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General Information => General => Topic started by: fspGTD on June 24, 2004, 11:48:03 pm
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Hey guys,
I've gone to 3 autocrosses so far this season, and so far I'm rocking. :)
Check out the season results, I'm top in my class:
http://www.wwscc.org/event_results/2004/wwscc_championship04.html#IC
Compare to last year's class results for same club/class/competitors, where I didn't win this class even one time:
http://www.wwscc.org/event_results/2003/WWChampReport.html#IC
My most recent event (last sunday) I raced with a co-driver and it was really hot out and our run groups were short. So we ended up running the car repeatedly one after the other, about as quick as we could switch drivers! Anyway, I pulled a really good time on my first run (a 41.575) but a gate caught me by surprise and bam, got a 10 second penalty on that run. Second run I missed an upshift to third (ouch) and got a clean 42.351. On my third run or my fourth a missing cone spooked me, causing me to slow down. But I wasn't sure so I didn't stop and point to it and get a re-run, just kept driving and came in slow. By the third run the tires were getting quite greasy due to being overheated and it was worse in the fourth run, so generally got slower instead of faster like it usually works as I did more runs. Next time I will add a water mister to my gear bag to keep the tire temps under control (didn't realize it would be so hot out!) Anyway I ended up winning the class with the 42.351 by .3 second lead over 2nd place.
http://www.wwscc.org/event_results/2004/wwscc04-3.html#IC
But doing a little bench racing is fun... and I've got some evidence to support there is really some good potential in this turbo-diesel bunny now. Basically if my tires didn't get greasy (if I had misted them down to keep them cool) and I kept getting faster improving on my first run by say 1 second over the course of my 4 runs (not entirely uncommon improvement), I'd have a 40.575, which would have been a really smoking time. Compared to the PRO class where there are national champions running, and indexing my time by my SCCA class (FSP, a .813 factor) would have given me an indexed time of .813 x 40.575 = 32.987 in the pro class: ( http://www.wwscc.org/event_results/2004/wwscc04-3.html#PRO1 ) I'd have come in 1st place! For a local event, it really doesn't get better than that! :) Anyway even if I'd only have run that 41.575 clean, and made zero improvement on my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th runs... I'd still have trophied in the PRO class, also a very good achievement. (usually you can improve though by taking additional runs and learning how to drive it quicker) So my Rabbit and I are getting faster! :D
That's all for now - just a brief lil' update on the race season so far.
Reflections on a few modifications made so far this season you guys may be interested in:
* returned to the full-length exhaust system (terminating at the very rear of the car instead of a shortened system with a turn-down and outlet in the middle of the car after the shifter before the fuel tank. Seems to have significantly beefed up the lower RPM range! I have done some courses with pretty slow course elements yet I can leave it in 3rd all the time even through the slow parts, and yet the engine still doesn't feel like it is lugging like it used to with the short exhaust. This is good setup and is also the strategy I wanted (run up to 3rd gear at the beginning of the course then just leave it in 3rd the whole rest of the way for a typical course.)
* fuel filter relocated in fender, and fixed broken exhaust turn-down blowing hot exhaust blowing on the fuel tank - seems to have really helped kick out more fuel more reliably. You should see the smoke levels this thing is putting out now! :lol: It's actually a little much, I can SMELL and FEEL the exhaust in my eyes with the window rolled down under certain conditions. I mean, how is the exhaust getting all the way back up from the rear outlet to where my face is? I wouldn't mind adding a turn-down instead of a straight exhaust tip to try and get the exhaust blowing down and out into the air stream flowing under the bottom of the car to try and help with this. Or maybe switch back to biodiesel. I was planning on also turning it down (the fuel) a little bit, but more because the engine revvs don't return back down as quickly as I'd like than because of the smoking. Not having downward rpm changes being responsive can make for difficult upshifting.
