A few weeks ago I went to Carolinas Motorsports Park. I was just planning on instructing for the Carolinas Region PCA, but a friend of mine, Kevin King, was nice enough to let me drive his 944 turbo some over the weekend. This was good news, but it didn't take long for things to start going wrong.
Kevin King decided to let me go out first and give the car a shake down because it had been a while since he had driven the car on the track. I made about 4 or 5 laps before the brakes started to substantially fade. Unfortunately it took too long to bleed the brakes for Kevin King to make it out for his first session on track. I felt responsible for him missing his session, but he made it clear to me that he was glad that I was driving because he felt that I was better equipped to handle the car in that situation than he was.
Once we got the brakes bled, I took the car out on track again to make sure that they were not going to fad again. It was on the third lap that I was no longer worried about the brakes. I was in the middle of the carousel that I hear a loud bang come from the car. At the same time that I heard the sound, the car went extremely loose. I was able to keep the car on the track, but it was with great effort. I finished the lap slowly, but even at the low speed i was traveling, the car was very hard to drive around turns.
When I made it back to the pits, I was fairly confident that a sway bar had broken. I first started to look under the rear of the car. I couldn't find anything that was obviously the cause of the cars handling issues. I started to look under the front of the car after I had ruled out all the parts of the rear that I thought could have caused the car to get so loose. When I looked under the right front of the car, I immediately saw what had failed on the car. The drop link that connected the sway bar to the control arm had broken.
I felt bad knowing that I had driven Kevin king's car twice and had had problems with it twice. After we had examined the part that failed in detail, we decided that it had failed because of a manufacturing defect. This made me feel a little better, but I still felt responsible. The last thing I wanted was for people to think that the car broken because I was driving it.
The sway bar breaking was definitely a learning experience as I had never had a part of the suspension fail when I was driving. The sway bar breaking also has made me a little more nervous when I drive someone else's car because I don't want to be responsible for something breaking. Luckily, the sway bar breaking wasn't my fault in this instance and I want to keep it that way.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
1 Lap Down - Trying to catch up...
I have finally got some time to upload some more videos of my test last weekend onto YouTube. If you follow the links below, you can watch the new ones.
My channels url: http://www.youtube.com/user/951turbopwr
The new Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEPmT6a_c2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLNQsHbU7p8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihGh9lNbbEc
My channels url: http://www.youtube.com/user/951turbopwr
The new Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEPmT6a_c2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLNQsHbU7p8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihGh9lNbbEc
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Kink - Expectations
If you know me well, then you probably have noticed the caliber of my goals in life. It doesn't seem to matter how big or small a task is, I set high goals. This weekend, I took my latest project car to Carolina Motorsports Park in South Carolina to make sure that it will be ready for my race in November. The car hardly resembles the car that it was in February when I tool it to the track for the first time to set a baseline. Based on that baseline and the many changes I made to the car, I predicted the lap time that the car would be capable of. In other words, I set a goal for the car.
When I went out on the track on Saturday morning, I had expectations for the newly prepared car. I wanted to be within two seconds of the lap record for the class that the car was built for. That meant that the car would need to go around CMP in about 1 min 50 sec. After the first three times on the track, I was still three seconds slower than my goal that I had set. Failing to admit that the car might just not be as fast as I thought it should be, I reverted to becoming disappointed with myself and thought that it was me as a driver that was keeping the car from reaching my goal. It wasn't until I corded a tire that reality finally hit me. My goal was presently unreachable. I felt disappointed...
It was after I accepted that the car wasn't going to be as fast as I wanted that I started to look at the data acquisition files closer. It was when I compared that car to the baseline test that I truly realized I had no reason to be disappointed. The 944 turbo in its original for ran laps in over 2 min 1 sec. After I had sorted out the suspension and set the car up correctly, the car in its current form could make a lap around CMP in 1 min 53 sec. I personally had improved the car by eight seconds per lap. After closer examination, I remembered that I had to detune the engine in between the first baseline test and the current car. I had improved the cars lap time by eight seconds and had taken away somewhere between 30 to 40 horsepower. Now the feeling of disappointment changed to a feeling of accomplishment...
