My three road course laps at the 2010 Optima Invitational

[Steve1968LS2]

Thought you might like a ride with a rank amature around the Spring Mountain track.. :)

Car did great and the new engine really pulls well. The new radiator never let the water temp get over 220 and the oil temp stayed under 250 which is a big improvement. I have some wierd rattle on the interior that you can hear in the vid.. drove me crazy.

As for my driving.. well, it's been a year since I've been on any type of road course, so I was a bit nervous. Fortunatly I was coached by David Pozzi and I stood near Mary and Mr. Stielow for a while so that helped.

Car felt good the first lap but on turn 10 of my first hot lap (coming onto the main straight) the car got all wonky. People on the wall said it lurched up bad, I just thought I took the turn too fast, but afterwards I could feel the car was really leaning.

Turned out I snapped the end off my front sway bar on that turn. Still, the car stuck well and my third hot lap was my best with a 2:00.4x time.. Considering my lack of experience and the broken sway bar I was pretty happy.

Telly loaned me the sway bar off of his gold TA for the autocross, but it was a lot stiffer and since we didn't have time to adjust the shocks Penny pushed like a dump truck. Need to fix that.

The brake challenge was fun too.. the car with the 461 flat out launches hard, Once I made it to the timer in 6.3 but smashed the back cones.. I was having so much fun accelerating I forgot about the braking part. Think I fubar'd a tire.

Still, it was a great day and I had a blast. Congrats to Mark Stielow who kicked major ass and more than earned the big trophy!

Anyways, here's my laps.. one warm up and three hot laps.. If you have ADD you can fast forward to about 4:15 to catch the drama.

Who needs a stinkin' front sway bar!! ;)

wAePaWXzRak

Also, big kuddos to the Autokraft oil pan.. you can see in the video that my oil pressure stayed rock solid even in the hard turns. David Pozzi has my data card so we can see how far off my line was compared to his.

Here's the peak g's from my Ipod deal:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/11/11qtlhi-1.jpg

And the poor sway bar:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/11/24goyhe-1.jpg

[srh3trinity]

It is amazing how one upgrade begets another. If you improve part of the car, a new weak point is exploited, you fix that and the cycle repeats. The 461 sounds great.

[65 Fastback]

Nice recovery!

Hey, can you tell me more about the Ipod app? Will it measure lateral G's?

Tim

[Roberts68]

Well, maybe I don't have ADD after all... I did however wonder if somebody was going to answer that phone that kept ringing.

Seriously though, really cool vid Steve, thank you for sharing it. The soundtrack of Bad Penny is pretty mesmerizing and the tach/ shiftlights were some pretty great functional eye candy. I thought it was great when Penny gets a few pats on the dash, very fitting.

What is the number to the right of the tach and what is the lower left gauge that turns blue occasionally?

[Steve1968LS2]

Well, maybe I don't have ADD after all... I did however wonder if somebody was going to answer that phone that kept ringing.

Seriously though, really cool vid Steve, thank you for sharing it. The soundtrack of Bad Penny is pretty mesmerizing and the tach/ shiftlights were some pretty great functional eye candy. I thought it was great when Penny gets a few pats on the dash, very fitting.

What is the number to the right of the tach and what is the lower left gauge that turns blue occasionally?

I just figured out what that "tinking" noise is.. its my g-force Ipod g-meter.. it makes that noise when it goes over 1g.. lol

The number to the right is my GPS speedo.. MPH .. the guage that turns blue is my oil temp. It's set to warn me when oil goes to 240+ .. the color warning gauges are the best thing ever.

[Steve1968LS2]

Nice recovery!

Hey, can you tell me more about the Ipod app? Will it measure lateral G's?

Tim

It's called g-Force.. measures peak g in all four directions.. cost $1 I think.

[67zo6Camaro]

Steve, that's pretty cool. Loved the tank slapper at 4:15 (motorcycle talk). It looked like you hit +-117 mph in the straight away.....That thing sounds so bad ass, just like a race car. I would love to trade you cars for one lap next time we are out together. You must of had some amazing forces to snap the sway bar end. All in all not bad for just getting the car back.....it takes time to get dialed in.

Brett

[67zo6Camaro]

Yes....the distant cow bell in the back ground..... as if Bad Penny had her own fan club. The cheering and cow bell seemed to get louder as she would dive into the corners.

[Steve1968LS2]

Check out the helicopter in my windshield at 7:22 -- it was funny to come around a corner and see it hovering there..

[Vegas69]

Steve, what was your top speed? Engine really seems to pull hard.

[Steve1968LS2]

Steve, what was your top speed? Engine really seems to pull hard.

Not sure until Dave downloads the Racepak data.. My guess is 118. The GPS speedo in the vid has a little lag so it typically a bit higher than what you see at the peaks and valleys.

I enter the straight at only 40+ MPH.. and I most likely brake too early. Felt good though and the oil pressure was solid all the way according to the video.

[coolwelder62]

Steve, car sounds great.Look's fast.Scott

[sik68]

Cool Steve, thanks for posting the video! Your car can sure light em up! It will be a killer when finally nothing breaks. I have the ipod touch with a g-meter also, and I think it is a little optimistic of lateral readings of vehicles because it is affected by body roll. So the reading ends up being lateral + roll. I would guess it could add a couple tenths of a G.

That track looks like a lot of fun!

