- Flame throwing and pretty...before the multiple contacts with #5.
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INTRO
This was an interesting and very tiring week for me. For various reasons; work, injuries, and just bad timing the Khajavi Motorsports crew became the Khajavi Motorsports guy, me. I had to do all the preparation of the car solo. As such I did not have enough time to do everything and had less of a car than I should have and yet again no time to practice and tune the car.
Changes to the car this time included little touches all over the car. They are detailed below:
ENGINE:
The intake system still had the original traction control throttle body housing (deactivated per the rules) and the original rubber elbow which was restricting the intake air flow. So we replaced it with a silicone 3" elbow that was free flow and lower weight.
The removal of the original intake elbow caused us to lose a way to feed air to the Idle Air Control Valve (IAC) so after some thought we just removed the entire system and plugged the holes. Initially we drilled some holes in the throttle plate to give the engine more air but this did not work well so we plugged them and adjusted the throttle stop instead. So we lost more weight here too.
We found a little more oil in the intake than we like. We checked the engine and it is in very good shape so no worries there but we did want to reduce the oil getting into the intake which can reduce the octane level of the fuel which is not good. So we added an oil breather to the car to catch the oil before it can get back into the engine. It is a little added weight but better for the engine in the long run,
We changed to a larger K&N air filter in case the small cone we had was restricting us.
We also played with the sensors to give us some more fuel, less throttle lag, and better pull over 5500 RPM which turned out to be a big plus to the performance of the car this weekend.
We also finally fixed a nagging oil leak at the front of the engine on the chain cover, turns out one of the bots was too long and was not torquing down properly allowing oil past the seam.
CLUTCH
We again rebuilt the pressure plate, welded up the damage from last race done to the transmission due to the failed clutch and hoped for the best.
CHASSIS
To further reduce weight we cut out the spare tire area in the rear trunk and built a lightweight floor to replace it with. We also built an aluminum under-tray for under the engine and connected the two with a panel under the center of the car. The idea being to make all the pieces support each other in case of failure or accident which it turns out happened this race!!
I built lightweight tube supports for the front bumper and brake ducts to better support the front bumper/spoiler and make removal of the bumper faster. These would also be 'tested ' this weekend.
The damage done by Chavez in the last race to the passenger door and 1/4 panel was fixed by Mencasa Carroceria y Pintura in La Uruca just North of Vargas. They do great work and try to never use bondo or fillers to keep the cars light! Great work done i I highly recommend them to anybody in need of body work and paint. They are doing my wifes car next week!
BRAKES
We added larger brake ducts for this race to aid in cooling during the longer events.
SATURDAY
I showed up Saturday morning after a week of all day/night work on the car and honestly wanted to sleep more than race. Then I had to unload, set-up, change, fuel, adjust and strap-in to race.
Somehow I made it out for the first practice session. The car felt much better on power and response. The horrible bog we had between shifts the last race was gone now (thanks to the adjusted TPS signal) and the side benefit was some nice over-rich flame shooting on downshifts!! The handling was horrible however as the car was pushing badly (would not turn in). The brakes were still too stiff but worked well once warmed up (the new ducts worked too well!). However after several laps the over temp warning light came on!! I immediately pulled off into the pits as the temp hit 270 deg!! Into the garage I went....
After 30mins of searching I found the problem. A small bleed hose had a cut in it and was allowing water to slowly leak out until the water pump ran out of water to feed the engine causing the overheat. I had to remove the fan, radiator, and hoses to get to it but once there I cut off the bad section and replaced it. I got the car ready just in time for qualifying. Unfortunately I had no chance to adjust the suspension to fix the push, play with tire pressures, nothing. I also was not sure if the engine was hurt from the extreme overheat or not!
For qualifying I knew I was not going to be the fastest guy out there as I only had 4-5 laps on the track to that point. But none the less I wanted to be in the pack and not at the back. So I started to push the car a little after 3-4 laps but I pushed too hard, call it lack of rest, call it ego, call it whatever you want but I overdrove the car into the last corner before the strait and the car pushed right off into the grass. I kept the car in control and got back on the track but not after losing the front spoiler, part of the bumper and badly damaging my new undertray. Turns out the idea to connect the front and back sections with a center panel helped to keep it from falling off the car! I qualified 12th
Back in the garage the one man show went back to work removing the bumper, undertray, supports and ducting. I then spent hours hammering everything back into position and reassembling. The back-up spoiler would not fit due to the amount of damage done to the front bumper. I decided to leave my spare front bumper in the shop this time as I was too tired to bring everything I normally bring. So a lot of tape, wire, screws, and glue later, I had a car I could race on Sunday. But I missed the last practice session of the day so I would race Sunday with 8-9 laps of time on the track and a so so car.
