CSX3170 in Scottsdale

[Cobra #3170]

We got taken out early this year, they said a pylon was wiggled. I did not see it but it could have been the exhaust. We really had no business there anyway because both the engine tune and car set up were way off. My use of needle bearing thrust washers in the rear upper arms took all the friction out of arm movement. That is a good thing but it changed the balance of the car and caused understeer that we did not have time to fix. We were struggling with the EFI tune both days and never got rid of acceleration stumbles. The engine had a fuel air ratio of 10 to 1 above 7000 and although we made some gains and were competitive the car was way off its potential. The tune was so bad I had a friend with a twin turbo LS help me clean it up but it needs lots of work. We need to try speed density. I also want to install 50 pound heavier rear springs to fix understeer. We increased rake angle to 1" but that just was not enough to get understeer under control.
One of our competitors hit the K rail and pretty much destroyed his car which seemed to adversely effect Scott, because the Cobra is pristine again.
The engine has potential and sounds good as you can see from this video so we should be competitive next year, it touches 9000 twice in the video. We just need to get the tune fixed and get the handling right again. Even as bad as the car was I think we could have set fast time had we not been eliminated by the "wiggled" pylon. Goodguys should adopt the SCCA rule where if the pylon is down or out of the box drawn around it they count it not so arbitrary.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53YO...I4J89NccUhpJ1Q

































in place of alpha N tuning

[1795]

Pretty nice run. You could tell when the rpms started hitting where the engine was running it's best. Nice sound. Coming from a race perspective, I was amazed at how loose the shoulder harness was and the amount of movement Scott has in his seat. When I get strapped in my crew pulls as tight as they can, ask me if I can breathe, and then if I have enough breath to respond to them they pull tighter! It might be interesting to see what effect being more secure in the seat may have on times. I would expect that it may result in decreased times, but you never know.

Good luck in making the adjustments for next year.

Jim

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by 1795

Pretty nice run. You could tell when the rpms started hitting where the engine was running it's best. Nice sound. Coming from a race perspective, I was amazed at how loose the shoulder harness was and the amount of movement Scott has in his seat. When I get strapped in my crew pulls as tight as they can, ask me if I can breathe, and then if I have enough breath to respond to them they pull tighter! It might be interesting to see what effect being more secure in the seat may have on times. I would expect that it may result in decreased times, but you never know.

Good luck in making the adjustments for next year.

Jim

Scott likes to really get up on the wheel, the car is less than 1 turn lock to lock and he uses all of it quicker than I have seen other than watching Jackie Stewart in a Mustang in a pouring rain and that was a much slower steering ratio. Scott has broken good quality grade 8 bolts in the steering arms and in fact I had to put aero-space grade 160,000 PSI bolts in to keep that from happening. One of the reasons he is so fast is that he is ahead of the car and makes corrections before the car does something wrong. When he is really strapped in he can't put the body english to the wheel the way he wants to. I have power steering but it isn't a lot of assist so you need good arm strength to drive the car.

[1795]

You can definitely see Scott leaning into the turns. Everybody has a different stye of driving.

I was thinking that you might get a little better seat-of-the-pants feel with being more securely attached to the seat, than more loose. However, if it works for him, then it works!

Good luck and looking forward to hearing more about the adjustments that you will be making. Next year seems so far away....

Jim

[hinoonaz]

That was a good run. I believe you were .015 out of best for the day. You had gotten rid of the stumble on that run. Thanks, there was a cheering section in the stands. Gary

[DanEC]

Go little Street Cobra, Go!

[twobjshelbys]

Are you going to Scottsdale in March 2018?

[Alfa02]

Nice run Scott. As a life long autocrosser, Vintage racer and 2-time Champ. I can tell you everybody has their way, like 1795, I too want my belts as tight as you can get, and then just a little more (Auto-X ,or road racing), I feel part of the car (just me). I've ran everything from a stock SAAB 96, to a A-Mod FF. I have a routine. First I walk the course till I know it, and then drive it in my mind and time myself with a stopwatch, sitting in the car (within a sec.), walk the line you will be driving, place yourself like you're behind the wheel ( You will be amazed how much different a corner will look that way). Take your mirrors, adjust them out of the way (trust me you look, if you think you hit a cone) I've even tape them. I have more, trick's of the trade,I hope this help's any novice Auto-X er

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by Alfa02

Nice run Scott. As a life long autocrosser, Vintage racer and 2-time Champ. I can tell you everybody has their way, like 1795, I too want my belts as tight as you can get, and then just a little more (Auto-X ,or road racing), I feel part of the car (just me). I've ran everything from a stock SAAB 96, to a A-Mod FF. I have a routine. First I walk the course till I know it, and then drive it in my mind and time myself with a stopwatch, sitting in the car (within a sec.), walk the line you will be driving, place yourself like you're behind the wheel ( You will be amazed how much different a corner will look that way). Take your mirrors, adjust them out of the way (trust me you look, if you think you hit a cone) I've even tape them. I have more, trick's of the trade,I hope this help's any novice Auto-X er

What mirror?

