Finally got a race finish at Barber on Saturday

[RussMcB]

I almost thought I'd never see a checkered flag with my RF-94 F1000 but it finally happened at Barber. It wasn't pretty, but I finally made it over the hump. I finished in 2nd place behind a very fast Ben Cooper (who was in first overall for a few laps). I surely would've finished behind the faster cars of Glenn Cooper and Chris McNitt (new owner of Sean O'Connell's car), except they didn't see checkered flags themselves this weekend.

I was a couple of seconds off a decent pace, but that was due mostly to a very rusty driver and a car that hasn't had any chassis fine tuning at all yet. My high point was a great race start, going from 9th to 5th overall and staying there for a couple of laps. Chris was within sight but pulled into the pits after a few laps with high temps. After that, I was content to wave people past and not risk my first ever FB finish.

Sounds easy enough, right? It was, until I was caught by surprise in the braking zone when I thought it wasn't yet time to brake. I had to swerve to miss Rosella in her FC, and went into a spin. Unfortunately, I bumped into her, broke my diffuser and caused her to spin. I felt terrible but was greatly relieved to see her get back up to speed quickly. We were both able to get going again, with me dragging diffuser remains. Later in impound I was extremely happy to hear she got the FC win. I'm sure that helped me avoid the wrath of an innocent race-incident victim.

That was Saturday. My car wasn't hurt bad enough to keep me from running on Sunday, but I expected the car to be a little slower with a half diffuser. During qualifying I was within a second of my best time. Even better news was my oil and water temps were pretty good in spite of very hot ambient temps. Well, my highest oil temp was around 255 F, water temps around 220 F. In the FB world, that's pretty good, and I have thoughts about making them better.

Unfortunately, halfway through Sunday's qualifying session I felt my engine start to tighten up. It was a surprise becasue oil pressure and temps had been good. I shut it down, coasted into the grass to be towed in. Afterwards, the engine would not turn over, so I loaded up early.

Today I had a chance to look at the data. Temps looked good and steady. So did oil pressure up until something happened. On the straight the oil pressure dropped suddenly from 45 psi to zero. I don't know the cause yet, but I can only imagine something like a broken oil pump part. The engine continued to run for 1-2 seconds with no oil pressure before I noticed the problem. I guess I'm pretty lucky not to have thrown a rod.

I'm hoping and expecting that it will be repaired in time for the ARRC.

[RussMcB]

Three of the vehicles in this picture are mine. :-).

[RussMcB]

Test day pictures. It's always a good idea to get the pictures taken early in the weekend. :-).

[RobLav]

Way to go Russ. My turn to face this soon too. Let us know what happened to the oil pump.

[Brands]

It was a good weekend and I'm glad you seem to have gotten the bug back! I'm sorry I couldn't stick around for Sundays race, but please let me know if you need any help sidepod wise. Did you get any onboard camera action?

Cheers
Ben

[Stan Clayton]

Sorry to hear about the engine, Russ, but congrats on your first checkered flag!

[carnut169]

It was a good weekend and I'm glad you seem to have gotten the bug back! I'm sorry I couldn't stick around for Sundays race, but please let me know if you need any help sidepod wise.

Cheers
Ben

Hey Ben.
I'm not sure exactly what you meant by that but if your thinking about building larger sidepods I'm quite sure my car's new owner would be interested.

[Lincspeed]

Congrats Russ, on getting that first "race" done... hope the motor damage is slight. I can't remember ever seeing a (clutch?) cable quite as long as that! And are you taking in all your engine air through the two side NACA's and the roll hoop opening?

Car looks great. Clark

[RussMcB]

Hey Ben.
I'm not sure exactly what you meant by that but if your thinking about building larger sidepods I'm quite sure my car's new owner would be interested.

Sean,

Ben graciously offered to assist when I mentioned that two new sidepods might be in my future. I'm willing to give up a bit of drag if it means reliable temps. I may work with Mike Devins, one of my favorite people to work with, but it's great to know that Ben's talent is available here in GA, too.

