After my mediocre-ish 2010 series and unmitigated disaster in the 2011 series, I decided to take matters a bit more seriously this year:
In 2010 I had two entries: a small, narrowish Chaparral 2A with a home built brass chassis in P and a narrow, upright Cobra Daytona with a metal MJK chassis in GT. Both of these required a ton of work and were based on cars with shapes and sizes that no serious competitor would normally consider. In spite of that they ended up in quite acceptable mid pack positions.
So for 2011 I decided on the minimalist approach: a Ford GT40 with an essentially a stock Fly chassis. Interestingly enough it performed rather well on Luf's previous track with urethanes: was actually more than half a second quicker on that track than my previous year's Chaparral. Sadly, this performance did not last. Maybe it was too fragile, clearly it was over powered (with an MB Slot 23k Krahs motor), maybe it was just too simple. Either way, it was just a complete and utter dog in the series.
So this year again I decided to prepare two entries this year (GT and P). Like last year, I had some objectives:
• Must be driveable
• Must be at least relatively quick
• Must be driveable
• Must be robust
• Must be driveable
• Must be easy to drive
• Must be easy to drive consistently close to limits.
• Must be driveable...
..you get my drift
So this is where I am at:
1. GT: Plymouth Barracuda
I decided to start out with proven equipment: chassis was always going to be a Slot.it HRS. And to go on top of this? Must be a 'Cuda!
This just "felt right": nice and wide, enough space inside to do stuff, beautiful to look at: how bad could it be and how hard could it be to get up to reasonable speed? Well, now that you ask....
Got a nice sidewinder pod, great SCC wheels, well balanced NSR Shark 20k motor. OK, the one bit of difficulty was self-inflicted: I decided I did not want to use the common body post mounting method: too much could go wrong with the body screws. Screws drop out, screws can be over-or under tightened compared to what I wanted it to be: too risky. Just wanted to go with the side pin mounts and be done: quick to remove and replace body, no interpretation of screw tightness: perfect!
Except it was a lot of work to get it mounted correctly. With body float.
But I persevered and all's well that ends well.
So with great expectations off to the track.... and it SUCKED!
To give you an idea: a decent lap time on Luf's current Targa MUST be less than 9 seconds. Lap record is under 7.9 (Tony's P68 P entry in the 2011 CanAm). Best Q time for a GT was under 8.1 .... but that was Smokeio's Galaxy: not even going to try for that! I sort of felt that anything under 8.5 would be a good start.
I could not even get to 9 seconds!
Horrors! I even have an SCX Cuda with the stock chassis, wheels and axles with a Slot.it Flat 6 grafted in that has turned a lap of under 8.7 seconds! And this could not even get close to 9 seconds??!! What on earth?
I must say that I was thoroughly depressed: just about everything looked good: body nice and low, decent wheels and tyres, HRS set up well, good body float etc etc. But it just slid all over the place.
Back to the drawing board:
Weight high up? Now it tipped instead of slid: just far too twitchy.
Then I installed an inline pod with a Flat 6 in it (I mean: it worked well in the car with the SCX chassis, didn't it?). Still not really better.
So I fretted and fussed and finally got 12mm wide wheels under the body. Again: no better.
Now what?
When all else fails: go back to basics I suppose. So I rebuilt everything and tried to get everything that much better. And FINALLY I looked at the tyres: they were not sitting flat on the track!!! I received my new Tire Razor this past week so this was an immediate first project. At the same time I decided that the 12mm tyres were just too tight: I would rather get myself some wiggle room and go back to the 11mm's.
So I e-mailed Luf and asked if I could come do a bit of testing today. And finally things are starting to fall in place. Best lap today? 8.419 seconds! Is it Galaxy fast? No way, but I was not even aiming for that. But at least it is quick enough to have qualified 5th out of 19 GT entries this past year.
Now at least I have something to work with and still have some time to fine tune.
2. Prototype: Porsche 908.
If I really had half a brain I probably would have just gone for an NSR and be done with it. But it seems that, in spite of my good intentions to not make life harder than needed, masochism still runs pretty deep in my genetic make-up.
I really like the looks of the Fly 908's. And they are wide and big enough to be easy-ish to work on.
So what chassis: another HRS? Well, certainly a valid option, but two cars with the same type of chassis just seems kind of.... silly. Fly Racing? Hhmm, makes sort of sense, Fly with Fly and I have had great experience with Fly Racing cars.
But what about an NSR chassis? Why mess around: go for the jugular! Stick with the best and a known recipe.
So after mulling it over and humming and hawing, I decided on.... the standard Fly chassis!
Man, I must be really, really stupid! See where it got me in the 2011 CanAm? And I want do something similar? Again?
Aahh, but this time would be different! The Porsche chassis is much more ridgid than the standard GT40 chassis! And I won't go overboard on a 1,000 horsepower motor again. And I would work on it properly this time.
Well, if you want to beat a dog you will always find a stick. So if I wanted to use the chassis I was always going to be able to convince myself I suppose.
"Beat a dog"? Try "flogging a dead horse" more likely!
But I must say I have worked on it:
i) Used brass square tubing to stiffen as required.
ii) Small piece of brass plate to extend the guide forward just a tad.
iii) SCC Classic wheels: man, do they look good on the Porsche!
iv) Used the same mounting technique as I used on the 'Cuda: no more screws!
v) Locked up the (admittedly vestigial) Fly pod solidly.
vi) Used an NSR 20k Shark motor. Fits in the Fly pod rather well. But I did glue it up rock solid!
