"Swamp thing" JBC 510 racecar

[volkswagner]

Our hot laps from The Ridge September event.

 

Fun to watch split screen to look for differences in technique. Then they are shown one at a time afterwards.
 

 

 

 

[Z23T]

Thanks for sharing your video, it's fun to see the split screen and compare the entrance and exit speeds. 

 

Did the whale tail trunk lid change the feel of the car at all?

[volkswagner]

I wouldn’t say I could “feel” it back there per se, but we did have consistently faster times this event than our last event without it. The only significant change was the tail and we were 2 seconds faster in our fast laps. We sure seemed to be able to hold more throttle in on the high speed sweepers, especially after the uphill.

[]2eDeYe]

Good to see you guys out there having fun. 😄

[Icehouse]

3 minutes ago, ]2eDeYe said:

Good to see you guys out there having fun. 😄

 

Ton's of fun!  We also were lucky enough to hang out with a team who brings their corner weight scales to the track.  Sam talked them into letting us put our car on the scales!!!  We all wondered how straight the car was after welding the front clip on, we thought since we use suspension points to get our ride height and coilover height the scales would tell us how close the car was to being straight.  Well after getting the car on the scales the guys told us not to touch a thing!  They said it was amazingly close to perfect, so close in fact that they said if we touched anything it would probably get worse. haha!!   Also our car weighs 2k without a driver if you were wondering.  Which we thought was pretty good since we've done nothing to try and lighten it up.  

[volkswagner]

I'm sitting in the car when this was taken, so about ~2100lbs total.

 

 

[Icehouse]

22 minutes ago, volkswagner said:

I'm sitting in the car when this was taken, so about ~2100lbs total.

 

 

 

 

I thought you weighted 250???

[volkswagner]

 

 

4 hours ago, Icehouse said:

 

 

I thought you weighted 250???

Only during the off season, I gotta stay fit to be competitive during race season. It's how I shave those extra 0.02 seconds 😉

[volkswagner]

Having our gopro's going full race now means we get to see all of our awesome driving experiences that we usually just get to tell each other about.

It also means we get to see all those things we normally, don't brag about. 

 

 

[carterb]

Sam, you didn't look like you actually wanted to take the shortcut.

Jeff looked way more committed!

Me?  Everybody needs a little nudge sometimes...

 

LOL

Edited October 1, 2020 by carterb

[volkswagner]

I think it's funny that after all that excitement, we're both apexing corner 4 at the same time!

[carterb]

Not much to report, slowly getting ready for the next race at PIR this upcoming weekend.

 

Got a few things from the list.  USB adapter for GoPro

 

 

And new brake pads for Porterfield

 

 

Enough to give us a night's worth of work last week anyway

 

 

The starred items are the ones we still think we need to accomplish before the race

 

 

I think we go all the new tires mounted and Sam got a driveshaft and half-shaft rebuilt.

I have new LED headlights on order that should be in this week.  We'll keep you posted.  Weather looks marginal at the moment..

 

[Z23T]

None of your pics are loading for me. How are yous posting them, I need to find out why they aren't loading.

 

Thanks, Cam.

[thisismatt]

58 minutes ago, Z23T said:

None of your pics are loading for me. How are yous posting them, I need to find out why they aren't loading.

 

Thanks, Cam.

 

It's chrome blocking non-https content on an https site.

[Z23T]

Thanks, switched to IE, works fine.

[carterb]

Just a few things to do Friday morning before hitting the road South to Portland.

 

First up - lighting upgrade!

 

 

I was recommended these H4 size LED headlights from one of the members of the "bluebird list"

 

 

They actually have little built in cooling fans!

 

 

The lights I purchased direct from www.lasfit.com

 

The Hella H4 housings I got from www.summitracing.com

 

 

 

Installation was super easy!

 

 

Hopefully that will improve our night driving visibility.  We have a 45 minute sprint race to look forward to Saturday night - plus a threat of rain Saturday morning.

