2005 One Lap Daily Log 
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It's April 28 and Lou and I are preparing to head to the Tire Rack in Southbend, IN to begin the 2005 One Lap of America. This year's event is a little shorter than previous years and we will be competing at tracks on the east coast. The farthest west we go is Indianapolis. The 2005 field is very strong and we expect a difficult competition. |
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An incredible amount of work has gone into the car this year to help improve performance and ensure reliability. Chris Kirby at K&B Auto has built a fantastic short stroke 3.2 liter engine with Motec fuel injection. This is by far the strongest engine we have ever had.
We are hoping to defend our Vintage Foreign Title and will be looking for a top finish overall.
We will be posting a daily "from the road" report on this page. For detailed One Lap results, surf to the official One Lap of America website and then click on "Latest Results".
Tony Swan of Car and Driver magazine will also be posting a daily trip report at the official Car and Driver website.
Special thanks to everyone who helped us prepare, especially
our
sponsors:
- K&B Auto
- Burnt Squirrel
- The Halifax Group
- Gamblins and Associates
- RS Designs
Glen Clarke
Louis Frlan III
Friday April 29th, Registration
Lou and I arrived at the Tire Rack at 9:30am and started preparing for the event. Brock's 1972 Dodge Challenger was parked out front. This car came close to winning the Cannonball Sea to Shining Sea race in 1972 and 1974.
There are some incredible cars in the field including: 2 Acura NSX Grand Am cars, a radical, an Ultima GTR. The level of competition this year is going to be very high.
1965 Daytona Coupe replica driven by Joe Drumheller. The Dega/Cook V8 Volvo/Ford is in the background.
Lotus Elise driven by Bob "The Builder" Murray.
Roy's One Lap driving team (Nancy and Adrienne) with their Tina
Fabulous impersonation. (I guess no one told them that the Firestone boy's
were not coming this year)
-check out the colour of Roy Hopkins' M3 -he better hope it's fast because
it is not going to win the colour award.
Last we heard, Tammi Hull (driving from California) was stuck in a snow storm in Wyoming for 3 days and is now driving flat out all night to get to the Tire Rack in time for the start Saturday morning.
Morning: Tire Rack
Saturday morning started off with the wet skid pad at the Tire Rack. We finished 1st in this event in 2004 so our expectations were high. Unfortunately things did not go as well as we would have liked.
The car had significant understeer in the wet and I was unable to use the throttle to rotate the car. We were slow and only pulled 0.8g as opposed to the 0.93g we pulled in the 2004 event.
Tammi and Claudia arrived on time.
Afternoon: Indianapolis Raceway Park
We had an uneventful transit to IRP and Lou and I worked on creating an engine map for the transit stages.
The first run at IRP was wild. The track was green and didn't offer much grip. All of the teams were complaining about oversteer.
Our new Chris Kirby (K&B Auto) engine is incredibly strong. It has super throttle response and fantastic acceleration. On the standing start I had to be very careful not to smoke the clutch. The engine pulls very well from low rpms and the cams start to kick in around 5500rpm. The engine pulls hard all the way up to redline which we have set at 7800rpm.
The track surface was very dusty and slippery. The 911's handling was very much on a knife edge. There was very little difference between approaching the limit and exceeding it. The back end of the car was very loose and I had a number of close calls in the twisting back section of the course.
We finished the first run in 23rd place overall and 1st in class. All things considered we were happy with the run but our finishing position highlighted how competitive this year's field is.
The second run at IRP was better and we feel that we managed to get all the performance out of the car. However, the car was still very loose on corner entry and it was hard to carry momentum through the turn.
It appears that most of the grip issues with the rear of the car are due to our tire choice. This is the third year that we have run on the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS D3 tires. They have been great tires with very predictable break away, however, the 275x40x17 tires that we normally run on the rear wheels were out of stock and could not be found before the event. We chose to run on the smaller 255x40x17 and this appears to be a mistake. We really miss the cornering stability that the 275's extra 2 inches of rubber provide. Live and learn.
Ultima GTR
Night: Transit to Beaver Run near Pittsburgh
During the night transit to Beaver Run, we joined a few other teams and made a quick detour to visit with Ricky Hoyt who is staying at the Cincinnati Ronald McDonald House. We wish Ricky the best of luck and hope he gets well enough to go home soon.
We arrived at the Beaver Valley Hotel around 3am and caught a few hours sleep before heading to the track at 7am.
Morning: Beaver Run
This year looks like it is going to be one of the coldest One Laps on record. It has been cold and windy each day, cold enough to make Lou join the grown ups and wear long pants.
