Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Hi guys we will be out vintage racing on the weekend of February 10th and 11th at Phoenix International Raceway. Come out see us, and Cheer on the racing Datsuns!!

Hi all,

Had a great weekend out at PIR. This was the first time returning back to
Phoenix since hurting my motor last year at this track. The #33 roadster
really did well this year running strong all weekend. We finished 5th in
class with some really fast movers in our run group, and a very large field.

We drove up Friday day and arrived at about 4:30PM. I had been in contact
with Troy Tinsley a fellow WCZR member who is local to the Phoenix area and
he was kind enough to save spaces in the paddock area to park our trailers
earlier in the day. Parking this year was a tough as the turnout was
approximately twice as large as last year with over 172 entries compared
with less than 100 last year.

Troy, a very accomplished driver, who has been an instructor at PIR. Troy
turned really quick times in his ITS 240Z less than 3 seconds off the
fastest cars in our run group, that were heavily modified race cars. Troy
was kind enough to take a few minutes and explain the finer points around
the track, and his advice was right on target. Troy also critiqued my line
and I saw my lap times steadily drop over the weekend.

We ran three times on Saturday and twice on Sunday. Saturday morning brought
out a solid warm up and I got acquainted to the track again. We were out
first thing in the morning, and had made several changes to the setup of the
car so I went easy to see how the car was doing.

Les Cannaday (Classic Datsun) had installed my 4:88 gearset with a detroit
locker and had replaced my front brake pads and adjusted the rear brakes.
The gearing change was immediately noticeable. The positive lockup of the
Detroit locker really put the power down, and the car really hooked up. The
gearset was a huge improvement over my 4.37 gears and gave me the
acceleration off the corners that I needed, and got the car up to speed
quickly on the banking.

The brakes were a bit of an issue. I battled a rear brake bias problem and
no matter what changes we made, I had too much rear bias locking up the rear
brakes on several occasions throughout the weekend. We adjusted the bias
control with little effect and then adjusted the rear shoes off the drums,
so that I could get a little less rear brake.

Our second run was to set the grid for the qualifying race and we got the
car working really well despite the brakes and were turning 1.23's. on lap
five I went too hot into turn 1 coming off the banking and spun the car, and
stalled. It took 15 to 20 seconds to refire, but I did get going again and
finished down in the pack for the qualifying race. In addition, my
alternator came completely detached from my motor and lodged itself in my
engine compartment (thank goodness). With this I also, threw the belt and
started to overheat at the end of this session. Fortunately, we had an hour
and a half to fix the problem and Les went to work and got me all fixed up
for the qualifying race.

In the qualifying race we ran really strong out of the box, laying down my
fastest lap time on lap one with a 1.22.3. This set the Grid with Duane
Norman in his 510, followed by Jim McAdory in his 510, then my roadster, and
an Alfa Guillietta right behind me.

Sunday's warm-up was uneventful. I worked on my shift points and brake
points to be prepared for the trophy race. The car was working great and the
brakes were finally working better.

Sundays trophy race was fantastic, we gridded up and were quickly out on the
track, with our warm-up lap done we lined up for the start and got a late
green flag, and were off, two wide through turns one, two, three and four,
sorting out into turn 5 and through the carousel into 7 and 8. I was on the
inside of turn one and carefully picked through a little traffic by 6, and
picked up several spots. I set my sites on Duane and his 510 about 60 yards
ahead of me with the Alfa filling my mirrors through the infield. On lap two
I started to work on getting around Duane on the banking but he protected
his line and followed him into the infield into lap 3 and around to the
carousel where I got a run at him going into turn 9 and accelerated along
side, just below him on the banking. We both raced hard around the oval, but
I had the better line and was able to pull away from him at the end of the
straight down into one, and by the end of lap four the Alfa had gotten past
Duane and was leaning on me again filling my mirrors in the carousel and at
turn 9 until the banking where I would pull away from him, just to have him
catch back up in the infield. We continued this for 8 or 9 laps when I
downshifted too aggressively into first gear on the entrance into 9 and
pitched my roadster sideways. This was enough to let the Alfa by but I
gathered it back up before Duane could catch me and was off going around the
banking with Duane looking to get back around me. Duane and I battled out
the last several laps with him trying to get under me coming out of the
carousel (turn 6) but unable to get to the point where he could get around
me. At this point I had to maintain a defensive line around the track so the
Alfa was able to maintain enough of a lead that I couldn't track him down to
catch him in the final three laps of our trophy race. At the end of lap 12
or 13 a Sunbeam Alpine ventilated its block at the end of the straightaway
dumping oil on the track and ending any chance I had of catching the Alfa.

I finished 5th in class turning a 1.21.9 my fastest lap of the weekend, with
the Alfa turning his best lap of 1.22.

Lessons learned: Even with the 4.88's I could use about 200 more RPM on the
banking and going into the carousel. Next time out at Phoenix we will change
the RPM pill in the MSD box. I can improve my times with less rear brake
bias and a better entry off the banking into turn 1.

Ron


Here are a few photos: http://classicracingphotos.com/PIR/index.htm

Sweet! That was a great write-up Ron. Felt like I was actually there. Sounds like you guys had a great time.

Shannon

Ron you are my hero! Who takes the pictures, Dennis?
Please post some in-car or outside video footage.

Ron,

Awesome mate , did a gr8 job there. Keep it up

Thanks Guys!

Sadly my Video Camera did not get activated so I have no in car video. too bad too, video of the race with Duane would have been epic, with us in such close proximity doing 110MPH on the banking.

I didn't mention this above, but Duane's 510 is really a unique car (with power steering and special transmission). Duane is confined to a wheel chair and needs hand controls to drive his car. I can tell you that Duane can really drive. Duane recently modified the rear suspension of his 510 and is much faster than the last time we were out together.

There was a photographer from Nissan Sport Magazine shooting pictures of my roadster for an upcoming article. Eric sent me a few photos today and they are excellent! I can't wait to see them in print. I have asked him if I can put up a couple of the photos that he sent, hopefully he will let me.

I am sure we will have good video at Laguna in April hope to see a couple of you guys there!

Ron