Tomcat
Enthusiast
Sorry this took so long.
The V-TEN Racing Chronicles written by Tom Wilson
Viper Days at Texas Motorsport Ranch (MSR), October 1-3
V-TEN Racing Sweep Stopped by Ray Moore (aka Speed Racer)
This is the seventh and last event of the Eastern Region of Viper Days. This is where it all began about a year ago when Eyal and myself met Newt at Viper Days at MSR. What an education we have received about our cars and driving them in the past year. After VOI-8 we left our cars at Newt’s and drove back to Hotlanta and returned three weeks later for this event. What a relief not to haul the cars back and forth to TX. The weekend weather was perfect with the exception of some passing thunderstorms. As with the last two events, we loaded the cars in the rain on Sunday. Including the finals, Newt has three events within five hours of his house. No fair Newt.
The Track:
+ MSR is 1.8 miles and has ten turns plus the “Rattlesnake” which is a series of four turns. Last year we did not like this track but have grown to like it. Short shifting and not redlining the car makes all the difference. This track rewards smoothness, as a number of turns require you to carry speed through them versus accelerating through them. I never got it right.
Car Prep (Team Secrets, don’t tell other Viper Days Participants):
Bleeding Brakes. Some tips.
+ Bleed the brakes the old fashioned way, with two people. I have been using a Mitivac vacuum bleeder all season and have lost my brakes too many times. You see, the method of bleeding brakes using a vacuum is not effective in getting the last bit of air out of the system according to John Archer, Sean Roe, and Mat at StopTech. Only use the vacuum method to fill the lines when flushing or refilling the system and then follow with the two-man (read person) approach.
+ When changing from old pads to new pads, this is what Tom Sessions (booooooo) recommends. Crack bleed valve while pushing in the brake piston so the new pads will fit. This way the old fluid is not pumped back into the lines requiring more bleeding to get the old fluid out. Thanks TS for that tip.
The Weekend (ok, not the weekend):
Friday, at the track by 7am and do some major maintenance on my brakes. At the last event it was determined that my master cylinder went bad and needed to be replaced. Tom Sessions brought a replacement MC to the track and helped me replace the MC in 10 minutes. Wow, that was easy after watching over your shoulder. Tom, how about videotaping a week of your work on Vipers and sending it to me. I promise not to package it and sell it as a how to tape, promise.
Temps were in the high 80s and times were competitive versus last year for me. On the other hand, Newt was almost five seconds faster and needed to be to hold off Nancy Stein who would win the Region if she was within about a second and a half of Newt’s best time. Eyal was about as fast as last year and was looking for more and getting a little frustrated. I got you again buddy!
Saturday. Weather was perfect and in the high 70s. Ray Moore offered to give me a ride and I jumped on the opportunity. The ride with Ray resulted in a better understanding of the “levels of the game” and a class win for me. More on that later. Riding with Ray is a mix between flat tracking, hard braking (cracked rotor Sunday am), and great lines. It is my contention that Ray will have the fastest time at the finals with the exception of cars on slicks. If you go faster then Ray at the finals on street Michelins, we will give you a V-TEN Racing tee shirt! He spanked all three of us at all five events he entered. We hope Mr. Rossi can show. Our best runs were in the morning. My final best time for the weekend would be the third run just prior to lunch. Eyal was still slower than last year and was not going to beat Ray with a 1:22 in the books but wanted to beat me. We spend one session nose to tail and had a blast. We agreed that the other driver must make a clean pass and the driver in front would not block a pass attempt. On this track, and with 38 more hp than me, Eyal can’t just drive around me, too bad, smile. Newt put down a time of 1:22.882, which at the time was good for the Region win. We all knew Nancy would go faster on Sunday.
Sunday. My time from Saturday would not improve and my rival, Jim Garrett (this is his home track), was only 0.209 seconds behind me. I fully anticipated him to hold back and jump ahead on Sunday, which never happened. Eyal on the other hand followed Ray for a few laps vowing not to get dropped, which he did, but not until he bettered my time by 1.6 seconds. Nancy improved on her time from Saturday and pulled within the 1.4 second barrier needed to take the Region title. Way to go Nancy! She did it with a bad back and all!!!!!!!!!
Our Results:
+ Newt, makes it six straight wins in Modified with a 1:22.882 (5 of 16 Challenge Series Drivers and almost six seconds faster than last year). Nancy Stein had a best time of 1:24.002 and wins Eastern Region.
+ Eyal, second in Prepared with a 1:25.134 (7 of 16 Challenge Series Drivers, about a second faster than last year). Eyal finishes second in season points behind Ray Moore who had a 1:22.288.
+ Tom, first in Super Stock with a 1:26.709 (8 of 16 Challenge Series Drivers, two seconds faster than last year).
We want to continue to thank JonB at PartsRack.com. We also want to thank TeamTech and Forgeline for their help in producing the V-TEN Racing shirts.