Our first run at the Beaver started off very well. I was able to get everything out of the car and managed to keep it right on the limit for the first 2 and 3/4 laps. Then my luck ran out. I caught the #23 Corvette at the start of the 3rd lap and followed him though the tight and twisty section (corners 1-7). I was losing time and knew that Dave Goodman was catching me quickly. I got a great run out of corner 7 and out dragged the vette down into corner 9 (did I mention that we have a fantastic engine). The vette was very polite and left room for me to go around the outside into corner 10. I went into the corner pretty hot and and decided to take a late apex out of the corner while staying in 3rd gear. (Normally I would take a tight entry and drop down to 2nd gear for an early apex). This is where it started to get interesting. The outside of the corner was pretty dusty and I started to lose the back end of the car. It didn't concern me that much and I just gave it more throttle and opposite lock. I thought I had the drift under control but I ran out of pavement at the exit of the corner. As soon as the driver's rear wheel went onto the wet grass (at this point I was full throttle in 3rd gear with lots of opposite lock) the car did the classic 911 snap spin and I ended up in the middle of the track looking at the vette and Dave Goodman's 930 coming at me fast. They missed the back end of my car by inches. I then put the hammer down and did a half spin to get going again. Unfortunately this little spin cost me about 15 places in the standings.
The best part of this episode is that #23 had in car video and
caught the entire sequence on tape. Dale Seeley has posted this video on the
Lake Effect Racing
web site. Take a look at the video, you will probably enjoy it more than I
did.
There is also a picture of the spin on the Car
and Driver web site.
At this point in the race, we are starting to realize that we really don't have enough car to compete as hard as we would like. Dave Goodman has really improved his Porsche 930 and he is driving it really well. I have been getting everything out of our 911 and Dave has been beating us pretty handily. This knowledge along with the realization that we can't seem to cure the loose handling made us decide to change our driving style. The car is just too twitchy at the limit so I am going to take a bit off and drive the car at 9 tenths instead of 11 tenths. This should reduce the potential for any more big on track mistakes. We now have the goal to finish in the top 20, which is still going to be a big challenge.
Our second run at the Beaver went well. I didn't attack the corner entries as hard and although I probably lost a bit of time I think it was a respectable run. (we don't know the results of the second run yet)
Attrition is starting kick in. The GT40 had a spectacular engine failure on the back straight with lots of smoke and oil. Rodney Sizemore's corvette also blew up putting lots of oil all over the entry to corner 10.
A quick look at the results shows how fast this field really is. In 2003, the last year we ran the Beaver, we had a 12th place finish overall. This year we are running almost 7 seconds a lap faster and we are struggling to stay in the top 25. The laps we turned today would have put us in the top 5 in 2003.
Evening: Lancaster Park (Paved Oval)
Did I mention that I hate ovals. We arrived at Lancaster just before 6pm. It had just finished raining and it was cold and damp. Ideal conditions to run an over steering car on a bumpy oval track with concrete walls all around.
I took a very conservative run and just tried to keep out of trouble. Not fast but the car is still in one piece.
Night: Transit to Loudon, NH
The transit to Loudon was fairly uneventful except for the police road block in New Hampshire. Herr Dubler was up to his old tricks and spent quite a bit of time with New Hampshire's finest.
Morning: Loudon, NH
NHIS is a great facility. The road course is built around the NASCAR oval and it has some great corners and elevation changes. We ran strong at this track but again the quality of the entries saw us finish well down the order. Our results are proving that you now need to test at every One Lap track prior to the start of the race.
Afternoon: Transit to Summit Point, WV (could be a long drive thru NY City)
We decided to bypass New York and took I84 and I81. A long but uneventful drive.
Morning: Summit Point, WV
The new Shenandoah track at Summit Point is really interesting. The goal of the track designer was to put as much track length into the smallest possible area. He seems to have accomplished this. The track is very technical and difficult to learn.
The front straight has an uphill section thru a kink under the bridge. This kink is taken flat in 5th gear at well over 100mph. However, just after the bridge the track drops away sharply over a blind hill and the cars become airborne. You can't see your landing area before you take off. One Subaru missed judged his line and landed off of the track resulting in a heavy crash into the wall.
We struggled with handling issues on the tight corners. The car had initial understeer and then snap oversteer on exit. I have allot of work to do on the handling when I get home.
Afternoon: Mason Dixon Dragway (drag and bracket races)
We had a pretty good drag event turning a 13.6 second quarter mile.
I tried different engine maps during each pass of the bracket race and finally found a set up that gave us a clean launch off the line. Our best run in the bracket race was a 13.499.
Night: Transit to Virginia International Raceway
It was a short transit to Danville and we arrived at the hotel at 1am. We are looking forward to a good run at VIR tomorrow.
Morning: Virginia International Raceway, WV
VIR is one of the nicest track facilities in North America. VIR has four course configurations including some very long straights and high speed corners. The grounds are immaculate and upkeep compares with some of the nicer golf courses.
We had three great runs at VIR and I believe that we got everything available from the car. The front straight on the long course has a kink that you enter at very high speed. According to our data acquisition I was entering the kink at 136mph (no lift). The back end of the car would get very light and I would end up counter steering to the edge of the track. There are 2 other places on the track where you hit maximum speed. The back straight (coming out of the Oak Tree corner) must be close to a mile long. Near the end of the straight you crest a hill at maximum rpm in 5th gear. For the first few seconds all you see is sky and you hope that you are aimed in the correct direction for the downhill run into the braking zone.
