3 Inch Seat Belt—2 inch belts, although thinner than the 3 inch belts, have some added safety.  A 2 inch belt rides within the crest of the pelvis, whereas a 3 inch belt rests on the edges. This allows you to get the 2 inch belt up to an inch and a half tighter, which means the lap belt will be working earlier in an accident event because it gets loaded faster. The 2 inch belt is also more comfortable and easier to adjust because there’s less friction through the adjuster.
• Two 2 or 3 Inch Shoulder Harnesses—2 inch shoulder harnesses can only be used if you’re using a HANS device (or other restraint system).  These narrower belts fit completely on the HANS, whereas a 3 inch belt has some overhang, which results in some of the load not being distributed on the HANS.  Plus, that overhang can be uncomfortable.  Some harnesses are a combination of 2 and 3 inch belts; 3 inch on the chest and 2 inch over the HANS.
• Two or Three 2 Inch Leg or Sub Straps—depending on if you have a 6 or 7 PT harness.

3.  Pull Up vs. Pull Down
This doesn’t refer to diapers, but rather how you adjust the seat or lap belts.  Back in the day, my husband and I had pull down belts in the race car that we would frequently share.  Because of our height difference (12 inches), I would have to move the seat and adjust the belts every time I got into the car.  The pull down style belts were difficult for me to use.  I had to pull the belt down into the seat, through the belt hole in the seat, and then have my husband pull on the belt to get it tight.  Talk about a pain in the butt!

The next harness we bought had pull up style belts.  They were so much easier to use and adjust, and really came in handy when were racing in enduros with not only us, but our co-drivers who were all different sizes. The moral of this story isn’t that one type of belt is better or worse than the other, but be sure to do some real world testing because one type of belt might be easier for you to use. Some belts (like Schroth) can be configured either way by the user.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this post where you’ll get all the information you need about expiration dates on harnesses.

Author- Taryn Sparacio

This last weekend I raced for the first time in five years.  I would be lying to you if I said I had a great time because, in fact, I had a horrible time…I was frustrated, angry, and I struggled most of the weekend.  However, I learned some very important lessons, which I want to share in this post.

Lesson 1: Confidence Matters

The race was at Mission Raceway Park in Mission, British Columbia.  It’s a track that I’ve loved racing at in the past; it’s tight, technical, and surrounded by walls.  I was driving a BMW PRO3 car for the first time.  I figured it couldn’t be all that different than the Spec Miata I drove winning two championships.  Boy, was I wrong!  EVERYTHING was different.

The weekend started wet.  I headed out Saturday morning with rain tires on the car, wipers blazing.  I started slowly, very slowly, tip toeing my way around the track trying to get the feel of the car, the tires, and the track. 

Most everything was fine except I was having massive issues with braking.  I was getting lockup(which of course happens in the rain), but I couldn’t get the tires (Toyo R-888) to come back to me after they’d locked up.  The tires were just not behaving like I was expecting (I was expecting more like a Toyo RA-1) and I was having a really hard time adjusting.  This then caused trouble with my downshifts because one change in brake modulation when blipping the throttle during a downshift would cause wheel lockup. 

Not being able to get my head around how to deal with these braking issues shattered my confidence in the car and in me.  I just didn’t understand how I could be struggling so much.  Five years ago I would have driven around the problem, but I couldn’t do that today.  The tools in my proverbial toolbox were buried so deeply under the cobwebs and dust of time that I couldn’t access them.  With no tools to drive the car and no confidence, I was going nowhere.

Lesson 2: Go Back to the Basics When You’re Stuck

Sunday morning I woke up and it was still raining.  After my dismal Saturday, I was seriously considering packing up and going home.  But, I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t give up.  I had to sack up, get behind the wheel, and get my a** back out on that track.

During the two wet qualifying sessions on Sunday morning, I continued working on the issues I had the day before, braking and downshifting.  I knew I was slow during the sessions, but goal #1 was to get some confidence back in the car and me.

