Wanna Go Formula Ford Racing?
by Barry Haynie
So, you've decided you want to go racing and open wheel road racing is your
thing.
You've decided to own your car. That's the easy part. Now you have to decide
what class, new or used equipment, work on it yourself or hire a prep shop, do
you need a tow vehicle etc, etc.
Fortunately, there is a perfect governor for these decisions; the almighty
dollar.
Following the simple (and not so simple) guidelines below hopefully will
help you get the most for your money.
So, lets start out with a short description of what is out there to tempt your
open wheel racing palette.
Vintage:
These are older cars (generally pre-1972) that encompass everything from Formula
1 to Formula Junior.
Vintage racing can be a very expensive endeavor. Buying a ready to race vintage
car is not for the faint of heart or checkbook. Even basket cases in need of
restoration often demand high prices. I have to admit I am not very well versed
in the vintage scene but you can find out more by checking the many vintage
racing sites on the Web: search Vintage racing.
Cost to consider are chassis, engine, transport, and running expenses such as
tires, entry fees, lodging, food, crew cost if you are lucky enough to have a
crew. As a point of reference I am showing the upper limits of a well heeled
team. You can get by for a lot less than I show below and still have a ton of
fun and if you are good enough, win.
$ code:
$$$$$ = 250K and upward - Pro level.
$$$$ = 50-100K - Semi-pro or very serious National effort.
$$$ = 30-50K - Front running National car, low budget National effort.
$$ = 15-30K
- National/Regional effort.
$ = 8-15K - Regional.
Below represents car cost only, may include engine, may not.
Factor in all other cost to arrive at a total budget.
Formula Atlantic - Toyota 1.6 liter, DOHC or Cosworth 1.6 DOHC in
National or Regionals, 250 HP, hi-tech,
ground effect winged car, (Pro series $$$$$+) - (National
$$$$+) - (Regional $$+)
Formula Continental - 2 liter OHC Ford, 150 HP, restricted class,
winged car, feeds lots of
good used cars down to the lower levels. (Pro series $$$$$)
- (National $$$+) - (Regional
$$)
Club Formula Continental - Older FC cars (generally pre-1992)
(Regional class only $+). not available in all regions.
Formula Ford - 1.6 liter Ford, 110 HP, restricted class, no
aerodynamic devices, class dominated by the
Swift chassis since 1983, (National effort $$$) - (Regional
$+).
Club Formula Ford - Same as Formula Ford, rules vary from Division/Region to
Division/Region. Basically, pre-1983 cars with at least one end of the car with
outboard suspension (shocks
in the air stream). Many Regions require Spec Tires. (Regional effort $)
Formula Mazda - Also called Formula Star or Star
Mazda, single
specification class (one chassis, one
engine, sealed), big on West coast, growing in the East. (National effort $$$+)
- (Regional $$)
Formula Vee/Club Formula Vee - 1200cc based VW, restricted class,
horsepower limited requires strategy
and drafting to finish first. Club Formula Vee Regional only, not available in all Regions.
(Pro series $$+) - (National and Regional $ - to
+)
Formula 500 - 500cc, belt driven, don't have a good idea on cost.
Check out the F500 web site for info.
There are other sanctioning bodies where you can find formula cars running.
Check out Race Car Club of
America and NASA for information.
Ready to Go?
Have you been to the track to check all this stuff out or just watched it on TV?
Have you been to driver's
school and gotten your Novice permit? If not, think about doing that first. It
is much cheaper to rent a ride for
a school weekend to find out if you really want to do this. Jumping in with both
feet? That's OK. Lots of
racers start that way. Let's get a car.
Where Do You Start?
Your first task is to find a car for sale. This is not very hard. If you want a
brand new car you are
limited to Van Dieman (FC/FF), Stohr (FF), Carbir (FC), Swift (FA). You could
import other brands from
England for FF if you are really motivated. Used cars make up around 98% of the
race cars sold every year
so lets explore buying them.
Start in your region. Contact the Region's class administrator/driver
representative to inquire if
any cars are for sale. Its good to make friends at this point as it will pay off
later. Buying local has a big
benefit: It is always better to buy from someone you have a chance of seeing
again; there will be less risk of
a screw-job. No cars for sale there? There are a number of Web Sites that have
For Sale listings; go to the
links page at this site to check them out. Apexspeed, has extensive listings of cars for sale
continuously.
The Commandments
Buying your race car should be a fun and exciting experience. The first step
will be to make contact
with the seller. A little etiquette here goes a long way. Don't be a time
waster. Call when you are serious
about going to look at the car. You are not going to buy it sight unseen (are
you?) so negotiations at this
stage are pointless and even more pointless is calling if you have no intention
of buying the car. I say again,
don't be a time waster.
To make it a little easier for you I have mined my years of experience to come
up with what I decided
to call the commandments of race car buying (it somehow makes it sound
impressive!). Tailor them to your
experience level.
Here we go.
