Phil,
Usually I agree with Brian, but not 100% on this one. If your Lotus runs
cool enough WITH the electric fan installed, leave it on the car! Starting
up at the 3-minute signal is overly idealistic. At many races, you won't
even GET a 3-minute warning. Or, you'll get a 3-minute warning that turns
out to be 6 minutes, or 1 minute.
IMHO, you want to make your car as foolproof as possible, especially when
you're new to the game. That means you should run a generator, a fan, etc
-- anything that makes the car require less of your attention, and makes it
easier to cope with. There are enough unexpected events that occur before &
during a race, and the more prepared your car is to deal with these
disturbances, the easier it is for you to maintain your composure & focus on
your driving.
Regards,
Mark Palmer
(the gabby instructor last weekend)
>From: Brian Evans <brian@uunet.ca>
>Reply-To: Brian Evans <brian@uunet.ca>
>To: Phil Roettjer <Phil.Roettjer@quantum.com>, Morgans@autox.team.net,
> vintage-race@autox.team.net
>Subject: Re: Spring Sprints
>Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 14:24:39 -0400
>
>FWIW, an electric fan, even if switched on, will restrict air flow thru the
>rad at speed, so that a car that would otherwise be OK might over-heat on
>the track. My recommendation is to live with the no-fan situation and
>learn to start your engine at the three 3 minute board. Helps to have
>confidence in your engine to start, a crew member with a jump battery, and
>you can always just ask for a push start from the grid marshals if needed.
>
>Glad you had a great first race!
>
>Brian
>
>At 01:31 PM 04/19/2000 -0400, Phil Roettjer wrote:
> >snip
> >My car, a 1953 Lotus Mk VI, performed very well aside from my one
> >knucklehead move of allowing it to overheat in the false grid area. The
>car
> >doesn't have a fan and I started it up a little too soon for the 9AM
>student
> >race on Saturday morning. The next thing I knew it was spewing water out
> >like a hose was broken. After taking off the hood and the nose section I
> >could see that it looked OK. However when I restarted it just prior to
>the
> >cars moving onto the track my temp gage was rapidly climbing and hitting
> >260F when I again shut it off. Luckily the folks from Vintage Racing
> >Services were there and they advised me to just get it on the track and
>it
> >would be OK. My thanks to Paul Lane and Brad Capshaw. So I entered the
>grid
> >in last position for the pace lap and it turned out to be a very
>enjoyable
> >race. The steam stopped by the end of pit lane and the temp was back to
> >normal by half the pace lap. I was able to pass about half dozen cars by
>the
> >end of the 5 lap race and it was great fun. I spent some time after I
> >returned home installing an electric fan. My heart gets going fast enough
>in
> >the race without these last minute problems. The only other problem I
> >experienced was a wheel vibration coming down the straight at max speed.
> >Charlie Gibson helped out by balancing my wheels even though two of them
>had
> >too much runout. I have a set of new wires on the way to hopefully take
>care
> >of this problem completely.
> >
> >Later that morning I was in the first practice session with the
>experienced
> >racers. This was quite a different experience from running in the student
> >race with much more aggressive driving. The car performed well for the
> >remainder of races that day and I feel absolutely great with one race
> >weekend now under my belt. I am now anticipating and preparing my car for
> >the June 2nd and 3rd event at Lime Rock. I hope to see everyone there.
> >
> >Phil Roettjer
> >53 Lotus VI
> >67 Morgan +4
> >67 MGB
>
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