Grattan Report

[SVTBuckeye]

Just a quick data dump.

Craig Capaldi dominated qualifying and racing this week end. His "Silver Bullet" is fast and so is he. He is a main suspect!

Brother Chris dropped a plug during Saturdays qualifying and did not get to race. Time will tell the extent of Big Red's damage. Right now the side electrode is some where down there.

Lowell finished second, got faster but not enough in "BAd Black". Chris Kisner ran strong in "Sonic Blue" but like Lowell is still learning the track.

Michigan was beset with strong storms all week end, but not during track time. Sunday AM the track had running water and puddles several places, but by race time not so much.

Leo was fast as lightening in his Mustang, an AI car that had to run AIX due to out of class tires. Down hundreds of HP, he was out ahead most of the time except for one 600+ hp car. Then Leo's tranny went away early in Sundays race.

The Capaldi racing rig is out of this world. AC in the trailer!!! Tractor has living quarters. Big time is here.

Grattan is outrageous! multiple blind corners over hills, and then there is the jump!
A real challenge.


6+ hours home. made it by 9:15 with dinner stop. Storm caught us there, and we ran through buckets for more than an hour. Ran clear about Toledo.

Thanks to the Capaldi Racing team for a great time. Sandie, Leo, Craig, Chris, Adam. Also thanks to Dave for the data analysis.

Later,

[BUR_ZX3]

What a weekend! Glad you guys had a good run!

[68 Touring Car]

Lepak should have some photos from the weekend? Maybe he will post some.

Everyone drove a great race Craig, Lowell, C-Money
( we have started a collection to get C-money a can of spray paint so he can remove the 2 year old duct tape from the roof and paint it)

FYI Keep a eye on Craig's "little" brother he did a great job for his first race weekend here is Saturdays Qualifying
http://racenasa.nasamidwest.com/resu...eventID=314627

[BadIdea]

Looks like a blast. I'm suprised the PTE cars are so much faster.

[InFocusTraSTi]

I went there on saturday some great racing!! Met the guys from Capaldi!! Cool CARS!! I can't wait to be out there racing with you guys!

[sleeperlove]

Originally Posted by BadIdea

Looks like a blast. I'm suprised the PTE cars are so much faster.

They are 200- 600 lbs lighter and have just as much tire as SF if not more in some cases. And their power depends on where they decide to use their points, but I think the fastest guys are in the 140whp range maybe?

[BadIdea]

That would make sense. I thought Ted said the spec focus would be in PTD and it's not even competitive in PTE.

[sleeperlove]

I don't know where the SF would end up, PT you have to make careful decisions on where to spend your upgrade points. The SF setup was not created for PT so its not going to be competitive there but it works great for the Spec class.

[lepak91]

[quote=68 Touring Car]Lepak should have some photos from the weekend? Maybe he will post some.

I'll get some pictures up later today. I need to sort them out and find the good ones.

[brads03zx3]

Originally Posted by BadIdea

That would make sense. I thought Ted said the spec focus would be in PTD and it's not even competitive in PTE.

Some SF cars will fit in PTD and some in PTE. It depends on what engine and how many mods. IE, the zetec SF cars are base classed lower, but they need head/cams, etc to be competitive. Head and Cams are 12 mod points in Performance Touring.

The scion I work on took first in SoCal PTE in 2007 and took 2nd at nationals last year. While we were a couple hundred pounds heavier than the SF cars, we also had ~20 more whp and were running a 235 NT01 vs last years 205 RA1 on the SF cars. We were also running a slightly more track-friendly suspension setup. The SF suspension is relatively soft and tall for a race setup, but it works wonderfully for a spec class.

Oh, and the car that took first place last year at PTE nationals was a 220 whp civic SI on hoosiers. Kind of hard for the SF cars to compete with that

[JB-S1]

Do you kids need me to come back and show you how to run Grattan?

http://mylaps.com/results/newResults...7&highlight=17

That was my rookie race, too. Too bad Leo was running a whole second faster!

I think the issue is that you have to keep your foot in it over the jump. Note that this applies to the SF, not the Mustang!



My PTE Neon is 2457 with me in it, which is about 230 pounds below where Leo's red SF was. We're running 225 Toyos on it and we had about 105fwhp before the motor blowed up at Putnam. That being said, we were three seconds a lap behind Waddell at Putnam. You need 140 or more at the wheels to play in this class, probably 160 at the Nationals.

[Ted7rns]

^^ sorry I push the edit rather then the quote button. You may want to post the picture again

[Ted7rns]

Originally Posted by JB-S1

My PTE Neon is 2457 with me in it, which is about 230 pounds below where Leo's red SF was. We're running 225 Toyos on it and we had about 105fwhp before the motor blowed up at Putnam. That being said, we were three seconds a lap behind Waddell at Putnam. You need 140 or more at the wheels to play in this class, probably 160 at the Nationals. Putnam. You need 140 or more at the wheels to play in this class, probably 160 at the Nationals.

You might need more then 160hp. I believe last your the first two place cars had like 180whp and 205whp in PTE.

