Experieces in Racing an Europa

[Serge]

What are the advantages for the Sebring spec? I've read through Appendix K for G1 GTS cars, and it looks very restrictive. Maybe you have a better view of the modifications that are possible, but I have some concerns.

If the only addition is wider wheels, than I wouldn't change from G2 to G1. In most cases G1 and G2 will race together and I think you will lose power with the standard exhaust manifold. Why don't you change the intake manifold to the original and run a weber carb (38 or 40 DGV synchro) but still retain your tubular exhaust manifold and do the rest of the engine modifications?

If the only downside is that you have to use 4.5" wheels in stead of 6", I think the power decrease will hurt more than the extra width will gain.


Serge

[Valerio Leone]

Serge, again, if you are not able to have documents that show that a different exhaust manifold has been used, then you must keep the stock exhaust manifold also in G2.
G2 is more interesting if you can have the evidences for the modifications allowed by appendix J 1971.
So far we cannot prof any configuration in G2 except the one we had for hemi engines.
But FiA do not accept it, mysteriously...

I tell you what I will do.
HTP as G1 and then i will use my double webers on races.
This is a typical behavior of most of the drivers. The park fermé is just ridiculous, nobody will check your HTP.
Fia accept when you are cheating more than when you try to play fair.
Absurd.
More, In my case CSAI ( the equivalent of FFSA) approved my modifications and I am now running an official national HTP of a car that never existed. What's wrong with them???

[Mecky]

Hi guys,

we had a nice weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. The weather was brilliant, but because of the heat we had some trouble with an overheating engine while qualifying. After 15 minutes of quick driving and reving up to 6500 rpm the water gauge told me about temperature of 110°C. That was not a problem for that short time, but it would be over the race distance of three hours. Because of that we had to limit the revs while the race down to 5500 rpm. That ment a constant temperature of 95°C and nothing broke.

Naturally this was a big disadvantage in performance. We had to leave the throttle pedal half way through the long straights. But in the corners we were able to go really quick, so that we came 34th of 62 cars overall and 3rd of 6 cars in class. We did beat a Mini Marcos (this guy's car is a 1300 ccm GT car, but he has to race in Two-Seater-Racing-Car class up to more than 2 litres, as well), a Ginetta G12 and a Ford GT40, which did not finish. The GT40 stopped in the last corner of the last lap (probably out of fuel) and because of the endurance-reglement we took the third place off him, although he completed more laps. But if you don't cross the finishline, you will not be classified.

The TSRC class was won by the extremely quick Daren Mk3 with a Cosworth BDG engine (270 HP with 500 kg). Second place went to another great car: Chevron B16 with about 250 HP and 590 kg. The Daren was driven by three-time Le Mans-winner Marco Werner and the GT40 by Audi works-driver Frank Stippler, who won the 24 hours Nürburgring 2012.

Our fastest lap was 3:15,1 min, which is quiet nice under these conditions. I think if we could press the right foot hard down, at least 5 seconds faster would be no problem.

This time we were lucky.

Best regards

Stefan

[Serge]

Good job Stefan! If I had known you were at Spa this weekend I might had come visit, let me know when you're back at Zolder.

What radiator are you using? It might be worthwhile trying something else, because I think you will gain a lot of speed if you can use the remaining revs.


Serge

[Valerio Leone]

ciao Stephan,

First of all congratulation for the race!! Spa is one of my dream.
6500 are the revs I am planning to reach for my new project, but for sure I will face the overheating problem.
At monza with just 5200 rpm the temperature was constantly at 100C°.
Are you using the thermostat unit?

[Mecky]

Thanks boys,

we are using the very thick standard radiator with a whole new core and without thermostat.

I think this problem has more than one reason. Firstly there is the not very good position of the radiator in the boot, secondly the water container is much too close to the exhaust manifold and maybe thirdly the stock Renault waterpump is not constructed to pump the water through such a long circle. Do you know something about a better one?