* alignment is improved. My front camber bolts couldn't hold an alignment because the spring washers lost their "springyness." So I changed the camber adjust hardware with all new, and now the car can hold a front alignment again, even cornering on race rubber at surely over 1 g's. :) I dialed out excessive negative camber in the front and added some grip up there, so much that I had to adjust my shock settings to keep the car from being so loose that it was hard to keep it from spinning out! Then I added some rear camber just before this last event which I think was also an improvement, the car felt really neutral in the middle of a long stready-state sweeper turn where before it used to be more oversteer-y and I'd have to counter steer and couldn't fully use the fronts. Turn-in remarkably doesn't seem to be adversely effected. But I'm prepared with shock adjustments if needbe.
* brake bias is now adjustable and is improved. I added an adjustable proportioning valve and am no longer locking up the fronts. In fact, I have not yet locked up my tires at all when braking! And I have barely adjusted the proportioning valve. It's amazing. Some additional grip no doubt came from dialing out some of the excessive negative camber up front. Although not "great", I'd describe the brakes now as "working well" and "adequate."
* And of course a few weight reductions here and there (50 lbs worth - ditched the vacuum pump, brake booster, went to a small radiator without expansion tank, smaller lighter cooling fans, miniature alternator, etc), definitely help contribute to make the car a little quicker overall in acceleration, handling and braking.
Thanks for reading. :)
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Hey guys,
I've gone to 3 autocrosses so far this season, and so far I'm rocking. :)
I'll say! Those are awesome results Jake!
http://www.wwscc.org/event_results/2004/wwscc04-3.html#IC
So is Scott Dawson your co-driver? Two 81 VW Rabbits in the results, and Scott's listed as driving the GTD? :)
That's all for now - just a brief lil' update on the race season so far.
Awesome! Keep 'em coming!
* fuel filter relocated in fender, and fixed broken exhaust turn-down blowing hot exhaust blowing on the fuel tank - seems to have really helped kick out more fuel more reliably.
Lowering the temperature of the fuel does make a difference - when I was running the filter enxt to the rad the car would be an absolute dog off the line and idle would be noticeably lower. Once I moved it to the inner fender I never had another problem. The stock A1 filter location is ridiculous as well - right beside the turbo downpipe...!
* And of course a few weight reductions here and there (50 lbs worth - ditched the vacuum pump, brake booster, went to a small radiator without expansion tank, smaller lighter cooling fans, miniature alternator, etc), definitely help contribute to make the car a little quicker overall in acceleration, handling and braking.
Do you have to run with seats etc., or can you get away with a stripped interior? I've often been amazed at how much difference running only a driver's seat makes in how the Scirocco accelerates and handles.
Thanks for reading. :)
Don't thank us ! Thanks for writing it! :)
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great results jake. well done! very nice to see a mkI, and a TD at that, in the top spot in the class :D
thanks for the write-ups about your changes... i still have to find a permanent location for the fuel filter, in the fender is where i'm hoping to go with it... i have a spare filter for test fitting but i'm still a little worried about rocks/road debris punching a hole in the filter.. so the stumbling block now is coming up with some kind of cover to protect it, one that wont be in danger of coming loose and getting in contact with the passenger front wheel.
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i have a spare filter for test fitting but i'm still a little worried about rocks/road debris punching a hole in the filter.. so the stumbling block now is coming up with some kind of cover to protect it, one that wont be in danger of coming loose and getting in contact with the passenger front wheel.
Lanny, I have two words for you - FENDER LINER.
If you don't have a set, get 'em. My filter bracket is bolted securely to the inner fender, and the fender liner protects it from road grime. Best of all, I can reach up from underneath and drain the water separator without having to undo the fender liner at all.
On my 87 Jetta TD convert I put the filter where the charcoal cannister is located - even used the same bracket, and just installed the filter (A3 style) in it. The air box then mounted over top of it. Same deal as the Scirocco, I could drain the water separator from underneath.
