Something for us to think about.

[John Hannaford]

I picked this up off of a Cobra board I frequent. The COMSCC group does Solo 1 type events at Loudon, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Mosport, Mt. Tremblant, Pocono etc. As much as I like rocketing my car up to warp speeds, this is a cogent argument for keeping the top speeds down.

Quoted from a post by Gary Cheney:
"I just got the call from my friend Joe Traut. Today at Pocono Robert Goldfarb,the president of COM, the sports car club that many of us New England owners run with passed away today. He was racing his Fully caged Z06 and crashed at around 155mph from what I was told. Rob was such a great, great guy and was instrumental in letting us run the spec series with COM next year. But more than that he always had a smile on his face and laughter in his voice. Last year Rob was one of the "Miata Gang" in the club and then over the winter he had a fully T1 prepped Z06 built for him and almost beat Jack Rosen for FTD at the glen with this car!!!! He really loved not just the racing but the camaderie that he had with all of us. He will be surely, surely missed. My condolenses to his wife and family"

[RedRabbit Racer]

It is always sad to see an accidental and premature end to life.

However, I don't make a direct connection to keeping top speeds down. I think it is premature to a conclusion as to the cause of death as 'straight line speed too high'. Race track deaths have occurred at much lower speeds, and countless miles have been run safely at much higher speeds.

[John Hannaford]

To suggest that faster isn't more dangerous is just being obtuse, to put it politely. One incident like this would sink this series permanently.

Bob was an experienced driver in a well prepared car. He almost took FTD away from a Formula Ford at Watkins Glen this year. He raised the bar in their SPA class at every track. And now his family gets to live without him. It's a bad trade-off.

I'm seriously thinking about getting something slower and safer to run because of this. The people in the cars that don't go 170 mph seem to be having just as much fun and are running fast lap times in very competitive groups. It's making a lot of sense to me right now.

[ADAM]

yep....higher speeds = more force

good for us that our top speeds are very slow at the tracks we go to...

[John Hannaford]

What do you think I should get in place of the Cobra? A Honda? They seem nice.:D

[ADAM]

i would stick with your cobra..you have at least 5 seconds more to drop off your lap times with that beast still...that is an awesome car!!!!!

if i had that beast...i would be thru a set of tires every month :)

ahhhh not a honda..why not a nice nissan... :)

[John Hannaford]

Yeah, there's no doubt that I've still got a lot to learn. I think I'll back the boost way off and concentrate on improving my corners. (Maybe just a couple of full toot runs for the radar gun!)

Nissan (Datsun actually) was what I was thinking about. My first sports car was a '72 240Z. I could run one in the Vintage races too. Might be hard to make one competitive in class now though.

[ADAM]

how many pounds of boost are you running? on that beast?

hmmm that might be wise..a little less power...or it might be wise with a little more power?

i always tend to go with the more power :) since i am quite used to driving a very slow car

ok...lets see what it can do in the radar trap this weekend....

flex some of that V8 muscle

[John Hannaford]

I've been running a 12psi pulley lately for Solo, but my smallest will push 14. I think I'll go with 9 this weekend, but I'll bring the 14lb along as well - just for fun, and maybe Saturday night if it doesn't rain again.

I noticed at the last event that I went slower (relatively, both in class and against the field) after I picked up some horsepower from tuning. Maybe 5 lbs/hp isn't the best setup to learn with.

[ADAM]

12psi... that the range i have been running in 11-12 psi ..though i only have 2.4l :)

how many Ci is the motor? is it a small block?

i really have to take a closer look this weekend..

are you running race fuel? what comp ratio are you running?

[John Hannaford]

It's a high nickel '73 302 block at 306 ci with the overbore ~ 5 litres. Static compression is just over 7:1 using dish pistons. This lets me run 18 deg initial and 36 total advance with the 12 psi pulley without lighting up the knock sensor on 91 octane, though I usually run 94. The breathing is limited by the 750 carb and moderate cam, so anything over 9 psi becomes relatively less efficient and with 14 psi it starts to show signs of leaning out at high rpm. I've considered a 950 cfm carb and new cam to see how far it would go, but I still drive it on the street and need some low end response. Besides, it's way past the "crazy enough" point and I'd probably end up with parts all over the landscape.

I think we're getting about the same specific output at 12 psi - you're around 240 hp, right?

