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Re: Dennis Clan Shenanigans

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 4:13 pm
by sachilles
I think the moment it terrified me, was watching from check 2 or 3 at Ascutney. Watching you guys saw the steering wheel, but not really seeing the front wheels move at all. Then having to throw a red flag. I think it was Josh. Looks like you guys have to work very hard to turn that beast.

Re: Dennis Clan Shenanigans

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 4:31 pm
by 3rdgendennis
Driving it at ascutney was very scary. The 10" slicks did NOT agree with the crown on the road. I think this was immediately after the bottom was repaved, and it tossed the car side to side.

Re: Dennis Clan Shenanigans

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 5:56 pm
by KevinGale
3rdgendennis wrote:Driving it at ascutney was very scary. The 10" slicks did NOT agree with the crown on the road. I think this was immediately after the bottom was repaved, and it tossed the car side to side.
I love seeing the Dart run. I bet it is a handful at Ascutney. The Troyer with wider slicks hates it too. Steer like crazy to go straight. :shock:

Re: Dennis Clan Shenanigans

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 12:04 pm
by Challenger392
KevinGale wrote:
3rdgendennis wrote:Driving it at ascutney was very scary. The 10" slicks did NOT agree with the crown on the road. I think this was immediately after the bottom was repaved, and it tossed the car side to side.
I love seeing the Dart run. I bet it is a handful at Ascutney. The Troyer with wider slicks hates it too. Steer like crazy to go straight. :shock:
Ditto, the crown makes my line look really weird as I essentiall just pick what places I'm going to cross it.

Re: Dennis Clan Shenanigans

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:01 am
by 3rdgendennis
Stopped by Josh's house to check out the progress on the tube frame car. It is very disassembled.

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The car originally had a neon front end in the back, but stock neon suspension was not conducive to tune-ability and the strut suspension was not ideal. New plan is to use this RX7 rear, and make custom axles.

The head was removed for a rebuild, and a port match. Back story (for those who weren't there): I decided I was a professional tuner and when we originally got the car running, I had mistakenly installed an e85 base tune. Three runs at Okemo later, and suddenly the spark plugs melted! If I can find the picture, I'll post that here. I left the mountain at 8pm, and while Josh started pulling the head off, I drove 4 hours home from Vermont to RI, pulled the head off my daily driver with 150k+ miles on it, and drove back. I showed back up at the mountain around 6 am and went to sleep while Josh put the "new" head on. Before the end of the day, we got it started and drove it onto the trailer-at some point we realized why this happened and decided to have it tuned properly before racing it again. After tuning, the car ran almost a full season of hillclimbing before being parked again. So the rebuild was much needed.

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Instead of spending every penny on the tube frame car, he decided to buy this!:
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I also got an awesome deal on a set of 17" wheels for the Dart over the weekend. It is much easier to find tires that are good for drifting in a 17" size than a 15" with a tall enough sidewall to fit the Dart.
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Re: Dennis Clan Shenanigans

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 1:31 pm
by Chief Geek
I'd pay to see the shifter kart run Ascutney. Should fit into P4 nicely and give the Toylet some competition.

Re: Dennis Clan Shenanigans

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 12:59 pm
by 3rdgendennis
So it was suggested that I submit content to Build Race Party, and what do you know, I got a cool little feature on their website!

http://buildraceparty.com/mad-max-dart-lives-2015/

Re: Dennis Clan Shenanigans

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 10:05 am
by 3rdgendennis
So after being re-re-rescheduled, the Dart finally went drifting! Should have more pictures and video and a little write up coming soon, but for now have this teaser:
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Re: Dennis Clan Shenanigans

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 10:21 am
by Super1303
Sick! You suck, bless your heart. ;)
That looks amazingly fun!

Re: Dennis Clan Shenanigans

Posted: Wed May 13, 2015 11:05 am
by 3rdgendennis
Some things happened since the last update. Still working on video from the drift event but here's a little more on it:
After being rescheduled 3 times due to an extended winter in New England, the first Clubloose North drift event was held on April 18th. As promised, we brought the Dart. It was certainly not the most suitable vehicle, but it is RWD, it's loud, and it's bad, so it's okay! I missed the first session due to the alternator dying first thing in the morning, but one great thing about old, massed produced cars is that the parts store down the road had one in stock for $50! So with a new alternator in, I made the second session, and it was as silly and awesome as I could have hoped. The car was running a little warm, so we took off the sheet plastic nose cone, and the Mad Max effect doubled. Something in the suspension started bending during the third session, and got worse and worse, so I called it quits after that.
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Even though I only ran in two of the 4 sessions, I got a ton of seat time for the cost of entry. The guys at Clubloose North are awesome! Everyone went out of their way to ask how I was doing (this was my first attempt at drifting) and very encouraging! Oh and if you like camping, bonfires, and partying to go along with burning tires and bouncing rev limiters, I highly suggest making it to a CLN event this summer!
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Once the steering is straightened out, we will definitely bring the Dart back for another go, hopefully with a little better setup! Although it was great to see guys' faces when I told them that yes, it does have leaf springs in the back (and torsion bars up front)! I'm also hoping to make it to Burke, and maybe even get the old man to co-drive with me.
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Oh and this awesome V8 Mercedes was awesome.
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Next: Josh brought the shifter kart up to NHMS for a test session. He said it was 11/10 on the fun scale. Josh let Alex (of Philo Daewoo challenge fame) take it for a run, and he threw on a go pro:


Then came the RallySprint. SCCA hasn't been involved in stage rally since 2004. Last weekend they ran the first RallySprint since then. Organized and chaired by Scott Beliveau, this event couldn't have gone any better. 26 entries got 7 runs, 4 in the morning on a 1.9 mile stage, and 3 in the afternoon on a just under 3 mile stage. Josh and I both drove (the nature of the rallysprint allows double drivers, like hillclimbs) and were putting up some top times in 2WD before the computer in the Neon died. Josh missed 2 and I missed 1 run before we finally figured out what was wrong and swapped in a spare computer. Our stage times would have put us in 2nd and 3rd in 2WD if we hadn't had issues.
Videos of this coming soon! For now, have some pictures:
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Thanks RHPhotography!
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Thanks Wyatt Knox!
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Thanks Steve!