More Savings

This blog seems to be more about other things than racing sometimes. But without racing I have no other things in the works right now that I can actually go out and try.

If you own horses you will understand where I am coming from. We use to spend about $1000 to board 2 horses at a good facility. We now have them home. Little video I put together of moving them home...

We figured out now with all the pasture they have to eat on now that we do not need to give them more than a half a bale of hay a day. Huge savings. Well now the costs have gone from about $1000/month to about $270/month for the 2. That is huge!!! We may get some boarders in the spring when I am home and can help out. That should pay for our horses then.

The Good Life

Living the good life here. "With membership comes privileges"...who said that? Or am I confusing that with, "with great power comes great responsibility?"

Looks like I have a better view from the room this time.

Sometimes there is too much time on my hands here in the evenings that I wish I had this kind of time at home to dedicate to the race car. Seems like wasted time. Especially with the new house too needing so much work.
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Update to my ways to save money on food here or as I call it, my Mexican diet. I got the guts to stick to the free lobby food at happy hour for my free dinner now. Now I don't pay for any meals. It has helped with the need to buy a new racing suit. I have lost about 15lbs from when I started down here. Never mind the weight I gained after I started here and saw a growing problem. The secret may be the 2 bananas for breakfast. A lunch that is more like a dinner and the appetizer type happy hour food in the lobby at night. Maybe it was the physical exertion in moving? Well either way I would have to say the old suit will continue to fit.

...if I only had time to get to the race car now. Worse yet, to be able to physically get to it. It is burried in the pole barn now behind tons of boxes and everything.

Didn't See It Coming

Well those who know me, know I have been trying to sell my house. This is not easy for a CheapRacer, knowing you are going to lose money when selling your house in Michigan right now. But my house did sell just when I was going to give up for this year and try next year. Lots of people walking through but no offers. But someone came through with an offer just below my bare minimum. So we said OK.

Here's the deal. We got another house for 1/2 of its price. Yes I took a $30,000 hit on my house but I got at least $125-175,000 off this other house. 11.5 acres, 3200sqft, inground pool, sauna, hot tub, 40x50 6 stall Morton horse barn, pond, and a 30x40 pole barn for me. We had our eye on this house for months. It needs alot of work. That is my guess as to why no one bought and the price. It started out at $425,000 when we first saw it but was up much higher before that. Had been slowly dropping when we finally got it.


So with that I am sad to say I do not have time to hit the track for the final race this year on August 29. Total bummer. I really wanted to see how moving the bar would be. Guess I'll have to wait until next year. Got so much packing to do. Moving a shop sucks.





There's the CheapRacer tip, sometimes you have to take a loss to make a gain.

Pan Hard Bar

Left side mount or right side mount? Which is the best? My old car...the ultimate CheapRacer ride, had a right side chassis mounted panhard bar. The new car which gives me fits is a left hand mounted bar. I know this has some effect on the handling. It has an effect on the rear roll center. Height is not the only question when it comes to the bar. The roll center is located roughly half between it's attaching points in the up/down direction and also in the side to side direction. A right hand body mounted bar will move the rear roll center to the right. A left hand mounted bar will move it to the left.

I am beginning to think this may be one of the big issues I have with this car. It feels and tire temperatures show that I am really driving off the right rear tire of the car coming out of the corner. This is not good for bite or confidence that I am going to make it out of the corner in a straight manor. With the rear roll center to the left I would think it would have better bite just like a front roll center to the left would produce better turning.

I am trying to figure this out in my head as to why and if I should switch sides. We built this car so that we could use either side. My thought though is with it to the left there may be so much roll that I could actually be lifting that left rear tire up. If I move the roll center to the right it may be harder to lift that wheel up thus providing more bite from using the left rear more.

In Circle Track magazine (www.circletrack.com) an article written by Bob Bolles briefly touches on this. He really recommends the pan hard bar to be mounted to the frame on the right side. This guy knows his stuff. I think this is going to be done for this last race I can make on 8-29-08.

