Tatuus F1000 Conversion

[jjstecher]

Great job guys looking good!!

[Matt Conrad]

I'm assuming the mod is to give a bit of clearance for the muffler....good idea....and I'd still make sure to put some good heat shield under that muffler just in case...it gets mighty hot! Also, the exhaust gasses exiting can burn stuff too. We are even seeing some heat marks as far back as the leading edge of the rear wing...and it's about 2 feet from the exhaust exit.

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Works, LLC

[Lincspeed]

Is your diffuser legal width for FB? It looks like a DSR diffuser!

Very tidy air intake.

Clark

[sidney]

Yes, we need just little space for the muffler. We will be adding heat shield to the entire length along the exhaust. The diffuser is just shy of the width limit for FB. We couldn't make it much wider, the suspension couldn't handle it. We may shorten it with testing. Time will tell. I'd be open to anybody's thoughts on how to determine the optimal length behind the rear tires or in relation to the rear wing aside from testing a bunch of different samples.

The scoop was a lot of work, but the results were great. We built a skeleton out of MDF, covered it with wire mesh, then clay, took a negative and then vacuum bagged the positive. Lots of work, but we got what we wanted. We will modify the tail to cover the base of the scoop similar to the Piper design.

[Wright D]

I think the car looks good, keep up the hard work.

What material is the diffuser made from? Is that glass over foam core? The color could come across funny on my computer, but it almost looks like a Kevlar.

My CFD computer and I are for hire, and would love to help with any of your aero needs.

[sidney]

The diffuser is an S-Glass with a birch core. This is the first one of these attempted, but is appears to be quite stiff. We learned a lot from the first one that will carry over to the next revision this winter.

I'm afraid we'll have to try the old design of experiments for the diffuser. Of course, that will be part of the fun.

[sidney]

The final mock-up work has been completed, the chassis was sent off to the powdercoater and the floor has been bonded. Before the chassis was prepped, the tail was modifed by grafting 2 different pieces together from different cars. This will cover the air scoop. A local guy that makes cool tandem bicycles (da Vinci) welded up the titanium and stainless headers. We should have lots more pictures in the coming weeks as things progress quickly with the final assembly. I'm looking forward to testing at HPR in the near future.

[cparsons]

Ian, et al, congradulations. Final assembly in sight. Please keep the updates coming band let us know how test day goes. You guys are about to reap the rewards of all that work. I am getting past the point of jealousy and moving towards resentful! I may come in last on the build, maybe track too, but I'll git er done eventually.

[sidney]

Lots of progress being made recently. We are getting close. Hopefully turning wheels by the end of March. It is really starting to look like something!

[RussMcB]

Looking good. That will be exciting when it's sitting on tires again, with an engine making glorious noises. Keep us posted.

[Stu Waterman]

Ian:

The car looks great. I'd guess we're running neck and neck with you to get our FB done by the end of March. BTW, we're just up the road in Boulder.

Hope to see you at High Plains Raceway for the season opener! Good luck.

[sidney]

Hey Stu,

I think we are going to avoid the "madness" the fist weekend in April at HPR.

We plan to test around Denver, or south the last weekend in March. Our first planned weekend to run in anger will be the DS/DS/R at Mid-America in Mid-April. Here's a couple of pics of the rear. More to come as we continue to make headway.

[Stu Waterman]

Good point, Ian!

I believe HPR is open for testing for the entire week leading up to the season opener. There's always the kart track at IMI for a shakedown test, too.

We decided we needed a target event to keep the pressure on to get the car finished, or we'd still be stuck in the garage in mid-summer. So it's HPR or bust!

[quartzracer]

Stu, Wow! The kart track is large enough to test a car? Like to hear more about that?

Eric

[JakeL]

Sure thing!

IMI's fairly open as kart tracks go. They have no problem letting small formula cars run. I used to shake down the Radical out there, and have done the same with the Stohr. We end up about as quick as the 125 shifters, I think.

Great for a first outing "OK, what's gonna fall off" test, before loading up and heading down to the a racetrack for the Real Thing. $35 and being nearby is great compared to blowing $150 to find out you left your left-rear wheel at home!

-Jake

[Stu Waterman]

IMI's kart track is a mile long, with a reasonably long straight and a fairly open layout (by karting standards, anyway). Useful for shakedown testing, but too tight for tuning. On the other hand, it's only 20 minutes from our garage and it only costs $20!