I had to get off the throttle half the way through the long Kemmel straight and far before the very fast Blanchimont-curve. Additionally I had to lift the throttle earlier than I wanted before the corners La Source, Eau Rouge and Fagnes. Maybe I also lost some time accerating out of tight corners in 4th instead of 3rd gear. But I had to be that careful to bring the car home. And the GT40 shows why... To finish first, first you have to finish!

Best regards

Stefan

[Valerio Leone]

I was looking at your time data.
3.15 is good, but with your  kg/hp rate,  you could be much faster.
Let's say that without that problem you could gain at least 15 seconds.

I'm also using a thick alluminium radiator. The same radiator for lotus 47. Same position and same fan.
I dont' know if i can say that the water pump is weak. alpine 110 is using he same pump for competition, and the radiator is in front of the car.
On this point an Alpine race driver told me that I should use the thermostat, this allow the water to flow slow through the radiator for better cooling. Could be right??

[Mecky]

Not 15 seconds. The Europa is significantly slower than an Elan. The Elans in our competition have almost 200 HP an whey less than 600 kg. I have 160 HP and 670 kg. I noticed that I could go as fast as the 2 litre Alfas. That would mean something about 3:05 perhaps.

[Valerio Leone]

Ciao Mecky,

What do you think about the thermostat story. Do you think it would help to keep the temperature low.
I had the same problem with my R8 gordini, running without thermostat.

[Serge]

I am surprised that there are so many problems with engine temperature. As Valerio says, the Alpine A110 guys have the same water pump and radiator location and they are running much bigger revs than 6500.

Valerio might have a point about the thermostat, I can remember reading something to that effect in the knowledgebase.
 

[Valerio Leone]

Right Serge, also in consideration that me and Mecky are using same radiator and same layout as per Lotus 47.
 

[Mecky]

Maybe it's just a problem with the water gauge or temperature sensor. We will figure that out.

I made a little calculation about how fast I can go on the tracks in our calendar, based on laptimes from eight other cars from our racing series on each track and my fastest driven lap in Hockenheim.

On the basis of the fastest lap of 2:13 min from Hockenheim (4574 m) in 2012, I figured out lap times of 2:01 min at Zolder (4000 m), which I already drove in April with lots of traffic, 3:08 min at Spa Francorchamps (7004 m) and 2:33 min at Nürburgring GP (5137 m).
I also made a second calculation based on the guess that I could go about two seconds faster now in Hockenheim. That would mean a laptime of 2:11 min in Hockenheim, 1:59 min at Zolder, 3:05 min at Spa-Francorchamps and 2:30 min at the Nürburgring GP-track. I think something inbetween theese two results for each track is possible and that would mean to be as fast as class-winning 2-litre touring-cars of period G like Alfa Romeo GTAm and BMW 2002 ti or faster than huge Mustangs and most of the 2-litre Porsche 911.
But our Europa will never be quite as fast as the Lotus Elan, which can do 2:05 min at Hockenheim, 1:53 min at Zolder, 2:58 min at Spa and 2:23 min at Nürburgring GP. That's because Mr. Chapman homologated the Elan 26 R, which allows modifications like disc brakes all around. Aside from that the Elan has almost 200 HP at a weight of 580 kg, while we have 40 HP less and 100 kg more.

The small calculation also shows some characteristics of each track. For example that Spa-Francorchamps is the fastest with an average speed of about 136 km/h, followed by Hockenheim with 126 km/h and Nürburgring GP with 123 km/h. The slowest track in our calendar and a huge torture for the breaks is Zolder with an average of 121 km/h. The difference of the last three seems to be very small, but an average of 121 km/h would mean 2:16 min instead of 2:11 min at Hockenheim, which is quite a lot.

[Valerio Leone]

Ciao Mecky,

I have also made some calculation and I am still convinced you could be at least as fast as the Marcos  1800 gts (2.59 at Spa)
Definetly faster than Alfa GTAm and probably very close to the 26R.

