[GhostM]

Thought I would make a post in here for the build of Bare Metal Racing #28

Made Possible by Wheelz (Brad), NotAZ06(Todd), Rusher(me ) and Slowcart(Aaron)

So a couple of the DSR guys got together last year and decided to build a car for 24hrs of LeMons. Alot of you have heard about the project here and there. But I thought I would put together a little build thread on BareMetal Racing.
We actually ended up building it for Chump Car World Series. $500 dollar car endurance road racing.

Our Car is a 1992? Nissan Sentra SER
It was purchased in Sturgis, SD for $260 buckaroos.
Good:
Newer Motor not sure of the miles or the abuse that it has seen
Newer Radiator
Newer Brakes

Bad:
Structural Cancer
Something is messed up in the Transmission - It was actually the clutch

But here is a little photo documentation of how the car came together...

The car is stripped down with some very bad shape Ksports of a B14 sentra on the front, with rear being stock struts with a coil spring mounted (getto setup) but it worked.

We then sent the car over to Ron and he worked his magic and welded us up a hell of a cage.
Back to the shop it when and JimEd, Aaron, Todd, and Brad finished up all the details. Which was a HUGE list. I went on a family vacation be for the race thinking the car would be done. Won't do that in the future!

Reinstall the Windsheild
Align the Car
Install the Raybesto's special brake pads on the front - Man are they awesome!
New rotors, rear swaybar endlinks
Fix all the vaccum and ignition problems (big thanks to JimEd and Brad fighting with this)
Welded in a little steel mesh to protect some things.
Finished mounting the switches, gauges, mirror..... This thing has a ton of hours into it!
Ultrashield spec miata seat, quick disconnect with new steering wheel, multi element racing mirror....

But now we are starting to gear back up for Hallett, OK the end of August for a true 24hr race. Noon to Noon!


This is an amazing way to learn true W2W racing. It isn't cheap as tires, brakes, fuel, travel. But it is sure fun!
But this car could also be ran with SCCA, NASA or really any organized road racing circuit.

Figured I would post this up.
This is the Lemons Team I will be Crew Chiefing for come Hallet 24. I was originally supposed to be a driver for this team along with another guy, but due to family expansion for both me and the other driver we had to back out financially.

Anyways- sorry for the huge pics and enjoy.

 

[GhostM]

Well even though there wasn't apparently a whole lot of interest in this post. I will drop an update.

The 24 hour Chump Car race at Hallett this weekend was somewhat a success, but not without its own drama and while we felt good about our finish at any rate, it was not exactly the way we wanted it to go...

Officially we finished second behind a Fox Body Mustang. Technically we finished 4th behind the General Yee #1 miata and then the Mustang and then the #69 Miata. With questionable setup the General Yee was disqualified and the #69 disqualified themselves after the #1 was dq'd. Allowing us into the #2 spot. So while somewhat tainted we took second, but we were happy when we thought we were in 4th. Our goal was a top 5 finish, and we managed that goal.

There is alot of drama going on about this on the Chump Car, and Spec Miata forums, in case you would like more info or a full race report.

 

[JC-MX5]

Talks are that Chump Car has been pretty shady lately. I've been reading up about it on SM.com.

Your car came out great though! Decent finish too!

 

[FABEL]

oh, please do keep this thread going. I CARE. I READ all that you write, just don't have much to add, so I lurk on your thread instead.

thanks for the update? I can write that every time I guess :mrgreen:

really is COOL mates!

 

[GhostM]

I can't comment on the shadiness of Chump. John, Erik, and everyone at chump were really nice to me, joking and having fun in the spirit of the event. All the other teams around us were having a blast. The two miata teams in question I am not sure. I didn't interact with them much, except for some **** talking directed towards our car and our drivers from a member of one of the teams, and later a true showing of poor sportsmanship from another member of the teams when they threw a hissy fit and threw their Chump Car T-shirts at Erik's feet, mumbled something to the effects of "We will never run with this organization ever again".

