Buttonwillow open track, Nov 26/27

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Thanks for the clarification, David. Hey, are those Kumho Ecsta MX? I've got them on my SS and they take everything I can throw at them on the street (and then some), but I've never been able to push them to their limits on the track. I'm curious what experienced drivers on the track (you and Mary) think of them?

[David Pozzi]

Ralph,
You are correct, Kuhmo Ecsta MX tires. When I first drove the car on the street the tires seemed good but maybe not as good as the autocross tires I'd used before like the Yokohama A008R's we used to autocross with. When I say "good" I mean outright cornering G force.

On the track, the tires are very controllable and easy to drive, didn't seem to give up after a fiew hard laps and fairly precise for having such deep tread. For a full-tread tire that has no vices like growling tire noise or rough ride, - for street use and an occasional open track, it's a really great tire. We will probably get another set of rims and get some Kuhmo V710's which are DOT legal but slick tires with just two grooves in them.

I did have some issues with the Baer brakes.
The first time Mary or I hit the brakes hard on the track, the rear brakes were ready to stop but the fronts needed one good hard stop before they were ready to work. Since we didn't realize that, the first stop resulted in the rears nearly locking up, and we almost spun. I got all out of shape and I KNEW they were going to give me trouble on the first stop since that happened with Mary on her first lap session. My theory is, the 13" rotors need a little heat in them or they don't want to stop and the brakes wind up out of balance ft to rear. The 15/16" bore master cyl was a little too large, had a stiff pedal effort, also the brakes were grabby at the point of lockup. I will probably try some other pads, also we had brake fade when Mary drove her last session and was REALLY pushing the braking points. We need a better brake fluid, we had the Valvoline synthetic in there just because it was handy.

The car has a little bit too much rear antiroll bar, I need to lower that, will probably make it adjustable.

FYI, the power steering never got over 100 degrees. The small trans cooler really works!
David

[Orngcrush69]

Here's one of my brother and I.

[Steven]

If anyone is considering a track day, Green Flag Driving provided a great day. Although it was cold, the track was great. By the way, Mary did not stay in the rear view mirror very long. First chance, she flew past me and others. Great car.
By the end of the day, I blew out one of the seals to my power steering pump. It started to leak on the way back though Bakersfield. Over heated so I will be adding a power steering cooler. I will post some images later, when I figure it out.
Get a helmet, gloves and take that car out on the track and enjoy what you have built.

[David Pozzi]

Dave,
You and your brother were great to run with, thanks for the ride too! That's a great pic of the two of you.
BTW, my left sholder is sore today, sound familliar???

MonteC,
Thanks for stopping by and saying hi. Your car looked great out there. I was amazed how cool the PS system was in our car. I could hold my hand on the tank after each run.
David

[68protouring454]

man sounds like an awesome time, and thanks for the pics!!
do you happen to have any pics of your power steering system and cooler?? sounds like it worked real good.
thanks
jake

[David Pozzi]

Jake,
Here is our page on the 73 buildup: http://www.pozziracing.com/second_gen_camaros.htm
there is a link at the top to a separate PS page with pics.
The cooler was just a Summit 3/4" thick trans cooler the tube makes 4 passes through it. I think we could have gone with half the cooler size and done OK. But if you don't have a remote reservoir, you probably need one this size.
David

[PAI Racing]

David,

I saw the Maeco hauler in the back ground of one of your photos. Did they bring anything interesting?

[David Pozzi]

They brought several mustangs, (big suprise). I didn't see any TA cars with him, however there were some vintage TA cars running, including a Camaro.
The Maeco guy was nice enough to lend me his pop rivet gun so I could repair my car ramps, a mis-positoned wood block popped the rivets out. I wasted a lot of prep time beefing up my ramp extensions to support the Camaro, and getting the Motorhome set up to tow my trailer. The rig wallowed down the road going down to the track, but some adjustments on the equalizer hitch settled it down a LOT.

Our new SS gas tank arrived from Rick's today!

[Steven]

Dave, my wife has told me that she see's a shoulder harness up grade prior to going to the next event. I tossed her around a lot, not much to hang on to in the Monte. How are they hooked up in your wife's car. I don't recall now although I looked. I notice that photo's from CarlC has his hooked up between the upper and lower rear seat. After checking on the internet, this will be one of my options. I'm also looking at procar seats, get rid of the bench. I'm only going to have the car on the track a few times a year so I don't know about adding a roll bar or rear brace yet.
I should be getting my new AGR power steering pump and a cooler today from Summit. Shouldn't have any more problems in that area.

[David Pozzi]

Lap belts are connected to the factory anchor points, the sholder harness wraps around the cross bar on the roll bar. We have an Autopower bolt-in bar with horozontal cross-bar and the bar is the optional bolt-in type. The only thing I'm not thrilled with on the roll bar is, the feet sit near the middle of the rear foot well and it takes up more room that way. I wish they went down by the door jamb and attached to the rocker panel, but you can't bolt in a bar that way, no access to the bolts. I thought about grafting on straight sections to the bottom before it kicks inward to the footwell, but it was going to take a lot of extra time to do it that way.

