So your able to basically drive around the road course in third gear.

It sure sounds like your doing up to 7000

 

Love the vett, but think I will stick with karts on the track.

My goal this year is to loose enough weight to keep up with my 8yr old!

His goal is top-5 at Rotax Grand Nationals this summer.

 

I noticed that, and was wondering just how broad a range the rpm spanned. Figure there's not enough grip to make it worth shifting(?) Fun to watch and hear.

 

Maybe it was closer to 7000, I can't remember. I do shift to fourth on the longest straight.

And I didn't mention the lens-as far as I know it's just a simple wide angle lens with no UV filter.

I'm just not good enough at downshifting yet to make it worth it. Remember, I'm primarily an autocrosser! Actually I'm still trying to make my car easier to heel-toe, from getting the pedals to line up better to getting the carb (or ignition) tuned enough to get a nice smooth blip. I can heel-toe my ZX2 all day long, but the in my Vette it's always been a bitch to do.

 

My buddy driving instructor has a wide enough foot to just put his right foot part on the brake and part on the gas. he is able to just rock his foot to H&T

 

I'm in the same boat as you. I only shift into 4th gear down the straight at my local track also. I'm still working on the whole heal-toe downshifting thing too. It's pretty difficult to get right.

 

IMHO a crisp throttle response makes syncing rpm's easier when downshifting and, besides, a little too much blip is less likely to cause driveline damage or "the big panorama" than not enough. As for the pedals, they constitute 3/5ths (1/2 for those who don't clutch) of the basic controls with which you interact, making optimum pedal setup critical, so don't be timid about taking necessary measures to eliminate any awkwardness which makes "heel and toe" a struggle. Took a lot of bending to get my C3 pedals right.

BTW, for anyone following along who hasn't caught on, "heel and toe" is a misnomer as the heel doesn't actually have anything to do with the technique other than it's best to lift it off the floor (or heel bar) when braking. Hope you guys who do know don't get tired of me pointing this out to those who may not.


Cool watching you chase that rabbit Jason, but your audio sounded like an SRB off a space shuttle.

 

I am pretty good at heel-toeing my daily driver, just don't have it in the Vette yet. Like I said, pedal alignment and throttle response, and the stiff-*** throttle return springs are all working against me.

 

Turtle,
Still racing the Mustang. The vette has not been out to play in awhile. Can't afford to put any money into it. I had to get a partner to even afford to race. Construction in socal sucks.
Anyway maybe next season.
Later

 

Are you coming to the Reno-Fernley SCCA vintage races this June 14th?

 

Sucks here too...

 

What size tires do you guys run?

I'm thinking about 26.5x9.5x15 rear and 245/45/15 fronts

Hoosiers

 

why not go the same size all around and be able to rotate them? If I were still on 15's I'd probably be running the 25.5x10's

 

What tires are you running in this pic?

You said that you ahd 26.5x9.5x15 on the rear and 25.5x10x15 on the front

But the rear seems much wider than the front

 

That is another possibility

Seems like no one rotates tires on there race cars though

 

Gkull,
I'm at Infineon/Sears point June 28-29 with NASA. So I will not be at reno. Working on the car to get ready.

ctk30,
The tires in the picture on the back are Goodyear slicks I got from a pro-truck racer way back when. I only used them once. They are on a 12"wide wheel and rubbed the fender unless I maxed out the ride hieght. So I went to the skinnier Hoosiers that would not. I was able to get the hoosiers as take offs from the local track for almost nothing. Since then I bought wheel adapters and ran my Race Car toyo's from the Mustang the last time out. 275/40-17 at every corner. This actually worked very well and if I track the car again I will go with Nitto NT-01, Toyo or some other R compound. I now have the fender flares and can fit nice big tires in there like 69AutoXr. Maybe some Viper tires in 18" or something. Don't know until I get some money! Every penny goes into finishing this season with the mustang. I've learned so much Racing that I would almost have to start over on the vette. Which is good because what i thought I knew, actually is very little. It is nice having a dedicated Race car though. No compromizes.
Anyway if you can get one tire size to work that is a plus. I didn't like the 25.5.10/15's in the rear RPM's were high the tire is pretty short.

Good luck!

 

I have 4.11's so I'm not sure about the 25.5 rear

But I used one of those calculators and I'm at over 125 at 6800 rpm

I don't think I can get faster than that at sebring

It seems like most vintage racers are running 26.5x9.5x15 in the rear and 245/45/15 on the front

 

I've been working on the pedals, and I think I'm getting them close to working. The gas pedal right now is a bit too high due to my throttle linkage with the BG Demon. I need to rethink how I have it setup and figure out how to drop the pedal closer to the floor while being able to obtain full throttle.



If I go to Road America in a few months hopefully I'll be able to get better video. I have a pretty cheap setup that I need to improve upon. I'm going to use the camera's higher resolution setting, put foam over the mic so it won't sound like a SRB , and buy a decent mount. My home made one that's mounted using a trim screw wasn't rigid enough (imagine that ).

 

Hey everyone!
Took the vette out for some fun 4th of July weekend. Have not even started the car for more than a Year. Went thru all the fluids and fired it up to go run the Tijuana Grand Prix.
Yes' you read correctly Thats in Mexico!!! lol
The shop I have been racing with (JMCMotorsports.com) was taking a few other cars down and asked if I could get the vette down there to put a car in A class. The streets of Tijuana are ruff and the course is more of a Drag Race H.P. set up. We thought the car would do well but what an adventure. First off my setup was way to stiff. (last run was Nov. 2006 @ Buttonwillow) so I went to work on softening everything. Next we had a power steering hose Failure in qualifying. Luckily the handy folks that they are in Mexico they made me a hose that would work. Lastly was Fuel. You can not take fuel into Mexico so I had to drive the car to a Pemex station (public streets) to get (? super unleaded) to mix with the V.P. Race Fuel ($12.00 per gallon U.S. ) they supplied at the track. Thought for sure I was going to get pulled over but nobody cared much, just admired the car. ( In fact the population that came to the track just absolutely loved the vette.) A rivalry had been established between my Vette and a 68 Camero that had raced for many years in this class as the car to beat. Unfortunately without a Qualifying time and a start from the back I did not have much confidence in the set-up or my chances. As it turned out JMC Motorsports took wins in all classes entered.
Here is a couple of pictures of the vette and the video.
There is a wreck on the first lap then just picking off one car at a time until the camero then we have fun!!!

Tijuana Grand Prix 2008

 

That's much more entertaining than NastyCar (no offense stock car fans). Nice avoid there early on, and I respect how you applied your aggressivity in carefully measured doses. Well done!