24 hours of Iowa, explained...

Wow, what a crazy f'ing weekend. Drive down went well, no tires fell off this time. The Iowa highway is a bit boring though. Anyways, Friday was uneventful, got through tech inspection with no problems, the guy remembered us from Brainerd, so it was a good time. Slept in a hotel, for our last decent sleep for a night. Got up for breakfast at 7am to get over to the race and get setting up, to be there for the 9am drivers meeting. Meeting started 40 minutes late, but luckily we knew to have our driver ready to get in the car right after the meeting. We had our pit lane all set up and our garage space set up. So at 1040am they started lining up cars in the pits, and shortly there after they started lapping the track. Chump races do a rolling start and wave the green on a random car. Flagged dropped at 11:18am on the car right in front of us and we were off. The first hour and a half was busy, the track was packed with cars that were quickly dropping out with issues, so there were tons of yellow flags. Our first driver, Jeremy, was getting in some good laps for his first stint of 1.5 hrs. Then as he pitted, one of our old, aged, cracked powersteering hoses gave up the ghost. Luckily Soren was out getting some supplies, so he picked up a hose and a couple clamps. We pulled the car into the garage, replaced the hose, quickly bleed a little air out, and what we thought was a quick fix really took an hour. But we got our next drivers out, and the car ran well for the 6 hours until the safety break. So after Jeremy we got our noobs into the car, Danielle and Matt, to get them experience with the car and track before dark. Matt was quick and bested Jeremy's time, granted Jeremy had lots more traffic to deal with. After the hour loss, we shortened everyone's stints to 1.25 hours before the break except Jeff who had been due to do his two hour stint. So Danielle, Matt and I did 1.25 hr runs and GD was it f'ing hot in the car. (Sorry for the profanity, but there's no other way to explain it.) Thought I was going to die. But our car was running well and even running in the heat of the day 4-515, I was able to shave some time off of Matt's fastest time. Then my brother got in and was running well for about 55 minutes before he came into the infield a bit quick on a lap and right behind some traffic and spun the into the gravel and into a tire wall. He and the car survived fine. (see below) He had to get towed out of the gravel, but drove it back to the pits under a red flag (stopped everyone else). We emptied the front splitter and radiator of gravel, roughly half a 5 gallon bucket's worth of pea gravel, and we had to change all four tires. They all had gravel actually imbedded INTO the bead of the tire (between the tire and the rim). So we got the four new tires on and sent him back out, and he finished the rest of the time he had until the mandatory safety break.

