R1 Seven

Retards...:ack:

I think that "good effort" might be an understatement here... Thanks for the writeup...that is a tale you can pass on for generations to come. :thumbs:

Thanks for the comments. I really am having a great time with the car right now. It is the happiest any "thing" has made me for a long time. The lucky passenger was one of my fellow instructors, Mark. He had been bugging me for a ride and I finally gave in. I genreally like to get folks (especially the students) out for some sessions in my car. But since the locost is brand new, I wanted to get some time on it and prove that is was safe and reliable before strapping someone into the passenger seat. After a few weekends, I guess I have arrived at that point now. Only bad thing is, I am afraid that I will have to turn some folks away...I can't take that weight penalty for every session.

Probably does not help at all... Miatas usually have a good bit of negative camber front and rear and are pretty easy on tires with a stock alignment. I once had a Twin Turbo Toyota Supra that had a funky rear alignment from the factory. I don't remember exactly, but the ballpark was something like -2.5 camber and about 1.5 degrees of toe in. I figured that the tires would wear the insides terribly. Much to my surprise, they basically wore in a cone shape evenly all the way accross.

My car is setup with 5 degrees caster, -2.5 degrees camber, and 0 toe in the front. Initially I went with -1.5 camber in the the front and that was not enough. I may acutally go with -3.0 camber up front at some point but am worried that that will start to affect braking...this stuff is fun. One note to Mazda's comment. Often times people are afraid to run a lot of negative camber because of wearing the inside edges of the tires. From what I have seen, the real culprit is the toe and not so much the camber. Ultmately, yes it will wear more on the inside than the outside, but accelerated and localized wear is usually the problem that gets everyone excited. Having the right toe setings will make a huge difference in the wear.

Yes, it was a GT3. We played for a few laps (that you can't see in the video). Once when I was behind him we had a straight up drag race down the main straight...I was able to keep up almost until I ran out of gear. He was fast enough to pull away just a little bit each lap. Once I get the car sorted a little better and get some tires with more grip under it, it should be a better fight.

Just got back from another track weekend. This time it was the South Course at VIR. The video was taken by a friend of mine from trackside to give a different perspective. My in-car setup screwed up, so I got nothing there... Locost at VIR South

Registration papers? What are those for?

Left work yesterday logged on...was still logged on when I got here this morning. Thanks Mazda...you da man! :thumbs:

Did you guys notice the Natural Selection button on the center console?

Mazda...that has got YOU written all over it. :jester:

Yep...you would think that the output shaft could handle the duties...that was just the "convention" that I aways saw and read from the UK boys. The 3.08 with the shorter tires might be a good compromise. Silly question but have you used the BEC gear calculator spreadsheet yet? You can put all your data in and play with the numbers to see what will happen before you buy anything... http://www.gamlin.adsl24.co.uk/Images/bike_ratios.xls L8er...

cool! I need some tires like that for autocross duty...

Holy cow! It must be a good one... The reasons that I was given for the 2-piece...1) A driveshaft that long is going to whip and be hard to balance. 2) It keeps some of the load off of the output shaft on the transmission. You are the first person that I have seen with a single...congrats!

FWIW My car is a little heavy for a BEC...it tips the scales at 1138. A lot of that extra is the full cage and some strengthening in the frame. Since I will be mixing it up with tin tops on a regular basis I gladly took those penalties in the name of safety. Lightness it a good thing for sure. IMO although they are not for everyone, the BEC concept fits a seven perfectly. If Colin were building cars today...they would be something like that.

The weight savings...at least 200 lbs. My R1 engine/tranny was weighed at shipping (incl. wiring and radiator) and came in at 148 lbs. The lighest car engine/tranny combos come in around 350 lbs from what I have seen. Maybe there are some that are lighter. It is not uncommon for BEC sevens to come in at 900 lbs (minimalist autocross cars). Typically BEC sevens are shaft driven. Where the sprocket would normally go for the chain, an adapter gets bolted on there that mates up to a driveshaft. The driveshaft has to be a two-piece unit due to the length back to the rear end, but it is a tried and true method. Here is a pic of my installation for clarity. http://www.project-seven.goof.com/images/DSCN2151.JPG HTH

Don't even begin to feel intimidated. The number one goal here will be to have fun...learning will be much easier once we start doing that. There is really no pressure there either. Everyone can get as much out of it (or not) as they want to. We are a pretty laid back group for the most part.

We are bringing our two dogs... :willy:

I am likely to be one of your instructors...our registrar sent me message yesterday coaxing me to come and instruct...he used your entry as bait. You should enjoy the school. We have a good time, and for the money, it is very worthwile.

It is really amazing all the entries that they have received up to this point. Probably the most interesting thing will be seing just what they pick. As stated, being high up in the "poles" is not a sure bet for an invitation. GRM has always been about diversity and not taking the road traveled by everyone. I will bet that they will pick a big variety of cars and not necessarily the ones that look the most bad ass on paper. Is it June 1st yet??? As popular as this first one has been, it would not surprise me if they made it into an annual event.

WestTexasS2K should get a special award...from just signing up to top of the leader board in one day...I am pretty sure that nobody has done that just yet. Thanks to everyone so far for the support. If either of us makes the cut, I am sure we will try our best to make the seven community proud. :flag:

And you will have mine... :thumbs:

While you guys are at it...throw in a vote for the 1 liter beast... http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2595161 There are quite a few sevens in the running for this thing. Since it will be on the North Course, it should help take away a little of the advantage that they mega HP cars have. Good luck to all the seven guys that are entered. Here is a list of all the entries for those that may be interested. http://www.cardomain.com/MakeModel/all/all/category%7C23

Gald your wife enjoyed it, Al. I don't think it is just limited to the Se7en crowd. Most of my Roadrace/Autocross/Track buddies are a bunch of hams. We really like to have a good time on the weekends. One of these days, I am going to write up the story and post the videos on my web page for posterity. I signed up for the list. Although, just like the Yahoo Groups, I am not a huge fan of the mailing lists. Forums are just so much more useful. If a list has good info/folks on it, then I will reluctantly sign up...

This might be even cooler...and you could drive it to work...