Tangerine Racing ready for Road Atlanta!

MASSIVE TYPE IV · Post by **MASSIVE TYPE IV** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 6:21 am

I'm on the way out the door as we speak!

After a long hard week of obstacles and testing Chris, Bren and I were able to MORE than achieve our goals with the F Production 1832cc engine!
186BHP@7500 RPM!

Len did the most awesome pair of FP heads I have ever seen for this bad boy and his name is right along side mine on Chris' car!

Chris and his partner Pete stayed up working in my shop till 0345 installing the new engine... Today will be some practice and qualifying. Tomorrow is the national race...

Anyone in the area feel free to stop by the Tangerine Racing pit and meet the crew!

I'll have the 914 in the infield so you can see a 914 DTM first hand...

NO_H2O · Post by **NO_H2O** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 9:32 am

Glad to hear you got it done.
Enjoy a day at the track.
Hope Chris kicks some ass with his new mill.

MASSIVE TYPE IV · Post by **MASSIVE TYPE IV** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 3:33 pm

Chris had an issue during the qualifying session. They are on the way back to the shop to switch engines so Len and I can repair some odd damage to the head.

Its very early to say, but it looks like a carb circuit clogged and leaned out the #1 cylinder severely.

All valves and pistons are OK, all the CR simply cut a passage through the head right up the spark plug hole.

When running so much compression a lean condition doesn't take but a second to smoke something.

The damage is not that bad at all and Len and I will have it repaired in time for his next big race in a few weeks.

We were operating behind schedule with little sleep and working against the clock. I try to avoid working against the clock because every failure we have ever had has been related to not having enough time.

At least this will give me the opportunity to get it back together and make some more dyno pulls and get more data... The rest of the engine appears to be unharmed.

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 8:01 pm

First of all let me say that there was nothing wrong with this engine. We were totally thorough with our procedures and didn't let any schedule pressures dictate our decisions. All through this we have had options. When one plan didn't come together we switched to the next.
Jake and Len's work is absolutely top notch and I have the utmost respect for their commitment to my program.
After dynoing the engine we made the decision this engine was ready to race and it definitely was.
Sure Pete and I stayed up late to finish the install, but we work incredibly well together when it matters.
What bit us was something that none of us considered ahead of time. The car had old race gas in it that was supposed to have been burned the day before in the old engine where it wouldn't have created any issues.
The gas had lost some octane and the engine ran a little lean from the elevation change. If I had the same CHT setup as Jake prefers I might have noticed the heat near the plug and stopped the engine before the detonation burned through the head at the thinnest spot, right next to the spark plug.
We have to regroup now, but this experience will make us stronger for the rest of the season, rest assured.
For my regular season motor this thing is a mean mother. I watched Jake work the dyno and it he knew exactly what to change to maximize the performance. Before long I'll be re-installing this engine and tearing up the tracks in the Northeast.

farmer · Post by **farmer** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 2:18 am

Well. This is racing. Sh** happens. no matter how carefull you are. But i look forward to hear more later in the season.
- We do not have these classes over here.
T.

ZoSo914 · Post by **ZoSo914** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 3:54 pm

I dont mean to change the topic but is this for an SCCA race? If so will you be taking it to the mid ohio track at any point this season? I have a few friends that race up there and I would love to see the car.

MASSIVE TYPE IV · Post by **MASSIVE TYPE IV** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:13 pm

Yes, it is SCCA....

Chris will definately be at Mid Ohio and so will I if we get all the engines finished in time for the runoffs!

There will be at least 3 RAT powered E and F production cars there.... All battling against each other!

dstar · Post by **dstar** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:22 pm

MASSIVE TYPE IV wrote: There will be at least 3 RAT powered E and F production cars there.... All battling against each other!

It would be GREAT, for them to finish, 1, 2, 3!

Don

MASSIVE TYPE IV · Post by **MASSIVE TYPE IV** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:42 pm

Well one is in E Prod and has a HUGE amount of competition....

Len and I are focusing more on this program (E and F production) now than any other.

Making 185BHP from an 1800 isn't easy, but it sure is hell is fun to control on the dyno!

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:32 am

After some careful post race analysis and soul searching it appears that Tangerine Racing was not quite ready for Road Atlanta after all.
The engine ran flawlessly on the dyno and a decision was made to install it in the car. Unfortunately I failed to take into account some other important factors: We had to work late into the night to accomplish the installation and didn't make it to the track in time for the first practice session; A number of other systems on the car were new, untested and interfered with properly focusing on the engine; The new engine is more wild than anything I have ever ran in my car and required more accurate monitoring and fuel/cooling/instrumentation/procedural systems than I currently have in place; I failed to understand just how sensitive an engine of this potential is to slight variations in external parameters.
After the letdown we compared what had changed between the dyno setup and the in-car setup. Old gas is one of those factors but we also concluded that I must upgrade several things before running the engine again in the car, including running a 914 DTM to achieve the most consistent and effective cooling available for a T4 engine. I will have these things in place by the time the engine is reassembled and returned to me for installation in about 3-4 weeks. In addition to upgraded systems, per Jake's insturctions I will be implementing more rigorous procedures to ensure that ignorance or negligence will not cause future failures.
In the meantime we are on our way to Summit Point for the first Northeast Division National this weekend with the backup engine in the car.

MASSIVE TYPE IV · Post by **MASSIVE TYPE IV** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:00 am

I agree with Chris about the lack of preparation on the part of the "Team"..

But it won't happen again. I think that this is the best thing that could have happened looking back on it because it happened while we were all together so we could find the source and create remedies.

This is one serious "Little" engine and it's quite cantankerous but makes some wicked power!

dstar · Post by **dstar** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 1:41 pm

I'd LOVE to just HEAR it!

I'll bet it's got a wicked bark when you rap the throttle!

Don

farmer · Post by **farmer** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 3:37 pm

dstar wrote:I'd LOVE to just HEAR it!

I'll bet it's got a wicked bark when you rap the throttle!

Don

Now there is an idea. Anybody have a chance of taping a couple of laps for us far and away guys. I would love to see and hear that thing !
T.

bayareathrasher · Post by **bayareathrasher** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:33 pm

Chris has an in-car video camera, and some of his previous races are on his site. I'm sure he'll get some footage of track time with the new engine when its ready again.

btw, Chris it was great to meet you, and Pete too. Best of luck!

--John

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 4:57 am

We're back on the road again in a few minutes.
I-81 from the Tennessee border all the way to Winchester, about 360 miles.
Tomorrow we will be at Summit Point to qualify for our second race.
This time I think we are better prepared, as we concentrated just on the car and didn't try to add any more new stuff. In addition to the issues that cropped up during the Road Atlanta race I found a clutch tube that needed a weld repair. I also had to visit a local welding shop to borrow their TIG to repair a component of my cooling system. It was nice of the owner to not charge me for using the equipment. :)
I'll post more after the weekend's activities.