ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Events and Activities Forum => ZUKIWORLD Challenge => Topic started by: Drone637 on May 12, 2011, 01:28:28 PM
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Well, I have the time off and am still up for driving down. Do we have any additional information about time of day, how many laps we are running, and what additional requirements there are beyond a fuel cell?
Is this still going to be hosted in Sparks?
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I think we are running 2 laps, The requirements are posted in the 2011 rule book.
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Hey Kris - The best source for information on race logistics for this race will be the Vorra website. http://www.vorra.net (http://www.vorra.net) if you notice along the left hand side they have a column with informational posts about the upcoming races. The next race is Yearington 300 and that's the one they're informing racers/public on now. I would assume that shortly a similar post will come up for the USA 500 race.
Our ruleset is compatable so you shouldn't have to do anything extra if you've got our set covered.
Distance is still a bit up in the air... I wanted to talk with all the teams and see what the consensus was. Look for an email.
Here's how their race information looks. http://vorra.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=218:yerington-details&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=56 (http://vorra.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=218:yerington-details&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=56)
-Eric
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Thanks. Just want to make sure my bases are covered. Don't want to go all the way down there and be stuck in the pits. :)
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vorra times attached from their forum..
A bit blurry but looks like
Capell: 11:27.08
Hutchison: 13:42.27
the rest are DNFs...
great race and a ton of fun.. anyone take any pictures?
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My pics...
on the way there
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Lets see...
/enthusiastic sarcasim on/
driving 10 hours there, sleeping in the cab of the truck the 1st night half way there, the other nights "camping/RVing" in a casino parking lot in the back of dodge truck under a tonneu cover, no fridge, no campfire, no shower, eating cold brats, beef jerky trail mix and cheeze sticks, drinking warm water, apple juice and gatorade. Riding out in the hot sun, dust blowing everywhere, trying to get the GPS to work while recreating "PEARNS SUZUKI JUMP" (... google it if you haven't seen it, "friends have said" - you might get just a bit motion sickness), not using blinkers on any turn, hitting every bump, aggresive shifting ( oh wait, I forgot we are in a race) (a motor mount might decide to go do something other than hold the motor steady and granade the outer casing of the clutch cable), turning your rig into a lawn jart ( WILL change your alignment, cause a headlight to dangle from your light bar ... and knock the fuel pickup tube loose inside your fuel cell make your engine very thirsty) :laugh:
/enthusiastic sarcasim off/
...And hutch says... "great race and a ton of fun" is like saying "last I knew there were a couple gallons of water in the ocean" :P
I had blast!!!!!!! I got to spend the weekend with a lot of great people. I had the opportunity to be with some great racers as the team kicked some a** in a PINK tracker!!!! What an incredible day !!!!!!
Not for one second did I ever think about being somewhere else doing something else. I'd do it all over again next weekend if I could. I think I'll leave everything packed just in case I find out someone will be there next weekend.
If there is anyone that is ever "kinda" thinking about going ... GO!!!!!! If you ever thought about running away from home and joining a circus, screw that. RUN AWAY FROM HOME AND JOIN A RACE!!!!!
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2nd place finish video
Zuki World Challange (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHU06l7YWfw#ws)
1st place finish video
Zuki World Challange (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVPbOo-nNoY#ws)
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Lets see...
driving 10 hours there, sleeping in the cab of the truck the 1st night half way there, the other nights "camping/RVing" in a casino parking lot in the back of dodge truck under a tonneu cover, no fridge, no campfire, no shower, eating cold brats, beef jerky trail mix and cheeze sticks, drinking warm water, apple juice and gatorade. Riding out in the hot sun, friggen dust blowing everywhere, your driver tell you to get the GPS working while he is trying to recreate "PEARNS SUZUKI JUMP" (... google it), blowing past turns, hitting every bump ("friends have said" - you might get just a bit motion sickness), jamming on the clutch instead of easing it in and out (what ever happened to feathering the clutch... you might tear a motor mount loose and granade the outer casing of the clutch cable), turning your rig into a lawn dart (that WILL change your alignment, cause a headlight to dangle from your light bar ... and knock the pickup tube loose inside your fuel cell making you think your fuel pump is shot)
...And hutch dares to say "great race and a ton of fun" is like saying "last I knew there were a couple gallons of water in the ocean"
I had an effing blast!!!!!!! I got to kick some a** in a PINK tracker!!!! The best day of my life!!!!!
