Survived a track nite at Gingerman

[Nut124]

Took my Fiat to GingerMan track in SW MI. This is after engine rebuild and new 44IDF carbs.

It was a great success for me: drove there, drove on the track, drove home 55miles. Nothing broke, no-one got hurt. Hired an instructor to ride w me in the 1st session, a nice guy, w 45,000 laps around the track he said.

The car held up really nice, nothing broke, no leaks. Brakes lasted the entire session, thanks to Castrol SRF.

Lap times were in the 2:10 to 2:30 range. Fastest lap 2:09.

GoPro, unfortunately, picked up nothing but turbulent wind noise.

The track is 2.14 miles long. In my Fiat, average speed is 60mph. Top speed is 90+mph at end of the the back straightaway. In the first 2 sessions I was not pushing it to max, so lower speeds.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Wm3KQGNJdY7utYPm9 Select: Open In New tab.

I ran three 20min sessions, about 8-10 laps ea.

The fastest lap is in the last session, 2:09, starting at about 0:42 in the clip of 5:26.

[Nut124]

After sorting out pesky carb problems and checking oil pressure, I went to the track again this week at SCCA Track Nite at Gingerman Raceway.

This time, pushed a bit harder than last time, but only gained 4sec per lap. Car ran awesome.

Had two wipeouts. No damage and no-one got hurt.

Three 20min sessions again. Shifted up at 7300-7500. About 90-95mph at the end of the back straight. The old 280Z is the only car I would catch up to and pass in this group. However, drivers of older Miata racers told me that they could not gain on me in the straightaways after they caught up w me in the twisty section. They had mostly stock engines but serious tires, suspension and brake mods. They wanted to check my engine bay afterwards.

Best lap times are in the last video; three laps at 2:05.

Wipeouts are at 4:30 in the 1st vid and at around 8:00(?) in the 4th lap video (5th). Luckily, this is a very safe track. The 1st wipeout happened at a tricky turn 10, where the entry is downhill and the turn is off camber. There is a bump at the entry that tends to lock up brakes if you brake too late, which I did.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YJkKm7tsdXY2a8cv8

The GoPro microphone is in the trunk, so it picks up the fuel pump tick at idle. The turbulent wind noise anywhere in the cabin drowns the engine noise.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

That's pretty cool, Nut! I enjoyed watching the videos, thanks for that. Your spider does seem to steer easier than mine at low speeds, but at higher speeds it looks about the same. Not sure why that would be since I have rebuilt both the steering box and idler, and the ball joints/tie rods are fairly new. On the other hand, maybe they will loosen up a bit over time. I probably only have 500 miles on the car since doing all the steering/suspension work.

And yours is considerably faster compared to my stock '71!

-Bryan

[Nut124]

Bryan, I'm glad you liked it. I had a blast.

Left front tire shoulder is pretty much shredded. The Miata folks told me I would need 2-5 deg of negative camber, to make the front tires work in the corners.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I'm not a racer, but it did seem like the car did better in left hand turns than in right hand turns. Was this related to the tire wear, maybe?

-Bryan

[TheBender]

Enjoyed your write ups and the videos. I need to research my area and find something like this.

[Nut124]

I'm not a racer, but it did seem like the car did better in left hand turns than in right hand turns. Was this related to the tire wear, maybe?

-Bryan

Interesting that you picked that up. It is likely due to my considerable weight being on the left side, making the car lean over more in right turns.

[Nut124]

Enjoyed your write ups and the videos. I need to research my area and find something like this.

Look up Track Nite in America website.

A few suggestions, comments:

1. Rear end oil will come out thru the axle seals and soil the rear brakes in corners unless the seals are perfect. I have added aluminum sleeves w 3 extra oil seals inside the factory oil seal.

2. Watch oil pressure in the corners with stock oil pan, which is not very good. Mine is modified but still barely adequate.

3. Need better than OEM brake fluid. I used to lose brakes after a few hot laps. Now use Castrol SRF and no brake trouble. Compare fluids at Pegasus Racing dot com.
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/group ... BRAKEFLUID

4. Need a roll bar.

5. Oil tends to push out and up from the breather in right corners, unless rings seal perfect. The metal breather pipe in the block needs to be modified. Use a catch tank rather than sending the breather oil into the air cleaner where it will make a mess and cause blue smoke in corners. Oil in the chamber causes detonation as well.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I'm not a racer, but it did seem like the car did better in left hand turns than in right hand turns. Was this related to the tire wear, maybe?

-Bryan

Interesting that you picked that up. It is likely due to my considerable weight being on the left side, making the car lean over more in right turns.

Ha! At 220 lbs, I'm guessing that I am "chunkier" than you.

I think you're probably right. I know that I have a preference for certain turns as a driver, but this is on public roads and not a track, and so the preference depends on traffic, if the road is banked, what's on the shoulder (or not), stray cows, etc. Sheer rock cliffs with a several hundred foot plunge to the bottom tend to make me drive differently...

-Bryan

[engineerted]

This is how it all starts, next thing you know you find a used race car and then its all down hill from there... Come on over to https://mirafiori.com/forum/ and check out the racing section. I will be out this weekend at Waterford Hills race tack to hopefully keep the Miata's at bay with my Vickauto sports #93 Fiat 124 E-production race car.

http://waterfordhills.com/

[jon8christine]

Very cool. We don't have a race track very close, but I'm excited to rejoin the autocross group this summer now that my engine is put back together