Right Coast Formula F Series Race 4 at Summit Point

[Joe Marcinski]

HI,

Load in for Race 4 of the Right Coast Formula F Series presented by American Pen Company commences at 6 PM on Thursday, August 24. Please DO NOT plan on arriving at Summit Point before 4 or 5 PM on that day. An unnamed government agency has rented the track and absolutely no one will be allowed entry until 6 PM. So please plan on arriving a bit later than you usually might to avoid being stuck in a long, unmanageable line outside the track.

Our hosts for this race are the Woodbridge Karting Club and Formula Race Promotions. This race weekend is a bit different in that the Right Coast race program does not begin until approximately 1 PM (when we have our drivers meeting) on Friday afternoon. There is testing/practice time available on Friday morning. There is a separate $200 charge for two 30 minutes testing sessions on Friday morning. If you are interested, please see the folks at the FRP trailer in the paddock.

The weekend schedule, welcome letter/supplementary regulations and a paddock parking map are available on our website at rcffs.org. Please pay special attention to the parking map. It delineates areas that are reserved for the Woodbridge Karting Club and we do not want to have any conflicts over parking. The karting folks very kindly fitted us into this race program so let's please be good guests and be respectful of their paddock parking areas. The weekend schedule, welcome letter/supps and parking map will also be in your driver packets that we will hand to you as you enter the property on Thursday evening and Friday morning.

This is our last "full" (minus one practice session) Right Coast race weekend of the season so please come and join us. This is a great race track and it would be great to have a field of 25 or more FF/CF cars racing.

Thanks,

Joe Marcinski

[Earley Motorsports]

"An unnamed government agency has rented the track and absolutely no one will be allowed entry until 6 PM"

Trump getting some practice in before the RCFFS presidential race

Good luck guys, have fun.

[Bill Maisey]

What's the entry list looking like?

[Michael Rand]

Hi Bill,
As long as everyone shows who have told either Joe or me they are running we'll be knocking on 20.
Not bad, but a few Right Coast regulars are off on family vacations as it is of course late August, so there is that.
We'll have some news about the ARRC in November as we begin the long lead up to the 50th of FF at Road Atlanta in November of 2019.
Always looking forward to racing at Summit, see you there in a bit over a week.

[Will Velkoff]

Since I have never run at Summit, and I'm short on time getting the car back together, will Mid Ohio gears be ok, at least to start out?

See everyone next weekend!

[Joe Marcinski]

Hi,

Bill, we have 20 firm entrants at this moment and another 3 or 4 on the fence. Hopefully, they will fall off on the Summit Point side.

Will, if you have a 9/31 R & P I would suggest using 18/33, 21/31, 23/28 & 25/26. They seem to work well for me.

Ken Arters, Gary Gecelter, Ken Suid, Ray Dona; please come and join us. This is going to be a really fun weekend.

Thanks,

Joe M.

[PK]

Mid-Ohio gears are a bit tall, especially in the lower gears, but it seems like it should be 'safe'.

[Bernard Bradpiece]

Hi Bill,
As long as everyone shows who have told either Joe or me they are running we'll be knocking on 20.
Not bad, but a few Right Coast regulars are off on family vacations as it is of course late August, so there is that.
We'll have some news about the ARRC in November as we begin the long lead up to the 50th of FF at Road Atlanta in November of 2019.
Always looking forward to racing at Summit, see you there in a bit over a week.

Mike,
Thought you had decided against doing a 50th. Have you changed your mind?

Best
BB

[Purple Frog]

Rand is in big time.

