A Kryderacing maintained car wins a National Championship.  An incredible run in the Longest Day 24-Hour race nets third overall.  And other clients continue their winning ways.  The 2008 season is ending on some very successful notes.
 

DAVID PINTARIC WINS NASA ST2 CHAMPIONSHIP

David Pintaric won the ST2 National Championship on September 14th.  This was the third year of the NASA Championships at Mid-Ohio and David’s first attempt to snare the victory.  He had some strong competition within the field of 17 cars.  The weather didn’t make things easy with rain and strong winds adding to the challenges.  Matt Miller and Matt Carson put a lot of work into prepping David’s Viper during the weeks leading up to the race date.  However, since they were both racing their own vehicles (in other classes) at the event, they were not able to give full attention to David during the race weekend. Kryderacing brought in our Viper ace, Jerry Palmer, to handle the trackside chores.  A lot of people contributed to the victory, but David was the man who did it on the track.

David’s achievement is even more impressive when you look at some of the challenges he faced during the season.  The biggest occurred during the Memorial Day weekend when the car was virtually totaled during the SCCA Dual National at Nelson Ledges.  The damage was so extensive that a lot of research went into locating a replacement vehicle before the decision was made to rebuild the damaged vehicle.

David’s achievement marks the first NASA Championship for a Kryderacing vehicle/client.  We previously contributed to two SCCA Run-Offs victories and will be going for another next month at Heartland Park.
 
 

 LONGEST DAY OF NELSON LEDGES

This famous 24-hour race for showroom stock and limited preparation cars was held August 23-24.  The event started in 1980 and was extremely unique at the time.  Several professional level series grew from the idea.  The Nelson Ledges event ran for a long time before being dropped.  After several years absence, it returned as a 12-hour race.  This year’s edition was the second in a row after returning to its original 24-hour format.

Last year Reed was one of the drivers on a team running a Mazda MX5 which was received and prepped only a couple of days prior to the event.  While the team suffered a few problems the overall effort made a positive impression on Mazda.  Many of the parts from the 2007 racer were salvaged and transferred to a new “body-in-white” for the 2008 race.  All the work was preformed by the Ohio Technical College students and teachers.  This project gave the students something to work on which would result in something more than simply a grade.  We heard absentee issues vanished.

The OTC group built a terrific race car.  They learned to deal with real-life problems such as parts which arrive late, and then aren’t the correct pieces.  Sometimes things failed and steps had to be retraced.  The problems experienced in no way detract from their effort.  There is a sign in the Kryderacing shop which says “Buy results, not effort“.  The OTC group understands what it means.  They definitely put in the effort, but a successful result was the goal they never lost sight of.

The drivers for 2008 were the same as last year.  Rob Piekarcyzk, David Pintaric, Mike Olivier, Jim Jordan, and Reed made a great team.  The crew consisted of mainly OTC students and staff.  They started out a little unsure of themselves but quickly adapted and by the third pit stop were amongst the best on pit road.  By the end of the race they were extremely fast and always presented a professional appearance.  Numerous SCCA officials made it a point after the race to stop by and compliment their performance.

Assisting the program was Mazda, Sparco, Cooper Tires, CarboTech, WRP Investments, and Kryderacing.  The Kryderacing involvement consisted mainly of pitside equipment and endurance race guidance.  We also supplied some experienced Kryderacing crew members to provide guidance for the OTC people.  RJ LeClair, Jordan Perez, Jerry Palmer, and his son, Jarrod, let the students do most of the work.  They also provided some crucial “words” during a critical time several hours into the race.  We were running in the top five when a wheel stud broke during a stop.  The time to repair it cost us a few laps and the general mood shifted towards despondency.  But our guys told them things like this would happen.  They proceeded to rally the team.  From that point on we tallied more laps than anyone else in the race.  We eventually finished third, but closer to the leader than we were following the stud replacement.

There were numerous other people involved with this program, from those providing food to someone recording the event with a camera.  We didn’t win in 2008, but this team is a winner.
 

NELSON LEDGES ROAD COURSE SALE ON HOLD

In the last issue we mentioned the possibility of Nelson Ledges being sold and massive improvements being planned.  About a week prior to the Longest Day everything was put on hold by the potential buyers.  No one knows why and no one knows if the change of ownership will resume at some future date.  In the meantime, racing continues at Nelson Ledges.  The Mahoning Valley Region Golden Harvest Double Regional is scheduled for October 18-19.  Sandi is Race Chairman so give her a call if you need information.
 

KRYDERACING REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The Golden Harvest event will be the ninth and tenth races in the series for the 2008 season.  The banquet will be held November 15th.  Complete points standings can be found at www.kryderacing.com.
 

TECH TIP

In a previous issue we talked about brake pads and the heat they produce.  Excessive brake heat can cause all sorts of problems.  One heat-related problem frequently seen is what a lot of people call a “record” appearance to the brake rotors.  If you are too young to know what a record looks like you may not understand what this appearance is and will have to talk to an “old fart“ before continuing.

Anyway, we found an old note which stated the record appearance is the result of surface melting of the brake rotor material due to excessive heat.  The note went on to say that while some rotors have better metallurgy than others, their melting temperatures are relatively close.  Therefore, changing to a different rotor supplier has only a small chance of eliminating the “record” appearance.  The recommended cure for “record” appearance is to improve the cooling of the brakes.  This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, most commonly by increasing the amount of cool air ducted to the brakes.

