ONE LAP OF AMERICA

David,

One-Lappers were at VIR while I was there yesterday and I may get around to posting a picture or two. Bunch of crazies, but definitely the good kind of crazy.

By the way, got your voicemail but did not get your email.

Bob

 

I took some pics while I was at VIR on Wednesday. I will have them up once I get my camera charged. I was with Jon Krolewicz and the AMS team helping out with there car and writing down all the times of each lap on the top 20 cars. I stopped by and saw Karl in his Ultima GTR which is beautiful !!!
I love those seats but I have to feel sorry for Karl since he has to be in that car for a week straight. Not comfortable at all !!
I think the Silver Noble M400 ran off the track around Corner 10 and hit the Tire wall pretty hard. Thank god he was ok !!

Here is some pictures from some of the guys touring with One Lap Of America. http://www.lake-effect-racing.com/onelap/2006/index.php.

Btw I almost forgot Brian M. in the Black Mercedes Benz is da man , Oh yea and so is Billy Mains !!! WOOO Billy Mains !!! Brian is a Ferrarichat guy too aka "B-mak" here on the boards. Good luck to everyone.
I thought of running my 90 Dodge Caravan 2.5 Turbo in the One Lap of America but the bad part is I don't know a lot of the tracks around the US except for VIR and Summit Point. All I need is a Co Driver , David Scott you interested ??

 

Makes cruising around VIR once every couple of months look like a Sunday drive. That is an increadible test for drivers and cars.

 

I am finally back home. my brother Martin and I drove straight back from South Bend IN. last night and got in about 5AM.
We got 2 trophies, 3rd in class out of nineteen and 6th overall out of 90 something.
This event was full of "what if's".
In the first event I already got a glimpse of an Ultim with brakes that weren't sufficient and the brake pedal went within an inch from the floor after 1and a half laps(out of three)
Nothing is more scary than thinking you have brakes and finding out that you were wrong. Yet the first event ended up 7th position for us. We bought dryerduct at K-mart and created rear cooling ducts before the next event.
The Ultima factory assured me that no one had ever had brake issues with one of there cars. Well, leave it up to me to be the guinea pig.
After 5 events my brakepads were literally crumbling. I had performance friction pads ordered and delivered to Roebling for my afternoon run. In the afternoon my car was clocked at 171mph just after the decibel meter on the left and I was still accelerating. I estimate somewhere aqround 178mph at the end of the straight. It felt good to be on hometurf. The Hennessey Viper that ran in frt. of me and showered me with coolant slowed me down on the second run. I came out of 2 sideways every lap slipping on his stuff. But it was still good enough to beat the second place car by just under 10 seconds over 3 laps. The Viper was said to make 700 hp at the wheels. The other Viper was powered by a Twin Turbo Chevy making 1000hp on pumpgas and 1400 on racegas. Quite some competition. I was able to see Charles Perry while I was there.
The brakes were now awesome but as I found out at VIR on the short runs they wouldn't last. I went off hard once ripping the new splitter we had made right of the car. Due to my landscaping sidejob I ended up 13th.
The last run was full course. I was hoping that my brakes would have enough time to cool in between the 2 main straights. The pedal was only 2 inches from the floor this time it it was good enough for 2nd overall.
It was nice to see David Scott at Florence. I guess I tried to impress him so much that I screwed up. Everything else I can blame on the car and it's shortcomings but the Florence thing I did all by myself. I just felt so slow out there. I guess I wrong.
The other Ultima that was entered was 1.5 seconds faster than me with my spin.
I asked the other guy that was on track with me in a Twin Turbo Z06 if I held him up with my spin and he said " Not at all, I didn't slow down ,I knew you'd be gone by the time I got there."
At Putnam park, the first event was wet and as the faster cars had gone out the track started to dry and even the slow cars beat all of us front runners.
The second run was a chance for me to make up points. On the warmup lap already my car started to sputter as if it was running out of fuel. It was and I sputtered around fot three laps to finish 15th instead of in the top 3.
After the event my brother filled up the car and we went on to the next stop. 140 miles into the trip I ran out of fuel again in 38 degree weather and a rainstorm. We added fuel from our dump can and limped to the next exit. Normally we would put in 17 plus gallons without running it dry and this time we only put in 11 gallons. Something in the tank broke causing the pickup not to reach the remaining 9 gallons out of the 20 gallon tank.
More points thrown away.
All in all I am very pleased. The Ultima was completed about a month before the event, was driven back and forth to work for a week and had one track day at Roebling. The engine was reinstalled 2 days before we left Charleston.
And all that afterhours and weekends.
The car never let us down other than the fuel thing.
I guess that is testimony of what European Road and Racing can do for your car.
Thanks for checking up on my progress, David. See you soon.

Karl

 

Great to meet you, Bruce!

IT'S BILLY MAINS!
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"I ran out of brakes?"

When I took my Ultima to VIR this was the one thing I could never do, I don't have the nuts to go 178 mph but wondered how fast the car would really go.

I've been looking at the front end and it appears that the front wheels may accept 2 additional inches allowing wider front tires. I'm planning this prior to the cars next track day. My hope is to kill the understeer.

Great to hear that you did well in this event. It is the "Ironman" of racing.

ken

 

http://www.lake-effect-racing.com/onelap/2006/day03/video/Ultima%20morning%20session.wmv

http://www.lake-effect-racing.com/onelap/2006/day03/video/greenultimainterview.wmv

Two good video's of Karl & his car!

 

Ken, I didn't cure the understeer but made it much better. We dropped the car down as low as it would go in the frt. (only problem, the headlights and tires have a conflict.)
A larger tire will not fit. Look at your clearances when you turn the wheels.
Dropping it down, gave us 2.75 degr. of neg. camber which mad a huge difference. On my Diablo I ran 4 dgrees and on my 944 Cup car I run 3.5. Neg. camber is the best thing you can do for that(to a point).
Let me know if I can help. Also, I may sell the Ultima, if you know anyone. I like change and am already thinking about what to bring next year.

Thanks.

Karl

 

Karl,

I've been driving the Ultima around alot and have started to wonder why I have any other cars.

I'm going to add two inches to the inner rim width and fit 295/30/18 tires. Another option is to shorten the upper a arm thread to allow the upper ball joint to be closer to the center of the car...more negative camber. both of these modifications have been used by owners in the UK.

Last but not least..brake cooling ducts and finally install the front arch vents.

This is the lightest thing around with unlimited amounts of power and torque. I don't think I could ever sell it.

Ken