Topic: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

I'm about to buy a(nother) used Lemons race car and I've already started my to-do list of things not required by tech but that I will add to the car nonetheless. 

My list:

Quick release steering wheel
Hook to hang the steering wheel (took a few races before we finally bought... so worth it)
Cool shirt cooler
Push button-to-talk radio system
Shift light


I'm interested in what other teams add to their race cars.  I've seen stuff like bottle holders and cooling hoses.  What you do?

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

Tools to diagnose problems.  I have an old pre-OBD car that had no electronic diagnosis system.  When I ran out of patience swapping ignition / fuel system parts every time the car breaks, I installed microsquirt.  Now when my driver comes in on the hook and says 'I think I blew up the car', I can check logs, sensors, etc, to figure out WTF is wrong. 

I also built a raspberry pi that logs everything so I can make sure the car was running cool, has an appropriate air/fuel ratio for a turbo, drivers aren't shifting at a bazillion RPMs, etc.

You can probably do a lot of that with an OBD port and a laptop with the appropriate dealer program for your car.

Other than that:
- A big ass wall clock so your drivers can say they didn't know it was time to come in. 
- A hundred million lumen light for the oil pressure sensor, maybe wire in a 200 decibel warning buzzer too.

Team whatever_racecar #745 Volvo wagon

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

A fire extinguisher. Having the required suppression system is great, but an extinguisher is still a nice thing to keep handy.

The ability to easily(ish) add and remove a passenger seat. This may not be practical in an already-built car, though.

If possible in light of the vehicle's model year and applicable laws, whatever is needed to keep it street-legal.

Curb feelers.

1982 MG Metro 1300: IOE 2015 Pacific Northworst GP, Longest Distance 2010 Cd'L Box Wine Country Classic
1980 KV Mini 1: Worst of Show and Fright Pig Supremo 2009 Concours d'Lemons
1978 H Special: Second-Round Elimination 2010 Lemons Pinewood Derby at Sears Pointless
1967 SAAB 96: IOE 2012 Pacific Northworst GP, Organizer's Choice 2022 Hell on Wheels California Rally

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

Time out doll, Not in the rules yet, but basically mandatory.

Mistake By The Lake Racing (MBTL)
88 Thunderbird "THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!", Ex Astris, Rubigo / Semper Fracti
A&D: 2014 Sebrings at Sebring (NSF), 2014 NJMP2 Jurassic Park (SpeedyCop), 2012 Summit Point J30 (PiNuts)
2018 Route Sucky-Suck Rally Miata, 2019 World Tour Of Texas 64 Newport

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

Radios are important if you are serious about competing. We've found that PTT buttons are low quality do don't mount on steering wheel because the cords will break.  We have radio and fire extinguisher in the car. We just installed cool shirt system because we are fat and don't do well in the heat.

A way to have a drink while driving is good. We did our own combo system for beverages and cool shirt in one cooler.

Not a fan of the quick release wheel but that's just me.

A fellow racer put a grab handle on the roof of the car to make ingress/egress easier

1992 Saturn SL2 (retired) - Elmo's Revenge -  Class B winner, Heroic Fix winner x2
1969 Rover P6B 3500S(sold) - Super G-Rover - I.O.E Winner, Class C Winner
1996 Saturn SW2 - Elmo's Revenge (reborn!), Saturn SL1  Dazzleshipm Class C x2 and IOE winner
1974 AMC Javelin - Oscar's Trash heap - IOE,”Organizer's Choice" and "I got Screwed" award winner

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

chaase wrote:

.......Not a fan of the quick release wheel but that's just me.....

They are used in lots of forms of racing, and as long as you know more about them than Dale Jr, you are fine.


chaase wrote:

......A fellow racer put a grab handle on the roof of the car to make ingress/egress easier

You're welcome......



