Sunday, September 20, 2009

LeMons South Fall learning

So we did OK with the stuff we learned at the last race. What new stuff do we need to take forward to our next race?

Suspension matters.

Now that we have a car with some power, we need to get it to the ground on turn exits. We had a swaybar in front and an open diff. Not a good combination for a front wheel drive car and we would just spin the inside tire until the wheel was straight. This was a big suck on the sweeper. We need a big swaybar in the rear to help keep the inside front planted. The car was also very underdamped (at least on paper). New shocks that are stiff enough to match the springs should help. Me getting more educated on what a well set up car should feel like will also help.

Simplicate, then add lightness.

The fast teams had removed everything unnecessary to the function of the car. Hood, roof, and door stiffeners can go. Maybe putting a smaller battery back under the hood might also save not only the difference in battery weights, but also the weight of the battery cable.

Changing camera cards/batteries is a pain.

The GoPro Hero we borrowed from Mark's brother is a great little camera with its wide lens, but it doesn't have a provision for a power adapter and it's little batteries only last an hour or so. Couple that with a 2 Gig file limit and that means you need to swap stuff out at every pit stop (if it even makes it that long). I'd really like to find a simple inexpensive solution to this. Unfortunately most of the really cool systems are $$$.

We need better fuel cans.

The fuel cans we had took forever to get the gas into the tank. This lead to some really long pit stops if we needed to add gas. We should also get another fire extinguisher to use during fueling.

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