There's no way we will ever have back seat passengers with that bar in there. But if you got a weld in bar with straight legs and bolt in cross bar it would be possible. You can also get a bolt in diagonal bar that would really open up the rear area when removed.
Good seats are VERY helpful. We have the Corbeau, what used to be called the Carrera, it's now the CR1 - if I remember correctly.
Scat sells a pretty inexpensive seat, just get them wide enough, ours were kinda narrow but I found out later you can get them 1" wider if you order them that way.

David

[Steven]

Dave, thanks for the information I'll check out Autopower. The Scat Factory is just a few hours away so I can go there and sit in several of the seats. Plus having the car there, will also make measurements easy. They offer brackets for going from bench to buckets for my car. Wesco is also a few hours away, so I might go over there with the car and speak to their people to see what they have and their views. A day of driving.
I want to remain safe even at slow speeds and do not want a harness popping free when it's needed most. In 29 years of being a cop, I've seen lots of mayham at slow speeds.

[Orngcrush69]

MonteC,
I've got Procar seats with the Corbeau 3 point harness that bolts to the back seat belt. It allows for passenger access to the rear seats, and the belts work great.

[David Pozzi]

I remember way back in the early 70's I was a kid crusing main St, a couple of guys rear ended a larger car with their corvair, BOTH guys hit the windshield! They couldn't have been going over 30 mph and it was before seatbelts were manditory. That made a big impression on me, you can be hurt at very slow speeds.
David

[Steven]

Orngcrush69
Thanks for the information on the shoulder harness hook up with Corbeau. It seems that they offer what I need. Wesco site shows only standard hookups. A call might be in order. I'm also thinking about keeping the orginal seatbelts for everyday driving, if both can be mounted to the same lap point. Any thoughts? Stress factor at the anchor point/bolt? Of course I can always install the Corbeau prior to track day. Right now I'm not sure if I can retain the orginal mounting points on the change to buckets. Measurements will tell.

[David Pozzi]

Mary's car has the 5 point belts, they are great on the track, but kind of a pain to get assembled for a short drive. Plus comp belts are NOT DOT approved, so illegal on the street!!!

I failed in talking Mary into leaving the 3 point belts in the car. There's been a fiew times I've gotten all belted in, then couldn't reach the seat adjuster or emergency brake release. I like the lever type comp belts over the knob type. I can't seem to get the belts plugged in to the knob assy very easily.

Mary's got all the 2006 open track dates for Laguna Seca on a notepad. She's really hooked now!

[CarlC]

There's been a fiew times I've gotten all belted in, then couldn't reach the seat adjuster or emergency brake release.

I've gotten pretty good at using the top of my left foot.

What dates are on the top of Mary's list?

[David Pozzi]

carl,
I'll have her post them here.
We pulled the old gas tank today, have a new SS tank from Rick's to install.

[mpozzi]

Carl,

Your wish is my command . . . and here are your dates for the Crack . . . er, Track Days (soooo addictive, that go-fast stuff).

Green Flag Driving (www.greenflagdriving.com) has three dates listed for their 2006 calendar and probably more will come once sites are determined. March 25-26 at Laguna Seca with a 90 dB noise limit, September 9-10 at Thunderhill, and November 25-26 at Buttonwillow.

The Nor-Cal Shelby Club (www.norcal-saac.org) will also have several of their events in conjunction with Green Flag (see above) but also have a few of their own. These are on April 22-23 and October 28-29, both at Thunderhill Raceway. There's some great information on their site about Open Track days, safety, rules, etc., and a good article on how to quiet your car down to meet Laguna Seca's strict noise requirements. Two of their dates also include a driver's school.

Speed Ventures (www.speedventures.net) has their 2006 schedule posted and there's a lot of dates listed for Southern CA at California Speedway and Willow Springs. They're also hosting one at Buttonwillow Raceway on September 29-30, and October 1st.

For anyone else . . . the Green Flag group is great to run with and you'll get tons of track time. The groups are out running for about 20-25 minutes per session and everyone is pretty much laid back and fun. The last event had lots of Shelby's, a couple of Cobras and Z06's, some Camaros (mostly first gen), more American Muscle, a Suburban, and various flavors of Rice. Had a nice dinner with the group Saturday night. The drivers ranged from several that actively compete in Vintage and TransAm to us first-timers. It was also lots of fun meeting some of the PT folks and seeing their cars (True, you're not in the garage working on your Camaro if you're reading this).

I've been to the Shelby Club's Open Track events and they appear to be the same at Green Flag's events. Very well run and fun.

I haven't been to the Speed Ventures events and wondered what they're like?? If any of you have run with this group please share your thoughts.

m pozzi

[CarlC]

Carl,

Your wish is my command . . .

Oh I could have fun with this....

Speed Ventures is a pretty good deal. Three classes based on ability, 20 minute run times, lunch, instructors, transponders, and well run. Usually less expensive than all the others. Mostly imports. Streets of Willow is fun. Very twisty.