[sidney]

Got the car going last night for the first time. We had an issue with the tipover switch. (Just an FYI...0.6V is OK and 5V at the switch is "tipped" one side was ok, but not the other). If you aren't working with George Dean, you should be, he is the niceest guy and has been much help with the engine process. His troubleshooting was spot-on.

If the weather holds, we will test this weekend/early next week somewhere in Colorado. There's a seat to be poured, and other minor things to be done before we give it a go. It has been a long time coming, but a huge thanks to my dad and others who have helped along the way. The folks at Apexspeed have been great with the support and information. Pics and video (maybe) early next week.

We are trying to get things ready to go for the double drivers school/regional at MAM next month.

I am so pumped, I may not sleep the rest of the week.

[carnut169]

Congratulations on your acheivement, and best of luck for your test.

[RussMcB]

Congratulations, Ian. We're excited for you. Can't wait to hear about the first driving experience.

[Stu Waterman]

Congratulations, Ian!

You beat us to first startup by a couple of days - we should fire up the Speads today or tomorrow on Rilltech's dyno. I hope the weather holds for your track test this weekend, and good luck at MAM in April!

Completing the baseline chassis setup today. Still targeting April 5 at HPR for our first race, but we have a million things yet to do... I'm intermittently posting progress pics to http://twitter.com/stuwaterman with more to come in the next day or so.

[jjstecher]

Congrats Ian!! I'll be at the MAM D-DS DR as well shaking down the F1000 after the winter rebuild getting ready for the National season in the centdiv. Mainly I'll be crewing for my buddy while he gets his license however so I'll have some free time to stop by and BS. Looking forward to meeting you and seeing all the hard work you put in on the track.

[Wright D]

Hope you have as much fun running the car as it was to build!

Best of luck!

[sidney]

Well, we have the seat poured and everything is buttoned up. Plan is to take it to IMI tomorrow, freeze our buts off, but amybe try to get a few laps in. The car is way ugly, as the bodywork is on the car, but in tough shape. Anybody know a good fibeglass guy in Denver? More updates, and maybe a few pics and video tomorrow, if all goes well.

[JakeL]

Sidney -

Major congrats! If you make it to the race on Sunday, there'll be 9 of us in the CSR/DSR/FB crowd, so it should be a really fun group!

He's not in Denver, but Pat Holmes at "Don's Body Shop" in Colorado Springs has done the bodywork for a bunch of the wings-and-things grid here in the RMDiv: CSR, DSR, FE, etc. He gives racers a good deal. He runs a Stohr CSR, and just likes for all of our cars to look good!

If you call and Pat answers, be sure to ask for "Don"

Cheers!

-Jake

[cparsons]

I'd move back to Denver to do bodywork on your car, BUT Florida is SO nice this time of year...
Congratulations on the car. It's good to hear another homebuilt has the rubber hitting the road. I'll definitely be watching for news so please keep us posted.

[sidney]

Well, we made a pact a long time ago never to race in Colorado before the first of May ever again. This is a result of driving a Pro Vee race in a snowstorm in April of 2001 in Pueblo.

Mother Nature spit on us again, and snow on the track on Monday cancelled the first test of the car. We will try again in a few weeks time, but for now, the launch and MAM are off our calendar.

The car looks great, sounds even better and is quite comfy despite it's narrow stature. I'll try to post a few more pics of the car "naked" later.

[RussMcB]

<snip> ... sounds even better

Wait until your team hears it at full chat. There will be big smiles, dropped jaws and high fives! :-).

[Stu Waterman]

Tough break, Ian. We're still aiming for our first outing this weekend at HPR, but the weather forecast doesn't look very favorable. Weather permitting, we have a test day Friday and first race Sunday, with Saturday (drivers school day) set aside for the inevitable thrash to fix whatever didn't work right on Friday...

Russ is right - we ran ours on the Rilltech dyno last weekend, and the sound as you approach 13,000 is incredible! Can't wait!

[sidney]

Well, the car is done, and we are just trying to get the homologation paperwork from SCCA corporate so we can run this weekend. I've been trying to contact Kevin at corporate for three days now leaving several message to no avail. You'd think they would be a little more responsive since car counts are down, but I guess not. I never have reached anyone in club racing, and only get the front desk about 30% of the time. If we don't get the paperwork by Thursday, our weekend will be over before it starts. We will at least run the test day on Friday, but I'd like to get my school in this weekend as well. I'm not confident since I don't think anyone is in the office in Topeka.

[Stan Clayton]

Ian, just tell the tech guys you've sent in your homologation paperwork and ask them to issue you a one-time tech sticker for that event only.