So we were down for an hour from 7-8pm, and we decided to try to put in a brass adapter for our trans cooler and temp sensor to try to stop a leak. Got it done just in the nick of time, and got our next driver, Erik, out there. Near the end of Erik's 1.5 hours, he started to get passed on the straight, which was unheard of with our V8 power. We would crush people in the oval section, struggle to hang with 'em in the infield, then pass and crush them in the bankings. But Erik tried to radio something in, we couldn't understand a thing he said because the mic's were still working horribly. We were just confused why he was being passed. So he comes in, and mentions the engine is "running funny", but we decide to run it. So I hop in for my second stint, the first in full night, (though the track left on 20% lighting which was nice, but the infield was super dark.), and I try to pull out of the pits and into the racing line and the engine is just stumbling a TON, basically like our pre-race event in Brainerd when the timing was off. I try another lap and wow, slow cars are passing me. This is bad. So I pull in, and we check some stuff quick, hand bump the engine to top dead center, and sure enough the cams aren't lined up. SOB, the timing belt jumped. We pull into the garage, and get to work. Turns out the bolts holding in the tensioner had backed out, either under the high temps and load or we didn't use enough (or any) locktite on the threads. So we slowly get this fixed, working on a hot engine is no fun. But all in all, we did it relatively quickly and get back out there. SOB its worse! We must have moved it two teeth instead of one. Pull it BACK IN, and we fix it again, quicker this time. I pull out of the pits and HALLEJAALUIEYA! I got power and get back to passing cars in the straights for about 40 minutes and POP, (blow a fuse) and my gauges and taillights and brake lights go out. Uh oh. I get blackflagged for no taillights and pull into the pits. They put in a new fuse, go back out, first lap, POP, goes again. We're now out of the big stupid fuses Lexus uses for the main block, a 150A and a 100A, we try a 60A thinking we found a lose wire from our damaged neon system (Jeff in the gravel), that was now touch inside the cab. So I had let Jeremy go out for the 60A fix, my time was mostly up. But that wasn't the issue and it popped again. So we put in a sold wire for the fuse instead, as there's still fuses behind it inline, and Soren goes out. He makes it a full lap, but later says he was getting flickering. And it goes again, burning through the sold copper a lap later. So we have a BIG arcing, grounding going on somewhere. Walking back to the pits, I recall our "fix" for the engine cut off switch in Brainerd being that we ran new wires from the alternator power back to the cut off switch and we could only disconnect the other cable from the alternator, and it disappeared into a huge harness to not know what to cut. So we taped up a ton and left it. So I'm thinking this probably got burned through and was now touching frame on turns. Fortunately and unfortunately, I'm right. So they cut it back and re-wrap it with a chunk of rubber hose, and clamp it and tape it and ziptie it out of the way, and at the same time Grant shows up, after running out to the closest truck stop 30 miles away in search of a 150A fuse. He found a 200A inline stereo fuse, and we made that work. So at 245am, Soren gets back in the car, and starts lapping. We're runing pretty well again at this point and HUGE thunderstorm rolls in. They pull all the cars off the track at 330a and say there'll be a 6am drivers meeting to go back out. We wake up at 630am, drivers meeting is late, have a quick one at 645a, they tell us we're now only running until noon, so our 24 hour race became more like 21 hours. But we got people back in the car, and ran without incident for the next 5 hours to finish the race in 13th place out of 24 cars. One of approximately 12-13 cars to finish the race. All in all it was a super fun weekend, and I thank everyone involved who helped us at the race or helped us get there.

And now for the big one everyone's been waiting to see... So after seeing it, it looks like Jeff gave her a little brake in the turn, and couldn't quite catch it. Thanks for not breaking the car, but we were glad you were okay. For future reference, call the pits and tell us you're okay before getting out of the car.



Watch for a future invite, but there'll be a celebration BBQ at my house in Coon Rapids, July 17th. We'll have the car out for people to check out, maybe rides, and of course food and booze. Hope to see you there!

24 Hours at Iowa Speedway in pictures

Bears have wings?

Okay, so I just had to start with a picture of our bear hair. People have been asking about it, so I thought I'd snap a quick pic.


For this next race, we thought we'd pay homage to the NASCAR boys and add a spoiler to our car. We'll see if it makes any downforce or not, but at least it looks cool and only cost about $20 to make. We also added some polycarbonate for the back window and side rear windows in an attempt to help our chances at actually getting any aerodynamic help.




Then we got a few more things hooked up inside for the driver. Lights are wired, radio is wired to a PTT (push to talk) button that's now steering wheel mounted. We also have two little surprises that are now wired. Just need to throw in a few more zipties and we're all set.


And FINALLY, we have our most complete checklist yet for a weekend of work! Top off the oil, get the new tires mounted, and get packed for the race. Should be good and prepared by the end of the week. We're off for the race in Iowa Friday the 25th, for the 24 hour race the 26-27th. We'll post post-race stuff as soon as we get back.

The Bear Patrol preps for Iowa!

So things have been happening after the Brainerd race, but mostly boring stuff. Stuff like checking brake pad wear and tire wear to see what we needed to change and update for Iowa. Turns out we blew a front shock, but I forgot to take a picture of that. The muffler clamp hung down and got ripped off taking the car on and off the trailer. Its fixed now. Over the weekend Soren got started on the headlights, and tonight he mounted the extra side ones, and I finished getting the bumper holes cut bigger. Still need to clean them up a little bit, but its close.