1. YOU GET WHAT YOU INSPECT, NOT EXPECT
This may sound obvious but it entails more than kicking the tires. You are about
to purchase a
machine that frankly, you are trusting your life to. If that sounds too
dramatic, then think of all the fun you
will be missing while you are broken down or waiting for some obsolete parts.
The first car I bought was a Lola 540. The owner would not let me take the car
away until I had,
under his supervision, taken a lot of it apart and put it back together. I was
able to do this because we lived
in the same city. Re-read above paragraph to refresh yourself on the benefits of
buying local if you can.
You probably won't be that lucky so, how do you ensure you are making the right
decision after
driving across 3 states and two time zones? Read on.
2. IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS, FIND SOMEONE TO ASSIST YOU
There are basically zero resources to aid the novice race car buyer. If you
don't know anyone to help
you that's not a problem. Contact your local SCCA region to get the names and
numbers of some of the
drivers in your potential class. You will find plenty of help and enthusiasm for
your joining the group; there is
always room for another competitor on the grid.
You will have a lot of questions prior to going to inspect the car and after you
get there. What are
the potential trouble areas with this make of car? Is it a good make/model or a
dud? Is the price too high for
what you see? Are all the parts there? (basket cases restorations should only be
attempted by the
experienced) What about all those spares listed in the ad? Are they just used up
parts or actual usable
spares? Speaking of spares, they can sweeten the deal but should not appreciably
raise the price of the
car; their condition will dictate the negotiation. The experienced racers in
your region will be eager to assist
you.
3. THERE'S "FRESH" AND THEN THERE'S "FRESH"
After a good, hard, sweaty workout you can splash some water on your face and
feel fresh, but you'll
still stink. It is the same with race cars. A lot of cars are advertised as
"fresh", "zero-time", "stored/not run
in x years" etc. A good inspection will prove or disprove much of the hype.
The owner is trying to sell a car,
if he is honest there is no problem. If the owner hesitates to let you
investigate a little deeper than kicking
the tires or do a leak down on the engine for example, then it probably is not
the car for a first time buyer.
4. IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS
Sure, there are cases where cars have to be dumped for one reason or another.
Your pre-trip
investigation will reveal if it is a time waster or winner. You may not find out
until you have made the trip. If it
turns out to be a waste, be nice. If it looks like it could work out, follow
these commandments and let your
conscience be your guide.
5. COMPLETE CARS SHOULD RUN
Not much explanation needed here. A non-running car pretty much equals roller
and the price should
reflect that fact. A dead battery is not an excuse, you can always use a jump
battery. The run check will
reveal a wealth of data. Does the starter work? Does the engine start? Any
strange noises? Smoke?
Water leaks? Oil leaks? Oil pressure normal (cold engine should be around 60-80
psi as a rule of thumb)?
Blown head gasket (water vapor out the pipe)? Water in the oil (tough to check,
need to pull a hose and
drain some oil)? Does the Tach (and other gauges) work? Is water circulating
(feel for heat at radiator)?
Reputable sellers know all this and should already be set up for the test when
you arrive. (Like my second
car purchase. The car looked like hell but it was sound mechanically and started
right up.)
6. COMPLETE CARS AND ROLLERS SHOULD HAVE A GEARBOX THAT WORKS
I hear you all now, "that Haynie, what an idiot", of course the box is
complete. Really? Are you
sure? Some guys will want to keep their gears. A common characteristic of used
cars is they usually have
worn components. A worn out ring and pinion gear will at its best waste
horsepower and at its worst destroy
your $4000 gearbox (that's what it will cost to replace if not more!). While you
are back there wondering if
the thing works, inspect the CV joints (or the rubber donuts if it is a really
old car).
How do you do all this you say? Well, you could disassemble the gearbox but that
would not be
practical for your purchase inspection.
First test - try to shift the box with
the shift lever. All these cars
follow the basic "H" pattern with reverse being left and up. There is
a reverse spring detent lockout you have
to overcome.
Second test - with it in a gear, try to push the car. It should not
move (unless you are trying to
push start for commandment number 5.) Not all gears may select in this test due
to gear train design but it
will at least tell you if the guts are in the box.
Third test - to get all the
gears to engage you need to be able to rotate the tires. Jack up the rear of the car.
Select a gear and rotate one
of the rear tires. The other tire should rotate in the opposite direction.
If not the differential should be
questioned. Perform this test for all gears, forward and reverse.
Fourth test - when doing this test you need to
determine if the ring and pinion is in trouble. This is not a
very objective test but short of a teardown its the
best I can think of. What you need to determine is if
there is excessive backlash in the ring and pinion.
With the
box in gear, hold one tire to prevent it from rotating. Mark the other tire with a reference
at 12 o'clock.
Gently rotate this tire feeling for the amount of movement before it can't rotate due
to the other tire being held.
There should be some small amount of backlash but if you can turn
your wheel from 12 to 1 and back to 11
it's excessive. 1230 to 1130 is most likely too much.
No backlash at all is cause for concern also. Just
expect some play due to normal wear and tear.
Hopefully you followed commandment number 2 and your buddy has a
calibrated feel for this
type of thing. Watch out for worn CV joints giving a false reading in the test.
