Motorsports Update
Another racing season has come and gone. It’s now Thanksgiving and it is officially cold here in New England. This past season was great for us here at Project 240. We attended 2 hill climb competitions with the New England Hillclimb Association (NEHA) and 7 Autocross events with NER/SCCA. Thankfully, there were no injuries or major car failures at any event this year. Well, we did have some trouble with the tow vehicle, but hey, what do you want for a $2,000 truck? Since I like to keep detailed records, here are some interesting facts regarding this year’s season:
Number of Team Members: 6 Active, 10 total.
Total Number of Events Attended: 11
Total Number of Events Participated: 9
Total Miles Towed: 380
Total Miles Raced: 20
Total Miles Driven: 1050
Best Position: NER AutoX: 2nd (Event 10 Full Runs)
Worst Position: NEHA Ascutney Hillclimb #2: 5th in Class, 34th Overall
Not bad for our first full season. Personally, my favorite event was the Ascutney Hillclimbs. The venue is very beautiful and the road is amazing. Not to mention the people running and managing the event were friendly and incredibly helpful. If you haven’t already, check out the Mt. Ascutney Hillclimb Highlights video. This was the first season where there was no major work done to the car aside from general maintenance. Overall, I’m very happy with the way it performed, but there are some areas for improvement.
First up, a roll bar must be installed for safety. Second, at the hillclimbs, the combination of the Yokohama ES100 tires and the KAAZ differential equaled a whole lotta wheelspin. For next season, I am replacing the Yokohama tires with something more race ready. I have 2 options in mind, Dunlop Direzza D1 Star Spec or Falken RT-615 Azenis. Both should help in the grip department. The final area to address is the nut behind the wheel. I’ll work that out as the new season begins.
Site Updates
The idea of Project 240 is to document the build of the race car and any motorsports tomfoolery we wanted to share. But with the car “complete”, all that is left is motorsports. So, over the course of the winter, this site will change from a build site to more of a motorsports diary our local motorsports team, Club 23. You will be able to reach this site from either http://www.project240.org or http://www.club23racing.org.
This is more of a cosmetic change. Any new work on the project will be chronicled along with other members cars. Also, the site will make liberal use of the many many hours of video we shoot but never really do anything with. So look for the changes to start soon after the holidays.
