Feb 2004 racing article

[mark belrose]

Below is the text from my second submission for the Z Owners of NorCal newsletter. Read the Jan 2004 article first for a bit of background on the car.

Hi race fans. The 2004 racing season is about to get underway after a brief hiatus. Thanks to my friend Steve McConnell who is the director of the Central Coast Z Car Club, many of the racers are keeping in touch with each other via a race oriented website he created for just that reason. I believe it’s the start of a real Z car racing community.

The internet site’s members run the full gamut of driver experience and race car preparation. We have Mike Eckhaus, who has been racing for years and uses his fully prepped C Production 240Z to better the lap times of vast majority of Vintage Corvettes and Mustangs. On the flip side, we have Jose Guerrero and Steve McConnell just getting their feet wet. Their addiction to Z car racing is so acute it’s almost painful. Ron Carter is building a C Production 240Z that is faithful to the original BRE version. VARA instructor John Wilkins is in the process of building a C Production 240Z which will bolster the Z presence within that organization. From what I’ve heard, NorCal has several good racers who I hope to meet.

Many of the racers such as myself spend the off-season further developing and refining their cars. I ran the entire season last year with incorrect rear suspension geometry (toe out in the right rear). This made the car very twitchy at high speed. I’m hoping to get the car to SoCal’s Z car suspension guru before hitting the track again.

My next event is on Feb 13-15, at VARA’s Route 66 Classic at the California Speedway. The course uses about 60% of the banked oval that NASCAR runs on, and then goes through the infield after making a hairy left turn off the banking. The cars run flat-out on the oval which great fun as you can pretty much run high, low, or whatever line pleases you. This is my favorite venue, allowing my car’s high horsepower to be used to maximum advantage. Unfortunately last year I was unable to compete in the final as my engine blew up during the final practice session. It was a NASCAR-type engine failure, blowing two massive holes in either side of my engine. Oil poured onto the manifold and the resulting smoke completely filled the driver’s compartment. I was totally blind going probably 110 mph. Luckily it was on the Speedway’s front straight so I just kept the car pointed in the direction I had been going and braked to a stop. I don’t think the course workers were too happy about that one.

I learned the hard way that correct gearing is like free horsepower, and incorrect gearing blows up engines. I was running a 4.40 rear end last year and bounced off my rev limiter at 8,000 rpm for almost the entire length of the Speedway’s banking. For this next race, I’ve installed a 3.90 welded diff which hopefully will make life a lot easier for my engine.

Unfortunately I was a regular attendee at the School of Hard Knocks last season. Some additional lessons learned:

HUMILITY. This is a biggee. Like most people I considered myself a pretty good driver (90% of us are above average), but once on the track I was administered a butt whipping. Unfortunately it seems good racers are not born, but developed through extensive seat time and common sense (lots of cash doesn’t hurt either). Corner apexes need to be hit correctly and braking points need to be exact. Believe me, this is not easy. Compound the problem with cars right on your a** trying to pass you and other cars in front spinning out. Plus many of the racers I compete against have been doing this since the Civil War and are extremely hard to pass.

CAR PREPARATION: The “Weakest Link” is not a TV show, but something that causes you to watch your final event in the grandstands instead of in your race car’s trick competition seat. Everything must be in top notch shape or it will fail. It’s nice to have a trailer full of spare parts, and many of the millionaires I race against have almost everything just in case.

SHIFTING: Smooth shifting is essential for good lap times and drive train longevity. Two of my 510 racing buddies experienced problems here. Both missed downshifts, one losing a rod bearing and the other breaking a cam. Both were done for the weekend. If you have race aspirations and are not proficient at heel and toe downshifting, start practicing now. You should be able to brake while down shifting and notice no perceptible change in the rate of deceleration. Drive your street car this way for practice until it is so ingrained in your driving habits you don’t even have to think about it.

There are a lot more “lessons learned” but I believe I babbled on long enough. Until next time…

Mark

Mark Belrose

1970 restored C Production 240Z

[preith]

Good reading, I'd like to add some points if anyone is interested.

In regards to the seat time comment, a lot of people may laugh or scoff at this, but I whole heartedly feel lots and lots of practice on computer simulator with a quality wheel/pedal set pays dividends; the acquired skills are transferable. I have countless hours on an old sim called Grand Prix Legends. For me the largest gain has been aquiring the ability to maintain a heightened level of concentration for long periods of time. Also gained are the “ingrained driving habits”, hitting all your points, shifting, etc, almost becomes subconscious.

