John B

That's good news!

Well written!

Since I had so much fun at the National Se7ens event and my car still works, I'm tentatively planning to do the Saturday Oct 9 member day at NJMP Thunderbolt. New tires are on the way. I twisted @simon450arm and he said he's in. How about @Croc and @yellowss7 ? I believe each member can bring a guest, so if others are interested we can probably add a few guests. Best, JohnB

Yeah, ragged tires aren't fast, but they sure can be entertaining Thanks for the award. It will take it's place proudly and prominently among its more pedestrian brethren.

What a wonderful event that was! I made it by the skin of my teeth. I just got the car home late Saturday evening and didn’t have a chance to test it. I knew I really wasn’t ready, but set out early Sunday morning anyways, figuring I’d test it on the track. I spent the first two sessions with one eye on the oil pressure gauge and the other on the track. Thankfully, it was fine and ran great both days. The weather couldn’t have been better, and It was great seeing old friends again, and making a few new ones as well. Many thanks to @Croc and @yellowss7 for putting this all together.

I look forward to seeing you all. I'll arrive early Sunday and participate Monday as well.

Good news!!! Evaluation of my oil problem revealed that it just blew the seal out of the oil filter. I think I caught it in time. It only ran at idle for a few seconds without oil pressure. A mechanical gauge showed pressure climbing with rpm, but not stopping. It was making 120 psi at 3,000 and going higher. The pressure relief valve was likely stuck closed. Should be an easy fix and I'll probably still be coming Sunday am.

Unfortunately I'm out for next weekend. I started my Caterham up this morning to put a few more easy miles on the new engine prior to next weekend. Pulling out of the garage I heard a funny rattle and saw zero oil pressure. I shut it down immediately. It left a big stripe of oil leaving my garage. Looks like the three stage oil pump for the dry sump failed somehow. There's oil all over it. I only had about 15 miles on the new engine so far. My crew chief is picking the car up Monday. I'm so very bummed

We'll miss you Seb. We'll have a toast to you at dinner Sunday night.

Traction has left the building

Nice video! What is the Lap timer App you were using? Does it work off GPS or does it need a beacon?

I just tested my Caterham with the 327 hp 2.4L engine. Holy crap, I've created a monster!!! It's just explosive. I Can't wait to bring it to NJMP next weekend.

Wow Jay, That's a bummer! I think you're on the right track with a compression test. A leakdown test and borescope inspection could reveal a valve issue. Other ideas: Could be a cam position sensor. That would make it put fuel in at the wrong time. I've had that happen on another car. It ran rough. Check spark on #4 cylinder. Maybe a bad coil? Good luck!

Are ZZR's better on track than Hoosier R7's, or A7's? I think I had A7's last time and they seemed to be holding up relatively well.

I think we're going to need to do a full fledged intervention at NJMP. We can't let this fleeting moment of sanity gain traction.

Seb, Best of luck with the new job! My Favorite track in the country is not far from MI. Road America at Elkhart Lake, WI. 4.5 miles of bliss!

Simon, that looks great and should be a blast! I think you'll need a Cowboy makeover to pull off that Montana plate though

Thanks Croc. it held up with the 2272 hp MZR. i’ll be careful with it. but... Just in case, what’s a good Plan B?

I think the C.R. is 12:1 but am re-checking with Hasselgren. The 2.3 Cosworth Duratecs used in the Swift 016 Formula Atlantic racecars spend most of their life at 8,900 rpm and get get rebuilt at 15 hours (1,500 miles). This engine will probably have an average rpm of 3,500 throughout it's life with brief spurts up to 8,000 on the street. But it will get a few hours of 7,000-8,000 at track days. I'll log track time and shoot for a rebuild after 20 track hours (about 10 track days). I'm not sure what the trans is, but I know it's not a Sadev. It's a 5-speed of some type. The car is a 2003 SV that originally had a 2.3 Duratec. The Diff could be a weak spot as well...

It was dyno’ed on 93 octane pump gas

It looks to me like it "wants" to live between 7,500 and 8,500, where the power stays about flat at max. But... given that I'd rather not turn this one into a coffee table, I'll keep it below 8,000.

Final pull: 325 hp @ 8.100 244 tq @ 5,700

Correct Croc, it was actually my son that made it go boom. Both times actually... This one will rev to 8,500, but I’ll mostly keep it below 8.

I’m in!

Well it’s been about a year and a half since I blew a hole in the block of the 2.5L MZR engine in my SV at a NJMP track day late in the summer of 2019. Covid induced delays at my engine builder Hasselgren Engineering slowed things down quite a bit. I’ve suffered a fairly severe case of Caterham withdrawal as a result. My wife and I are on a trip out to Santa Clara, CA to visit our son and we drove around the Bay area doing some hikes and stopped for lunch in Berkeley, where Hasselgren’s shop happens to be. Paul Hasselgren has been building the race engines in the Formula Atlantics my son and I have been racing for quite a few years so I naturally wanted to pop in and pay a visit. It was pretty much pure coincidence that this happened to be the day my engine was on the dyno. Paul has done quite a bit of development on it and we went back from the 2.5L stroker crank that failed in favor of a Billet and balanced 2.3L crank. The engine is basically a short stroke 2.5 MZR with a bigger bore and a balanced billet crank from a Cosworth Duratec The whole front end of the engine has been redesigned to run a belt drive for the cams. I was hoping to get a little more power than my previous 2.5 MZR with this higher revving configuration, but I was quite surprised by the result. 312 hp at 7,500 and still climbing. 241 peak torque @ 5,900. Paul says he’s not done yet. He thinks he can get 320 out of it, which will be limited by the barrel throttle dimensions. A redesigned barrel throttle can unlock even more. Paul cautioned this one will hit hard. Good! I can’t wait 😛