Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

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DrewP
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Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

Postby DrewP » Mon May 19, 2014 1:14 pm

I took my '85 900T to this event over the weekend, and had a ton of fun.

The way it ran was driver's had scheduled 30 minute windows. Flag dropped and you got 25 minutes to do as many laps as possible, with last lap flag coming in at around 24 minutes, then a 5 minute buffer to re-set gates and line up the next driver.

It made for an excellent car shakedown course, as well as a taste of what performance stage rallies are actually like with more seat time all in a row and put a lot more emphasis on vehicle prep.

It was a pretty long, pretty fast course on very hard packed dry lake bed. Hard clay surface with a ton of grip. With about 14 psi of boost if I rolled on too early coming out of a corner in 3rd I could get one front wheel spinning. If I was pointed straight it would almost hook up in 2nd. Coming down the front I was hitting about 85 mph before I had to brake for the first set of gates, one of the fastest trap times of the day.

I was running very strongly, neck and neck for 3rd fastest overall (I was running faster than 3 of the 4 Subarus at the time), then on lap 14 about 18 mins in my coolant expansion tank split and it was race time over for Drew.

The GoPro footage needs edited some, and I'll post a video link when I get a chance.

Results are here, I'm in the middle, "Price."

"Woodruff" who won overall, was running a stripped out 1st generation Mazda Miata on street tires...

There was probably 2/3rds the traction of running on concrete on this surface, you could hear tires squealing if you went in too hot. Very strange feeling driving on dirt / clay and being able to howl the tires. If I had known better I would have left my street tires on the car.

Renting the U-haul trailer was a good choice...



Prepared for battle.
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On-site.
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Yup, Saabs are cool. Cool swag from eEuro helps too!
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Fast course. I was hitting about 85 mph coming into the start gate before the first braking zone.
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Why did my windshield get all wet?
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Glamour shots.
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These were nearly brand new before I started. There was enough grip that I started to chunk the treadblocks off these Fireston Winterforce's.
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Sport & Rally, baby.
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RadioFlyer
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Re: Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

Postby RadioFlyer » Mon May 19, 2014 2:29 pm

Awesome shots!! :yay:

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Re: Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

Postby gmreider » Mon May 19, 2014 6:03 pm

Drew wrote " I was running very strongly, neck and neck for 3rd fastest overall (I was running faster than 3 of the 4 Subarus at the time), then on lap 14 about 18 mins in my coolant expansion tank split and it was race time over for Drew."


Drew was that coolant tank one of the replacement tanks that eEuroparts sells? It looks more opaque then the OEM tanks. I just installed one in my Hill climb car and was wondering if I should be on the look out for a similar failure? Or did you blow the head gasket or some thing and over pressurize the system?

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Re: Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

Postby DeLorean » Mon May 19, 2014 7:05 pm

That is the "ronak" replacement unit. I'd stick with a genuine unit... Gary, remind me, I'll bring one I have several good ones.

Looks like it was a fun time :)
Less brake more gas!

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DrewP
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Re: Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

Postby DrewP » Mon May 19, 2014 7:27 pm

That was the 'MTC' brand aftermarket one from eEuro. Jordan told me they may stop carrying those anyway, but yes, it's almost completely opaque, and the threads for the cap never felt quite right anyway.

I was keeping an eye on the temp the whole time and knew right away when it blew because I got a windscreen full of coolant, and puttered back to the paddock, put in some water, ran it to circulate, shut it off to let it cool, repeated a few times. No puffs of smoke out the breather or coolant reservoir or anything so it doesn't appear it blew the head gasket or warped the head. I'll know for sure when I get a Genuine replacement tank on there and take it out for a spin.
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Re: Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

Postby Jordan » Tue May 20, 2014 6:56 am

Yeah, there has only been one previous return on them but obviously there are some QC issues and we switched suppliers. There are some remaining units in stock and the new stuff is on the way in. Should be fine, but my recommendation would be to carry a spare , or go OE.

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Re: Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

Postby gmreider » Wed May 21, 2014 6:42 am

Jordan wrote:Yeah, there has only been one previous return on them but obviously there are some QC issues and we switched suppliers. There are some remaining units in stock and the new stuff is on the way in. Should be fine, but my recommendation would be to carry a spare , or go OE.


Yes , I found a nice used OEM unit and swapped out. Delorean, Paulh and I are all headed out to Summit Point WV. this weekend for the first PHA track Trail event. This will be the largest SAAB showing in many years. We will report back.

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Re: Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

Postby SwedeSport » Wed May 21, 2014 10:19 am

Drew,

I dig that side exit exhaust. In fact I am planning a similar setup on the 84 Notch Project. Only difference is that I am going to split into duals, and dump one out each side.

Can you snap a few shots of your setup for me? I want to see how your pipes fit the bottom of the body, and how you mounted the dump.
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DrewP
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Re: Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

Postby DrewP » Wed May 21, 2014 2:11 pm

It makes about a 45* degree turn straight to that exit, and I have a tab welded on that grabs one of the bolts where the little flaps in front of the trailing arms sit.

I've been thinking of ditching it and putting a tamer exhaust back on it, I'd consider selling it if you're interested? It's not in the best shape since the Ansa twin tips have been taking rock hits on the rallyx course. Next time I'm at my Mom's I'm gonna grab my old MSS cat-back and throw that on there I think. It's just too loud for around town use and I don't need to draw any more attention to myself once I get the eEuro / SCCA / CalClub stickers all over the car...
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Re: Lucerne Valley, CA Endurance Rallycross 2014

Postby SwedeSport » Sat May 24, 2014 9:13 am

I bought all the pieces to do a dual side exit. But the car is 3 1/2 hours away in eEuro's warehouse.

The design I came up with will require some floor mods to tuck up under my lowered car.
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