On a half-mile paved oval track, with a late-model stock car ( 2,700 pounds, 600 horsepower), adding 50 pounds cost a half second a lap. As always, Smokey had an answer, which was accurate because he tested it. When I had the great pleasure of working with Smokey Yunick at Circle Track magazine, one evening over dinner, we were discussing the effect of weight on lap times. If you are above minimum weight, you will never be competitive. Being complacent about weight means a midpack finish. That’s a good thing, but just because your racecar is very close to the minimum weight rule, you still have a lot of work to do. Yes, of course spec classes - most racing classes in fact - have a minimum weight. By using new, blueprinted parts with high-grade synthetic lubricants, parasitic drag will be reduced considerably, which is like adding horsepower. Starting out with weak links in the system will lead to frustrating and possibly expensive DNFs. The expense of getting to a race is considerable. First, reliability improves dramatically. There are two reasons for all the cost and trouble. Third member bearings and gears should be replaced and the assembly should be blueprinted. Axles, wheel bearings and CV joints should be replaced. It sucks to DNF due to a broken shifter cable. Shift linkage likely will need replacement. On the driveline, the transmission should be rebuilt with new bearings and bushings. This is especially important in hot, summer climates. Make sure the radiator is flowing properly, or replace it. Be sure to replace all expendable items like spark plug wires, belts, timing chain or belt, radiator hoses, engine mounts, battery, alternator, water pump and oil pump. It will cheaper to do this upfront rather than wait, since an engine failure can cause catastrophic and expensive damage. The crankshaft should be checked and replaced if needed. Replace all items prone to wear like valves, valve guides, bearings, camshaft, pistons, rings. Even if you must run stock cams, valvetrain, pistons, etc., the engine should be blueprinted to extract both maximum performance and reliability. We aren’t getting into building here, but only what needs to be done. Let’s start with the engine and driveline. Building a stock-based race car is a lot of work and requires significant commitment. But even if you purchase an existing car, many of the same principles will apply. Let’s assume you are building a car from scratch. By the 1960s and the advent of pro racing series based on stock street cars, like the Trans Am Series, preparation was getting more sophisticated, more difficult and more expensive and the process is no simpler today. No race car trailers, tow rigs, race tires or safety gear. In the late 1940s through the 1950s, you could race your Jaguar, MG or Triumph after removing hub caps and taping over headlights. In the early days of sports car racing, most cars were based on stock, street vehicles. All indications were that the Sprint Kit would not even require a pad change over the course of the 25 hours! Again, keep in mind that Essex's Sprint Kit is our lightest, smallest option for the FT86 platform (Essex also have a monster Endurance system).Even if you know how to weld, installing a cage is one part of the racecar build process best left to professional fabricators. They ran the car at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, but ultimately succumbed to a DNF. Team TAPG won with our kit on its debut weekend at Sonoma, and they continued on to seal up the 2018 NASA WERC E1 Class Championship with it. It's durable enough for serious endurance racing, works on cars with double stock horsepower, saves 20 unsprung lbs. Did we create a custom brake kit with special features, designed explicitly for multi-hour endurance races? No! All we did was recommend our standard, off-the-shelf Essex Designed AP Racing Sprint Kit, which has been proven time and again on circuits around the world. They had been doing really well in their NASA Western Endurance Racing Championship class, but they were still struggling a bit with the OEM brakes. Towards the second half of last year, a team of Toyota engineers from the Toyota Arizona Proving Grounds contacted Essex about bullet proofing the brakes on their Toyota 86 racecar. TAPG Motorsports wins 2018 NASA WERC E1 Class Championship on an Essex/AP Racing Sprint Brake Kit TAPG Motorsports wins 2018 NASA WERC E1 Class Championship
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