CMP Mid Atlantic Results

#1

Unofficially,

  1. Skeen
  2. Cobetto
  3. Bennett
  4. Herrington
  5. Ferguson
  6. Hunt
  7. Mariani
  8. Allen

Allen touched a Miata and spun at the kink. Mariani spun out of T3 and hit the tires.

JP

#2

[tumbleweeds]

  1. Allen
  2. Cobetto
  3. Hunt
  4. Skeen
  5. Bennett
  6. Herrington
  7. Ferguson
  8. Mariani

These may not be right.

#3

where are the race reports

#4

http://mikeskeen.com/raceblog/

#5

DMoses wrote:

HAHA!!! Hilarious…race reports from the MA??? Thats a good one!!

As Indy Jim said, I believe the interweb is broken in that part of the Spec E30 “Community” Nice job MA, way to build a series with all the great recounts and tales of glory…DOH!

#6

mskeen wrote:

Well done Mike.

In the midst of becoming a great driver, you’ve stumbled into being quite the writer.

#7

scottmc wrote:

[quote]mskeen wrote:

Well done Mike.

In the midst of becoming a great driver, you’ve stumbled into being quite the writer.[/quote]

True dat, but we have got to do something to address these all too frequent transmission failures. If you aren’t refilling your transmission oil after every race weekend, it may surprise you just how much it pukes during a race. My puke tank collects 3/4 quart after every race weekend.

#8

I’m not sure, but I bet you’d find it pukes 3/4 quart on the first weekend, but not subsequent weekends. I don’t fill it every time, but it was checked recently. I think I’ll be changing the shifter because I’m not confident it isn’t part of the problem. Also, could just be my awesome luck with a couple old transmissions.

#9

Mike, between transmission and intercoolers, you just can’t catch a break. :wink:

Our transmissions hold 2 quarts, my transmission is exactly a quart low after the last race, it was serviced before the weekend. I think the rotation of our transmission is slinging the oil directly at the vent. Let me encourage everyone that doesn’t vent their transmission to a puke tank to look at the bottom of your car…is it covered with oil? The mechanic that services my car is working on a way to vent these transmissions to a different location. If he finds a cure, we will approach Carter about making this modification legal. I have to wonder just how much oil our cars are putting down during a race. I am guessing it may be more than we think.

#10

Mine used to do this. The underside of the car and tranny would be covered in fluid after a race/track weekend. Solved for good pretty easily, I have a vent hose running up into the engine bay. This gives enough length that the fluid flows back into the tranny after the race.

#11

I just look at that as a rust preventative.

#12

OK… I’ve learned something new. I always wondered why the bottom of my engine was covered in oil. So where exactly is this vent located tha I should attach a vent hose???

Thanks.

Keith

#13

Keith, it is on the upper portion of the trans case, near the front, on the driver’s side. It has a small cap that you will have to remove to attach a hose to and pull up into the engine compartment and zip-tie to something.
Ed

#14

Travis’s trans puked all it’s oil over time, we maybe checked it every 6 months…we thought maybe we forgot to put oil in it…it took 1.5 seasons to fail which is pretty good, gonna check em more often. The vent hose idea is a good one…

Al

#15

I had asked about this problem before and was told that you could reach this hole without taking the transmission off.

I have tried to find this hole from below but I can’t seem to locate it. There just doesn’t seem to be enough space to get to that spot without dropping the transmission.

Sorry for the thread-jack.

#16

Chi,the vent tube is a great idea. Wish that I had thought of it.It is difficult to reach. So, I’ll find a gearbox and get the right hose diameter so that you don’t have to feel around only to find that the hose was too big/little.

Technically speaking the gearbox capacity is 1.32 quarts. But the amount added to the box corresponds to the leak back out of the fill hole.

Now, back to race results for CMP…

Regards, Robert Patton

#17

Gates hose #27042

#18

I saw Carter had the hose hooked to his trans last weekend. I can’t say I’ve ever experienced the problem.

Had a great time down at CMP, the track is much more driveable in it’s new configuration. I actually wasn’t sideways the whole time, which was a nice change from years past and I can say it was worth the twelve hours one way it took me to get there. I was really stoked to pay $3.97 for diesel in Winchester Va… a big difference from $4.50 up here in PA! It’s still depressing when you blow past $150.00 a tank, no matter what.

Saturday started out well for me but ended on a sad note. Had pole but that didn’t last long as Cobetto and Skeen got by me on the start. MikeSkeen.com said his trans was screwing up but it sure looked fine to me…from third position… :o) Somewhere along the line Cobetto tagged Skeen in 14 and I got by him and along side Mike going into one. Of course I over cooked it, Mike got through and Chris gently rearranged my rear bumper and quarter panel. I think all of us were sliding around on the fabulous R888’s at that point. Cobetto was behind me and Mike was about 5 car lengths ahead. As the race progressed my car was feeling much better and I may have had something for Skeen but a Miata screwed me up going into the kink at top speed. I was catching him coming up the hill so he pointed me by but never got out of the gas or gave me enough room to get through. I was fully commited and the result was us both getting there at the same time and me spinning off the track with a bent tie-rod. So I went from second to last. Bummer.

On Sunday, Carter, Skip and I all put on RA-1’s and they really seemed to work better then the 20+ heat cycle R888"s. We were 1,2,3 on the grid. I was able to hold on to the lead at the start this time, but Cobetto dogged me lap after lap. My car felt great and I was really good in the slower tighter areas of the track. Chris was really great on the brakes and coming through 9. But then along came more lapped traffic. This time I came through the kink behind two miatas who were clearly running hard with one another. With Cobetto hot on my tail I looked inside going into 11 under braking hoping he would see me coming and give me some room. It quickly became obvious that the guy didnt know I was there. I threw out the anchor and was able to minimize the side contact at turn in. It works for Randy Mueller, why can’t I do it…? This was all Cobetto needed to pounce on the situation and he got through. Next thing I know the white flag is out and Cobetto has found a way to make his bumper as wide as the track. My only hope was to get a run on him in 14. On the last lap with Cobetto hugging the curbs around 12,13 and then 14, I grabbed second going into 14, turned in, eased on the gas, watched the tach for red-line, grabbed third and heard Cobetto miss third! That was all I needed to take the win. Not pretty but I’ll take it!

Looking back on the event, the E30 spirit was in full effect. Rick had a hard time all weekend chasing down an engine miss which put him in the wall once and trashed the side of his car. Mikes tranny was crappin out, Skip had a brake line go bad, Carter was bad loose all weekend, we were cracking brake rotors left and right and I destroyed a tie-rod (and Carter gave me his spare!). But through all that we helped each other fix the problems and we learned a lot about the cars, the track and had a great time. Plus JP showed up which was really cool. Wish more of you could’ve been there, Roebling would be a stretch for me at this point.

Jonny

t

#19

jonnyallen wrote:

I am not certain what that is intended to mean. Did I hit you or someone else that I was not aware of?

#20

Video proof of the trans :wink: :

Saturday:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2270722511291763227&hl=en

Sunday:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5762886004406550414&hl=en