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Kershaw Test Day, March 26, 2002
After going through the car over the
winter we were all looking forward to evaluating our efforts at a private test day at
Carolina Motorsports Park just north of Columbia, SC. Renting a race track for a day is
NOT an inexpensive proposition, so to make sure we maximized our time I made arrangements
for Duane Neyer and Johnny Miller to be there to help out. Duane consults for Competition
Data Systems and knows a lot about making these cars work. Johnny (besides building
Lucifer) finished second in the 2001 TransAm points and was the only driver to finish
every lap of every race last season. I’ve been driving for a while and have a pretty
decent track record, but these two guys make their living racing and were willing to share
their hard-earned knowledge. In no particular order, this is what we learned/confirmed:
1. I will NEVER again schedule a
private test day in the same week that we plan to go racing. We arrived at the track just
after 7:00 AM and didn’t stop working until we loaded up at 5:00. The original plan
was to do a quick prep job on the car (including re-gearing the transmission) to have it
ready for Road Atlanta before loading it into the trailer, but Data, Dennis & I were
so beat that even if the weather had not been threatening we still wouldn’t have
attempted it.
2. I heard this when I went to one
of Miller Racing’s test days in February of 2000, but now I understand what Quinn was
talking about. Don’t ask me what lap times we turned because I won’t give you a
straight answer. We worked hard and spent a lot of money for the gains we made and I
don’t feel like sharing our findings with the competition.
3. If you’re willing to leave
your ego at the gate you’ll learn a lot. I went out on a shakedown run to make sure
the wheels wouldn’t fall off, then the next session I leaned on the car pretty hard
to establish a baseline to evaluate changes we would made to the car (and driver)
throughout the day. Johnny then got in the car and went five (5) seconds faster than I
did. Same car, same track, same conditions, five seconds - - if I were a sensitive person
I might be upset! Johnny and Duane then suggested changes to the car (springs, shocks,
ride height, etc.) and knocked another two seconds off. I got back in the car and the data
traces confirmed what Johnny & Duane had observed on the track. By the end of the day,
under less favorable conditions, I was running five seconds faster than my morning
baseline. Just in case you’re wondering, there’s a reason Johnny makes his
living driving.
4. The upfront costs are higher, but
(if you’re prepared) you’ll learn more at a private test day than you will at
five track test days. We unloaded the car on pit road at 7:15 and set up the work space,
the ambulance arrived promptly at 8:00 and the track was ours. We took an hour lunch break
at noon, then quit running when we ran out of tires at 4:45. We’d make three laps,
come in and change something, then make three more laps to evaluate the change, change
something else, etc. You simply can’t do that at a track test day.
5. You also can’t run a effort
of this magnitude by yourself. Data & Dennis busted wrenches all day, Johnny &
Duane were constantly discussing possible changes and Mike Harrison came up from Columbia
to watch over "Michelle" (the engine) and make sure things were okay in that
area. Wayne Cabaniss came by to watch and we commandeered him to go into town to mount a
tire we borrowed from Joe Hooker (after I flat-spotted three of the four we took with us).
Eric Roberts, Charlie Johnson, Mike Eakin, Marshall Aiken, Tim Schmidt and Harriett all
called at various times during the test to check on how things were going. It’s a
helluva team.
See y'all at the track...
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