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

Are you going to Scottsdale in March 2018?

I want to Tony, but just had Carpal Tunnel operation on my left hand need to do right hand and recover. We are going to try to make it just to test the new EFI tune.

The car will be in the Grand National Roadster show in the Muscle car exhibit
the end of January at Pomona Fairplex. We will be testing in February at Crows Landing

If all goes well with my hands and the first two events we will probably be in Scottsdale.

[twobjshelbys]

Good luck with the surgeries! Recover quickly and get that car back in the races!

[Alfa02]

Scott, this series count's if the cone has moved? (But is still in it's Box?) As you know SCCA doesn't as long as it's still in the marked box. I've ran over a few bases, over the years (Moved the cone) but was still in marked area, as I'm sure you have. I can see the side pipes exhaust moving a cone. A course worker should have seen that. Good luck at Crows Landing. Tom.

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by Alfa02

Scott, this series count's if the cone has moved? (But is still in it's Box?) As you know SCCA doesn't as long as it's still in the marked box. I've ran over a few bases, over the years (Moved the cone) but was still in marked area, as I'm sure you have. I can see the side pipes exhaust moving a cone. A course worker should have seen that. Good luck at Crows Landing. Tom.

This is not Scott it is Bruce, GoodGuys charged 2 seconds if a cone wiggled even if it was touching the box. The course worker called it, for 2018 it will be 1 second if in box and 2 seconds if out. We are looking at rotating the exhaust up so that it won't blow pylons down. The car had a touch of understeer because of the new low friction rear suspension. We are increasing the rear spring rate so that it will hold a tighter line on Goodguys courses..

[Alfa02]

Sorry Bruce, as we know even a second can take you from 1st, to 5th. But better then 2 seconds. Sound's like there is a lot competition down south. Do all the Goodguys have autocrosses? My car will be finished in April, and it would fun to take it out here in the northwest (Washington). Are the rules close to SCCA ? Would our cars be considered, Modified (Kit cars, Reproduction,etc) Thank you in advance for any info, about running up here, Tom

[Morris]

Originally Posted by Cobra #3170

The car had a touch of understeer because of the new low friction rear suspension. We are increasing the rear spring rate so that it will hold a tighter line on Goodguys courses..

Bruce

A friend of mine (Jim Fitzgerald) told me along time ago....”Stiffen and Slide......Soften and Stick “........always adjust the end that doesn’t stick....

Just think about it for a while.......depending on your wheel rates....

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by Morris

Bruce

A friend of mine (Jim Fitzgerald) told me along time ago....”Stiffen and Slide......Soften and Stick “........always adjust the end that doesn’t stick....

Just think about it for a while.......depending on your wheel rates....

Hi Morris
Jim was right, we always try to add grip not take it away. In this case, the front end is as soft as I can make it with out introducing too much pitch or roll into the chassis. Balance is even more important than grip in terms of corner speed so I am going up by 7%. The real answer would be a wider front tire but Bridgestone does not have what I need so we have to increase rear rate. I was running about 1" of rake which is more than I really want. Hopefully, with the spring rate change I can get back to .5" of rake. We have tested front spring rates in 25 pound increments so are pretty confident in this analysis.

[Tommy]

Bruce -
I had carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists about six years ago. The relief was immediate. I wish I had done it years earlier.

[Cobra #3170]

Tommy
I sure hope relief comes soon, three days now and still very sore, Dr. says feeling will take about 2 months to come back in fingers and thumb. The straw that broke the camel's back was beating 4 knock offs off and then back on in Pleasanton in November Goodguys. It was all down hill from there. I can't even open a drawer my fingers are so sore now. I have been beating on these wheels for over 52 years now, I guess this is what I get for it. Ha Ha

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by Alfa02

Sorry Bruce, as we know even a second can take you from 1st, to 5th. But better then 2 seconds. Sound's like there is a lot competition down south. Do all the Goodguys have autocrosses? My car will be finished in April, and it would fun to take it out here in the northwest (Washington). Are the rules close to SCCA ? Would our cars be considered, Modified (Kit cars, Reproduction,etc) Thank you in advance for any info, about running up here, Tom

Tom,
Washington Goodguys does not have an autox event yet as far as I know. You should come down to California and run Pleasanton in June. The rules are pretty simple almost any older car pre 87 is legal. You would be in street machine. The competition is great and you get more runs than SCCA would ever give you.
Here are the rules:
https://www.good-guys.com/pdf/autocr...crossrules.pdf

[Alfa02]

Thanks Bruce, for the info. Pleasanton sound's like fun. I may not have tune & test time in by then, just a shake down will take this summer, plus getting use to the HP. Never raced any thing with more then 250HP, so we will dance slowly for a while. We have a track here (less then a mile from my house) Bremerton Raceway (Drag, Auto-X, track days) So I'll run up here till we get it competitive, If I need info. to get it to go around corners, may I PM you? Thank again for all your all info. I know 75% handling, 25% power. So the HP is there. Tom.