That's right, goern-R makes it to the screen in his first wheel to wheel race!

This is a clip from the USTCC/HC/Porsche 944 Cup race in September at Arizona Motorsports Park. It's a very cool track. Flat, but very nicely prepared.

This clip turned out about 1 minute longer than I expected, so I apologize for the large file size (10M). I don't have time to rerender it right now.

***OK the video is finally loaded***

http://www.teamsmr.com/movies/...x.wmv

This race will also be making it to DVD shortly.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
http://www.teamSMR.com


Modified by GarySheehan at 5:16 PM 10/24/2003


Modified by GarySheehan at 5:26 PM 10/24/2003

 

Thanks for the Vid Gary.

I'm gonna use this as an opportunity to "go off" on something that's been bugging me.

All these video's I'm seeing lately, where somebody fast starts at the back of a race group...are entertaining, sure, but are a generally unrealistic portrayal of what a "Race" is actually like.

A local racer runs In-Car's on the cable access channels a few times a week, and they are frequently the same.

The majority of races in real life are run in isolation in order of qualifying times. Decent racing happens, and frequently, but really good racing is pretty rare. Passing MUCH slower cars and drivers isn't racing.

Scott, who's not saying that just because the only video I've got of me shows a guy spending a half hour NOT getting past somebody...

 

Nice vid Gary. Looks like you were lapping some inexperienced racers at times, at least by seeing the way they keep trying get out of yours and Vanni's? way. Driving off the track to let the faster cars pass is a recipe for disaster, everyone included.

Scott, I think they were just lapping the field. Was that just a hair you had to pluck off your chest? Conference has a problem at times with the fast guys in a run group getting bored and deciding to start at the back of the queue. Ruins a lot of other folks races for their own entertainment.

Rick

 

I agree with Scott 100% on this.

 

Gary, out of curiousity, why did you drive directly at the back of the red Mini you were lapping about 1:45 into the video? Were you trying to catch a draft off of him? Considering how close you cut it on the pass, it just seems a bit unnecessarily risky to me. JMO.

Matt

 

entertaining video, i liked that accord that he had trouble passing

 

Scott: wah!!

Matt: cry!!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by southpass &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">entertaining video, i liked that accord that he had trouble passing</TD></TR></TABLE>

on both accounts

 

Grow some grass out there! All the dust woudl drive me crazy!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by speedracer33 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Gary, out of curiousity, why did you drive directly at the back of the red Mini you were lapping about 1:45 into the video? Were you trying to catch a draft off of him? Considering how close you cut it on the pass, it just seems a bit unnecessarily risky to me. JMO.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'll doubtless be vilified as being unqualified to render an opinion on this since I don't do W2W, but in the pass in question, it looks to me like the Mini is way off line and Gary went right expecting the Mini to go left to get back on line. Then when the Mini did not do that, Gary went back left to get back on line and make the pass.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Agent Smith &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I'll doubtless be vilified as being unqualified to render an opinion on this since I don't do W2W, but in the pass in question, it looks to me like the Mini is way off line and Gary went right expecting the Mini to go left to get back on line. Then when the Mini did not do that, Gary went back left to get back on line and make the pass.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

That could be it. It's impossible to say what is going through everybody's mind, but it just seemed like a strange thing to do. To go way offline to aim directly at the back of a car going much slower (so you probably wouldn't get a decent draft).

Matt

 

Scott's right in that part of what you saw in the video is atypical. What was more difficult to see is that I was really RACING the Honda Accord of Tom Lepper. You can see him up ahead of me the entire time, and I actually got quite close to him at one point. That was the real race. We both had to negotiate traffic of two slower classes, but the distance between us didn't vary too much.

As a matter of fact, we stayed 1 and 2 in position for almost the entire race. At one point I got close enough to pop out and show my nose in Tom's mirror entering the fast left hand sweeper. It was enough to distract him for half a second and caused him to make a driving error, allowing me to get past.

Coming up on the red Mini, it was a draft attempt. At that speed and for that short a time, I really have no idea if I got any advantage off of him. I was trying everything I could to gain on Tom because our cars were so evenly matched in a straight line and Tom had an advantage in the corners.

