<VV> Whee! Power On Oversteer

[Warren LeVeque]

                              Whee!   Power On Oversteer
 
     Went to a very well run CSCC (Walesboro IN) Autocross  Sat Aug 2. 
   I hadn’t run (or started) my Levair   B/Mod Velociraptor in a year ; so thought I would take it on a needed outing---I needed one too; felt the need for speed and socializing with like minded friends. 
       The Velociraptor was built by son Michael and I in the late 80s to resemble an Indy car of that era; no goal, just grins. It had to meet meet some rules, so I chose B/M formula 5000 and 3000 rules. 
     Being a Corvair NUT, I thought that bringing a Corvair engine out to 3000 ccs would be just right at 1105 pounds empty weight. It went through many iterations but currently is 3 liters, 13/1 comp, 300 cam, and tuned 6 tube, Q jet intake—about 220 horsepower. It uses a 3.27/1 reversed 4 spider posi differential, and a special close ratio Saginaw gear box—tried many lighter ones that would not take the power.  The gear box is close ratio between 2nd and 3rd (1200 rpm difference) gears,  instead of like my road race cars; close between 3rd and 4th.  At this power to weight, no shifting is required at autocrosses;  just start in the gear that you are going to use.  It has 13 x 10 and 13 x 12 aluminum wheels and the softest Avon slick tires. 
     Since I hadn’t run the car in a year, I took my own advice and tried to make sure it was ready and loaded Thurs before the event. The clutch was stuck (rusted?) to the  light flywheel which took a while to free up. The brakes seemed barely adequate  during testing in my grassy field; where do you test modified cars? I assumed that the brakes just needed to be scuffed up in an event. 
     The old airport course is old, rugged, and slippery on one half and newly paved on the other. I don’t get there very often( 2 hour trip), so am not used to the changes. The course was very well designed—they did their job well. 
     We got six runs, thank goodness. I had just given advice to a novice not to waste the 1st run being too careful; learn where your problems are by overdriving, and ease off later. As I thought, the brakes were almost non existent until the last part of the run; so was anxious for the next run. 
       Starting in second gear I floored the throttle and made a huge spin in the first turn; near the spectators of course. OK, I was just taking my own advice. On the second half of the course I could use full throttle of course.  Guess I needed treaded tires and four wheel drive on the 1st  half and my slicks on the second half. I was hitting the 7000 rpm rev limiter  in 2nd gear about 2 car lengths just before the fast finish. 
     I made about a ½ sec improvement on each following run and felt like I was finally racing.  There were a couple of sweeping turns where I got to control my throttle on, oversteer  techniques to good avail. This 73 year old guy apparently doesn’t learn as fast as he used to but does eventually learn!
      Some of the best fun was had later inside the car trailer answering technical questions from a group of engineering college students which was climaxed by starting the engine per their request in the trailer.  They didn’t know much about Corvairs, but did like the horizontally opposed six which was part of the frame. 
      No, I didn’t get to take any Babes for rides but did get to work with one during my Safety assignment.
 
Whee, it was a good day!
 
Warren

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