Racing Diary
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Racing Diary
Vishnu Performance Systems
Open Track Challenge
Racing Diary
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Sunday, April 18 2002
The first race of the series begins in Las Vegas, at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It’s an interesting track. Mostly straight-aways combined with sharp corners. Not very technical but certainly one that will reward a car that is able to put down the power well at turn exit. This means that, despite not having Hoosier racing slicks (more on that later), we should do reasonably well. After all, we have our very own ringer driver (a customer by the name of Paul Gerrard) behind the wheel of a 400whp EVO, fully equipped with front and rear clutch-type Cusco differentials. God knows from my own, ahem, testing on the way to and from work, that our feisty little EVO is capable of stomach turning acceleration as it sinks its claws into the ground and viciously leaps out of corners.
Let’s cut to the chase right away. Our first race in the series didn’t turn out too well for us. On our third lap around the track, our EVO’s engine just shut off. As in, no combustion. Nothing. Nada. Fortunately, Paul had enough forethought to coast the car off the racing line and away from the other race cars. And there he waited. And waited. Until the end of the session when the tow truck brought him back to the paddock. Let me tell you, there is nothing more disheartening than seeing your race car needed the assistance of another vehicle to find its way back to the paddock. Quick inspection showed no obvious damage under the hood. Nor any mechanically disgusting sounds during cranking. Paul commented that the car felt just fine right until the very end. Good enough to click off a 2.01 second lap during his “warm up” session on a track that he has never seen or driven before. Unreal. Seeing him come out of the 2nd and 3rd gear corners will all four tires lighting up was spectacular. The front and rear differentials are worth their weight in gold.
Back to the failure… With catastrophic bottom end failure ruled out, we figured it must be related to electronics. Sure enough, after hooking up an OBD-II scanner, we found that our crank angle sensor died. Without the ability for the ECU to read engine speed, all those fancy parts under the hood might as well be replaced with a few buckets of tuna. Making matters worse, a new crank angle sensor was no where in sight. And we sure didn’t thing about bringing an extra CAS with us. After all, it’s not exactly a common failure with these cars. Making matters worse, no Mitsubishi dealerships in the region had it in stock. So I start making phone calls. Being a Sunday, I didn’t expect to get a hold of anyone from MMC. Or any one at Road and Track or Sport Compact Car magazines. Nor did I have the phone numbers of any local customs that I could sell my soul to. However, I did have the cell phone number of our mechanic’s (Brandon) girlfriend. Don’t ask.
“Is Brandon there?”
“Sure, here he is,” she replied
“Hello?”
“Hi Brandon. You need to get in a car and meet up with us at our next race”
”Where is it?”
“In the Mohave Desert, at Willow Springs. It’s a full day’s drive away. And bring all an entirely new CAS set up, tools and some lights since we’re going to be working all through the night in some parking lot. Oh, and drive down in an EVO so we can take whatever other parts off of it just in case.”
“How will I get back if you take other parts off the car.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m sure we can get someone else to feed your cat if you get stranded in the middle of the desert. Just do it.”
Giving up any hopes of getting the car up and running at Las Vegas (it was tough as Paul insisted that it would be capable of running into the 1’53” to 1’55” range when pushed), we push the race car back on the trailer and head on out to the next track. Of course, Lambtron (aka Brian) manages to leave the keys in the race car. Unable to open the doors due to the side sills of the trailer, Paul fishes the keys out with a magnet. And we’re off! Rolling in around 9PM, we manage to find parking space for the RV and trailer at a Chevron gas station. “Could you please let us work on our car all night long here if we promise to stay out of the way?”
