From: Vaughan
Email: vscott77@nospam.hotmail.com
Date: 16 Jul 2001
Time: 13:41:17Hey all... here's the promised report on my testing the 4 deg offset cam key at Gingerman at an SCCA Double Regional race...
It basically was a pretty crappy weekend. The car ran extremely hot all weekend, which we believe was due to the cam key. Power was decent, particularly felt like the engine was well "woken up" above 5000RPM, but I couldn't really stay in it due to the heat soaking. I'd have to say that my evaluation of the cam key is:
a) it fits fine, and works well
b) you'd better make absolutely sure your cooling system can handle it!
For street use, I'd rather suggest you use a 2 deg advance, not the 4 deg I have; cooling won't be quite as much of a problem, and it'll start OK. As it is right now, the car has a little bit of a rough time starting when cold, and is a little slow/rough to warm up. I wouldn't want this agressive a key in a street car.
Unfortunately, due to Gingerman being a short twisty track, and having only the 4-speed gearbox, I was pretty down in the revs for the weekend, and mostly couldn't get the use out of the cam key I would've liked. I could've left it in 3rd for virtually the entire track, but would've blown the top off the engine. So, instead, I short-shifted and ran slow.
Then, to make it worse, the alternator bushing problem came back and I threw the stupid belt out on track in the first lap of the Sunday race, meaning another DNF and an extremely hot engine... nothing like running at 6000RPM+ without water circulation! Thank god for Mobil 1!
To top it off, I got hit by an RX7 (just a minor, only sheetmetal damage) and was stung by a bee in my Nomex while putting it on for the last race. Major downer of a weekend.
Gonna have to put out more power and upgrade my cooling system before I even bother heading out again. Figure Sept or Oct before I see the track, for one last race at Mid-Ohio.
On the plus side, I met up w/ Scott Sanda, who was out there running his 933 ex-D-Prod car (check the Registry under '79) in Super Production. It was really nice to be able to watch him pass and stay in front of all those Vette's and Camaros and 911's he was out with (in the GT, ITE, and American Sedan classes)... kinda helped raise my spirits after having to pull off early... His car also sounded really awesome, you could hear it all around the track, even when he was out of sight, above all those V8's...
We'll hopefully get some pics out later... did get one big glossy from the pro photographer out there, looks really sweet...