absoluely incredible racing -- NASA summit point

5071 Views 57 Replies 11 Participants Last post by dmingis, Jun 15, 2009

d15b7

Discussion Starter · Apr 27, 2009 (Edited)

absolutely incredible racing -- NASA summit point

whew!

i just got back from summit point racetrack, with NASA MA. i am feeling a little sick -- maybe a touch of heat sickness -- it was mid to high 90s, and sunny, with no clouds; dreadfully hot!

both days were good racing, but today (sunday)'s race was incredible; it is by far the toughest race i have ever been in. it was 40 mins of non-stop, knock down, drag-out action, with three of us in the melee mix. i was PRAYING for the white flag to fly! from the drop of the green, til the checker finally came out, there was not a second of rest or relaxation....

i think that scott's video footage will be impressive to watch! at times we were splitting lapped cars and were running three abreast (me, scott, and darren (integra driver)). darren was forced off the track at least once by a miata, and once he went on the grass intentionally on the front straight to pass a log-jammed miata pack (all i could see in the rear view was a monster cloud of dust!).

the track was disintegrating really badly, due to the extreme heat and the patches were melting and tearing up; off-line was treacherous, and i almost lost it a couple of times when i misjudged the 'marbly areas'....

holy cow, that was some racing! when i was packing up, several groups of folks came by to say that it was one of the most exciting races that they had ever seen, and that they were happy that they had stayed to watch, instead of leaving for home!

hyperfest is going to be awesome!!!!! :biggthump

todd
ReidSpeed

PS hey scott - my CV boot had spewed grease all over the inside of my front wheel!

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Scca_Ev

· #2 · Apr 27, 2009

Yes, a great time was had by all.

Just wondering, did you even see my B14 as you went by? Jebus you guys are fast. Of course, that could be because I am slow...

Sadly I mis-shifted coming out of 10 and up shifted from 3rd to 2nd :SHOCKED: I am not sure I will be able to get the engine replaced by the next summit event, but I will try..

Oh well, thats racing. I had a great time none the less.

d15b7

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 27, 2009

hi bill!

it was great having you out there with us! and you are doing great; none of us started out running sub 1:30 laps at summit; i remember well the days i was routinely running 1:31s/1:32s (and back then, that would put you in the top three!). racing is almost like 'trial by fire'; you get thrown in, and you sink or swim! you are forced to get faster, and it will happen in chunks... btw, your car is one of the nicer looking PTE entries!!!! and, i'm sorry to hear of your engine misfortune; have you talked to the rest of the se-r crew, and/or joe h.? i bet one of them has a long block sitting around, just waiting for a chassis to be dropped into!!!!

and guys -- check here: http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1106636&perclass=0

it is unbelieveable how close we were in that 40 min race; i can't stress it enough -- we were F'ING CLOSE!!!! less than 0.2 sec separate all three of our best laptimes, and after 40 mins out on the track, 0.5 secs separated 1st thru 3rd!!!!

the three of us would have CRUSHED the lap record, if the track had not fallen apart, and if it hadn't been 96 degrees; we'd have done 1:26 low low low or even high 1:25s....

scott, did you have functioning video? i need to go out to the truck, and see if my camera worked (i was so beat i never even looked at it or took it out of the racecar last night). i am curious to see what showed up on the tape for the standing start, and when the Playboy Cup MX-5 scattered its motor in front of me!!!!

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Joelamite

· #4 · Apr 27, 2009

Scca_Ev said:
Sadly I mis-shifted coming out of 10 and up shifted from 3rd to 2nd :SHOCKED: I am not sure I will be able to get the engine replaced by the next summit event, but I will try..

Sometimes those engines will survive and end up only having a bunch of broken rocker arms. Pick up the pieces, replace the broken ones and see if she runs.
Have you pulled the valve cover?
Did you have any new windows in the block?
Sorry I missed everyone this weekend.

d15b7

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 27, 2009

Joelamite said:
Sometimes those engines will survive and end up only having a bunch of broken rocker arms. Pick up the pieces, replace the broken ones and see if she runs.
Have you pulled the valve cover?
Did you have any new windows in the block?
Sorry I missed everyone this weekend.

ya, 100% true! i've seen joe/scott/steve replace a bunch of broken rockers on a sat nite and have it up and running just like new on sun morning! it seems that the rockers are the 'fuse' in that motor when it is zinged...

i hope that's all it is!

todd

oh, and i missed you too, joe! i was looking around, thinking 'something is missing here'; then i realized it was that there was no 'death racer' on the grid!

Wade

· #6 · Apr 27, 2009

Scca_Ev said:
Sadly I mis-shifted coming out of 10 and up shifted from 3rd to 2nd :SHOCKED: I am not sure I will be able to get the engine replaced by the next summit event, but I will try..

It was great to have you out there! Sorry about the engine.

I think most of us have done the 2-3-2 shift or something similar. I did it last year coming out of ten. I broke six rockers which also scratched up the cams. I pulled the head to check it out, but there was no damage to the valves. I replaced the rockers and shims and now it runs great.

dmingis

· #7 · Apr 27, 2009

Hey guys! Just checking in, great racing with you! I'm praying Scott has video and regretting not running a camera myself! I really want to see my "on-the-grass" Miata pass -- wow were some of those guys slow!!! From reading the results only 6 out of 24 cars had 22 laps, I guess that means we passed 24 cars right?

