2012 Nationals Update from CMC#82

[RichardP]

Like last year, I’ll try and keep the group updated on Dan Allford and the Red Shift Racing #82 CMC car from the NASA Nationals. Hopefully things go a little smoother this year…

Dan, Craig and I were all supposed to head to Ohio early this week with some tourist type stops along the way. A big design review at work got postponed to this week so Dan and Craig left on Sunday afternoon without me so I can present at the review. I’m supposed to fly in on Wednesday night to catch up with them.

Dan and Craig successfully got the #82 car to Ohio this morning after driving through lots of rain. I, of course, showed up to work this morning with news that the review had been postponed another week. Not only is the start of my trip compromised, I now have to hurry my ass back to Houston after Nationals…

Since this is Nationals, drama is apparently required. We started the drama early this year with a 5:00 dyno appointment. The car seemed to be running fine but it was down about twenty horsepower, and more tellingly, the ignition signal was dropping out giving erratic readings on the graphs (600 ft/lbs?!?). The number one cause of this is a bad signal from the fragile dyno sensor that attaches to a spark plug wire. A few different wires were tried without success. The dyno’s sensor was working fine before us and, more importantly, after us. Crap.

Since we are a day away from the start of a really big event with an unknown issue, the obvious answer is the shotgun approach. In this case that would be plugs, wires, coil, and of course, the Opticrap. It’s fun trying to explain how to swap an opti over the phone. Anyway, the car is back together and runs. The good (or bad) news is that they found oil inside the opti. It’s good that they found a plausible reason for the issue. The bad is that I’m not sure why it does that and how long it will be before it goes bad again. The other bad news is that they were not able to get splined shaft out of the opti so they had to carefully clean up the one that was in there and reinstall it.

Anyway, tomorrow is practice and of course more dyno runs. Fingers crossed…



Richard P.

[GlennCMC70]

I would remove the vent hoses from the opti and plug the ports (if you have a vented Opti). The vents were added to remove condesation that collected over long periods of time causing corrosion of the cap and rotor contacts. My opti is not vented, and I don't have any issues w/ it.

[AllZWay]

Also...let the car run for a while and see if it will dry out the opti. Water in the opti is likely the culprit.

[michaelmosty]

Thanks for the update Richard, hope the car gets fixed and running as it should.
Kick some ass Dan, we are all pulling for you!!!!

[RichardP]

The car is handling fine on track and Dan is doing better learning the track. Engine still a little off on the dyno and it started missing at high rpm on track. It's coming apart again to replace the opti this time. I'm hanging out at the airport waiting for the opportunity to be helpful...

[AllZWay]

Good Luck and look forward to more updates.

[jeffburch]

Thanks for the updates!

Tell Dan to Cinch it up & Give 'em Hell!!

jb

[way2neary]

Richard, thx for the updates. Good luck Dan,we are all pulling for you.

By the way, if you go to the second floor of the control tower and mention you are with NASA, they will give you a notebook with detailed track notes for every turn on the course.

[RichardP]

The car is back together and seems to be running fine. Dan is just slow so far. I'm impressed with how close together the front of the field is. Maybe we can figure out how to be a part of it...

Another dyno run after qualifying showed we are still cutting out and down a bit on power. A restrictor change got the power back. Hopefully Dan can keep up well enough in the first race to figure out the track. The car staying healthy would be cool, too.

Richard P

[RichardP]

Qualifying races are over. Dan finished 6th both days but he is getting faster. He is confident with two more days of racing he can run at the front...

Rain was threatening for today's race but held off until after the checker. It hit hard after that along with wind. Racing is now resuming now that it's starting to let up.

Race on Sunday. Not much left to do other than hang out, watch, and party...

Richard P

[AllZWay]

Dan's times were right there with them in the last event. Good Luck!!

[RichardP]

Saturday update: rain tires required. It rained all night and is continuing today. AI practice soon. We will see how many takers but it's likely to still be very wet for the race in a couple of hours. AI battle should be fun. AIX is probably ruined even though there was a possibility of a good battle at the front for a change. Catch the action on the web.

Richard P

[RichardP]

Noise in the tech shed...

Richard P

[michaelmosty]

I wish I was there with a chair and popcorn.
Keep us posted.

[BADVENM]

This is when we need SpeedcastTV!

[RichardP]

We are on the road, do not know who won.

Richard P.

[BADVENM]

Erik in the what was 2nd place Mustang was DQ'd. Results are final on the team-nasa.com/FTP site

[GlennCMC70]

1 Chris Ferraro
2 Kent Owens
3 Derek Wright
4 Daniel Allford
5 Cody Powell
6 Craig Capaldi
7 Bob Denton
8 Timothy Bennett
9 Joe Bogetich
DQ Erik Sjoblom

[marshall_mosty]

Congrats to Dan for a hard fought 4th place finish!!

[GlennCMC70]

1 Chris Ferraro
2 Kent Owens
3 Derek Wright
4 Daniel Allford
5 Cody Powell
6 Craig Capaldi
7 Bob Denton
8 Timothy Bennett
9 Joe Bogetich
DQ Erik Sjoblom

Dan is now 5th.The DQ was overturned.

[kbrewmr2]

I guess official results weren't quite so official then? Heh.

[Daniel Allford]

The Nationals are worth the trouble to race.