There is alot of talk from them on the Chump Car forums, and they seem like pretty cool guys for the most part. I don't believe the team was "cheating Flagrantly", but I am not Erik, or John nor do I have anything to do with Chump directly. I think they had an extremely well setup miata, on a course that miatas do well on, with a group of really REALLY good drivers. During the event- I did make a comment that it was a Spec miata with body panels removed, but then later realized- lighter, non restriced miata on Azenis could put down Average SM times, and really it doesn't matter.

I think the event was great. I had an awesome time and will do it again. If its our team and the car gets claimed- I guarantee you we will handle ourselves better than this team did. If you ever get a chance- i highly suggest trying to compete in a Chump or Lemons race- Its a guaranteed fun time.

 

[GhostM]

Some pics from this weekend.

I'm the scraggly lookin guy next to the driver's side of our car.

Good pic of the two miatas in the race

A Spec Miata Running EC class
Funny side note- the guys running this car were slower than the Red cars times. The Red car is supposedly a stock 1.8L miata with cut springs, bent MS Front swaybar, and on Azenis, but the Silver car below was a Spec Miata on Toyos being out run by the Red Miata. Just sayin.

Podium Finishers - 1st place - #10 Looney Tunes Mustang

2nd- US #28 Bare Metal Racing Sentra SER

3rd - #18 White Lightning Racing Honda Civic

Honorable Mention- #13 Richard Nixon Racing Opel- Nicest group of guys at the race.

 

[chricto]

Pretty sweet man. I've always wanted to build up a an old Sentra.

 

[JC-MX5]

Note that the red Miata, despite having inferior suspension, also has a lot of missing body panels (trunk, rear bumper, hard top, etc...) The lack of bumper alone is probably worth at least a couple mph. That thing is a parachute at speed. Spec Miata have to weight 2300lbs minimum for 1.6 car. I guarantee that red one doesn't weigh that much either. And just for fun, I'll say the spec racer is a mid-packer that doesn't have a $5k pro engine. lol

 

[GhostM]

FYI- the Silver miata team was the Halletiers. They run the track from my understanding.

I honestly don't know or care if the red miata was truly cheating or not. I know that they were damn good drivers in as you call it a parachute. I can tell you that aero was pointless at Hallett.

So please don't anyone think that I think these guys were cheating. I assume that the car was just lucky (no major issues) and had really good drivers.

 

[JC-MX5]

Ok...I wasn't saying anything like that.... I was merely listing reasons that the red Miata might be faster. I didn't say anything about the drivers or their skill level.

 

[GhostM]

Oh yeah... I was just reiterating that, as they are SM guys, miata owners, May be on the forum some where, or have friends on the forum- what have you. I don't want word getting to them that some douchebag (ME) on some forum was knocking them or calling them cheats or anything like that. Covering my ass - lol...

Sorry if my post made you feel like I was saying that you implied anything either. It wasn't meant that way.

I totally agree- but have you ever weighed the trunk lid, stock aluminum hood, front and rear bumper skins. May not be a whole lot individually, but together you are dropping some decent weight. Granted then you still have the bumper support which is the heavy part of the car, but you sort of want that on there for w2w racing. But yes I totally agree the car was a parachute, but pretty much every car was an aerodynamic brick sledgehammering through the air.

Anyways- I hope this solves any misunderstanding. Not implying anything to anyone... Just making random statements, still in my head trying to figure it all out. Its now the following Friday since the race, and I am still exhausted.

 

[FABEL]

as I promised . . .

thanks for the update mates! :mrgreen:

can I extend my post to ask how the mustang faired? & what motor he was running?

 

[GhostM]

5.0L... There were 2 5.0 mustangs running. One had alot of issues, but the one that finished first had only minor issues. I think they had one mechanical issue that took them out for a short time, but nothing too bad. It had power, and could pull on us in the straights some, but we were usually pretty able to hold them back. It was a close race towards the end between them and us.

