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That make me feel better about our situation. Going into this weekend with an 8hr race on Saturday and 7hr on Sunday with forecast temps of between 103 and 108 I'm still a bit concerned, although the drivers might overheat before the car does...
That make me feel better about our situation. Going into this weekend with an 8hr race on Saturday and 7hr on Sunday with forecast temps of between 103 and 108 I'm still a bit concerned, although the drivers might overheat before the car does...
Do you guys use a Cool Shirt system? They are life savers
Do you guys use a Cool Shirt system? They are life savers
We do not...we may die...
It's on the todo list but hasn't been a priority as these temps didn't used to be normal in the PNW but now it's the new normal...
Mike, sorry about wrong name. You gave it to me (correctly, obviously) a couple years ago on the ChumpCar site. I sometimes feel pretty lucky these days if I can get 50% of the letters right in people's names.
Conekiller, if you guys are reasonably young, you will probably survive. We did a 14 hr with temps peaking at 109 a few years ago and still didn't have cool-shirts. Only one guy out of 8 needed medical attention! ;-) Coolshirts are the way to go. I even use it for sprint races with 80 deg air temps now.
Mike, sorry about wrong name. You gave it to me (correctly, obviously) a couple years ago on the ChumpCar site. I sometimes feel pretty lucky these days if I can get 50% of the letters right in people's names.
Conekiller, if you guys are reasonably young, you will probably survive. We did a 14 hr with temps peaking at 109 a few years ago and still didn't have cool-shirts. Only one guy out of 8 needed medical attention! ;-) Coolshirts are the way to go. I even use it for sprint races with 80 deg air temps now.
Carl
Carl, unfortunately the four of us range from 40 to 56. No spring chickens...lol. We are definitely not going to be pushing ourselves. We'll take extra pit stops and forgo race position for driver safety.
I made mine using a 12 pack cooler, bilge pump from Walmart and some clear tubing. I do have a larger one that I put together for a short enduro. I got the shirt from Safe Racer or some place similar.
I made mine using a 12 pack cooler, bilge pump from Walmart and some clear tubing. I do have a larger one that I put together for a short enduro. I got the shirt from Safe Racer or some place similar.
That's probably what we'll end up doing. Although with the shirts being $160 and that is a third of the cost of the complete kits from cool shirt it may not be worth the extra work...lol
If you know someone who can sew, we have a bunch of homemade coolsuit shirts. You need 2 tee shirts, one to use, and one to harvest material to enclose the tubes. The vinyl tubing and plastic fittings are pretty inexpensive if you buy in bulk.
Dealing with coolers and ice is always a pain, making sure you have enough ice to go 2 hours, remembering to change the ice every driver change, scooping water out to put in more ice, bilge pumps that fail to prime, or just fail altogether, it is all a pain but better than not having driver cooling. One of my drivers who is pushing me to bring my car back on track has a Chillout system that he bought for his car and volunteered it for us to race with, I had no idea how generous that was until I just looked up the price…..
If you know someone who can sew, we have a bunch of homemade coolsuit shirts. You need 2 tee shirts, one to use, and one to harvest material to enclose the tubes. The vinyl tubing and plastic fittings are pretty inexpensive if you buy in bulk.
Dealing with coolers and ice is always a pain, making sure you have enough ice to go 2 hours, remembering to change the ice every driver change, scooping water out to put in more ice, bilge pumps that fail to prime, or just fail altogether, it is all a pain but better than not having driver cooling. One of my drivers who is pushing me to bring my car back on track has a Chillout system that he bought for his car and volunteered it for us to race with, I had no idea how generous that was until I just looked up the price…..
Yea...Chillout a series sponsor....even with that little discount still astronomical pricing. We may have to look into fabbing the shirts as well...
I guess I had not priced a shirt in awhile. I have had the same one since the mid 2000's and I think it less than a $100. The bilge pump doesn't like small ice chips some times but usually it will shake loose and work. Making bigger ice cubes helps allot.
First one I made had elaborate connectors and I spent allot of time on it. Now its drill three holes and dope up everything with liberal amounts of RTV. The one I used over the weekend was built in 07 or so using the slap-dash method. For an endurance race, make two of the same cool boxes and just change them out when you gas up.
I guess I had not priced a shirt in awhile. I have had the same one since the mid 2000's and I think it less than a $100. The bilge pump doesn't like small ice chips some times but usually it will shake loose and work. Making bigger ice cubes helps allot.
First one I made had elaborate connectors and I spent allot of time on it. Now its drill three holes and dope up everything with liberal amounts of RTV. The one I used over the weekend was built in 07 or so using the slap-dash method. For an endurance race, make two of the same cool boxes and just change them out when you gas up.
Looking for the needed parts...I can find everything today accept for the quick connects...cooler, pump, hose...no problem.
Pegasus has the quick disconnects for the shirts. For the connectors at the box I just used brass hose barbs and filed them down a little so they can be removed from the hose easily.
If you are using a Rule bilge pump, lay it down on its side, so air can escape through the inlet shroud. I initially set mine up straight with the inlet on the bottom and occasionally had problems with priming. With it on its side, I have never had a problem.