Shifting: Many rookies, and even the pros, have a tendency to downshift too early. This should not be used to help slow the car down but rather to match rev’s only. Also, I always tell people if they can “heel and toe” shift on the street smoothly under light to medium brake pedal pressures, they have it made. It is much easier maintaining consistent braking pressure when mashing on the pedal. As Mark pointed out, this really is something one should be well practiced at before putting a wheel on the track. I also feel the “heel and toe” term isn’t really the best one to use and can be a bit misleading. I personally find it easier to roll the foot off the brake pedal in more or less an upright position, not cocked at a weird angle. I welded an extension on the gas pedal to aid with this too. I’ve also seen the pros do it this way on TV.

Also, a lot of people don’t want to bother auto-crossing and jump right into road racing. My heart was never really in it, but I’m soooo glad I did. Again the skills are transferable, but at least in my area where the courses are very tight, I’ve always felt it doesn’t teach finesse as there’s much more man-handling of the car. If anything it will prepare one to participate in a controlled, sanctioned event. As silly as it sounds, this alone can be a bit nerve racking the first few times out.

[rdefabri]

Can't believe I missed this post! Mark, my experiences with yours are similar - I'll explain.

Preith - I see some value in video games, maybe to learn a track layout, and great for hand/eye. However, I'll beat most anyone in any video game (I take great joy in going to the local Target or Wal Mart, where an XBox or Wii is set up and rip some little snot-nosed kid a new one!) but when I went to get my SCCA license, not unlike Mark, I was OWNED.

I've even drag raced pretty competitively, and have ridden a motorcycle since I am about 7 years old (I am 39 now), so I know ocular techniques. I thought I'd kick arse, and I was mid pack to rear.

It came down to the hardest thing for a non-racer to do, IMHO - braking. If you aren't used to the braking power/capability of a race car, especially an open-wheeler, it's hard to adjust. The only way to acclimate yourself to the braking and the proper brake zones, touch, heel/toe, hitting the apex, etc. is seat time.

I am convinced that if I had a year or so in a FF or FC, I'd adjust and do well. Heck, I think anyone would. Of course, my age and having children may make me a tick slower as I fully understand the consequences, but my experience shows (at least in my case) that the video game didn't help much.

It's all good - I had fun and that's what mattered. It's been about 6 years since I went to the school, but I just don't have the funds to run (is that a surprise?). One day, I'll get there!

[Chino 240Z]

Yes, Mark has written several articles that I've enjoyed. To me he paints a great race picture and you recall comments and similar moments in your head while reading his work. Perhaps we can convince him to post a couple more? :classic:

[mark belrose]

Thanks for the compliment Craig. When I get a moment I'll try and kick another couple of articles over to the racing forum.

Mark

[preith]

Preith - I see some value in video games, maybe to learn a track layout, and great for hand/eye. However, I'll beat most anyone in any video game (I take great joy in going to the local Target or Wal Mart, where an XBox or Wii is set up and rip some little snot-nosed kid a new one!) but when I went to get my SCCA license, not unlike Mark, I was OWNED.

It came down to the hardest thing for a non-racer to do, IMHO - braking. If you aren't used to the braking power/capability of a race car, especially an open-wheeler, it's hard to adjust. The only way to acclimate yourself to the braking and the proper brake zones, touch, heel/toe, hitting the apex, etc. is seat time.

I've found the concentration and skill required to master GPL and some other PC games far exceeds any x-box or playstation, and I have tried most out there. However, I'd have to agree on the braking aspect of it, that was the most difficult for myself as well, but the premise is the same for the most part, gradually braking later until the threshold is met. When I got my license I was far from getting owned, but am always quick to point out "it's mostly the car"

[rdefabri]

Yea, I had a few ringers in my class - maybe that's why I got owned...I pulled a 3rd in one race, so maybe I exaggerated a bit, but I was off the ringers' pace.

I've played GPL, and a few others (MS CART Sim, and I have another modern F1 sim, can't remember name) - it's different than xBox or PS, I guess my point is I excel at any type of video game, usually with minimal practice.

Perhaps when actually feeling the G's and the lateral forces from braking, handling, etc. it's a different paradigm...at least for me.

Hey, the many Pros use video games as a way to practice, and I am barely an amateur, so you are on to something