ITB Ford Season Opener - Sears Point Raceway AKA Infineon
I had a lot of goals in anticipation of the new SCCA IT season. I had planned to build a 140hp motor, I had planned to win all my races and I am planning to break at least 2 track records. If you notice the past and present tenses I use, it is because I have already built and dynoed the motor , lost two races but I still have a chance to break a track record or two.
Last Friday, April 4,2003, I took my Capri over to vishnutuning.com in Pleasanton Ca. After a warmup on their Aussie Dyno Dynamics dyno, my motor pulled a best of 94.8 rwhp. It did smoke a bit, and I was disappointed but ready to race on Saturday knowing that my motor was adjusted to it's optimum. I experimented with different ign. and cam timing and only lost hp. The car smoked on the dyno when revved hard but I thought it was gas fumes which were being measured between 12:1 and 13:1 AFR.
My motor seems to be getting stronger as it gets run in. I was attempting to observe a 6000rpm redline, since it started getting excessive blowby and oil consumption when I revved it beyond 6000rpm. I wasn't pleased to notice my oil pressure dropping during qualification on Saturday, and opening my hood and see the oil spray all over the underside of my hood from the crankcase breather. The motor was down a quart of oil.
Saturday, I qualified 3rd in class behind two of the BMW 2002s. My laptimes weren't as good as I hoped, my car was wildly oversteering on right hand turns and understeering on left hand turns and the motor was a bit down on power as compared to the BMWs. I was over 2.5 seconds/lap behind the 2nd place BMW and nearly 3 seconds/lap behind the pole BMW and well behind my goals. I made some adjustments Saturday night, lowered the left front suspension one turn and ran in the engine for a few hours on non-detergent 30 weight oil. I also fitted a fresh set of tires just in case my old set were starting to lose traction and I also decided to increase the tire pressures all around since they felt a bit too soft.
Sunday - 1st 30 min race, there were 79 cars on the grid which promised to create a lot of traffic. The BMWs pulled away at the start and I got stuck behind some slower ITA and ITS cars. I'd pass them in a corner and they'd pass me down the straights and slow me slightly in the corners. I got used to the feel of the new tires and began to pick up the pace, eventually getting by those cars. I pulled away from my ITB competitors, beautifully prepared yellow BMW 2002, red Alfa Romeo Alfetta, orange Toyota Celica and white Volvo 142 and others already way back until I couldn't see them in my rear view mirror. I started gaining on the two front running BMWs which were battling and within 20 minutes, I was about 10 car lengths behind them and our ITB cars were in the top 10 of the whole field, continuing to gain overall positions. I was getting increasingly optimistic, and I decided to increase my rpm shift point. Dam the motor, full speed ahead. I revved it to 6500 rpm in 3rd, pushed down the clutch, and the pedal stayed on the floor. Without a working clutch, I finessed the shift to 4th and did my best to hold my position until the end of the race. My final position was 3rd in class, while the top ITB BMW 2002 had worked it's way to an impressive 5th overall while breaking the ITB track record.
Sunday - 2nd 25 minute race. I repaired the clutch cable, reduced my tire pressures a bit in the rear, hoping to reduce oversteer. My front suspension adjustments helped in the first race eliminating the left hand understeer so my car oversteered evenly on left and right hand turns. SCCA used the Saturday qualifying results to start this race. I got a much better start, feeling much more confident with my Capri as I entered the first turn. The 2nd BMW and I swapped positions a few times, as we attempted to thread our way through heavy traffic. My car was hooking up and it's handling much improved over any previous sessions and I pulled away from the now 3rd place BMW (and former track record holder), especially in the high speed esses and turn 10. I focused my sights on the front running orange BMW, and I was on him within 15 minutes. I got my nose along side him a couple of times, but he is a good driver and wouldn't give me any more room than is absolutely necessary, forcing me to take the less optimal line. Our cars were evenly matched, he'd be slightly faster in the off-camber turns but I'd take him on the smooth fast sweepers. As the race wore on, I was getting increasing confident that I could take him as he was working his car really hard, and it appeared that either he or the car's tires were tiring and his lines started to get a touch sloppy and his car began to increasingly slide in the corners. My car was now sticking better than his and I was concentrating to keep my lines smooth, and I knew he would continue to overwork his tires and I'd get my chance to get by. I misread the white flag out on track, and thinking it was the last lap (it was a safety vehicle warning flag) and panicked and tried a risky pass in turn 11 on the inside of the BMW. I got on the gas a bit too early and got the car way sideways and he was able to pull a hefty lead down the long straight. Unfortunately, I had 5 more laps left in the race but blew my chance since the mistake in turn 11 was too costly for me to overcome in the short time remaining. I also ran the fastest ITB lap in this 2nd race with a 2:00.8 lap time which would have broke the ITB Sears Point track record prior to this weekend. Unfortunately, the orange front running BMW had already broken the record in the first race with a 2:00.2 something. 1:59s are my next goal.
I'm really jazzed that my car is now handling reasonably well and competitive. If I could get some rear negative camber (discussed on this listserv), I can probably dial out the rear oversteer and get a bit closer to the performance potential of the Capri. My Porterfield rear brake shoes have been bedded in and the rear brakes are now really strong. I've had to adjust the proportioning valve on the rear brakes due to rear axle hop as I brake heavily into turn 11. It's a little disconcerting to feel the rear axle hopping as the rear springs wind up and release. In any case, braking is now strong and balanced and I no longer get outbraked by the other cars.
Acceleration, handling, braking - three ingredients necessary to win a race.
#37 ITB "Ford" Capri