We also took the time to "hard" mount a radio in the car. This base station has pretty good power and should ensure the car can always hear the pits. We still need to mount the push to talk button somewhere near the driver. Then it'll be nice and easy to plug in and out of the car when we change drivers.


With mounting the radio, we wanted to have auxiliary power so we wouldn't have to worry about the batteries. So we installed this three port adapter. One for the radio, one for the cage mounted camera, and one spare. What to do with that?


So the front tires were pretty trashed, so we're replacing those on the previously painted rims. But we figured the other tires were still better spares then the left over Continentals that came with the car. So we've got more tires coming, and with that, needed the spare rims to be painted to match the others with the "patrol car" theme.


And here is a teaser for a surprise, and that's all I've got to say about that.


So one more weekend to wrap up the final touches for Iowa, then its time for the 24 hour race!

Brainerd No-Brainer - Sunday report

Sunday - I got a full nights sleep over night which was the first in several days. It felt good. And the sun was up, and it, too, felt good. Erik had only gotten one stint on Saturday, so he ran first on Sunday with a long, almost two hour stint. The rest of us would run 1:10 hour stints. Erik did a great job and equaled our best laps from Saturday. We ran approximately slowest to fastest, and so the trend continued with our lap times improving all day. Jeremy was last after me and only managed to beat me by 0.5 seconds after I used up our tires pretty good. Sorry Jeremy.

Sunday was another great day of racing. I did get a surprise on one lap after I out braked a slow Mustang on the front straight only to get smacked hard on the drivers side by a BMW who thought he could out brake me. Out brake me? He clearly had NO idea the insane brakes we're running. Or what his car was capable of as he then shot off of the track into weeds. But he managed to smash our drivers door in pretty good.

Other than that unfortunate event, the day was clean. There were much quicker cars out there, but I enjoyed passing several cars that were ahead of us in the standings. I think I was able to pass about 8-10 cars, and got passed by 3, not including the aforementioned BMW who did, briefly, pass me.


Jeremy wrapped up our race, bringing us just past the 22 Escort into 13th. Not as high as I'd hoped, but still respectable for our first time out. But more importantly, I had a huge amount of fun.






And in the end, we won the "O Pinion award" for being voted by the ChumpCar staff as having had a great drive. That was also awesome, too bad there is on trophy and five drivers. ;) It was great fun, the car ran well, we ran well, and we have a few ideas to improve for Iowa. I can't wait. 24 hours, and a fast track? That should be epic!

Brainerd No-Brainer - Saturday report

Saturday morning - Up at 5:45 to get to the track early to get inspected and complete registration. This went really well. Many thanks to Lloyd and Kathy for helping lighten the mood for us and get us inspected properly. That really helped calm me down and allow me to truly enjoy the weekend. After Friday I was really tense. But after we were teched, I was ready to go have some fun.

I was first up on Saturday. One the second parade lap, the hood swung up on me and suddenly I was blind. DAMN! Luckily it was slow and the windshield was not damaged! A track worker pushed it closed, latched it, and I headed to the pits for an inspection. Hood seemed good, so off I went on a 'short' 40 minute stint. I was pretty happy with the car. It's not perfect, but it's a lot of fun. I started out passing three cars in the first lap and that was a lot of fun.

Greg drove next, then Jeremy, Erik, and Jeff. Then we repeated this, resulting in a lot of pit stops, some of which were pretty slow and disorganized. But it was a great learning day. With two races in the weekend, we could learn on Saturday and improve on Sunday. It worked great, although most of the other teams seemed to follow a similar plan of improvement.

The only other excitement of the day was Erik spinning the car right in front of the pits. He controlled the car well, got it back on the tack and kept going. Several people, including Lloyd, stopped by after to congratulate him on the good recovery and excellent show! Nice Job Erik. We don't have any video or photos of this, but hopefully somebody else captured it,

The car ran solid, accelerated incredibly, but pushed hard through corners. Clearly our setup needs to be improved. I guess no alignment after lowering the car does not handle great. Who knew? I'm also hoping to build a DIY fiberglass hood and a DIY rear wing. I think those would both help. For Iowa, windows might be good as well for aerodynamics, as it's suppose to be a fast track.