[Michael Rand]

BB,
Yes, I will state publicly that as the planets aligned I have indeed jumped in with both feet and am starting to spool up getting the word out for 2019.
With my involvement with Joe Marcinski and our little Right Coast initiative, and running the ARRC at Road Atlanta in 2016, and Atlanta Regions enthusiastic support in granting us a stand alone FF/CF race on Sunday this year after the combined with FV/F5 on Saturday as a long lead towards something bigger and better in 2018.
Then a proper 50th of FF at the wonderful Road Atlanta, with all the FF history over that tracks almost 50 year history, at the Atlanta regions ARRC early November 2019.
I have already asked my Sharon neighbor and the first, and second, FF National Champion Skip Barber to attend after he had a fine time at the 40th at Road America in 2009.
He allowed as how he has put it on his calendar so that's a start on getting a good number of significant to our collective class history at a great track with amazing FF history. We all best start finding that great video of the last lap foolishness at the bridge year after year....
While Joe and I are under no illusions that we will recreate the all singing-all dancing 40th given the location on the East [ or Right ] Coast and the time frame at the very end of the season we do think there remains so much enthusiasm and appreciation of the FF class and will work to accommodate every year and generation of the class.
By the way, the previous poster, one purple froggie, is also part and parcel of this, though he may well protest, he's in as well !
So get those garage queens back on the stands and get them ready, you have over two years, so no excuses !

[DaveW]

This is definitely on my bucket list!

I am thinking seriously about not only attending this, but borrowing or renting a FF (preferably a Zink Z10 or a Citation) to run there.

[Beartrax]

This is definitely on my bucket list!

I am thinking seriously about not only attending this, but borrowing or renting a FF (preferably a Zink Z10 or a Citation) to run there.

If this happens, I bet Dana will crew for you!

[Roux]

Anyone have a count for the coming weekend. Not a drop of rain in the forecast and great people, single class racing and a great location and track.

Thanks Joe, Thanks Mike. Cannot wait!

Steve

[Joe Marcinski]

Hi Steve,

We are somewhere around 20 firm. Mark Walthew had to withdraw because he has an engine issue.

Joe M.

[Dave Harmison]

I've been following results on Race monitor. Looks like Phil was his usual fast getting pole and the win in the first race but maybe having to work pretty hard to win race 2 as the gap from him to Wayne was really close and Rand wasn't far behind. Need a reporter.

Looks like lots of guys decided to go home early as lots of 0 laps in the results for race 3.

[PK]

Yeah, I barely got the overall pole on Saturday, and I had a good time chasing Tom Schweitz. I got up next to him on the front straight, but that Piper is just too svelt. I stayed tight with him for about 14 of the 17 laps but fell off a bit at the end.

This morning, Wayne and I had a great race. We swapped the lead several times, and I had maybe 3 feet on him at the checker.

We skipped the late race as running it would have meant getting home at 3 or 4am, assuming I didn't fall asleep driving home.

Now to get ready for the ARRC!

[EACIII]

They moved the start of Race 3 up to 4:15. You could have been home by 2 or 3 rather then 3 or 4.

Ed

[PK]

Now you tell me! It was nice to be home in bed at 10.

[MikeR]

Another weekend of perfect weather for racing at Summit Point. In addition to the FRP races, it was interesting to see the different classes of karts racing. Such a wide variety of open wheel cars and karts.

Since Phil mentioned his race with Tom Schweitz on Saturday afternoon, I thought I would post some video of the opening laps of that race. Phil may have qualified on the pole, but he only kept the lead for a little over 2 corners. Tom got past Phil heading into Turn 3 and the chase was on. For the first 13 or 14 laps of the 17 lap race, Phil was never more than a second behind Tom. There was some close racing throughout the field in both Race #1 and #2. Unfortunately, due to the long tow back to Dexter MI, we left after Race #2 and missed Race #3 on Sunday afternoon. I hope everybody had a safe race and a good time.

And a big thanks to Larry Oliver for his hospitality hosting the Saturday dinner. A wonderful time with wonderful people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU3e...ature=youtu.be

[Derek Holmes]

The weekend was allot of fun despite my car not working for me. Thank you again Joe, Mike and Larry!

