I'm starting to get excited about the biggest racing adventure yet. I'm towing my SRT6 all the way to Savannah to drive Roebling Road on Friday, Aug.20th. I'll be learning the track so I can drive the Chump Car on Sat and Sunday. So, if you don't have anything to do, stop out. Chump Car is very interesting to watch. Chump Car is endurance racing in $500.00 crap can cars gutted and made to race.
Just got the car modified again. I had my mechanic raise it up 1/2 inch. I'm tired of the tires rubbing and probably trashing my tires too early. We added a larger heat exchanger and I changed out the intercooler with the Johnson pump as I'm getting to 30,000 miles on the car. Don't want to loose my supercharger power when I'm on the track.
Won't be able to move up to Hoosiers until later. The back tires are hard to find and won't be produced until beginning of September. I'll have to buy 4 rears so I won't had to grovel finding tires.
I'll keep you posted on my upcoming adventure.

 

Wow Jane, that's lots of news! I had to raise the front of my car and need to raise the back a little so I understand. I take it Hoosier is coming out with 19's? You need to get a camera and video some of your runs. I, for one, love to watch racing videos of Crossfires.

Les

 

Jane:

You're going to love this little road course. I've been on it multiple times back in my Merkur XR4Ti days. Used to "piggy-back" with the BMW, Porsche & Triangle Z guys whenever their organizations booked track day events. Enjoy!

 

Here's the facility Jane is getting ready to experience!

 

Thanks, Dennis, for the info. I need to start looking for guidance on how to drive it from some OCD person who writes every little detail down. Those transcripts are fun to read. If you have any of that information, I would be grateful. Otherwise, I'm going to wing it and just do a lot of laps until I get it.

Jane

 

Check out this attached turn-by-turn guide on Roebling Road Raceway.

 

Thanks so much. I will be sharing this with my fellow Chump Car drivers.

 

Jane, do you know when you will be running on Sat & Sun and what the entrance fee is? Maybe I can swing it to come up for a few hours and hang out.

 

Dan: This track is interesting in that they close the track while the race is on. Then, there is a break that will allow people to cross the track to the infield. I have been told that I'll be starting the race after the lunch break on Saturday. I'm not sure when I'm driving on Sunday. I'll pm my cell phone and you can call me on Friday such that I can give you more details. Or, come early and hang out and what the crazy race.

 

Read the Trackipedia notes from Mike Skeen. Memorize them. Skeen is one of the best club racers and should make into the big leagues soon...he just doesn't have the money.

Skeen's fast.

Have fun at RRR, it is my favorite.

Regards, Robert Patton

 

So Jane, how did it go? I know the racing section is rather slow but we have a need to hear all your exploits. So I'll expect your report ASAP!

Les

 

Hey, Les. This is going to be lengthy, but here it is:

I'm finally home. Towed the Crossfire all the way to Savannah and did very well. I had a wonderful time. Got over the mountain between Nashville and Chattanooga with ease.

Arrived Thursday and spent 5 hours down at the River. Got a bit trashed at Wet *******. Had a proper southern lunch at Vics. We were hosted by Dan and Amy for a BBQ that night that was a great welcome to Savannah.

Friday: I drove the Crossfire all day to learn the track. I really started to like this track and was getting better using less brakes. Times were OK for this newby, about 1:36 for a two mile coarse, but not what I could achieve if I had another day. It was very hot and got slicker as the day passed. I love this turn 7, which takes you into the straightaway. Usually was doing that turn at 90-100 mph which was so cool. Only had two times where I about lost it, but recovered OK and didn't crap my pants. By the end of the day, I really loved the track and wished I could have driven the Crossfire another day. The track seemed easy on tires and brakes. I also drove the Chump Car to make sure I felt OK on the track with that. Finally, I'm feeling much more comfortable in that car, dressed in full gear, and somehow I stayed in the seat better. I no longer felt like a liability, but a contributing team driver.

Friday night, our Chump Car team was hosted by the lovely Deb Walker. She prepared a Low Country Boil that was so wonderful. She told her funny stories, including the cork soaker story and we all left with such a great feeling of what Southern Hospitality is all about. Thank you so much, Deb Walker.

Saturday was Chump Car: I drove the car in the afternoon and did pretty well. Maintained our position. Still learning racing concepts. Need to maintain a tight line and force the other cars to work for the pass. My DE training has caused me to be too nice. NO MORE NICE GIRL!!! Was almost forced off the track twice because some people won't maintain their line when passing, which made me mad. Then, unbeknownst to me, there was a car that kept spilling oil. I hit an oil slick and in an instance, was off the track. I had no warning, just went off in turn 2. I thought something had broke on the car, so I pitted to be on the safe side; then they shut down the track to clean up the oil. So, back on track and finished up my session. As the day went on, unfortunately, the car overheated and we didn't finish on Saturday. We ended up having to replace the water pump and radiator. Left front bearings broke, too. So lots of mechanical work that evening, all during a thunder storm. Our team was great. Dan, whom we just met on Friday was a great help as well.

Sunday: Our crew chief, Gene, takes the car out. Problems noted early with overheating. Had to take it easy, but he put us in 5-6 position. Not bad. I'm in next and apparently got us up to 2nd place and almost tied with the leader, then spun out in turn 5. Turn 5 is hard to figure out and I think I had 2-3 different approaches that I kept trying. However, after my spin off, the car instantly cooled and I was able to hit it a little harder. I brought it into the pits in 4th place. Not bad. I made the other drivers earn the pass as I kept my line tight and did better at anticipating slower cars' positions so I could pass. However, after the lunch break, we fell behind after a pit stop. Then we ran it out of water and lost a lot of power. So, the guys knew the engine would have to be replaced, so we just kept adding a lot of water and let it cool. Took the car back out with 10 minutes to go and we did finish 18th. It was a great weekend with lots of memories. Hotter than all get out. I've never sweat more.

I have fallen in love with Roebling Road. I do not like the manager's wife, who was a bit__. She was the only bad apple of my entire experience. Apparently, they make up rules as they go along, charge some and not others, change prices on ice on a day to day basis. I'm not used to this kind of crap at a track. The track was great, but the grounds were fair and there was a lot of junk/equipment strewn around.

That is the recap of my racing experience. Our next Chump Car is Sept 11 at Putnam Park, my home track. I'm looking forward to seeing if my experience there can help us do well. The Chump Car will have to be rebuilt with a new engine, but we do have a spare, so there will be a swamp party for sure.

Thanks for reading all of this if you did.

 

What color and number was your chump car? I found some videos of the chump cars from the weekend at Roebling on Vimeo and you may make a cameo in some of them. I just need to know what to look for.

If you were going 90 to 100 in turn seven I can't imagine how fast your were going at the end of the straight in the Crossfire. Did you hit 5th? I haven't passed 130 at the track myself and question my depth perception at such high closing rates.

I may end up in a ITA or ITS car in a couple of years. A lot depends on if the race schedule adds enough events here to be worth the investment.

Les

 

Hi Jane, thanks for the write up. It was a good read. See you at the Dragon.

 

Les: We are in the number 30 car. It's all white with black bar codes on it. It is a 1985 280 ZX Nissan.

In the staightaway, I was hitting 120 mid way and would push to about 125-128, but I have to shift down and brake to make turn one, so sometimes I don't see the point in going any faster cause of my brakes. In fact before I left, my racing mechanic told me to go easy and earlier on the brakes to help my pads make it through the racing season. Carbotechs are not cheap, so I only want to buy one set per year.

Hey BigKid: I will see you at the Dragon, most definitely.