I will let you know what happened. Let's hope for the best.

Maybe I will make some diagrams and show what I am talking about. Hard to get pictures of my car down here in Mexico.

Do I Smell A BBQ?

Seeing I really haven't got anything to do in my spare time at the hotel besides eat and watch TV, I've noticed I have been getting rounder. Mexican food is just way too good. Doesn't hurt most of my meals are free. I know for sure I would not fit into my racing suit now.

CheapRacer Tip: Even though the food is free here it can cost you. I may have to buy a new racing suit! Too much Mexican food and you have to blow $240 on up!

I think I got my current one for about $250. Great value. RaceEquip's triple layer fire suit. I do not want to wind up like a burger at a BBQ that gets forgotten and left one grill for a few hours. Finding a replacement for it is hard with all the options out there. The number of layers should not be the concern. The concern should be the TTP rating not even the SFI rating. The higher the TTP number the longer it will take you to burn. Many suits have the same SFI rating but have different TTP ratings. I believe the suit I have has a rating somewhere in the mid 20's. Not sure exactly. Some single layer suits are as low as 11.5. They say you will get a second degree burn in 5-6secs. Not much time I would say. I don't think I am that cheap to buy one of those. A TTP of 30 offers about 15 seconds of protection.

One place I like to shop for good quality suits is http://www.racerwholesale.com/. They have G-Force safety equipment. No it's not Simpson or Impact or Sparco. This is good quality stuff at CheapRacer prices. I have one of their helmets and I was sceptical at first but it is a really nice comfortable helmet. They have suits from as low as $99 (single layer) and a good multi layer, that's what they call them now, with a rating of 30 for about $240.

Time Off - Mexican Vacation

I have decided that breaking parts 5 laps into a race is just too much stress on me right now. I took the last few weeks off. Plus the heat of summer is kicking in. Man that sucks being in a car with the heat reaching 130 degrees inside it.

I forgot to mention too, work has sent me to Mexico. Working on a couple of crossover vehicles for GM over the next year here. This desk in the picture will be my home for the next year. Maybe I need to install my NASCAR Racing game and bring my pedals and wheel. I can practice on the computer at least.


CheapRacer tip: Buy a racing game (Papyrus made the best) and race online or by yourself. You can wreck all day long and not lose any money or have to actually work on the car. Just restart the game!!! Can't get any cheaper. One of my past competitors from Holland Speedway, NY, I use to race against, Rodney Arndt, has worked for Papyrus on their racing games. Great driver.



CheapRacer tip: I get $35/day for food. I stay at a Hampton Inn and get free breakfast. Lunch is free at the plant. And dinner can be had for about $10-15. If I really try I can get that down to $5. So there is at least $20/day going back into my pocket not to mention the stipend I get too.




I will be home for about 1 week over the 4th of July week. I am going to hit the track no matter what on July 5th. Just hope the weather holds out. Looks like I am going to be on old tires too. I can only make one more race after this. Can't justify $450 bill for 2 races. Kind of sucks but its a good way to build the wallet back up.

Shafted?

Last week the driveshaft. This week the transmission input shaft. More on that later.

We logged a lot of practice laps this week. Close to 40. I was getting worried that the right side tires have enough rubber left from all the practice laps I have taken this year. This made me a little tentative in really pushing the car. Qualifying times were consistent this week despite the whipped tires. 16.783 and 16.712. In the heat race I said to myself if I can get a good run I will see if I can get a heat race win. It all was up to the guy in front of me in the heat race seeing I was starting 4th in the heat race. The green flag flew and the guy didn't go. Being on the outside and not able to get anywhere in front of me or down, I started getting passed. I was pretty mad. What a waste of time and gas on these heat races. Never mind in a few laps him and the other slow guy started beating on each other. Come on guys!!! This is a heat race. $25 to win. Big deal. So I just started backing up and letting the rest of the field go. Go ahead guys. Wreck your cars. It wasn't going to change where you start in the feature. So there is a cheapracer tip in there somewhere.

