OutlawAnything wrote:TheEngineer wrote:I'm going to hope that "involves using the pits instead of our trailer." does not mean you were fueling in your trailer...
We would never fuel up in the trailer. We used the gas station at NJMP.
We overlooked the thought of hot weather. Certainly going to look into some cool shirts. Also our oil temp gauge is a spectrum of cold-hot with no temps. I like the idea of getting an actual temp.
You may also consider idiot lights. Speaking from experience, drivers do not watch gauges. I am good about checking things at least once a lap, but not everyone is. We killed our daytona at it's last race when an oil line popped, and then the driver continued for half a lap with zero oil because he wasn't watching the gauge (which was on the hood in line of sight). You can buy sending units that trip at set pressure or temperature points and use those to turn on big annoying idiot lights to tell your driver that something has gone wrong. Just food for thought.
Do not underestimate the effects of hot weather. I had a driver get some really bad heat exhaustion at a NJ race. Our cool shirt stopped working. I looked up in the pits to see him just wandering around back towards our spot. Not in the car, walking. He said that his legs had started to loose feeling, and then suddenly he forgot how the track went. Luckily he came in, but he couldn't remember where our pits were, so he just dropped the car in front of some random team and got out. It was incredibly scary, but thankfully he was fine after we got him cooled down and pumped a lot of water through him. I'm not trying to scare anyone, just remind people to be safe. Search this forum for DIY cool shirt stuff. The official cool shirts are expensive, there are alternatives. Ultra-chiller makes systems as well, and you can find all the part numbers for quick disconnects and cooler builds in various threads.
The rest of the suggestions are good ones. You guys finished your car in a thrash session. This is a good time to go through it with a fine tooth comb. Learn every bolt, connector, wire run, etc. Check them all, look for things that look like they might be close to failing. Tidy up wires, look for cracking wires and failing crimps. It's usually the silliest things that will take you out. We lost a full day racing because I forgot to tie up the O2 sensor wiring and it hung against the turbo out flange. I got 3/4 of a lap before the wires melted and shorted a ton of stuff out. took the entire day to find that problem after we traced the entire wiring harness. Should have taken 10 minutes.
Keep asking questions, we've all been novices and we've all learned different lessons.
20+ Time Loser
FutilityMotorsport Abandoned E36 Build2008 Saab 9-5Aero WagonRetired -
1989 Dodge Daytona Shelby 2011-2015 "Lifetime Award for Lack of Achievement" IOE, 3X I got screwed, Organizer's Choice