All I managed to do was finish 5th. Even that was thanks to two full course cautions followed by good restarts and the fact Cody isnt clear on where 3rd gear is. :)

I struggled with HP problems at first which we solved with an optispark and a new coil. Then I struggled to learn the track. It was not until the 22 lap of the final race that I got in to the 1:40s. I found it challenging to learn the track because there a several places you would rather not go off.

As always the CMC crowd was great. Kent Owens took time to show me videos of the line through one of the corners. Derick Wright gave me pointers on several corners which helped a bunch. Kent gave me a tranny bolt and water pump gaskets when I needed them. Joe Bogetich offered to send one of his crew to pick up parts for me. And the beer flowed freely at parties every night.

Yes it was a long tow, too much time, too much money, too small a field and a bit humbling. But it was a tough crowd to race with and I crave a challenge. I enjoyed myself and learned a bit of driving too. I encourage everyone to attend next year at Miller. Support the series, race against some talented drivers and enjoy an intensity level which is hard to match.

Dan Allford #82

[GlennCMC70]

:) :) :)

[philstireservice]

The Nationals are worth the trouble to race.

All I managed to do was finish 5th. Even that was thanks to two full course cautions followed by good restarts and the fact Cody isnt clear on where 3rd gear is. :)

I struggled with HP problems at first which we solved with an optispark and a new coil. Then I struggled to learn the track. It was not until the 22 lap of the final race that I got in to the 1:40s. I found it challenging to learn the track because there a several places you would rather not go off.

As always the CMC crowd was great. Kent Owens took time to show me videos of the line through one of the corners. Derick Wright gave me pointers on several corners which helped a bunch. Kent gave me a tranny bolt and water pump gaskets when I needed them. Joe Bogetich offered to send one of his crew to pick up parts for me. And the beer flowed freely at parties every night.

Yes it was a long tow, too much time, too much money, too small a field and a bit humbling. But it was a tough crowd to race with and I crave a challenge. I enjoyed myself and learned a bit of driving too. I encourage everyone to attend next year at Miller. Support the series, race against some talented drivers and enjoy an intensity level which is hard to match.

Dan Allford #82


Congratulations on your drive Dan !

[Storm Trooper]

You looked great! Way to go!
Storm Trooper:cool:

[RichardP]

We took a break on the trip home to tour the Corvette plant and museum. Drove straight through after that. I got home about 4:30 this morning. I slep a few hours then dropped off the race car at Dan's shop before lunch. Now I'm at work...

Richard P.

[ShadowBolt]

We took a break on the trip home to tour the Corvette plant and museum. Drove straight through after that. I got home about 4:30 this morning. I slep a few hours then dropped off the race car at Dan's shop before lunch. Now I'm at work...

Richard P.

So what day did you leave and how many miles from Houston round trip? I forgot you flew up. How many days is the minimum you need to do the trip and run all the practice and races?

JJ

[kbrewmr2]

from Houston both Miller and Mid-O are probably two days worth of towing if you're flying solo or don't want to do the straight through BS (1,600ish and 1,200ish respectively) . So Mon & Tues to get there, Practice Wed, Event Thurs-Sat or Sun depending on when your championship race is, and 2 days back puts you looking at Mon or Tues back home.

*fingers crossed we'll see COTA or NOLA get 2014+*

[jdlingle]

It would be really nice if NASA could get a rotation going for Nationals where it visited the East Coast, Southwest, Middle America (Kansas, Nebaraska), and the West Coast. Then everyone could afford to got to Nationals at least once every four years and then decide if the haul was worhtwhile the other years.

[Storm Trooper]

:)
It would be really nice if NASA could get a rotation going for Nationals where it visited the East Coast, Southwest, Middle America (Kansas, Nebaraska), and the West Coast. Then everyone could afford to got to Nationals at least once every four years and then decide if the haul was worhtwhile the other years.

[RichardP]

So what day did you leave and how many miles from Houston round trip? I forgot you flew up. How many days is the minimum you need to do the trip and run all the practice and races?

JJ

I don't know how many miles. If you want to go, you just point the truck in the correct direction and hammer it out. Last year we left Monday morning and were there and set up in time for a Tuesday afternoon dyno with only a couple of hours of sleep at a rest stop. Wednesday test day along with Thursday, Friday, Saturday racing. The CMC race was first up on Saturday. We ran the race, loaded up and headed straight through and were home by lunch on Sunday. I watched the Sunday AI race live on my computer.

This year, Dan and Craig took a bit more time to get there and headed out at noon on Sunday. They even stayed at a couple of hotels along the way but were still there in time for a Tuesday afternoon dyno. The race was on Sunday this year and we were pulled into tech so we didn't get away until after 4 in the afternoon. A little over six hours driving to a hotel in Bowling Green to wait for our plant tour appointment and then straight home after we were done. I was at work preparing for my presentation after lunch on Tuesday.

With multiple drivers, we are able to just push through and get it done. If you are by yourself, that's probably not going to work. We'll see how everything goes, but at this point we are planning on doing the same thing to Miller next year. Same distance, different direction. Still lots of fun to be had. Might as well do something cool with your life while you are waiting around to die.


Richard P.

[David Love AI27]

Might as well do something cool with your life while you are waiting around to die.


Richard P.

Can I put that on a tee-shirt or is it copywrited?