[ADAM]

neat.. i would think huge power gains would be made by going EFI..why did you opt for carb?

very hard to set up carb with forced induction..

off boost with 7:1 that motor must be a dog(well alot slower anyway :) )? no..that might be part of your problem right there..since supercharging is linear with rpm..as soon as your rev's drop the motor is a complete dog (quite a bit slower) since you have little or no boost at low RPM... what does your dyno chart look like? very peaky?

i am running stock compression 8.6:1 and have no knocking issues at stock timing and using 94 octane...at 12psi yeah i would be around 240rwhp to 250rwhp in that range very close to that..and 260-270ftlbs torque.....

so you must be laying down close to 500rwhp and 540ftlbs? WOW... i like the sound of that..

though i have max boost thru all of the RPM band..a benefit of having turbo :)


does the blower have an efficency chart? what blower and compressor is it? we can work out exactly what fuel you need...and what efficency the blower is at at different RPM levels

[John Hannaford]

Nope, curve is as square as a table. This is a positive displacement blower using two long lobed pieces to pump the A/F mixture from the carb down into the manifold. A bit like a rotary engine in concept. This means I get the same amount of air pumped per revolution at all rpm levels, 174 c.i. per turn. Full boost is available just off idle. It's much more efficient at low RPM than a centrifugal blower and a bit more than a turbo, although the gap has closed quite a bit recently with the improvements in turbo management systems. It loses ground on efficiency to both as the revs rise, much more so to the turbo because of parasitic losses, which is why I'm not getting 600+ at the crank as turbo setups on similar long block combos do. I'll see if I can find a chart. It's not as popular as the common 6-71 blower setups, but would have similar characteristics.

This setup is easy to tune (by which I mean as easy as it ever gets with carbs, of course) as it pulls through the carb instead of blowing into it like the old Paxton centrifugal setups. Those things are nightmares to tune and eat engines. With the pull through designs, the carb basically "sees" a [306*((boost/14.7)+1)*efficiency] cubic inch engine under it, which is why I would need 950+ cfm carb to feed it if it were a dedicated race motor with a full atmosphere or more of boost. That's also why it sounds the way it does. There are bolt on EFI systems that would fit, but I'd change the basic design of the motor before spending more on it. It doesn't really have a lot more power to give through fuel management as WOT is very easy to tune on this setup.

This isn't my ideal or even planned setup. It kind of followed me home one night. Still it's a lot fun.

[Dave Barker]

I agree with you John , that higher speed definitely increases the risk of bodily injury. There is a thread on the SCCA forums in the Solo 1 section where the main question is " Why aren't there more people running Solo 1 in the USA?"
There it seems you need a fire suit and roll cage but they do run some pretty fast tracks and believe it or not hill climbs ( which seem blatantly dangerous to me !!) so obviously the cost is a huge factor. OTOH at the tracks we run in Ontario ( despite the experience of the last 2 years ) I don't feel roll cages are absolutely necessary as our speeds are relatively low.

When I first started Solo 1 I thought it would be neat to have an event at the real ( read not Honda) track a t Mosport but I realise now just how unsafe that would be. My stock engined Camaro is as fast as I want to run there without a cage ( likely faster as I definitely don't push as hard as say at SMP ).

So in the end we have a very good and safe set up here in Ontario for most cars .

BTW if you are not going to run your Factory 5 car then how about a 3rd or 4 th gen Mustang with a 5 .0 , At least you are familiar with the engine and for a small amount of money it can even handle ( sort of ) and at least it isn't front wheel drive .

[Shaman]

I'm getting over 220km/h on the back straight of Shannonville and have to brake for the front straight down from around 170km/h. I'd be very unhappy to roll the car in either of those situations, nor the 180km/h+ (from memory) sweeper at Cayuga. I think Solo tracks are plenty quick for such tight cornering. On the big tracks in the states like Sebring and Road Atlanta, the speeds were much higher, but the corners were comparatively tame... ok, maybe not at Road Atlanta. The problem with the really high speeds has to do with many factors, and brakes are the major one for me - I had a very near miss at Sebring when my brakes failed at the end of a 250km/h straight. However, I'm not sure you're any better off if that happened at the DDT down the back chute. Even in a stockish Dech 'stang, I was over 150km/h in counterclockwise.

Something tells me John's car is over 200km/h through there. That'd leave a mark.

[John Hannaford]

A Mustang is an attractive alternative at this point. Maybe a nice reliable V-6. Damn high power prima donna race cars. Got a spare engine Steve?

[LateApex]

Mustang- a great idea!!