 

We also got a new shipment of oil from our sponsor Dave!

 

 

Nothing else to do but load up the truck and trailer and hit the road!

 

 

The trip to Portland was a breeze (thanks Covid traffic) and we got there before the gates opened at 5. 

 

After getting in, setting up the pit and our camping tent, and getting the car through tech, we walked the paddock and look what we found!  A brand new racecar.  This VG S12 was here for its first race.

 

 

Then it was bundle up, get in the sleeping bags, and hope we didn't freeze to death before the fun began Saturday morning!  (no joke!)

[carterb]

Saturday morning was clear (much to our delight) and cold.  Nice to see grass at a racetrack for a change.

 

 

I climbed up on the pedestrian bridge and took this picture of the paddock before the activities started

 

 

Kind of cool to be in the same pits as the Indy Car teams I grew up watching on TV.  (I'm sure their trailers are a little fancier than our steel deck Dilly)

 

Here is the final turn (12) coming on to the straight front.  I've seen a few crashes into that wall in my lifetime.

 

 

 

 

None of us have driven here.  The track is completely flat.  We assumed that meant boring but it turned out to be such a fast track that you never got a chance to rest.  It was quite physical driving it actually...

 

I'm getting ahead of myself but a lap in our car was basically like this:

Heading into turn 1 of the Chicane you hug the wall and hit the brakes at about 104mph going down 2 gears from 5th to 3rd and turn into 1, clipping the low curbs in the process, then hard left around 2, trying not to scrub the tires and/or push out too wide while opening the steering heading for the inside curbing of turn 3.  WOT heading towards 4, trying to keep the rear planted as you exit 3.  Get 4th gear and brake while turning into 4.  4/5 is basically a right hand carousel made up of a series of short straights.  Jeff coined the term 8-bit carousel which is pretty fitting.  And it goes on forever!  You basically maintain throttle after turn in until 5 turns into 6 where you straighten up, downshift to 3rd, and go back the other way through a tighter left hand 180 degree turn.  You get on the gas as soon as the rear will let you as you straighten up and head to turn 7.  Then the track opens up like an inverse funnel to probably 8 or 10 cars wide before the right hand turn.  Here you stay left, brake quick and hard to set the car into a tight right and again get on the gas as soon as the car will let you as you arc out toward the curbing on the left hand kink leading to the long turn 8 back stretch.  You are in 4th as you start to turn right and then it's hugging the wall all around, gaining revs and speed and bravery as the entire corner is blind due to the concrete wall at your right.  Find fifth and keep your foot in it as the track straightens out before the quick turn 9 left hand kink - again back up to about 104mph in our car.  You need to brake a little for 9 but mostly for 10 that follows.  We found it best to get 4th somewhere before or during 9, coast through 10 and then back on the gas before late braking and downshifting to 3rd in the short chute leading into turn 11.  Here again you maintain throttle once turn in is complete and then feed in throttle as you straighten out the steering wheel while the car drifts out toward the turn 12 wall and finally the wall on the front straight.  As soon as you can you are WOT and into 4th at or about the pedestrian bridge, then 5th at or about the start/finish line then start setting up for the braking and entry to turn 1.

 

Our lap times were just over a minute and a half.  You are busy the whole time.  Not just braking/shifting/steering but also busy navigating the slower traffic and more importantly, watching the mirrors for the faster cars.  The closing speed at the end of the straight for a car like ours and the top end A cars is about 30mph, and it happens FAST!  Never a dull moment on a lap around PIR.

 

 

[carterb]

They had a driver's meeting Saturday morning (first in-person driver's meeting this season) and announced a few changes - one of which is that the normal 40 minute qualifying session would be broken into two 20 minute sessions - where the first session would be open to A cars and the fastest of the B cars only.  That meant we would only have 20 minutes to give Sam and Jeff some familiarity laps around the track before I started the race with the first stint.  Pressure's on then, but we are confident Swamp Thing won't let us down.

