The complete write up can be found here, but what follows is the abridged version:
Last weekend was the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Central California. We were excited to get the invitation to participate and rearranged our race schedule to attend. We planned to take 3 weekends in a row to break-in the new Metrix Motorsport diff, work on setup, get additional seat time, practice the track, and show off a real grassroots effort. As is often the case, the racing gods had other plans.
In the following two weeks, we did two head gaskets while keeping our day jobs and made it back to the track in between to verify we had not figured it out.
We finished up in time to arrive at midnight before the event started and hoped the problem was solved.
Day 1
I studied the ECU data log after the first run, and I got concerned about some knock. E-mailed the files to Vic Sias who took a look, cleaned some cells up, and sent them right back but we won’t get to test before the morning. I believe this was the root failure we have been looking for over the past two weeks.
We decide to watch the race and finalize the livery. In addition to the required stickers from GRM, we felt it was important to get the full BMW CCA livery on the car in case we get some coverage in the magazine.
Between discussions with Vic and post-race advice from the guys from Bullet, we made the smart call and upped the fuel grade to 110.
Day 2
We decide it’s a good idea to get a lap in the bank with someone who knows the track better, given we’ve spent our time turning wrenches instead of practicing. John Matthew jumps in and with an abbreviated practice session and some quick setup changes turns a 2:01.362. One second behind the only other BMW CCA DM car but 13-14 seconds off the fastest pace. The car was still fighting what we think is a brake booster problem but we have time to sort that out now.
The racing gods repaid our hard work in unexpected ways. Although we didn’t turn in the fastest lap of the weekend, we quickly realized that was never in the cards. We did meet some great people, had a lot of fun, got to run on track with cars we might never have even seen, have the potential for some coverage in the magazine, and learned a few more things about race craft that will make us better the next time out. The Vorshlag guys were really nice guys who made a heck of a trip out from Dallas to be at the event. The staff from GRM were really nice to meet and a pleasure to speak with. NASA did a fantastic job both with the enduro (which we hope to run next year) and their coordination of the Grassroots Motorsport Ultimate Track Car Challenge.
A special thanks to our new sponsor, Metrix Motorsport whose differential allowed us to field a car as competitive as it could be.
More info on our car and new sponsor can be found at our Car Domain page here.
Last weekend was the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Central California. We were excited to get the invitation to participate and rearranged our race schedule to attend. We planned to take 3 weekends in a row to break-in the new Metrix Motorsport diff, work on setup, get additional seat time, practice the track, and show off a real grassroots effort. As is often the case, the racing gods had other plans.
In the following two weeks, we did two head gaskets while keeping our day jobs and made it back to the track in between to verify we had not figured it out.
We finished up in time to arrive at midnight before the event started and hoped the problem was solved.
Day 1
I studied the ECU data log after the first run, and I got concerned about some knock. E-mailed the files to Vic Sias who took a look, cleaned some cells up, and sent them right back but we won’t get to test before the morning. I believe this was the root failure we have been looking for over the past two weeks.
We decide to watch the race and finalize the livery. In addition to the required stickers from GRM, we felt it was important to get the full BMW CCA livery on the car in case we get some coverage in the magazine.
Between discussions with Vic and post-race advice from the guys from Bullet, we made the smart call and upped the fuel grade to 110.
Day 2
We decide it’s a good idea to get a lap in the bank with someone who knows the track better, given we’ve spent our time turning wrenches instead of practicing. John Matthew jumps in and with an abbreviated practice session and some quick setup changes turns a 2:01.362. One second behind the only other BMW CCA DM car but 13-14 seconds off the fastest pace. The car was still fighting what we think is a brake booster problem but we have time to sort that out now.
The racing gods repaid our hard work in unexpected ways. Although we didn’t turn in the fastest lap of the weekend, we quickly realized that was never in the cards. We did meet some great people, had a lot of fun, got to run on track with cars we might never have even seen, have the potential for some coverage in the magazine, and learned a few more things about race craft that will make us better the next time out. The Vorshlag guys were really nice guys who made a heck of a trip out from Dallas to be at the event. The staff from GRM were really nice to meet and a pleasure to speak with. NASA did a fantastic job both with the enduro (which we hope to run next year) and their coordination of the Grassroots Motorsport Ultimate Track Car Challenge.
A special thanks to our new sponsor, Metrix Motorsport whose differential allowed us to field a car as competitive as it could be.
More info on our car and new sponsor can be found at our Car Domain page here.
Attached Files
Comment