For the feature I was really torn over that right rear tire being so worn. These tires have some tread on them. Most guys get rid of them when there is still plenty of tread left. I was down into the wear bars and the inner portion of the tread was almost gone. I figured with a 30 lap feature I was going to be real worried about that tire being wasted and blowing. I really wanted to get some new tires for the next few weeks that I could race if I could get by on the ones I have now. I caved in and broke out a tire I had from the 2006 season with lots of tread left. So now I felt better about having a tire lasting. The only question was, will the rubber be too hard and make the car so loose that I couldn't drive it? We got about 3 laps in and the first caution came out. Too soon to make any evaluation of how the tire was doing. Just as the green was ready to fly the input shaft of the transmission snapped and again I was done. Oh what fun racing is.

So in goes the back up transmission for now. I suspect my bellhousing is out of alignment with the block. For the mean time it will have to do. I only have about 3 races left that I can actually make. Then we will tear this thing down and find out why. Could also be that the transmission has been raced for 20 years.

When Will It End?

The dumb luck continues. I thought I was over this.

First the good news. After man handling this car through practice I put the weight back in the rear that I moved forward last week. I also lowered my upper rear end link in an effort to gain more bite off the corner. I did this after 3 practice sessions for qualifying so I had no clue as to what this was going to do. Well it turned out to be one of the best moves so far. I ripped off 16.666s and a 16.722s time for qualifying. Those were my best 2 consecutive laps ever.

Now the bad news. I was still third slowest. Just can't catch a break.

The heat race was nothing spectacular. Got stuck on the outside and this car will not turn on the high side and now has a good push coming out. There was a bunch of junk up high so I sort of chalked it up to that.

The feature went even worse. I put fuel in it hoping that maybe the fuel filled cell will make some improvement on the handling. The heat race was run with a lighter load. Running in about 10-11th I came out of the corners pushing more and more each lap. I was slowly losing the lead pack. I should have accepted that but no, my pride of trying to get a top ten took over and I tried too hard and bounced the rear end off the wall. This resulted in the rearend getting shoved all the way over to the left. Next thing to happen was the battery getting grounded out on the trailing arms, the driveshaft grinding on the hoop and eventually but quickly made into a 2 piece driveshaft. Done. So that driveshaft lasted a few weeks. A big OUCH to the cheapracer.

We are off next week, so I am going to go through this car more. I also have to hunt ebay for another driveshaft. In the mean time the steel one will have to do.

First Race Of The Year

Finally the stars aligned and I got to race.

Qualifying went better than last week. I did miss my first lap's time though so I am not sure if I did better or worse than my second. Still it was nothing stellar. Either way I was in the back as usual. I just can't get this thing to go fast for a lap or two. I will tell you though I don't think my car is bad though when it comes to the feature. I always feel faster and right on the guy in front of me at the end of the night.

I started throwing the kitchen sink at this thing. It seemed after the heat race it handled better with less fuel in the back end. So I moved the 60 lbs of weight at the very back and put it up near the LF. Better but still a little loose as I go up the track more. I could gain on them by riding the very bottom of the track. I suspect I have too much stagger in the car. I plan to attack that this weekend.

I did OK considering this was opening night for me. 12 out 17. If I get over the qualifying hump I think we can have some top 5's. This is an extremely hard track to pass at. Track position is everything.

We did have 1 mechanical failure that I discovered this week. The cam button seized up. It is an adjustable type that attaches to the timing cover. Apparently the locking screw came lose and the spinning of the cam slowly backed the button back into the cam. Eventually the bearing in it seized and locked up. I got another one from http://www.summitracing.com/ for $40. I also found the sway bar disconnected (D'oh!!!) I never set it for the weekend.

