Time Attack - Day 64 + 65 - SCCA Time Trial at the Ridge - Full Aero, Full Oversteer, Solid Results!

Another weekend... another Time Trial event at the Ridge! This time with SCCA, which meant I would get to run my Max2 build and go out and compete, which is not something I can say I've run in quite some time. Read on to hear all about how it went.

Leading Up To The Event

Leading up to the event I only had one medum level fix and no major items on my, so I was feeling pretty good about the car. I pulled a few panels to access the rear diff, redid the wiring to the speed sensor, and hey now my ECU knows if I'm in motion or not! This event being SCCA, my car is best classed in the Max 2 category which means I can put my aero back on.

One modification I had done since last taking the car out was I had put in MSI front sway bar relocation blocks. They're pretty slick and I have to admit the revised location is a way way better location! While I was in on the suspension... I decided that since the previous event had gone so good for rear grip I would reduce rear toe since it was likely too much, and I'd even try and give the front a slight bit of toe out to aid the car in rotation. More on this to come...

I washed my car as well... which I wouldn't normally write about, but there's a detail in there possibly for later. The rear bumper was disgusting, likely from imperfect fuel burn staying in the wake of my car and getting on the bumper from there. This only happens with the large spoiler setup I have and not wing. No big deal though, it washed right off for the most part... but I want to mention this because it'll relate to aero conversations later in the article.

With the Corvette not needing much work I pivoted my focus to outfitting my sprinter van. I didn't want too crazy of a build as I wanted to keep weight down, and thus I focused on a very modest couch, a pull out slat style bed, and gettting power for charging various devices and running my cooler. I had also previousl acquired 412ah of lithium iron batteries for cheap... so why not capitalize on them!

The electrical itself all went in under the couch setup I made up, and there's actually a bit of wasted space in there at the moment, though more will be going in there as the build progresses. I did get my starlink 24v connetor in, the general configuration between batteries and the setup along with fuses, battery monitor, bus bars, a fuse panel for all of my circuits, and probably a bunch of other stuff I forgot. It was a bunch of work, but I can say confident with it all complete... it made being in there quite nice! I do have two other big things to wire up, like a modest inverter and a a DC to DC charger... but I've got time for all of that and the setup is likely overkill for a weekend as is.

Traveling To The Event

I don't normally write about traveling to the event as it's rarely eventful, but when you've got a mediocre sprinter you brought back from the dead right at the edge of it's towing capacity... getting to the event can be a bit more eventful.

Sure enough... the van having issues struck again. The van had had some hard start issues for a bit, and I wasn't quite sure what the cause was. I'd heard if you have issues pressurizing the fuel rails it'll hard start, so I had hoped it was that. Given turning the key on and letting the car sit a bit before starting helped, I figured the fuel pump was just tired and the van needed a bit to build up pressure. Everything would surely be fine...

Unfortunately, everything was not fine. About an hour from home the car just suddenly cut out, right as the car made a 4-5 shift... so I was nervous something significant went out. I coasted to the side of the road, and called my wife. She would come help me. The van fortunately after about half an hour started back up and I was able to limp into town. An incorrect address took me away from the autoparts store I wanted to go to, but that worked out since accross the street from my wrong destination was a closed down business with a big parking lot for me to break down in a second time. I pulled the codes for the van, and it would seem the crankshaft position sensor was my issue.

Here is my wonderful, beautiful, amazing, and infinitely patient wife coming to help me! She showed up and I was able to take the truck, get the part I needed from an autoparts store, and reinstalling would hopefully resolve my issue.

Thankfully the van has pretty decent ground clearance, and I was able to scoot my way under the van and gain access to the crankshaft position sensor, which actually seems to go off of the flywheel so it's fairly aft on the motor. I've heard these mercedes Benz motors are a pain, but this particular sensor was quite reasonable to deal with. Now that I know what I know, if I ever have to help somebody out with a T1N sprinter I will recommend they do crankshaft position sensor and camshaft positon sensor at the same time, as I should have done.

The van started right back up, and I was able to head to the track, now about 2 hours behind my planned arrival time. Fortunately a friend had gotten there to do the track day before us and had secured a nice location for us which really helped us out!

Here's the van interior all setup for crashing in at the track. You can see my dog is happily at the foot of the couch, my bed is laid out and just the right size for a singular adult to pass out for the night, and in general the whole thing is WAY better than a tent! Not bad not bad!

Event Day 1 - Traffic And Oversteer

I'm just getting back from the event and need some time to wrap the article up, more info to come!

Event Day 1 - Changes, Confidence and a New PB on Vitour P01R's

Final Standings

Come the conclusion of the event I found myself sendond in Max2 class, and 6th overall out of a field of 52 entrants. While I had held onto 5th place overall for much of the weekend, a slight boost in Waylon Gobel's time in his 2024 Chevy Corvette just barely bumped me out of fifth by 0.17 seconds. I think had the car oversteer situation been dialed in all weekend I could have fought him off to maintain my spot in fifth, but I was never going to make up the 3.4 second gap between myself and first place.

I feel quite proud of my results. In the top 10 just about every car has 15+ years on me, and the one that doesn't in a C6Z06 with an LS7, a car that should be in a different continent from me time wise. The fact I took a 27 year old 1999 C5 Corvette and put those cars on notice says an awful lot about what I've built and my ability to drive it. Heck, I'm one of only 2 cars from the 90's in the top 25 positions, I feel good about that, especially since I built it for myself and have desgined a lot of the parts and solutions on the car.

Things I'll Be Working On Next

Between now and my next event with OnGrid I'll be pulling the aero back off of the car and focusing primarily on alignment and suspension geometry. I know way back when I got the nice tie rod ends and I had to put an offset tierod mount in the rear of my C5 that things weren't going to be perfect... but I got away with it for a long time. Welp... I'm no longer quite getting away with it as my pace has increased, so it's time to really dial in the toe curve of the car and hopefully yield far more predictable handling.

I'll also be swapping over to a new set of the 200tw Vitour Sonic, which will yet again change my cars handling up a bit but also should yield some additional time out there on track and hopefully help me secure another first place finish with OnGrid.

Other minor fixes will include a revamped seal between the trans tunnel and shifter, as that piece having broken is allowing a ton of hot air through and part of the reason I roast so much as a driver. Perhaps I can design something that seals a bit better there? To be determined...

Long Term Upgrade Thoughts... it's a toss up between getting better motorsports grade ABS in the car to improve the braking on the car and building a motor capable of operating at the max potential of the displacement allowed in SCCA Max 2 and OnGrid. I can pick up probably about 100 horsepower switching over to such a setup which I think would yield some notable time improvements. I just hope I don't have to start grabbing 5th on the front straight... but I suppose if I do that's a fair bit of speed and power I'm putting down as well. I doubt I'll get to either of these any time soon. The costs are prohibitive, and I've got to finish the Dead to Shred C5 Corvette next.