Sorry for taking so long to come back in here. Furiously working to get things done is an understatement.
For about the past three weeks the car has been mechanically completed. There are some things that need to get done before we go but none of them are deal killers. There's no stopping now.
Given that we might have to fix just about anything on the road I've taken as many specialized tools and parts that I can reasonably fit in the car. That means having the packing done, lists made, and working out of that load and add to it. Here's how much stuff can be fitted into a 1st-gen trunk even when there's a battery in the way. That's a full-size spare rim and tire that Jimi can share if needed.
All 248lbs of it fits, and there's a small hydraulic jack that Jon brought over that we crammed in there as well. That makes 300lbs in the trunk. The back seat will be for our clothes, driving gear, electronics, food/drinks, etc. We trial packed that on Thursday at Buttonwillow and we're good to go.
Testing is also complete on the new 275/35/18 Michelin Pilot Super Sports. We were fortunate that during the testing late last month with James at Buttonwillow that we could do do skidpad and track tire temperature testing. The fronts were super easy and took about 20 minutes to dial in, including a small camber change. Final temperatures were within 5* across the face of the tire. The rears are different story. Even after dropping to 22psi hot both sides were 20* hot in the middle. Jon Hotchkis made a dash over to the TRD trailer that was there (setting up cars for the Long Beach Gran Prix) and discussed this dilemma with them. Seems many of the modern tires are built and intended for independant suspension cars that have camber gain. When they are put on a stick axle they get confused. We ended up selecting a pressure 5psi lower for the rear vs. the front.
The guys from Fox came out and did some tuning on the Hotchkis shocks at Buttonwillow as well. These guys are magicians. They watched the car on-track and described that same things I felt. After a few R&R's for each end of the car the shock package is much better and the car much more composed. Here's a few of the parts they worked on.
Thanks a ton to the guys at Fox. They worked on James' car as well to get the RideTech shock and spring package on OLC dialed in.
On Thursday one of the biggest changes on the car went on. Cris at JCG worked overtime to get this work of art done in time for the OLoA. We're securing it with Hotchkis hood pins as well for a second measure of security. Nobody wants it to come off at speed during our run at Daytona or VIR. The stripes will be taken care of tomorrow.
All of yesterday was spent on refurbishing the brakes. New pads front and rear, and new Kore3 DBA rotors up front. The rear calipers were rebuilt (three years and a boatload of track days = it's time) and the entire system flushed. Here's my frugal (meaning I'm too cheap to buy a real bleeder) vacuum brake bleeder. It's a small pump and a Tostitos salsa jar. It's not pretty, but it works well.
And finally, human preparation. All of us have been studying the tracks we are going to. There are nine different tracks/configurations we will be running. To say it's difficult and intimidating to learn them is an understatement. Fortunately for Daytona and VIR, iRacing has those tracks in all of the configurations we'll be running. Jon bought a Logitech G27 for practice, I liked it, and bought one as well. The day after is showed up the OLoA teamed up with IRacing to offer competitors a free three-month subscription to iRacing for free! Timing is everything. It may not be the real thing but it sure is a lot easier to learn the corners and car placement than by just studying a track map.
Tomorrow is an exciting day for Team HFC. The next set of photos should have her in livery, minus the OLoA specific decals.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
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