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Atlanta Motorsport Park

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  • Atlanta Motorsport Park

    Had a Chump Car race a couple of weekends ago. Beautiful track especially in the fall with the trees changing color and the facilities were awesome. The track is very new and was still super smooth with plenty of grip. About a 2-mile circuit in the longest configuration and a lot of elevation changes with one high speed area followed by a heavy braking section into T1. The race had 41 cars for the weekend mostly BMW stuff with a few miatas and then a mix of everything else. Randy Pobst was driving on a team with a Volvo. The weather was perfect the entire weekend, cool and mostly sunny.



    Saturday was going well and we were running consistent mid-low 1:40's hanging around 12th-14th position. We were running with four drivers and each of us was getting about 100-110 minutes of driving when we would start looking for yellows to fuel do driver changes. Our last driver was in the car for about and hour when he came on the radio and said the car would not move in any gear. We suspected the clutch cable because it is original and has been used a ton in the last several years. With only 30 minutes of racing left we were pretty certain we would be finished until Sunday. After the car was back in the paddock we quickly realized the clutch cable was fine, but something in the clutch was screwed. The car has an SVO turbo clutch so it is kind of odd that a n/a 2.3 would/could do that, but it does have 10-11 races on it and I got it used from Greenbullitt in 2007. We had the tranny out in about an hour and found our problem....



    The pressure plate side was just gone. It wouldn't even hold enough to get power to the transmission. Luckily an Autozone about 40-miles away near Atlanta had one in stock and they were even open 24 hours. That along with some stop leak to fix a pin hole in our radiator and some late night wrenching we were back in business for Sunday morning.


    Sunday started off about the same way and the car was fine and maybe even a little better. Cooler weather, more rubber on the track, and most likely more seat time resulted in slightly lower lap times. It was across the board though for everyone else too since we were still right around the same 11th-14th spots. Our second driver for the day (Justa4banger) got on the radio that the battery voltage was low and we decided to have a look at it when a full course yellow came out. The sensing wire from the instrument cluster to the alternator has come loose and we crimped it back together while the car was still running. Took about 1-2 minutes total and the voltage gauge was back to normal. Also our water leak had disappeared and everything was back to going great. We switched up the driving order and our last driver from the day before was going to drive third. He was in the car about 30-minutes when the race director who was standing right in front of our pit stall says, "Hey, you guys are broke down again in the exact same spot as yesterday!" And our driver is on the radio saying the car is doing the same thing as the day before.... Well that is fucking marvelous. After it was towed in we went right under the car and could see strands of clutch disc hanging out of the bell housing so we were again done for the day. I think a clutch disc with a solid hub and some type of ceramic material is in our future.

    We all had a great time and had at one point three cameras on the car at the same time. I had a Sony Action cam in the cockpit and a very decent R/C camear on the front bumper. Chump put a Replay XD1080 on our rear bumper and we able to get all of their car footage for the weekend. The finish on Sunday was interesting when the 1st and 2nd place E36's got into a sword fight on the fastest part of the track and wrecked each other out right at start/finish with less than 10-minutes to go. I'd love to go back someday, but with Hallett and TWS so much closer it is hard to justify the drive. We will do another far away race, but probably "spread our seed" to other places just to say we got to race there.

















    Last edited by jw33; 11-24-2013, 05:22 PM.

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    • #3
      Damn bro! Thanks for sharing!

      I really have the itch going. I should have delayed my last return to Iraq to take DJ up on his offer.

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      • #4
        awesome, looks like a great time!
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        • #5
          That looks like a nice track.

          You had the same guy trash the clutch both days?
          "If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." - Henry Ford

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          • #6
            Yes the same guy was driving and it happened at the same spot on the track.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by jw33 View Post
              Yes the same guy was driving and it happened at the same spot on the track.
              but nobody else had an issue?
              "If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." - Henry Ford

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              • #8
                No one else noticed anything unusual. I think his driving style is obviously a major contributing factor, but who really knows. We all know not to downshift the car to aggressive because the brakes are more than enough to slow the car down with no issues.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by jw33 View Post
                  No one else noticed anything unusual. I think his driving style is obviously a major contributing factor, but who really knows. We all know not to downshift the car to aggressive because the brakes are more than enough to slow the car down with no issues.
                  I toasted the clutch in the Miata because it was easier for me to sit a bit too far forward than to have to adjust the seat, and I couldnt get my foot off the clutch pedal, so I rested it on there. It was letting the clutch be just loose enough to get hot.
                  "If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." - Henry Ford

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by jw33 View Post

                    Wow, thats a beautiful track.
                    Originally posted by Silverback
                    Look all you want, she can't find anyone else who treats her as bad as I do, and I keep her self esteem so low, she wouldn't think twice about going anywhere else.

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                    • #11
                      Cool that you got to go! I may have to ping you for some in car video. That track is on the One Lap of America for 2014 and we will be taking our STi on that route. Should be a hoot and I am SERIOUSLY hoping for rain!

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                      • #12
                        The facilities were unbelievably nice and clean for a race track. I walked into the bathroom and then stepped back outside to wipe my feet off again because it was so clean. It had like 24 inch tile everywhere and the showers had soap/shampoo dispensers with working hot water!!!

                        The track has really nice lighting system for all the cautions so race control can get things right and not wait on a local station to put out their flags. Each flag station has a big (3' x 3') LED tower near it that displays the track conditions. Makes it fun and easy for everyone. There is power all around the pit wall area and communication is great even with our cheap FRS radio setup and decent headsets.

                        The track is pretty safe in my opinion. There are lots of areas to slow down before you hit something hard and they have sand/gravel traps in the spots you would want them. The only spot I can see shit going down is on the last turn T16 where you start inside and the car drifts all the way across because of the speed you have and the camber of the track. Armco barriers on both sides at that point and it is fast. That is where the two BMWs wrecked out, but we didn't try anything crazy right there unless we were way faster than someone and could clear them before the turn actually began. In a sprint race, well that area could be interesting..... Turn 12 is also a blind corner going over a hill, but they have a flag station right there (if you have good visibility out of your car) and it is not that fast with plenty of places to go if someone is spun out on the track.

                        Our video is nothing special and there is much better on youtube to get a feel for how the track flows. I think Chump was the first "real" wheel-to-wheel event they have had and I think it could hold another 15-20 evenly matched cars without getting too crowded.


                        Taken with a Replay XD1080


                        Sony Actioncam HDR-AS30V/B
                        Last edited by jw33; 11-25-2013, 11:49 PM.

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                        • #13
                          Pretty sweet. What are the rules for the cars?

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by jw33 View Post
                            Sony Actioncam HDR-AS30V/B
                            When did you guys get the Jerico?! LOL!

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by aggie97 View Post
                              When did you guys get the Jerico?! LOL!
                              Haha, they need to work on their clutchless shifts!
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