SCCA – Page 2 – Cahall Racing

WDCR SCCA Spring Drivers School – Day 1

The Washington DC Region (WDCR) of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) held its annual Spring Drivers School this weekend. It started with registration, training, and a written test on Friday night. I liked the way they ran that – as it forced the students to learn and prove they understood all of the flags and their meanings before they were allowed to go out wheel-to-wheel with the other students. This drivers school is part of the SCCA program to allow wheel-to-wheel club racing that I am preparing to do in 2009 starting with MARRS 1.

Saturday morning started early, but it was not as bad for me as the car’s tech inspection was handled by Meathead Racing. Since my 2001 Z06 Corvette’s rollcage was not ready, I decided to rent a car to attend Driver’s School since it required a full “race ready” car. As you can see in the photo below, it also required a full fireproof race suit, racing shoes, gloves, socks, and helmet. As one of the other drivers said to me that morning when I emerged with my brand-spanking-new driving gear on, “it is not often a man gets to wear a new pair of bright red shoes”. That is for sure! And at least not believe he looks “manly” in them. Too funny. More photos of my SCCA Drivers School are posted on Webshots.

New red suede shoes aside, ahem, I also “manned-up” with my rental “Spec Miata”. The Spec Miata class is what I would call a “driver’s class”. The Spec Miata drivers are all in almost identical cars. So it is not about who has the biggest checkbook and more about who can drive the car the best. Your accelerator pedal can not make up for the fact that you corner inefficiently or brake too early and scrub off precious speed.

Boy was I in for a mental re-calibration! My “newer” 2006 Z06 Corvette has 505HP. The Spec Miatas run about 90HP!!! That is less than my snowmobile or Harley Davidson. Don’t let that fool you though. On short tracks with a lot of “corners”, it is all about cornering and not scrubbing off speed – and the Spec Miatas hold their own against the less nimble big-block behemoths (like Corvettes and Vipers). If there are some long straight-a-ways though… It is “Z” you later to the Miatas.

So Day 1 of WDCR SCCA Spring Drivers School was filled with alternating class room humiliation (very necessary less anyone thinks they are the next Dale Earnhardt) and practice sessions. It rained all day. So with a new car and a wet course, even the practice sessions were somewhat humiliating to me as I realized that most of these Miata guys were able to kick my butt. So much for thinking I was fast in my Corvette. This was my third time on Summit Point “Main” and I was not impressing myself (or my instructor either really). The good news is that I: a) did not wreck the rental car, b) did not slide off the track, and c) learned a lot in the process.

One of the things I really learned was that every mistake is amplified 10x in a Miata. You just cannot make up time with the engine. My biggest weakness is knowing how “late” to brake for a corner. If you brake too early, you scrub off speed that you will never get back. I am also not sure I am entering corners at the maximum speed (ie. braking too much). You need the speed into the corner to be sure you have optimal speed exiting the corner for the next section of the track. It is all about momentum in a Miata.

My other weakness is that I am so focused on the track and other cars, I do not always check each flag station to be sure that nothing has changed ahead on the course. The instructors (especially mine) get really cranky about missing a flag. This is a bit of the old, “the sun was in my eyes”, excuse, but the rain definitely was a distraction causing me to hyper-focus on the other cars more than the flag stations. Bad driver! So much for making a pass during the yellow flag. I knew it was too easy! Needless to say my brain, credentials, and desire to continue to play well with others came under close scrutiny. I sort of feel like my cat must feel like when I catch him right after he pees in the corner… He is now banned to the sun porch for eternity. But hey, he is a cat – and I can learn to read the flags and brake later if I can just get back out there and practice!

The day ended with a general overview of how we did and what we need to work on. Numerous horror stories were shared of knuckleheads that did not listen in drivers school and flew through the air, only saved by their roll cage and fireproof underwear (and one who unfortunately was not). While this is fun, it really is serious stuff, and no one likes junking their car because someone was ignorant of the flags or excellent driving skills.

Tomorrow starts early again and we get an actual race in as well. Let’s hope it does not rain all day.

Ted Cahall

The More You Know – the More You Don't Know

I remeber back to my days at the University of Illinois at Chicago computer center where I was a consultant to the student popluation regarding all of our computer systems. As I learned more and more, I realized just how much I did not know. In other words, the more I knew, the more I realized how little I actually knew out of the vast world of computer science, programming languages, operating systems, etc. I became curious as to if I would close this knowledge gap or see it widen as more technology was developed. It was another type of race – a race into the information age.