Sean already knows, but for the rest of you who have not seen Ben's car, Ben is in the race car composite fabrication business and does beautiful work. His car is like looking at a top level pro car with custom bits.

Congrats Russ, on getting that first "race" done... hope the motor damage is slight. I can't remember ever seeing a (clutch?) cable quite as long as that! And are you taking in all your engine air through the two side NACA's and the roll hoop opening?

Car looks great. Clark

Thanks, Clark.

My shifter lever at the motor end is in a tight place, so getting to it from the back was easiest. My shift linkage can be improved and probably will be this winter. I like the Stohr design that has two cables - one pulling (at 6 o'clock) while the other pushes (at 12 o'clock) simultaneously.

Yes, I have not done anything with ram air yet, and to be honest, it's not high on my list. I do want to improve the air box some day. I've heard that the stock Kawasaki air box is restrictive because it had to fit in the bike frame. My current set up probably sucks in a lot of header-heated air, too.

The engine in the car was a very cheap ebay engine and was an unknown, so I was halfway expecting to have problems. It's not a big loss and I'm sure it has many reusable or sellable parts.

[glenn cooper]

I'm jazzed for you, I know it was a long road.
Nice run by Ben (The Other White Mea, err, Cooper) too!

As for Ben's car being a"top level pro car", that's a lie: that car is F1 Level - absolutely gorgeous!

Ben quit being a tease and get some detail shots of that car up on here.

"She's a beaut" - Croc Hunter.

To quote a great Austrian - "I'll be bock" soon, after ventilating the crankcase on test day.

Better than before, maybe even w/ a paint job!
Woo-who.

GC

[RussMcB]

Five wide at the start of Saturday's race.

It's not clear in the picture, but there is a sports racer screaming down the left side between my green car and pit wall. I think he went from something like 14th to 4th before T1!

[Captain]

Congrats on the race.


Not to wonder off topic, but....how do you like the ZRX? It is on my short list of potential new (used) bike to pick up.


Jim

[Gary Slahor]

Sorry to hear Glen blew the GSXR. Do you have an idea of the cause ?

I'm trying to learn from you FB pioneers, before I convert my 98 VD this fall.

Was it temperature (oil or water) related ?

Gary

[RussMcB]

I love my ZRX. Lot's of torque and power, comfortable riding position.

I'm not sure what happened to Glenn's engine. There was some conjecture, but too early to know, I'd guess.

[glenn cooper]

Oil - 220-230
Water 200-210

I didn't get many laps together, I'm sure I'da seen higher numbers at a complete race distance.
Judging by the colour (blueish-purple) of the #2 rod cap that got puked out, it's oil pressure related.
When I get it all back together, I'll be sporting a different / improved (Gen II) oil system.
Make no mistake nay sayers - we are making progress towards longevity on these engines.

PS
Russ that looked like the same Radical CSR w/ 'busa motor from a few weeks back at Rd Atl - He and the SR8 Rad blew by me on the start from pole, and both being new to Rd Atl flew by in reverse seconds later on the way into T1, they on the brakes, me - not so much. It probably looked pretty cool from trackside!

GC

[Gary Slahor]

Coop,

Wet or dry sump system ?

[glenn cooper]

dry sump system. Hopefully I'll have some news in a few weeks.
ARRC is about 8 weeks away, and at this point I'm trying to get back out at Sebring in October for some shakin' down / add'l testing.

The wet sump I've been running is a very basic unit, no trap doors. I think I may have caused an early demise for this engine via only running 4 qts oil. My car never puked oil into the catch tank, perhaps I shoulda kept adding a few ounces per session until the first signs of pukeage...

GC

[Matt Conrad]

Glenn,

We used 6+ quarts with our dry sump system (more hoses, tank, etc.).

