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Pre-Season 2001

It’s the middle of January with enough snow to make everyone
except the iceracers yearn for the heat of summer. Except for the
aforementioned iceracers and those running indoors, most of the
racing over the winter is confined to the bench type. “Bench Racing”.
Definition - a discussion, often vehement, about how fast we used
to be or are going to be. It rarely consists of how fast we are
right now! That’s about where myself and my team is right now.
We have gotten a great start on the new chassis for next season
that is being constructed by Dave McKnight Jr. and Brad Litchy.
Right now, the chassis is sprung and the arduous task of mounting
components has begun. The car will be a shrunk done version of the
very successful Super Modified built and driven by Dave and the Litchy
crew. The focus and philosophy of the new chassis has been that
of “simple is fast”. By keeping everything simple, tidy, light and
theoretically sound, we hope to build a competitive car for 2001.
Can Am rules state any new car from the 1998 season on must have an
1 1/8” roll cage, minimum wall thickness 095. We have used this
material for the cage, main frame rails and cross rails. For diagonal
support, 1” 095 was used where feasible. Safety shouldn’t be a concern
with this construction.

The indoor series began a four race series starting December
2nd. I have attended both races and have been pleased with the
competitive nature. Organizers have tried to make the track
as large as the confines of the convention center will safely allow.
I think this has helped the racing. Liquid tire prep was also
banned for this year, although I have seen evidence that some
still use it. The argument was that is adversely affects the
racing surface, helping it to come up from the concrete floor.
I think the prep only works to bring back old tires and needs
time to work, at least overnight. Application minutes prior
to practice is useless in terms of “softening” the rubber.
All that is being accomplished is cleaning the glaze, caused
off the tires. This can be accomplished just as well if not
by the rosin used on the track surface, better with a good heat
gun. It’s quite a bit slower but better for the track.


We had tossed around the idea of running a couple of the
indoor shows to sort out the new chassis but I don’t think
we’ll have a motor to run or the car completed in time. The
last time we ran an indoor race, the car got upside-down and
the cage had to be replaced. I would prefer to start out
the year with a straight car and go from there. We won’t
have to rush the car together either.


For the 2001 season, the Club has decided to make a slight
change to the tire rule. Next year the right rear tire will be
a little harder, approximately 10 points on the durometer. The
idea is to have a tire that is a little more durable but still
provides enough grip for an entertaining race. It would be
nice to get 2-3 good features out of a right rear. Although
the tire size is still unique, necessitating a one-off tire,
the new compound is used by 4-5 other series. If nothing else,
we should end up with a more consistent tire from batch to batch.
It will be interesting to see if and how much the new tire
affects car set-ups. What worked last year at Track A may not
work so well in 2001. Whoever can find the hot set-up the quickest
will be the one to beat. A harder tire may require either a
softer spring rate on the right rear, less stagger, lower roll
centers, more rearward wing placement or a combination of some
or all of these components. Roll the dice and see what comes up!


This season’s schedule is pretty much firmed up with a
couple of tentative dates to be confirmed. We begin May 19th at
Peterborough Speedway. We have a date at Barrie this year for
the first time in 6 years I believe, the first time we’ve
raced there since the track has been repaved. It was always
a good layout for our type of cars, should be a good race.
We are also trying to put together a special race sometime
during the summer including some of the cars from NY and NJ.
This is still very much in the planning stage. Hopefully I’ll
know more next month.

See you on the grid

David

Season Preview
Season Preview - Part II
Dave's Column - May 2000
Dave's Column - July 2000
Dave's Column - September 2000


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