CHICAGO 1 - Extreme Rush Pit Notes

Search for

DRC home :: Events :: Feedback :: Wallpaper :: Advanced Search


			Summit NHRA Events

<< Back To Search Result

Tue, 3 Jun 2003, 07:23 AM

Extreme Rush Pit Notes

Courtesy of Keith Burgan

JOLIET, Ill. -- Abel Ibarra’s troubled run in the initial time trial round here was the result of seal damage in the three rotor motor. Ibarra told FNN that for the past few events when he puts the motor “on the chip” on the start line something is breaking the rotor seals. He noted that he has not changed the fuel injection map so detonation due to a lean condition should be ruled out as a cause. Ibarra is now thinking that there may be a problem in the ignition system itself. If that is so it may be a difficult task to trace the fault as the 3-rotor motor has a multiplicity of components to light the fire. The K & N Mazda has a pair of four stage ignition control boxes that meter the spark to six coils, one for each spark plug. To add to the difficulty of tracing a problem each of the plugs has its own individual advance curve.

Steph Papadakis was not a part of Sunday’s eliminations as the AEM Honda hurt the motor during the first round of time trails on Saturday. The boost controller failed and when the intake manifold pressure got to 60 pounds various components cried enough, spewing coolant out of several orifices. The damage was not immediately repairable and the team loaded up and made plans to have repairs effected in time of next weekend’s points paying event at Atco, NJ.

During the initial time trial session on Saturday Ed Bergenholtz made a tentative pass in his brand new Mazda 6, shaking down the brand new ride with a 9.410 at 151 mph. After the initial run the team came back in the second session with a slow launch and an 11.178 elapsed time with a whopping 172.01-mph speed. During round one of eliminations Ed virtually matched that speed with a stout 8.506 elapsed time in what was only the third run on a brand new car. Bergenholtz attributed his failure to get off the line in round two to “driver error” and noted that the car will be ready to race next weekend at Atco.

Shaun Carlson experimented with a new gear package in the Fortin transmission in his Mopar backed Dodge SRT-4 without much success. On both of his time trial runs the trans hung up and he was forced to coast to the finish line. Overnight he switched back to the combination that had been so successful at Gainesville two weeks ago but once again the car slowed early in the run to advance Ed Bergenholtz. This time it was not a transmission problem per se as the throttle stuck and with the motor tugging against the gearbox Carlson could not make the shift.

Matt Scranton and his brother Jay were forced to lower the boost levels in their Turbonetics V-6 Toyota Celica as the 40 LB level used previously was cracking the cylinder heads. At the lower boost level the power was down enough that the car could not run the big numbers that it has in the recent past. Even so Scranton’s starting line prowess was such that he was able to win the event.

Manny Cruz won a tiebreaker over Matt Scranton to be able to compete here with his two round wins at prior events giving him the edge. With his Cougar out of action following the Englishtown race Cruz borrowed Able Ibarra’s R-100 Mazda at Gainesville to gain the necessary points to force the tiebreaker. He finally took delivery of the new motor for the Cougar here on Friday and spent the day fitting the bullet.

Grant Downing’s Venom Tundra stumbled off the line on Saturday, recovered and picked up some speed and then slowed on the top end as the turbos went away on the Toyota in line six. After an overnight replacement of the offending units Downing launched and then shut off early in his round one bye, saving the machinery for his second round clash with George Iaonnou. In that race Downing got the drop on the Street Glow Solara but did not have the performance to hold off the opposition’s 6.707, the best ever elapsed time for the category.