F600 Novakar - First Race, First Impressions

I arrived at Summit Point Motorsports Park on Friday (test & tune day) for the Labor Day double Regional intending to get some seat time and check out the conversion. Spend all day Friday fixing all the things I found at the last minute that didn’t workout as planned. No test and tune.
Saturday morning had a 12 minute qualifying session. Driving a F600 was much different then I expected. I’ve driven race cars that require shifting but none of them required me shift as fast or as often as the GSXR 600 MC engine. Get it rolling in first gear grab second, crap all the dash lights are flashing I’m already at 14,000 RPM, grab 3rd same thing all the way up to 6th.

First Impression: CVT has better acceleration then MC gears but my top speed is better due to the efficiency of the 6 speed transmission.

Spent the entire qualifying session marveling at how frickin busy I am trying to shift up and down as well as feeling out all the changes made from F5 to F6 chassis and trying to staying out of the way of faster cars. Oh, did I mention we were in group 5 - all sports racers (except SRF) and all formula cars. Not my favorite race grouping. Down shifting did not go as I thought it would. For some reason I thought I could up and down shift without the clutch. Up shifting was a piece of cake, just a momentary lift on the throttle and “snick” right into the next gear up. Go for a down shift (no clutch) and sometimes it would downshift and other times not. Hard to focus on driving when all, or at least most, of your attention is on what’s happening with the car. So, Saturday qualifying is over and nothing broke or went up in flames. I convinced myself that was a successful session.

Saturday afternoon was a 14 lap qualifying race for Sunday’s starting position. I remind myself this is really not a race but a second opportunity to test the car and get some more seat time, and try to figure out how to downshift. My qualifying time was about 4 seconds slower than when I raced in F500 trim. The race was uneventful with the exception of some of the faster cars lapping me about half way through the race. Last few laps of the race my water pressure light was flashing off and on. Temps looked OK about 185 degrees so I just took it easy and finished out the race.

First Impression: I have my AIM dash shift lights set to start flashing at 13,500 RPM. Half way down the front straight and the lights are already flashing – need to change final drive ratio. I let it ride and see about 14,500 and 134 MPH when I check the data after the race. That’s 8 MPH more than my best F500 top speed.

Sunday. After talking with a friend on Saturday night who has raced DSR with MC engines, he suggested I just use the clutch and not worry about doing clutch-less downshifting. Doh – why didn’t I think of that on Saturday?

Our race was right after lunch and I was late to the grid. Everyone had already left on the out-lap. I caught up with them about halfway around the track and fell in place behind the single FV that showed up. Race was uneventful with the exception of down-shifting using the clutch. Wow that was a lot better. I was able to get somewhat comfortable in the car and pick-up my lap times by about 3 seconds. Two (2) laps from the end of the race my water pressure light came on and stayed on. Temps still looked good but I decided to end it early to see if there was a real problem with the water system. No leak in the water system and it’s still full of water. Not really sure what the issue might be. Thought possibly the pressure cap is faulty but don’t know for sure. Any suggestions?

Still a long way to go but making progress and looking forward to the next race and more seat time.

Another First Impression: Seems strange to me but people really are impressed with the sound of these cars. Sound readings on Saturday were 102-103 dB and yes I was using a muffler. Not sure what I’ll do when it’s cool and we’re first out in the morning. Sound readings will most likely be over the limit.

After the race a guy came up and said he had two F500s, one brand new one and an older Invader. Said he was going to convert the older Invader to F600 but didn’t like the idea of a jackshaft.

See my car below. The Volvo tractor trailer rig is NOT mine!

Nice report! Sounds like you had a much better time than the last time I ran F500 at Summit......:meatball:

Are you redlining when you hit your top speed, or is it aero-limited?

I do not think there is anything wrong with the cooling system Ted. When the water heats up the pressure in the sealed water system will go up, that is the nature of any cooling system. The real issue is to set you warning pressure higher and really pay attention to the temps and check the water level in the system after things cool down. If your water temps are between 185 and 200 deg f. You are in great shape. Depending on your pressure cap you can probably run to 220 with no problems, although best power is made around 190.

