Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Lessons learned
Ok... long trip back Sunday night, and a busy work day today, but finally found a few minutes to check over the car after the weekend. I was getting some funny noises from the right rear of the car, and had assumed the wheel well liner had worked its way loose again. Bad assumption.
As it turns out, I've lunched another hub bearing. This is my fourth hub bearing I've worn out on this car, all on the rear. It's almost to the point of moving to a consumable that I have to start budgeting for. Oil change, brake pads, hubs... hmm? At least this helps explain some of the squirrelly behavior of my car's tail end on Sunday. I've got about 5 mm of free play in the hub. Big thanks to the Big Man upstairs for keeping my car in one piece throughout the weekend and the ride home. The car is now out of commission until my new hub arrives.
I also took some time to check out my tires a little more closely. I have some seriously uneven wear on the insides... Good news, really, as I had tried running a much more aggressive camber setting in the rear for this event. It's good news, because it helps explain why my grip was low. Combined with the knowledge of what portion of the tread I was working, it tells me that one reason I was getting greasy tires on Sunday was that my tire pressure was too low. I'm guessing I was low by about 3 psi. I'll have to play with that later.
I had about 8 people approach me over the course of the weekend and start explaining aerodynamics to me. Yes, thank you, I do understand that running without a top slows the car. :) I just never bought a top. Maybe it's time...
Brandon has lots of pics on his camera, which I will upload tomorrow (15 Apr).
Cheers!
Cade
Sunday!
Awake and alive today... those who know me know that I can't control my mouth when my adrenaline is going. They're connected intensely, while my brain is floating around in my skull untethered, watching disinterestedly. My apologies to those I may have confused during any attempts at conversation... no harm meant!
More practice this morning and slower times... took a few family members for laps early in the day and tried to help a couple other competitors learn the line.
Started wondering if I had lowered my tire pressures TOO much the day prior. I kept feeling like the tires were greasy, but I didn't think I was too far off, and I was leading my class, so I left them as is.
I also started to get worried today, as everyone else was picking up speed and I was already at the grip limit of my car. I tried a couple tricks to pick up some speed, one of which is to take 'the bus stop' nearly flat out, without downshifting. Managed it a couple times clean, and a couple with two wheels in the dirt. My car was acting very squirrelly, so I backed it down and decided that a good clean run in the 2.05 range would be enough for a safe win.
Just prior to the time trial, I found that my right rear fender liner had detached, and was dragging on the tire. I cut out the offending bits, and zip-tied the rest back in. Good enough to hold for the event, but not going to win any concourse events.
Headed out for the time trial, gridded up behind Manly Kao. This guy is seriously quick, and catching him had been my initial goal for the weekend, but I had given up on that by the middle of the second day. It's a good thing, as he whipped out a 2.02.xx for the final event. Very nice! Most of the competitors managed their best times on the time trial, in fact. I put down two laps in the high 2.05s, and won my class.
The awards ceremony was truly classy, with a great slate of prizes. Best of all, who can pass up a champagne fight?
Big thanks to the event and team sponsors: Sector111, ForcedFed, Norm Baker Lotus, Lotus of Newport Beach, DRS Tuning, Yokohama Tires, and Toyo Tires.
Special Thanks to all who came out and supported us this weekend: Shinoo, Brandon, Dave, Noah, Jason, Bill, Corvette Tom, and definitely not least, my lovely wife Rheana!
I'll get some pics up shortly, I promise!!!
Cade
Saturday
Saturday was all set aside for practice, five full sessions to work on the lines. We spent the morning knocking the rust off, as it had been a while since I'd been on track. My morning tire pressures were about right for a scuba tank, but just a tad high for track work. I dropped pressures repeatedly throughout the day, finally ending up with pressures that were a tad low, but acceptable. More on that later...
We had our first big mechanical casualty in the series on Saturday, unfortunately after the driver had been talking with another racer about the increased reliability of these modern Lotus. Oops. Never brag about the reliability of a Lotus. Lots of white smoke out the tailpipe = blown rings or valve seals. Clearly not a great way to end the weekend. We're truly bummed to see those guys out, and hope to have them back the next event.
The rest of Saturday went pretty well, and I managed to get down to a 2.04.53, running CW#13.
It was my first time in the saddle after several months, so I'm not displeased with that. I know there's several seconds out there for me to grab.
Cade
Off to Buttonwillow!
The Friday night trip up to Buttonwillow went off without any major issues... nothing exciting to report except one very sleepy driver and crew. I left Temecula on Friday evening with all the speed and efficiency of your average politician, which is to say that I was barely accomplishing anything and running far behind schedule. Head on pillow in Bakersfield (Relatives = cheap as free lodging! Big Thanks to the Lewis family!) at 0100 hrs.
Saturday morning: up at 0600, at the track at 0700. Check in, last prep of car, driver's meeting and on track at 0845. Great job to Jim Navarro and Jack Fried for running things smooth and on time!
Cade
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Welcome!
First of all, I'd like to welcome you to our little blog! I'm Cade Wilson, and my intent is simply to record and share our team experience as entrants into the inaugural year of the Lotus Challenge Series here in the US of A. If you're visiting here from Lotustalk, you probably already know all about the Lotus Challenge Series. If not, then take a short detour over to www.lotuschallengeseries.com and read up!
The idea here is pretty simple, really. We're running a classic Time Attack format, in which each competitor gets a warm-up lap, two "hot" laps against the clock, and a cool-down lap. Best lap time wins. Any Elise or Exige is welcome to play, no prior racing experience required.
Sector111 Motorsports exists purely as a side gig for a few of us crazies at Sector111 to support the company that supports us, and to have some fun showing what we can do at the track!
Our team receives its support from all at Sector111, but the team itself is primarily two people: Brandon Millard, our marketing/event support point-man/extra wrench, and me on the other wrench and behind the wheel.
Of course, none of this would be possible at all without the brains behind the company, Shinoo Mapleton, providing help and resource in too many ways to count, not least of which is picking up the headline sponsorship of the series as well. So a big thank you to Shinoo for sponsoring our team!
Let's go racing!
Cade
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