Working Jefferson

Talk about Hill Climb events here and watch this site for any last minute changes to the schedule.

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mrevilracing
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Working Jefferson

Post by mrevilracing »

Since the car is still down, we decided to go work. If ya can't drive, ya may as well be in the midst somehow! It was a lot of fun. We sat on the carousel turn Sat and Sun. The heat wasn't too bad which was very lucky for us. The wasps hadn't quite created their hives yet but they were in and out 1 at a time occasionally. There were over a half a dozen up inside that roof and I'm glad the mosquito fogger I used around the gazebo didn't stir them up.

The few incidents we had were minor. The 36 car was too wide and caught the dirt which wound up spinning him around into the infield a bit. The 1 car quit half was thru the carousel but managed to coast to just about the begining of the S's. The 84 car gave it his best shot coming thru there but it seemed like a fuel pick up issue caused him to run slowly, bucking his way thru only to return to the pits. The 136 car lost a throttle cable(that was the guess at the time, not sure what it really was but he was out later) and coasted to a stop at the S's entry. The 43 car sput out at the S's entry. We were very glad that there were no real incidents.

On Saturday, I spent some time taking notes on just about every car(probably was every car) driving thru the carousel. Sunday morning I did the same until I decided to start timing from one point to another. I picked 2 reference points on the track and sat/stood in the exact spot. Below are pictures of what I was using:
This was where I started the stop watch. I was targetting center of car:
Image

This is where I stopped it. I used the broom handle as a rear site and a big stone as the front. It was pretty accurate:
Image

At some point, I'll post times. Just don't feel like inputting them right now.

Here is a picture of the turn, from the gazebo. This is a view that as a driver, we don't get to see. But I urge anyone running there next year to walk out here and look at the track from this perspective. The camera on my phone is $%^&*&(&^ so you'll just have to trust me telling you what my observation was.
Image

If you took my advice Saturday night and walked out to the gazebo and looked at the track, the yellow arrow is the burnout mark in the grass I was talking about. Somewhere around there should have been the turn in, +/-. The blue arrow is the black patch(or whatever) that you should have had the right tires on. If you looked REALLY close, I had put(sunday) 2 sets of American flags on the opposite side of the track, just where you should have been before turning into the tight turn at the end of the carousel. if you were against the outside just before the 1st one, BINGO. The 2nd one was turn in. If you turned in somewhere around that 2nd one, when you spit out towards the S's, you were pointed correctly.

Above, the 3rd picture is what you can't see as a driver. Again, sorry for the crappy picture but you'll have to trust me here. What you are staring at is the inside lane. The outside lane is almost parallel to your eye sight. You can see the inside lane is pitched a little inward. Keep in mind that the line of sight here is me standing inside the gazebo, which is elevated above the track approx 15", AND I'm holding the phone approx 5'3" above the floor of the gazebo. SOME of the drivers running that outside lane, we could see the bottom of your car!

Some of my notes, Sunday before lunch:
36 -Tighter thru middle, close to going off.
909 - Tighter thru middle of corner. Good entry to 2nd turn.
66 - Too far outside thru carousel. Off the gas most of the way thru.
21 - very fast.
99 - 1st lap - cold tires, timid. 2nd lap - still outside. 3rd lap - come in tighter.
90 - way outside. Early brake.
136 - Early brake. Way outside thru corner.
92 - sounds like on 3 cylinders.
282 - Good brake point. Too far outside thru corner. 3rd lap - crossing dots now.
1 - Early entry. come in later
43 - 2nd lap - Excellent - on the gas thru the corner.
282 - too early @ 2nd turn. Spitting out early into S's.
57 - Way outside - off gas thru corner. 2nd turn good.
007 - Entry too early. Turn in 2 car lenghts farther.
711 - getting faster
16b - riding outside
46 - letting off early & entry too early
60 - Entry way early. Too tight into 2nd turn.
18 - outside
97 - outside
96 - Perfect
172 - Early turn in -go 2 car lengths
511 - Don't brake so early
87 - turn in later - stay inside
193 - turn in 1/2 car lenth later. Excellent last corner
19 - go a little tighter
B4 - Turn in a little sooner - stay tighter thru middle. Go outside @ 2nd corner
75 - Way too far outside
7 - Come tighter thru center of corner
17 - too far outside
42 - Come in tighter center of corner and get back on the gas
280 - way too early entry. Turn in 1 - 2 car lengths later.
86 - Good. Need a real horn
4 - way outside!
932 - nice
888 - tighter thru center
27 - too early entry
04 - too early 2nd turn
171 - FAST
24 - early entry
666 - Stay on gas, tighter thru center
M17 - Way outside
130 - nice late entry. Last lap perfect
156 - little early @ entry. Early @ 2nd turn
0 - come tighter thru center
L8 - Don't brake so hard. Turn in earlier
95 - very good

Since I am STILL typing....these are times I recorded with the above reference pictures. Times are in seconds(Duh!):
183 - 12.0, 11.5, 11.3
57 - 12.3
35 - 11.0 last lap
65 - 12.4, 12.18, 12
43 - 12.2, 11.7, 12.17
36 - 12.86, 13.04, 12.29
282 - 11.42, 11.34, 11.01
4 - 9.64, 8.74, 8.65
66 - 10.58, 9.68
21 - 8.88
115 - 12.22, 11.49, 11.21
187 - 12.47, 11.34
95 - 10.86, 10.99
68 - 11.22, 10.78, 10.95