Bingo. A little niceness goes a long way. So we get to work. Brandon and the crew start tearing into the race car. Front passenger side wheel comes off. Splash guards get removed. Cam cover is yanked off. Pulleys, belts, timing belt tensioner… everything. Sure enough, the crank angle sensor is destroyed. It appears as if some foreign particle (dirt, rocks, small animal, etc.,) got in there and got jammed in between the toothed wheel and the CAS as well as the toothed wheel which is read by the CAS. No problem, we now have the parts, let’s get to work. Or so we though. How the hell do we remove the main crank bolt without an impact gun? Until the wee hours of the night, we tried various forms of leverage trickery to no avail. All we ended up doing is scuff up the head of the crank bolt. Stop! So we decided to wait until the morning and tow our car to a service shop with hopes to get everything buttoned away by the nearly afternoon in time for our last two test sessions. And that’s exactly what we did. At 1:30, we fired up the car and it purred like the happy cat we know and love. Wasting no time, Paul and I jump into the race car and head off to Willow Springs which was just a few miles down the main road. Upon arrival, it looked as if everyone had already raced and left. You see, that’s what most people do. During the morning, the temps are low and the track is clean, making for the fastest times of the day. So I tell Paul to just drive harder to make up for the disadvantage. He says “Okay.” We drive to the starting grid where we are greeting by a few racers who all but counted us out of the competition. “Who, us? Nah, we’re back baby!”
Another EVO faired even worse today. He lost a motor due to what appeared to be excessive cylinder pressure (spun rod bearing). This is his second motor. Everyone suspects it was caused by the ECU reflash he is running.
Willow Springs International Raceway
Monday, April 19, 2004
Flag goes green and Paul is off and running. Within seconds, he’s lapping the USGT cars in the session. All of them. Did I mention that this is Paul’s first time at Willow Springs? Entering turn 8 and 9 and drifting toward the apex at 135mph on your first lap on the highest speed track on the entire West Coast is just unreal. Second lap, Paul clicks off a 1:36. Then a 1.35. Then a 1.34. Then a bunch of 1.32s. Not bad for a daily driven street car with full interior, no roll cage and Toyo RA1 DOT-approved street tires, eh? After 15 minutes, the Cobra racecar in front of him relieves his engine of oil, dumping the exit of Turn 9 in oil. Making matters worse, Paul notices that there is a fire brewing from the underneath the car. Deftly avoiding the oil spin on what can only be described as the nastiest corner of the entire track, Paul sneaks in behind the Corbra and follows him closely to the paddock and tells the officials to grab the fire extinguishers. We run from the other end of the parking only to see a slew of people yelling and running towards our EVO with fire extinguishers. They run past Paul and spray down the Cobra. Thankfully no one was hurt. We were also relieved to find out that it wasn’t our car that caught on fire J
After the Cobra is taken care of, Paul returns to our spot in the pits. We make some tire pressure adjustments, have lunch and make fun of Lambtron’s sideburns while reminiscing about our pre-race festivities at Las Vegas the night before the first race. Too bad 19 year-old Lambton is under-age to do anything worth mentioning.
Next and last session and Paul is out with a vengeance. Boost pressures are raised to 26psi (from 23psi) and the front stocks are stiffened up a bit (Paul complained that there was not nearly enough rebound damping with the original settings). Paul also mentions that the ABS system no longer works. We don’t know why but we suspect the one of the wheel-speed sensors might be damaged or covered in melted rubber. He doesn’t care since the claims the brake biasing is close to perfect. And he’s off. Within 15 minutes, Paul laps the field, running consistent 1’30.x” which is just smoking for anything less than completely gutted and caged racecars running big fat Hoosier racing slicks. Still well ahead of the other EVOs, needless to say. Top speed at the front straight is approaching 150mph! The Vishnu EVO finally shows what it is capable of doing! Paul still complains about the front suspension which hops around bumps and rides its bump-stops during heavy breaking, and a the front left tire which quickly overheats during the long right-hand sweepers for which Willow Springs is notorious. It doesn’t matter. Despite our late-running situation, we’re still faster than most of the cars on the field. 2 races down. 4 more to go.
