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BMW Club of Canada | |
| Club Racing Views | ||
by Phil Abrami (514 487-4646, pabrami@alcor.concordia.ca)
This article should reach you just before our big track event of the year on September 8-10: Mosport Dayze 2 (MD2). I'll try to have a complete report about the on-track skirmishes in some future issue of CONTACT.
For those of you who are not participating in the school at MD2 but want to come out and see some of the action, please don't hesitate to come by. Frank Gray, race chair, and the organizers from the Trillium Chapter have planned an even better event than last year's. And I don't think the racers will disappoint either in the number who turn up or the quality of the racing you can expect to see. The Saturday 30 minute sprint race should go off late in the afternoon. The Sunday one hour enduro with mandatory pit stop should go off around mid day. And yes, we run rain or shine.
Come and cheer everyone on. I know this: The Americans are hoping to prevent a repeat of last year when Canadians finished first overall. But we're going to be working pretty hard for a repeat. Of course, that "we" doesn't mean us folks in the stock classes. But I will be battling to move up substantially from my disappointing finish last year.
Sex and the single club racer
In honor of MD2, I thought I'd share with you a bit of wisdom from Carroll Smith passed on to me by our own Dominic Valois. Dominic is enjoying a great first season in club racing in her beautifully prepared white J-Prepared E30 M3 complete with BMW Motorsports striping.
Dominic has proven to be a quick, smooth, and determined racer helping to destroy again the myth about male anatomy and automotive power. In the spirit of friendship and mischief, she wants us to be aware of this expert advise:
"If abstaining from alcohol is a good idea, it is more than balanced by the certain knowledge that abstaining from sex is a bad idea. Who says racers don't have their priorities right?
In the days when Stirling Moss was every young driver's role model (he still should be) he once did the sport a great disservice by announcing that he refrained from sex for several days before each race. I personally think he lied, possibly in order to better his own odds with the birds of the weekend. After his retirement he did admit that he had recanted fairly early in his career. He now says, "I'm too old to play the game, so I'll keep score." He lies again but it's a great line.
"What is beneficial on the weekend is not the thrill of the chase but the comfort of the act - with a friend, not a conquest. Everyone in his/her right mind knows that good sex is therapeutic. Saturday night orgies will result in Sunday debilitation, but good therapeutic sex can do nothing but improve the tone of one's body and the state of one's mind. It also helps one sleep. Besides, the profession has a reputation to maintain." (Carroll Smith, Drive to Win, 1996, p.1-22).
At press time, details concerning Dominic's own pre-race preparation are not available. But yours truly will make every effort to determine how religiously she has succeeded in heeding the advice of Messrs. Smith and Moss. Oh, the life of a reporter.
On more mundane matters two other bits of advice passed on to me by Québec club members Matt Levine and Lee Voung. Good advice if not quite as interesting.
Tire Valve Stems
In the July/August issue of Die Zundfolge, the Québec chapter newsletter, Matt wrote:
"For all of us who use our cars on the track for driving schools, lapping, racing, etc. it is wise to check the tire valve stems occasionally for possible damage. It seems that the longer type of rubber valve stem can deteriorate rapidly under track conditions. Especially if it protrudes from the wheel at an angle, the wheel's centrifugal force causes the stem to flex each time the wheel spins at high speed causing premature wear and potential failure. This problem can be compounded by also using metal sleeves and heavier steel caps. When this thing lets go, the tire deflates almost as fast as a blowout. Of course failure will occur on the fastest part of the track since this is where the most stress to this part will be encountered.
At Mt. Tremblant last year, one of mine failed at the end of the long back straight, and getting the car to slow down and turn with a flat tire was a bit of a job. When the tire guys discovered that the flat was the result of valve failure, they checked and found that one other was also about to go. I now use the short motorcycle type of stem without the metal sleeve, and this seems to work just fine.
Some racing organizations require metal sleeves on the rubber stem as a protection against abrasion (?) so it's probably a good idea to use the shortest valve stem that will work for your tire and wheel set-up.
Certain makes of wheels have a shoulder attached to the wheel to support and prevent the valve from constantly flexing, but the best type are the solid metal valves found on the more expensive forged wheels. I don't know if these valve stems can be installed on cast wheels.
Howard Korzenstein from "Talon Tire" recently mentioned that steel valve caps are necessary to prevent rapid deflation of the tire should the valve innards fail. This has apparently been a problem in the past and metal caps are a requirement with organizations such as SCCA and POC. Our tech guys may be having a look to make sure that we have metal valve caps installed at the next driving school event."
Removing Track Rubber
Especially when you race and everybody is out there going hard on racing compound tires, tires get very hot and soft and the tire compound rather easily comes away especially in corners on abrasive surfaces. Some times these tire gumballs fly back at you and mark up the front and sides of your car. Other times you pick them up on your own tires and it can feel like you have a major problem. A failing tire or suspension problem come to mind as you deal with the strange "thump-thump" noises and extra vibrations caused by picking up some of these extraneous gumballs. It can be bad enough at times to make you think you have to come in.
I've been struggling for years with how to clean this track rubber from the painted surfaces of my Bimmer. While I don't concours any more, I still like to have my car looking clean and shiny. Well, I've tried everything from Bug and Tar remover to Lestoil to Varsol. Nothing really worked great; too much elbow grease needed to remove those nasty black streaks and smudges.
This past June, there was a general invitation issued to get a few club members to exhibit their M-cars and heritage cars at the BMW Canada display in Montréal on the Saturday night before the F1 race. Lee Voung and I both jumped at the chance to display our cars in part as a chance to promote the club and our chapter. We had a great time and hope BMW does it again. I have some great shots of the crowds around our cars and a couple of pictures with two lovely models dressed in special BMW/F1 outfits posing by my car.
Anyway, Lee came over to my place the morning of the event to do final prep on the cars. My club racer needed more work than his beautiful 2002, especially because of the rubber streaks I had gotten at the Lime Rock event. Anyway, I was taking out my chemicals in preparation for an hour of drudgery when Lee showed me a much better way and simple too.
Wet down your car. Take your favorite car wax and apply to the rubber steaks rubbing gently using a damp cloth. Voila. The rubber instantly disappears and you've renewed the waxed surface at the same time. Try it and let us know.
Let's go racin'. See you at Mosport.
