Moridin

Here's a couple pics from today:

I can get the cages...but I'm not so sure about the under body trays. Maybe they'll be out for cleaning where all the fans can see them, which means pictures are fair game.

Perfect beer: R&B Brewing Sun God pale ale. Can only get it in Vancouver, BC in local restaurants or by the keg. Good stuff.

Made it out to Elkhart Lake for the race at Road America without and major problems. Very much a surprise considering the luck I've had in the last few years with airlines. Anywho, the track is just as gorgeous as it was when I was here in 2004. I also go to see the IMSA Lights practice. Very neat cars. One had the P1 Audi color scheme and another the P2 Intersport car. I need to find out who's running what motor, because all I know is the Radical's should have a Hayabusa motor. Lots of cool street cars at the track too. There was a nice red 997 Turbo, orange Murcielago, yellow C6 Z06, and probably a few others. Intersport has the sponsor "Very Berry Exotic" that brought a Bugatti Veyron to the Miller Motorsports Park. I'm anxiously waiting to see what comes along to show for the weekend in front of the truck. I'll be taking pics. jmortensen, I'm going to try and get the pictures of the roll cages. I didn't see the PTG cars today, but I spent most of my time next to the trucks and setting up the pits. I'm sure I'll get a chance to get some of the Audis, because when they practice, they are usually assigned around our pit stall area (every other group shares pit stalls with the ALMS teams. Anyone else want any pictures? I'll see what I can do, but I usually find a few extra minutes here and there before practice. If anyone is going, let me know. Its always fun to chat with fellow HybridZ'ers.

You should try Lizard Skins to quiet the car down (and reduce in-cabin temperatures). Would make a recently subdued car even more Lexus-like without much weight gain. Just thought since you have the WIAI syndrom, you might find it interesting. You can find Lizard Skins on Summit Racing's website.

One of my friends runs mid 11's in his daily driven 24 valve 2nd gen Dodge. Dyno'ed close to 750RWHP and about 1450RWTQ. Stock bottom end.

I just picked up the new "Racecar Engineering" magazine at my local Border's bookstore. There was an awesome article written by a FIA technical consultant. Basically talked about where F1 and other series are heading. We should see hybrid technologies making there way into F1 in 2010 by way of regenerative braking used for passing power. There is also soon to be an explosion in alternative fuels at Le Mans. With Audi winning, we will see Peugot next year with their V12 diesel, and many others like Toyota and Honda follow with hybrid and hydrogen powered vehicles. Basically, what's learned on raceday will dictate where performance cars are going to be headed.

Pretty sure its the other way around.

Found these posts on Pirate 4x4 from a guy named "dieselcruiserhead" about the Cummins 4BT motors (4 cylinder Cummins): "Pretty much, almost all of the parts are interchangable, including torque plates, injectors, etc. There are some guys out there screamin' 400 hp out of them. Most stock ones are 105 hp, about 300 ft/lbs of torque. But that torque is right off the line at idle, they power the big 18 ft Frito Lay / Wonderbread vans you see around, they also power them very well IMO, great acceleration off the line... In a DDer I'm yet to find out My version is a 1991 factory intercooled, 120 hp, about 320 ft/lbs of torque I believe. It is the Bosch VE rotarty pump, same as early Cummins, reliable but most easily effected by crappy fuel. With my intercooler (out of a Volvo 740 Turbowagon) I will make the 120 hp easily, some are saying if I want I can get up to 200 hp easily with the screw (and I don't think it will effect milage too much??). I might hop it up a little, I also want it very reliable. Take it to NY next week? -no problem If you intercool a 105 hp version, turn up the fuel slightly and intercool, you have my version... They rattle and vibrate along nicely. In stock form not too bad. I believe the more you hop it up the louder and more vibration you get (significantly)... Sometimes they can be defening... But this one I fired up before I put it in (unknown history but I estimate it has about 60K miles on it)... and it wasn't too loud at all..." and "Sorry forgot to answer earlier question... Body lift is in fact also a good idea, I might take that route at some point as well.. For adapter, the 4BT most commonly (believe it or not) comes with a Chevy 350 pattern. Only thing is that the way it originally fit in the breadvans (by far it's most popular application) is 10 degrees rotated clockwise if look at it's ass, or 10 degrees counter clockwise if looking from the front. You can see from the photos... I originally bought a used Advance Adapters bellhousing that would have worked and I should have tried it. Instead, since I needed a Dodge standard duty rear output, I went with the whole Dodge standard duty trans, using the AA plate adapter to the early Chevy SM465 cast iron bellhousing. Very beefy, a little longer but that's what I was actually looking for, it turned out perfect I think... Here's a photo of the drivetrain before including the plate adapter: http://www.collegeinternetsolutions....drivetrain.jpg You can see the plate and the early style bellhousing that does not have a bottom. It uses a costmetic bottom piece, but it's because the bellhousing is so strong it doesn't need a bottom. The Dodge standard duty input shaft has the same spline count as a Chevy, but is an inch longer and uses a bigger bore pilot bearing. So the AA kit works perfect length-wise, and comes with a special pilot bushing for using the Dodge trans (which I recommend if you are using a NP241), but the bushing didn't work in my Cummins flywheel. I had to go get a special bearing from a bearing manufacturer and have it machined into the Cummins hole, yet another $50 lost. Done and told I'm probably into the bellhousing/clutch setup about $700-$800 unfortunately. Not too bad but still expensive... The clutch itself is available in two part numbers, a 12" and 13" ; I used the 12" one which turns out is the same part number for a '68 through '90-somthing 454 Chevy. Because the input shaft has the same spline pattern as the chevy, I used the Chevy clutch, a LUK brand which I hear is pretty good. I expect it to hold up pretty well. Here's the flywheel. THICK... http://www.collegeinternetsolutions....elbearings.jpg Bearing installed is the Dodge (same size for all Dodge trannies) .75" inner bore. The Chevy inner bore is .059" slightly smaller. So, to use the Dodge trans with a Chevy bellhousing, AA supplies that bronze pilot bushing seen in photos. Above/right of it is the original Cummins pilot bearing for a Chevy trans. OEM standard trans was a SM465 4 speed. They also used some sort of Allison auto trans, 2WD... The hardest part of the adapter was figuring out the pilot bearing situation but it really was not that hard at all... Hope it helps!" Here's on group for the motors: http://cruisers.shoumatoffmedia.com/ and another: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/cummins4BT/

