Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Tom Elam <thomas.e.elam@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: OT: My 2024 BCHMR Day 2 (for all my devoted followers).
Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2024 09:04:56 -0400
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 197
Message-ID: <vb4d5o$2r69a$4@dont-email.me>
References: <v9dg28$3caij$1@dont-email.me> <v9ggbd$18q8$5@dont-email.me>
 <v9r07v$21f3n$1@dont-email.me> <v9r7am$22h23$1@dont-email.me>
 <vasdn7$g000$1@dont-email.me> <vast9v$iq59$1@dont-email.me>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2024 15:04:57 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="a82fc18766b046dadd3c60962a44c190";
	logging-data="2988330"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+lX79OdSfil8KP6R+tSbJ7QwGH0M49oGw="
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird
Cancel-Lock: sha1:tiH1Ow7D/FvOjRePo/BiRO2vNWs=
Content-Language: en-US
In-Reply-To: <vast9v$iq59$1@dont-email.me>
Bytes: 10415

On 8/30/2024 12:51 PM, Alan wrote:
> On 2024-08-30 05:25, Tom Elam wrote:
>> On 8/17/2024 6:13 PM, Alan wrote:
>>> On 2024-08-17 13:12, Tom Elam wrote:
>>>> On 8/13/2024 4:40 PM, Alan wrote:
>>>>> On 2024-08-12 10:16, Alan wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Well, it was great to get back on track.
>>>>> I said there'd be a follow up post and here it is!
>>>>>
>>>>> Sunday morning dawned (very, very thankfully) under cooler 
>>>>> temperatures, cloudy skies and even a very small amount of rain. 
>>>>> The high for the day was forecast to be down from too high to 
>>>>> something that was at least bearable. That having been said, it 
>>>>> still ended up a day where hydration was key. I think I drank 2-2.5 
>>>>> litres of water.
>>>>>
>>>>> I arrive at the track at about 8am with very little to do, and as 
>>>>> we were going to be the first group out for warm-up, and as it was 
>>>>> going to be a track just damp enough to need rain tires, but which 
>>>>> would dry out quickly enough that you'd then destroy your rain 
>>>>> tires...
>>>>>
>>>>> ...I just decided to give the warm-up a pass. I'd learned all I 
>>>>> needed to learn about the track (where the new bumps were, where 
>>>>> the organizers had added penalty cones for track limits violations, 
>>>>> etc), and about the car (I need to add some rear brake bias.
>>>>>
>>>>> So I thought I'd have nothing more to do than to add a little 
>>>>> nitrogen to my tires (American Racers tend to leak a 
>>>>> little—especially the highly cantilevered rear tires, and so need 
>>>>> refilling at least once when the day begins), give the brake bias 
>>>>> knob a couple of turns to "more rear", and unpack for the day.
>>>>>
>>>>> But then I noticed a 6" diameter puddle of oil right below the Van 
>>>>> Diemen's combined bell-housing/oil tank/oil overflow tank. What's 
>>>>> more from the colour and odor, it could be gearbox oil.
>>>>>
>>>>> I was all set to start looking at the bottom of the car for any 
>>>>> indication of where the oil was coming from when my shared crewman, 
>>>>> Tom, noticed the faint trail of oil from the sight glass of the 
>>>>> overflow tank. Since I started running the car in 2018, I'd never 
>>>>> seen any indication that the overflow tank was full, but it 
>>>>> certainly was now (after we'd changed the engine oil and as all 
>>>>> racers do: added enough to make sure that some would end up in the 
>>>>> overflow tank).
>>>>>
>>>>> No problem! (Are we sensing a theme, here? 😉). I'll just find a 
>>>>> catch pan (my own having been accidentally left at the shop, take 
>>>>> out the small drain plug, and seal it all back up!
>>>>>
>>>>> Only no one had one close handy either. But Erle had what appeared 
>>>>> to be an aluminum tray for baked goods (muffins or maybe cinnamon 
>>>>> buns) that might do the job. It was certainly short enough to fit 
>>>>> beneath the drain hole with the car only up on short stands.
>>>>>
>>>>> I took out the drain plug, and out came the oil, and... ...that 
>>>>> catch tank was pretty big. I started to get concerned that we might 
>>>>> be overflowing the available vessel, but...
>>>>>
>>>>> No problem!
>>>>>
>>>>> ...the flow started to slow as it got higher and higher in the 
>>>>> tray, and I thought I was in the clear...
>>>>>
>>>>> ...when it became apparent that there was a hole in the tray a 
>>>>> little more than half way up. And now I had a 3 feet in diameter 
>>>>> puddle of oil in my paddock space. Lots of oil absorbents later, it 
>>>>> was gone.
>>>>>
>>>>> Let's get to the racing.
