Ultimate Track Car Challenge

[R1 Seven]

A little birdie put something into my inbox regarding this today that was a nice surprise...

 

That is all I am saying at this point...anybody else want to chime in? :yesnod:

[Al N.]

Not me, my friend. Though now I'm all curious like...

 

I'm still planning on coming down if the weather doesn't call for rain.

 

-A

[Deman USA]

Kevin will be behind the wheel in our SR27. After meeting him at the 7's meet, we thought that he would be perfect for the car. Since Kevin has raced before, and since Paul and I havent, he is ready for the event.

 

See you there Jeff, in that beautiful orange car of yours.(squirt,squirt)

 

Dino Trakas

Deman USA

[slngsht]

Oh Lord. That's awesome.... get a camera on that thing!

[R1 Seven]

We should be having us some big fun on Friday! I am stoked that you guys get to come play!

[Boxologist]

GL jeff and kevin!

[solder_guy]

Alright! :hurray: Go Kevin! Go Jeff!

 

Rob

 

[SR27.Seth]

I'm so dissapointed that I have a family reunion to go to in Montana that weekend-I am going to miss seeing two powerhouse sevens (one in a nimble, high revving hummingbird sense and one in a ..um- what animal represents a 300hp 1400lb car?..sense.)

I don't know what the racing criteria is, but if they are lapping VIR I hope the R1 has enough gears to pull 120+mph.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL.

[R1 Seven]

The new and improved 1-liter monster now features new gearing that is good for 135mph (old gearing limited to 120mph and got there really fast), better brakes, and wider and stickier tires...

 

Sorry you won't be able to make it, Seth.

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/125665434_DSCN2655.JPG

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1351793354_DSCN2653.JPG

[locostv8]

Still think you should have made your 7 a bright color.

[WestTexasS2K]

Good luck guys. Kevin is excited to go I wish I could come in person to cheer you on, but Texas is a long drive to VIR to do a bunch of clapping. There is some pretty serious hardware showing up. I think there are about 6 1 Lap Cars going and they were all they 10 cars. They made us look slow on a few tracks so be prepared for some stiff competition. Keep the shiny side up and most of all have a blast you lucky dogs.

[PAULDEMAN]

Goodluck Jeff and Kevin! Dino left not too long ago to start heading over there. He's in for a long drive...I unfortunatly couldn't make the event either. :cry: My other job (personal banker at Chase Bank) wouldn't give me that time off. Dino has 2 video cameras and my digital camera, so there should be some good footage when the event is over.

 

I don't care who wins the event as long as Jeff and Kevin whoop on some supercars!

[11Budlite]

Good luck Kevin and Jeff! We'll be cheering you on!!! :hurray:

[Al N.]

I just got to Mazda's...he's letting us crash here since it's so late. Traffic on 95 SUCKED. No, I am not in the Se7en...the good old TT. Leaving early tomorrow to hopefully catch AM practice session.

 

If Jeff, Kevin or Dino see this before hitting the track...knock 'em out fellas. I'll be there shortly.

[Keith]

You know this already, but that is probably the best looking home-built out there. It's not going to win on lap times I'll wager, but it will probably be right at the top of everyone's "I want to take this one home" list.

[Al N.]

I'm back at Chateau Ebrahimi for a quick bite with Mazda and my pal Jim (who made the trip to NC/VA with me).

 

Great to see all the Se7ens and owners. John M., Jeff U., and Kevin B. (driving for Deman USA represented by Dino) were competing. Bob D., Daniel Mann (the creator of the SR27), Dennis B., and Justin S. were on hand too — as was Folis J. (who is running the NASA event over the weekend). Michelle B and Evelyn J kept us well hydrated. It was really great to see everyone and the cameraderie was, as usual, awesome.

 

Of the Se7ens, John's Stalker was in the top 3rd, Jeff's Locost in the middlish, and Kevin wrestled with overheating problems in the lower third of the grid. We left before the last run session, but hopefully one of the guys will fill us in.

 

The FTD that we saw was pro Tommy Archer in a race prepped Viper. Chip Herr, who races an Audi in Speed Touring Car was also there, in his street car. I have to say that I was not a little bit pleased to see that Jeff U. passed him.