I had the same feeling for a while as I attempted to figure out how to begin wheel-to-wheel competition racing with the SCCA. Getting my Novice License and being signed off to race was one hurdle. This was complicated by a coast-to-coast move from Seattle to Northern Virginia. The next hurdle was getting my 2001 Z06 Corvette prepared to race. I have e-mailed a number of people and talked with some as well. Most of those people were involved in the SCCA as Time Trials, Solo or PDX participants. As I have now learned, they might as well be from some other racing program or another planet. The rules for “club racing” are the most stringent and complex.

On Monday morning I was fortunate enough to have the SCCA TCS T1 class driver sponsor call me. She was very patient and polite (thank you Pam). She let me know I should have started with the program office and found my way to her first. Needless to say, between her and the head of tech inspection, it is very clear to me that I need a full roll cage. So onto PiperMotorsport to have that done when they can schedule me in.

I also learned that I need to have the full roll cage for the SCCA driving school I am registered for on March 27th. There is no way it will be done then – so I am going try to rent a car with a roll cage for that event. It hopefully will be a Mazda Miata – or what they call a “spec” Miata.

One other somewhat interesting factoid I learned was that my “lowly” TCS T1 class runs simultaneously with all othe other “big bore” classes (ie. on the track at the same time). I had heard I would likely be the only T1 car in my class. I had thought I would have the track to myself! This was a bit of a suprise to me since I thought at worse I would only be out there with other cars from my T1 class. Pam informed me that I would be out there with GT1 class cars and some cars with over 700 HP. How ironic – I will probably finish last in the actual race and get a trophy for 1st place in the T1 class (and 2nd place, and last place).

I definitely do not want to be driving a car with 700 HP yet – so I need to be ready to passed a whole lot by all the other cars on the track. No pride here. Just glad to be able to learn and rub elbows with these highly experienced die-hard racers.

Live and learn (carefully)…

Ted Cahall

Racing the Clock to be Ready for my First Race

Drat! Just when I thoughts I was in the running to complete preparations for my first real season of racing in the SCCA, I find I had some bad information on the requirements. It seems I may need a roll cage for the TCS T1 class that I plan to participate in. It was hard enough to buy seats that fit (that took three different sets through trial and error) and finally get them installed. Please note that both of the previous two sets stated that they fit the 2001 Corvette Z06. I guess they assumed you did not want to close your doors, roll up your windows, etc.

Roll cage! Now we are seriously drilling holes and welding stuff to the car. No more going back to selling this as a Corvette driven by a little old lady from Pasadena to go back and forth to church on Sundays. It will be clear this car had definitely seen some track time. Oh well, after GM goes out of business, maybe it will be a collector’s item.

Nothing like a little added stress towards maintaining that delicate “work / race balance” – especially with work being so calm and constant at AOL over the last few weeks. One of my cats is sick too – so it only makes sense that the racing hobby throws me a curve ball just to keep things all in perfect harmony.

Oh well, I know I can use this car (if not in the shop getting the roll cage) or my newer 2006 Z06 Corvette for the Saturday April 4th SCCA Performance Driving Event (PDX). I will also be OK testing out the new Ferraris and Lamborghinis with World Class Driving even if I cannot get this beast race ready. So at least the whole summer will not be a bust for going fast.

The trials and tribulations of the need for speed.

Ted Cahall

Installing Corbeau Seats in 2001 Z06 Corvette

While continuing my saga of preparing for my 2009 MARRS/SCCA season, I have completed another step of transforming my 2001 Z06 Corvette to meet the SCCA GCRs. I now actually have put the passenger side Corbeau Racing Seat into the car along with the fire extinguisher. While none of this applies to my future attempt to drive over 200 MPH, it is all required if I am going to race my own car this summer while attempting to maintain that precious “work / race” balance.

There were nine (9) basic steps to this procedure:

Remove the old seat
Attach the bracket to the new seat
Attach the safety harness connectors to the seat
Connect the harness under the seat
Install the seat into the car on the four bolts in the floor
Install the fire extinguisher on top of the front bolts
Install the “harness bar” between the seat bolt and the harness bar
Bolt down the four bolts
Connect the remaining harness belts

Please note that the “harness bar” that runs behind the seats for the top two belts of the 5 point belt was already installed for me at Tony’s Corvettes. Similarly, the harness connections down by the lap belt connectors was also installed there.

I decided to capture some of this work here in the blog with a few pictures. I was considering bottling some of the sweat as well just to show I actually do some of these things myself…

Step 1: Remove the old seat
I do not have any pictures of me removing the old seat. It was done long ago on the previous attempts of installing Sparco seats into the car. Below is a shot of the car without the seat in it. Note the four bolts sticking up from the floor. These are the bolts that the new seat will bolt down on. The fire extinguisher is attached to the two front bolts in this picture.

I do have a shot of the old seat next to the new seat before it went in though. This allows some comparison of height, width, etc.

