My Gen 3 Test Drive at High Plains

Check out the latest version of the Spec Racer! LBoth ligher weight and more powerful!!! Available soon, racing in 2015!

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:32 pm
Mike Davies was gracious and accomodating enough to bring out the Gen 3 car for folks to drive during the test day for the Freedom Sprints on July 5, and I thought I'd share my experience.

First, for those who have not seen it, the engine bay has been done extremely well. A machined adaptor plate mates the Ford 1.6 liter engine to the existing transaxle, and everything just looks more tidy. The exhaust is no longer facing the fuel cell, but exits to the rear and the intake is small, tidy and has no long runs of tubing to and fro. It sure looks a great deal easier to service and maintain, and the addition of a modern ECU should also make it easier to diagnose ancillary issues related to the engine and will allow one-wire data logging (via the serial data) of all engine parameters, including A/F ratio, throttle position, oil pressure, water temperature, and more.

No surprise, the car is faster due to the greater power. I frankly struggled a bit at first with the car, as the sound is so different with over 1200 more usable rpm, my gear selection and shift points were hugely different. Plus, it is imperative to use the brakes more on every turn due to the greater speed and I tended to charge into the corners too hard.

That said, I got down to a 2:03.9 in the 90+ degree heat at HPR at the end of a 30-minute session, which I understand is one second below the track record for SRF. In my car, I was running around 2:08.2 by the end of a comparable session in the heat (wow that track loses grip in the heat). My best morning qualifying laps in my SRF were 2:05.7. Mike may be able to share more details on the data and I am confident I can go faster when I learn more about the car and if I had the time to make some pedal placement adjustments.

The lighter weight of the car (and it had the new tubular control arms) seemed to make it more responsive to brakes and turn-in and I suspect I might want a bit more front bias, as I did loop it once under hard braking for the so-called "Prarie Corkscrew." It is also imperative to give a strong throttle blip for downshifts, especially 3-2 (and you can use 2nd gear a lot in this car), given the higher rpm operating range (about 6700 rpm shift point). There will be lots of fun learning the subtle things you need to know to be quick in the car, from setup to technique.

Overall, it is much more of a race car. The sound alone is worth the price of admission - gone is the agricultural drone of the current car. The lighter weight will also pay dividends in not only handling, but in stress on some components like hubs. Now I suspect we may have a shorter life for brake components and the jury is out on driveline component longevity, but the engine makes its better power not through torque, but via rpm range, so hopefully the stress on gears and driveshafts will not be a big issue.

Finally, the car is an obvious labor of love. Mike has developed it to adress not only the dwindling supply of the old engine components, but also to give the class a significantly improved car in every way, in pace, sound and feel. He is also doing all he can do to keep the price under control. This car is not thrown together to just create a market and make money for Enterprises. It is the brain child of a serious racer aimed at continuing the enthusuasm for the SRF class and making the SRF an even more serious race car that is going to now be probably 3 or more seconds per minute faster than a SM at most tracks.

I am really looking forward to racing this car.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 2:06 pm
Thank You Keith,

Very enjoyable honest feedback. The comments about Mike's labor of love are so absolutely perfect!
Erik
SCCA Enterprises

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 2:34 pm
Keith, you beat me to it and did a better job than I could on describing the experience! I second "the sound alone is worth the price of admission". And the car had the new muffler installed and sounded really crisp and race car like.
I don't think that many people realize how much Mike has put into this effort: this is his car, not Enterprises. He is constantly thinking, working and developing. This is basically a one man show; the last conversion involved far more people at Roush yet this one will be far better. On July 4th (yes, his day off) we drove about an hour each way to pick up headers at the fabricator which Mike put on the car and fitted the muffler until about 9 or 10 PM. Then he brought it to HPR for several of us (too bad you weren't there, Denny) to drive. He was even reasonable when one of the testers spun off and brought the car back full of dirt. (no names, please)
To me the first thing you notice is the sound, the second the acceleration, and the third the "tossability" and lightness due to reduced weight.
During the day one of the things I do is product management and typically you start with a list of attributes and boundaries and hope that you can hit all the attributes without overrunning the boundaries - Mike has absolutely done so with the G3.
Looks like my checkbook will be dented as well.

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 5:23 pm
Great Kramer - I hope you get your Gen 3 first - so the rest of us SOW guys don't have to witness anymore of your "Product Management" of your current SRF - meaning all your track maintenance is done with a big hammer and a potty mouth!
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Former Specracer National Champion
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:47 pm
Keith, Steve, Thank you for the straight forward technical review of the GEN3…it’s been difficult and very rewarding project to this point. We need to make some carful choices from here on out…to maintain the excellent reliability we enjoy now. I too believe it’s going to shake up the class as well… some people will pick up new technique’s quickly and others may search a bit.

Speaking of searching…it’s not an off road racer SK…somebody owes the Larue’s for a couple hours of cleaning…so the car was presentable at the events catered dinner Saturday night. I’m told there were some very interested SM competitors looking at the GEN3. Lets hope they see the Spec ...so to speak…lol

Denny, I wish you could have done some laps in it…would have been nice to read your feedback.

Overall I think the majority of the class is ready and eager for the change.
Just the sound alone should raise interest in our class, plus people to watch our events. Time will tell…

I’m really glad our effort here at SCCA Enterprises is starting to increase the giggle factor and will be building in the short near future.
I’ve done my best to try and ease some of the current hassles and not create new ones. The engine R&R procedure is going to be different, I hope not more difficult for the privateer, or non-prep shop racer. I feel it’s easier.
Two things I know are going to raise an eyebrow…throttle cable adjustment and the oil filter…both of which I don’t have much control over.

On a sad note, the Flatout car and mine both failed a starter Solenoid, starters seem like such a simple thing these days…we have ordered from a different manufacture and we will continue with the R&D process, inconvenient but not the end of the world right now.
Mike Davies
SCCA Enterprises

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:05 pm
My experiences feedback for the GEN3 are pretty much the same as others that drove it. When watching it go by, it does sound good. However, when driving it , if really sounds like a proper race car. To me, it sounds better from the drivers seat than as a spectator.
The added rpms make each gear much taller. The current SRF engine/gearbox always seems to be have many situations where you use third, but really wish for second or go to fifth for only a few seconds or overrev fourth. The 6500 limit makes that no longer an issue.
It was also a bit surprising to have wheelspin to that required throttlemodulation.
It took me a few laps to get a feel for matching rpms on downshifts. The light flywheel/clutch revs much quicker with a blip.
Overall, a dramatic improvement over the 1.9. The switch from the Renault to the 1.9 was actually a bit of a disappointment, and the performance increase not worth the dollars. The GEN3 really transforms the car into something that will not only be more fun, but will command respect from competitors in other classes. I predict we will have a few more Spec Miata drivers in our ranks.
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 6:22 pm
tomdalrymple wrote:The GEN3 really transforms the car into something that will not only be more fun, but will command respect from competitors in other classes. I predict we will have a few more Spec Miata drivers in our ranks.


With the transition of CSR/DSR into SR1 and SR2, you might see some of those guys choose SRF. (Assuming they want bona fide competition!)

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