I stayed until 7-8 PM to adjust the suspension (by eye, no equipment on hand to use) by best guess as what would work based on my 'ass' engineering team and hoped for the best.....SUNDAY
After a decent nights sleep I came with my Pro Pit Crew: My Wife and my two Daughters ages 7 and 10! They helped wash the car, got a crash course on radio use, basic pit requirements etc.... This was going to be interesting!
- The cutest pit crew on the grid!!
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So my pit crew rolled the pit cart down to the pits and I pulled the car out of the garage to get to the hot pit. We unloaded and I moved the car down for the photo opportunity. I have to say we had the cutest pit crew on the gird for sure!!
Starting in 12th is not great but it does give some opportunities to pass if you can get a good start. The strategy was simple; get as many on the start as possible, look for opportunities and keep every position won mine. The start was great! Again the BMW is pulling hard now and the rear wheel drive definitely has an advantage on the launch! We gained several positions on the launch and a few on the brakes into turn one as well! We were doing pretty well running around 7th or so until the bone head thing happened....we ran out of fuel
In all the running around and such I forgot to add fuel after the practice session...So here I am running out of fuel thinking, should I stay out and hope to roll over the finish line, pit and hope my with my 'special' pit crew (my wife), can she figure out how to lift 40 pounds of fuel jug and fuel me??? So I take one more lap thinking I might make it...I think I can, I think I can.....OH CRAP I CANT.... "Heh Honey!!!..." (over the radio) "Yes??"..."I am F***ing out of gas...can you fuel me if I pit??"..."You have to be F***ing kidding me??"..."NOPE, here I come...". I have to give a lot of thanks to the Gigante team for giving my wife one of their guys to jump the wall to fuel me. Buy the way he had to run a few pit spaces up too because none of my crew waved at me as I drove by 
! Despite doing two slow laps running out of fuel an unscheduled fuel stop we ended up in 12th! Not bad really, embarrassing yes, but not bad considering.So after the race we checked our weight and we are 140#s overweight. Well that is better than 200# overweight! I put a little extra fuel in this time and we get the car ready for the next race. I take some more air out of the tires, my wife fills my water bottle my 7 year old picks up old washers and bolts in my pit with a magnet (actually she did this all day), my 10 year old hands me some water and back in the car I go....
For the second race we got another great start and really had a great race, the car was handling better, the power was good, brakes were locking up on the right front only?? I had to assume a defensive line a few laps from the finish to hold off a few cars threatening my position and I held on the a 5th place finish!! Things are coming together!!
For the third race my pit crew disappeared??? Something about lunch I guess so I struggled to get into the car and get to the grid in time but as I said before they are the cutest crew in the pits so what could I do? The third race started well with me gaining several positions early on. But a few laps in I got hit hard by the #5 Nissan in the left hairpin on my drivers side door. I saw him on the inside so I took a wide line to give him room but he had lost control and slid into me instead of being able to hold his inside line. The car was not the same after as he dragged off the rear wheel which seemed to have bent or knocked out the alignment setting. We dropped back several positions and finished in 8th place.
The damage effected the ability for the door to stay closed, broke the undertray mounts and shattered the front fender and rear bumper. The rocker panel was badly dented in and the rear wheel was toeing out from the hit. I went to work but could do little with the short time and lack of help, though my 7 year old did carry over a 20 kilo tool box for me!! So more tape, some hammering and out we go for the final race!
- Still pushing hard with lots of signs of the multiple contacts with #5!
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The start was good but the car was not 100%. The handling was off and the car was over-steering badly which I am sure was fun to watch. I must have looked like a formula drift car out there. I was holding my own until guess what....yep...contact number two by the #5 Nissan in the same place on the car (OK 5" off but close). If I did not know any better I would say it was intentional?? Well it is what it is...nothing more to say. I held on as best I could with what car I has left and we finished 9th.
That was one different race weekend for sure....now I am going to bed until Wednesday....
- Close racing all weekend!
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