You should not be able to hold
the CV still, rotate that axle and feel any backlash. Eliminate that first.
Lastly, without taking the gearbox
out of the car it will be impossible to fully inspect the clutch. A go-no go
test can be performed during the
push test above. If the box passed the guts check, put the car in gear, depress
the clutch and try to push
the car. If the car rolls easily (not turning over the engine) then at least you
know the clutch is releasing.
7. DETERMINE THE STATUS OF THE SAFTEY EQUIPMENT
Seat belts, fire suppression system, master kill switch, rain light, fuel cell
and updated roll hoops; all
will ruin your day at Technical Inspection. Belts have to be replace every 5
years. Look for the date tag on
each component of the harness; sub belt, seat belt and shoulder belts. The tag
will have a hole punched in
the date of manufacture. Add 5 years to see if you're busted. Driver actuated
(from the cockpit) fire
suppression systems are required by SCCA. Don't believe any other story. Is the
bottle charged? It should
have a gauge with the needle in the green. If not you may be busted (weighing
bottles by a certified facility is
acceptable if a gauge is not installed). When performing engine run test in
commandment number 5, turn off
the master switch and see if the car dies. Too bad if it doesn't. Does the rain
light work? Simple test but
this item has the least amount of attention to detail during installation. Make
sure there is a fuel cell. Rules
require the cell to be enclosed in a container. Is it? Is the cell vented with a
check valve? Last but not least,
a lot of older cars were not built to roll over structure specifications now in
use. In 1998, all formula cars
raced in SCCA were required to meet the 1986 specifications on front and rear
roll hoops and bracing. If the
car does not meet these specs and you intend to run SCCA then you will have to
have the work done. See
commandment number 10.
8. INSPECT THE FRAME/CHASSIS
Take off all the body work. Put the car up on stands high enough to inspect the
belly pan. Look for
bent tubes, rust at welds, rust in general, bent suspension links, and oil
inside the car (oil leaks will always
migrate into the cockpit, one of those silly constants of race cars). Check for
play in the wheel bearings.
Rotate wheels to check for bad wheel bearings (don't mistake dragging brake pads
for bad or tight bearings,
pull the pads to be sure). Try to move the suspension links looking for worn out
rod ends; axial or radial play
indicates worn out rod ends. Is the belly pan in good shape? Scrapes and minor
gouges or OK. Big
gouges, and puncture holes equals replacement. Missing rivets are OK, just need
to be replaced. Check the
gearbox mounts. The Hewland/Webster boxes (in older FF/CF/FC's) are VW cased and
are pretty much
bullet proof. They do have a tendency to crack at the mounting bosses to the
adaptor plate. Check this out
carefully. Check engine mounts for obvious cracks. It is usually not practical
to do a complete NDT before
you buy but, hey, you never know. Refer to your rule books for legal roll hoops,
fuel cell, belly pans. Inspect
all the brake rotors for cracks and runout/warpage. Again, this is not the place
for a full blown NDT, just
check for cracks at mounting holes, and any lightening work. Shocks and springs
should be considered a
consumable. Bouncing the car up and down will tell you nothing about their
condition. You can't really test
a shock without removing the spring. Plan on sending the shocks off for rebuild
and buy new springs. A side
note about springs. Older cars were designed in an era when tires were not as
good as we have today. To
get grip, spring rates were kept rather low. If your new car comes with the
springs it was built with, well, first
off they are worn out and two, they are too soft. Find out what spring rates you
need to move up to before
you get the shocks rebuilt. They need to be matched to the spring rates.
9. CAN YOU FIT IN THE CAR
Believe it or not, not everyone can fit into one of these cars. Just being able
to sit down is not good
enough. Are you comfortable? Probably not at this point. Can you make the car
comfortable? Can the
pedals be adjusted? Can your size 13 feet fit a size 7 1/2 foot box? If you
would not look out of place on an
NFL or NBA team then formula cars may not be for you.
10. GET A COPY OF THE GENERAL COMPETITION RULES AND CLASS RULES
This is commandment number 1 but I am too lazy to go back and change everything.
Study the
rules before you go to see the car. Use the books to your advantage. While you
are collecting your
reference material, get the entire Caroll Smith collection and study them.
Speaking of reference material,
don't expect to get an owners manual with your used car. Reynards should have
one and if not they are
easy to get ( I have two!), newer Van Diemans should have a manual. Before you
drive off with your new race
car, be sure to ask the smiling person holding your check for all the records
(he should have kept) for the
car. You should get things like set up sheets, engine logs, parts suppliers etc.
Be Realistic.
This may be the best piece of advice I can offer. It is rare that a first year
racer will show up and
dominate. You will be up against seasoned veterans who know their track like the
back of their hand. They
know the right set ups, the right gear ratios, the quirks of the track, etc,
etc. You most likely won't know
these things. For those in the know its called competitive advantage. For those
who have yet to learn, well,
lets just call it frustrating. Hang in there though. Those veterans will help
you out and if you can stick with
them for a few laps you will learn volumes.
