F2000 Championship Series at Watkins Glen June 8-10

[Purple Frog]

Back in the swamp. 3400 miles later. What a great country.
Yikes! It's over 90 degrees down here. I want to go back "up on the hill" at the Glen.

Some random thoughts I had during hours of windshield time driving across the Southeast...

Sunday morning, while most the field was practicing on the track, where was Cole? He was climbing the 880 steps at Watkins Glen State Park taking in the views of all the waterfalls.

Chris Camadella may be the luckiest guy on the planet. Sunday during the race Jed's halfshaft (with CV joints) bounced off of Chris' helmet and then off his upper element of his rear wing. Chris motored on to finish.

Chris and his wife told us about a great restuarant up the east side of Lake Seneca. Stonecat. Neat place. Great menu. Live entertainment after 10 p.m. Great view of vineyards and Lake Seneca.

Meanwhile, the unluckiest dude on the planet. Craig Clawson. Craig has always been one of the most competitive pintos. Sunday he was in a hot battle with Chris Burke, Clark Cambern, et al. Oops! Above noted halfshaft entered his left sidepod, taking out the radiator. Not knowing he was damaged, Craig motored on. Ouch! Dash told him the pinto was way overheated.

Jed Dorsheimer's car was a mess after Sunday's off. If there was any good news. at least his car was shiny and complete when it was on display Saturday afternoon at the ICUITI luncheon.

In the preseason the folks from the New England area predicted Kniffin would be a contender at WGI. True they were, he was fast out of the box on those big 10s and 8s. Looked like we would finally have a Cooper-spec car in impound. Unfortunately, his zetec swallowed a velocity stack fastening nut. Bummer. Eric carted the engine back to QSRE in Maryland, and we didn't get to see the true potential of #13.

On Sunday, Keegan Van Sicklen came onto pit lane and replaced a broken nose, returning at the back of the field. Making his 15th place finish more impressive than it looks on paper.

OK, the big technical story of the weekend was failing clutches. I lost track of how many cars got split to repair failing slave cylinders. Whatever the count, it was too many. There will be lots of calls to Craig Taylor to get answers for a good fix to this issue. I know that at the least Vassmer, Mansur, Willard, Nicholas, and Guibord were effected.

Hurt worse by this problem was Terrick. He could not get off grid for Sunday's race. His crew franically thrashed, got him running, he zoomed through the paddock, onto pit lane, and onto the track just ahead of the green flag for the start. Terrick stayed poised, and charged all the way up to 9th by the finish. Where would he have finished if he could have started 4th?

Sometimes the results sheets just don't do justice to the real drama.

Just wished i could have gotten a camera shot of three lead cars 'bump-drafting' at the green flag. I mean actually touching. Yes, sportsfans, it was that close. Andersen racing will need to put helicopter tape on Noah's front wing, if they don't want that pretty paint job getting scratched by those pesky strakes on other's diffusers.

Kudos to the whole front of the field. Those guys were real pros. How they got cleanly through 5 starts/restarts is amazing. Especially when you see Mrs. Frog's photos.

Jesse is oh-so-close to being right there with the Piper.

John Dole quietly is getting it done. He warms up for each session by riding around the paddock on a very trick trials bike. This weekend he was also almost constantly showing his young (2 ish) son John all the ropes. Too cute! The kid that is.. John's (the elder) solid top ten finishes reflect a lot of work and great driving by the leading independent one-man deal.

Al Guibord has been waiting for the series to get to a venue he knows. We get to WGI and he readily shows he's competitive. Learning VIR and Road Hotlanta put a crimp in his style. But back on familiar ground, he was able to show his ability to be knocking on the top 5.

Get this. Cole's, Rickardo's, and Noah's fastest laps occured either lap 13 or lap 14. These Hankooks don't fall off in just a few laps! Clark Cambern and I were joking (well, maybe i was serious) that a club racer may be able to run a whole season on one set of take-offs.

Joe Stimola was showing an impressive video from Keegan's car (zetec) of a very close battle between him and Craig Clawson's pinto. Four laps of video, and it looked like the two cars were very evenly matched. Three more weekends ahead. Don't be surprised to see a pinto on some podiums, maybe even a win.

more later... got to unload the race trailer.

[John Nesbitt]

For those keeping track of such things. Al Sr's car chassis looks worse than my '05 Runoffs debacle. And if you are stupid enough to still be on the fence about whether to buy a HANS device... well... just ask Al Sr. I'm guessing it saved his life. It ain't easy sitting still on the track and taking an 100+ mph impact into the hip. Yet on Sunday Al Sr. was helping us load up to leave.