Step 2: Attach the bracket to the new seat
I ordered two different brackets (driver and passenger) for the identical seats. The main difference between the brackets is a connector for the “inside” lap belt connector. Clearly the inside of the bracket is different for a driver or passenger seat (left or right). In this case “inside” means towards the middle of the car versus the lap belt connector out near the door. The bracket simply bolts onto the bottom of the seat with four bolts that come with the seat. Below is a picture of the seat after the bracket was bolted onto it.

Step 3: Attach the safety harness connector to the seat
The lapbelt and inside belt connector need to be attached to the seat. They can be seen on the side of the seat below. The new safety harness connector is the solid metal part and the block part is to the old lap belt.

Step 4: Connect the harness under the seat

The photo below shows the connector for the leg belts being connected to the interior side of the seat. This has to be done before you install the seat or you will never be able to connect it.

The result below shows that the leg belts are now sticking out of the middle of the seat. This is the main part of the 5-point harness system as it contains the buckle that all of the 4 other belts (2 shoulder, 2 waist) will connect into.

Step 5: Install the seat into the car on the four bolts in the floor

and Step 6: Install the fire extinguisher on top of the front bolts

and Step 7: Install the “harness bar” between the seat bolt and the harness bar

Bolting the system to the floor all happens at once. The seat is installed onto the bolts. The fire extinguisher is bolted to the front seat bolts and the harness bar support is connected between the outside rear seat bolt and the harness bar above the seats.

Step 8: Bolt down the four bolts

From there it is as simple as tightening the four bolts.

Step 9: Connect the remaining harness belts

This is as simple as taking the belts and attaching them to the connectors on the harness bar and the other connectors.

Finally! Sit down, buckle up, and hold on! Or at least pretend to since I am in the passenger seat and no one is driving.

Most of this was extremely straight forward – aside from the fact that the lapbelt connectors and harness bar were already done by Tony’s Corvettes.

Ted Cahall

Maintaining that "work / race" balance

Some years have been easier to get out to the racetrack than others. As I prepare for the 2009 season with the SCCA, I began to realize this year might be a bit challenging. When I moved to AOL back in January of 2007, I had the best intentions of moving from Novice to Regional member in the SCCA. Somewhere between January and the end of the year my job took over… AOL asked me to add the Technologies division to my then current responsibilities and it was December before I knew it. So there were no trips to the racetrack for me in 2007.

While I did make it out to the racetrack at Summit Point twice, an AMG driving event in the Poconos, and the dragstrip once in 2008, I can see 2009 may begin to parallel 2007. This year started out with a bit of a bang as the head of the Products business unit moved on to be the digital head of Univision. Much of his responsibilities moved over to me. This week the head of our International division decided to leave the company and I was tapped to add the EU and Asia Search business to my US Search responsibilities. Additionally the EU publishing tech groups and 1,500 person Indian development center in Bangalore will now report to me. I started 2007 with a great trip to Bangalore and it now makes sense that I plan a trip there again in 2009 to spend some more time with the staff.

So it is time to break out the race schedules and coordinate the 19 hour flights to and from Bangalore along with some quality time with the folks there. Hopefully I can stop by and see the Search staff in Ireland as well on the way there. 38 hours of flights in one week – before you get any work done on the ground… That requires “work / race” balance.

Ted Cahall

Preparing for SCCA Racing in 2009

2009 should represent the next step for me in the SCCA Racing program. I am a member of the Washington DC Region of the SCCA and have my Novice Racing License. I obtained my Novice license after taking training up in Kent, WA at the ProFormance Racing School at Pacific Raceways. Other than a quick trip to the dragstrip, most of my recent race practice has been out of Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia.

To move on to my Regional license, I need to compete in two regional races in 2009. There is a series of races called MARRS (Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series) that are held in the DC region each year.

I have modified my 2001 Z06 Corvette to comply with the SCCA GCR (General Competition Rules) and will compete in the Touring Category Specification (TCS) T1 class. This class allows mostly stock cars to compete with some safety upgrades such as: seats, harness, fire extinguisher, etc.

The main issue I have faced is getting good seats that will fit into my Z06 Corvette. I wanted to keep the stock belts in addition to adding in the required 5-point harness. This caused quite a bit of additional complexity due to the very tight space between the doors and the transmission hump. After a couple of expensive trips to Tony’s Corvettes in Gaithersburg, MD, I decided to attempt to complete the rest of the problem on my own.

After determining that the Sparco XL and standard Sparco seats are too wide, I have gone with a pair of Corbeau FX1 Pro seats. I have seen these in a couple of other Corvettes with the standard belts still installed. I will attempt to document this semi-arduous process as I undertake it. The seats have arrived as seen below.

Ted Cahall