Unlike “record” wear, rotor cracking is something which can vary widely between manufacturers.  Metallurgy, vane locations, drilling, and numerous other items can impact crack formation.  We learned a long time ago that the number of cracks wasn’t necessarily a good indicator of rotor condition.  We had some rotors with thousands of hairline cracks, but none of the cracks ever grew in width and all appeared to be surface cracks only.   When selecting rotors we try to avoid potential cracking problems by buying quality parts, but cracks will still appear over time.  How do you know when to discard a rotor?  When given a chance we plan ahead and never go to the track with questionable rotors.  IF there is a crack which has propagated to the outer circumference of the rotor and the crack can be seen on this outer edge of the rotor it is time for immediate replacement.  Watching crack growth in both length and width and learning how quickly (or slowly) these cracks grow will take some time, but after a while you should be able to comfortably predict when a rotors life is nearing its end.

One additional comment: if you feel a sharp pulsing (as opposed to the flowing pulse a warped rotor produces) through the brake pedal you should inspect the rotors immediately for major cracking.  The crack may have progressed to the point it is being felt throughout the brake system.  Rotor failure probably is imminent.
 

CLIENT RACE ACTIVITY AND RESULTS

* The second year of the IT SPECtacular at the Mid-Ohio Road Course drew a large number of Kryderacing associates.  Reed and Sandi were there working with Bill Schauer (in the Kryderacing ITS Nissan 240SX) and Mike Olivier (in his ITA Honda Civic).  Employees Matt Miller (ITS Mazda RX7) and Matt Carson (ITS Datsun 240Z) were enjoying a weekend off.  Like most racers, they tend to spend their free time at the same locations where they are usually found working.  Rob Piekarcyzk was getting used to his newly acquired Spec Miata.  Chris Dercole is getting faster each time out with his ITR Mustang.  Eddy Echart had his recently rebuilt (by Kryderacing) Miata running in both Spec Miata and ITS classes.  Mark and Kraig Hopkins were also in attendance running the ITE class with a very fast Honda Civic (Mark) and a Dodge Neon SRT4 (Kraig).  The Dodge is the Koni Series car Kryderacing worked on in 2007 for Phoenix Promotion and Team Sahlen.  The car has been rebuilt by the Hopkins from the ground up and is both beautiful and fast.  It’s also for sale since the Hopkins have decided not to enter the Koni Series at this time.   We also enjoyed visiting with longtime friend Jim Bishop.  In addition to being an instructor at the Mid-Ohio School, Jim is our classroom instructor when Kryderacing visits Willow Springs each year.

* At the Grattan SCCA National event John Buttermore won T-1 driving his Corvette.  Kryderacing is proud to be associated with this team.  They are focused on winning the National Championship.  John has wrapped up the Great Lakes Division title with a perfect record of five wins in five races.  He also won the Road America June Sprints, giving him two of the three victories required to achieve SCCA’s Triple Crown.  Next up in the Run-Offs in Topeka.

* Gary Martz found some stiff competition at Grattan for his E-Production Mazda RX-7.  He finished second, but feels he could have won if he had a different differential ratio.

* Mike Solley drove his Viper to two wins in the Super Touring Class during the August 16-17 Double National weekend at Pocono.  Matt Miller provided trackside assistance.

*  Several Kryderacing clients raced at Nelson Ledges during the August 30-31 Double Regional weekend which was run by the  Western Ohio Region.  Bruce Keillor came away with two victories in his SSC class Mazda.  His son, Jonathan, is looking impressive driving his ITA class (ex-Kryderacing) Nissan NX2000 and a victory may happen soon.

* During the August 16-17 weekend at Mid-Ohio David Pintaric warmed up for his NASA Championship by taking two wins in the NASA ST2 class.  Matt Carson finished second both days in the PTD class driving his Datsun 240Z.  As a side note, Matt might have finished on the podium at the Championships if he had not gone off-course to avoid hitting an out of control car.

* Chris Dercole drove his ITR class Mustang to second and third place finishes during the SCCA Regional September 6-7 weekend at Mid-Ohio.  Another client, Mike Olivier, continued his run of bad luck when two cars tangled during the start of his race.  It wasn’t a problem until one of the cars slid all the way across the track directly into Mike’s path.  His race was over before he even made it to the starters stand.  This was Mike’s second major accident this year, and in both cases he simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  His Honda is being repaired and prepped for the final Mid-Ohio event of the year.

* While most of the Kryderacing crew was at Mid-Ohio for the NASA Championships, Reed and Sandi journeyed to Watkins Glen.  Bill Pintaric would be competing in his GTL class Nissan and Bill Schauer was again driving the Kryderacing ITS class Nissan 240SX.  It had been several years since Pintaric had been there and a full ten years since Schauer had driven the course.  Bill Pintaric qualified second in his race but took the lead at the start.  He held it until just past the halfway point when the transmission failed.  He did not race on Sunday.  Bill Schauer qualified 13th on Saturday (long course) and 10th on Sunday (short course) in a large field of very competitive ITS cars.  He advanced to seventh place finishes both days.
 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS

October 6-12:  Matt Carson will be assisting John Buttermore in his quest for the SCCA T-1 National Championship.
October 11-12: Several Kryderacing clients will be participating at the Mid-Ohio double Regional weekend.
October 18-19: Sandi Kryder is Race Chairman for this weekend’s double Regional at Nelson Ledges.  It is also the final event    in the 2008 Kryderacing Regional Championship Series.
November 5: “Streets of Willow” program.  Call for info if you wish to participate.
November 15: Kryderacing Regional Championship Series Banquet
 

Check www.kryderacing.com for weekly updates.