Once a year the guys from Motorweek put on an autocross at 75-80 Dragway. Check out the video.
Short story- spun on lap one, went to the back of the pack. Passed ~16 cars in the next 18 laps, ended up slightly ahead of where I started, first FSCCA out of 3. Videos in the pictures->road racing section.
The new fuel pump worked for about 15 minutes of the first practice session on Friday. Showed voltage at the connector, but apparently not when the pump was connected. Called Enterprises to see if I could talk to Ken Brown- the person I spoke to thought he would be in later, and took a message to have him call me. Missed the second session as I rewired the fuel pump through a new switch to get the car was running again. Shot some video during the third session, and the car ran fine. Tweaked alignment for the next session, with help from Dan Carney. Seemed like it helped. Scuffed in new tires for a couple laps in the last session.
Once again FA was mixed with FM, DSR, CSR, and S2000, even FC. There weren't so many cars, but a couple cars were dog slow. Still fast on the straights. There was a purple DSR out there running 2:30 or worse as I was running 1:58-1:59. I qualified 4th with a 1:59.1- got out too late and hit too much traffic. Still first FSCCA out of 5. Actually ran 1:58.6 in the morning, but that was a practice so it didn't count. Found out that Ken Brown was there and sought him out to talk for a bit. He didn't have time to look into the cause of my fuel pump issue, but said he was ok with my fuel pump wiring.
At the start of the race I decided to try going around the outside and spent several laps going backwards- every time I tried to setup the car in front of me, I kept opening the door for the car behind me. Both Grant brothers got by me, and it took me a while to clear both of them. Once I did, I set about chasing down Sean Maisey in his Zetec. Caught up to him and John Fergus, but by then we were hitting lapped traffic. Got by John, then lost Sean slightly in lapped traffic and John got back in between us. Our battling and the traffic allowed Keith Grant to catch back up, and as I tried to get a run past John and Sean at the finish (about 3' short of getting John, but no way to get Sean), Keith drafted right behind me. I finished 4th in FA, 1st FSCCA.
This was an ugly race weekend. FA was mixed with FM, DSR, CSR, and S2000, for a total of 53 mismatched cars. Some of the sports racer guys really ought to sell their cars and buy a sailboat. That or go vintage racing. Several of them were dangerously slow. But they had good power, so I had to pass them in the turns. It was near impossible to get clean laps with these clowns- my lap times would vary by 10 seconds a lap as I passed some groups and caught others. By the end of the qualifying session I had passed sports racers in every turn on the 3.27 mile track- even on the outside of the boot! Despite this, I managed to qualified decently, just about 1-2 seconds slower than I thought I should be, but still first FSCCA. In the race I got a good start and passed 3 cars by the exit of turn 1. Lost a couple spots in traffic, then got some back. Battled for 5th place with David Glassman in his Zetec for a while, then noticed the car beginning to starve for fuel in a few turns. Then we had a full course caution and I thought they would just checker it. I motored around slowly in 5th gear for a few laps. Suddenly coming back onto the NASCAR course several cars began passing under yellow- we weren't even close to where you could see if a green flag was being shown at start finish. David has a radio and I know it, so I wasn't about to pass him under yellow. Sure enough, two turns later, I could see the green was waving. As I went down the back straight, the car started to miss- lack of fuel becoming detrimental to performance and engine life, so I started taking it easy. Made it back to the heel of the boot, then the car just died. Coasted to the safest place I could find to park and watched everyone finish the final lap and 1/4. Ended up 9th out of 12 in Formula Atlantic- a few other guys had worse problems.
Got the car back to the shop and siphoned the tank to see if it was a pickup issue- it appeared to be since there were 2 gallons of fuel left in the 7 gallon tank. Talked to Ken Brown at SCCA Enterprises about it, and he thought my fuel pump was going. So he gave me the part number of the uprated fuel pump, Walbro GSS-242, and I got one from Summit Racing. Upon taking out the old pump it was clear there was no pickup issue- the pump mounts on the end of a long rigid pipe, and it sits very near the bottom of the tank. It should pick up fuel down to the last quart. So I put in the pump, put the 2 gallons of gas back in, and after some fiddling with the connector (and a remove/test/reinstall cycle) the car ran again. Checked for shorts in the harness or signs of damage but did not find any- that fiddling and the fact that the pump didn't work right away worried me.
The first NEDIV National race for 2004 was full of frustration and disappointment for many of the "Wings & Things" drivers at Summit Point. For nationals FSCCA runs as a Formula Atlantic, or FA. Real Atlantics have 250+ HP, bigger tires, and more downforce. Not exactly a fair fight. Total there were 13 cars in FA- 3 were FSCCA cars and 2 were Zetecs.
Saturday morning qualifying began on a cold and wet track. Since I don't own any rains and the rain had stopped, I went out on slicks. On the first lap, 3 guys spun, and they all had rains on. The weather looked like it would be better for the afternoon, so in I came and we cleaned the car. Dan Carney came in early, also on slicks, saying it was pointless to continue because there were cars crashed in every turn.