If Captain Kirk were to ask Mr. Spock what the odds where of the club racer
landing an IRL ride or
having CART knocking at his/her door, I think he would say "Astronomical
Captain". If you have talent you
will do well at any level. What it takes to move up after you are anointed the
second coming of Senna is
budget. You have to move up to the Pro series to have any chance at the show.
There are plenty of drivers
with the budget but not the talent and plenty the other way around too. Just
remember, its supposed to be
fun.
That's about it. I can't make any guaranties you won't get burned but if you
follow these guidelines
you will greatly lessen the chances. I don't want to imply that every race car
for sale is a dud. On the
contrary, most cars will be about as advertised. It is those odd cases you need
to be prepared for. Good
luck on your search and if have questions drop me a note.
Chapter Two - Needful Things;
OK, I Bought the Car, What Do I Do Next?
Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a used race car. What do you do
now?
Well, unless you are going to run it out of the previous owner's shop you have
to get it home. Many
times used cars come with used trailers. Do you own or have access to a vehicle
capable of towing?
Is its wiring compatible with the trailer? Do the trailer lights work? Don't
wait until you are half way
home and the sun sets to find this out. State Inspection? Most states require a
trailer equipped with
brakes to have a state safety inspection. What about registration? Are the tires
up to the trip? Is
there a spare? Do you have the correct ball for the hitch? I know this sounds
like a million things and I
also know that you will be focused on the race car purchase so prepare to get it
all home safe with as
much vigor as you apply to the car inspection and purchase.
No trailer with the deal? Uh-oh. Now you need a trailer. Universal Truth: Your
trailer has
nothing to do with how fast your race car goes on the track. If you have been to
the track (following
lessons from Chapter One) you probably saw every imaginable variation of tow
vehicle and trailer. Open
trailers, enclosed trailers, RV's as tow vehicles and perhaps even the old
family station wagon. Your
budget will dictate how lavish you go with the tow vehicle and trailer, just
remember what I said above.
Someone has to work on the car and prepare it for the race. Most often that will
be you.
Fact:
You don't need a $5000 Snap-On tool box to maintain your new ride. What you will
need is a set of
combination wrenches, 1/4-1 inch range (two sets are better as often you will
need wrench/wrench
back up for fittings, jam nuts, etc.), 1/4 inch drive socket set with a set of
extensions, 3/8 inch drive
socket set with extensions, 1/2 inch drive ratchet to work some of the larger
sockets you will
need(gearbox, wheel hub nuts, etc), set of 1/4 inch drive hex key sockets, set
of allen wrenches,
especially the big one for the gearbox (17MM on MK 9 Hewlands), speed drive
handles for at least the
1/4 inch drive, screw drivers, wire cutters, vise grips, regular pliers, needle
nose pliers, internal/external
snap ring pliers, hammers, both hard and soft faced, spanners to adjust springs
on shocks, a good
hack saw, 1/2 inch drive torque wrench (click type, never beam type), breaker
handles for socket sets,
a set of punches with alignment tool, and, obviously something to keep them in
(think portability).
Lastly, go over the car looking for oddball sized fasteners or ones that need a
special/modified tool to
get at.
The cordless drill is perhaps one of the greatest inventions of the 20th
century; it is
indispensable at the track. You need one with a good amount of torque in case
you need to drill steel.
Pair your drill motor up with a good drill index. Race cars have lots of rivets.
They are almost
universally blind "Pop" types. Carry a hand riveter, a quantity of the
various size rivets found on your
car and buy a pack of rivet back up washers for the size used on
plastic/fiberglass pieces.
Besides the basic hand tools, you will need to equip your fledgling race team
with some basic
support gear. You need a jack (unless you have a bunch of friends to pick the
car up). Because
formula cars have such low ride heights, a special jack that will slip under the
frame and then lift the car
is required This type of jack is referred to as a "formula car or quick
jack". A quick jack will have a
total lift of around 8 inches or so; this is plenty to change tires etc. Expect
to spend around $150 for
one. After you get one end up in the air you need to support it. An
appropriately sized (keeps the tires
clear of the ground when the jack is lowered) block of wood works just fine and
cost next to nothing.
You can purchase fabricated jack stands from a number of suppliers for about the
same price as the
jack. If you place a support at the vehicle center of gravity it will balance
and you can lift the front end
with one hand. A small floor jack also comes in handy from time to time. Try to
keep your car on the
stands and not let it sit on the tires. The weight of the car will develop flat
spots on your tires. It also
gets the car up and easier to work on.
You will need at least one container for fuel. Get at least a five gallon size.
You can spend
$18 on a 'Super Jug" type or $7 on the homeowner variety at Wal-Mart. You
also need a funnel to get
the fuel in the cell and not all over the car or ground (at $4 a gallon that
should be motivation enough).
Don't scrimp here. Buy one of the wide mouth types with the micron screen
filter. Most places that
sell the "super jugs" also sell these funnels. This filter screen will
trap contaminates and WATER.
