CM at Crows Landing National tour

[CM/FFdriver]

So sitting here contemplating and looking at the events I would like to make, of course as many as I can but the ones that are going the most fun for the money.
I was thinking that if we could get as many CM soloist to the Crows Landing National tour that this could be an Epic event.
I counted 16 competitors from San Diego to British Columbia and one in Colorado maybe more lurking in the outskirts, that said with maybe 1/3 having co-drivers we could have 21+ WOW! and the Picture for Facebook LOL
I would like to put this out there so that we all get ready for (maybe) a great National tour in April and more fun in 2 days.
Anyways if people could chime in and let us (CM people) if they're thinking about this event base on readiness of them self and their CM cars that would be great.

By the way this is the best concrete on the west coast a great tune up for the National's in Sep.

Ben

[pleavens]

I'm planning on being there, don't know about a co-driver and or Lady driver(s) yet.

[CM/FFdriver]

I'm planning on being there, don't know about a co-driver and or Lady driver(s) yet.

Glad to hear, can't wait to see a really newer with a Honda car for CM solo.

I really calling out all the California CM cars but you showing up will be great, I'm saying that right now base on my info but that's makes 6 CM class cars.

Ben

[mwizard]

I am planning to be there. May be my first tow back from San Diego area for a "local" event. May have a co driver, too.
Mark

[PDM075]

I'm out Ben....

Likely skipping the US solo stuff for at least a year or more as I head out road racing in my other "new-to-me" car locally.

The Canadian dollar really SUCKS right now, so you may not see as many Canadians making the trek down south as it costs us 1.5 times as much to race down south.


don

[CM/FFdriver]

Great to hear Mark your car maybe ready for the tour!

That sucks Don, I was hoping to see you and your FF/CM 84 van diemen and maybe George Schilling 84 at the tour and then push to see the 5 84 Van Diemen's nation wide at the National's would be very cool.

Anyways maybe next year Don.

Ben

[pleavens]

Five Crow's entries in CM as of today...

http://www.scca.com/events/1981898-2...our/entry_list


Really looking forward to meeting everyone!


Phil

[CM/FFdriver]

There should about 3 more cars and about 5 drivers, this is going to be cool. Also I was trying to get some 3 female drivers/class but it fell through, oh well maybe next year.

Ben

[ewcmr2]

We're up to 9 entrants. Mari may jump to ladies since changing seats/pedals in grid gets a little frantic.

[mwizard]

Yes, great FF grid. I made it to the event, but not quite ready to drive. Will debut at a BMW event this coming Sun.
Mark

[-pru-]

Via Phil Leavens, Sat CM grid at the 2016 Tire Rack Crows Landing National Tour...

[CM/FFdriver]

Very fun event, the courses were amazing. Learn a lot about me my car and about the great competition.
Have to thank Chris Warner for lending his Carb parts so that my co-driver can finish his last run.
Thank you Chris More for co-driving, next year I'll get my lucky burrito

Next year we need 10 cars and 15+ drivers so we can all go out to dinner and tell car stories and get Eric drunk and lock him in a porta potty

Ben

[ewcmr2]

Definitely good to have a full class. If we keep having healthy CM turnouts maybe Howard will give us a ProSolo class of our own!

I was surprised that almost everyone, in all classes, were slower on Sunday. Did I leave time out there Saturday or totally nail Sunday?
Also surprised by how much noise Chris' Avons made. When I heard them squealing I looked to see who was spinning into the dirt only to see Chris carving a nice arc around the finish turnaround.

Were the scales reading low on Sunday for anyone else? I had an extra gallon of gas and came in lighter than Saturday.

And finally, I love having an alternator in a FF. Saturday night after pulling the Aim data we left the main power on. Sunday afternoon when trying to go to grid Fiona had zero juice, no click of the starter, no lights on dash
We rolled the car over to the truck and jump started it. Then left it running during grid and our first four runs. When we loaded car into trailer the battery was fully charged

[ewcmr2]

http://cdn.growassets.net/user_files...pdf?1461593953

[chrisw52]

IT wasn't the finish I wanted, but I wasn't going to let Ben and Chris drop out with a mechanical.

Great fun everyone, hopefully next time I will have my car sorted a bit better.

[CM/FFdriver]

And finally, I love having an alternator in a FF. Saturday night after pulling the Aim data we left the main power on. Sunday afternoon when trying to go to grid Fiona had zero juice, no click of the starter, no lights on dash
We rolled the car over to the truck and jump started it. Then left it running during grid and our first four runs. When we loaded car into trailer the battery was fully charged

Definitely working on getting an Alternator hook up in the FFord engine, a dead battery has left me with a no start 2 different times and that is unacceptable. The other thing that was nice to see was Eric turning on fans to keep his car cool and I think even with a plug in battery it could be a problem and that's just extra stuff to bring to the grid, so have some work to do.

Ben

[ewcmr2]

The other thing that was nice to see was Eric turning on fans to keep his car cool and I think even with a plug in battery it could be a problem and that's just extra stuff to bring to the grid, so have some work to do.

In the Mondiale I had a separate on board battery to run the radiator fans.