Getting Tips from Dan, Ford's Tire Development Engineer
Ron Adee's Dodge Ram Pickup
Babcock's WCM (Team Ironbutt)
Tammi Hull
Tony Swan in 2005 Mustang
Top Guns: Popp, Corcoran, Davia (2004 Overall Winner)
Behind the Radical at VIR
Afternoon: Transit to Carolina Rod Shop, SC
The Carolina Rod Shop is always a nice stop. Glen Dodd (owner) and family always provide a nice lunch and many of the shops hot rod projects are on display. The shop also provides the competitors with a place to make necessary repairs to their cars.
Glen Dodd's Chevy Blazer
Night: Transit to Roebling Road (near Savannah Georgia)
We arrived in Savannah at mid night and hung around the pool with some of the other competitors for a while. The weather was quite warm and humid. A nice break from the colder temperatures in the North East.
Morning: Roebling Road
Lots of rain.
Roebling Road is a very fast flowing track. In the dry it is possible to enter the front straight at over 100mph with the top cars hitting close to 160mph entering corner 1. In the rain it is a different story. The track surface does not provide very effective drainage and there was lots of standing water.
We took a very conservative first run and finished well down the order. The second run was much more aggressive with the car getting out of shape in some nasty locations. The 911 would understeer into the corner and snap to oversteer when the tires hit the standing water. Lots of fun.
Our second run time was a great improvement, unfortunately, the rains slowed and the track began to dry for the late runners. This bumped us back down the finishing order.
Afternoon: Transit to Nelson Ledges, Ohio (our longest transit)
The 780 mile transit went smoothly. We were able to run between 70 and 80mph most of the way. There was a large pile up at Charlotte, which we managed to avoid by taking an alternate route. Some of the other competitors were not so lucky and they ended up stuck for several hours.
On a positive note, a little work with the engine map really improved our transit fuel economy. We are now getting almost 15mpg on the transits.
We seem to do this much too often.
Morning: Nelson Ledges, OH
Nelson Ledges is another high speed flowing track. However, the surface of the track makes some of the Targa Newfoundland stages look smooth. A couple of the corners have decreasing radius corners that caught out several competitors. There was a bit of bent sheet metal before the day was over.
We had two solid runs and secured our second place class standing.
David Goodman (930 turbo) has secured the Vintage Foreign class win with two solid runs at Nelson Ledges. Dave has a chance of a top 10 overall finish if he does well on the skid pad tomorrow. (I will buy him a few beers tonight)
After the first run of the day we were in 30th place overall and second in class. Given our previous One Lap results, our current standings are pretty disappointing. Our results highlight the strength of this year's field as well as some of the things that we have to work on to get back to our winning ways.
Afternoon: Transit to Tire Rack (Southbend, IN)
We are currently driving to Southbend and expect to arrive shortly. The teams are meeting at the hotel bar for some well deserved cocktails. With only the dry skid pad to run tomorrow, a little partying tonight shouldn't hurt.
Morning: Tire Rack (Dry Skid Pad)
We decided that we would try and make some amends on the skid pad. Taking the win or spin attitude we dialed in the most oversteer we could into the car and hoped for the best.
During my counterclockwise run I was able to get the car down tight on the cones and throttle steer it to a 1.01g run. The car was incredibly loose but this seems to be the fast way around the skid pad. The rear tires overheated on the CCW run and I was not able to turn quite as quick a time clockwise. We ended up with a 1.00g average which was good for 10th place overall. Our best finish of the event. The dry skid pad was won by Ron Adee in the Ram pick up. Ron turned in a 1.07g run.
Scott Alghrim, Tammi Hull, Claudia
Chrysler 300C lights it up on the skid pad (This car is going to Targa in September)
Generating smoke with 540hp at the wheels (Ford SVT team)
Pirelli tires for 2006?
2nd Place in Vintage Foreign
Night: Transit to Ottawa
We left Southbend at 5pm and expect to be home around 3:30am. Just in time for Mother's Day.
Final Results:
We finished 2nd in class and 28th overall. Not bad considering the circumstances. We are already planning our attack for 2006. For now all effort will be placed on preparing the car for Targa in September.
The top overall finishers were:
1st Mark Davia, Porsche 996TT
2nd Brian Smith, Hennessey Viper
3rd Danny Popp, Corvette
Click
Here for the final standings.
Special Thanks to all those who helped us compete in the 2005 One Lap of America:
K&B Auto (Chris Kirby)
The Burnt Squirrel
The Halifax Group
Gamblins and Associates
RS Designs
Final Note: Ricky Hoyt, who we visited at Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnati, had a liver transplant operation on Monday morning. Good luck Ricky, we hope you have a speedy recovery.
