Superformance MKII, Riverside Racer 289 FIA vintage race car

[1795]

Rick,

I should be around, the only thing that I have on the agenda is grocery shopping. Text me and let me know when you think that you might be here.

Jim

[byronpete21]

That race screen looks sweet Jim. Nicely done Sir.

Byron

[Moto One]

Nice work Jim.

Mark.

[1795]

The modifications and race prep are complete (well until I find something that needs to be changed...) and the car is ready to go. I will be one the road to Summit Point next Wednesday. So here she is in current race form.



With the windshield removed I had to decide how to install the side view mirrors. I really did not want to drill the fiberglass again and the bolts on the mirrors were too short to fit down the slots for the windshield braces. In addition, when I placed the mirrors on the bodywork, they were too inboard for my liking on a race track. So, i took a piece of aluminum bar stock, measured it to what appeared to be an appropriate height, cut. formed and drilled it so that I could mount it to the windshield supports and put them in place. They allow the mirrors to stick out from the body a little bit and provide a better view of cars to either side of me. I had ordered a ray dot mirror from Moss Motors that was convex and had some that I ordered from Finish Line that were flat as well, in addition to the convex ones that I ordered from Ebay. The Ebay ones were more convex than the Moss Motor one and so I used the more convex ones for the rear view and passenger side mirrors and decided on the less convex one for the drivers side as it offered a slightly better view than the flat mirror.



Looks like I am ready to go. Just have to go through my tools and supplies to make sure everything that I might need is there. Got the trailer ready last weekend.

See you on the track!

Jim

[Moto One]

Your mirror fix is very similar to 0012, only I extended them (both sides) with plastic tubing and long bolts with a fly nut for easy adjustment.

Have a good/safe race Jim.

By the way 0012 is all fixed and tuned running better then ever. Over 6k on the clock now, and summer has started...

Mark

[1795]

Mark,

Great to hear that 0012 is back together and running great! Keep piling those miles on. See you in a month or so.

Jim

[1795]

Well, I wish that I had good news and some nice race video, but that was not to be. Got to Summit Point Wednesday afternoon and set up n the rain. Brought my car to tech and passed tech. Lot's of comments on how nice the car was. It rained all day and there were forecasts for a high risk of rain Thursday and Friday with less risk Saturday and Sunday. I was hoping to get a little practice time on Thursday during some light rain, had given up on Friday as the prediction was 2" of rain, an hoped that the track would be clear for Saturday and Sunday.

On my way to the track this morning the road that I had used last night was flooded and closed, had to detour through some other roads that were under 4" of water at various spots. Arrived at the track and was told that the track would be closed until about 10 am while they tried to clear some standing water. By 10:30 they cancelled the race as there was one corner that had 9" of water in it and the drainage ponds were all full. In addition the forecast was for 4" of rain between today and tomorrow and they had already closed a couple of the roads around the track. So, due to the fact that there was no place to pump the existing water, there were 4 more inches coming and that the access roads to the track could potentially all be closed by the end of the day, we were sent packing.

So I drove 335 miles Wednesday to the track and 335 miles back home Thursday. Looks like I have to wait until June at Mid Ohio.

Jim

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by 1795

Well, I wish that I had good news and some nice race video, but that was not to be. Got to Summit Point Wednesday afternoon and set up n the rain. Brought my car to tech and passed tech. Lot's of comments on how nice the car was. It rained all day and there were forecasts for a high risk of rain Thursday and Friday with less risk Saturday and Sunday. I was hoping to get a little practice time on Thursday during some light rain, had given up on Friday as the prediction was 2" of rain, an hoped that the track would be clear for Saturday and Sunday.

On my way to the track this morning the road that I had used last night was flooded and closed, had to detour through some other roads that were under 4" of water at various spots. Arrived at the track and was told that the track would be closed until about 10 am while they tried to clear some standing water. By 10:30 they cancelled the race as there was one corner that had 9" of water in it and the drainage ponds were all full. In addition the forecast was for 4" of rain between today and tomorrow and they had already closed a couple of the roads around the track. So, due to the fact that there was no place to pump the existing water, there were 4 more inches coming and that the access roads to the track could potentially all be closed by the end of the day, we were sent packing.

So I drove 335 miles Wednesday to the track and 335 miles back home Thursday. Looks like I have to wait until June at Mid Ohio.

Jim

Ah yes, the wonderful world of motorsports. Well your truck did get some exercise at least! Jim, this really sucks, but sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.

With this out of the way the rest of the season is guaranteed good weather!

[Moto One]

From what I have seen on the news, you are getting biblical rain.

Mark.