Changes coming: RF shock from 7600 to 7500. Retarded the cam a degree or two. Bump the ignition timing up from 36 to 38. Reduce rear stagger.

So I look forward to this Saturday. Forecast for Saturday: Rain! Go figure.

Even Closer!

We continue to get closer to actually racing every week. This time we got some practice in and got to qualify. Then the rains came. So again, we will try next week.

But so far the car accelerates great. The light weight stuff really seems to give a good kick in the seat all the way down the straightaway.

With the torque absorber I can really hit the throttle and not break traction. Car is definitely pushing more than in the past. So I am going to work on that for the next week. Did find the toe was out too much. How it got that way, I have no clue.

As for lap times, I have no clue as I had no help this weekend.

Closer

Well this time we got to the track but that was about it. Little did we know the races were canceled. Too cold and windy. We just missed the website which was updated a few minutes after we had checked it and we did not get a phone call. To tell you the truth, I would never had thought upper 50's low 60's was too cold. I guess when the sun goes down it would have been pretty cold. Although I would have been toasty warm in the car.

We'll try again next weekend. Oh. By the way, the forecast for the weekend...rain. We'll see.

Almost Opening Day

Sorry to say we missed opening day. One of easier race days for finishing high. Why? Because not everyone is ready so car counts are usually low. A for sure top 10.

Well we didn't make it. Not because the car wasn't ready, but because of an emergency.

About a mile or 2 down the road, I thought I would call my fiance' and see how her horse was doing. He wasn't doing well in the morning. Needless to say I had to turn around and head back home. Drop the car off and hook up a horse trailer and get Rykin over to Michigan State to have them look at him. I'm beginning to think a race car is much cheaper than a horse. I can have my latemodel's engine rebuilt for less than this bill is going to be.

If you want to have any money for racing, don't buy yourself a 1 horsepower hay eater.

He's a great looking horse though. A little sensitive, but good looking. Should be picking him up in the next couple of days.

3 Weeks To The First Green Flag

I just realized today, I have just 3 weeks until the green flag drops. HOLY COW!!! Where did winter go? Although winter hasn't seemed to of left Michigan. It just snowed again 3" last night.

Well I said I really better start getting the car into the home stretch here. Most of the major changes have been done. New right rear axle tube is installed. The left rear tube has been shortened seeing the rear end was wide by 5/8". The new aluminum drive shaft is in. The lightweight flywheel is in. The new torque absorber is all set.

One tip I can pass on to save money has to do with tires. At the end of the season I take a look at my tires. My last set only had 2 races on them. Still perfectly good rubber. So before the weather really turns cold, I remove them from the car and put them some large tire bags and put them in the basement. This seams to preserve them through the winter pretty well. I opened up the bags today and the smell of fresh rubber came out of the bag. Ah the smell of fresh rubber!!! The smell of spring!!! So I am set for a couple weeks with tires.

Yet there are so many other things to still do. Only 3 weeks...

Winter Projects

There wasn't any major damage done to the car at the end of last year so it has allowed me to concentrate on some upgrades to be done to the car over the winter. Some I will not see the results of until I hit the track. Here are some of the things I have done.


1. Installed a torque absorber on the upper link for the rear end. It is basically a cushion for any rotational forces being applied to the rear end under hard acceleration and braking forces. Currently I have a 1,600lb/sq in spring in it. It is suppose to help the rear tires from breaking traction under hard acceleration. With the skinnier 8" tires this may prove to be quite beneficial in my quest to get off the corners harder. Got the whole thing off eBay. We'll see how it helps. $45 off http://www.ebay.com/. $130 new from http://www.lefthanderchassis.com/.


