Vintage Racing: Lime Rock Park VS Watkins Glen

Times are tough, people. Choices have to be made and the decisions aren't always easy. Especially when deciding which of the two vintage races to attend over the next two weekends. Sure, we could hit 'em both, but for the sake of this exercise, let's say we can't.

Lime Rock Park: Rolex Vintage Festival
150 cars entered for the weekend
$45 a day, per person. Kids, don't know.
Might get a couple lunch time laps IF there are enough Lotus owners to qualify

On Track: they won't send me an entry list, but last year it was mostly stuff I have very little interest in. There will be no large bore formula cars, no GTP or CanAm cars, and very sports racers of interest. We've already established that there won't be any Lotus 47s or 23s.

Watkins Glen: US Vintage Grand Prix
650 cars entered for the weekend
$45 for the weekend. Kids free
For an extra $20 you can get laps on track, the autocross event, and the Gelnkhana old course laps!

On Track: F-5000 reunion / Triumph is the featured marque / 29 different Lotus cars entered

For now, the plan is to hit the US Vintage GP. We're going in convoy with a handful of other Lotus owners (2 Elans, 1 Sport 190) and a Porsche GT3 (to follow behind and pick up whatever falls off the Lotus). We'll report back with photos when we return.

And yes, LRP is the photo on the left. LRP is set in a beautiful valley in NW Connecticut. The photo on the right is The Glen... which sits atop a windblown hill in a decidedly less picturesque area of New York State. Aesthetic don't count in this debate.

Phil Hill 1927 - 2008 - American's Formula One Champion.

Sad, but true - the news is that Phil Hill, the first American to win a Formula One World Drivers Championship, passed away at 10:30 this morning. Hill was 81 years old and lived a long and competitive life - including winning the LeMans 24 race ('58 & '62) and was a prolific automotive journalist that contributed volumes of text to Road & Track. At a time when too many racers expired at the wheel, Phil Hill pushed on, made history, and lived to tell about it.

Got something to say, a memory, or a kind word to his family?
http://www.philhill.com/remember_2.html

He will be missed - especially for his contribution to "doing the donut" (hint, it's 28 seconds in).

Adding disk brakes to your Europa? Where is the ideal placement?

Recently the question of ideal caliper placement has been bandied about, at least in highly nuanced Europa modifying community. Factors like suspension location, rim diameter, and cooling notwithstanding, there are other, more physics-minded calculations to be taken into account. Which is why I'm never surprised to see some AutoZone hopped up Civic handling poorly. It is amazing the amount of time/money spent on ill though out modifications purchased out of the backs of car magazines.

Now, onto selecting the location for our Europa's rear calipers.

The following is from Dave/2560. Lets say that the caliper friction center is 6" from the axle center, the tire is 24" diameter, and the braking action is capable of 1G of deceleration. If the caliper were at 270° 1G of stopping torque would add 2G of down force on the bearings (Total:3G) AND 1G deceleration (pressure on the front of the bearings)(Grand total: 3.16G at 200°). However, if it were mounted at 90°, the 2G down is now up giving a total of 1G up (added to 1G deceleration, that is 1.4G at 315°). But remember that the 2G force is always 90° from the mounted position and the 1G of deceleration is always pushing the tire to the rear (pressure on the front of the bearings). To neutralize the deceleration force on the bearings the caliper should be at the 150° position. This would also bring the 90° positions excess G force down by 1. This seems to be the ideal position.

Now, try to find a caliper that will bleed properly in that position!

F1 Coverage: Street racing Valencia style

Monaco seems to be first to mind when thinking about temporary street races in Formula One - certainly more so than the US Grand Prix when it was run though the backyards of old people in Arizona. However, Valencia has little in common with the Principality... only that they are both high priced locales and run their circuits to blast along high priced waterfronts. You see, for every tight 1st and 2nd gear corners at Monaco there are long straights, wide corners, and generous braking zone with which to set up a pass or overtake before the corner. F1 officials suggest that Valencia's average speed over the lap will be around 140 mph. Compared with Monaco's 96 mph the difference is staggering.

Of course, like Monaco, this is a temporary circuit run on public roads - so dramatic shifts in camber, changes in road surface, negligible run off areas, and the ever-present concrete barriers that line the circuit threaten DNF in a very real way. .

Opening practice for the Valencia-hosted European Grand Prix starts Friday, August 22.

The Chapman Strut...

... is not a McPherson Strut.

Of course, neither is a McPherson strut (because some FIAT engineer named Fornaca actually invented it in the 20's). But, that's another story.

A Chapman Strut, is however quite similar, and being a strut designed by Chapman it is one device that performs multiple tasks - namely shock absorbing and wheel location. Unlike a McPherson strut, Chapman's strut is located at the rear of a car and is statically mounted so that it exhibits no influence in wheel deflection or toe. As such it resists high lateral forces amazingly well for its light weight... although it has disadvantages in terms of height and side-load.