[1795]

Mark,

Yes, they are getting biblical levels of rain. As I was leaving the gate I commented to the security person that they had better break out the ark! That area is not well designed to manage a lot of rain, no shoulders or drainage ditches on the roads; the water just runs straight across. I was worried that I would come across a road closed sign with the trailer hitched up and have no place to turn the truck and trailer around. The roads were narrow and twisty with changes in elevation. Not a pretty picture to back up on. There are people there who will probably be stuck at home for several days until the water drains away.

While it sucked having the race cancelled, it was still nice to see some old race friends and meet some new ones in the paddock. There was a track day going on when I first arrived and on the way into the paddock someones vehicle was hanging behind a tow truck. The front passenger side was crumpled in and both rear quarters were severely damaged as well. My guess was that the driver overestimated his ability to drive on a wet surface and took a corner way to fast. Looked like he bounced off a wall more than once.

Jim

[Moto One]

It's beginning to look like the weather is attacking cobras. Rain here every afternoon (normal T-storm action). Glad to hear you made it out with out using the floats... And what was the line in "The Art of Racing in the Rain"? " You have to initiate the slid, not reacting to loosing it." or something like that.

My other plastic car C5Z06, decided last week to let 5th & 6th gear go a missing. I'll get the box opened today and see just what happen. Hopping is like my old Alfa ZF box, and that the bolt back out of the shift fork. With 160k on the clock, and
lots of track days "it could happen"...

Mark.

[1795]

Originally Posted by Moto One

It's beginning to look like the weather is attacking cobras. Rain here every afternoon (normal T-storm action). Glad to hear you made it out with out using the floats... And what was the line in "The Art of Racing in the Rain"? " You have to initiate the slid, not reacting to loosing it." or something like that.

My other plastic car C5Z06, decided last week to let 5th & 6th gear go a missing. I'll get the box opened today and see just what happen. Hopping is like my old Alfa ZF box, and that the bolt back out of the shift fork. With 160k on the clock, and
lots of track days "it could happen"...

Mark.

Mark,

I was really looking forward to racing in the rain and getting some practice in with the cobra. Raced in the rain with the MGB, but not yet with the cobra. Was commenting to my wife that I wish that I could have taken the dog so that she could have sat in the passenger seat with me on the track. With that being said, would still prefer dry weather at Mid Ohio.

Good luck with that transmission, the only time I ever opened one up was when I was about 20 and I had to replace the clutch on my 1974 Grand Am. Thought that I needed to check the transmission too and all of a sudden there were needle bearings and gears all over the place. How I ever got it back together right I do not know.

Jim

[Moto One]

Seem's that the 5/6 in the Tremic M12 ride on a separate shaft, and that the splines have worn such that it lets the cluster slip under any load. New trans order from RPM, not that I need one that well built, but I'll feel better about it. By the way, Wilson (our dog) loves riding in the Cobra, and only tolerates the Vett. ;-).

Mark.

[1795]

Well, it has been an interesting weekend so far at Mid Ohio. Met some real nice people and a lot of cobra owners, and some people here for the London Cobra Show stopped by. Had four good sessions weather wise on Thursday. Interesting track, a real nice back straight, probably hit 140 on my best run there, that ends into a tight right hander and then through a series of esses. Met a good guy with a 240 Z who was paddocked next to me and had raced here many times. We did a track walk and he pointed out the dry line and the wet line. At Mid Ohio they use a sealer on the dry line to enhance grip, and it is like glass when wet. The night we talked the track it had rained earlier and you could feel the difference with your shoe between the sealed area and the regular pavement.

Friday rained most of the day and sessions were delayed and shortened. Saturday was supposed to be nice and we were out at 8 am for a qualifier, it rained for 45 minutes prior to the qualifier. The track was wet when we went out and all I had were my Hoosier Street TD's. Unfortunately my wife forgot to turn the go pro on, so I have no video, but for those of you that were thinking you could run Hoosiers on the street, forget it. After the green flag I ran the wet line and after turn two on the back straight in second gear with a mild application of throttle I did a 360, kept it on the track. From there on out it was the same, any more than a slight throttle input would break the rear end loose. People with rain tires were having a difficult go of it.

Things dried up and we were set to run a race after lunch and the skies opened up and i kept in. One race of fighting to keep the car on the track and driving slow was enough for me. It rained through half the race. Tomorrow looks better and I may try to run the 60 minute enduro. Will hopefully have some video to post after i get home.

Met a guy racing a C-4 Corvette that has built two Superformance cars. Let his grandson sit in mine and have his picture taken.

Jim

[Mark IV]

Jim,

Can you tell the difference with the race screen as compared to the full windshield? Does it keep the wind/bugs/etc. off you?

[1795]

Rick,

It has not been that buggy, only saw one hit the race screen. Nothing in my face yet. I did notice that you get a little more wind buffeting of your helmet at high speeds, as opposed to when the windshield was in place. A definite improvement performance wise on the track, and besides, it makes the car look faster as well.