What were your oil temps?

BTW Ted, the top speed of a properly geared F500 with the top of the line clutches and motor is in the very high 130s

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Are you redlining when you hit your top speed, or is it aero-limited?

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I believe my top speed was limited by the lack of carrying enough speed through turn 10. I hit the rev limiter (15,500) a couple times during the race but not on the straight.

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The real issue is to set you warning pressure higher and really pay attention to the temps and check the water level in the system after things cool down.

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The water press warning light is for loss of pressure. It's a 3 psi sensor and when pressure drops below that value the light comes on. When I first start the engine it takes a couple minutes to build pressure and then the light goes out.

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What were your oil temps?

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Oil temps were running 206-210 degrees but the sensor is after the cooler. Not sure what it is coming out of the engine.

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Depending on your pressure cap you can probably run to 220 with no problems, although best power is made around 190.

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Cap is 16 psi and water temps ran 162-173. Sensor is about 20 inches down stream from the thermostat.

Ted,

Your blipper cable is just a little to long. Shorten it up just a little bit so that the throttle plates open before the shifter lever is actually moving the shifter forks.

Dave

PS: Great looking car!

Sounds like a very successful weekend Ted! Hopefully we will see you for the next F600 Challenge race at Mid-Ohio.

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Originally Posted by tedsimmons2

I believe my top speed was limited by the lack of carrying enough speed through turn 10. I hit the rev limiter (15,500) a couple times during the race but not on the straight.


The water press warning light is for loss of pressure. It's a 3 psi sensor and when pressure drops below that value the light comes on. When I first start the engine it takes a couple minutes to build pressure and then the light goes out.

Oil temps were running 206-210 degrees but the sensor is after the cooler. Not sure what it is coming out of the engine.

Cap is 16 psi and water temps ran 162-173. Sensor is about 20 inches down stream from the thermostat.

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Sorry about misunderstanding how your pressure sensor is working Ted. Your cooling system is EXCELLENT based on your temps. Perhaps it is a bit over cooled but that is much better than under cooled. Not sure why your pressure sensor is not working as is should.

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Originally Posted by Jnovak

Sorry about misunderstanding how your pressure sensor is working Ted. Your cooling system is EXCELLENT based on your temps. Perhaps it is a bit over cooled but that is much better than under cooled. Not sure why your pressure sensor is not working as is should.

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Could it be that with the water temp so low, you're just not getting much pressure? Perhaps it heats up enough in the pits to build pressure, then when you get good airflow, you cool down enough for the pressure to drop.

I've been tempted to switch out my low pressure switch for a pressure sensor on the water and wire it into my data system. I see the same thing. During warm up the light is on and then goes out as things get hot. Then during the race I'll see the light come back on periodically and then go back out again. I closely watch my temps to make sure it isn't a blown hose or something, but things seemed ok around 200F and I still had plenty of water in the system at the end of the race. It is very strange. With a pressure sensor I could go back and watch the data and see if it is an issue with the pressure switch or if something funny really is going on with the cooling system.

Another theory: Momentary cavitation? Are the F1000 guys doing anything to slow down their water pumps?

While the MC engineers do expect these engines to see those RPMS once in a while on the street, they have to size them to provide adequate cooling at lower rpms. Maybe the pump is cavitating after being at x rpms for y seconds. Would those moments of cavitation show up as a loss of pressure without sending temps climbing?

Hmmm, not sure. My pressure switch is on my reservoir which is right after the thermostat oulet.

MC not my expertise, but if the sensor is located after the thermostat outlet, I'm going to guess you get a pressure drop as the thermostat cycles closed.

On a cooler day that might be possible. This happened last weekend at Barber with a heat index over 100 and track temps probably in the 110-120 range. My water temps were on the high side all weekend.