But the car can still be faster. Taking Paul’s comments about the car’s set-up to heart, I call in to Vishnu Headquarters and tell Brett to find the much-sought-after Hoosiers (which we thought not source due to back-order until the end of the month). But word, from a helpful official, has it that some obscure tire shop in Sonoma has a set, in our size, in stock Now we’re talkin’! Without them, we’re giving up an easy 2-4 second per lap to the rest of the competitors in the Unlimited classes. We can’t have that now, can we? We’re also running low on race gas. Quick calculations suggest that the car, on the track, is getting somewhere around 5mpg, 2mph lower than I expected. So now the plan is to have Brett meet us at the next track (Thunderhill), which is just a couple of hours north of the shop, in the morning with the sticky Hoosiers and a couple more drums of race gas. We figured that while Paul is out on the track getting in some practice in the morning (on the Toyos), we’ll go ahead and mount the new Hoosiers on the extra set of wheels that we have handy. And then the afternoon, we hope to will lay down some spectacular times with the new rolling rubber. Hopefully, they’ll last for the next two races (Sears Point and Buttonwillow) as well! Now all we can do is drive the 500 miles to Thurnderhill.
Thunderhill Raceway Park
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
We meet at the track at 9:30AM and Brett and Larry take off to get the new Hoosiers mounted on the extra set of rims. In the meantime, Paul takes off in the racecar to learn the track since he’s never raced at T-hill before. Within a few laps, we’re clicking off 2’06.x” laptimes which already places us up towards the top most tier of the entire field. Towards the end of the session, Paul pits and tells us that the brakes are in desperate need of bleeding. Lambtron is on the job while Paul and I made, for the first time, real suspension tweaks. First, we disconnect the front sway bar in an attempt to cure the chronic understeer the car suffers from during turn entry and stead-state cornering. To keep things from getting too nutty, we also softened up the rear sway by a touch. By this time, it’s our turn back on the grid where Paul takes off like a bullet. Within the first three laps, we’re pulling 2’04” laptimes which is outstanding by any standards. I think our biggest antagonist, Robi, is running 2'11s
While the front of the car is still way underdamped, the overall handing balance is much improved going into and out of the corners. Willing to rotate under braking, Paul is entering some of the higher speed turns with spectacular slip angles, quickly becoming the viewer favorite. Afterall, how many times does one see a little 4 cylinder “Econobox with a big lame spoiler” outrun most for the Porsches, Vipers and Corvettes in the T1 and U1 classes. The fact that we’re still running in low boost mode, on the RA1s suggests that 2’00”-2’01” are possible at full tune with the Hoosiers in the third session. Seeing our red little EVO mow down Vipers and Corvettes down the front straight is quite a side. Seeing it spit 6’ long flames out of the tailpipe just adds to the amusement. Session over and Paul pits, complaining of loosing his clutch and brake pedals. Not good. We get back to bleeding with no success. The clutch pedal is sticking to the floor and we can’t get it to disengage. Quick diagnosis suggests that the snap ring that pulls the clutch from the pressure plate snapped. Damn. We didn’t bring one of those, did we? Nope, of course not. Another call to Brandon at the shop. Grudgingly settling for the 2’04” laptimes, we load the car back up and head off back to the shop where Brandon awaits with a new clutch and snap ring.
Other carnage: Yet another EVO is out of the race. This one, driven by a real nice guy named Derek, kartwheels off the track, completely wrecking both ends of the car. Compete total. Fortunately, the driver is a-okay and will be back to race another day. Rumor also has it that yet another EVO damaged his motor today through what appears to be detonation and/or lean run. They're dropping like flies
To Be Continued.....
Open Track Challenge
Racing Diary
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Sunday, April 18 2002
The first race of the series begins in Las Vegas, at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It’s an interesting track. Mostly straight-aways combined with sharp corners. Not very technical but certainly one that will reward a car that is able to put down the power well at turn exit. This means that, despite not having Hoosier racing slicks (more on that later), we should do reasonably well. After all, we have our very own ringer driver (a customer by the name of Paul Gerrard) behind the wheel of a 400whp EVO, fully equipped with front and rear clutch-type Cusco differentials. God knows from my own, ahem, testing on the way to and from work, that our feisty little EVO is capable of stomach turning acceleration as it sinks its claws into the ground and viciously leaps out of corners.