After the race we hung out at the track for a while before heading out to a Chinese Buffet and then to bed. Lot's of folks came out to support us on Saturday, which was great. Thanks to my Dad, Greg and Jeff's Mom and Dad, Sheldon and his two oldest boys, Danielle, who brought delicious cookies, and AnnMarie and a huge thanks to CO for helping us get organized on pits. His years of rallying really helped.

Brainerd No-Brainer - Friday!

Friday - While the car was running two weeks prior for the track day, there were still projects left to be completed before race day. Jeremy drove out from Wisconsin on Thursday night, and he and Greg tackled the last of the decals and the brakes, which turned out to be real trouble in the rear. A few of us arrived around noon to help finish projects up, but we ended up getting a late start, heading out of town at 3:20, rather than 1PM. That would get us to BIR at about 5:30, which would be in time for the Friday night drivers school.



Unfortunately, things did not work out so well. In Sauk Rapids, about half way to BIR, my Jeep started vibrating a lot. We thought a trailer tire might be flat, but Greg pulled around and reported that we needed to pull over that it was the Jeep wheel wobbling. At that same moment the Jeep started shaking and I immediately pulled over. Turns out all five lugs had sheered off and the wheel was no longer connected to the Jeep.. It appears that the shop I had do my brakes last week forgot to tighten the lug nuts properly.





This was not good, but at least the wheel stayed on the Jeep and didn't launch off into traffic. We decided to fix it and Greg and Jeff headed off to buy new lugs and lug nuts. Jeremy and I worked to take things apart to prepare to reassemble.

When the new lugs arrived, they seemed really tight. After 2+ hours of work, they would not pull into the axle flange. The wheel was on, but there was almost no thread engagement in the lug nuts. Flustered, I called a tow truck to carry the Jeep and tow the trailer up to BIR.

During this, Erik and Steff had headed up to the track to talk to the ChumpCar staff about our predicament. They were very accommodating and planned to let us tech late. Unfortunately we got up there pretty late and they decided to tech us in the morning. This worked out ok because we had misread one rule, as 5 other teams had done, regarding the electrical shut-off, and needed to fix it. That took us until midnight. It turns out that the cut off switch needs to cut off the alternator output in addition to the battery. Oops!

Repairs were made, and we headed off to bed a little after midnight. Damn that was a long day...

Let There Be Paint! Despite the Cottonwood Trees

Despite a strong showing from Greg's Cottonwood trees trying to cover everything with their cottony seeds, we were able to get the body, wheels an hood painted. Man this can looks better in white than in dark green. The lower stance and modified front bumper add a very aggressive look tothe car as well. Me Likey!

Here is the progression of painting. In the morning the car was green. A couple hours of scouring, then cleaning, and then the multiple shades of primer before the finale, where Greg painted the entire car. It took about a quart and a half todo one heavy coat.










Neither Greg or I have painted using spray guns before and Jeff borrowed a self-contined unit from work to do the painting. Here is Greg prepping the gun and the paint:


Danielle helped paint the flat black hood which ended up being more challenging than I would have expected.


Greg Painting the wheels:


It's WHITE:




This pic is a littl hard to see and the car is up in the air, but here is our 'cop car' style wheel:


When we swapped the newly painted wheels on, Danille wanted to do it so she could use her favorite tool, Thor's Cousin Louie, the massive impact:



It was a long weekend, and there is still more work to do this week, but I'm really happy with what we've gotten done and am really excited about this weekend. In almost exactly five days (120 hours) we will be starting our first ever wheel to wheel racing in the Simpsons themed Team Bear Patrol Lexus SC400. I'm giddy, yes GIDDY, with excitement!