The HANS device is supposed to help in case of frontal impact, at least according to the HANS owner's manual (see p.5 'Science of the HANS Device'). Does getting t-boned really fall into HANS terrritory?

[Zebra]

Mike great job with the play by play on all the participants!!!! Having you write about us coupled with Rob Howden coverage it makes it all well worth the effort. The Fat Boys will be ready to go at Cleveland.

Cole, anything you need from me regarding your message is fine, figuring out how to respond to private messages.

[Alan R Guibord]

John,
I agree that it is mostly for straight on impacts, however, The side shot I had was pretty hard and I really believe that I would have suffered serious head and neck damage without it. My chest was very sore from the hans digging into it and my head and neck had no pain at all. I am a true believer in it and will NEVER go out again without it. The good news is that I get to hang out at the Fatboy trailer in Cleveland.

[Wren]

so is the car a total loss?

[Camadella]

Chris Camadella may be the luckiest guy on the planet. Sunday during the race Jed's halfshaft (with CV joints) bounced off of Chris' helmet and then off his upper element of his rear wing. Chris motored on to finish.

Well, as they say, it's better to be lucky than good, and based on the timesheets, I am certainly not good!

I really have to thank everyone who helped me out last weekend - it was great racing with such a good bunch of people -

- Glenn at GTP for patiently helping me with my problems, even though he clearly had better things to do.
- Joe Stimola for giving me help on the setup
- Tim Minor and Clark Cambern for help figuring out a completely new car
- Mike, Mike and Dave for running such a first class show and really making me and my crew feel like we were part something.
- Brian and John at Pennon for help in getting the car back together for Cleveland.

I'm really looking forward to the next race, since there's nowhere for us to go but up. I'm hoping that the NO2 kit will contribute to a better finish, provided that our luck continues to hold out.

See you all in Cleveland...

Chris C.

[Alan R Guibord]

Keith,
We are still debating in weather to fix the chassis or not. Luckly, it hit infront of the engine and transmission so the car is fine from the drivers seat back. Still hoping to make it for Mid-Ohio.
Al sr

[Bob Wright]

errr, you mean the motor, bellhousing and gear box are fine...the rest of it is a sorry mess, but nothing a few hundred man-hours and a sea container of parts can't fix

It will rise again in glory before the end of the season

Signed, weekend wrench.

[Purple Frog]

My humble and totally un-scientific viewpoint on the HANs in side impacts...

You are sitting dead crosswise in the track, Your natural impulse if you are awake, is to immediately look back down the track to see what is going to hit you next. If so, then you are straining against the opposite helmet strap. Wham! You get hit. Since that strap is already tight from you turning to look, it helps keep your head from rocking fast. Avoids such things as leveraging your head over the cockpit surround.

That's what happened in my case. From the description Al told us about his bruises, and the video, I'm guessing the same thing happened in his hit.

Your mileage may vary... but I'm saying don't leave home without one.

If Al gives me the green light, I may post pictures of his chassis. If you see the pictures, and then realize that Al was walking around joking with us the next day, carrying stuff to the trailer, and bouncing around on a golf cart... you might be sold.

[Purple Frog]

OK back to the important stuff. (Anyway, selling HANs devices reminds me of the H-D T-shirt I once saw..."If I have to explain it to you, you won't understand.")

Chris Camadella is way too self-defacing. He needs me to be his promo man. Listen folks... Chris' total time in any sort of formula car before WGI was about an hour. Yes, one hour. (I guess he forgot to mention that in his first ever Apexspeed post.) Geez...one hour... and he finished two pro races, in one piece, without being last. You folks know me. If that would have been me, you'd be reading a 1000 word episitle about rising suns, and other such gibberish. After my first hour in a formula car... I had figured out how to get the steering wheel on. But, seriously, I'm not sure he can keep the "Flat Four Racing" moniker. If he does, Rand will soon have him in some old air-cooled Super Vee.

Have I spotlighted Hazelnut's accomplishments at WGI? I think Brendan suffered from the pressure of trying to run in front of all the Greisiger Gang for another weekend. But, he did not run and hide. Through the enormous ribbing being dished out by Burke, Finelli, et al... Brendan stayed under the tent and held his ground. (I did see a possible first in the series. The guy that bumps you, then puts your car back together.) He did end up only 1.5 seconds behind Burke on Sunday for the honors of being the Greisiger/Fat Boy race leader. But then...does Burke claim to be a Greisiger/Fat Boy on Sundays? or GTP? It's so confusing under those tents. Brendan, you did put the heavy nose back on the car? right?