Let’s cut to the chase right away. Our first race in the series didn’t turn out too well for us. On our third lap around the track, our EVO’s engine just shut off. As in, no combustion. Nothing. Nada. Fortunately, Paul had enough forethought to coast the car off the racing line and away from the other race cars. And there he waited. And waited. Until the end of the session when the tow truck brought him back to the paddock. Let me tell you, there is nothing more disheartening than seeing your race car needed the assistance of another vehicle to find its way back to the paddock. Quick inspection showed no obvious damage under the hood. Nor any mechanically disgusting sounds during cranking. Paul commented that the car felt just fine right until the very end. Good enough to click off a 2.01 second lap during his “warm up” session on a track that he has never seen or driven before. Unreal. Seeing him come out of the 2nd and 3rd gear corners will all four tires lighting up was spectacular. The front and rear differentials are worth their weight in gold.
Back to the failure… With catastrophic bottom end failure ruled out, we figured it must be related to electronics. Sure enough, after hooking up an OBD-II scanner, we found that our crank angle sensor died. Without the ability for the ECU to read engine speed, all those fancy parts under the hood might as well be replaced with a few buckets of tuna. Making matters worse, a new crank angle sensor was no where in sight. And we sure didn’t thing about bringing an extra CAS with us. After all, it’s not exactly a common failure with these cars. Making matters worse, no Mitsubishi dealerships in the region had it in stock. So I start making phone calls. Being a Sunday, I didn’t expect to get a hold of anyone from MMC. Or any one at Road and Track or Sport Compact Car magazines. Nor did I have the phone numbers of any local customs that I could sell my soul to. However, I did have the cell phone number of our mechanic’s (Brandon) girlfriend. Don’t ask.
“Is Brandon there?”
“Sure, here he is,” she replied
“Hello?”
“Hi Brandon. You need to get in a car and meet up with us at our next race”
”Where is it?”
“In the Mohave Desert, at Willow Springs. It’s a full day’s drive away. And bring all an entirely new CAS set up, tools and some lights since we’re going to be working all through the night in some parking lot. Oh, and drive down in an EVO so we can take whatever other parts off of it just in case.”
“How will I get back if you take other parts off the car.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m sure we can get someone else to feed your cat if you get stranded in the middle of the desert. Just do it.”
Giving up any hopes of getting the car up and running at Las Vegas (it was tough as Paul insisted that it would be capable of running into the 1’53” to 1’55” range when pushed), we push the race car back on the trailer and head on out to the next track. Of course, Lambtron (aka Brian) manages to leave the keys in the race car. Unable to open the doors due to the side sills of the trailer, Paul fishes the keys out with a magnet. And we’re off! Rolling in around 9PM, we manage to find parking space for the RV and trailer at a Chevron gas station. “Could you please let us work on our car all night long here if we promise to stay out of the way?”
Bingo. A little niceness goes a long way. So we get to work. Brandon and the crew start tearing into the race car. Front passenger side wheel comes off. Splash guards get removed. Cam cover is yanked off. Pulleys, belts, timing belt tensioner… everything. Sure enough, the crank angle sensor is destroyed. It appears as if some foreign particle (dirt, rocks, small animal, etc.,) got in there and got jammed in between the toothed wheel and the CAS as well as the toothed wheel which is read by the CAS. No problem, we now have the parts, let’s get to work. Or so we though. How the hell do we remove the main crank bolt without an impact gun? Until the wee hours of the night, we tried various forms of leverage trickery to no avail. All we ended up doing is scuff up the head of the crank bolt. Stop! So we decided to wait until the morning and tow our car to a service shop with hopes to get everything buttoned away by the nearly afternoon in time for our last two test sessions. And that’s exactly what we did. At 1:30, we fired up the car and it purred like the happy cat we know and love. Wasting no time, Paul and I jump into the race car and head off to Willow Springs which was just a few miles down the main road. Upon arrival, it looked as if everyone had already raced and left. You see, that’s what most people do. During the morning, the temps are low and the track is clean, making for the fastest times of the day. So I tell Paul to just drive harder to make up for the disadvantage. He says “Okay.” We drive to the starting grid where we are greeting by a few racers who all but counted us out of the competition. “Who, us? Nah, we’re back baby!”
Another EVO faired even worse today. He lost a motor due to what appeared to be excessive cylinder pressure (spun rod bearing). This is his second motor. Everyone suspects it was caused by the ECU reflash he is running.