If there is anyone that is ever "kinda" thinking about going ... GO!!!!!! If you ever thought about running away from home and joining a circus, screw that. RUN AWAY FROM HOME AND JOIN A RACE!!!!!
To be fair, I dont think popping the clutch is what broke the motor mount. It may have something to do with a several hundred pound engine bouncing on it for hundreds of miles.
I am glad you had a great time.
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ok, ok, ok... I might have gotten a little worked up about the whole clutch thing. :laugh: So if I just leave everything in the truck and go back next weekend do you think someone will be running the course and they will let me work on thier pit crew? :-\
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So what happened to the DNF trucks that prevented them from
finishing the race? Kind of wondering what the weak points are.
I see how racing leads to better vehicles, build it, break it, build
it better, this carries over into street as well as mild built off road
vehicles
Wild
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We blew out a clutch cable, Drone blew one out too. I dont know if his gave way where ours did. Eric had trouble with a spindle. A few blown tires. Luckly we didn't have any tire issues.
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Clutch cable, huh, I would not have guessed
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We finished with what I consider to be a normal amount of breakage. The left motor mount started settling and allowing the engine to sit lower in the chassis. The clutch cable started rubbing on the power steering pulley untill it sawed through. We were able to support the cable with some pliers, electrical tape, and zip ties and it made it till the end of the race. The other problem we had was the fuel pick up tube came up out of the foam in the fuel cell and was laying across the top of the foam causing us to run out of gas. This was shorlty after I missjudged a sharp hill and took some major air and a very hard landing. The fuel line may have been caused by that but I dont know for sure yet. We didnt have any flats.
Its pretty rare to get to the finish line in a desert race without having to repair something and you definately iron out the weak spots over time.
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right now my truck is one big weak spot... I think it groans when I walk by it's soo sore!
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The main problem is you wear everything else out while ironing out the original weak spots. My main weak spot was the bolts holding the fenders on. Many of them are missing.
Did everyone remember to return their Spot Trackers? I forgot all about mine, but it is gone from the car so I am assuming they took it at the finish line.
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hmmm... looks like something to add to everyones post race check list. No joke... I noticed they were loose and tightened them before the race. Maybe the entire rig needs to be disassembled and every bolt gets loctight upon reassembly :)
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hmmm... looks like something to add to everyones post race check list. No joke... I noticed they were loose and tightened them before the race. Maybe the entire rig needs to be disassembled and every bolt gets loctight upon reassembly :)
Thats the key to finishing full dissasembly and prep. a bolt sponser helps alot
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my fenders broke too. one bolt tore out and the other is missing..
damage list:
two rear brake lines.. (yep first one broke between the start and pit 1, second one broke about 5 miles out of pit 1)
both hood pins ripped out
fenders ripped out
cable to the starter broke off
horn mount broke
broke off both front lower shock mounts
1 flat tire.
UPDATE:
Punched exhaust pipe through front of the muffler.
Ripped reinforcement strap over back of tranny in half
Ripped body under fender in half.. Yeah the car literally ripped in half.
But she still runs and drives!
My dad an I spent 3 hrs pressure washing the car.. Ready to start repairs now..
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hmmm... looks like something to add to everyones post race check list. No joke... I noticed they were loose and tightened them before the race. Maybe the entire rig needs to be disassembled and every bolt gets loctight upon reassembly :)
This is how teams with budgets and payed employees work.
For the rest of us, you do what you can, when you can, make it to the race, and hope for the best.
When I used to have a shop and no kids I would do a little each night. i would change all the fluids, take apart the brakes, pull the diff covers, and generally inspect everything. Now my family and other obligations take priority.