Burton Racing, out of Indianapolis, is probably an unknown to most of you readers. You read it here first. They are going to be a power to be recognized with before too long. Caleb Loniewski contracted with them for race support. First class all the way. They are going to employ all those years of work with top Indy teams and apply that high level attention to detail to F2000. I expect Burton will climb the steep learning curve pretty darn fast. Keep an eye on Caleb moving up, Howden says he has the background.

Speaking of my editorial mentor, Mr. Howden. No... I better not. Suffice it to say... If you ever get in a car with him driving, buckle your belts ASAP, it's best to be belted in and tray tables up before he even gets the key in the ignition. You have been warned.

[Cole Morgan]

I second the seatbelt warning, don't ask why, just do it.

[HazelNut]

Have I spotlighted Hazelnut's accomplishments at WGI? I think Brendan suffered from the pressure of trying to run in front of all the Greisiger Gang for another weekend. But, he did not run and hide. Through the enormous ribbing being dished out by Burke, Finelli, et al... Brendan stayed under the tent and held his ground. (I did see a possible first in the series. The guy that bumps you, then puts your car back together.) He did end up only 1.5 seconds behind Burke on Sunday for the honors of being the Greisiger/Fat Boy race leader. But then...does Burke claim to be a Greisiger/Fat Boy on Sundays? or GTP? It's so confusing under those tents. Brendan, you did put the heavy nose back on the car? right?

thank you for the kind words, however had i remembered to double check my weigh and properly ballasted i'd have started way closer to the front of the pack and not had to work through the back 1/2 of the field! It was fun but certainly not the quick way towards the front. As for the heavy nose going back on, NO WAY!!!! I've been eating 3 meals of KFC extra cripsy and haagen daas sicne i left the track. I mean come on what the hell kind of "Fatboy" comes in under weight?

oh yeah and burke is definatly a fatboy. Remeber it's not about just being mildly portly or even moderatly rotund, it's a total life outlook kinda deal.....

[John Nesbitt]

OK back to the important stuff. (Anyway, selling HANs devices reminds me of the H-D T-shirt I once saw..."If I have to explain it to you, you won't understand.")

Just so we're on the same page: I have worn a HANS for two seasons now. I am happy to make the trade-off of front-impact safety improvement for some loss of range of side-to-side motion. I modified my DB-1's seatbelt mounting to accommodate the HANS, and would not consider racing without it.

I would never try to undermine someone's belief systems, but I would point out (gently) that the manufacturer doesn't make any safety claim for anything except a frontal impact.

[Purple Frog]

John,
I sincerly hope you didn't think I was picking on you. Not intentional. I was just trying (unsuccessfully) to be cute and route the discussion back to WGI. I knew you had a HANS. It's just that I get in these rants about it almost to the zealot state. Then my wife starts saying I should be a sales rep... About then I say to myself, "I need to calm down..." You should hear me about teenage use of seatbelts, or the lack thereof.

I didn't want the WGI coverage to turn into another thread on the HANS... so what do i do? eek!

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

[John Nesbitt]

Frog,

You're right - this is a WGI thread.

What's the story on Zetec clutches? Are this things under-engineered? Not engineered at all? I should have thought that, with the British experience with Zetecs, something reliable and off-the-shelf would be available by now.

[mark defer]

frog,
still not convinced. jordan isn't as well.

mark d

[Purple Frog]

Mark,

Like Ms. Joplin said: "If you got nothing, you got nothing to lose."



I understand your position completely. Makes life interesting. Free country.

Live free or die.

[Ron B.]

Frog,

You're right - this is a WGI thread.

What's the story on Zetec clutches? Are this things under-engineered? Not engineered at all? I should have thought that, with the British experience with Zetecs, something reliable and off-the-shelf would be available by now.

The clutches themselves weren't the problem (at least with the Andersen cars). The jury is still out, but the if there's something definite we can point our finger at I'd be happy to pass it along. So far, there may be an issue with the master/slave combo we're running, but we're still not sure.

If you have the VD slave you're OK as long as the seals are a maintenance item for you. Since the Zetec motors last so long, people are trying to find a slave that will do the same. The Tilton/Taylor unit may or not be the answer.