All Quiet on the 1200 forum

[fvhopeful]

Hello

The forum has been very quiet
wondering what kind of car count to expect at Calabogie

Cheers
Desmond

[AVR_Shane]

It's everyone in anticipation of next weekend...

AVR will be there with 5 cars. All will be out on the test day

[Steve Bamford]

I will be there, looking forward to a busy weekend as there should be lots of cars in most classes. The F1600's will have the Ontario series & Quebec series both running so this should be close to if not the biggest field of the year for the 1600's hopefully. The F1 support race had 32 cars this year so hopefully we have close to that number this weekend.

Calabogie long track is a great track from what I remember as I did my race license there three years ago. Everyone on the fence about going should make the effort as it a very unique track with lots of challenges.

[Rolling Stone]

Im heading there Thursday afternoon as its only about an hour from my place so I can get a good parking spot,we go home every night as its close ,and as i posted before if anyone is stuck for a bed let me know as we have a spare bedroom/bathroom.Kapelke and Mc Murray wont be there so thats 2 cars less,dont know about anyone else tho.Must watch the FF race that should be busy with the big car count....good luck to Steve in that race

[Steve Bamford]

Thanks Frank, just look to the back of the pack if you are looking to find me.

[karmaboy]

FYI...paddock will be open @ 3:00 pm on Thursday.

[Rolling Stone]

Thanks Frank, just look to the back of the pack if you are looking to find me.

I know the feeling Steve !!!You have an advantage knowing the Track even tho its tricky...as you took your licence there,im watching Calabogie videos all this week on you-tube it does help.

[problemchild]

Frank,
Time to start studying the weather.

[Steve Bamford]

Good point Greg, Frank what is the weather forecast?

[Rolling Stone]

I didnt know wether to check the weather or not,wether it rains or not might cloud my judgement,if i got it wrong,it would create a storm in here,and I would get a lightning response from Greg & Steve and that would rain on my parade!!!!

[Rolling Stone]

Sunny forecast tho.......imagine if it rained half way through the Race and 30+ FFs on slicks!!!!!!..that bears a question..would FFs come in and change to wets?or is there not enough time?and you all just have to slow right down kinda thing.

[Steve Bamford]

We run the Toyo's, treaded tires so no changing. If it started raining & we were on slicks we would run them till the end of the race being only a 22 minute race. Slowing down would be faster then changing tires & running full out on rains.

Last year due to the amount of rain in a F1600 race I recall them checkering the race early.

[nbrigido]

I am planning an appearence for the weekend!

[problemchild]

Looks like Issac won't arrive until we've left or on our way home.

What's the bug and bear quotient there this time of year?

[Rolling Stone]

Bugs should be fine this time of year,I volunteered once for The Bike racing at Calabogie and Blackflies were F***^%!! awful....bears I dunno tho I vote we get Noel to deal with Bears for the F1200 contingent if any appearif he gets eaten I vote for Dave Taylor to back him up.My first thought was Bill Vallis..but we all need him

[karmaboy]

We are in the sweet spot for racing at Calabogie.
No bugs and the chance of flurries is minimal.

For the record, I have never seen a bear at the track.
Deer on occasion, but the GT1's should scatter them into the woods.

The marshal's will buy you a beer for every snake killed.
Turtles are considered a natural hazard...and you are on your own...they don't even raise a flag.

There are a lot of local girls (townies) looking for husbands and this is their last chance this season. Expect a lot of skin and some very high heels.

Eastern Ontario folks talk a bit funny, but they are the salt of the earth.
Calabogie and the environs have some of the best food and hospitality around.
A plug for Neat Cafe in Burnstown if you are coming from the east. Best coffee you will ever have.

[Rolling Stone]

NEAT Cafe also has some very good bands/music too!!on occasion...Kevin who does tire work at Calabogie?I can't remember.

[karmaboy]

The good folks over at Speed Merchants/Kanata Ford.

FWIW...there is no way they have an adapter for our wheels. Might be wise for someone to bring one along.

[problemchild]

Carmen from Braidan (CASC sponsor and supportor) said that they would be there this weekend. They have to bolt and unbolt our wheels onto their jig, so they like some time to to it, but they are equipped AFAIK. I would try and have it done before arriving or get your wheels to them as early on the weekend as possible.

[AVR_Shane]

Carmen from Braidan (CASC sponsor and supportor) said that they would be there this weekend. They have to bolt and unbolt our wheels onto their jig, so they like some time to to it, but they are equipped AFAIK. I would try and have it done before arriving or get your wheels to them as early on the weekend as possible.

Greg, did you confirm for sure that they will have the adapter plate? I know it should be implied but last time we took a couple of wheels/tires to get made up to them at Mosport, they didn't have the plate and didn't seem to even know what I was talking about.

I would also suggest to get stuff done before hand, but like that occassion at Mosport, crash damage often requires at-track service.

[Rolling Stone]

I just need my wheels balanced,new tires are on rims but the shop couldnt balance them..I dunno how badly the car would be affected,if at all without wheels balanced?

[AVR_Shane]

I just need my wheels balanced,new tires are on rims but the shop couldnt balance them..I dunno how badly the car would be affected,if at all without wheels balanced?

