Racing Season Started

[Jeff Chandler]

This past weekend in Bradenton, Florida.

Our first sanctioned race since 2001 was this past weekend in Florida. We went there with 3 goals, to run to our expectations, leave the race with reason to believe that we had more in the car and finally to be safe, actually the safe part is always first on our minds.....well, 2 outta 3 ain't bad.

My expectations after watching the weather reports the week before the race I was expecting mid to high 8.80's at 152-153mph, we ran 8.81@155 on our very first run. We also found through the onboard data acquisition system that my torque converter wasn't locking up properly in high gear. You usually want no more than 5%, I had 11.1% so that tells us we have at least 4-5% power loss to the rear tires which is being corrected with the purchase of a new converter.
Our safe goal failed as you can see by the pictures. As you can see with the 2nd video I had a steering issue that caused me to tag the wall a few times. The pictures make it appear far worse than it really is, in fact, I finished everything up this afternoon that was damaged suspension and exhaust wise. It's heading to the body shop Monday and the owner is a very good friend of mine and he told me he would have it done in about 4-5 days.
I lowered the rack and pinion assembly in the car this winter to add some room for the oil pan and to correct a bump steer problem I was having which is nothing more than a glorified toe problem which changes throughout the travel of the front end. Well after lowering the rack I overlooked the steering shaft so it ended up about 1/2" short so on the 3rd pass of the weekend the steering column shaft pulled away from the rack thus the no steering problem. Once I launched I could tell immediately their was a problem because the steering wheel became very light. Once the front tires touched the ground it started to go toward the gaurdrail, I let off the gas but their was nothing I could do. The first hit was actually just a brush, once the car started to go toward the center of the track I hit the brakes and it pulled to the right again, this time it hit lightly again but the 3rd time it grabbed the right front tire and folded it back against the fender. It broke a few things underneath but honestly I was very lucky. If it had happened at the other end at bigger speed I seriously doubt I'd have anything left. Believe me, I've beat myself up about it because I take alot of pride in the craftsmanship on the car, I just got too rushed in making the race that I didn't go back over it like I should have, it won't happen again I'll grant you.
Anyways, just wanted to share what was going on since I' haven't been able to participate in any of the races, this stuff is almost like a full time job but I'm not complaining, I'm very lucky to be able to do this again considering in 2001 I thought I was done.
I promise to keep you informed on how the racing season progresses for me.

Here's a good video(for me at least)and a not so good video.

http://www.rpm1.net/jhc/8.85%20brade...ovie4_Full.wmv

http://www.rpm1.net/jhc/wall%20brade...ovie5_Full.wmv

[Ron_Schuermann]

Sorry to hear about your luck (or lack thereof) in your 1st race. I am happy to hear you are OK though. Good videos...although tell your camera man/woman to get the tree in when you are in the right lane

[davidan]

Thanks for sharing Jeff, regardless of the outcome, I am certainly always interested in hearing about this kind of thing and how it's going.

[Jeff Chandler]

Sorry Ron, hard for her to do when I ask her to video fron the left side. I ask her to concentrate on the car so I can watch the video in sequence with the RacePak data so I can see what's going on with the shocks.

[Rickypro]

Great videos Jeff!!
I know nothing about racing but I assume your left front tire is not supposed to shake back and forth when it hits the ground like it did in the wall video!
Glad you are ok and good luck the rest of the season.

In the long video did the white cars front tires come off the ground like yours did?
You got him on reaction time though!!

[Jeff Chandler]

Thanks Ricky, your right the front tire is supposed to stay straight unless I turn it. As for the white car, his wheels were off the ground but just slightly and not as far, I sorta had it wound a little to tight on that run

[Ron_Schuermann]

Then tell your cameraman she did perfect!!!

[mufasa3]

Thanks for sharing Jeff. It was cool to see someone you know racing for real.