 

[GhostM]

Time for an update. We got an invite to the Chumpionship this year. We decided to give it our all. I will link some pics from the event.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rusherracing/

My race report.
Well this is an updated recount of the weekend from the chumpionship and the weeks leading up to the race.

Wheelz and myself along with many members put together a car we thought was going to be a pretty competitive car for the event. The car seemed to be unbreakable and ready to go. Having put almost six months of work, time, research and development into the car we thought for sure we had a contender...

The good news is we did for the most part. Car was a contender at the race. On the oval was pretty much faster than the rest of the field. We had the car, we had the drivers. 4 guys I can say that have the ability to kick ass in any race.

The following is my recount of the race itself.

Friday-

We started the weekend strong turning competitive times on Fusion HRi tires which were test, and backup tires in case we blew through our 11 actual race tires. We started right away having issues with fuel filters in testing. We didn't think much of it and moved on to the raceday Saturday. A fuel filter on the car could be changed pretty quickly if it was needed. So we decided to do it on a needed basis.

Saturday

We started on 4 freshly heat cycled Falken Azenis. Car was prepped and nut and bolt checked Friday night. We started off the race with 5 penalty laps, but 0'd out after we donated and basicly bought our laps back. (for more information on this check Chumpcar's website and rules). I first want to say that Saturday was miserable weather at Iowa Speedway, and was raining on and off all day. Most of the day there was standing water on the banking at the track. The road course section was a lake.

We started off stong in the race. The car was running competitive times to keep us in the top half of the field, but then the fueling issues started. We went through 2 fuel filters and decided to look at our fuel pump. We had modified the fuel pickup and used a stock Acura Integra LS fuel pump. Well the Nissan did not like this and temps inside the fuel tank were dangerously high. We were not sure if this would work so we brought along a stock fuel pump and intank setup. We swapped that in after rewiring it and spending some time in the garage. After the race in Hallet were we were out for an hour due to the fuel pump- I actually got alot of practice working with the fuel pump, so we were able to make this stop short and sweet. We got back out on track and started moving up in position again. We had dropped pretty far down going out to do major work this early in the race, but knew we still had a shot and putting up a fight.

Can't remember what time it happened as the entire weekend was a blur, but the changed to the oval course at about 4 or so... (I am sure one of the others on this forum can correct me.) Ryan Rusher was our driver in the car. He was running around the course running damn decent times for how wet it was. Weather seemed to be starting to clear up, but the track was still very wet. Ryan was a little hi coming into the banking between 1 and 2, and a slight bump there in the course got him loose sending him into a loop. He spun and a fellow race car there (Three Sheets ZX2 - great guys) ending up tagging us in the Driver side fender and shoving us into the wall.

It was at this point we thought we were out of the race. We had no spares for the Drivers side front corner. Also we were dripping transmission fluid. After looking into it further, found it was much more and less than serious. We were tagged which debeaded the tire on that corner and bent the strut to a 30 degree angle... (We joked they were Rusher's preferred camber settings.) When this happened it tweaked the axle, and popped out the axle seal. Also severed a metal brake line. Todd (aka Berserkbusa or NotaZ06) decided he could fix the brake line. The axle seal was not "damaged" and could be popped backin. We did have a spare strut for the passenger side that we could make work. So we formulated a plan and started our repairs.

Should note that our struts were modified stockers with exhaust clamps and 3" washers acting as the base. Aaron (aka slokrt) got busy on the strut, and I ran to town with Todd to get parts and everything needed to repair the brake line. We got it back on the course after being out for a few hours. A few fuel filters later and a stop to rehook up the supply hose for the fuel pump and we found that we were spilling transmission fluid again. With a half an hour left of racing Saturday we pulled it in the pits. Wheelz and I ran to town and got some JB weld and tranny fluid, and popped the axle seal in and JB welded it in place. This seemed to repair the issue with that. We sat back and corrected a few other minor issues we had after the wreck. We also had a friendly laugh and drink with our competitors.

