Archive for June, 2008

Nick Good and the UK’s NG Motorsport Super Pro ET team have had time to reflect on their most successful weekend of racing yet, after the team recorded their first event win at the SPRC Summernationals. Nick writes that it was a weekend of lows, highs and a fair sprinkling of luck:

Shaun and I arrived at the track lunchtime friday, got the awning up, the car bolted together and through scrutineering. When Bob arrived in the evening we fired up the motor and set the timing and checked over the motor and trans, deciding to check the valve lash in the morning with the motor cold. Next morning, what should have been a routine check of the valve lash turned into a panic when it was discovered that #3 exhaust rocker had decided to spit out half a dozen needle rollers! It must have failed just as we had shut down the evening before as five of them were within a couple of inches of the valve spring. We popped the needle bearings back in the rocker hoping that they had all been recovered. No such luck, one was still missing! Although these bearings are only a quarter of an inch long and less than a sixteenth of an inch in diameter they are incredibly hard, so there was no way we could risk hurting the new motor. It had to be found.

First off we fished around with a magnet in the valley as best we could, then the oil came out along with the filter. No sign of it. Then the pan came off whilst the nearest valve springs were removed and checked, still nothing. Next, off with the blower and manifold and all the rockers to carefully remove and check the lifters. Bingo! The little so-and-so was sitting tight behind #1 exhaust lifter. It was popped back into the rocker to make sure it was the last one missing. Karl Harrison lent us a spare rocker, and with his assistance we started to reassemble the motor. We had obviously missed the first qualifying session but were really surprised when ten minutes into the rebuild the call for the second and only remaining session came. Doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourselves! This was going to be tight. Periodic silences coming from the track gave us some hope of making it to the line.

The team of Andy, Bob, Shaun, along with invaluable help from Karl, had the motor together and fired up as the rest of the class were putting in their last runs of the day. We towed down with seconds to spare. John Everitt was last in the Super Pro queue and about to fire up. I was quickly strapped in and after a short burn out managed to stage without holding up John for too long. We had planned the first run of the day to be a half pass as we had taken some blower and timing out of the motor to concentrate on setting up the chassis, and a new rear wing with more downforce had been fitted since the last meeting. I was expecting a straight steady run to half track, no chance! Off the line then left, right and back left again to half track before coasting through the finish line. At least we were in Sunday’s race. It was only after the run that the crew told me that there just had not been time to get both rear tyres down to their correct pressures. This didn’t matter, it was a brilliant effort by all the crew to get the car to the line under real pressure.

Mechanically, Sunday was a breeze, with just between-rounds servicing and checks going as planned. Going into eliminations we had no idea what times the car would run as we only had a less than perfect half pass to work with. We guessed it would run mid 6.9s so we dialled in 7.0 so as not to leave ourselves short at the top end. It was a case of having to pull a decent light and being careful to just nose ahead at the line. This worked fine against John Everitt in round one running a 7.03. In the second round against Nigel Turner we really had some luck. The chute shook itself out at a thousand feet. There was no way I was going to catch Nigel, but fortunately for us he broke out by seven thousandths. In the third round against Bob Doyle we dropped the dial in to 6.92 and lifted to a 6.93/170.79. In the semi-final we were up against Ian Tubb who had just knocked out Simon Rowland with as close to a perfect run as you’re ever likely to see, perfect Reaction Time and four ten thousandths off his dial-in. We dropped our dial-in to 6.89. Again lifting just before the line, we ran 6.894/187.22.

The final was an anti-climax after the excitement of the previous rounds: a mix-up with Crunch’s dial in of 7.00 took away his chance in the final, which was a real shame. An easy 7.15/145 was enough to take us to our first event win.

After thinking on the Saturday that this would be a wasted weekend, we couldn’t really believe the turnaround in our fortunes on Sunday. This was a brilliant team effort, with Shaun at his first meeting as a crew member really being thrown in at the deep end. Thanks also to Karl, Rod and Kim of Team Stardust for their generous help throughout the weekend. Without the backing of our sponsors we wouldn’t be at the track, so a big Thank You to Formula Tanker Rentals, Beovax Computer Services, Focal Point Digital, Hardwick Road Garage, Chris Brown Body Repairs, BGC Motorsport Components, Glasweld Systems, D&R Engineering and Morris Armitage.