Willow Springs International Raceway
Monday, April 19, 2004
Flag goes green and Paul is off and running. Within seconds, he’s lapping the USGT cars in the session. All of them. Did I mention that this is Paul’s first time at Willow Springs? Entering turn 8 and 9 and drifting toward the apex at 135mph on your first lap on the highest speed track on the entire West Coast is just unreal. Second lap, Paul clicks off a 1:36. Then a 1.35. Then a 1.34. Then a bunch of 1.32s. Not bad for a daily driven street car with full interior, no roll cage and Toyo RA1 DOT-approved street tires, eh? After 15 minutes, the Cobra racecar in front of him relieves his engine of oil, dumping the exit of Turn 9 in oil. Making matters worse, Paul notices that there is a fire brewing from the underneath the car. Deftly avoiding the oil spin on what can only be described as the nastiest corner of the entire track, Paul sneaks in behind the Corbra and follows him closely to the paddock and tells the officials to grab the fire extinguishers. We run from the other end of the parking only to see a slew of people yelling and running towards our EVO with fire extinguishers. They run past Paul and spray down the Cobra. Thankfully no one was hurt. We were also relieved to find out that it wasn’t our car that caught on fire J
After the Cobra is taken care of, Paul returns to our spot in the pits. We make some tire pressure adjustments, have lunch and make fun of Lambtron’s sideburns while reminiscing about our pre-race festivities at Las Vegas the night before the first race. Too bad 19 year-old Lambton is under-age to do anything worth mentioning.
Next and last session and Paul is out with a vengeance. Boost pressures are raised to 26psi (from 23psi) and the front stocks are stiffened up a bit (Paul complained that there was not nearly enough rebound damping with the original settings). Paul also mentions that the ABS system no longer works. We don’t know why but we suspect the one of the wheel-speed sensors might be damaged or covered in melted rubber. He doesn’t care since the claims the brake biasing is close to perfect. And he’s off. Within 15 minutes, Paul laps the field, running consistent 1’30.x” which is just smoking for anything less than completely gutted and caged racecars running big fat Hoosier racing slicks. Still well ahead of the other EVOs, needless to say. Top speed at the front straight is approaching 150mph! The Vishnu EVO finally shows what it is capable of doing! Paul still complains about the front suspension which hops around bumps and rides its bump-stops during heavy breaking, and a the front left tire which quickly overheats during the long right-hand sweepers for which Willow Springs is notorious. It doesn’t matter. Despite our late-running situation, we’re still faster than most of the cars on the field. 2 races down. 4 more to go.
But the car can still be faster. Taking Paul’s comments about the car’s set-up to heart, I call in to Vishnu Headquarters and tell Brett to find the much-sought-after Hoosiers (which we thought not source due to back-order until the end of the month). But word, from a helpful official, has it that some obscure tire shop in Sonoma has a set, in our size, in stock Now we’re talkin’! Without them, we’re giving up an easy 2-4 second per lap to the rest of the competitors in the Unlimited classes. We can’t have that now, can we? We’re also running low on race gas. Quick calculations suggest that the car, on the track, is getting somewhere around 5mpg, 2mph lower than I expected. So now the plan is to have Brett meet us at the next track (Thunderhill), which is just a couple of hours north of the shop, in the morning with the sticky Hoosiers and a couple more drums of race gas. We figured that while Paul is out on the track getting in some practice in the morning (on the Toyos), we’ll go ahead and mount the new Hoosiers on the extra set of wheels that we have handy. And then the afternoon, we hope to will lay down some spectacular times with the new rolling rubber. Hopefully, they’ll last for the next two races (Sears Point and Buttonwillow) as well! Now all we can do is drive the 500 miles to Thurnderhill.