This is cheap insurance against fun degradation after your car stops on circuit
due to fuel
contamination.
Keeping your tires inflated and measuring their inflation pressures is
fundamental. Duh! To
make this happen you need a portable air tank and pressure gage. Now lets talk a
minute about the
tank. BAD IDEA: Converting a refrigerant tank to a portable air tank. Buy the
right thing; consider it
part of your safety gear. To measure the tire's pressure you need a quality
gauge that reads 0-30 lb..
The gas station stick type gauge will work but it is not as accurate and does
not have a bleed down
valve to set the pressure. You can build up a gauge yourself from parts readily
available at an industrial
supplier but why bother. For about the same price you can get one ready to go
from any number of
race suppliers.
Lets see, to recap we have our tools and something to carry them in, we have a
way to get the
car up and change tires, we can fuel the car, we can put air into the tires and
we can drill and rivet .
One other piece of gear I consider essential (although I know drivers that don't
use one) is an external
battery to start the car. The onboard battery is limited in capacity. Using it
to start the car is asking
for trouble. At the worst it will fail on the grid (after using it to start and
go to the grid), or after a couple
of starts voltage will drop during the race and you will be unhappy with the
performance of your ignition
system. Setting up the car for an external battery is simple and smart.
"One-man band" teams
obviously will have difficulty getting unplugged once strapped in. Consider this
when you set up the
plug. Also, wire the plug so that it is independent of the onboard battery.
While we are on the subject of batteries and the car's electrical system, don't
use a regular
battery charger to charge the race car's onboard battery. Most cars use small
capacity gel cell
batteries and even the trickle on regular chargers will be too much. What you
want to get is a charger
specifically designed for these little batteries. A good one is the Battery
TenderTM by Deltran. Expect
to spend around $60 and when you figure batteries cost around $100+, its good
insurance.
Murphy's Laws are absolute in the race car world. Something will always get
screwed up so a
few spares are essential. Always carry a NEW spare ignition coil, points,
condenser, rotor, distributor
cap, and a set of plug wires. Bad performing engines can often be fixed by
trouble shooting the ignition
system. Toss a couple of oil filters into you track kit. You should not be
changing oil at the track but
carry a spare filter just in case. I once had a new filter that would not pass
oil. After changing oil at the
track (for some reason I did not do it at the shop) I could not get the oil
pressure to come up during
priming. After checking everything else to confirm the pump was working, I
loosened the filter outlet
hose. Guess what? No oil came out while cranking over. I installed a new filter
and problem fixed. If
that is not convincing enough, I had a buddy blow the top out of a new filter
while warming up in the
paddock. He had a spare and made the session. Race cars perform in harsh
environment; heat,
vibration, G-loads and the occasional agricultural experiment. If you can put it
on, it can take itself off!
The water pump belt, rain light bulbs and every nut and bolt on the car fits
into this category. Carry a
spare belt and plenty of bulbs and a spare lens (Corollary: rain lights never
work at tech) or, shell out
$35 for one of the new trick LED rain lights and forget about it. Lastly, carry
some spare nuts and
bolts; those that fit your car not the dozen coffee cans full of trash that have
collected in your garage
over the past millennium.
You also will have need for a variety of chemicals. LoctiteTM 242 and 271 should
always be in
your tool box (keeps those pesky nuts and bolts in place). Carry a tube of
UltraBlackTM silicon. This
stuff is very good for quick leak fixes on the engine. If you plan on doing gear
changes you need a tube
of HylomarTM sealant. You can't live with out brake cleaner, buy it by the case
lot; its cheaper that way.
Even cheaper, buy it by the gallon and use one of the compressed air bulk spray
cans (QuickShotTM) .
Also lay in some glass cleaner (again buy in bulk) and a spray lube such as
WD-40TM.
Brake bleeding is a necessary task. You will need to keep FRESH fluid available
and you will
need something to bleed the brakes into. Get a couple of quart sized plastic
bottles and some clear
plastic hose sized to snugly fit the caliper bleeder screw. Bore a hole in the
bottle cap for the hose,
make a pin hole for a vent, put some brake fluid into the bottle, make sure the
hose is covered by the
fluid and go bleed brakes. If you know of a Kart racing shop you can get some
real trick clear silicon
hose for your set up. Almost forgot two important things: ty-wraps and racer's
tape. They don't have
anything to do with brake bleeding but I just remembered them. You will forever
be needing both of
these so be sure to keep them handy.
I consider the above a minimalist approach; it will get you to the track and
hopefully keep
you running. In reality, you can get by, if you're lucky, with less. The way I
figure it though - if you
are going to make the effort and investment to go to the track - don't have your
time, money and fun
wasted because you didn't have a basic part or tool. ( Once I needed an odd ball
sized allen key, did
not have one, tried to borrow one without success and ended up missing my
session. Fifty dollars
wasted on a five dollar tool; not good economics.)
What about shop equipment? Other than a workbench and a good vise, you can get
by with nothing
except what we have already discussed. However, if you are serious (and who
isn't after having gone
this far) you will want a modicum of equipment in the shop to make preparing for
the next race easier if
not more enjoyable.