It finally dried out in time for the first race.  I started near the back, which didn’t matter because I was still focusing on building confidence in the car and me.  I went back to the basics: hitting my marks, getting on the gas earlier out of the corners, releasing the brakes earlier, carrying more speed during corner entry, going deeper into the braking zones—I needed to get racy again.  After hounding a Rabbit for most of the race,I passed him under brakes in Turn 5 on the last lap.  I was building confidence.  My lap times improved with every lap and on the third to last lap I turned a 1:23.55.

For the second race, I started at the very back of the grid (a.k.a. DFL). My main goal for this race was to stay with the pack; I didn’t want to get left behind.  So, I kept working on the basics and found myself hounding a car in my class.  I tried a couple of passing maneuvers under braking into Turn 1.  Looking at the video now, they were pretty meager attempts and you could see my lack of confidence written all over them. 

But, I kept working, corner by corner, and technique by technique.  I was there to pounce on the next to last lap when the same car I had been hounding most of the race went wide in Turn 2.  I ducked to the inside and made the pass stick.  On the last lap, I turned my fastest lap of the race, a 1:21.58.  Not bad considering the guys in front of me were turning laps between 1:18.24 and 1:21.47.

Lesson 3: I Didn’t Let Anyone Down But Myself

The most amazing thing about the whole weekend was that everyone I ran into was so excited to see me racing again.  The Conference family welcomed me back with open arms and they didn’t seem care where I was on the grid, they were just happy I was there.

After my first race on Sunday, my 3 ½ year old daughter came up to me and said, “You’re not crying, Mommy!” It was the first time I hadn’t gotten out of the car in tears all weekend.  It was then that I realized I hadn’t let anyone down but myself.  My family who was there to watch was proud of me; my friends were proud of me.  Looking back on the weekend now, I can finally say I am proud of me, too.

Author- Taryn Sparacio

If you’re going road racing, the one book you HAVE to read is the General Competition Rules (GCR), or the rulebook for your sanctioning body.  These rules govern and determine what happens on and off track during racing events, as well as the type of safety modifications required for your car, and the types of modifications allowed on your car for your class.

Given that this is THE book with all of the rules in it, you’d be amazed at how many racers have not read it!  Of course you can just show up and start racing, but you’ll be missing so much if you don’t sit down and read through the rules.  Besides knowing the basic rules, there are other reasons to read and know the rulebook.

Get a Jump on the Competition
Knowing how the flags work, which is explained in the rulebook, will help you outrace your competition.  I was once towards the back of a 60-car grid during a single file restart.  I was so far back from the Start/Finish line, I couldn’t see when the starter waved the green flag to restart the race.

But, I would be able see the corner workers take down the yellow flags at the turn station I was driving by.  So, I kept my eye on the turn stations.  As the rulebook says, if there is no yellow flag at a turn station, the race is green.  And when the corner workers pulled the yellow flags down, I pulled out of line and passed at least 10 cars before the other racers caught on.

After the race, some of the people I passed wanted to protest me.  However, after talking to the Race Steward, turns out I was the only one who was watching the flags at the turn stations. I didn’t break any rules; I used the rules to my advantage.

Make Your Car Go Faster
Reading the rules for your class can give you clues about what types of modifications to focus on to make your car go faster.  For example, in Conference, rules for some Conference only classes (like PRO3 and Sport Touring [ST]) are created by the racers who are racing the cars.  The rules are created to limit certain types of modifications because of the spirit of the class or cost concerns. What do the rules focus on? Maybe you should focus on that, too.

Differences between Sanctioning Bodies
As expected, there are differences in rules between sanctioning bodies.  If you race in different sanctioning bodies, it’s good to know what rules apply where. For example, if you are racing in SCCA or NASA, it is the responsibility of the overtaking driver to pass another car and accomplish it safely (Rules 6.11.1 D and 24.4.1, respectively).  However, if you are racing in Conference, both the passed and the passing car are equally responsible for the pass and its safety (Rule 1504).  Be sure you know where you’re racing and what their rules are.

Go here to read the latest SCCA GCRs, here to read the Conference rulebook, here to read the NASA rulebook, and here to read the GRAND-AM rulebook.

It’s vital to know and understand the rules you race under.  So, sit down and read the rulebook.  You’ll be happy you did!