Thunderhill Raceway Park
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
We meet at the track at 9:30AM and Brett and Larry take off to get the new Hoosiers mounted on the extra set of rims. In the meantime, Paul takes off in the racecar to learn the track since he’s never raced at T-hill before. Within a few laps, we’re clicking off 2’06.x” laptimes which already places us up towards the top most tier of the entire field. Towards the end of the session, Paul pits and tells us that the brakes are in desperate need of bleeding. Lambtron is on the job while Paul and I made, for the first time, real suspension tweaks. First, we disconnect the front sway bar in an attempt to cure the chronic understeer the car suffers from during turn entry and stead-state cornering. To keep things from getting too nutty, we also softened up the rear sway by a touch. By this time, it’s our turn back on the grid where Paul takes off like a bullet. Within the first three laps, we’re pulling 2’04” laptimes which is outstanding by any standards. I think our biggest antagonist, Robi, is running 2'11s
While the front of the car is still way underdamped, the overall handing balance is much improved going into and out of the corners. Willing to rotate under braking, Paul is entering some of the higher speed turns with spectacular slip angles, quickly becoming the viewer favorite. Afterall, how many times does one see a little 4 cylinder “Econobox with a big lame spoiler” outrun most for the Porsches, Vipers and Corvettes in the T1 and U1 classes. The fact that we’re still running in low boost mode, on the RA1s suggests that 2’00”-2’01” are possible at full tune with the Hoosiers in the third session. Seeing our red little EVO mow down Vipers and Corvettes down the front straight is quite a side. Seeing it spit 6’ long flames out of the tailpipe just adds to the amusement. Session over and Paul pits, complaining of loosing his clutch and brake pedals. Not good. We get back to bleeding with no success. The clutch pedal is sticking to the floor and we can’t get it to disengage. Quick diagnosis suggests that the snap ring that pulls the clutch from the pressure plate snapped. Damn. We didn’t bring one of those, did we? Nope, of course not. Another call to Brandon at the shop. Grudgingly settling for the 2’04” laptimes, we load the car back up and head off back to the shop where Brandon awaits with a new clutch and snap ring.Other carnage: Yet another EVO is out of the race. This one, driven by a real nice guy named Derek, kartwheels off the track, completely wrecking both ends of the car. Compete total. Fortunately, the driver is a-okay and will be back to race another day. Rumor also has it that yet another EVO damaged his motor today through what appears to be detonation and/or lean run. They're dropping like flies
To Be Continued.....
Last edited by shiv@vishnu; Apr 22, 2004 at 06:16 PM.
Evolving Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 464
Likes: 0
From: Livermore, Ca
I had a few 
at the bar,but before any real fun could start, Shiv made me go take a taxi to the airport to pick up Paul.
Shiv forgot to mention the casino experience. Shiv was talking about how he's a "warrior" at this game casino war and how he never loses. HA! He lost everything in a good 3 minutes, some warrior he is. My response to his defeat as a "warrior" was, "Dude, the enemy just took your weapons and raped you up the *** with them" Hahaha. Oh man it was some good times.
at the bar,but before any real fun could start, Shiv made me go take a taxi to the airport to pick up Paul. Shiv forgot to mention the casino experience. Shiv was talking about how he's a "warrior" at this game casino war and how he never loses. HA! He lost everything in a good 3 minutes, some warrior he is. My response to his defeat as a "warrior" was, "Dude, the enemy just took your weapons and raped you up the *** with them" Hahaha. Oh man it was some good times.
Last edited by lambtron; Apr 22, 2004 at 09:05 PM.
Great story Shiv, it's as If I was there...Lambtron I heard Shiv's luck picked up later!?! The car is well on it's way, it sounds, to be the quickest track EVO in the U.S.. Keep pushing guys!
Last edited by chronohunter; Apr 22, 2004 at 09:35 PM.
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Evolving Member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 464
Likes: 0
From: Livermore, Ca
Haha yes it was, there is no "we" in dropping things into the engine bay. That's all courtesy of Shiv. He dropped a socket down there one day, it fell out somewhere and then the next day he dropped a spark plug down there too. Yours truly got the spark plug out with my amazing magnet piloting skills. Yes, it was the same magnet used to get the keys that my dumbass dropped onto the floor of shivmobile.
But did Shiv drop something specifically down below the cam gears? I ask because a long time ago a mechanic did this to my evo and it made a grinding sound. Just a few days ago I got the CEL 335 and 340, which is cam and crank angle sensor malfunction. I'm just playing detective. The CEL came on just after my car stalled with ac on in stop and go traffic.