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did any mkIs come with fender liners? or should i fuss with some mkII ones until they fit?
none of my mkIs have liners... didn't know that was an option. :?
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83 and 84 Jettas had them for sure, I thought 83 & 84 Rabbits had them as well.
If you need a set, send me an email - I have several.
EDIT: Looks like they were introduced midway through the 83 MY on Rabbits and at the tail end of the 82 MY on Jettas.
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thanks drew... i'll let you know soon.
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have an 81 and an 86 cabby...no liners in the 81 but the 86 is my girls car/project for me. not sure if it has liners or not, but i feel bad when i pilage parts from that one :lol:
i wish there was a yard around here with mkIs and reasonable pricing... the only yard i know of with worthwhile mkIs has three of them and he wants an arm and a leg for everything. he wanted as much for a CIS injection system as i could buy a complete rabbit for :roll:
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i wish there was a yard around here with mkIs and reasonable pricing... the only yard i know of with worthwhile mkIs has three of them and he wants an arm and a leg for everything. he wanted as much for a CIS injection system as i could buy a complete rabbit for :roll:
There's a yard about an hour north of you that has a fair selection of A1 chassis cars - my backyard... :) I've got probably around 15 or so A1 Jettas and Rabbits - what do you need? :)
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:shock: i have a busy week, lets talk next thurs/fri :D :D
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Thanks for the encouragement guys! :)
So is Scott Dawson your co-driver? Two 81 VW Rabbits in the results, and Scott's listed as driving the GTD? :)
yep... that's him... and that was his first time racing the car. Really, it wasn't bad for his first try! Where he took off like 5 seconds comparing his 1st to his 4th run, I gained a second from my 1st to my 4th runs (mostly due to tires overheated and greasy by the last runs, and other excuses :? ) He will no doubt learn quickly as he gets a better feel for the car and it's capabilities in future events and will drop a lot of time off further.
Do you have to run with seats etc., or can you get away with a stripped interior? I've often been amazed at how much difference running only a driver's seat makes in how the Scirocco accelerates and handles.
I can run any "fully upholstered" front seats capable of accomodating an adult, but I've got to run a full interior pretty much otherwise (except for updating/backdating to various '75-'84 Rabbit or Jetta stuff... some of which I have done to save a little weight here and there.) What I have is an upholstered go-kart racing seat in the passenger side. It is mad-light. Can't remember exactly how much at the moment, but I know it's under 10 lbs total weight, and is lighter than just the mounting bracket of my driver's seat. On my driver's seat I have a sparco evo fiberglass racing seat. It saves a little weight but also importantly gives good upper-body (IE: shoulder) support. Combined with the 5-point racing harness (not shown in pic below), it doesn't let one move around much, even when pulling high cornering g's.
seat pics:
(http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid73/p11348ec9fcb710d58e2038ce77f25e67/fb6d08cf.jpg)
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:LOL:
Your passenger's seat looking like a child safety seat at first glance - I was about to ask if you had recently becoime a father or something! :)
I like the racing bucket - very nice. I just went with Corrado leathers (heated, even) in the Scirocco GTD. Probably added about 20 extra pounds between the two. I was moving some parts around last weekend and came across a plane-jane non height-adjustable front seat from an A2 Jetta and I was astonished at how light it was compared to the height adjustable sports seats I'm used to.
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I used to have some almost exactly like those, before I went to the fiberglass racing driver's and lightweight kart racing passenger's seat... They were scirocco 16v black leather seats, height adjustable. I think they were nearly exactly like the corrodo ones. Here you can see a glimpse:
(http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid54/p4ed39690ca7113083798f5f1751bf4ad/fc85de9a.jpg)
And you are right, they were heavy! There was a lot of weight savings just compared to a basic, non-height adjustable, non-sport bolstered Rabbit seat. Although the side bolsters, height adjustability, and leather are awfully nice to have on a daily driver!