See everybody at the finals at Hallett in a few weeks!
The V-TEN Racing Chronicles written by Tom Wilson
Viper Days at Texas Motorsport Ranch (MSR), October 1-3
V-TEN Racing Sweep Stopped by Ray Moore (aka Speed Racer)
This is the seventh and last event of the Eastern Region of Viper Days. This is where it all began about a year ago when Eyal and myself met Newt at Viper Days at MSR. What an education we have received about our cars and driving them in the past year. After VOI-8 we left our cars at Newt’s and drove back to Hotlanta and returned three weeks later for this event. What a relief not to haul the cars back and forth to TX. The weekend weather was perfect with the exception of some passing thunderstorms. As with the last two events, we loaded the cars in the rain on Sunday. Including the finals, Newt has three events within five hours of his house. No fair Newt.
The Track:
+ MSR is 1.8 miles and has ten turns plus the “Rattlesnake” which is a series of four turns. Last year we did not like this track but have grown to like it. Short shifting and not redlining the car makes all the difference. This track rewards smoothness, as a number of turns require you to carry speed through them versus accelerating through them. I never got it right.
Car Prep (Team Secrets, don’t tell other Viper Days Participants):
Bleeding Brakes. Some tips.
+ Bleed the brakes the old fashioned way, with two people. I have been using a Mitivac vacuum bleeder all season and have lost my brakes too many times. You see, the method of bleeding brakes using a vacuum is not effective in getting the last bit of air out of the system according to John Archer, Sean Roe, and Mat at StopTech. Only use the vacuum method to fill the lines when flushing or refilling the system and then follow with the two-man (read person) approach.
+ When changing from old pads to new pads, this is what Tom Sessions (booooooo) recommends. Crack bleed valve while pushing in the brake piston so the new pads will fit. This way the old fluid is not pumped back into the lines requiring more bleeding to get the old fluid out. Thanks TS for that tip.
The Weekend (ok, not the weekend):
Friday, at the track by 7am and do some major maintenance on my brakes. At the last event it was determined that my master cylinder went bad and needed to be replaced. Tom Sessions brought a replacement MC to the track and helped me replace the MC in 10 minutes. Wow, that was easy after watching over your shoulder. Tom, how about videotaping a week of your work on Vipers and sending it to me. I promise not to package it and sell it as a how to tape, promise.
Temps were in the high 80s and times were competitive versus last year for me. On the other hand, Newt was almost five seconds faster and needed to be to hold off Nancy Stein who would win the Region if she was within about a second and a half of Newt’s best time. Eyal was about as fast as last year and was looking for more and getting a little frustrated. I got you again buddy!
Saturday. Weather was perfect and in the high 70s. Ray Moore offered to give me a ride and I jumped on the opportunity. The ride with Ray resulted in a better understanding of the “levels of the game” and a class win for me. More on that later. Riding with Ray is a mix between flat tracking, hard braking (cracked rotor Sunday am), and great lines. It is my contention that Ray will have the fastest time at the finals with the exception of cars on slicks. If you go faster then Ray at the finals on street Michelins, we will give you a V-TEN Racing tee shirt! He spanked all three of us at all five events he entered. We hope Mr. Rossi can show. Our best runs were in the morning. My final best time for the weekend would be the third run just prior to lunch. Eyal was still slower than last year and was not going to beat Ray with a 1:22 in the books but wanted to beat me. We spend one session nose to tail and had a blast. We agreed that the other driver must make a clean pass and the driver in front would not block a pass attempt. On this track, and with 38 more hp than me, Eyal can’t just drive around me, too bad, smile. Newt put down a time of 1:22.882, which at the time was good for the Region win. We all knew Nancy would go faster on Sunday.
Sunday. My time from Saturday would not improve and my rival, Jim Garrett (this is his home track), was only 0.209 seconds behind me. I fully anticipated him to hold back and jump ahead on Sunday, which never happened. Eyal on the other hand followed Ray for a few laps vowing not to get dropped, which he did, but not until he bettered my time by 1.6 seconds. Nancy improved on her time from Saturday and pulled within the 1.4 second barrier needed to take the Region title. Way to go Nancy! She did it with a bad back and all!!!!!!!!!
Our Results:
+ Newt, makes it six straight wins in Modified with a 1:22.882 (5 of 16 Challenge Series Drivers and almost six seconds faster than last year). Nancy Stein had a best time of 1:24.002 and wins Eastern Region.
+ Eyal, second in Prepared with a 1:25.134 (7 of 16 Challenge Series Drivers, about a second faster than last year). Eyal finishes second in season points behind Ray Moore who had a 1:22.288.
+ Tom, first in Super Stock with a 1:26.709 (8 of 16 Challenge Series Drivers, two seconds faster than last year).
We want to continue to thank JonB at PartsRack.com. We also want to thank TeamTech and Forgeline for their help in producing the V-TEN Racing shirts.
See everybody at the finals at Hallett in a few weeks!