 

 

My stint was crazy!  Just about as soon as the race started it began to rain and the track was SLICK!  I literally spent the first hour just trying to stay on track.  The car was so slow in the corners!   We are pretty sure our front end is too stiff and/or our rear diff is too tight for rain driving, but it was supposed to pass quickly so it was soldier on and wait for it to dry up.  And dry up it did!  I spent the next 30 minutes or so unlearning what I had just spent an hour learning while grip levels increased and I could start to push the car.  Then the next 30 minutes was fun!  Interesting thing though about my Saturday morning stint -contrary to the narrative above, I didn't use 3rd gear.  This was due to traction in the rain obviously at first but then later, I was just really focused on momentum and didn't really think I needed it.  I'm interested to see if my fastest laps were late Saturday morning in 4th/5th only, or Sunday with 3/4/5 shifting.

 

On my second to last lap, coming around turn 12, the car suddenly felt slightly down on power, but then finished the next lap without issue.  Temp and oil pressure looked fine and the car accelerated like normal in all gears so *shrug*? 

 

Anyway, I handed over the car in once piece and then took some pics of Jeff as he were driving his first stint.

 

Here is the 10/11/12 complex

 

 

 

 

 

 

And in video:

 

http://datsun510.com/uploads/monthly_2020_10/10242020_swamp_thing.MOV.77a251fd4e5a45885425f47989de24bd.MOV

 

Edited October 30, 2020 by carterb

[carterb]

Things were going well until Jeff (I think) came in after only about 30-40 minutes into his stint with an issue.  The car was cutting out.  Apparently like I had felt but worse and not recovering. 

 

We looked at many things; ignition, fuel, plumbing, electrical and mechanical.

 

Sam the spark plug whisperer could tell we were running lean.  We took apart the MAF sensor, played with sparkplug wires, etc,

 

 

But we eventually landed on fuel.  We filled the car back up and sent him back out for another 30 trouble free minutes before he was back with the same problem. 

 

Next we jacked up the rear of the car and looked at the pumps, plumbing, filters, and surge tank.  Through various experimentation and alternating between Jeff and Sam as drivers - we think we determined that the low pressure fuel pump (and electric unit from an A/C equipped 620) was not doing its job.  Not only that, it was actually restricting flow.  We were able to run longer from full (about 45 minutes) via gravity feed only vs the 30 minutes we could run with the pump circuit.

 

We finished out the Saturday enduro like this - short stints between topping off the gas - while we formulated a plan for replacing the fuel pump later that night.

 

Interesting thing about PIR, the pits are in the infield, and there is no track crossing during the race.  We left Jeff's D21 parked inside - ensuring that we would have an issue - and so had no way to get to a parts store.

 

Thankfully one of the guys with Blue Bayou (Blew By You) made a run to Baxters for us and picked up a fuel punp and fittings we ordered over the phone.

 

We finished the enduro and then fueled the car for the 45 minute night sprint from 6:15pm to 7:00pm.  Only 10 cars entered but Jeff reported that was plenty because when someone is behind you, all you see is light in your mirrors and you have no way to judge how far away they are or if they are to your right or left or straight behind.  Anyway, he made it to the end and proved that he could race almost as fast is the dark as he can in the light.  :  )

 

After that, there was a dinner for all the entrants followed by a raffle and camaraderie.  We skipped that latter though as we had a fuel pump to swap in.  After looking at our options, we determined we would need to make a run into town to get some mounting brackets and hardware and a couple tools we didn't already have (like drill bits) which was fine because we would need to re-fill the 55 gallon fuel drum in the back of the truck anyway in preparation for Sunday's racing.

 

Back at the track around 9:30 or so, we swapped the fuel pump in pitch dark and barely over freezing conditions.

 

 

Frozen sleeping bags here we come!

