Pikes Peak S14 AT Pikes Peak...

[kenno470]

Finally made it to Colorado. The trip up was...a trip. Two blown trailer tires in the first hundred miles. Bummer. Changing tires on the side of the road in 105 degree heat really sucks. Still dealing with the trailer woes...today I had a bearing fail in one of the hubs, so I have to get that fixed tomorrow AM before heading down for Tech inspection.

Here is a low res shot of the wrap on the car. Came out really incredible. Looking forward to getting up on the hill Wednesday, the first day of practice. I'll upload some better quality photos tomorrow night, likely.

[Homer_Simpson]

Looking good Ken, have fun on the hill.

[AceInHole]

Looks great! Good luck with the race!

The wrap looks good, and I'll have to look into doing the same to my car. Also, have you ever looked into more of a hill climb (or autocross) wing?

[seishuku]

Ready for take-off? lol

Good luck! I want to see lot of video!

[gunluvS14]

car looks good man

[kenno470]

Unfortunately we won't have any video. We didn't get anyone to sponsor the cameras and the budget got too thin at the end to be able to afford to buy them on our own. Maybe next year.

That wing would be perfect up here. They are silly big, but they serve a purpose. Remember, thinner air up here.

Day one of practice went so-so. We were up on the top section today, which is all dirt, and weren't able to get much traction, and even less when the boost came on. Still thinking about what we need to do to help with this. We managed four runs today, and on the last one we were able to get Travis Tollett, the first Quadraplegic co-driver in the history of the hill climb, in the car for the first time. He was originally scheduled to be in another car, but they didn't get the car completed in time for the race. We have been friends with Travis for several years and were excited to have him join our team.

Day two details tomorrw.

[AceInHole]

Originally Posted by kenno470

That wing would be perfect up here. They are silly big, but they serve a purpose. Remember, thinner air up here.

Day one of practice went so-so. We were up on the top section today, which is all dirt, and weren't able to get much traction, and even less when the boost came on. Still thinking about what we need to do to help with this.

You answered your own question up above :P Build a bigger wing! Seriously, shoot me a PM some time about it. I built the one pictured pretty cheap, and if you have a good outline of what to do it'd take about a day to build.




Other than that, maybe a bit of toe-in, and soften up the rear suspension (get some weight transfer back there). Good luck tomorrow!

[r20crazy]

there must be video, ziptie a handi-cam to the cage. been following this thread to long to NOT see a run.

[seishuku]

Someone there has to have a cam to take some videos for ya!

[AceInHole]

3/16" plate, U-bolt, and 1/4"-20 screw, wing nut, and fender washer = cheap roll bar camera mount. Just add a cheap HD camera (Aiptek HD, etc)!

[kenno470]

Day two went much better. My car loves the tarmac. We were on the bottom section today which is paved for the first three miles or so and dirt the rest of the way. About six and a half miles. Found a few problems and after we got them taken care of our times improved dramatically. We did get Travis in the car again today.

Looking forward to tomorrw. We are in the middle section, which is all pavement.

AceInHole: I love that wing...unfortunately I am only allowed 144 square inches of vertical surface. Lets talk for next year, though, and see what you can come up with.

[kenno470]

The race went well enough, I suppose. We made the summit, which was our primary goal. We would like to have gone faster, but between the rain, crap tires, no traction in the dirt, the wrong ring gear, and, oh yeah, no time in the car...it just wasn't meant to be. We will be doing allot of work this year and ALLOT of driving. Next year, more of the road will be paved (yeah!!) and we expect to drop at least two and a half minutes off the time. Somewhere in the 12's is the goal for next year.

Here's a link to a video of day three practice. Remember, the car has no gear, and we are starting on a 10% grade. So, not exactly shot though a gun...

http://www.fatmanracing.com/S14/race09/MVI_1686.AVI

Also, we did make history by having the first Quadriplegic competitor (my co-driver, Travis Tollett) in the car with me. And we also won the Donner Award, which a sportmanship award. So, we are pretty proud of that.

Next year, though, more speed, faster time.

[DJPyro]

Awesome man! So happy to hear that. I know a quicker time would've been nice but you had to know with that little seat time and having the car just finished at the last minute that even making it to the summit is an achievement. No major mechanical issues? You didn't mention anything, so I'll assume yes, which is another huge feat Can't wait to get home and check out that video.

[TS4l]

Congrats on the summit and on the Donner award, I'd almost rather get an award for sportsmanship than anything else. Says a lot about you and your team. Great work.

[orion]

Great job all around...and thanks for sharing the progress of your build.

- Brian

[idrive]

Glad you were able to take something from it and keep the car together in one piece for the most part...keep us up to date with the build/tune progress for next year. I hope one of the next mods is an on-board camera system!!!!

[kenno470]

Originally Posted by idrive

Glad you were able to take something from it and keep the car together in one piece for the most part...keep us up to date with the build/tune progress for next year. I hope one of the next mods is an on-board camera system!!!!

Me Too! Seriously, I hope to have three cams in place next year. Fingers are already crossed...

[seishuku]

Three? That's a lot of angles.

Car looks and sounds good man, can't wait until next time!

[kenno470]

Found a couple videos from Pikes Peak. The first was shot at Glen Cove by my friend Jared. The second was shot at Engineers Corner, but I'm not sure who took it. The Travis they are yelling for is my co-driver, Travis Tollett.

Glen Cove:


Engineers:


I actually got through both of these sections better than I thought. Now I just need to do better on the other 12 miles of the 12.42 mile course!

[idrive]

sounds beautiful man

[a_ahmed]

http://www.fatmanracing.com/S14/race09/MVI_1686.AVI

cant download or load through vlc reupload i wana see

[kenno470]

That's posted on our website as a file. You can right click the link and download, or, I've just recently posted the same vid on youtube. Just do a search for Fatman Racing 240SX. Should come up for you there.

Thanks.

[kenno470]

Originally Posted by DJPyro

Awesome man! So happy to hear that. I know a quicker time would've been nice but you had to know with that little seat time and having the car just finished at the last minute that even making it to the summit is an achievement. No major mechanical issues? You didn't mention anything, so I'll assume yes, which is another huge feat Can't wait to get home and check out that video.

Thanks very much!

To answer your question, there were no mechanical issues at all. I was really proud of that. The worst thing that happened on race day was that a hose popped off of our boost controller near the summit. So for the last mile or two we were down to about 5psi boost. No problem, though, because we were still struggling with traction on the dirt, so it didn't really hurt our time at all. Sort of an inadvertant traction control!

[minime]

Congrats on the summit man! I'm looking forward to what you do next year.