[Dave Gomberg]

First, look at this page on the SCCA web site: http://www.scca.com/contentpage.aspx?content=79

In your case, you are dealing with a converted car, so see that specific section on the page.

Also, as you will see, Kevin Yaghoubi is handling homologation these days.

As Stan pointed out, you can get a one weekend "letter" that you can use while your request is being processed.

Dave

[sidney]

Well, as usual, I throw someone under the bus and then they call me. I'm relieved to know that the paperwork is in the mail so we are good to go for this weekend. It will be lots of learning for the team this weekend. I'll make sure to include some additional data after the event. I'm sure we will be busy.

Crossed fingers

[glenn cooper]

Keep an eye on those oil and water temps.
Good Luck, GC

[RussMcB]

Ian, when you get back to the motel each night, fire up the lap top and give us nightly updates.

We're all cheering for you and looking forward to hearing about your milestone weekend. Yep, it's going to be hectic, but hopefully mixed with some awesome experiences (6th gear, 12,000 RPM, ...). Woo hoo!

[sidney]

Keep an eye on those oil and water temps.
Good Luck, GC

The highs for the weekend are only slated for the low 60s, so I'm not sure how much the temps will be impacted. We certainly will have some lights on the dash to let us know if things get too high. I'll try to post a few notes each night as we move along the weekend. Thanks for the support guys and keep the hammer down!

[Marshall Mauney]

I'm relieved to know that the paperwork is in the mail so we are good to go for this weekend. It will be lots of learning for the team this weekend.

Which event are you running? MAM? Blackhawk?

[sidney]

We are running at HPR in Byers, CO this weekend. The car is out there right now, and it's an easy tow from my folks house in Denver. I look forward to seeing some old friends out there.

[JakeL]

We are running at HPR in Byers, CO this weekend. The car is out there right now, and it's an easy tow from my folks house in Denver. I look forward to seeing some old friends out there.

Ian -

I just checked DLB Racing for this weekend, and didn't see you there in FB for the race? (you're there for Saturday school) Wanted to make sure that was as you thought it was - DLB's been having some issues this week...

See you this weekend - welcome to the bike-motored crowd!

-Jake

[Stu Waterman]

Ian, That's great! We'll be at HPR this weekend too! That makes two FBs for sure. We tested there last Friday - had a lot of fun blowing past the full race Porsche 911s practicing for their PCA race weekend I lost track of the number of people who came up to me while Chris was lapping to ask variations on "What IS that? It sounds fantastic!!" Our trailer was a popular spot in the paddock, too.

Looking forward to seeing your car up close and personal. We'll be there late Friday morning. Don't forget to bring lots of fuel - there is nothing at the track and nothing except regular in Byers.

See you there!

[sidney]

Well, we got to run the car at HPR yesterday. The track is brand new and loads of fun to drive. Super smooth and laid out very nicely. The folks running the test day have a few things to work out (ATV flat tows during a session?), but all in all a super nice facility. I encourage folks if they get a chance to run there.

On to the car -- My initial thoughts are WOW, this thing really hauls the mail.

We did 2 installation laps on the first session and then came in to do a nut and bolt check. Found a few little things, but nothing major. I was having issues getting the car to put the power down (see below). We were running on tires that were 5 years old, never properly stored by the previous owner. On top of that the ambient temperature was about 35-40 degrees = almost ZERO grip. Never saw the oil temperature above 130 or so. Once the pick-up was removed, the cords were showing on the right rear, nice.

Swapped old crappy tires for more old crappy tires and set out to do a second session. This time we got 7 laps in and the car seemd to continue to have a lack of grip under power. I should have known something was wrong, but hey, I'd only done 9 laps, and none in a motorcycle powered car, and man, this was FUN.

Third session of the afternoon and the car really came to life. Still had crappy tires and it was getting colder, but I was having some major fun. Then, all hell broke loose 6 laps into the session. The clutch gave up and stated slipping real bad under power. We never could get it to fully engage all day (with the pedal in), and then it gave up.

We tried loads of new stuff -- new car, new drivers gear, radios, trailer, almost everything except for the nut behind the wheel and the most miticulous crew guys on the planet. The car ran well, for a dozen laps or so, and that was GREAT. On the gear side, if you don't have a head and neck restraint, get one. Once in the car belted up, I never knew the HANS was even there.

Now, since I'm guessing when we pull the cover off the clutch, I'll want to close my eyes, do I bite the bullett and go STM slipper clutch, or can I just get by with a better basket and new plates. I'm looking for advice.

P.S. Obviously, the DS/R this weekend was a no-go.