Sears Point Nov 14/15: who's in?

[nostatic]

OK...Calvin says we're a go, so I'm going to sign up for the NCRC event at Sears Point on Nov 14/15. Who else is going? It would be great if we could paddock together, or at least have some common area as I'll have the boy in tow. I think I'm going to get him a stopwatch and maybe he'll actually track people's times.

[Don Plumley]

I'm in - first time ever! Yipes!

[Tyson Schmidt]

I'm so friggin' there!!!!!!!!


That track kicks ass. Not for the faint of heart. Just don't put any wheels off.

[nostatic]

I'm thinkin' mid november has a decent chance of rain. That should make it interesting. And now with no ACRA event at Willow, this will be the first event on the tires. Maybe the drive up will scrub them in a bit...

[Jack Olsen]

I'm there.

[emcon5]

I don't know how much your son is into the whole "racing" thing, but it you want to really involve him, Sears Point is a good place to do it. I mentioned a stopwatch in the other thread, also give him the air pressure gauge, and have him take your hot pressures when you return to the paddock. If you have a basic radio setup, he can spot for you. If he crosses the bridge out to grandstand by the scoring tower seen here he can see from the entry to the carousel all the way to past turn 10, then from the turn onto the front straight to the crest of the hill. (you walk back and forth on the grandstand depending on what section of the track you want to watch) You can see almost as much from the main grandstand, but you can't see untill the cars exit the carousel, and lose sight at the bridge going up the hill.

Having a spotter with a radio is handy, lets you know if someong what the traffic is you can't see, and report trouble if there is any.

If you are planning on building a race car for the POC, you need to break in your crew chief.

Just a thought.

Tom

[nostatic]

Tom, thanks for the thoughts. He liked the stopwatch idea, so we're going to pick one up. And what boy doesn't like a radio? Not sure that is in the budget though...maybe next season.

Looks like we'll have at least 3 SoCal Pelicans invading the northland...

[Jack Olsen]

Todd, I've got some FRS radios and a Chatterbox setup. Allegedly, this allows communication between the pits and a race car. I'll try to work out the details between now and then, but if it works, we'll put you in contact with your pit crew.

[nostatic]

Jack, that would be totally cool...as long as I can turn the earphone off when I want. I can just imagine him jabbering at me while I'm trying to stay out of the wall.

And are you for sure doing OTR the next day? I have to take Calvin to school in the AM but could be up at Willow by 10am or so.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Hmmm, yeah, I think my first 32 years spent in Seattle may help me get through it!

[nostatic]

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=207180

[emcon5]

Originally posted by nostatic
Tom, thanks for the thoughts. He liked the stopwatch idea, so we're going to pick one up. And what boy doesn't like a radio? Not sure that is in the budget though...maybe next season.

OK, here is the cheapass-cool-guy-race-car-crew-chief radio setup.

Stage 1: Buy these radios ($70):
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=201680

They are 5 Watts (the highest I have seen for this cheap), with a theoretical 14 mile range over open ground. More importantly, they come with earbud/boom-mics . They are not the most comfortable thing but they will fit under a helmet Once you are on track, you will barely notice them. The big down side it the push-to-talk button is on the headset cord, which is a PITA to find while on track, and even harder to activate with gloves on. I tried it once with a piece of plastic super-glued to the button to make it easier to find, but it still sucked. Most of the talking is from crew to driver, so this probably isn't a big deal. Have the boy wear his under a pair of shooters-type earmuffs like this , they keep the earpiece in his ear, and hold the mic pointed at his mouth. They also let you hear radio calls over loud cars zooming by.

Stage 2 upgrade. ($60)
https://www.rflimited.com/ShowProduct.asp?productID=8&NodeID=c2

This is a helmet kit designed for motorcyclists to talk to each other over FRS radios. It comes with 2 small speakers and a mic that stick inside your helmet (The one I linked is for full face helmets, if you wear an open face, you need this model. It has a long cord with a push-to-talk switch you can mount wherever you want.

There you go, complete helmet to crew radio setup for the princely sum of $130, plus shipping, and maybe another ~$15 for some earmuffs if you don't already have a pair.

No, it isn'at as good as a Sampson racing radios setup, but it is a fraction of the price, and for a club racer or DE guy, it works pretty well.


Hint: We had some reception problems, which we solved by adding an external antenna to the Midland radio. The external antenna consisted of gently cutting the of tip plastic cover over the antenna to expose the copper antenna wire, and adding a length of wire connected to the radio antenna by an aligator clip. We ran the wire up the cage and through a small hole in the roof, to get it outside the car body. You could do the same thing by sticking the wire out the top of the passenger door and closing it, or even with a piece of good-old blue painter's tape. A friend I race with used the same setup in a different car, with no problems even without the external antenna.

Tom

[rich22]

Originally posted by emcon5
Hint: We had some reception problems, which we solved by adding an external antenna to the Midland radio. The external antenna consisted of gently cutting the of tip plastic cover over the antenna to expose the copper antenna wire, and adding a length of wire connected to the radio antenna by an aligator clip. We ran the wire up the cage and through a small hole in the roof, to get it outside the car body. You could do the same thing by sticking the wire out the top of the passenger door and closing it, or even with a piece of good-old blue painter's tape. A friend I race with used the same setup in a different car, with no problems even without the external antenna.

Tom

I'm surprised that worked. A transmitter usually depends on the length of the antenna to determine the wavelength, and thus frequency, of the transmitted signal. When you change the length of the antenna you usually screw it up.

[cantdrv55]

A few of us will be at Sears the day before on the 13th with Trackmasters. I may have to stop in to check you guys out on the 14th or 15th. Sears is only 20 miles from me.

[Don Plumley]

One week from today! Let's have a roll-call and see who's in:

[Jack Olsen]

Olsen is in, of course.

[Tyson Schmidt]

I'm there. But I think I might be rebuilding my LSD, so hopefully I get the parts in time.

[nostatic]

They have my money, so I have to show up.

[trekkor]

I think the weather should be perfect.

I'll be there on the 13th, so it better be.


KT

[Don Plumley]

Thanks to the generousity of Dean Thomas (dtfastbear) - I got a ride at Sears Point today! Woo Hooo! Man, that was fun!

Car is packed and ready to go - see you there tomorrow AM!

Don