2. Reducing rotating mass. In another attempt to get off the corner better I am trying to reduce the rotating mass. I already have light weight pistons and rods in the engine. I do though have a stock like crank due to a previous tracks rules. I have a light weight crank to put in but will wait until I rebuild the engine next year. So in the mean time I took out the stock flywheel that was again mandated by a previous track. In went a very light weight flywheel. Only 2.8lbs. Stock flywheel, 4-5LBS. When turning over 7,000rpm, a few pounds goes a long way. This should help the engine spin up quicker. This was about $90 from http://www.speedwaymotors.com/.





3. More rotating mass reduction. I got rid of another one of the old rules pieces. The heavy steel driveshaft is out(12lbs). In goes the fine aluminum drive shaft (7lbs) I got off http://www.ebay.com/. Again same principles apply as the flywheel along with pure mass savings. $125 for a new $325 driveshaft. Isn't eBay wonderful?

I have others in the works but I believe these are the most significant. As soon as I hit the track I will fill you in on these updates to the car.

Recouping Some Costs By Cleaning Out The Shop

Have your rules changed and left you with some parts you will no longer need? What about other parts you no longer need? Don't let them sit there and collect dust. Put them on eBay and get some of your money back. You won't get every dollar back but it's better than it sitting on your shelf earning you $0!





Example: I bought an Edelbrock Performer manifold new for about $100. I ran it on the car for about a year or two. After moving to Michigan and switching tracks, I was allowed to run any intake I wanted. So off goes the Performer and on goes a Victor Jr intake. So what do I do with my old one? No one around here will want it. eBay it! Instead of a swap meet, you get people from around the world bidding against each other and getting you the maximum amount for your parts. All this without having to haggle with someone on price.


Result: I got $74 for my manifold. In the end my manifold only cost me about $25 - $30 to use for that time. It cost $0.35 to list and about $3.00 after the sale to eBay.


I have done this with some of the other items I have picked up over the years and it really helps keep the update. Welders, more intakes, headers, calipers, driveshafts, gears, ...it works on any item. As long as someone out there is looking for the stuff you have. I have made money on parts I have used too.





Start digging through the piles of parts you have. Clean them up and make them shine for maxium return.

Easily Made Videos

With all the great electronic gadgets out there my favorite has to be my digital video camera and my computer. Together I can make some simple videos. I make them for my fiance' and her horses (not something to get into if you are cheap), my son, and my racing. A good camera can be had for about $250-300 now. The HD ones are driving the costs down on the digital ones. All it needs is a digital output. Then any newer computer that has a firewire card in it and Windows XP is all you need. My latest computer I got from the Micro Center for $200 after rebates. It wasn't bundled with anything but a keybord and mouse. Compaq Presario 160GB hard drive, internal firewire card, and a DVD burner. The DVD burner is invaluable. You can make movies with you camera, edit them on your computer using the Windows Movie Maker real easy and quick. It is extremely easy to use. Then the software that came on the computer allows you to make a DVD with that movie. Again very easy to use. Buy yourself a stack of DVD's which cost you only $0.20 a piece and you can cheaply share your racing experiences. Better yet you can put some of these videos on http://www.youtube.com/ (free). Here is my latest that I did. It's pretty simple but captures some of my newer car's highlites...Not on youtube yet.

Some Videos

Here are some links to some videos of us in action.

This is a video from CheapRacer #2 at Owosso in 2006. Started last and of course finished first. The kid in the Mustang couldn't catch him and almost wrecked his car trying to get him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URhzeBUweSE

Here is my latemodel heat race at Dixie Motor Speedway. Going through turn 3 was almost impossible from the sun blinding me. The lead car came down on me in the back stretch and I almost wrecked it. (Sorry, had the wrong link if anyone was looking. Proves the point of double checking your work.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzm71uMUb_Q

Here is another one from #2. You can see #1 and #3 change a tire in a mandatory pit stop. We were crushing them, then the flywheel bolts fell out. with only 10 laps to go. Big bummer!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0hNQtZsXzA

Want to save some money driving to work and be part of a land speed record? Get one of these. Heck, if you don't have any money you can pedal it to work.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=c3y-_BxLn3E