Still Racing

While car racing is over for the next few months (unless you go to Florida or Arizona) there is still competition to be had. Since the end of the season I have done several 5K races, one 10K and I have a 10 mile race coming up next week. Of course this year has been my worst for training, and I am approaching the 10M as more of a long training run rather than a race.

The amazing thing is how similar it is to car racing - the prep, getting the equipment right for the day (gets interesting under 30 degrees), the dedication of the runners, the camaraderie, etc.

If you want to pick up a hobby/sport to fill in those non racing weekends, and improve your fitness at the same time, running might be what you are looking for.

Remember to see a doctor before starting any vigorous exercise program.

ChrisZ

Guess what I an racing now?

Yes it is that time of year when a young man's thoughts turn to ----raking leaves? This year I have purchase something I wish I had 20 years ago, a leaf vac. Not that I could not do it other ways, but this has really helped with giving me more time, to - write this blog. Now if I run some Cam II I can just smell the racetrack beckoning.....

What did it cost?

Okay,

I did 4 races in 2009, Finished 3 (DNS at 2nd NH race).

So what were the damages?

No engine rebuild, No tranny rebuild, 1 accident with damage.

Dues and license fees: $206.00
Shop supplies (welding tank fee and trailer tax) $110.00
Gas for Race Car: $105.00 - (used mostly track Cam II)
Entry Fee: $990.00
Parts - including normal wear and crash damage: $679.00
Tires: (Really got off cheap -used up old rains and bought old tires) $125.00
Gas for Truck - $120.00
Motel - $0 (raced near home or slept in trailer)

Total - $2,335.00

Take out the crash damage and it would be under $2000.

$500 per race.

Now figure the engine rebuild at $1600 and divide by 14 races on engine (probably could go longer but has not see engine builder in 4 years - falling behind in technology....)
$115.00 per race

Now there are other misc expenses and I would not need a truck if I didn't have a race car, but figure another $100, per race misc costs.

So racing FV for under $750 per race is possible, once you own the car.

Now notice, with the exception of the Cheap Date at NH ($275 for 2 races) the entry fee is more that 50% of the cost of racing!

Soon I will be posting my (proposed) budget for 2010.

ChrisZ

NARRC Runoffs Pictures

Thanks to John Stofka for taking pictures at the NARRC Runoffs:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24267254@N07/sets/72157622511402358/

Lime Rock Day 2

Rain, rain go away, come again another day.

Well the story of the NARRC Runoffs was rain - or rather, the off and on rain. Let me just tell you about the FV race. It stopped raining the race before ours, the track was drying. I had rain tires on in anticipation of a wet track - change to slicks just before going to grid. Get to the grid - starts raining - mad dash to put rains on, get back to the grid - no rain! Well the first few laps would have been tough with slicks, but the track did dry out. Some just hurt their rain tires, I did a number on them. However, this did allow me to make it up to 2nd place, even led some laps. Dan Grace did a great job of managing his tires and took a well deserved win, but not without me pushing him. He never made a mistake but did get put off the track once but quickly recovered. Thanks to Justin for helping with the multiple tire swap and to all the FV drivers who pitched in to put on a great race. More to follow.

ChrisZ

1st Day Lime Rock

Friday was interesting - Tony had an oil cooler fail before he ever got on the track, Anthony found out the tire wall is really a car eater.

First session I was plagued by understeer and could only do mid 1:03's. With a change of tires and some slight alignment adjustments, the second qualifying went well and I was able to get into the low 1:02's - good for 5th on the grid, but way behind Dan and Dan Jr. Michael Sampson was 3rd with a 100:6 which will be very hard for me to do. Andy Pastore is closer at 1:01.1, but that is still 1 second over me. If we have a dry race, the idea is to stay in the draft as long as I can.

The weather is for rain, or at least a wet track - while this might help level the field, it is still a problem because the cars with more horsepower still have an advantage. The race becomes a series of drag strips, and it is tough to pass a faster car.

ChrisZ

I can't catch a brake

Actually I can.

Turned out my brakes were leaking slightly at New Hampshire. The leak was at the master cylinder and no matter how hard I tried, it would not stop. Finally, I found a new fitting and this seemed to have fixed the leak. Now I still have some weeping at the rear cylinders, probably the bleeders are worn out from 30 years of bleeding the brakes every race..... will swap out with some new bleeders tonight.

This just shows the benefit of a good checklist - even though it takes 4 - 5 hours to go around the car and check everything - you never know what you will find.

Now only if I had x-ray eyes and could see when a coil is about to fail.

ChrisZ

Tranny changed

Okay - have I begun, or am I finished?

The picture is of the car after the tranny has been changed. Now I still have to finish the race checklist and change the points (which might have been damaged after the last race) and I will be ready to go to Lime Rock. The kicker is that after that race, the engine and the tranny both have to come out again, depending what I am going to do next year.

Putting parts together for Lime Rock

Okay, bought replacement coil, now just have to change gearbox back to long box.

Entry has been filed, although I can back out as long as I don't put tires on the track...

Entry is not too bad - $365. for the weekend - and we were up to 163 entries total, should end up around 200 for the finals - I don't know if this is down from previous years.

12 cars so far in FV, Dan and DanJr (Grace) are coming off wins at Watkins Glen, there are a bunch of other drivers who are unknown. Have not seen Mark Fosberry in 10 years.

Could be interesting race.

The un-race

I still don't have any race video of me at New Hampshire Speedway.

I was close this last weekend, but for the second time (although the first was 12 years ago) my car died on the pace lap.

I have always had a fear of not being able to get to a race, but I think not being able to start a race is getting to be my new paranoia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiLlgX3Znwg

Now I did make it through 2 qualifying sessions and finished 4th in the Saturday race (the rain dance), but to get this close to racing and have to just roll it back on the trailer - a week later and I am still ticked off.

ChrisZ

Start of Race at New Hampshire

I didn't have a great weekend at New Hampshire last week (9-12/13).

However, some had it worse - here is a sample of what we faced at the start of the race on Saturday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwIdUkLMdRU

I am in the black car.

ChrisZ

New Blog

Hi,

I was going to keep my racing exploits updated on my own web site, but figure that this blog wil be a little easier - so check in and find out about my racing and SCCA FV and other racing information.

Chris Zarzycki