Unlike the 'Cuda, this one has been nice to drive right from the word go. Still not as quick as I would like but I did get it down to an 8.25 lap today: good enough to have qualified 8th in this years CanAm qualifying. And it still has some ways to go.
Both cars are way, way easier to drive than my previous entries. And as you might have guessed from my objectives, I believe this is of cardinal importance in a Proxy race. Will have to see how much pace I can still eke out of them.
And this year (unlike 2010) I will definitely be trying them out on a "silicone only" track before shipping them off! I intend heading out to the island to try them with silicones on the Suzuka track (which BTW is on this year's schedule as well) as it is the only silicone-based track within I do not know how many kilometers.
So slowly but surely I THINK I am getting there...
Great effort there SS. All I do now is change tires every year. Until Old #40 falls into the bottom half that might be enough for me...Kinda lazy I know...
Wow!!! Nice to see so many cars in the works. I have built and rebuilt my P car and still only have a tech block to show for my efforts. Nadda a thing has worked yet! Maybe the third attempt will prove to be the charm??? Looking forward to getting to see all of the new creations in December. Ok, back to work I go...Toy cars RULE!!!
Ray M.
The 312 Ferrari will be back for it's 3rd year in the P class (now minus the #1 sticker). I have high hopes it will return to it's glory days now that we're back on sillies again
Not 100% sure what to do for a GT car. The 365 Furrie did well considering it was underpowered (Slot.It teal motor), but the heckling I got from Georgia Coke dude was more than I could stand.
I'm looking into changing over to the Porsche camp this year. But there are some Camaros and Mustangs cluttering the work bench, so one of these might get the "Dungeon Treatment" and be sent off to show those southern boys what taillights look like...
Not 100% sure what to do for a GT car. The 365 Furrie did well considering it was underpowered (Slot.It teal motor), but the heckling I got from Georgia Coke dude was more than I could stand.
I'm looking into changing over to the Porsche camp this year. But there are some Camaros and Mustangs cluttering the work bench, so one of these might get the "Dungeon Treatment" and be sent off to show those southern boys what taillights look like...
From a Furrie to a Pooch.
Can't wait to see the NH Dung Treatment.
Next will be a Cuda'. You know what they say "if you can't beat em', join em'"
So, has anyone started working on their cars for next year yet?
I reckon I'll be running the same basic car as I did this year, but hopefully it will be a bit more competitive after some changes!
Some folks seem to be able to use a Slot.it 29k red can and achieve a driveable car, but I don't seem to be one of them. I've ordered up a couple of NSR motors to experiment with, can't argue with the way that cars like Mark's and Tony's zipped around this year! Gotta get some of the weight out of it too.
I'll be ordering up a couple pairs of same style SCC wheels and of course Super Tires from M. Gingras; trying to figure out whether a narrower track and more suspension travel, or wider track with less flex is going to work more effectively for cornering speed.
I used to think the RAA was a tough one for builders, but putting together a genuinely competitive CanAm Prototype has to be one of the biggest challenges for a proxy racer these days!
This car got chosen cos well I remembered reading De Cadenet got Gordon Murray to design the car in his spare time while working at the Brabham F1 team. The car cost around $7,000 pounds not dollars and used old Brabham suspension bits and a used Cosworth. The intriguing bit was the body design was described as a whats best out there, hmm the Ferrari 312 is going well lets copy it. The front is very Ferrari and the rear in later years became more Lola inspired. Seeing I had a Sloter body lying around I thought why not?
Duckhams Ford
1972
In 1969, Murray moved from South Africa to Britain to pursue a career as a race car designer. In 1970 he started working with the Brabham Formula 1 team. This car was an independent project he designed on the side that was built by race car driver Alain de Cadenet. The car bears the name of its main sponsor, Duckhams, a motor oil brand. The car was designed and built on a limited budget of $10,000. In 1972 the car's aerodynamic design helped it to win the "Motor" trophy, awarded to the highest British finisher in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans race, arguably the world's most challenging endurance motor race.
The chassis has a little stiffening with balsa and lead to bring the weight bias 40/60 front to rear. The body at first glance looks pure Ferrari and there are some alterations:
Larger light units
blanked out front radiator
re profiled front splitter
larger side radiator openings
fuel tank filler on LHS filled in along with rear deck Nacca ducts
new air intake behind driver
body sides sanded to be flat, removing the flares of the 312
reprofiled wheel arches front and rear.
roll bar location moved
cockpit surround lowered
The car is drying and I hope to give it a run this weekend. Mechanicals will be ball bearings bushings, slotit gears and MB Slot Krahs 23K motor. fingers crossed for 2012
Our Monday night races took place on a different track last night so I took my two aspiring proxy entries along for the ride. The outcome was quite promising and I am quietly hopeful that this year will be better..... well, make that "less catastrophic" than last year. This track is faster than Luf's Targa with at least one quite fast sweeping corner. It also has quite a decent straight.
Apparently the best lap on this track was turned by an NSR Mosler at a hair under eight seconds. Both my charges turned laps of less than 8.1 seconds. At the same time they were quite easy to drive, so I am pretty heartened by the evening's outcome.
Now to get silicones on them and see where that leads....
CanAm 2012 Work In Progress
Geno
Hybrid Mode