I couldn't be happier with my new motor it was pulling very nicely. I was able to hit 120 on the front straight which is about 10 mph more than I could do on the old motor. SERs and Probes Beware! More upgrades coming for Hyperfest!

awdracer

· #8 · Apr 27, 2009

Great weekend, guys. I'm so tired.

I have most of the race video. I have to see what I'm missing. I think I got all of the Sun race minus the last lap. I'm not sure, though.

Seriously, though. If the track hasn't been fixed by Hizzyfest then I don't know if I'll be there.

I'll probably spend a couple of hours just chiseling out the tar soaked gravel of off my wheels.

d15b7

Discussion Starter · #9 · Apr 28, 2009

scott -- i'd advise against missing a race; i refused to drive all the way to cmp last year (that was during the $4 gal per gas timeframe) and got a double zero for that weekend... that REALLY hurt me, as i then had no drops left to use if i had a problem (such as crashing on the first lap at VIR full). if i'd just gone to CMP and driven around dead last for one race, i'd have had the championship.... don't go and throw away an entire weekend; it'll really put the pressure on you to make big points and have zero problems! take it from someone who's been there and done that!

i think the cv joint grease will keep the gravel from sticking! ha ha!

dmingis

· #10 · Apr 28, 2009

Agreed

We all have to deal with the same track conditions and guaranteed we're going to have an excellent race at Hyperfest. Summit Point is one of my favorite tracks for several reasons. Yes the surface gets bad but its still a great facility -- they are very friendly and laid back and some of my most memorable events have been there.

I also think its great that cars like ours are fairly fast there compared to "fast" cars.

dmingis

· #11 · Apr 28, 2009

BTW -- I know at least 2 of the PTE'ers weren't feeling well after the race -- did you guys see this thread about possible food poisoning at Chez Summit? Maybe bad water??? I skipped the dinner working on my car and felt fine.

http://www.nasaforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28024&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Seems like at least 30 people got sick.

Rockwood

· #12 · Apr 28, 2009

Where's the effing video?!?!?!?!

d15b7

Discussion Starter · #13 · Apr 28, 2009

i haven't uploaded my video yet; i've downloaded it to the computer, but not bothered to upload it to vimeo (yet). its kinda 'blah', except for the start, and shooting thru lapped cars (cause i was in the lead from the green to the checkered). i am SO bummed that i don't have a rear facing camera, cause that footage would have been epic; the battle that was raging between me, and scot, and darren existed for the ENTIRE race!!!! i too hope that scott's camera worked, because that should have had a good view....

Scca_Ev

· #14 · Apr 28, 2009 (Edited)

Joelamite said:
Sometimes those engines will survive and end up only having a bunch of broken rocker arms. Pick up the pieces, replace the broken ones and see if she runs.
Have you pulled the valve cover?
Did you have any new windows in the block?
Sorry I missed everyone this weekend.

Didn't even open the hood. I will check it out as soon as I can. I am busy as hell for the next couple of weeks.

On Edit: Does anybody have a ballpark price on a Kessler motor?

nasa ser

· #15 · Apr 28, 2009

scott, you'd better be there, besides think about the tires, do it for the tires! ;-)

awdracer said:
Great weekend, guys. I'm so tired.

I have most of the race video. I have to see what I'm missing. I think I got all of the Sun race minus the last lap. I'm not sure, though.

Seriously, though. If the track hasn't been fixed by Hizzyfest then I don't know if I'll be there.

I'll probably spend a couple of hours just chiseling out the tar soaked gravel of off my wheels.

Scca_Ev

· #16 · Apr 28, 2009

d15b7 said:
the track was disintegrating really badly, due to the extreme heat and the patches were melting and tearing up; off-line was treacherous, and i almost lost it a couple of times when i misjudged the 'marbly areas'....

Funny you mentioned that.. I too (even as slow as I was going) got into the marbles at 6b and almost lost it. Thanks to my deft driving skills (actually luck) I recovered. I guess it's easier to recover if when you are as slow as me.

I also had my first off. I was coming into 5 faster than I ever had before. I was getting caught by the Miata's and lost sight of one of them in my mirror. I have one hell of a blind spot I have to fix. Anyway, I tried to stay right, and hit the marbles and off I went...

Lesson learned.

I had a great time. Hope I can get the engine fixed soon..

dominojd

· #17 · Apr 28, 2009

Scca_Ev said:
Didn't even open the hood. I will check it out as soon as I can. I am busy as hell for the next couple of weeks.

On Edit: Does anybody have a ballpark price on a Kessler motor?

Ask him yourself.

http://www.kesslerengineering.com/index.htm

What ever you do don't mention Greg A's name the price automatically doubles.

Scca_Ev

· #18 · Apr 29, 2009

dominojd said:
Ask him yourself. http://www.kesslerengineering.com/index.htm

What ever you do don't mention Greg A's name the price automatically doubles.

Thanks, email sent. (and no, I didn't mention Greg's name

)

Another question, does anybody know if USDM RR rockers are the same as the JDM engine rockers? (Ya, I know, I am a cheating bastage)

dmingis

· #19 · Apr 29, 2009

I don't really get it but I went to the dyno yesterday to see just how much this new motor was putting out (1992 PTE Integra) and it came out really low. This doesn't make any sense because I know it was pulling!!!

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awdracer

· #20 · Apr 29, 2009

137? Yeah, right

.

How much do you weigh? Also, how many points are you carrying right now? Your car started as PTF, right?

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