Looking back, I am not disappointed that I had over estimated the performance of the car. I feel that my goal of 1 min 50 sec helped me reach the actual capabilities of the car. I know that my goal helped me push the car hard to make sure that I as a driver wasn't the reason that the car was slower than I wanted it to be. Even though the car is going to be five seconds slower than the lap record for cars prepared similarly to mine, I feel that the car is ready for the club race. Now, if only I could find that extra 40 HP that other people in the class have and still remain legal, but thats another story altogether...
Follow the link below to see a short clip of this weekends action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPdBrCQhB7U
When I went out on the track on Saturday morning, I had expectations for the newly prepared car. I wanted to be within two seconds of the lap record for the class that the car was built for. That meant that the car would need to go around CMP in about 1 min 50 sec. After the first three times on the track, I was still three seconds slower than my goal that I had set. Failing to admit that the car might just not be as fast as I thought it should be, I reverted to becoming disappointed with myself and thought that it was me as a driver that was keeping the car from reaching my goal. It wasn't until I corded a tire that reality finally hit me. My goal was presently unreachable. I felt disappointed...
It was after I accepted that the car wasn't going to be as fast as I wanted that I started to look at the data acquisition files closer. It was when I compared that car to the baseline test that I truly realized I had no reason to be disappointed. The 944 turbo in its original for ran laps in over 2 min 1 sec. After I had sorted out the suspension and set the car up correctly, the car in its current form could make a lap around CMP in 1 min 53 sec. I personally had improved the car by eight seconds per lap. After closer examination, I remembered that I had to detune the engine in between the first baseline test and the current car. I had improved the cars lap time by eight seconds and had taken away somewhere between 30 to 40 horsepower. Now the feeling of disappointment changed to a feeling of accomplishment...
Looking back, I am not disappointed that I had over estimated the performance of the car. I feel that my goal of 1 min 50 sec helped me reach the actual capabilities of the car. I know that my goal helped me push the car hard to make sure that I as a driver wasn't the reason that the car was slower than I wanted it to be. Even though the car is going to be five seconds slower than the lap record for cars prepared similarly to mine, I feel that the car is ready for the club race. Now, if only I could find that extra 40 HP that other people in the class have and still remain legal, but thats another story altogether...
Follow the link below to see a short clip of this weekends action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPdBrCQhB7U
Friday, September 12, 2008
Turn 1 - The Background
I am currently a senior Mechanical engineering student at UNC Charlotte. I have been pursuing course work that concentrated on motorsports. I am slightly disappointed in the lessons that I have learned since I started. It seems that most of my knowledge that I have gained the last few years has come from me teaching myself. Currently, I have been appointed as UNC Charlotte's Formula SAE team leader. This has been a dream of mine ever since I was introduced to the program my senior year in high school. Now that I finally get to experience being the team leader I find myself doubting my capabilities, but with each new obstacle that I am encountering, I am leaning that I am completely capable. Hopefully this is the chance for the school to pay me back for some of my disappointments.
This weekend, I am taking my Spec Porsche 944 turbo to Carolina Motorsports Park in SC to do some testing. I plan on racing it for the first time in November at CMP. I am hoping for a weekend without many problems so I can focus on the things I need to learn before the race. It also wouldn't hurt for gas to be a "tiny" bit cheaper as well, but that is a whole other story...
This weekend, I am taking my Spec Porsche 944 turbo to Carolina Motorsports Park in SC to do some testing. I plan on racing it for the first time in November at CMP. I am hoping for a weekend without many problems so I can focus on the things I need to learn before the race. It also wouldn't hurt for gas to be a "tiny" bit cheaper as well, but that is a whole other story...
I have high hopes to merge my engineering and driving career in the future. With the experience that I will gain as the team leader for UNC Charlotte's FSAE team and what I will learn in November at the club race both will definitely send me in that direction.
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