Sunday

Day started off well. Tires and the occasional fuel filter. We were gaining position and having fun again. Almost like Saturday never happened. We got mostly through the day without any big issues. Around 3-4 we starting having vibration and metal on metal noises coming from the driver's side spindle. The wheel bearing was going out. (again no spares). Rusher found a wheel bearing in town so we pulled it in the garage again and swapped a wheel bearing. We got it back out on the track and running turning laps again. Aaron reported some gear issues. 3rd was starting to have issues. Ryan Rusher got back in the car and we completely lost third, and started having issues with 4th. Wheelz got in the car and we had completely lost 3rd and 4th. With the Oval coming up, we decided to wait for course changes to be made. Having only 1st 2nd and 5th, we figured the oval would be ok so we could at least keep turning laps. Wheelz made it through his stint in the car on the oval. We decided to put Rusher back in as his stint was cut short. Brad pitted under caution. At the end of pit road the car lost all gears when he pulled it on pit road. We had no spare and with only an hour and a half left of the race we had to call it.

We finished it 30th out of 40 cars, which depending how you look at it- isn't great, but considering the adversity we fought through to keep the car out there, We considered it a fight well fought. A damn good effort.

Three sheets ZX2 team (the car that hit us) got the spirit of chump award and were an extremely good group of guys and they well deserved it.

BAR- British American Racing took 1st in a BMW 3series
BSD- Big swingin Dicks took 2nd in a DC Acura Integra
TBR- Tubby Butterman Racing took 3rd in a E36 body style 3 series

The leaders were a very close finish. BAR took the lead with 1.5 laps left at the very end of the race.

Every team were groups of class act teams. Looking back I had an awesome time, would have been better if the car kept together, but could have been so much worse than it was.

At least thats about what I can remember. That plus sleeping on the ground on the cement in the paddock area without an air mattress (because I R STOOPID). The million little knicks and cuts on my hands from the fuel pump. My sogging wet clothes and having to drive back after the race was over last night meaning I got home at 4am... I can still say it was a good weekend.

 

[docrice]

Nice car. We ran a VW Golf in two 24 hours of lemons races here on the east coast (DC '10 and NJ '11). Did reasonably well with a definitely-not-cheating-car (160k+, covered in rust, stock suspension, 2.slow motor) and zero race experience beyond autocross. It's a lot of fun, but a lot of work and still not cheap ($500 car + several thousand dollars in gear, suits, cage, gas, etc. etc. etc.)

Here's a pic of our car in 2010 - we did the "BP Oil spill" theme...

 

[blackdbl9NB]

Post race update. I was part of the crew for Bare Metal Racing a the Iowa Speedway event. When we got the car home and removed the transmission, we found out one of the shift forks broke and wedged itself in between the other forks. Unable to move the shifter we were out of the race. The car is not out. We found a spare SER at the local junk yard. That car donated its motor and transmission to the cause. A new shift fork was ordered for the old transmission, now the car has spares.

For docrice, nice looking car. Love the oil spill theme. How have you guys done?

 

[docrice]

Thanks - I think you're the first person to describe our car as "nice looking". At summit point we took 26th out of ~90 cars, not bad with no experience. No mechanical issues or overheating, despite being near 100 all weekend. At NJMP this year we ended up mid pack due to significant down time from a blown power steering line. NJMP is a pretty fast track and I was surprised at the speed a lot of these (allegedly) $500 cars had. We held strong in the twisties and usually choked on the straights, where we were eaten alive by e30's, mr2's, mustangs, etc.

 

[blackdbl9NB]

Yeah, from what I hear the Chumpcar's will not be allowed to run the oval again at Iowa Speedway. Turns out the $500 crap cans were turning laps within a couple of seconds of the dedicated track cars built for tarmac oval racing that runs there on friday nights. Chump only requires 2 door bars, and thats not enough for the speeds. I just think they were a little surprised at how fast some people were running. Maybe a little embarassed to? Just my thoughts.

edit:

Lol, I finally looked at the pics above. I am in the 3rd and the 4th pics. Thats me leaning over the left side of the car reaching under the engine.