On this Elan in specific you should know that the Kent Lotus engine full appendix K can provide maximum 180HP. This figure have already some reliability troubles, that's why the 26R prepared for endurance get maximum 165/170HP.
Ok the Lotus 26R is 580kg weight, but you could have 613Kg, so not that much difference.
Your advantage can be for sure the handling and better road holding in the corners.
At Monza the Alpine A110 laptime is 2.18. The Lotus 26R 2.19.
Ok it depend on the driver as well, but you know that Alpine A110 is very heavy (700Kg).
I also have made a calculation where and how you can save at least 50/60kgs.   





   

[Mecky]

Hi Valerio,

I am sure that this Elan has a lot more than 165 HP. No other car, except for the TSRCs (Chevron B16, Ford GT40 and Daren Mk3), is so much faster on the long uphill straight at Spa. Not even the 2,5 litre Porsches, which have 270 HP or the BDA Escort with 250 HP. This huge difference in accerleration and speed does not come from a 7 HP advantage. I know an Escort TC driver, who has cam shafts made by an Elan-specialist and even his Escort has very reliable 185 HP. And also the Alpine A110 can be very very quick. In Germany there is one, which lead in Spa 2012 half the race in front of Chevron B16, Porsche 907 and Lotus 23B, until he had to retire.

I did my calculation not on how the car could go, if it would be much lighter or more powerful. Just as it is know with 158 HP and 670 - 680 kg. In this configuration I am exactly as fast on the straights as the Alfa GTAm. Their advantage is a better breaking and I can go a little faster through the corners. So it's quite plausible. Ok, it's hard to know, how much time I lost with driving slow at Spa, but 6 seconds faster than this Alfas? No way!

If the car would be down to the minimum weight that would be a different story. I think with 615 kg, it could be possible to break the 3 min barrier in Spa, but for now, we have to deal with it. In the winter hopefully we can reduce some weight, if wo have no damage on the car this season.

One huge point to reduce weight is the exhaust manifold. I think there we can win almost 10 kg. I already bought a much lighter one, but the muffmust be revised. There is also the heavy radiator and the huge battery, but these heavy parts in the front of the car are important for the handling especially in wet conditions. Another aspect to reduce weight would be the body. I think it's quite heavy, because of several deposits of paint and prestolit and what so ever. If we will get no major technical problems in the next time, the body is going to be restored and maybe lightened.

What are your ideas for saving weight? 60 kg is much. That would mean reaching the minimum weight of 615 kg. BTW: How much does you car whey?

Best regards

Mecky

[Valerio Leone]

Hi Mecky again,

I am comparing the figures of Monza, probably the fastest track in Europe.
There were 3 GTAm and they did 2.23 - 2.26 - 2.27.
The Alpine 110 did 2.18.
You have the same engine as per A110 Alpine but with a teoretical better weight ratio and much better handling and stability.

My calculation for weight reducion is as follow:

10 kilos changing radiator and battery.
10 Kilos changing the windscreen, you are allowed to us lexan in TSRC. Kelvedon have a nice version.
20 Kilos from wheels, you are now using the alluminium minilite J9 and J8 that weight something like 8 kilos each.
The 26R is using magnesium wheels 6X13 and 5.5X13 that weight 3.25 kilos. Let alone the Dunlop racing that are very light itself. This also improve a lot the accelleration performances. Magnesium is also good for brake temperatures.
The 26R is using the Dunlop racing 5.25M front and 5.50N back. Those tyres could be more than enought for the Europa.
You can buy a Set on of mag wheels 3.75PDC and spacer for wheels from Kelvedon.

10 kilos removing that manifold and using a lighter alternator
5 kilos if you use alloy front hub and alloy rear drums. also here you can improve the preformance.
4 kilos if you use the 4 speed gearbox with lighter limited slip Differential from quaife and a straight cut gearset. (like the one the 26R is using)

Then if you want to play dirty (and I will probably do it because FIA is plaing dirty with us) you can change the bootlid and the front using carbon. here you can save at least 10 kilos total.

so