The afternoon session was dry, with a few wet spots. One of those wet spots near the exit of turn 1 claimed two Formula Atlantics right in front of me. When I came around on the next lap, another Atlantic had run joined them. Funny thing about crashed racecars- they become magnets. Gradually more and more cars piled up in the 10 turns around Some Mud Point, and some of those still running were really slow, maybe just because they wanted to stay on track. Had trouble with my right side mirror vibrating loose and falling down, which cost me a few laps while John ran for tools and fixed it. I did manage to turn a decent time of 1:15.0, which qualified me 6th for the FA race on Sunday.
Sunday the race started at a very high speed with a very late flag- I can only theorize it wasn't waved off to avoid a massive pile up, either that or we all sped up to 100+ MPH in perfect unison. After a few laps cars littered the edges of the track, including blocking about half of turn 6b. A full course yellow for a few laps cleaned up the major offenders, and bunched the field. I got a good restart, only to get to turn 1 and watch the 5 cars in front of me run into each other, blocking nearly the entire track. I found a clean line to the inside and Chris Meredith followed me through. We diced a bit for a couple laps, then I shook him and started passing a few FCs and some lapped traffic. With several laps to go, a Formula Ford driver crashed hard at the exit of 10, and the turn was yellow for the rest of the race, with wreckers and an ambulance there for a while. Really it should have been a full course yellow- it was just a really dangerous condition. Taking it easy through 10, a few cars caught me, including an FA that went flying by down the front straight with about 3-4 laps to go. I figured I was getting lapped, but got on the gas hard and found I was reeling him in. Couldn't catch him by the end, though. I finished 3rd in FA, first of the FSCCA cars, with a best lap of 1:14.4. Despite the cold wet start, it was a pretty good weekend. Oh, and snow flurries started after we got out of impound.
After two months of waiting, the replacement transmission finally came from Elite. They found the cross pin that failed (see below) was defective, and replaced the entire transmission at no charge. That was great, but I missed the rest of the pro season waiting for it to arrive. The good news is we tested the new transmission at Summit Point with the EMRA guys and it works great. We also tested out a new video system using a lipstick sized camera mounted to my helmet. You can see the video from the road racing pictures page. We also added a new radio system, so Tod can tell me about my special "matched tires".
With the new data acquisition system from AIM Sports, we were looking forward to a day of productive testing, followed by a great race weekend. The first test session Friday morning went well. Although the track was a bit damp, by the end of the session Justin had worked his time down to 1:59.5. The second session ended abruptly after only a few laps when upon shifting into 3rd gear the cross pin in the differential snapped. Tearing it down showed the pinion gear was also damaged, as was the case. This being a fairly catastrophic failure on a new car, nobody had the parts or tools to fix the transmission. We attempted to use similar parts from a Staff's transmission to cobble up a functional gearbox, but the two units were just different enough for this not to work. Along with Greg Bruns, we had planned a dinner for all the Formula SCCA competitors for Saturday night, so we stuck around for the weekend and relaxed.
A new M3 Log Advanced data acquisition system from AIM Sports was installed, and a full day of testing was planned. David Lower came out to help with crew duties, and shot some video. Unfortunately the data system wouldn't talk to the engine's computer, so no useful data was recorded. Sometimes being on the leading edge is not so good- this was only the second M3 Log Advanced system sold in this country. A week later we found the problem was in the AIM system, and an easy firmware update corrected the problem.
Justin spent the day just driving the car and getting used to it, working his way down to a best lap of 1:13.2, over 1 second quicker than the Formula Mazda track record.
The first race in the new car ended in disappointment when a flat tire relegated Justin to a 5th place finish. He had qualified 3rd just 1/2 second off the pole, and ran briefly in 2nd place before the tire lost so much air the car became undriveable.
The car wasn't completely assembled and had never been started, but we went to the track anyway to get some experience with the new car before VIR. All the parts had not yet been supplied by SCCA Enterprises, but with some engenuity and help from friends the car came together. It started fairly easily, no major leaks ensued, and once the idle was adjusted we registered for the test day. The rest of the morning was spent completing assembly including things like seat belts and mirrors, and doing a quick alignment- toe in only. The first session of the afternoon was initially aborted when the quick release steering wheel refused to stay on due to a manufacturing defect. John was able to fix the quick release, and Justin turned his first cautious laps in the new car. Everything was functioning ok, and after a thorough checking over, it was time to go back out for the next session. Justin began to run the car a bit harder, turning laps as quick as 1:15.5. This despite having a pickup truck intake installed and no rear bodywork. Having achieved some comfort with the car, a wing adjustment was made for the last session. Unfortunately the session was black flagged before meaningful testing could be done.
2002 Valvoline Runoffs
After a successful season running nationals in Formula Vee culminating in a 7th place finish at the Valvoline Runoffs, I'm moving up to a faster car in a new pro series. The car weighs 1200 lbs with me, about 175 lbs more than the Vee. Horsepower jumps from 60 to 165, tire size doubles (or more), brakes and all other components get more advanced, and wings will help me really fly. The new pro season will offer great exposure at tracks up and down the east coast.
If you're interested in helping my racing effort drop me a line at justin@justinhuffman.net.