First on our list of good to have is an air compressor. You need to have enough
capacity to run
air tools and perhaps a paint gun. Three horsepower/12 gallon tank is more than
sufficient. You will
find many good uses for this piece of equipment. Air tools are handy (except for
that pesky hose) and
fairly low buck. All you should need would be a drill motor and air ratchet.
Sanders are handy for a
variety of tasks. You don't need an air hammer (popular part of many air tool
kits). You can do without
the impact wrench too. Having your own air also beats hell out of trucking your
tires and air tank to the
gas station. (There are a variety of tasks around the house that can use the air
compressor; use your
imagination as it may be critical in the "negotiations".)
Second is a drill press. No need to buy the big floor models although they can
be handy for
some jobs. You can do about 99% of your precision drilling work with one of the
smaller versions.
Whatever version you have, you will need to get a drill press vise to hold work
as required. My drill
press gets most of its work by drilling bolts for safety wire. Use good bits and
cutting fluid for drilling in
steel.
Third is a parts washer. It is really nice to be able to clean up cruddy parts
before having to
work on them. Provides a good excuse for buying the air compressor; use the air
compressor to blow
the parts dry! Be Safety and Hazmat conscience with this piece of equipment.
I think that's about it. You've got your race car, a way to get it to the track,
the tools to work
on it, some spare parts, maybe some shop equipment . Next we will discuss
getting the car and driver
ready for their first event.
Chapter Three Do I REALLY Want to Do This?
Getting Through Your First School With Your Sanity Intact-
If equiping your shop did not put you in the poor house then you may
have some money
left over for your
first school. As I have said, you really don't need everything all at once but
you do need to make sure the car
and the driver are each ready for the maiden voyage.
Lets start with the car. I won't reiterate what others, more knowledgable that I
have written on this
subject. The Carol Smith books are more that you will ever need to get going in
the right direction. What I
hope to do is try and help the novice racer figure out what to do first. If you
are standing in your garage
looking at boxes of parts and a bare frame; good luck! Hopefully your ride is a
little more on the way to at
least starting up and rolling so I think we shall start there.
Mechanical Soundness-
If you followed the first chapter you are well on your way to making short work
of this chore. If you are
like me and never seem to have enough time to get life-stuff done much less work
on the car then hopefully I
can share some ideas. Checking the mechanical soundness of the racecar, engine
and drive train is essential
to successfully completing your school. It takes gobs of time (as well it should
because it is important),
requires some special tools and common sense. This last one should be rather
straight forward but what
others find acceptable is amazing to me.
Lets start with the suspension system. Put the car up on stands. Check the wheel
bearing for play
by rocking the top of the tire back and forth ( or grab each side and do the
same thing). If it wobbles, its bad
and you get to replace/repack/tighten wheel bearings. Take out the brake pads
(we'll look them over later) and
spin the tires. Do they spin freely? Do they spin freely with no tight spots or
grinding? OK? Good. Not OK
lets you try your hand at finding the trouble and fixing it. If the wheels don't
spin freely in this test they won't at
the track either. After you are satisfied the wheel bearings are in working
order, take off the tires. We are
going to check the brakes next. What you want is a true running, not cracked
rotor. The spin test will reveal
any bad run-out but a dial indicator is the only way to know for sure the rotor
is running true. If the rotors show
signs of wear you should have them trued or replace them. If it is an older car
this could take some ingenuity
to locate the proper rotors. This is a good time to go back to chapter 1 for a
review; you should have seen
any major problems there and either passed or negotiated the price to let you
get new stuff. While you are
scoping out the rotors, check to see if the rotor is centered in the caliper. If
not, get out some shim stock and
shim the caliper mounts to get it centered. Speaking of caliper mounting, are
the bolts drilled for safety wire?
If not, do it (use the handy safety wire drill jig available from you race
supplier or aircraft supplier). Of course
this gives you a chance use the safety wire pliers--do the safety wiring
properly, Carol Smith tells you how in
Prepare to Win. Check hoses and fittings for wear and tear. Also check your
caliper bleeders--if the hex is
rounded off beware. Find out why and replace.
Let me digress a moment on plumbing. If you have never built up those cool
stainless steel braided
flexible lines before don't be intimidated. They are actually easy to do so long
as you follow the procedure.
Get a copy of an Aeroquip catalog--it is chock full of useful tech and How To
info on hoses. The teflon hose is
the only way to go for brakes but, braided steel lines while they may look cool
are not necessary anywhere
else on the car and are in fact heavy. For oil and fuel go with the Aeroquip
Socketless or equivalent--its
cheaper, easier to build up, looks just as cool and is lighter. There, I've said
it and won't say it again!