[Michael Rand]

Summit was another great Right Coast show. What a wonderful racing track Summit is. What a great Right Coast season featuring NJMP Lightnng, Mid Ohio, Pitt Race, Summit Point with flash mobs shows to come at Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta. That is a hell of a track line up in anyones book.
AND we have every expectation of duplicating the 2017 season in 2018, so make your plans and get ready.
Now if all those entered and expected actually showed up we would have had 22 but was usual there was some fall out and we wound up at 18.
We missed having Mike Kelly there in his Z16, though it was good to see him in person, same for Sam Eyer, and then Mike Hummel had entered through the FRP/USAC portal but never appeared and Mark Walthew had a mechanical issue that kept him at home.
Friday afternoons session went well for all after a few Right Coasters took advantage of the two morning extra cost sessions offered by FRP.
Saturday am qualifying also went off well and we formed up 18 on the grid for Race 1 Saturday afternoon.
Kingham-Schwietz-Nicolette-Rand-Fisher-Germert-Roux-Holmes-Maisey-Velkoff and 8 more ready to attack. All weekend results including Fri Practice, Sat Qual and Races 1-2-3 will be available for viewing on www.rcffs.org soon, if not already up.
Race begins and after the usual first lap shuffling things settle down and I find myself running in 4th at the back of the lead train.
Then I had a car issue that I will put out there for the apexspeed experts to dissect as I have never experienced this nor heard of anyone else with a similar happening.
On the 2nd to 3rd upshift at Turn 8 something felt, well, odd. It seemed to me the shift lever was in third position but I couldn''r move it, at all, like it was in granite, no movement, though the box was apparently still in 2nd, and nothing was going to make any difference.
As Derek Holmes went by, I didn't even have time to put a hand up in warning of sudden slowing, there was a big gap and I dove into pit in.
I found by dipping the clutch I was able to drive the car to my paddock spot but no amount of convincing would move the shift lever
Change out of the racer suit and carefully take the rear cover off the still hot transmission.
Hmmmm......It's in two gears ! As if locking the trans to break the big nuts to make a ratio change. The reverse fork was engaged. And the 3/4 fork was also engaged in 3rd position.
Huh ? WTF ?
Further investigation showed there is a hefty allen bolt basically out of sight under the dash roll hoop that locates the very front anchor of the shift mechanism trying for all its worth to wind itself out and fall out. This effectively loosening of the shifter and linkage so it was all flopping around like a drunk frog. Maybe a drunk purple amphibian....
Clearly the first task was to tighten up the linkage.
Done.
Now, get the transmission out of any gear.
Done.
Car on a stand, sit in it, start motor, go through the gears, no ugly noises inside, all gears show up for duty when requested, all seems happy.
But in my experience when a Mk 8/9 Hewland is in two gears it is locked up tight.
Shouldn't this happening have resulted in a sudden lock up and most likely a huge spin ?
Sunday am race went off well, Phil and Wayne had a hell of a race, though to be honest I and the rest were distant observers, but from my viewing seat it was a hell of a battle.
Steve Roux and I had our own fight and I eventually prevailed finishing where I started, 3rd OA and 3rd in CF.
Phil and Wayne were in a world of their own, just clean and fast and tight racing. I noticed the more than occasional cloud of tire smoke, generally at Turn 1 but sometimes at 5 so they were both working.
Like Phil I bailed and left around 12:30 Sunday and missed the finale.
Someone else can fill in those blanks though I did "watch" it on race monitor from a rest stop on I81.
Wayne dipped into the 18's while running pretty much alone out front. I will need to see the results on the website to know more.
One last comment, RCFFS Chief DUFFUS Joe Marcinskis painful and extended development of his beautifully rebuilt Royale RP24 seems to have come to a satisfactory end as he professes himself able to shift without distraction or conscious thought and is on top of the seating/operating issues as well as the braking problems.
Good to see his hard work and perseverance pay off.

[Will Velkoff]

I'll pick up where you left off Mike, in Race 3.