Well, everyone pretty much agrees that there are a bunch of different variables that go into what an engine sounds like, right? I would say there is an order of importance. At the top of the list, for me, is number of cylinders, firing order, flat crank or not, compression (dynamic and static), and displacement. What do you guys think?

Just wait until you hear the Audi Diesels. Such a stark contrast in sound volume. I swear they are no louder than a passenger car when compared to everything else on the course.

Most of the time they do, but there are a few tracks where they run without the ALMS group. I just looked up the schedule and they will be at the next two races (Road America and Mosport) that I'm going to be working.

I have yet to work a Petite Le Mans race. I really want to. Make for some hard work, but would be a bit of fun. I would get to go over the wall more than once. I wonder what Ferrari's. Probably the old Prodrive 550's that gave the C5R's a run for their money a few years ago. I'm not sure if the Maserati is legal. I know it wasn't before because of overall length, so they weren't running for points, just for exposure. I believe it had been doing well in FIA GT. I always liked to Zytek. I'm suprised they're not trying to run in P2 with the two Porsches. Dyson also upped their game 100% back in Utah. Finally got one of the cars to last. I'm wondering if the Euro Judd car is running the new motor. I was reading in RaceCar Engineering about it. Supposed to make a bit more torque, yet be quite a lot better with fuel economy.

No prob. I can easily get the cage pics as they are universal among all the Porsche GT3's. They have some awesome cage pics on Vermont SportsCar's website. Here: http://www.vtcar.com/photo.htm One of the guys from them worked a few races back in 2004 for FLMS when I was there before. Works and crews for Travis Pastrana quite a bit. Was probably at the X-Games too (wish I could have been there to see the Colin McRae roll over). Which Audi's did you want me to look at? The Stasis cars? I'm not sure if World Challenge is going to be running the same weekend at Road America, but I'll check it out. If I get a chance to go to the shop up at Infineon for FLMS, Stasis is there too if I recall. I've met Ben Bauer a few times too (black S4 with KO4's...been in my Starbucks to get some coffee on track mornings). I'll see what I can do.

Anyone going? I'm going to be working the whole weekend for a certain Porsche team. Anyone want any pictures of anything specific?

My friend, the logistics manager for the race team I've worked for, used to rent cars to do rallycross stuff in. They'd bring it back loaded with gravel and dirt and no one would ever say a word. Always get the insurance though, because you never know when you'll role one.

Fires two cylinders at a time if I remember correctly which creates the higher pitched sound.

I'm not a big fan of plates, because they can slip. Good to measure alignment settings before and after to let you know if they are. Personally, I'm glad Ross stepped up to the plate with his stuff. Gave an alternative to AZC.