Back to the fun. After you have completed your brake inspection, give the
suspension a visual once
over again to make sure you did not miss a bent piece. You could have done this
first but what the heck I only
thought of it now! Take off the shocks and don't lose the the bushings in each
eyelet. These are custom
pieces and if you lose one you get to play with a lathe or pay someone else to
play with a lathe. Wait! Before
you take of those shocks, back off the spring perches. Or, if they are already
off just put one eye in a vise to
hold it while you loosen up the springs. With the springs off we have a couple
of things to do. First, with the
shocks fully extended, measure their overall length. The fronts should be
exactly the same and the rears
should be exactly the same. They're not? Well, you most likely needed to rebuild
the shocks anyway--minor
adjustments can be made at the top eye but >1/4 will most likely need a shaft
replaced.
Lets test them-
Holding the big end in your hand, place the other end against the edge of the
work bench or other solid
surface. You want to compress the shock and let it rebound. If the shaft just
slides up and down with the
greatest of ease then that shock loses. You should have a firm resistance in
compression with the shaft
rebounding on its own. If they all pass this test then that's good enough for
school--racing, well maybe. I have
purposefully generalized in this discussion because there are such a large
number of different makes of shock
but "shocks is shocks" and this will at least tell you if you have a
problem. Don't take the car out with a dead
shock--get it fixed. If the shocks are unequal in length, and they very well may
be on an older car, you need to
correct that sooner or later. You can let it slide for school (so so long as
they are not wildly differnent) but
plan on fixing it ASAP.
Oh yeah, the springs you took off, any idea what their rates are or were? For
school, just put the
fronts back on the front and rears on the rear. If you can get them checked do
because who knows if the
previous owner had them paired. From day one, with use, springs will steadily
lose rate. For this reason,
springs are consumables. Plan on getting a new set--after you figure out what
springs you need. You will
need to have a heart to heart discussion with your shock man because spring
rates and shock valving need to
be harmonized. As our tires have improved over the years we have needed to go
ever firmer on wheel rates
(read stiffer springs in most cases). If you have an older car, the recommended
springs in 1976 or what ever
are going to be way too soft for 2001. The Carol Smith books give a lot of info
about calculating wheel rates
but the modern rule of thumb is to try to get a spring rate that will give a
wheel rate close to the static wheel
weight for that corner. This may be too stiff for some cars and work well on
others. Figure out what the rate
would be and go about half way or so to start. Lastly on the shocks, clean up
the threads on the shock
bodies, spray some WD-40 on the threads, replace the bump rubbers, install the
springs and set it all aside
until ready to reinstall.
With the shocks off the suspension will droop so you should support the outboard
end with blocks
etc. If a corner (or two) did not drop down when you removed the shock you need
to find out why. What we
are talking about here is inspecting for binding in the suspension. Grab the
wheel end of the suspension and
move it up and down checking for binding. Try to move it side to side and check
for play. If it is binding locate
the source and fix it. If it is flopping around all over the place the rod ends
may be shot. You must replace any
suspect rod end before you drive the car! Check all the fasteners--maybe the bind
is a too tight bolt, maybe the
looseness is a loose bolt. Upside down with a torn up race car is not the time
to check these things out!
Before you put it all back together, there are a couple more things to
check/prep. The front and rear sway/roll
bars need to be checked for free rotation and should be lubed at their
pivot/bearing saddles. Also, at the rear,
pull the half shaft, inspect the CV joints. Be careful here. CV's can come apart
and while they can be put
back together I have found that it requires the skill of a Nobel Laureate
mechanic to do so. Replace CV's as
necessary or repack with the correct CV joint grease and reinstall. Once you are
satisfied all is in order, re-
install the shocks and tighten everything up.
But wait, there is more. While you are inspecting the suspension and its various
mounts, rod ends
and bolts, be sure to check the frame where all these things are attached. Short
of a total teardown you can't
see into every nook and cranny but you need to do what you can to be sure the
frame attachment points are
sound and ready for you to hit the track. Be sure to go over all the nuts and
bolts to check for tightness. You
don't have to "white-knuckle" wrench down on them and torquing each
one is not required. Just be sure they
are tight and secure. You will need to do this regularly after your sessions to
be sure nothing has loosened
up.
ELECTRICAL SOUNDNESS
This is rather straightforward and simple but it is the simple things that often
get overlooked and leave
you track side admiring your buds' lines. Lets start with the battery. If you
have a garden tractor type wet cell
get rid of it. Most cars use some sort of sealed gel type cell battery of
relatively low amperage and capcity.
What this means to you the driver is that you should plan on starting your car
with an off-board battery.
Proper care of the on-board battery will ensure long, trouble-free service. The
main thing you have to do is not
over charge the battery. Don't trust the trickle charge mode on the charger you
use on your street car battery
(or that off-board starter battery). What you want is the "Battery
Tender" charger. You can find it at better
racing suppliers, aircraft suppliers or motorcycle shops. It is designed to be
attached to the battery, plugged
in and left alone until you are ready to go. A "regular" charger, even
on trickle will boil your battery. Take my
word on this one and save yourself the aggravation of 1) replacing that $100
battery you just bought, 2) having
the battery go flat during the session (this is really a pain because it is hard
to trouble shoot--the engine won't
run right, misses at high RPM, won't make power--you will change everything but
the battery in your search for
the cause). Make your life easier by 1) carry a spare battery, and 2) charge it
with a proper charger.