Wouldn't affect it very much...at Mosport the solution that we had was to use a wheel drum to dismount and mount the tires. However, the drum wasn't a good enough solution to balancing, so we just didn't. In the rush to get Kevin's car back together, we didn't event tell him that the wheels weren't balanced (surprise Kevin!), but he never noticed.

We have had wheel weights fall off before without the driver noticing either.

[problemchild]

I cannot recall. I usually get over a dozen remounts/flips per weekend on the fleet .... and I'm always in a hurry .... so cannot remember if I had Vee tires balanced. I know that I took them a wheel and they said they could handle it. I have an email into them but no reply yet.

Braidan have made a commitment to being at all the races and have been great to work with. We need to get them set up so we can count on them. I have heard several people say they were working on a jig, so I never got involved, but we need to get that done. I will make a contribution if necassary. If no one does it, then I will get it done for next year, but I'm swamped for next 7 weeks.

I have heard, but not confirmed, that a late model pickup, perhaps F450 has a similiar size center and that a tire shop with current adapters should be able to do it.

[problemchild]

Regarding balancing, there is a reason that we balance tires, just like there is a reason we set tire pressures and align our cars. Tires grip much better when they are on the road surface. While I would not skip a session with unbalanced wheels, I certainly would make every effort to balance them. While it may be OK some of the time, even most of the time, when it is not right, its nasty!

FWIW, some US FV guys are even balancing drums.

If you have ball bearing front wheel bearings on a FV, you can balance your own wheels .... to some degree of tolerance.

[Ty_Handke_83]

I have heard, but not confirmed, that a late model pickup, perhaps F450 has a similiar size center and that a tire shop with current adapters should be able to do it.

I just got back in from checking on this today... I went to a local tire shop that also does Medium/Heavy duty truck tires.
Direct quote "I've never done one of those before, but I don't see any reason why not" ...

[karmaboy]

I did notice the 30psi on the left front and left rear.

Wouldn't affect it very much...at Mosport the solution that we had was to use a wheel drum to dismount and mount the tires. However, the drum wasn't a good enough solution to balancing, so we just didn't. In the rush to get Kevin's car back together, we didn't event tell him that the wheels weren't balanced (surprise Kevin!), but he never noticed.

We have had wheel weights fall off before without the driver noticing either.

[problemchild]

I got a non-commital "we should be able to do" from Braidan, suggesting I phone and discuss with Brad. Not sure how we have done 4 weekends without sorting this out.

I emailed Brads number to Frank and can do the same for anyone who contacts me.

[fvhopeful]

Frank

Althought I would like to support serie sponsors . When ii Tried to have my wheels and tires balanced at the third race weekend I was told they didn't have a wheel adaptor for formula 1200 rims and that the young guy on duty hadn't balanced a vee wheel before . But for $90.00 they would give it a try, decided to keep my $90.00 endured the vibration for the weekend . Called tire craft Monday had them balanced $48.00 (with proper hub adaptor .Just my 2 cents)

Cheers
Desmond

[Johnny B]

Raced our Mazda at Calabogie Aug.11 & 12. Had Braiden mount and balance our tires. Eric lasted 2 laps, the car was vibrating so bad he could'nt see. After spending 2 hours checking the car for chassis problems we went back to Braiden and they told us the wheel must be bent. After being told 5 different wheels must be bent we realized they didn't have the right adaptor to do it, although they tried hard. We went to Renfrew and had them balanced on a Sunday morning. Only tire place that was open was Walmart and they did a fantastic job.
Braiden promised they would make it up next time.

John B.

[hojof1]

braiden got it done for us a shannonville, i virtually had to take over to make sure it was done right, but they managed by using a drum and flipping their adpaters around.

i took brad to bill that weekend who has a plate mocked up it just needs to be finished.

i guess nothing came of it

[problemchild]

If this stuff is going on, we need to deal with it. Having trackside tire service is an absolute requirement.

We don't need a fancy jig. All we need is a stepped adapter ring to bring the center hole down to a size that will get centered by the cone on a tire machine or wheel balancer machine.

Braidan has mounted and balanced dozens of FF tires on $500 wheels. I had no idea there were still issues with F1200 wheels. I wish I had known. I will talk to them and design an adapter on the weekend. I'll order material next week, but my lathe is not big enough, so we will have to have someone else turn it down.

[fvhopeful]

Greg

Even simplier aluminum plate with centre hole to fit balancer shaft , 5 studs to bolt wheel to.

[problemchild]

Greg

Even simplier aluminum plate with centre hole to fit balancer shaft , 5 studs to bolt wheel to.

We have machined center, not like VW wheel, so no need to add 10 mins to every operation to bolt and unbolt wheel, plus initial extra machining. But Des, you can make it anyway you want, we just need somebody to do it.

[nbrigido]

We have a tire shop near by that uses the adapters from f350 ( I think) duelly's to balance the wheels.

Seems to work, they have done 20 or so wheels for us over the past couple of years.

[problemchild]

There are cone adapter kits available online for F350, F450, Dodge 1-ton, Sprinters, etc. Finding a tire shop that services larger pickup trucks sounds like Frank's best immediate plan.

[Rolling Stone]

Found a garage 5 mins from me who can balance my wheels.yipeeee! new tires..balanced wheels watch out Iamundi!!!

[hojof1]

from what i remember the plate idea that Des was talking about sounds exactly the same as what Billy was describing back at Shannonville.