CM seat available for Spring Nationals

[Lynn]

One of the guys who drive my Reynard will not be able to make it to Spring Nationals due to his daughter graduating high school that weekend. I would like to put an experienced mod category driver in the car to co-drive with John Powell.

[ahowe]

Tell me more. I haven't turned a wheel in a CM car since 2012, but finally have my car back together and will run it next weekend and then two weeks after that. Others will vouch that I can be fast, but I'm going to suggest that there will be a lot of rust. I'm a quick learner, but I don't think something under 20 runs will get me back up to speed!

6' 0", but long in the arms. 190ish pounds.

Andy Howe
Oregon Region

[Lynn]

Hi Andy,

At 6' you should fit in the car. 190 is near the upper limit. The car is supposed to be just under 900 pounds. We haven't had a chance to weigh it. We will need to add about 30 lbs of lead for John to make weight.

This is the car that Tom Walgamuth had for sale here for so long. The only known isssue is that it won't shift into reverse. Tom and John say it is a very easy car to drive, and very neutral with the new tires. With your experience you should do well.

I am not looking for any payment to drive it. However, if there are enough drivers and you should win tires, they go to the car.

[ahowe]

I'm going to say tentatively that I'm in. I need to double check my work schedule, but I think I can swing this and I've been interested in running Spring Nationals since the beginning. It is just hard to justify two tows out from Oregon.

Awesome opportunity! Thanks!

Andy

[Lynn]

You're welcome. Looking forward to meeting you.

[ahowe]

I had a good weekend knocking the rust off in my car. I've got one more local weekend before Memorial Day. I registered for Spring Nationals. I guess that makes me committed.

Thank you!

[Lynn]

Andy, please check your PM's.

[Lynn]

I'd like to thank Andy for driving the car and providing some insights on how to make it quicker. I think we'll wait until the off season to make changes. I think John and Tom can pick up a couple of seconds with more experience in the car this year.

[ahowe]

Thank you for the opportunity! I had a lot of fun.

After driving the car in the dry on the East Course, I would agree that the car is a little loose on that surface. If I were setting the car up on that surface, I'd look for a slightly softer rear spring and tune it with adjustments to the rear sway bar. As I said, the rear bar is currently full-soft. I never looked at the front bar, but a decent stop gap would be to stiffen the front bar if it has adjustment range in that direction.

I suspect that as the tires age out, the car will become looser and looser until it is a dirt track car. That seems to match what you and John were saying, too.

Andy

[John P]

Andy - was nice to meet you and get tips from an experience mod driver. Congrats on the win as well! Thanks for the input regarding the balance - that's good to hear actually; I felt the car was a bit on the loose side, but was not convinced it wasn't driver induced given I'm coming from a street touring prepped Subaru. Where there is no such concept as 'small inputs'. I don't think it is far off - for this year I'm hoping we can get by with tire pressure adjustments as we learn the car more.

For those interested, here is the videos that I got. Sorry in advance for the quality - was trying to cheap out on the mount, which was the cause of the shaking camera. That will be fixed next time.

John Run-2, Day-1
https://youtu.be/aRzZbCj1GuY

Andy Run-3, Day-2
https://youtu.be/R97oR9m4bmk

John Run-2, Day-2
https://youtu.be/Nxw4weulLPQ

Andy Run-3, Day-2
https://youtu.be/4mI6tkHx2Ts