The go-kart racing seat is actually remarkedly comfortable and supportive... it is made for a full-size adult by the way. It gives good lateral support... but through the ribs not the shoulders! :lol: I think I know an autocrosser who runs them (kart racing seats) in the driver's and passenger's positions (he is also very fast.) I think he also trailers his car to/from events though... :( :?
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My next "big" event is the Bremerton National Tour. It's 3 weeks away, but there are already 5 folks entered in FSP: http://www.myautoevents.com/pls/scca-tour/frmEntryList.Show?psevent_id=1148&psrnd=.04262250386453744401820192383380960015 That's enough competitors to make me eligible for the Hoosier tires contingency award (a pair of Hoosier racing tires) if I were to take 1st place. See, I run those stickers on my car not because "I like the way they look", but for a good reason! ;)
Then... looking further out into the horizon... I will be attending the "big-one": SCCA Solo 2 National Championships in Topeka Kansas in September. This is truly the highest level of competition of the sport of autocross anywhere in the world. Last year, on the Rabbit's maiden voyage to Nationals, I took 20th out of 34 in class.
Next little event will be a little local event (like practice) this sunday. All events from here on out will be run with my new co-driver, Scott Dawson. Wish us luck!
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I used to have some almost exactly like those, before I went to the fiberglass racing driver's and lightweight kart racing passenger's seat... They were scirocco 16v black leather seats, height adjustable. I think they were nearly exactly like the corrodo ones.
The Corrado seats are actually lower than the Scirocco ones, and use the later style heigh adjustment mechanism. The lower seat position is a bit longer, and the bolsters are higher and narrower. I've also found the back to be narrower between the bolsters as well. - it's fine for me because I'm scrawny but "wider" people might find it uncomfortable. I appreciate the extra height afforded by the lower seats, as I have a sunroof, and at 6' tall I used to have to recline the Scirocco seats to the point where my arms were almost straight to the steering wheel to keep from scraping my head on the roof frame... :) I figure I bout at least an inch of headroom with the Corrado seats.
Although the side bolsters, height adjustability, and leather are awfully nice to have on a daily driver!
You got that right - I spend close to three hours a day in this car, so I'll put up with the extra weight... :)
Drew
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OK guys... results from yesterday's local event: Competition in my class was a little weak (my top competition either broke their car or didn't show) so I crushed my class. But I also only needed about 1 second improvement to take top indexed time! I think by driving better I could have taken off about .5 second... that leaves a requirement of .5 second improvement in vehicle setup to try and shoot for top PAX time of day. It's a pretty lofty goal... there are some REAL fast drivers in my region. Think I could do it? :) I think it's honestly possible if I were to get a long-runner intake... some fresher tires, a little more alignment experimenting "magic"... maybe jazz up the revv-limiter/upper timing advance a little bit more... dial in my brake proportioning a little better.
Next sub-goal will be to take 1st place at the Bremerton National Tour in FSP and win 2 free Hoosier tires. :D This is a big, 2-day event usually drawing in out-of-state competition (hopefully), will be happening over the weekend of July 24th-25th. Wish me luck!
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Results are up for yesterday's autocross:
http://www.wwscc.org/event_results/2004/wwscc04-5.html#IC
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UH - Jake - Standing up in the Grandstand - yelling like heck - WTG
Good luck on your next event - and thanks for posting your thoughts on tuning - I have read and am thinking!
Cheers Centurion
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Shoot- guys, I've got bad news for team diesel.