Lotus first used the Chapman strut on their Formula 2 car, the Lotus 12. The 12 is historically regarded as a failure in terms of championship points - and it was. However, the 12 should be noted as pioneering a number of significant innovations:
- 5 speed indirect gearbox
- magnesium "wobbly" wheels
- spaceframe chassis

Behind the Badge: Ferrari

Perhaps the most famous logo in racing is the prancing horse symbol of Scuderia Ferrari.

The badge is composed with three stripes of green, white and red bent over the top of a yellow shield with a black horse above the initials SF (for Scuderia Ferrari). Ferrari road cars employ a similar but rectangular version of the badge, minus the SF designation.

So, what's the history? In a nutshell, it was after Enzo Ferrari's victory at the Savio track in Ravenna that he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Count Baracca and Italian Air Force flying ace. Baracca was know for painting a horse on the side of his planes for luck. When Baracca was killed his squadron repeated the fashion but changed the original red horse on a white cloud to a black horse on a yellow background; yellow being the color of the city of Modena Baracca's birthplace and the place where Ferrari would eventually set up his factory.

Ferrari first used the cavallino rampante when he was driving and privately entering Alfa Romeos in 1929, again during the 30's on the Alfas that his fledgling Scuderia Ferrari campaigned, and continued he practice through the 40's when he was managing the racing division for Alfa Romeo. After World War 2 and his departure from Alfa, Enzo kept his cavallino rampante logo and applied them to cars of his own construction.

Interestingly, the black horse on a yellow shield is also the Coat of Arms for Stuttgart, the city in Germany where Porsche is located.

Scoops and Spoilers: the NACA Duct

The NACA duct is a very special air inlet device that allows cooling air to be pulled into ducted chamber with a minimal flow disturbance over the larger mechanical body. Unlike, say, a hood scoop or a snorkel which stand up in clean air for a ram effect but leave an effluent wake of dirty air in their path - the NACA duct is a submerged inlet that uses a shallow ramp and curved walls as a depression within the larger mechanical body. The ramp allows air passing along the body to slip down into the duct and the curved walls help direct the air flow AND increase the air speed. Air's velocity must increase through the constriction... cause you can't leave out the equation of continuity & pressure must decrease because of our friend Energy and the conservation there of.

More simply, the design works because, perhaps more importantly, the curved walls also develop counter rotating vortices which in turn push away the slow moving boundary air adhered to the mechanical body and suck in the faster moving air.

Fortunately for race car design these aerodynamically efficient ducts are excellent for charge cooling and venting air intakes for mechanical and human components. NACA duct are however minimally effective for significant air volumes and are therefore rarely used for either jet or large bore engine systems. That work is still left to the snorkels and scoops and their superior ram air effect.

Oh, and NACA stands for National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, aka NASA's grandfather.

Lotus 47GT-74

During the winter of 1966, Lotus debuted the type 46 Lotus Europa. A relatively attractive car, it was quickly on pace in the Lotus tradition of added lightness and nimble handling. Unfortunately, the 1470cc Renault 16 motor that powered it was, um, a bit anemic. But, at about 1380 lbs the type 46 put it to good use - especially with it's pioneering mid-engine layout. Yes, the Europa was only the second mass produced mid-engined sports car (after the Matra d'Jet)... before Ferrari and Lamborghini caught on.

And, as Colin Chapman knew that on-track success yielded sales results the 46 would be quickly pressed to earn its keep. But not with a measly 82hp!

Enter the Type 47GT.
While numerically after the type 46, the 47s started hitting the track before the 46s hit the show room. While visually similar and dimensionally identical the 47 had significant changes under the skin to make it an effective track weapon. Out with the Renault and in with a 165hp Cosworth modified motor mated to a Hewland FT 200 gearbox. The rear suspension was also radically redefined to accept the magnesium rear uprights and radius arms from Lotus' then current formula cars.

The 47 was immediately successful and took first & second places in their debut race, the BOAC 500.

Today, perhaps due to the low build number, there are few being run in vintage racing.
Which brings us to today's subject, type 47GT-74.

I have been following this car on and off for the past 6 years as it was owned by Ed Mettleman and stationed in nearby CT at Lee Chapman Racing. It never seemed to get the attention that it deserved and seemed to have a number of DNFs due to mechanical woes. This always confused me as all of the components are fairly well understood. In period the Tecalemit-Jackson fuel injection had a nasty habit of burning the cars to the ground - but these were routinely replaced with Webers.

Well, the car has been sold, to whom and for how much - I don't know. But I do know that it is now a stablemate at GMT Racing in Danbury CT. I spoke with JR at GMT yesterday and he informed me that the new owner already has 4 events completed in the car - but reports that he is very unhappy with the handling of the car. I would be interested in knowing more about this particular malady - but looking at the other cars that GMT runs might be a good indication that their set up is off based on their baseline experience.

Unfortunately the car will not run at the vintage races this fall at Lime Rock. But, I hope to see it again in person soon and would very much like to document more of the car's history.

UPDATE 08/15/08: apparently Simon Wilson-Taylor is the current custodian of this vehicle. Good luck Simon - I'd like to think that you'll ring me when you are done with it.