 

Anyway...I should finish my meal so I can get on the road. VIR is a bit remote, but looks like a great place to hold one of 2008's regional meets. I hear plans are already in the works.

[R1 Seven]

Well, the event has come and gone and it was pretty fun. The sevens made a pretty good showing, especially John. He ended up 6th overall and made a solid showing considering the hardware he was up against. I did not realize going into the thing that his car was putting down 400hp... As Al mentioned, several members of the Sevens community came out to watch, support, etc. and it was nice to see some new familiar faces and meet a few new folks as well.

 

As for the event itself, it probably could not have run much smoother. I had some worries going into the thing about weather some folks might act like jerks, or get to red misting real bad. The speed differential in cars was also a concern…26 seconds from fastest to slowest as it turned out. I chose to wait and see before making any judgements and was pleasantly surprised. Everyone’s conduct on track was really good from my perspective. Some folks in the faster cars choose to have a cool down lap in front of me right after they blasted by on the front straight, but it was no big deal, because there was plenty of opportunity for clear laps in each session. After each session, the cars were gridded by time, so generally traffic was not a big issue as the day went on.

 

There was simply some serious hardware that showed up for this thing, and horsepower seemed to be the name of the game. It was frightening to see many seconds just slip away as cars got real small in front of me on the front straight. Grassroots wanted this to be a showcase of trackday cars that turn up at DE events regularly, but honestly, I have never shared the track with so many rocket ships at once. What was the fastest time? Tommy Archer ran a 1:28.4 on the North course in the Competition Coupe…holy crap, give that man the BMF wallet! There were 12 cars that ran under 1:40 as well. To give this some perspective, the average DE cars that run on this course, are probably running in the 1:47-55s range if driven well.

 

So how did I do? My best official lap was a 1:43.2 for the timed sessions, which was a personal best for anything I have driven around that joint. That was good enough for 20th overall (out of 36) and 10th in class (out of 18). The car had lots of new stuff in it as well as new (different) tires. For the most part, the car drove like total ass and we chased it with adjustments all day. My good friend Alan was crew chief and coach for the day and he helped me stay motivated and we learned some things and documented them about the car. Basically in the first warm-up session the car was wicked loose, especially on right hand turns. We attacked it pretty aggressively with a combination of jacking some cross-weight into the car, shock adjustments, and air pressure adjustments. The car got better throughout the day, but unfortunately the track seemed to get slower and slower as it heated up. So the times really did not come down in any significant way. Actually, I ran about .8s quicker in the warm-up when the car was at it’s worst. So, I am convinced that the track got worse from then on.

 

The other thing that I fought with was the brakes. The new rear end got some nice upgraded Wilwood calipers and larger rotors compared to the RX-7 stuff that was on the other axle. Well, I never thought that brakes could work too well, but they do. The rear is real easy to lock up and I ran my balance bar to the max for front bias to compensate. It was still touchy but manageable most of the time. Looks like a M/C resize is going to be in order there. Too bad I did not have a chance to sort anything before hand, because I am fairly sure there might have been a couple of more seconds to be had in an earlier session. I am not making excuses, we did the best with what we had and I am happy about that. On the positive side of things, the new rear end works great. The TRD LSD seems to work well, and the new gearing is awesome. Now I can keep my foot in it all the way down the front straight till time to hit the brakes. It also still seems to pull just as hard as it did before

[slngsht]

Thanks for the writeup... looks like your rear brakes made the car a handful in a few spots.

Another 100 horses may have helped too.

That viper disappeared REAL FAST

 

[MHKflyer52]

Jeff,

That was outstanding and you should be very proud.

You can say that you built your car from scratch in your garage and I would be willing to bet that not many of the other racers can say that and if they can I would be willing to bet that their budget was much much greater than yours. From what I could see the cars that were on the track the same time you were, were some very high end professionally race prepped autos and you were able to hold your own with them which is very impressive in it's self.

Again very outstanding and a good showing.

 

[slngsht]

Jeff, BTW, starting next year, I will be venturing down to VIR and Summit to run HPDE.

 

Mods for this off season include a roll cage, and fixes to a few other problem areas.

 

Now you'll just have to teach me how to drive