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I broke the Calmini upper link on the rear end(took me out of the race), 3 flats, exhaust broke off behind the cat(i had 6 hangers on it) fuel pump fuse blew more than twice. I had to use 4 ratchet straps to secure the rear end enough to drive the car 25 miles to the next pit. It took me 4.5 hours to complete the journey and the last tire blew right as I pulled into the pit. I think the car just gave up as I crossed the line.
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Are you required to have a cat on your race truck?
or you just didn't change it from how it was?
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I left it on so I could use the secondary O2 sensor for my A/F ratio guage. It was hollowed out.
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Good job on driving it in Greg. It always amazing what you can do with ratchet straps, tape, and zip ties.
One of the other racers had to make this repair when the back of the cage was breaking off.
(http://www.twolarrysracing.com/images/2011reno/P1010026.JPG)
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went through half a roll of gorilla tape trying to keep our junk together.. I can only image the damage we would have cause if we had a motor with reasonable power... like enough to get up the first hill....embarrassing!..
so seems as if we are short on pictures... We have none.. our SLR was dead.. got a couple Iphone but nothing special..
Trouble Racing has HD footage of us pulling him out of the silt beds...
I got a picture from another team.. nothing to exciting..
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I'm starting already trying to coax my wife into attending the next race so she can take pictures of all the Zuki's at the start of the race and anything she can snap through the day. Seems she doesnt have the same desire to spend a day out in the blazing sun and blowing dust that I do. Who's the wierd one? she or I?
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got these pics from another racer..
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Back on-line finally. Work has been nuts since I came back, no time to do much...
What took us out of the race was the transmission. I lost a clutch cable, but thought it was the clutch. It blew out right next to the engine, maybe it was getting hot? Or it was just old. In any case, I drove 70 miles without a clutch then destroyed the shifter when downshifting when I hit some silt beds around the 100 mile mark. There was a grind, a crack, then the shifter didn't find anything anymore. I'll have to pull the top of the transmission off to see what happened.
No issues with power, the 2.0 worked great. If the brand new serpentine belt hadn't come apart the engine would have been completely trouble free. I'll put a recap of all that broke in the build thread.
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Oh yea, pictures will be uploaded to https://picasaweb.google.com/Drone637/VorraUSA500 as they come in. Right now it's just some pics from my phone.
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Oh yea, pictures will be uploaded to https://picasaweb.google.com/Drone637/VorraUSA500 as they come in. Right now it's just some pics from my phone.
I didn't take any photo's (even on my phone). To busy chasing broken Tracker. On the plus side My Tracker worked great as a chase truck & tow truck. I think I might have put more miles running between pit stops and broken car than the Racers did in the cars that finished. Loved the Nevada speed limit 75, and race support vehicles get to add 10 - 15 mph (YES, just humming along). It was dusty, tired from the 14 + hour drive down, hot (finally), frustrating (breaking parts that shouldn't of), on and on... And yes, I would join MX5Man ok, ok, ok... I might have gotten a little worked up about the whole clutch thing. laugh So if I just leave everything in the truck and go back next weekend do you think someone will be running the course and they will let me work on thier pit crew? Undecided
The only on course time I got was going out to retrieve the Trouble Race car on the last break down. If that was any indication of what the Racers were doing, I can't wait to be in one. (We pulled the second seat at race to have a spot for the spare tires, we didn't need.)
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I have to fight back the crocidile tears today as my wife made it clear that I had to unpack everything from the trip and I had to give up hope of returning to the desert in the next weekend(s) and I would have to wait until the next race is announced.
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I have some pictures and some in-car video I can try to post soon.
