2009-05-30/31, Season premiere 2.0
Since we dropped a crank seal in our only run at Emmaboda two weeks earlier, we might call this premiere 2.0.
Kjula is so near Stockholm, we could afford to bring the van full of tools so it would not repeat itself. The weather was as great as can be. 30 degrees C and verry sunny.
Round 1:
Right after the burnout I lost the tailpipe. Had to wait for freakin ages until the security staff picked it up and took it off the track. Bogged rather hard in the start and somewhare during the run the crank seal popped out again. This time we were prepared so it was an easy fix.
ET: 11,15-221kmh. 60ft: 1,73. React: 0,237s.
Check this out, you can actually see the tailpipe leaving the mothership:
Round 2:
For the second round we glued the seal in place.
Embarising we lost the darn seal two times out of two rounds this year...
One can say we werent the only ones that fealt the season had just started. lots of other teams had other problems, and the track crew just didnt get the flow acuired some times. Im not complaining since it just gave us good time to fix the seal.
To improove the 60-ft time we raised the launch rpm with 500rpm. I got some slight tyre shakes but it was well possible to run thrue them, yet the 60-ft just got slightly better. We kept the boost down to a safe level to let the engine get the feel of it and to check that the car worked well.
ET: 10,56-225kmh. 60ft: 1,68. React: 0,010s.
We only got two runs on saturdays qualifying, and we fealt that was quite ok. Elmer had only time to help us during the day, so I had to check the cluch myselfe. Nalle and Andersson had no experience of that so it was good to let it take the time needed and still get finnished before sunset.
At warmup on Sunday morning something made me feel everything wasnt ok with the engine.
Sparkplug on cyl. 1 had died. It ran well on all cylinders but the plug was damaged.
Got a flashback from pulling out the plugs in the dynoroom this spring.
We put in a new plug and took yet another run on low boost.
Round 3:
Everything fealt great. Alarming high EGT on cyl 4, but the engine ran perfect and no signs of trouble at all.
Back in the pit the plugs on cyl 3 and 4 were damaged.
Seems like there really is a thin line between success and disaster when running on E85.
ET:10,23 - 223kmh 60ft: 1,57. react: 0,161s.
Round 4, Eliminations run 1:
We were to race agains a V8-Volvo 142. I had no idea of his qualifying time, and at the moment winning the run wasnt our priority no 1. In a desperate atempt to keep the engine in one piece I increased injectortimes for cyl 3-4 alot. Now it ran so rich I could hardly get it to reach launch rpm, and during the run the car fealt quite slow. The V8-volvo won easily, and became runner up. We were happy the plugs were ok. Cleaned but still ok.
ET: 10,36 - 224kmh 60ft: 1,63s. React: 0,220.
During the week after the race I did a leak down test.
It showed 35% leak at cyl 1-2, 75% at cyl 3 and 97-100% at cyl 4.
Took the head off and have had funnier looks.
All piston heads were oily, all pistonrings were rusty, all rod bearings were destroyed and as you can see on the pics, the head had to go thrue some serious renovation.
Exactly why or how is beyond my knowledge and interest.
This is the last drop of E85 this engine will ever see.
Now we will go back to safe VP Racefuel CSP.
Alot more expensive but less costsam in the long run.
If we are going to change fuel in the future it will be methanol,
and at earliest 2011.
Below is a film I made from the weekend:
Clip is almost 2 minutes,
32Mb and cmpressed with DivX.
Below is a link to a lowres version on youtube:
LelleW filmed sundays runs from the side:
Pictures taken by:
Fredrik Jansson - FredDesign.se
Nostalgi-Danne race68.com
Micke Jakobsson deja.se