At yesterday's Evolution school I went to (an all day long autocross school) in the middle of the day while I was driving my car on the practice course they had set up, I was coming out of a slalom in 2nd gear going into a straight section and it was time to accelerate, and I was revving high in 2nd gear so I went to shift to 3rd gear but I accidentically shifted it into 1st instead of 3rd! :oops:
The engine overreved higher than I've ever revved it before judging by the sound (didn't have data logging set up... wish I could have recorded how high the RPMs were!) and while the overrevving happened it also made a "crunching" sound. :shock: Later, someone observing from the back of the car (who could hear the sounds coming out of the exhaust) said it made a pop sound like a cork popping out of the wine bottle. Anyway I immediately put the clutch in, and the engine just stopped - it didn't return back to idle like I think it would have if it were undamaged. I went to restart it, and the starter motor could turn things over OK, but the engine wouldn't start and the sound it made during starting was "different" (kind of hand to describe.)
There was no oil loss, no holes punched through the block or transmission. All v-belts and the timing belt are still there and accounted for. What I think happened was I overrevved it and the valves floated. The pistons came up and smacked the valves and one or more valves must have bent. So then, with bent valves, they don't seal well -> no compression on one or more cylinders, although the motor turns over OK. That crunching noise I heard when the motor was revving high I'm thinking was the pistons hitting the valves. I don't know what the pop noise out the tailpipe could have been caused by; possibly some sort of backfire.
Anyway... I got a ride home and my Rabbit is presently still at the race site where it should be OK to leave for a few days. I haven't decided what I'm going to do.
At least ending the day on a good note, someone else taking the school offered me to co-drive their car (a new mini supercharged), which I had a blast finishing off the school in. On the final challenge match I even drove it faster than the instructors could manage.
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Dang dude...that sucks! :evil:
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well - Crap on a bun - no very apetizing - but - Hope the rebuilt goes well -
still waving the flag for yah!
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Aw, thanks for the consolation, guys. :cry:
Here's how high I figure I must have revved the motor. Gear ratios for my "4k" transmission are: 1st, 3.45, 2nd, 2.12. When racing it I usually revv it until the revv limiter starts to limit fuel before shifting into the next gear, but also try to match the shift with a turn when possible, which I'm estimating input the RPM in 2nd at time of shift around 5000rpm or maybe a little higher, but probably not much higher than 5500rpm.
Going from 2.12 to 3.45 is a 63% gain in RPMs. So if I was at 5000rpm in 2nd gear, I would have revved it to 8150rpm in 1st, assuming the car didn't slow down at all. 5500rpm in 2nd would have put me at 8965rpm in 1st with no car slowdown. I have no doubt that the car slowed down some when downshifting, so maybe this range wasn't reached, but I'd say it's likely that it went over 7000rpm. I've heard that a solid lifter "JH" vw gas motor will start to float valves at about 7000rpm, so if the valvetrain is about the same on a 1.6l, that sounds right that I would have experienced valvefloat when I misshifted into 1st.
The experiment that will be interesting to get out of this experience, will be to see if the bottom end escaped unscathed (took the >7000rpm abuse) or not. As far as I can tell so far, no holes were punched in the side of the block, the engine still turns over, no oil was spilled out onto the track, etc, which is an encouraging sign for our motors. And remember this is with a totally-stock type prep of bottom end (no balancing or blueprinting to the bottom end, just think your basic economic "street-driver" type basic rebuild.)
I am considering slapping on a used "CY" head that my dad has, but will need to see what kind of condition it's in first. But then again, given this incident I may end up forfeiting this autocross season, as I'm getting married in September and am plenty busy with other things to do (grad school) - haven't decided yet...
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:cry:
Do the JH gas motors have dual valve springs like we have?
Really sorry to hear about this Jake. You might get away with simply slapping on a new head. Keep us updated.
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I'm pretty sure they use single valve springs- I'm trying to remember when I had the valve cover off of mine, but I didnt pay much attention to the springs. Either way, you'd need some REALLY stiff springs to prevent float at 8k or so. :( Sorry about your incident, but it might just need a new head. It wouldnt suprise me if the pistons were fine. :) That's the only thing that sucks about racing- you are bound to break something eventually. 8)
Good luck.
Brendan
84 VW Scirocco 8v <-- JH
00 Camaro L36 M49