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Clutch cable, huh, I would not have guessed
smartass :P
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Clutch cable, huh, I would not have guessed
smartass :P
This is way after the fact, but what I meant is I would not of guessed that
a clutch cable would be so much of a problem that it would take 2 of what
4-5 vehicles out of the race, I would of thought other factors like shocks
tires suspension and stuff would of been the DNF issues, not a cable
If my brother and I get to do a racer, I think we might go with an auto trans ;)
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I think we have worked out a lot of the other weaknesses and its coming down to the little stuff. We are also pretty hard on these cars and I have noticed some stuff that I would never think about has been failing. A example is my steering box came loose. I had never touched it, still had factory loctite. I am making a list of things to check before and after each race.
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Have you looked into a 4 link yet or are you going to just build up a new 3rd member link?
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If my brother and I get to do a racer, I think we might go with an auto trans ;)
I would like to see the two of you there.
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Quick question, how long did it take the other teams to hit Pit 1?
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I dont remember exactly. I beat my pit crew. Maybe 45 minutes to an hour.
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Ok. It took me just over an hour of actual driving time without pushing it as I was already 2.5 hours back. I was wondering how my pace compared to everyone else.
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So what do you guys do? do you loose time? can you service your own vehicle?
or do you just hang out for the support crew?
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If your at the pit you work with your crew. Or if your far enough in you sleep in the desert overnight waiting for the course to open so someone can come pick you up. :D
We were lucky at the beginning we broke down on a section that was not part of the loop. There was a 40 mile opener, the loop, then an exit track. So they let BRD HNTR run up the course to get the broken parts so we could get back into the race. But safety is first.
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As far as "serviceing" your own vehicle... If you have a codriver (not essential, but helpful) , and you select enough (or the right) parts as spares (and tools) to stash on the race rig a repair can be made almost anywhere. Of course no one knows just exactly what parts to carry. So you guess and go. :)
I'd recomend getting the McGyver box set and watching every show before the race. From what I gather the way the planets , moons and stars are aligned when something breaks you must scan the area and there will be something you can use to fix whtever broke. I'll never forget the episode where a critical set of car keys were dropped down a storm drain. To retrieve them, McGyver found a pipe and beat it on a lamp post to magnitise it. Whalla instant key retrieval.
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Ya, I'm a McGyver man, in fact I catch him in the shows doing stuff that will not work,
like the keys one, keys are made of chrome plated brass, both of which are non magnetic.
Unless the keys are very few, the steel ring might work but it would be better to hook them
instead
Wild
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I had to ratchet strap my rear end in place(calmini rear upper link broke) and idle 25 miles to the next pit. Took me over 5 hours. Otherwise my car might still be out there. My truck and trailer would have never made it to where I broke. I also had no idea if anybody knew I was broke. the other racers told the officials, but no one ever got back to me. I couldn't just sit there, so I rigged my car to get it back.
Another racer sat in the desert for 6 hours before being picked up. This is just the way racing works. We were told to take plenty of water and food, and I had, but I hate relying on other people to rescue me.
Funny story, I had battled my way the last 25miles to get to the pit. I had just passed the sign saying I was entering the pits when my right rear tire blew. It felt like the car just gave up. The tire had been rubbing on the spring perch and cut a groove in the sidewall. A bunch of people,including Drone's mom and sister?, to help but my car was done. Drone's crew sat with me and made sure someone was coming before they took off. I really appreciated their concern and helpfulness.
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Not my sister, that was Kate, our dedicated crew for this race. She wants to make her Toyota into a pre-runner so we figured this would be a good chance to come down and check things out. :)
For next year I will have a tool bag so it can be worked on in the field. Things to think about...
Hey, I'm in someone's video! I need more stickers on my rig and a front number plate...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wTtM_6XGCVU#t=35s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wTtM_6XGCVU#t=35s)
And again broken down in the background at the 51 second markl :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wTtM_6XGCVU#t=51s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wTtM_6XGCVU#t=51s)
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Video of the first minute and a half of the race. :D
2011 Vorra USA 500 - Start to Break (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz1PiPiBty0#ws)
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I love in-car footage. Keep it coming. Maybe Greg can post some of ours some day. We didnt have the camera on most of the time I think. We forgot to turn it on at the start.
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At least you got some. I'll work on more footage next week when I'm back in town. I have around 8 hours, I think.