Spec V in Speed World Challenge

[Tim Rogers]

Today was the first day of practice and qualifying for the Petit LeMans
weekend at Road Atlanta.  Since I am now jobless, I get to take in the whole
event:-)
There is a red Spec V being driven by Bob Hermes of Oregon in the Touring
Car division with the following mods:
QR25DE engine built by Sunbelt Performance Engines (they also have the
factory contract to build all of the Mazda motors for this series) with the
following upgrades:
Everything.
Well, everything but the block, crank and intake manifold.  New rods,
pistons, valves & springs, cams (variable timing eliminated IIRC) and I
believe that the oiling system is dry sump.  The intake is by AEM, and the
header is a "Nissan Motorsport" unit.  Injection is by a stand-alone Motec
unit.
Suspension is Advanced Design, brakes are Wilwood (including a cockpit
adjustable proportioning valve,) and a wing and airdam from the specified
company that supplies both of these items for every car in this series.
This is the car's first race and there have been some teething problems.
What kind of problems?
Fire is bad...
During the first lap of practice, there was an O-ring failure on the fuel
pump adapter.  The fuel leaking from this was ignited by the exhaust and the
resulting small fire melted through the main fuel line and created a
bona-fide conflagration.
The driver stopped at a corner station and bailed out, injuring his shoulder
in the process.  The corner workers (God bless 'em) got the fire put out
with a ton of extinguishant, and the car suffered very little damage.  In
fact, the most time consuming part of getting the car ready for the
qualifying session was cleaning the extinguishant out of the interior and
trunk...
In qualifying, the car only turned about 5 laps with the oil pressure gauge
suddenly reading zero.  Most likely due to a bad gauge or sending unit.

More updates tomorrow.

Tim Rogers