[USML Announce] Hoosier Daddies

[Richard Robbins]

The problem was that when the car heated up the brakes would grab.  If they
ran fast and tapped the brakes they would stick.  That was a bit of a
problem on the auto-cross and endurance runs.  The drivers ended up
avoiding the brakes entirely but never really got the car up to speed for
fear that they'd need the brakes at some point and didn't want to trash the
vehicle.  I was surprised to show up at the paddock and see Joseph tearing
apart the brake assembly to redo something or other.  I had no idea he knew
how to do that.

He's at a four day post-competition seminar now put on by Optimum G
Vehicles Dynamics.  The lead guy there is Claude Roulle.  I've never heard
of him but everyone at the competition spoke his name with great deference.
 They spent all day yesterday going over tires.  Joseph said his head was
about to explode by day's end.  Today is aero and suspension.  Tomorrow is
weight transfer and data acquisition.  Not sure how they put everything
together on day four.

Claude was highly critical of every car he saw.  He really dug in.  His
highest compliment on the Cal car was for the steering system (Joseph's
design) which got a faint "Well, I suppose your steering is OK."  I'm told
that counts as a big win.

One poor team miscalculated how much down force they'd get from their rear
wing and it snapped the supports during a run.  The Cal car runs without
fancy aero wings and the like.  I'm told that carbon fiber can be tricky to
work with and it gets expensive.

Great fun.  It's too bad that the teams don't get to drive other team's
cars.  I'd love to see if other drivers could get more out of the Cal car.
 Nobody wants to let the competition trash their cars.

Joseph loves being able to apply what he is learning in class in a real
world example.

Hey -- how my team move back up in the standings?

-- KR


On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 9:08 AM, <rickgam at comcast.net> wrote:

> Rich;
>     I love this stuff!  As you know, for better or worse, any kind of auto
> racing is in my blood having grown up in the shadows of the Indy 500.  But
> come
> on now, braking problems?  You go faster without brakes!  Tell Joseph I'm
> proud of him - we need some more American representation in the racing biz.
> It's a rotten shame that most of them have gone the NASCAR route instead
> of true open wheel racing.  One of my sporting heroes has always been Dan
> Gurney.  If he's not familiar with him, tell him to read up on Dan - he
> was a true renaissance man of racing.  He was (and is) a very intelligent
> man who
> not only raced and won at all levels (Indycar, Formula 1, stock cars,
> sports cars), but actually designed most of his own cars.  Anyway, those
> motor-sport
> design comps are really cool - I'll keep an eye out for young Joseph
> Robbins.  Take care
>   Rick
>
> ------------------------------
> *From: *"Richard Robbins" <rerobbins at itinker.net>
> *To: *"USML Announcements" <announce at usml.net>
> *Sent: *Sunday, June 24, 2012 8:53:01 PM
> *Subject: *[USML Announce] Hoosier Daddies
>
>
> I just got back from a college motor-sport design competition and track
> event in Lincoln Nebraska.
>
> I was too tired at night to drive to Omaha and scout the College World
> Series.
>
> At any rate, on Saturday, while walking around the pit area, I saw some
> Hoosier racing tires (nearly every team ran with those) with some
> interesting chalk marks.
>
> The University of Kansas team had an awesome car and solid drivers.  They
> won.  I pegged them as a super strong team about fifteen minutes after I
> got to the track.  Illinois had a very good car.  Sadly, they busted a
> front wing late in an endurance run and the car become too tough to steer.
>  A team from Brazil had a very fast car.  Good drivers too.  Damn Brazilian
> race car drivers. . .
>
> Cal came in 15 out of about 80 entrants.  The car ran strong but suffered
> some brake problems.  Good driving kept them in the competition.  They had
> been gunning for a top twenty finish this year, so fifteen exceeded their
> goal by a lot.  Joseph says they want a top ten finish within the next two
> years.  But for that pesky front brake drag they might have had a top ten
> finish this year.
>
> Cool stuff.  Rick -- enjoy the picture.
>
> -- Rich
>
>
>
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