Time to get heading out.

Jim

[1795]

Well, I was able to get one race in on a dry track. Had to re-learn the dry line as the last time I was out had to run the wet line, which on this track is way different than just running a little off of the dry line due to the slippery nature of the sealer.

Still working out the tire pressures. Was slowly adjusting them and then was held up by the wet session as I had to drive so slow that the tires never heated up. The tires were sliding and I could feel some roll. Hot tire pressures upon completion were low. Left front and left rear were at 27 and right front was 26 right rear was 25. Going to bump up the cold pressure from 20 to 24 for the practice session at Watkins Glen in two weeks and see how that goes. It made it difficult to push it in the corners as the grip was poor.

Attached are two videos of the race. Pretty much ran by myself, so it can be boring to watch. Not a lot of dicing with other drivers. It was a small and combined group with a variety of cars, ranging from GT level cars with wings, to 427 corvettes, a few Mustang and Z28 Camaro's. My line got better as the race went on. Always a success when the car goes on the trailer in the same shape that it left it. A lot of cars left early due to one issue or another. Getting a better feel for the car and can't wait to get on a more familiar course and see how she does. First time that I have been able to run the car since early October. I do like the race screen, less wind resistance.

https://youtu.be/B8p3jRs3QXQ

https://youtu.be/g9WNa3JAeXk

All comments and suggestions welcome!

Jim

[1795]

Well, I had a much better race weekend performance wise and weather wise. Nice sunny days, no wet weather and a nice track. I was racing with the Historic Race Group, which is a vintage group associated with the Northeast Division of SCCA. We run as a separate run group at SCCA races in this region. It is a small group, we only had 18 cars at the track, so we run a combined group of various cars. The cars consisted of 4 Corvettes ranging from 1963-1971, a 1968 Camaro, 1966 Mustang, a Jaguar XKE, 1983 Oldsmobile Winston Cup, a couple of Alfa Romeo GTV's, a Datsun 240Z and a 280Z, an Opel GT, an MGB, an MGA, and a Bugeye Sprite. Engine sizes ranged from 1200 CC to 454 cubic inches. It is a fun group to run with and they self police regarding contact and aggressive driving, so we have to tone it back just a little.

The weekend was full of carnage. Upon entering the paddock to pick a spot on Friday afternoon during the test day, there was already a Spec Miata sitting on dollies with the only body panel not showing significant damage being the drivers door. Both right side wheels were broken off with stubs from spokes still attached to the hubs. During one race 5 Spec Racer Fords got into a pileup at turn 2 and during the next race I watched a Spec Miata go sideways in turn 1 and slam into the wall; you could hear it from 200 yards away. We did have one incident of carnage ourselves, on the opening lap after receiving the green flag for the race the Opel GT and the Camaro hit each other going down into the boot. It happened about 10 seconds before I arrived there and resulted in a lot of parade laps behind the pace car under double yellow before we could resume racing.

Was slowly increasing the air pressure in the tires to prevent roll and improve performance. I am getting close. Lap times decreased each session as I felt more comfortable in the corners. It is hard when you are racing a one-of-a-kind car, as there is nobody else racing a 289 FIA at the track that I can go to and ask about what tire pressure they are running. Information for other cars or from websites is all over the place. I am going to increase tire pressure 1 lb per tire for the Vintage Grand Prix and see how that feels during the practice session.

Acceleration was good and the car does handle well. I am beginning to push the limits a little more with confidence and if you compare this video to the last one you will notice that I am taking some turns a lot faster than last time. The person who is in charge of turning on the GoPro did not do a very good job, so the only videos that I have were from the second qualifying race. I am only including one video link, as the other video that covers the first couple of laps begins with about 10 minutes of sitting on the grid, as I had to start the camera prior to strapping myself into the car.

Just prior to the start of this video I passed the Corvette with the 454. You will see me chasing a Corvette, getting interrupted by the Mustang who came onto the track late and caught me by surprise going into turn 1 ( I was not watching my mirror as there was nobody behind me that was going to catch me at that point as far as I knew), so I backed off a little and that allowed the Corvette to pull away, and then I slowly reel him in. The guy driving the Mustang was extolling the virtues of the Jericho transmission that he just put in and competing on how nice it is not to have to clutch on upshifts. Finished 5th overall in the race.

Enjoy: https://youtu.be/CMWiRE7Ah84

Jim

[Moto One]

Congrats Jim on another turn on the track...

Mark.

[Alfa02]

Jim, what a pleasure speaking with you the other day. Here's wishing you a "fast' safe trip around the "Glen". If you need anything just ask, Cheers Tom.