UVa Baja SAE car flip video

I just recently posted this video to YouTube. We built this jump to be part of the UVa Baja SAE test track near our shop in Charlottesville, VA. As you can see, we were a little over aggressive in our ramp design.

2009 VIR 13-Hour Recap

The #35 Acura TL-R endured a tough race this year at the VIR 13-Hour. We qualified in P2 behind the beastly 400 horsepower Honda Civic of Mark Hein. In the misting conditions before the race, we chose to start the race the race on dry BFGoodrich tires. The racecars on wet tires rocketed to the front, but as the dry line developed we worked our way back up to P3. For the first 2.5 hours, we fluctuated from P2-P4 due to pit strategy but stayed close to the #39 Bimmerworld team who was leading the race. However, we lost 4th gear in our 3rd stint of the race.

With 4th gear, we were the fastest car in the Top 10. The TL-R was 4 seconds slower after losing 4th gear, but we remained one of the fastest car around VIR and stayed in P3. We stayed in the top 4 until the 9-hour mark when we lost 3rd gear. This ended a challenging race for the THR team. We kept the car competitive despite gearbox trouble, engine ECU problems, and losing a front suspension bolt, but losing 3rd was an issue we could not overcome.

Congrats to the Bimmerworld team for winning two years in a row and the #52 HART team for the P2 finish.

#35 TL-R after some bodywork modification thanks to an RX-7
#52 HART Civic
Pole Qualifying Civic

My Dad took about 200 photos from the race. Here is the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogburn/sets/72157622579950267/

VIR 13-Hour This Weekend

The 2009 "Charge of the Headlight Brigade" SCCA VIR 13-Hour enduro is this Halloween weekend. I am crew chief for the #35 Team Honda Research Acura TL-R that is competing in ITE class. Last year,we were on pole and finished 2nd overall to the Bimmerworld crew. We were on the lead lap and only lost by 30 seconds. With fewer errors, we could have won the race by a few laps.

We learned a lot from last year and are ready to take the overall win. It should be an exciting race this year with a strong class of ITE racers, two Honda of America Racing Team (HART) cars and Bimmerworld. I am making the 8-hour trek to VIR after work tomorrow so wish us luck!

Photos from last year's race: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogburn/sets/72157608576686571/

MSOKC Points Race #12 In-Kart Video

The MSOKC ran the last points race of the season on October 4th at Circleville Raceway. I qualified 2nd for the feature out of 11 karts but was knocked out on the 1st lap by the P3 kart diving under me in Turn 4. He got under me and I went off in the grass on two wheels. It was disappointing end to my 1st full season of karting, but the 3 races that day were the most fun of the season. Lots of dicing and probably a little too much contact as you will see in the Heat 1.

One of the other TAG karters had in-kart video from the races so I posted his as well. This was my first chance to see one of my races from another kart's perspective. He has the wide-angle GoPro camera.

My In-Kart Video


Chris' Heat 2 Video


Chris' Feature Race Video

Team Rusty Hood Racing: LeMons South Fall

Team Rusty Hood Racing competed in the 24 Hours of LeMons South Fall event on September 13-14th, 2009. I should have gotten info and pictures on our crazy race posted sooner, but better late than never!

We finished 88th out of 112 starters. Our fearless truck ran great for the 1st 8 hours of the 14 hours race until a large oil leak developed. We pulled an all-nighter tearing the motor down to the block in search of the elusive leak. Magically, the motor started after putting it back together as the sun rose on Sunday morning. However, we had fatally damaged the clutch after it had been soaked with leaking engine oil. The clutch completely gave out after two laps on Sunday. Lots of work for two more laps, but it was rewarding just seeing the car back out on track after seeings it's pistons overnight.

We decided that we were never going to run LeMons again with a 1985 Ford Ranger so off to the crusher the car went! I posted event results, tons of photos, and videos from the Ranger crushing below. Enjoy.

Event Results
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1310944

My Dad posted over 600 photos from the race. Here is set 1:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogburn/sets/72157622392733740/

Here is set 2:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogburn/sets/72157622268342555/

Video of Rusty Hood Racing Ford Ranger getting destroyed in the People's Curse:


Full People's Curse Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2otNG7VHLvk

Track Record Pace in SSB Civic at Mid-Ohio

I ran a two-day track day with PCA this weekend in the #07 Team Honda Research SSB Honda Civic Si. It was a great experience for me as it was my first time at the track with a nationally competitive car and new tires. This car finished 4th at the runoffs this year and 2nd last year, so I'd say "nationally comptitive" is an understatement. It was also my first event in an SSB car and only my second time at Mid-Ohio.

It was cold all weekend and wet for most of the day on Saturday. However, it was never wet enough for rain tires, so I got a lot of experience driving with slicks on a wet track. I had a few close-calls, but brought the car home intact on Sautrday with a fast lap of 1:56.8 on the wet, but drying track.