Go over EVERY wire and connector. Did you hear me? Are you going to do it? Crimp
connectors
work fine so long as they are installed correctly. This means using the proper
tool to crimp--not your
needlenosed pliers, not your vise grips, not your wire cutters and not your
channel locks. If this sounds like I
know what I am talking about I do--I tried all these with predictable results
before I pull my head out and bought
the proper tool. Poor crimps equal poor electrical connections which lead to
electrical problems. Again, I've
seen everything changed in an effort to correct a miss-fire when it was simply a
poorly crimped connector. If
you are rewiring afresh, solder is the only way to go although at-the-track
repairs may leave you no options
except crimp on connectors. DO NOT USE WIRE SPLICE CONNECTORS--solder or use
crimp on butt
connectors to assemble two or more wires. Trash the spade lugs that come with
the coil--use a properly
sized ring terminal attached to the terminal post with a nut. Glob on some RTV to
the nut to help secure it from
vibration.
Grounding---you have to be dead solid perfect with your grounding. You can never
have too many
ground connections. A properly sized ring terminal bolted to a clean, paint-free
area on the frame is the only
answer. The main ground should be made with a cable no less than 4 gage. The
same goes for your starter
cable--here bigger is better because of the high current draw during starting.
Yeah, I know I said start with a
big old off-board battery--let me see you do that when you spin and stall the
car. Give that little battery a
break--it will need all it can get.
Lastly, we need to briefly discuss the starter. If you are so luck to have a
modern, gear reduction type
such as a Tilton or as standard on modern cars then this will really be
brief--make sure all connections are
tight. If you have a "Black Beauty" Lucas then we need to talk. There
has been a lot of bad press on these
starters and I admit I have had my share of problems--that was until I sat down
and figured out why. To prep a
"Black Beauty" you need to do a couple of things 1) ensure the through
bolts are tight. Looseness here will
allow the endbell and rotor endplay to become excessive. The brushes will not be
in full contact with the
commutator and it won't start the car. 2) How is your pinion mesh? I used to
chew up pinions once a
weekend until I discovered the mesh was way off. I had to slot one of the
mounting ears to allow the starter to
be "clocked" bringing the pinion to flywheel ring gear mesh into
tolerance. These step will not guarantee you
won't have problems. The savvy racer using Lucas starters will always carry a
spare--or a bunch of friends to
push start the car all the time.
Driver Soundness
Prepare Yourself In Mind and Spirit.
There is already plenty written about physical conditioning for the race driver
so I will leave that to you.
I will comment though that it will make a difference over your fellow
competitors who do not take it seriously.
Your mind and body requirements for a driver's school weekend are far different
from that you will need later
when your novice permit is signed off and you are at a race meet.
Schools are very intense. They require the student to fully concentrate on
driving the car; not repairing
damage, putting fuel in, airing up tires, and the multitude of tasks needing to
be accomplished to get the car
on the track for the next session. To ease this burden we prepare the car BEFORE
we leave the shop, we
get at least one person to crew the car and accomplish the basic care and
feeding of the car.
You can expect a school (SCCA) to have three groups, 15 minutes on track per
group, 15 minutes or
more debriefing as soon as you come off the track, and then right back on the
track. Fifteen minutes is not
long enough to torque wheels, fuel, grid the car and strap in--that's why you
need help. For many, the school
may be the most intense thing they have ever done--the mental stress is
incredible. For this reason you need
to be well rested. You will be dragging by the end of the first day and rest
that night should not be a problem.
You are at the school to learn--not race. Therefore leave the stopwatch, pit
boards, etc at home.
Listen to your instructor; respect your instructor. Your instructors may not be
the fastest around the place but
has been chosen because they know the line, are responsible drivers, want to be
there, and want you to have
a successful school. Your instructor will most often come from the group you
will race in i.e., formula car
guys instruct formula car guys, and therefore has a vested interest in your
learning to safely pilot your race car
around the course. You will not be expected to set track records and you should
not try. You will be
expected to be able to control your car, drive the racing line, and show
progress in the areas debriefed by your
instructor. Failure to do these things should not lead to surprise and
indignation should your school not get
signed off.
DEALING WITH FAILURE
Despite your best efforts and intentions, things go wrong. We try to mitigate
the risk by good
preparation of the car and driver before we get to the track but, race cars
suffer breakdowns and drivers crash.
You must learn to cope with these facts. At my first school, in the first
session I went off track and damaged
the car and could not finish the school. I was pretty bummed but was able to
rationally view the situation,
assess my mistake and apply the lesson to my next school. If you dwell on the
wasted money or time/effort
then you may be taking up the wrong hobby.
I hated to end this chapter on a negative note. The idea in all this is to have
fun. For some that is
measured by winning, others by making the top ten and still others by showing
up, hanging with buds, and
doing some racing.
What ever your criterion, be sure you are having fun.