There's a nice Mustang in the For Sale section right now....;)

[Dave]

John, drop a LS1 engine in that Cobra and go racing! I absolutely love my Dad's camaro engine...just lacks brakes and suspension stiffness but you've got both those and a 1,000 lbs less flab on your Factory Five. Of course I'm not sure if you could shoe horn one into the engine bay or not, but it would be worth looking into IMO. Ford engines sound wonderful but man does that LS1 engine ever make gobs of usuable power...

[John Hannaford]

Dave,

That may just be the winter thing this year. After driving Doug's Camaro on Sunday, I'm one impressed Ford guy.

[Shaman]

I will be back next year with a vengeance to honour the mighty LS1. Muahaha. To do that, I'm starting now. ;)

[Dave Barker]

John , I too was impressed with the power of that stock ( or at least almost) LS1 car. Made my LT1 seem pretty tame. Maybe with an airlid and exhaust in an LS1 car I could have beat Andrew.

I also think Dave is right about using a stock engine in your light car or just using a street driven car period for Solo 1. Certainly I am not the only one to observe that the more modified the car , the more likely it is to break. Besides when street driven you get to pick up on all those things that are about to go after a race weekend .

[John Hannaford]

Dave,

You said it. It'a a vicious circle - the highly mod engine breaks which means you don't get the needed testing time, which means the highly mod engine breaks ...

Something more mainstream is going to happen under my hood. I've had it with boost monsters for this purpose. It's not like our manly mills need all that huffing and puffing.

I'm getting sticker shock on LS1 crate motors though. Are there any Canadian sources that aren't trying to send their kids to Harvard on one sale?

[Dave Barker]

John , there are a few junkyard dealers in the USA that specialise in high performance used GM parts that sell what are likely reasonable engines. I have got some parts from TACreationsusa in Florida for very reasonable prices .

[John Hannaford]

Thanks, I'll check them out.

[RICK3059]

John, you and I have spoken about this on one or more occasions. To me it is not the speed, but the ability of the driver. When I was in the casino business we handed out a card to the players. A slogan on the bottom of the card stated:

" bet with your head, not over it "

When I run my quiet little RX 7, I subscribe to the thought:

" race with your head, not over it"

The amount of horsepower coming out, is only as much as the driver puts in. Confidence, not arrogance, in your ability, to me, is the key to the situation here. Drive within your limits. It doesn't matter if you are running a 100 HP 12A RX 7, or a fully modified FF5 Cobra or Z06 Corvette. The ability to handle (drive) the car is paramount. We MUST ensure that we all drive within our own capabilities. The talk earlier this year regarding insurance only drove that point home. The more incidents, the less likely insurance companies will be willing to cover us. But that again brings us back to the original point that I am trying to make. An FF5 in the hands of A JOHN HANNFORD is not the same as in the hands of Joe on the corner. We must police ourselves to the point that each driver must have the ability to control his/her own car. Should it be seen that ability is not evident, an organizer should step in and prevent that driver from injuring or killing him/her self or others. Racing incidents occur each and every day. I (we) can only hope is does not happen to us. All of the training and practice does help but by no means are all incidents preventable. We must remember that this is grassroots motorsports, not professional racing. I for one do not want to lose, but I will not risk my life for 1/10th of a second. Rambling I have done.
John, keep the Cobra, get the firesuit and drive within your own capabilities. You'll have fun, we'll have fun as spectators and we'll all go back to our regular lives on Monday.
Your friend in racing,

[John Hannaford]

Rick,

Solo 1 is racing, not lapping. I come out to win. Finding and elevating my limit and beating the other guy is what this is all about for me, and unfortunately the only way to do that is to go faster. I'm way too competitive and goal-oriented to ever be happy with less and I'd find something else to do before I'd back off. The only solution for me is the same one I apply to casinos. Set up the game so it won't break me. I don't bet in casinos because I'd spend every penny trying to win, even with all that university math telling me I can't. If I can get what I need from Solo racing with greater safety, I'd be crazy not to do it. The supercharger is history and I'll either add a full cage or go to a different car.

Bob was not over his head, he was racing. He just set up a game that had more on the table.

[RICK3059]

John, I just finished a long response. For some reason I got bounced and it didn't appear. Anyway yes we are racing not lapping. Bob was not over his head. I did not indiacte either of those statements. Anyway I'm looking forward to the next event at Shannonville. My Mom had an operation today to remove a cancerous lump from her breast. Therfore I will not have time to prepare my car for Cayuga. Let's hook up before that event, introduce the wives etc., and make some plans. looking forward to seeing the Cobra go.