First, I finally got the cooling problems sorted Sunday afternoon. A big thanks to Mike Scanlan for loaning me his spare radiator cap, and Lenny Tumenas for the orifice plate for the t-stat. The car went from running 220 F and not finishing a race all weekend to running 185-190 F and running fantastic. Also, a big thanks to Bill Maisey for the RF brake rotor that I cracked in Race 2 Sunday morning. Can't say enough about everyone in the paddock.

Anyway, the start of Race 3 was interesting to say the least...Dave Gernert and Derek got a great start, drag race into turn 1, with Wayne, Ed, and myself all in hot pursuit. Dave spun near the apex of turn 1 on the inside, then I feel a bump, look over my left shoulder, and see Chuck V. flying over the left side of my car...didn't appear to hit me too hard or break anything, so I continue on. Tom V. and maybe some others have to take evasive action in the grass to avoid Chuck who ends up sticking the landing and gathers it back up. His nose eventually ripped off going into turn 5. Tom has some great screenshots/video of this, hopefully he can post it soon.

Once things settle in, myself and Joe have a great battle, swapping positions back several times. While we are duking it out, Tom catches us and gets into the mix. I get around Joe, then Tom starts catching me and we're running close for a few laps. Then, under braking into 5, he tries a hero move on the inside and can't make it stick, spinning along the inside of the track trying to keep from hitting me. Luckily I see him and run two wheels into the grass to avoid him (props to Tom for keeping the brakes locked, and not releasing and rolling straight into my side) myself and Joe both make it by without contact. The order stayed the same for the last few laps and we take the

Super fun weekend, can't wait to do it again next year. Thank you again to everyone who makes it possible, especially Joe, Mike, and Bob Wright.

[DaveW]

Mike,

I may be missing something, but does reverse still engage AND drive the car in reverse? If not then when 3rd and reverse engaged it stripped the reverse idler (common when it's over-stressed) and the momentary 2-gears-engaged lock-up disappeared before you even noticed it even though reverse was still engaged.

You should also check the reverse detent because reverse can engage by accident if it's not stiff enough.

If reverse did strip, you will have to replace all the damaged reverse parts and clean out the trans - there will be reverse bits that were thrashing around in there (and hopefully didn't hurt anything else like the CWP).

[Mike Scanlan]

Interesting Mike, Dave is probably onto something regarding the reverse shifter. I had the same thing happen to me last lap last corner in F1600 race 2, when the nut holding the reverse shifter detente in place backed off and caused it to move and strip all the teeth off my third gear. My box is an LD200 but I believe the Mk9 can present with the same problem.

[Michael Rand]

Yeah, reverse works fine, no untoward noises or anything, tried it up on stands and then driving the car around the paddock and then post race in getting lined up to load.
Dunno, but gonna pull the thing apart today, will post findings later, when we're older.....

[Michael Rand]

Incredibly, after pulling the bearing carrier and all the guts out, the oil is pristine, no tell tale silvery swirl [seen that before from a stripped gear, along with all the chunks and bits], both reverse and reverse idler look fine, 1st-4th are un-damaged, to the eye, beyond my usual clutchless shifting slight rounding of dog ring dogs aside all seems ready for reassembly and Watkins Glen Fun One September 15-17.
All needle bearings are smooth and neither feel nor look as if they are concerned with their life at all.
Absolutely nothing seems amiss.
Remember, I did do full race at Summit after the initial happening and subsequent repair with no issues.
So this may just remain an unsolved occurrence, but I can assure everyone that allen under the dash hoop will be checked every weekend !
Wait, hows about some thread locker, that would be a good idea seems to me.....
Dodged another bullet it appears......
So back to whatever the hell you were doing, unless you want to put the gearbox back together for me ?
No, I thought not.....