[Rod]

the whole thing looked like fun, track looks fun, car sounds great, and the driving wasn't half bad!

[LeighP]

Pretty cool video...you can sure see the difference after the bar lets go.

[Flash68]

Always fun to see Penny run. Sounds damn good. Bummer on the sway bar deal.. best interior/gauges setup of any 1st gen I have seen still. Love that.

[parsonsj]

Steve,

It was good to see you and your car out on the track! Sorry to see that broken sway bar, but the car looked great out there and 117 mph on the backstretch is a great number. So is 2:00 for your first time there. I'm digging the AutoKraft pan data too. :)

jp

[Steve1968LS2]

Cool Steve, thanks for posting the video! Your car can sure light em up! It will be a killer when finally nothing breaks. I have the ipod touch with a g-meter also, and I think it is a little optimistic of lateral readings of vehicles because it is affected by body roll. So the reading ends up being lateral + roll. I would guess it could add a couple tenths of a G.

That track looks like a lot of fun!

Yea, I agree that it's not a super accurate device.. it always reads a tenth or two high compared to the accurate Racepak data. But it's fun to get an idea.

[Steve1968LS2]

Steve,

It was good to see you and your car out on the track! Sorry to see that broken sway bar, but the car looked great out there and 117 mph on the backstretch is a great number. So is 2:00 for your first time there. I'm digging the AutoKraft pan data too. :)

jp

Yea, Rick, one of thier instructors said 2:00 is very good for my third lap.. moreso with the broken bar. To be honest I've so little road course time that it's a bit intimidating, but my runs felt so good that it was a real confidence builder.. can't wait to get back on track.

Next season should be a blast now that the car is mechanically "done".. well, except the broken bit.

[parsonsj]

can't wait to get back on trackMe either. :)

[John Wright]

What was that in the rear view mirror?...looked like you could really pull away from it on the straights and it would reel you back in through the corners.

[Steve1968LS2]

What was that in the rear view mirror?...looked like you could really pull away from it on the straights and it would reel you back in through the corners.

That was the Radical chase camera car.. none of us was loosing that in the corners. Did pull him good in the straights though.

Good times.

[John Wright]

Good times.yup...I'm envious...LOL

[JEFFTATE]

That's cool Steve.
It's wierd that the swaybar broke.
Those things are usually pretty strong ..

[Steve1968LS2]

That's cool Steve.
It's wierd that the swaybar broke.
Those things are usually pretty strong ..

Stuff happens.. here's what it looked like when I came off track.

It's not like I was going to win it anyways, but still, it killed my autocross times and I doubt it helped much on the big track. I have to give huge props to the Penske shocks for the car still being able to perform even without the bar.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/11/kapuys-1.jpg

[John Wright]

If it was going to break, that is exactly where I would expect it to do so.

Stock camaros can break the stock stuff too though, IMHO it's usually high mileage and/or fatigue that plays a role through.

[CarlC]

If it was going to break, that is exactly where I would expect it to do so.

Stock camaros can break the stock stuff too though, IMHO it's usually high mileage and/or fatigue that plays a role through.

Splines + the method of arm retainment don't help with regards to stress concentration factors either. Add in fatigue......

[Gandalf]

IMHO it's usually high mileage and/or fatigue that plays a role through.

Maybe you mean "unusually high engines-to-mileage ratio":lmao:

[DLinson]

Yea, Rick, one of thier instructors .

There were instructors there? I could have used one. I wish they would have allowed passengers. I would have grabbed a good driver and had them tell me what to do. I only ran a 2:06 and I didn't break anything. I need help. I'm glad I didn't have any in-car footage and if I did, I don't think I'd post it. It was lots of fun though and can't wait to do more events next year.

What diameter and wall sway bar are you running? I just installed a new 1.25 O.D. x .25 wall x 32" long bar before the event. It is a Speedway Engineering 3 piece bar like yours. My last one was .095 wall but it didn't have the annular groove all the way around, it had a notch for bolt clearance.

Congratulations on your finish considering the broken parts. It would have been next to impossible to win with Stielow and Kyle there. It felt like I brought a knife to a gunfight. I believe I was there as filler. I'd be glad to do it again.

Dennis

[Gandalf]

I jumped in with Steve at the start of the autocross before I think he even realized who it was Ha! 3 consecutive laps in 700hp Penny with Steve and his right foot! The last two laps Steve even knew what the track looked like! I’m hoping there is no in-car footage because I’m sure all I did was giggle like a schoolgirl the entire time! Penny just hauls ass now!

[Wesley J]

I was volunteering, putting transponders on the cars, so I had the luxury of standing just inside the wall on the last turn were you come on to the front straight. I was thinking to myself, "man, Penny sure has a lot of role to her." Now I know why. She looked and sounded awesome, it was great to finally see her in person.

Cheers,

Wes

[Jims78elky]

Great driving out there Steve,with a broken sway bar and that much power its amazing you did not spin right off the track in some spots, sure sounded bad azz!

-Jim

[barraza]

It would be interesting to check if there is any bind in the endlinks throughout full travel. That is an odd break.

[sik68]

It would be interesting to check if there is any bind in the endlinks throughout full travel. That is an odd break.

I'll agree with that. The sway bar looks over-constrained so something had to give. Under compression, the heim joints are trying to pry the sway bar arm inboard. That's just my stab at it.