[JB-S1]

Yeah, there was some discussion about the legality of the winning car. I wasn't around for it, and I don't know anybody personally, but I heard the word "Cheater" bandied about a lot afterwards.

One thing I would stress is that for SF racers who are maybe facing the prospect of running alone at a race, particularly one where Leo doesn't bring his cars - enter in PT and have fun! We've got some eight-and-ten-car fields scheduled for the next few months. Not everybody is running at the "sharp end" of the grid. There are a lot of HC4 cars coming over as well, mostly so they can run Hoosiers instead of Toyos.

SF's a great class - but if you want to race and nobody else is showing up, why not consider PTE or PTD? The worst case scenario is that two or three SFs show up and you guys end up reclassing to SF, right?

[brads03zx3]

Originally Posted by Ted7rns

You might need more then 160hp. I believe last your the first two place cars had like 180whp and 205whp in PTE.

Originally Posted by JB-S1

Yeah, there was some discussion about the legality of the winning car. I wasn't around for it, and I don't know anybody personally, but I heard the word "Cheater" bandied about a lot afterwards.

The winning PTE car was a stock civic SI with a muffler replacement. It put down 220 whp on the dyno. The second place car, Scion tC, I believe had 170-175 whp. Both cars were ~3000 pounds with driver.

[BRZX3R]

Sounds like it was a good event this year. I missed not being there, but I spent the weekend replacing a bent spindle on my Mustang and trying to get the car back together so I can at least attend one track event this summer.

Hopefully I will be there next year, and the weather will be better. Someday I hope NASA returns to GingerMan.
-Bryan

[68 Touring Car]

Originally Posted by BRZX3R

Sounds like it was a good event this year. I missed not being there, but I spent the weekend replacing a bent spindle on my Mustang and trying to get the car back together so I can at least attend one track event this summer.

Hopefully I will be there next year, and the weather will be better. Someday I hope NASA returns to GingerMan.
-Bryan

Bryan, Sorry we missed you but you could come to Mid-Ohio next month? I will let you know if we go to Gingerman. We will probably go do some testing with the Mustangs at there a couple times. We are leaving for Mosport tomorrow for the Mustang Challenge race this weekend then we come home for 3 days and go to Mid-Ohio for the next Mustang Challenge race next weekend. I am keeping the guys busy.

[68 Touring Car]

Originally Posted by SVTBuckeye

Just a quick data dump.

Craig Capaldi dominated qualifying and racing this week end. His "Silver Bullet" is fast and so is he. He is a main suspect!

Brother Chris dropped a plug during Saturdays qualifying and did not get to race. Time will tell the extent of Big Red's damage. Right now the side electrode is some where down there.

Lowell finished second, got faster but not enough in "BAd Black". Chris Kisner ran strong in "Sonic Blue" but like Lowell is still learning the track.

Michigan was beset with strong storms all week end, but not during track time. Sunday AM the track had running water and puddles several places, but by race time not so much.

Leo was fast as lightening in his Mustang, an AI car that had to run AIX due to out of class tires. Down hundreds of HP, he was out ahead most of the time except for one 600+ hp car. Then Leo's tranny went away early in Sundays race.

The Capaldi racing rig is out of this world. AC in the trailer!!! Tractor has living quarters. Big time is here.

Grattan is outrageous! multiple blind corners over hills, and then there is the jump!
A real challenge.


6+ hours home. made it by 9:15 with dinner stop. Storm caught us there, and we ran through buckets for more than an hour. Ran clear about Toledo.

Thanks to the Capaldi Racing team for a great time. Sandie, Leo, Craig, Chris, Adam. Also thanks to Dave for the data analysis.

Later,

Lowell, I thought it went very well Craig did a great job winning the class( He better win!) You did a very good job making him earn it.

Chris ( C-Money) drove a very consistent race and pickup a lot of time by the end of the weekend.
Chris ( CJ) learned a lot and picked up 7 seconds in the short time he was on the track.

I was also very happy with the first outing for our AI car after some shock changes and sway bar changes we made it started coming around and it will be a very competitive car.

Looking forward to Mid-Ohio with you guys and the 2008 Focus

[BRZX3R]

Leo,
I would love to come to Mid-Ohio, but July is fairly booked for me. I have an autocross, SVTOA at GingerMan, and 2 family weekends. Let me know if you do make it out to GingerMan. Since it is close, I can swing down for awhile.
Good luck at Mosport!
-Bryan

[68 Touring Car]

Originally Posted by BRZX3R

Leo,
I would love to come to Mid-Ohio, but July is fairly booked for me. I have an autocross, SVTOA at GingerMan, and 2 family weekends. Let me know if you do make it out to GingerMan. Since it is close, I can swing down for awhile.
Good luck at Mosport!
-Bryan

When is the SVTOA event at Gingerman?

[BRZX3R]

July 12th and 13th. I will be there on the 12th, and then putting my Mustang and Focus on display in Grand Haven on the 13th for the local car show. I am not sure if I will be running my Mustang at the SVTOA event, as I am still working on some issues from this winter. If I am not running, I will be spectating or volunteering. The weekend before SVTOA, I am going to autocross at Grand Valley State University in Allendale (west of GR).