[TPR] Autocross tomorrow

Sun Apr 6 20:17:30 PDT 2014

We had a pretty good weekend for Autocross.  The test and tune yesterday
was well attended by many novices, some of whom returned today.  Overall
we had 80+ drivers and over 500 runs in five hours.  WOW! 

The Pantera did pretty well, but it's obvious in my case the low end
suffers.  First gear gets to red-line very easily in the higher speed
parts of the course and second tends to lug in the slower parts.  I do
think my current build is meant to breath best after 3,500 up to 5,000.

Still I had a ton of fun; the best part was giving rides to guys who
have always admired the Pantera but never got close to one.  I actually
had one guy today say he could now check that off his bucket list.

They guy who drove my Pantera last year and was getting times better
than me, drove it again yesterday.  He said it felt a -lot- smoother
with the new shocks and the refurbished steering rack.  When he drove
it, the run felt very smooth, though he finished a couple seconds behind
my times.  Given a chance to run it a few more times I'm sure he'd have
wiped the floor with me.  :)

I did seem to get some roughness in the low end, almost like there is a
miss in the engine.  That's something I'll be checking out in the coming
weeks.

Fun day.
Asa  Jay

Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
& Shelley Marie
Spokane, WA
******************************     
http://www.racingagainstautism.com
http://www.teampanteraracing.com
http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism

On 4/5/2014 9:27 AM, Charles Engles wrote:
> Dear Asa,
>
>
>              That all sounds good.   I am keen to follow your learning curve
> with the Innovate A/F meter and the resultant tweaks to your carb.  I have
> been told and believe that carb adjustments based on real world A/F meter
> results is a good thing.  I am ignorant of how that process actually works,
> so I am ready to kibbutz and learn.
>
>
>                           Warmest regards,  Chuck Engles
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TPR [mailto:tpr-bounces at teampanteraracing.com] On Behalf Of Asa Jay
> Laughton
> Sent: Friday, April 04, 2014 11:01 PM
> To: tpr at teampanteraracing.com
> Subject: [TPR] Autocross tomorrow
>
> Hey all,
> The new Longacre rear view mirror arrived and it took a bit to get it
> installed and oriented to my satisfaction.  The only thing that drives me
> nuts is the fact its convex; not a true reality but rather the problem of
> "objects in mirror are closer than they appear."  I am soooo used to
> straight mirrors without any gimmicks.  It's all good though since the stock
> mirror has no room with the crossbar of the roll cage at the top of the
> windshield.  I'll just have to get used to it.
>
> Now that I have it installed I can take the donated sun visors Peter the
> German sent me, hack them up for proper fit, add some new foam, recover and
> install them for a modicum of sun shade.  When I get going on that I'll be
> sure to document what I do.  It's going to take some cutting and welding of
> the sun visor frame, and then I'm not certain how to re-close them; maybe
> with a zipper closure or perhaps keep it simple and just use Velcro.  The
> old vinyl/plastic was shot and I used a razor blade to get them off; they
> are somehow heat sealed and trimmed originally.
>
> The Innovate Motorsports A/F gauge arrived too.  Although I have the gauge
> mounted on the roll cage, I've yet to get the bung welded into the exhaust
> pipe.  I'll contact my friend a few doors down and see when he has time to
> do some welding.  :)  In the meantime, for those curious, it does come with
> a serial cable to attach to the serial port of a laptop
> computer.   The O2 sensor has a humongous connector on it; I'm not
> exactly sure how or where I'm going to thread this puppy.  I'm hoping to get
> it through the driver's side rocker if possible.  If not, it will have to
> come through the tunnel and I hope I have enough length to reach the gauge.
> I'm anxious to get this done so I can map the carburetor performance.
>
> Tomorrow is our season opener for Autocross.  It's a test and tune day
> Saturday and official timed runs on Sunday.  I'm going to try and use up
> these tires at Autocross since they are expired for Open Road Racing and
> I'll be getting a new set come July or August.  This will be the first day
> this year she's been on the open road.  I had to move cars around in the
> garage to position the Pantera for an easy escape in the morning. 
> She ran a bit rough this evening, but did seem to idle without dying.  I
> think she'll clear up on the 30 mile drive to the old airport runway where
> we hold the events.
>
> Let the fun begin,
> :)
>
> Asa  Jay
>
> --
> Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
> & Shelley Marie
> Spokane, WA
> ******************************     
> http://www.racingagainstautism.com
> http://www.teampanteraracing.com
> http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism
>
>
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