Bill

2020 I.O.E. CT #36 The Rootes Of All Evil,1958 Sunbeam Rapier Convertible (YES 1958!!) & 2019 Judges Choice NJMP
2016 Thompson Speedway #36 Sabrina Duncan's Revenge, IOE Trophy, 5th Place 'C' Class 1977 Ford Pinto
2009 Stafford Motor Speedway #16 Team Teflon, 11th Place (overall) 1997 Saturn SL2

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

I guess I have to ask a stupid question but I am OK with that.  How good are your drivers at following basic instructions?  If they suck at it like mine do:

Skip the cool shirt and do a cool seat so nothing to unplug.  Make the cooler big enough and nothing to refill for a full 8 hour race day
Skip the radio PTT and just mount the radio in reach and they can push the music button if they are coming in early
Grab handle on the roof of two of our build and love it
Bungees or surgical tubing to pull belts up and way for the incoming driver (we still have not done this)
Leave defrost, bi-level and windshield wipers intact
Giant oil pressure light as mentioned above
I love the idea of the coolant pressure light as well...guess what temp boiling coolant registers when you are leaking coolant (water)...yeah 212f which is a good temp for most racecars
More mirrors...never too many mirrors


Think that is it on our end...

8 (edited by majo 2020-10-31 09:37 AM)

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

Bottle-opener on the exterior of the car.   For, you know, opening bottles.

Also, been part of teams that have won every class and multiple IOE's, and never had a radio.  YMMV.

COM ( Chief Operating Moron ) of Burnt Rubber Soul Racing
Current fleet: 95 Ford Probe, 81 Mazda 626.  Past: 81 Imperial
Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/burntrubbersoulracing

9 (edited by OnkelUdo 2020-10-31 01:42 PM)

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

majo wrote:

Bottle-opener on the exterior of the car.   For, you know, opening bottles.

Not sure I understand...Coors Light has a twist top like all quality beers...

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

OnkelUdo wrote:
majo wrote:

Bottle-opener on the exterior of the car.   For, you know, opening bottles.

Not sure I understand...Coors Light has a twist top like all quality beers...

What are these bottles you speak of. All the good beer is in cans now

1992 Saturn SL2 (retired) - Elmo's Revenge -  Class B winner, Heroic Fix winner x2
1969 Rover P6B 3500S(sold) - Super G-Rover - I.O.E Winner, Class C Winner
1996 Saturn SW2 - Elmo's Revenge (reborn!), Saturn SL1  Dazzleshipm Class C x2 and IOE winner
1974 AMC Javelin - Oscar's Trash heap - IOE,”Organizer's Choice" and "I got Screwed" award winner

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

chaase wrote:
OnkelUdo wrote:
majo wrote:

Bottle-opener on the exterior of the car.   For, you know, opening bottles.

Not sure I understand...Coors Light has a twist top like all quality beers...

What are these bottles you speak of. All the good beer is in cans now


And "no glass bottle" rule at several tracks.  Cans work everywhere.

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

cheap digital clock
We have some ebay strobes that "light-up" when the altenator isn't charging.  Tells us if the belt is broken (same belt drives our water pump).

"We Got Screwed" NHMS 2017, 4th NHMS 2020,  4th NJMP 2021,
"Judges Choice" NHMS 2021,10th NJMP 2022, 3rd Thompson 2022
#847 Batmobile  aka-"Beulah"  search Squidrope Racing on Facebook

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

squidrope wrote:

cheap digital clock

This.

15 minutes in certain cars can feel like an eternity. The last thing you want to have happen, is your driver to come in early for an unprepared pit stop.

The Pentastar whisperer

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

squidrope wrote:

cheap digital clock.

Yes.

We had trouble keeping the cheap digital clock in place, but found that a cheap but large-numbered digital watch strapped nicely to the dash bar of the roll cage.

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

We are a rookie team-how many minutes do most drivers average before switching drivers?   For communication, what about the Bluetooth devices they make for motorcycle helmets?

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

florianscholz wrote:

We are a rookie team-how many minutes do most drivers average before switching drivers?   For communication, what about the Bluetooth devices they make for motorcycle helmets?

First stint keep to an hour or less so everyone gets a chance to drive and get comfortable, after that your best results will come from longest possible runs on your fuel.

