well it has been some time since we last brought you up to date and I can assure we have been busy so here goes……we finally got the Pro Formula Mazda running! what a job. over 600 hours went into the car which was to be delivered in “race ready condition”. what a bad joke that was. The vendor of the car had no idea of the shape of the car as it was under the stewardship of a Pro Race team out of texas and suffice it to say if they were /are a pro team….shame on them. not only did it take 600 + hours to get the PFM in race ready shape, the car was a disaster, bent bolts, stripped bolts, some things were only partly assembled, some parts of the car not even there….a real nightmare, sadly we lost about 75k in advertising revenue as a result of not having the car ready for the trade show stops we had slated for our new advertiser groups…..man that just sucks when i think about it again!
we get the car to the track for the first time and wow did we miss the baseline set up! the first session was short as we had some knits show up, most of the data system seemed to be reporting, all the cars engine vitals were working but really the car was so off, very nervous and darty we called it a day and went back to the shop to re access our set up.
next time out, it was apparent that we are now on the right track with the car and the car and team performed quite well. at this point we had completed about 75 laps in the car from the 2 test days and are well on our way learning about the car.
along the way I released crew chief Ashton Evans from the team but none the less the work goes on.
fast forward to this past weekend test / race weekend and wow what a difference!
we were not getting enough heat into the tires, we run radials on this car versus bias ply tires and they are a completely different tire in ALL aspects. we had a good test agenda this past weekend; played with the toe settings on the car, chassis rake, spring rates on the front and rear of the car, fuel trim settings, sway bar settings, wing angles and so on. every adjustment we did was evidenced in our data and data review, the car is very direct in responding to changes so we learned….we learned alot this weekend.
on saturday we rolled the car out on previously run tires, they were ok for a few laps but when a radial race tire is done….it’s done! unlike a bias ply tire like the ones used on our Formula Continental car which when they start to go you can salvage more laps from them by softening the front and rear sway bars, the radial has nothing left no matter how soft you make the car and add to the fact the Pro Formula Mazda hates a soft set up to be sure.
right out of the gate we had increased our tires temps with old tires….very good, we adjusted some aero components on the car which ended up getting us more straight line speed and better front end grip on the 2 high speed turns at race city. our lateral G force is climbing all time which is a number that indicates how the car sticks when turning into , going through and exiting the turn. our straight line speed increased by about 8 MPH on average and with some fresh rubber (that’s code for new tires)….get ready………on sunday we were told that we set a new track record with the car on saturday. not too bad, not to bad at all!
the crew did a great job all weekend, we have a new member on the team who will be looking after data collection, review, debriefing and chassis set up changes to be contemplated, his name is gary maclean, welcome gary and btw, he did a great job on the weekend, all the guys were happy to see and learn about data plots, what they mean, how to read the difference from one set up to the other and so on. i should also share that we also have another new member, nathan hill. right now nathan is floating in regard to a specific team function but it looks like he will be going to general mechanic and aero adjustment guy function for the short term. nathan did a great job, all the crew, jes, myles, gary did a great job. with no crew chief everyone had a few more things to do and they did it well, very well. the team is also getting some interest from students enrolled in the university of calgary, mechanical engineering department by way of the formula SAE students who would like to get involved in our race effort and the Pro Formula Mazda so i hope to be reporting progress of additional team members joining as we go forward. of the things i hope to improve on, one area is getting a dedicated race car mechanic who specialises in quick, accurate mechanical changes at the track as well as basic car prep in the shop.
and before i forget we got some interest….finally, in our “arrive and drive” racing experience rent a ride program so hopefully that will take off soon.
so to sum up, we have no crew chief, we have the car working better all the time, we set a track record, new team members now, new potential team members wanting to join us in the future, the arrive and drive looks to be taking off and overall a really good feeling going forward.
this race activity doesn’t happen without the financial support of our advertisers and the hard work from the crew so to all of you, a huge thank you, thank you, thank you!
blairica
pintos rock and mazda’s really do go zoom zoom!