[PDM075]

Eric, on a sideways note.... how large of fan did you have on the Mondial ? (350 cfm, 500 cfm) and how large of battery.

...contemplating dual duty on my Van Diemen this year (road race and autox) and bought an electric water pump and also contemplating a small fan as back up - and thinking of adding a 2nd higher capacity lithium battery to power the car and pump, and the one in the car now to run the fan.

(sigh....sounds and looks like you guys had a blast with a fun, FAST course !!)

don

[captain_pants]

Is there any video? I'd love to see Tour/Nats videos!

[chrisw52]

Is there any video? I'd love to see Tour/Nats videos!

Here is Saturday
https://youtu.be/GJjacaHhpDU

Sunday:
https://youtu.be/KKO00BcpMiU

notes for a good run, make sure you have enough gas...
The left side is where I ran out, the right is my previous run on Saturday.
https://youtu.be/igUIqNzDLoo


Should have left it in 3rd... I was getting a larger than expected RPM drop on the upshift.

[pleavens]

Definitely good to have a full class. If we keep having healthy CM turnouts maybe Howard will give us a ProSolo class of our own!

I was surprised that almost everyone, in all classes, were slower on Sunday. Did I leave time out there Saturday or totally nail Sunday?
Also surprised by how much noise Chris' Avons made. When I heard them squealing I looked to see who was spinning into the dirt only to see Chris carving a nice arc around the finish turnaround.

Were the scales reading low on Sunday for anyone else? I had an extra gallon of gas and came in lighter than Saturday.

And finally, I love having an alternator in a FF. Saturday night after pulling the Aim data we left the main power on. Sunday afternoon when trying to go to grid Fiona had zero juice, no click of the starter, no lights on dash
We rolled the car over to the truck and jump started it. Then left it running during grid and our first four runs. When we loaded car into trailer the battery was fully charged

I was surprised by Sundays scale reading too. Saturday was 1114 - Sunday 1104 - highly doubt I used 10 lbs of fuel in 3 runs.

Phil

[chrisw52]

Definitely good to have a full class. If we keep having healthy CM turnouts maybe Howard will give us a ProSolo class of our own!

I was surprised that almost everyone, in all classes, were slower on Sunday. Did I leave time out there Saturday or totally nail Sunday?
Also surprised by how much noise Chris' Avons made. When I heard them squealing I looked to see who was spinning into the dirt only to see Chris carving a nice arc around the finish turnaround.

Were the scales reading low on Sunday for anyone else? I had an extra gallon of gas and came in lighter than Saturday.

And finally, I love having an alternator in a FF. Saturday night after pulling the Aim data we left the main power on. Sunday afternoon when trying to go to grid Fiona had zero juice, no click of the starter, no lights on dash
We rolled the car over to the truck and jump started it. Then left it running during grid and our first four runs. When we loaded car into trailer the battery was fully charged

Eric, I was surprised (pleasantly) about the noise from the tires.

So what is the verdict on the Avon A11 tire? It's a bit early to tell, but here are the points I like about them,

1. They heat up on the very first run. Even on the first event, these tires went to running temps on the first run and the grip was very very consistent. On a previous event, I ran 3 runs back to back with times that differed by thousandths of a second.
2. I can run higher pressures than with the hoosiers. right now I am running about 2 psi higher than I typically run with the hoosiers, and the tire wear indicates that I should be running a slightly higher pressure.
3. The grip levels are very good. Are they better than Hoosiers? I don't know. I think time will tell as they heat cycle. I haven't had the opportunity (yet) to run the tires on a typical hot central California day (100+ degrees), so it remains to be seen how these tires perform in really hot weather.

Are these tires faster than the Hoosiers? I don't know. but I do like the consistency of the grip and the auditory feedback was actually nice to hear while driving. As a group I think us CM competitors need to take a hard look at the Avons. With the road racers moving towards a spec radial tire, the availability of the hoosier 25b comes into question over the long term.

[chrisw52]

I was surprised by Sundays scale reading too. Saturday was 1114 - Sunday 1104 - highly doubt I used 10 lbs of fuel in 3 runs.

Phil

Phil, I used 4 gallons of fuel over the weekend.. but then again, I was running very very rich...

[ewcmr2]

Eric, on a sideways note.... how large of fan did you have on the Mondial ? (350 cfm, 500 cfm) and how large of a battery?

I used a UB1280 battery to power generic dual 7" fans. Fans were mounted directly to the radiator.

The single ducted 7" fan on my current car is more effective than the two pulling though just a small portion of old car radiator.

[ewcmr2]

Phil, I used 4 gallons of fuel over the weekend.. but then again, I was running very very rich...

Wow. Mari and I used 1.5 for the weekend.

[CM/FFdriver]

I used a UB1280 battery to power generic dual 7" fans. Fans were mounted directly to the radiator.

The single ducted 7" fan on my current car is more effective than the two pulling though just a small portion of old car radiator.

I going to put a jumper battery for on the grid kind of stuff, like the fan. I may do the extra battery for just the fans if my car get way under weight. I still need to lose 15 to 20 lbs depending how fat I am.

Very funny side note my doctor said I need to lose 20 lbs, they actually said I was over weight, LOL! not going to happen.

Ben