Sunday was a perfect day. With a high of about 50 and no clouds in the sky, the engine was making tons of power and we were able to get the tires up to temperature without too much troubl. I gained time with each session, but struggled to get clean laps due to traffic. Over the whole weekend, I only got 6 clean laps around Mid-Ohio. I made my last one count though and put together everything I had learned throughout the weekend. I clicked of a lap of 1:46.176 which is 0.025 seconds off of the SSB track record set by Chase Lin in 2007. With my TraqMate display showing me my laps times, I knew I had a flyer going and was pushing realy hard for the track record. I came up just short, but was very pleased with my lap time considering this was my first event in the car.

List of SCCA Mid-Ohio track records (See Chase Lin in SSB): http://www.greatlakes-scca.org/system/files/MidOhio_2.pdf

Traqmate Screenshot

Disappointingly, I don't have any video from the weekend so data will have to suffice.

Rusty Hood Racing Update - Prep for LeMons South Fall next weekend

The last two weeks have been busy! We leave Ohio next Thursday for Carolina Motorsports Park for "LeMons South Fall." In the past two weeks, we have finished rebuilding the floor, cut and notched all of the rollcage members, welded in 80% of the rollcage, made a new steel wing mount (much improved over the wooden prototype), mounted our seat, flushed all fluids, and made a new dash after removing the original, and the list goes on.

We will have the car tech-inspection ready for tomorrow afternoon and then have the rest of the day to paint and decorate the racetruck with decals, fake sponsor logs, and driver names. We will make our cost summary, pack, and finish up any minor details on Tuesday and Wednesday before we leave.

For the past two weeks, we have been going into work early, leaving about 4, and then working until midnight or later. It has been frustrating and hectic at times but completely worth it. The idea for building this racetruck for the 24 Hours of LeMons started as a drunk promise between friends and has ended up as working $500 truck with a rollcage, no bed, and a huge wing. We can't wait for next weekend.

I posted all of the latest build photos here and a few of my favorites below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yaw_moment_racing/sets/72157619431025611/

PCA Track Day at Mid-Ohio in ITA Integra - Video

I ran a PCA DE in an SCCA ITA-prepped Acura Integra at Mid-Ohio. We ran the club course for this event. My fast lap was a 1:52.3 with traffic. This was my first event at Mid-Ohio and in this car. I was running in Group D so traffic was constantly an issue. We had great weather for this event and it was loads of fun.

Commercial Point Grand Prix of Karting: August 1st and 2nd

I competed in TAG class for the 2009 Commercial Point Grand Prix. It was my first street race and a very challenging weekend, but it was also the most fun I've had racing. The CPGP featured a 6-turn, 0.5 mi. track that was very bumpy and very fast. The TAG karts averaged about 58mph with lap time in the low 30sec. range.

Rain washed out the racing on Saturday, so all three races (Merchandise, Trohpy, and Pro) races were on Sunday August 2nd. I gained confidence with each race and improved one position per race. Out of 9 starting karts, I finished 7th in the Merchandise race, 6th in the Trophy race, and 5th in the 20 lap Pro race.

My parents and brother visited for the weekend, so it was a great chance for them to see great kart racing action. My Dad took several hundred photos throughout the weekend and the link is below. I will try to post several videos from the race soon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogburn/sets/72157621949817158/

Here are a few of the best photos:

Team Cardiosport at Barber Motorsports Park: Race Day

The Barber race weekend in the Koni Challenge series was a challenging one for Cardiosport Racing. Initially, we were struggling (as everybody else was) with the drastic change in track grip level from the previous year. Throughout the weekend, we made setup changes between each session and gained time steadily. However, it was not enough and we were only able to qualify 15th in the 19 car field.

For the race, we chose a 1-stop fuel strategy because we were 2 seconds off the leader's pace. We wanted to minimize our overall time in the pits and maybe pick up a few positions from team's who opted for 2 pit stops. As it did last year, the race was all green with the driver's doing a great job of avoiding trouble. To make matters worse, we broke our rear anti-roll bar sometime during the first stint. We most likely cracked it by hitting the apex curbing hard in one of the high speed corners. Driver Gary Grigsby started to report developing understeer around lap 20 but we attributed it to tire wear. It easily could have been the ARB breakage though. Our pit stop on lap 42 went smoothly, but we could not recover from our lack of pace. We finished 2 laps down to the winner, #37 JBS Mustang, and in 15th place in the GS field.

Our next and last race of the season, will be at Virginia International Raceway on October 2-4. We will be conducting a test at VIR at the end of August so we hope to have a solid baseline setup dialed in before the race weekend. We need to avoid drastic setup fixes at the track! The race will be a 6-hour endurance race making it the longest race of the season. Fuel strategy will be at a premium, but we have high hopes for this race so wish the team luck.