It is a fine detail probably not worth trying to get in by the weekend, but I put an overflow drain, that the incoming driver opens when coming into the pit. It lets out enough water so that you can re-fill with ice without having to scoop out water. Don't forget to close it though before going back out on track, otherwise in 10-15 minutes you won't have any more water (and flow). Had that lesson fully engrained at a 115 deg Lucky Dog day at Chuckwalla last Sept. You will also need a small vent hole in the lid to allow the water to drain at a useful rate.
Did some more looking at aftermarket oil coolers. CSF seems to have some really interesting options. I got looking at them, because they make a cooler for my M3 that def needs help in that department. The CSF 8066 is kind of marketed as an FC RX7 replacement. According to my quick calcs, the surface area is about 660 sqin, which is slightly less than the MHX-245 (680 sqin). The advantage is that it is "only" $339. For some serious cooling the CSF 8110 (marketed for Porsches) has 1020 sqin of surface area (almost twice the stock RX7 cooler) and costs $599. Looks like both coolers should fit in the RX7.
Just some more data points that show promise, but probably need to be further vetted.
For the moment I am sticking with the relocated OEM cooler, but will keep all this info you guys have put forth in my back pocket "just in case"
I looked at CSF just didn't get around to contacting them.
I also considered using an FD/RX8 arrangement to put two coolers in the corners of the front end. Unfortunately that puts the coolers where they are more likely to get hit and more body work than I have time for. A centered cooler is far enough back that an incident that kills the cooler has already killed the car.
A centered cooler is far enough back that an incident that kills the cooler has already killed the car.
Amen to that Brother. I am have found myself recently in the market for a new oil cooler. This discussion is quite timely. I really like what I see for the CSF unit(ahem price point). Thanks for all the info Scott and Carl. :
Kurt, you were not supposed to test my theory on oil cooler placement!
Duly noted. Next iteration will have the cooler a bit higher up. All this came about after being squeezed off the kink at the back straight at Pacific Raceway. 4 wheels off and apparently a significant grade change to the asphalt on re-entry.
Carl, go ahead with the air dam. Fiber glass will be repaired plus will be adding a splitter.
Not sure if you already have a plan on how to add a splitter, but here is a picture of the mod I am making to my airdam. You could easily modify the concept to supporting your splitter. I am using styrofoam sheets, 3/4" thick, from Home Depot and am using epoxy resin to bond them to the bottom of the airdam. Then I am going to apply a layer of fiberglass cloth on the bottom to stiffen everything up. I decided not to extend it all the way to the back, but you easily could. Then epoxy your splitter material to that flat surface. It could also probably give you some more structure in the middle for making your repair.
In the picture, the second layer in the front has not been bonded on yet. Just got back from the surf shop with more epoxy resin. BTW, do not use polyester resin on styrofoam. It will dissolve it lickety split. Epoxy
Several years ago I tested the "theory" when my car jumped the wheel chocks on my open trailer during a panic stop. The air dam and aluminum radiator duct hit the winch and broke it in half. No damage to the cooler. I had to replace a piece of aluminum angle, tape up the plastic air dam and pound out the bottom of the radiator duct. I also still have the OE bumper shocks and that probably helped a little.
Kurt it almost looks like your air dam could be put back in the mold and fixed.
No mold but all the major repair is done. Just some more top coat or bondo and lots of sanding.
Carl thanks for the pic. I was planning on something removable for trailering and let’s face it, it’s a perishable item. Whatever I do, I will be making more than one. Probably use Dzus fasteners like everyone else seems to do. My friend and fellow West Coast first gen EP racer made one out of the corrugated aluminum sign board. I might cheap out and glass over some 5mm ply.
Sorry Scott, but I am crashing your thread here (since I can't get a response anywhere else). Do you or anyone else have experience using using Toyo R888R for racing? In particular, can you compare their performance to the Toyo RR in terms of grip and longevity?
Carl
And I also apologize for the other times that I have dragged your thread off topic. You just seem to attract all the cool knowledgeable racers.
No worries Carl. My own racing this year has been the pits.....as in where I spend most of my time when at the track. So it is nice to see racers that are....racing.
No experience on the R888 or the R888R but from the Spec Miata crowd back when Toyo was the tire supplier a new RA1 shaved to 2-3mm was better than a new R888. I don't know if the R888R is a huge improvement. I have not seen anyone run a R888R at an SCCA race.
I had a set of R1Rs to play with in 2017. I thought they were okay but nothing like the Hoosier SM7s and R7s I ran later. That said an R1R should run rings around an R888R. From a longevity standpoint the R1R is supposed to have good life just never as fast as a Hoosier. I don't know if they would be a good choice for endurance racing.
If you are looking for a good short race tire that is affordable, check out the Goodyear DOT Radials. The 205/50ZR x 15 is $175 each and they are faster than an R1R. I am running them this year. Tread life is okay for what they are and they drive good. https://www.racegoodyear.com/tires/sports.html - down load the Tire Guide PDF and scroll to the 8th page. You'll have to call a distributor to get them.
06-23-21, 11:29 AM