>>>>>
>>>>> First race of the day, as the day before, the grid was set from the 
>>>>> fastest laps done in the race before that. Warm-up was just that; 
>>>>> not a qualifying session. So the FC was on pole and I was gridded 
>>>>> next to him. This time, when the flag dropped, Chris had clearly 
>>>>> learned a lot from watching me drive (his best lap this race was 
>>>>> nearly 2 seconds faster than his best from Saturday), and there was 
>>>>> no way I was going to be able to keep pace with him. And John, in 
>>>>> the Mallock sports racer with a 2 litre tuned Vauxhall engine was 
>>>>> going to be my fight, and it ended up being a fair fight. He could 
>>>>> pull away for a while, but only by using his brakes to the point 
>>>>> where they'd overheat and he'd have to moderate his pace.
>>>>>
>>>>> So the finish was: 1. Chris in the FC; 2. John in the sports racer 
>>>>> 37 seconds back; 3. me in the Van Diemen less than a second behind 
>>>>> John.
>>>>>
>>>>> Still a pretty good result for running on 2 year old tires.
>>>>>
>>>>> The next race (race 5 of the event) at the egging-on of my crew, I 
>>>>> pulled the restrictor to see if it might be possible to run with 
>>>>> the FC and beat the Mallock. It wasn't—possible to run with the FC; 
>>>>> he still had about a 12% horsepower advantage as well as downforce 
>>>>> and Hoosier tires. The Mallock had problems and so didn't factor.
>>>>>
>>>>> What WAS cool, though, is that there was an original Lotus 41 
>>>>> Formula 2 car from the late 1960s that was being driven by Doug 
>>>>> (not that Doug; another Doug) who normally drove a Dodge Viper. It 
>>>>> had much more rubber than mine and while the engine was a 1.6 litre 
>>>>> mill, it was a Cosworth FVA engine with WAY more horsepower than 
>>>>> any Formula F; Ford or Honda.
>>>>>
>>>>> The Cosworth FVA was a "proof of concept" engine designed to show 
>>>>> Ford what Cosworth could do before they built the famous 
>>>>> Ford-Cosworth DFV. It makes something on the order of 200-225hp.
>>>>>
>>>>> The only saving grace was that this was Doug's first time running 
>>>>> the car—his first time in any open wheel racer, so it was taking 
>>>>> him a while to come to grips with it. This led to us having a 
>>>>> super-fun dice with him leading off the start, me passing him for 
>>>>> 2nd place, then him passing me again as he got better and better in 
>>>>> the car. Our regular on-track photographer, Brent Martin...
>>>>>
>>>>> (shameless plug: martinsactionphotography.smugmug.com)
>>>>>
>>>>> ...was at turn 3 and he must have got dozens of shots of the two 
>>>>> cars, separate by at least 30 years, going through nose to tail.
>>>>>
>>>>> In the end, Doug got the better of the battle, but it was so much 
>>>>> fun to be a part of (and I wasn't bright enough to have had my 
>>>>> GoPro mounted for the race!), and we finished:
>>>>>
>>>>> 1. FC; 2. Lotus 41 F2; 3. Me VD RF98-2 FF only 1.2 seconds behind 
>>>>> Doug.
>>>>>
>>>>> And for the last race... ...well... ...I was already gassed. It 
>>>>> might not have been as hot as Saturday, but it was hot enough.
>>>>>
>>>>> I simply decided to relax, and ease off to play with Erle Archer in 
>>>>> his 1979 Tiga. I left the restrictor pulled, but I played games 
>>>>> with myself by going through corners in one gear too high, or not 
>>>>> using all the throttle down the straight...
>>>>>
>>>>> ...and in the end...
>>>>>
>>>>> ...because this was the race for which you get a plaque as the 
>>>>> "Abbotsford Trophy" winner in FF...
>>>>>
>>>>> ...I backed off coming off turn 9 to let a legal FF take the 
>>>>> checkered flag.
>>>>>
>>>>> As the race played out, Erle was leading as we started the final 
>>>>> lap, but he left the door too wide open to pass up entering turn 2, 
>>>>> and I felt I needed to get past him once more for the fun of it. 
>>>>> Then I left the door open in turn 3, and he didn't pass.
>>>>>
>>>>> So I did the only thing that seemed right.
>>>>>
>>>>> All-in-all, a great weekend of racing just for fun; no points. We 
>>>>> saw some people and cars that don't normally come out, including 
>>>>> Ross Bentley...
>>>>>
>>>>> (shameless plug: speedsecrets.com)
>>>>>
>>>>> ...an alumnus of racing with the SCCBC who went on to drive 
>>>>> (occasionally) in IndyCar, and who has become a highly sought-after 
>>>>> driving coach.
>>>>>
>>>>> Now, there are three weekends left in the season, and I hope to 
>>>>> make all three. I think I can win all 9 of the races, but I suspect 
>>>>> that with the points lower (because there will probably be fewer FF 
>>>>> drivers out), I don't think that I can win the club championship.
>>>>>
>>>>> Still, there are some folks who didn't make it out to the 
>>>>> "Historics" that I'd still like to see on the track.
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers!
>>>>
>>>> So to sum up, absent Floer, McKay and others, Alan Baker can beat 
>>>> the few FF back-runners left that he has regularly beaten easily in 
>>>> the past.
>>>
>>> LOL!
>>>
>>> And stay with a Formula 2 car with close to double the horsepower.
>>>
========== REMAINDER OF ARTICLE TRUNCATED ==========