Guys,
Since no one else has done so, I thought maybe I would submit a recap of
this past weekend's Shelby event at the Streets of Willow track at Willow
Springs/Rosamond. For those of you not familiar with the location, it's
just a little north of Lancaster off Hwy 14 which is north of L.A. The 2.5
mi. big track is the oldest road course in the U.S. I used to run it a lot
back in the mid to late '70s. The Streets is about half as long, but with
lots of good curves, elevation changes, bumps and wiggles that really give
your car a tough workout; especially the brakes.
My particular goal at this event was to help Dick Barker, caretaker of the
Le Mans mule, get his white tiger ready so he could start building some
track experience before exercising the coupe. And, of course, I had made a
few mods on my own car and wanted to see how well they were going to work.
Our plans fell apart a little at the last minute, so I drove up alone Fri.
night and Dick started out about 4:00 a.m. Sat. morning. Tech inspection
started at 8:00 and by 9:00 the drivers were listening while the law was
layed down about how much trouble we were going to be in if we screwed up.
Next, the rookies were taken out for a few orientation laps in whatever
appropriate vehicles were available. Drivers ranged in experience from
first-timers to current and ex-racers (ca. six or seven). The pros were
available to ride as passengers, give advice, etc., so this event is about
the best opportunity I know of to develop track racing skills in a
relatively unstructured atmosphere.
Steven Alcala really promotes this event for Tiger owners and there was a
pretty good turnout. Starting Sat morning we had, in addition to myself,
Dick Barker (white Mk-1A), Dan Walters (yellow on black race prepped Tiger),
Mat (? last name) and his red Tiger, Steve A. and his Mk I, wire knock-offs,
what color is that?, really clean Alpine, and last year's Lord Rootes Trophy
winner and CAT president, Tom McDaniels with his metallic blue, Dralle
motored beast, Daryl Mountjoy without car, but driving mostly the Alpine and
whatever else was offered him.
The cars were divided into three run groups according to skill/experience
(red, white, blue) plus a passenger session thrown in for good measure. As
the day wore on and we gained confidence and the threats made during the
drivers session faded in our memory, the pace gradually picked up and
various ad hoc duels could be seen going on with greater frequency. The
sheer variety of cars and drivers made this inevitable. Actually, Shelby
cars were outnumbered by Vipers (six or so), Caterhams & Loti, spec racers,
one Lister Corvette (1854#& 600hp), a 3000GT VR4, and so on.
I think almost everyone had more than there fill of driving by the end of
the day. To make it more interesting, drivers, cars, and passengers were
mixed and matched during the later part of day. It's always interesting to
drive someone elses car, or ride as a passenger and watch someone elses
driving style. Dan Walters drove my car with me as a passenger, and then
drove me around a few more laps in his own dedicated racer (just a bone
stock motor with a little cam he claims). This execrcise was kind of an
extension of some conversations Dan and I have been having about suspension
philosophy. Dan can drive even a bad handling car better than most of us,
but prefers to keep a comfortable amount of understeer in his cars. My
philosophy is more along the lines of increasing rear roll stiffness until
the driver is screaming for mercy. Dan's reaction to driving my car was
predictable, and after a couple of laps and he'd found the limits, high
speed cornering became a repeating scenario of anxiety going into a turn
followed by the exhileration of exiting turns on a tight, inside line. I'm
probably going to have to back off a notch or two on rear roll stiffness,
but for a tight course, it's sure nice to be able to duck into the inside of
turns. Who said Tigers have to understeer?
No official activities were planned for Sat. night, but for some of us it
was just as well and we took the opportunity to relax a little. Sunday
morning started at the track around 9:00 a.m. and a few new players showed
up, (and a few left). New in the Tiger group was Kathy Kruidhof and Dale
Akuszewski (both Tigerless), Tom Sakai with his yellow vintage racer, and
also Dave Johnson of White Tiger Racing fame and his daughter. Lots more
driving by various combinations of drivers, cars, and passengers. Although
the run group schedule was still officially in effect, it became
increasingly hard to tell just which run group was out there at any given
time. Something a little short of anarchy, but definitely fun. Even
passenger sessions (we're supposed to drive 55) were beginning to resemble
the blue sessions in terms of speed as we took the opportunity to show off a
little to whatever hapless soul was fool enough to strap themselves into the
passenger seat. Finally, the track was completely opened up from 3:00-4:00
to all who still wanted to run, and then the last checkered flag fell and we
all headed home.
I had one hell of a good time, and I think most of the others there did as
well. Thankfully, no one crashed or broke. Tuesday night I pulled my front
wheels to inspect my brakes. Incidentally, the Porterfield carbon/metallics
were stopping me better than anything I've ever experienced in the Tiger.
Maybe too well!! The rotors looked like they'd gotten hot enough to light
cigars and the carbon/metallic brake pads looked like a couple of charcoal
briquettes that had been kicked around the block a few times. My previously
nicely machined rotors were fairly deeply grooved and they miked out at
0.440". I think they must have lost at least 0.020-0.040" over the weekend.
Also, the nice new rubber dust seals on the caliper pistons were totally
carbonized. Of course the tires were also considerably more worn than on
the previous Friday. All in all, a lot of wear and tear for a few hours of
fun. But what fun!!
I will have more to say about brakes and other subjects at a later time.
Bye for now,
Bob
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