[dgernert]

Results and podium pictures from Summit 2017 are posted on our web site.

http://www.rcffs.org/2017-results.html#SUMMIT

Yours for the sport,
Dave Gernert

[lucky13]

Absolutely nothing seems amiss.

I think that was what you said at Mid-Ohio right before we scrambled to get your gearbox apart and flip the gear that was installed backwards. Just sayin'.

[Michael Rand]

Hi gang,
A couple of things to comment on from this thread begun by Joe Marcinski on August 15.
The initial post was about the Right Coast event at Summit Point with the FRP weekend back in late August.
I posted extensively about a shifting issue that surfaced that weekend, only to seemingly go away.
Well, at the Watkins Glen Fun One a few weeks later it resurfaced.
The issue was NOT getting stuck in two gears as I incorrectly posted.
Rather it was when shifting from 2nd to 3rd the shift finger remained in the 2nd gear fork while the linkage went elsewhere, sort of on walkabout. The result being the linkage was unable to manipulate the shift finger but also was unable to get back to the 2nd fork to move anything at all.
This happened twice at the Glen, once on the Friday test day then on the first flying lap of Saturday am qualifying !
Much investigation revealed yup, the 2nd gear fork was indeed engaged but the shift finger, aka the hockey stick, as elsewhere.
Luckily I remembered I had an older Webster shift finger/hockey stick stuffed in the trailer somewhere.
You guys all well know the old adage, take everything because whatever you leave at home you'll need. Conversely, goes the logic, if you have packed everything you won't need most of that stuff.
In this instance, my mess of a trailer revealed the needed part.
BUT, it was over an inch longer than what needed replacing and of course that meant the bolt hole needed redrilling as well.
Those shift fingers/hockey sticks are hardened steel and the cutting off the excess was difficult enough but the redrilling the bolt hole as a real trial without a drill press. One suggestion was see if the track maintenance shop had a drill press they'd let me use.
They were not enthusiastic but did relent so we wandered to the back of their shop only to find a drill press but it had no drive belts !
Back to the hand drilling. Danny Pyanowski was more than helpful as bit after biy=t was duller=d or broken before the needed bolt hole was successfully drilled. The weekend progressed with fierce battles with JD King, I won on the long course Saturday while he triumphed on the short course Sunday.
Thanks Danny, and thanks to both Eric Langbein and Scott Gates for the loan of their equipment, an air powered curt off wheel and more drill bits.
So what was the problem ?
The shift finger/hockey stick had been massaged probably decades earlier to expedite faster shifting.This resulted in the very end of the piece having been whittled down to far under half the width of a new part.
It finally got worn to the point that the resulting problem reared its head. Several other FF folks are aware of such a happening and have seen it before.
Now understand, I have owned and raced [many say abused...] this Crossle 30F for going on two decades !
So pack this little nugget away, massage if you want but be aware of the potential issues down the road.
Now, the other thing, scroll up, or down,to posts # 8-9-10-11. They are all about the announced 50th of FF celebration announced for Road Atlanta early November of 2019.
What with my 40th anniversary at Road America partner Steve Beelers just announced celebration in September, then Road Atlanta with the American Road Race of Champions early November FF/CF runners are spoiled for choice with two great tracks on tap.
In fact Right Coast is promoting what we are referring to as the Prelude to the Prelude this coming November at the ARRC, all and every FF/CF is invited, regardless of tire preference or motor motivating the chassis of any age. The Prelude will be early November of 2018.
Steve and I announced the 40th over two years out and we are both following that template.
Lots of time to put one or both on you calendar in ink and begin planning your 2019 season around these events.
Hope for good turnouts and safe racing for all.

[gerhard_k]

Michael - this is a great bit of Hewland info, but it's buried in this totally different-topic thread. I'm thinking it might be a good public service for you to pull out the pertinent portions of your postings into a new thread called maybe "Skinny shift finger problem" or whatever you think would be most informative.

I've certainly copied it into my Hewland file, so thank you.

Just trying to help, he said -

- Gerhard