UK Super Pro ET racer Nick Good and the NGMotorsport have been in touch to say a big Thank You to everyone who helped them achieve their goals for the season with a six-second run in the dragster’s first full pass at the FIA Main Event, after a major off-season rebuild:

We were all feeling down at the end of the 2007 season. We had paid good money last year for a motor and trans installed last year which was supposedly the mutts nuts. Unfortunately it wasn’t but actually had some surprising ‘tuning modifications’ we didn’t expect or appreciate. We managed to get the car out for the European Finals as we had obligations to our sponsors and their guests. In the first round of elimination’s a failed oil filter seal managed to oil the track from one end to the other: Fram have since ordered a recall on their HP4 and HP8 filters manufactured during mid 2007 after other racers had suffered the same problem. Luckily the high volume Titan oil pump prevented any serious motor damage. We also lost a body panel at half track, Gary Malin had lost the same panel at half track when he had run the car as Serious Playtime. Thanks to Geof Hauser for the chassis stiffening mods which have now cured the problem.

To run the numbers we wanted reliably, we realised a new motor was the only way to go. After numerous phone calls and weighing up the options we decided on a Steve Schmidt 509 ci solid Donovan short motor, new Dart Pro-1 heads and a Keith Black gear drive. The only parts salvaged from the old motor were the cam, oil pump, inlet valves and spring retainers. Air Sea Logistics provided a speedy door to door shipping from Steve Schmidt Racing Engines at a great price, thanks to Malcom Francis for an excellent service. Thanks also to Carl Harrison without whose help we wouldn’t have made the Main Event, from timing the cam to machining the adapter plate for the setback blower and numerous other jobs and advice. He really knows his way around a blown alky motor, thanks mate. Can’t wait to see your Mustang Funny Car at the track.’
©Eurodragster.com
Having only got the car fired up just before the Main Event we’d had no track time going into our first qualifying session. The plan was to do a launch with a fairly soft tune in the car. Unfortunately excessive tyre shake at the end of the burnout knocked the kill switch off. We had the same problem in the second qualifying session same problem, but with the switch back on the car fired up. We had dialled in a 7.55 knowing we would only be doing a 330 foot practice launch. I kept my foot in to nearly half track and coasted through the top end, a lucky 7.592 put us in eleventh position. A 1.01 sixty foot time and the motor sounding strong made all the winter’s hard work seem worthwhile. After checking out the the car Stevie Metcalfe of Team MFR sorted some glitches in the data logger. It was then time to relax and enjoy some cold beers.

The tyres shook hard twice on the last run and for Saturday’s first session we decided to drop the rear tyre pressures by a quarter of a pound. The car is nearly ten per cent lighter with the alloy block and we decided the pressures in the rears should reflect this. We thought the car was ready for a full pass as long as the tyre shake was not still too excessive. We were paired against my sponsors’ Formula Tanker Rental car with Simon Rowland at the wheel. The motor sounded really strong on the burnout on the same relatively soft tune up. With a few more revs on the motor the car launched hard and there was no tyre shake, just a slight vibration as the car wandered out of the centre of the groove. I kept my foot in through the top end, then the fun started, no chute! It’s surprising how far you travel in the couple of seconds your waiting for the chutes to hit but after a few wild bounces and cooking the brakes I managed to get round at the end of the strip and into the return road safely. The faces of the crew when they came to tow me back said it all, a 6.753 second run.

The timing slip showed a 0.969 sixty foot time but no terminal speed, although the datalogger indicated a speed of between 203 and 204 mph across the line. Our goals for the season were a six second pass, a 200mph+ terminal speed and a sub one-second sixty foot time. All achieved in two days! The car has much more in it. We haven’t hooked up the port injection yet, and it will take more boost and timing. For the Summernationals we intend to take some power out of the motor and concentrate on tuning the chassis.

None of this would have been possible without the financial help of sponsors Formula Tanker Rentals, Beovax Computer Services, Focalpoint Digital, Chris Brown Body Repairs, BGC Motorsport Components, Morris Armitage, Hardwick Road Garage and Glas-Weld Systems. A big thank you to crew Andy, Bob and Hester for giving up so much of their time to get us to the track, and dad Rex for the refurb on the truck. We have three additions to the crew this year, namely Mike and William Penny and Shaun Clarke, which should help spread the workload.

You can check out the team’s progress at www.ngmotorsport.co.uk. Hopefully we can look forward to better weather and a completed meeting at the Summernationals. Fingers crossed!