I don't see the risk you are referring to.

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
http://www.teamSMR.com

 

Maybe I'm just not used to AWD... but it looks to me like that thing understeers... a lot. Especially on turn-in.... Thoughts?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GarySheehan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Coming up on the red Mini, it was a draft attempt. At that speed and for that short a time, I really have no idea if I got any advantage off of him. I was trying everything I could to gain on Tom because our cars were so evenly matched in a straight line and Tom had an advantage in the corners.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Well shet mah mouf, I never would have thought of that. Guess that's why I dont' do W2W.

 

Those tyres sure are crying for mercy. Nice vid.

 

Yes, lots of understeer. I was very confused with the car because taking some of the corners at 10-15 mph, I was still getting squeel from the front tires. The only thing I could think that would cause that is a steering geometry problem.

It turns out that I made a mistake swapping to a different swaybar and accidentally installed it upside down. When the car is up in the air on stands, it fits both ways, but I never checked it when I put the car back down. The swaybar was actually in contact with the steering tie rods, about halfway between the inner joint and the outer joint.. When the steering wheel turns, the outside ends of the tie rod actually move back towards the rear of the car, pushing the tie rods harder against the sway bar. So anytime I turned the wheel, I was bending the tie rods (strong power steering), in effect shortening them, which resulted in dramatic toe-in changes while cornering. But when the steering wheel is straight, the alignment was fine.

This is why drivers should not be allowed to wrench on their own cars...

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
http://www.teamSMR.com

 

Any one know what modifications were done to the accord

 

ah, gotta enable automatic codec download in WMP. nice vid.

 

I changed about everything on the Accord. What would you like to know specifically?

 

engine specs and suspension. Your accord has given me inspiration, i was gonna get a crx or or 3g civic to build for racing, or possibly a go kart, don't know yet, but seeing you accord, i'd like to see what i can get out of mine. i'm only 17, a beginner, but im getting my second car in January to go along with my accord, so i need to decide which one will be my daily driver.

 

great vid, just embarassing about how many off tracks we have had latly, this past weekend was rediculous.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b20bastard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">great vid, just embarassing about how many off tracks we have had latly, this past weekend was rediculous.</TD></TR></TABLE>


that is what happens when drivers get faster and familiar with a track....they start pushing and pushing till something gives....usually it's the driver or car.....never seen a track fail yet!

 

Nice Video

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VTECAcuraGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Grow some grass out there! All the dust woudl drive me crazy!</TD></TR></TABLE>

its Arizona, we dont have grass

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chrisb_thebitter &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have a new greatest hero. This guy can school the **** out of a bunch of rookies with 1/2 to 2/3 the power. Way to go man! West side!</TD></TR></TABLE>
Min weight for that car is 3600lbs and it runs a restrictor.
The rules benefit the hondas much more than anything else.

[....]

 

Chris,

I think you missed the point. The race was between me in the WRX and Tom Lepper in the Honda Accord. The cars we were passing were in a different class and were obstacles that Tom and I had to negotiate during our race. This video wasn't about "look how cool I am because I can pass cars." It was about "look how busy this race was with all of the traffic." There was a huge amount of action just trying to improve one position. Usually racing is like what RR98ITR posted above. It let me have better understanding of what the Camel GTP drivers were going through when fighting amongst slower classes.

Elgory,

That's a bit high, but sometimes it feels like that. Our minimum weight is 3,348 right now and we are mandated to use a 52mm restrictor plate. The Honda Accord and the WRX are almost even in straight line speed, but I've got to carry 400 extra pounds in the braking zones and corners. To put that in perspective, our WRX is only 52 pounds lighter than a Winston Cup car, but on 225/45 tires!

Gary
Sheehan Motor Racing
http://www.teamSMR.com


Modified by GarySheehan at 9:26 PM 10/29/2003

 

ah ok, I got USTCC weight mixed up with the Atlantic Coast TCC rules mixed up, the WRX is listed as 3600 lbs there IIRC.

3350 lbs is still a shitload of weight.