We use 5+ quarts with the new wet sump system (just call George) and we've seen oil pressure flat lines since. 4 qts with either would probably show some cavitation (and burnt bearings) on the data...

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[Fatoldman7]

Does the stock Suzuki oil pump supply have enough pressure to push oil through the large oil coolers most folks seem to be using?

[RussMcB]

Does the stock Suzuki oil pump supply have enough pressure to push oil through the large oil coolers most folks seem to be using?

That is something I ponder occasionally, too. In my dry sump system the big cooler is fed by the scavenge pump, not the main pump. It's possible my cooler is less efficient because of that, but the oil to the bearings has a shorter, less restrictive path.

Everything's a compromise, I guess.

[glenn cooper]

The coolers in many of the FB's (converted ones for sure) are actually smaller than those used in the other 1000cc bike motor class - DSR.
DSR uses the stock bike pump, which I believe is modded for increased pressure, via shimming the pressure relief valve??.
This is the route I will go on the next go round.
I'm also going with an oil cooler that is the size of the '98 and > VD water rad, the one I had been running is about 2/3 the size (same length and width, just not as tall).
I want to end up w/ something that cools so well that 100 degrees at Roebling is not an issue, and also taping up the inlet in November at Rd Atl is needed.
GC

[Purple Frog]

Sean and I were talking about the cooling issue the other day. I was stopped at a light next to a 1000cc Suzuki and puzzled as to why in the bike configuration the rads are so small. Even in the racing bikes they are fairly small compared to car applications. We sort of came to the conclusion that they are working so damn hard to propel a car's weight, drag, etc. compared to the weight of a bike. We also pondered on the idea that maybe the bike installation benefits from a certain amount of air cooling.

Our conclusion: We need to take 150 pounds off the FB minimum weight rule. For the sake of economy and engine life.

[Jnovak]

GOOD IDEA Froggie. Then the Atlantics would have to watch out. New car req'd to get that weight.

Thanks ... Jay

[rickb99]

....We also pondered on the idea that maybe the bike installation benefits from a certain amount of air cooling.

You bet-cha. The entire block/head is a gigantic radiator in a bike installation. That's why even bikes will over heat if you idle at a stop light too long on a warm day. Happened to mine regularly. A radiator fan can 'help' the long at idle on a warm day but not forever. A LOT of the engine cooling is from air flow over the block and head. Even with an engine cowl, there's a considerable amount of heat pulled off the block.

Wonder if that could also contribute to some of the high oil temps people are fighting? Especially in none dry sumped engines.

[Sean Maisey]

Hope to see you at the ARRC.

Sean

[RussMcB]

Hope to see you at the ARRC.

Sean

Thanks, Sean. I'll be there. It's an hour from my house. :-). Hopefully, I'll even have my race car with me. :-).

I finally sold my F250 (took a bath), and got a temporary moonlighting job, so my financial pains have been removed for a little while. Good thing, because I am going to be spending money on an engine. I discovered why I lost oil pressure at Barber, or at least I have a good guess. Something must've gotten jammed in between the oil pump drive teeth and broke it off. There's a good chance that the crank/rods/block have been damaged, too, since I was at 12,000 RPM when the oil pressure went to zero.

I talked with Larry Kropp, my dry sump system builder. When I mentioned that I had 45 lb. of oil pressure at the time of the failure, he said it was not enough, and that I should shim my pump relief to get more.

He also said that he has designed and built dry sump systems for the newer Kawasakis (06-07) as well as the GSX-R engines. Like mine, they retain the stock water pump. He said the GSX-R kit is a 10 minute installation!

I highly recommend Larry's stuff and suggest any of you who do not already have a plan, or if you're worried about your oiling systems, contact Larry @ kroptool@epix.net, (717) 432-8438. Tell him I sent you so I might get some credit towards parts purchases. :-).

Lastly, Larry mentioned that Van Diemen in England is building a new F1000 car and it will use his dry sump system. What do you think of that?