Bluetooth range is limited but teams have used walk talkie phone apps, would need to be voice activated as push to talk on a phone will be problematic while driving

Apocalyptic Racing - Occupy Pit Lane racing
Racing the "Toylet" Toyota Celica powered by Chevrolet Ecotec.
24x Loser with the Celica. 16x loser in other fine machines
Overall winner Gingerman 2019

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

Keep communications simple. We use a CB radio, with handheld CBs in the paddock & with the "spotter". The car has a hand mike hanging from the roof and an external speaker mounted to the roll cage crossbar right behind the driver's right ear. You can't not hear the speaker. We used helmet mounted mikes and speakers our first race, and destroyed three when swapping drivers. We put in the external speaker as a backup and liked the simple and reliable solution better. Hand mike is on a trucker rig from the roof - easy to grab but out of the way. Has worked perfectly for seven races.  Cost-effective and uncrowded channels, too.

The ten watt speaker will scare the crap out of the judges if your driver self reports to the penalty box and the judge leans in to ask what happened just as you call to ask the same thing.

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

Stan gave us an extra speaker for CB radio. It was about half the size of a Coca-Cola can. It was perfect, and mounted right behind the driver's head. It was very easy for the driver to hear a CB transmission. We use normal CB radios

Former Captain
1996 Crown Vic. #55
Team Racing Cosmo

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

florianscholz:
A CB radio made it very easy to keep track of racers and their next Pit Stop. One of our guys would check in every 30 minutes with the driver.

In an 8-hour race, in your first race, I agree each driver should drive about an hour.

Former Captain
1996 Crown Vic. #55
Team Racing Cosmo

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

florianscholz wrote:

We are a rookie team-how many minutes do most drivers average before switching drivers?   For communication, what about the Bluetooth devices they make for motorcycle helmets?

I used a cell phone based walkie-talkie app (Zello) that was paired to a bluetooth headset with an older team I wasn't really a fan. Too many things to go wrong: Bluetooth fails to pair (very common), dead bluetooth battery, cell phone reboots, app crashes, idiot Canadian driver forgets to toggle the app off leaving you listening to ten minutes of his mouth breathing, etc.

The plug-n-play / set-it-forget-it  style of an IMSA or NASCAR plugged headset is the easiest and least stressful way to go. Additionally, this will vastly open up the pool of experienced arrive and drives that would be willing to participate in future races with your team as most teams are using one of these styles and adapting between the two is usually straight forward.

The Pentastar whisperer

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

Radios/Comminication are extraneous for your first few races anyway as their use implies that you have a shot at winning something.  You don't.  The people that have been doing this a while are a lot better at it than you so you're just out there learning anyway.  Plus, it's just one more thing to go wrong and I guarantee they will and you'll waste time in the pits trying to fix them.  Whether you learn the car broke in real-time or when the tow truck drops it in the paddock is a difference of 10 minutes anyway.  Experience will tell you when it's time to get radios.  Focus on the things that will keep the car going around and around.

As to first time stint length, I'd say 30 minutes to get everyone in the car and then work on longer.  You'll be making a lot of mistakes in the beginning and getting out of the car to process what just happened and how to improve is a better learning experience.  Also, if you can get everyone through the car you're more likely to keep teammates that might just drop off after spending a chunk of money to see a smoking car at hour 3 that they never got to drive.

1990 RX7 "Mazdarita"  1964 Sunbeam Imp (IOE 2013 Sears Pointless) 2002 Jaguar x-type (Winner C-Class 2021 Sears Pointless)
Gone bye-bye
1994 Jaguar XJ12 (Winner C-Class 2013 Sears Pointless)  1980 Rover SD1 (I Got Screwed 2014 Return of Lemonites)

Re: Non-required race car things that you feel are necessary?

We have a quick release wheel and rarely take it off.

We use comms with multiple PTTs.

We like cool suits.

Clocks are EXCELLENT!

DEFROSTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Troy

#35 LRE
1973 Datsun 240Z