Then I started to look at inside or outside:
1 - o 13.22, i 11.54, i 11.70
171 - i 10.79, i 10.73
M17 - o 12.62
86 - 11.02, i (weeee)10.76, i 11.0 This joker had us up, grabbing the radio, flag and almost out of the gazebo, while squeeling tires to turn in(VERY late brake) :twisted:
24 - i 12.01, i 11.89, i early 11.38
41 - o 11.6, o 11.48
17 - o 11.89, o 11.75, o 11.93
75 - o 12.19, o 11.63, o 11.74
888 - o/i 11.76, o/i 11.23, i/i 11.18
172 - i 10.70
27 - i 11.74, i 11.46, i 11.11
0 - o 11.58
87 - o 12.75, o 12.30
L8 - i 11.81, i 11.84, i 11.81
666 - i/o 11.01, i/o 11.50, i/o 10.97
007 - i 11.01, i 10.67, i 10.88
57 - o 12.46, o 11.99
95 i/o 11.04, i 10.47

Well, there ya have it. Unfortunately, video would have been a better tool as I can't explain what I saw at every single second without it. Some drivers were VERY consistent. But what was clear is where the line was. My suggestion is if you can sit out either morning or afternoon and go work carousel. You will see it too.
RIP Joe, my friend.

Must go faster!!!!
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Steve Tumolo
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Re: Working Jefferson

Post by Steve Tumolo »

Thank you Steve and Nancy for coming down to work. And thanks for the input on the line. Even though I only got to make one run on sunday I did get a much better feel for what you were talking about. Thanks again!
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Re: Working Jefferson

Post by miniacmike »

I too would like to thank you and all the other workers for braving the heat and staying out there all day. As for your corner observations..... THANK YOU.... I was able to finally get some well needed speed through that section and improved my lap time by almost 3 seconds. Too bad I killed the trans and wasn't able to do better but we'll give it hell next year.
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Mike Robinson
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Re: Working Jefferson

Post by FV95 »

Thank you Steve, for you advice....it saved me the fraction of a second I needed. And, viewing some video, I have room for a little more speed there. John
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mrevilracing
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Re: Working Jefferson

Post by mrevilracing »

You guys are welcome. We were more than happy to work. I am glad no one could hear me on Saturday because I was yelling at so many drivers: "TIGHTER!" "GET ON THE GAS!" "GET OFF THE BRAKE!" "TURN IN!" LOL! It was my shy side.

Mike i have video of you where I'm yelling "IN IN IN!!" I emailed it to my account but it won't play sound. I can hear it on my phone though. I am interested to see where you wind up in the over all for the weekend and am hoping for you to be in the top 10. I know you coming over that crest, braking a bit and turning in looks totally wrong. But you see what I was saying about the speed thru there using that crown. Running a 56 was AWESOME!!! Glad to see an SM car doing so well.....after all, I am partial to them.

John, when you were on the gas thru the turn, I KNEW you were gonna kick butt in there. Look at your in car. See where you are in relation to the 2 flags I had put on the outside of the turn, if you can see them. For most people, you probably didn't even see them as they were like 3"x4".

Steve T, a little tighter in that corner and you would have stayed hard on the gas to about our position like Mike was doing. The car looked good thru there though. Cool paint.

The 21 car was wild to watch. The extended wing on the front was moving around like mad coming thru that turn from the turn in point. I can't believe it held on there but I'm glad it did. Very cool. The car looked like a radio controlled vehicle.

The 136 car: The only thing I found odd was it looked as though the suspension was really unloading when you came over the crest. You weren't off the ground but it sure looked close. Just an observation.

Mike Ancas was Jekyle and Hyde within the same run. He did the same thing every run except for his last. 1st lap, ho hum, putz on thru, I'm just out for a sunday drive. I'd be like, WTF? First time in a car? Then, lap 2, WHAMMMM, right on thru, full bore, turn in tight, back on the gas. Lap 3, same thing, blasting thru.

Matt, that was an interesting way to drive the S's.....we were picking up the flag as you straightened out, so to speak.
RIP Joe, my friend.

Must go faster!!!!
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mrevilracing
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Re: Working Jefferson

Post by mrevilracing »

Here was oil on the track. I couldn't see it on the entry to the carousel because the polarized sunglasses did something funny to the shading. But as the car went by(yes was smoking but I couldn't see the fluid yet) I could see it.
Image

Clean up crew:

Image

While Nancy was calling on the radio, red flag in hand, I jumped down, ran out to the track and started walking towards turn 2. I couldn't see any oil as I was facing the opposite direction he had been traveling. But I turned around to face the course direction and it was plain as day. After that, it made me pick up my glasses every once in a while to look at certain cars coming by. It's weird how the polarizing screws with your sight in certain conditions.

I have to say that the track clean up crew had it completed in less than 45 min and it was supposedly all the way around the track. I think as he passed us, it was the worst. Could we have done anything differently to decrease the length of the oil-down? I don't know. I've run over the scenario in my head 50 times and monday morning quarterbacking the situation isn't making any sense.
RIP Joe, my friend.

Must go faster!!!!
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