Edited October 30, 2020 by carterb

[carterb]

Saturday had a pretty high attrition rate.  Although some teams left the track with broken cars (like that S12, which spun a rod bearing), quite a few were able to make repairs and line back up Sunday morning. 

 

Here is the race start:

 

http://datsun510.com/uploads/monthly_2020_10/10252020_swamp_thing.MOV.32a6b66a3051228fb24da2ca62c1a569.MOV

 

Jeff started the race for us and had a productive - trouble free stint.  He handed over the car to Sam who climbed up to first in C by the 3 hour mark.  This was getting exciting!

 

Then he was black flagged for contact (he thinks?) which put us on the back foot but it didn't matter anyway because by the end of his stint, or somewhere in the middle of mine, I was hit by one of the leading A cars at 104mph while setting up for braking into 1.  The car was almost undrivable after the contact and it was all I could do to get the car back to the pits, even spinning off track at turn 7 at nowhere near racing speed in the process.  I pulled into the pits to report the contact and the Civic came in in front of me going straight to their pit to work out their own problems.  They looked like they were having a tough time keeping their car pointed straight as well. 

 

We couldn't see any signs of damage on the body but jacked up the car to check the suspension and alignment.  Just about that time the race was red flagged and all cars were brought to the pit lane.  It turns out someone lost an engine or rear end seal and laid a trail of oil around the entire track.  Our car was fine, I was just driving on oil!  (we don't feel too bad about the miss-read, the civic team changed their left rear wheel/tire to "fix" their car).  So we put it back down on the ground and I rejoined the queue in the pit lane.  Once they let us out, it took a good 1/2 lap before my tires were oil free again.

 

Then, before the scheduled end of my shift, I started getting fuel starvation issues, so back into the pits and back to finishing out the day with 30-40 minute stints trying to make sure we didn't damage the car in the process.  I think we actually called it quits with about 20 minutes to go. 

 

It gave us a jump start on taking down the camp site and loading the trailer.  We had a drive ahead of us after all and I think we were all a little tired and frozen.  It was WINDY all day on top of the freezing temps.  At least it wasn't raining!!!

 

AND, at least we were able to make it through another day of racing without breaking the car.  Sunday had a pretty high attrition rate as well, with some cars, like this BMW, finding the walls at PIR are NOT soft.

 

 

 

I feel for you guys!  You'll be back...

 

But for now, so long PIR!

 

 

We have a drive ahead of us.

 

 

 

[carterb]

Post Script - We stopped for fuel (food and gas) on the way home and Jeff's favorite McDonnalds in Napavine.

 

 

After some McChickens, he turned on the lights and blew a fuse.  Something about his truck does not like his trailer.  As a work-around, we turned on the taillights on the 510 and disconnected the trailer wiring.  Surely good enough for the ride home.  Since the headlights are currently wired on at all times (switch was bypassed at the last race in Shelton) Jeff raised the hood to disconnect the headlights.  Once we got on the freeway I asked Jeff if he latched the hood.  *D'oh!*  Sam looked back to see the hood covering the HANKOOK windshield sticker so Jeff made a quick exit to the shoulder and we ran back to check on the car.  Miraculously the hood did not fold back and break the windshield.  Turns out he had given the hood the "D21 drop" instead of closing it deliberately and re-latching the hood pins.  There was some damage to the pin latches which we massaged out and then were able to re-latch the hood and no one will be the wise.  Blessings counted!!!

 

The rest of the drive was uneventful, except for the occasional enthusiastic thumbs up from surrounding traffic.

 

Awesome weekend.  Sad the season is over for us.  Excited for next year.  We have plans!!!  Watch this space.

 

[carterb]

We have some more great in-car Go-Pro footage that hopefully Sam will be sharing with us and there are a bunch of nice pro stills floating around on facebook that I'm counting on him or Jeff to post - along with their thoughts from the weekend.  Over to you guys...

[Icehouse]

Here are some photos I've found on the facebook page. 

 

[Icehouse]

More great photos!!

[]2eDeYe]

Awesome!