Optima Challenge 2023

[Captain]

I added a quart this morning and my pressures stayed okay...

This is a Common requirement for Ford FE engines,
or a deep sump larger pan. Its mostly the drain back is multiplied by the G forces ......

My

Glad you are Having a HOOT !
G forces help with the Adrenaline Rush Too !!

Party On

[fatguyzinc]

its a given that a big block chevy (ESPECIALLY if you have a HV oil pump) will
"suck the pan dry" on an extended run, many cars have the oil light just start to
flicker as they are going thru the traps on the 1/4 mile top end.

the moroso accumilator is an excellent addition, however the poor mans cure
is exactly as SBG has done-- add an extra quart or two.

[Deaf Bob]

I used to remove front facing oil filters and add the remote filter’s on engine adapter. Still ran the required amount of oil. Read high on the stick.
Running a hi volume -hi pressure pump would drain the pan. Smoothed block lifter valley /heads helped

[SuperBuickGuy]

Optima... I'm probably saying this while I'm still salty but there were three problems.... in order
1) I need to be a better driver
2) Optima needs to stop suckering children into judging Design and Engineering
and 3) I now know how to win, buy a new car at your dealership then spend a lot more money on someone to put stuff on your car... win! alternatively, go spend a lot of money on a 69 Camaro. Needless to say, I'm not the only one who was a bit dismayed at their results.

oh and driving curvy mountain roads on ice with a trailer is not a lot of fun.

[silver_bullet]

I was going to hit the like button, but, .... 1- Your driving has improved, so don't be too hard on yourself.... 2- I applaud your efforts as do the majority on this site and would give kudos for all of the innovation you have applied to PF2.... Three, yours is "Built, NOT bought and you have the right to say" I done did it my damned self ! "...If'n they don't like it, they can:

[Monster]

Yeah, that !

Dude, you are so far ahead in the game, that you just can't see.
1) You have a badder asser vintage C3 Vette with a BBC, in racing trim.
2) You built it yourself.
3) You persevered and got the car and yourself to the track.
4) You raced.
5) You WIN !

[2020 mustang]

The real winners are the ones that are there to enjoy the racing . Where they finish is a nice bonus if at the top of the list or a win. It isn't why they are there.
That said. Time for an Alloy Block.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Pictures

this was on purpose....

track

first AX was in the wet

and it was at this moment I was first in standings

oh what can I say about Thunderhill... it has some puckering hill crests... it's really a nice track but you need to wear your largest pair to go full send

brake challenge .... still damp

I'm so thankful he didn't get a different picture of this



It's turn 5e at the course... and this picture does NOT do it justice. You come up a steep hill, make a hard left at the top and complete an off camber right sweeper down and around the base. You cannot see any of the left turn OR the sweeper as you climb the hill.

I overcooked it... realized I wasn't going to make the corner, so straightened out and just went straight off the hill (figuring that going off sideways would be bad). I had to be airborne for a bit because I still had an oil pan... and no damage to the car....
this picture doesn't do justice on how steep it is but it gives the idea

[65RHDEER]

Great stuff SBG, thanks for taking us along for the weekend.

[Monster]

I overcooked it... realized I wasn't going to make the corner, so straightened out and just went straight off the hill (figuring that going off sideways would be bad). I had to be airborne for a bit because I still had an oil pan... and no damage to the car....

This is how you end the story .. by leaving us all hangin'?

[SuperBuickGuy]

This is how you end the story .. by leaving us all hangin'?

then went and had lunch. Sorry.

[Loren]

The important thing is, you tried your best and, uh no forget that load of crap you're pissed.

Back when I was into it, in taking the Challenger to shows I would eventually score the awards I wanted but for a while I ran up an amazing list of so-so cars that won against me. It was actually baffling until I learned to observe the interactions between winners and judges as people, which explained a lot. I'd like to not be someone who says that, but it's true. At one point I swore I'd never send another dollar to Goodguys and I didn't...at-least you're still with Optima.

I've said that in my corner-turning days I was only an average driver with an average car, but what had me nearly on top of the local scene besides having young-guy reflexes and vision was intimate do-it-in-your-sleep knowledge of the "courses" I drove on. Every feature, every bump. Mulholland three nights a week, get home from work and take a blast up Angeles Forest & Crest to the top of the mountain and back, a drive that was routine for years, home in an hour-and-a-half. When challenged by anything but a 'way superior car, no one who doesn't know the road like you do can get the better of you. I don't know how you do that on a road course you've never been on before, or anywhere you hardly go on and have to be sharing with other cars while you learn it. It takes dozens or a hundred hours of time alone without distraction to really understand that road and how your car works on it. Also you have to be willing to wreck but that's another thing.

My neighbor loves his fancy virtual racing set and did drive roundy-rounds so his opinion that it helps on the track is worthwhile. I just can't engage a video screen like "kids" who grew up with them can, so it doesn't do much for me.

At its' best, racing is a fraternity and worthwhile that way. Be with folks who are not stopped-up back at the bullsh*t filter. I found that with corner-turners more than at the dragstrip, but you need to also party, dine, camp and fish with those people for that to really happen so I don't know.

???

[SuperBuickGuy]

The important thing is, you tried your best and, uh no forget that load of crap you're pissed.

Back when I was into it, in taking the Challenger to shows I would eventually score the awards I wanted but for a while I ran up an amazing list of so-so cars that won against me. It was actually baffling until I learned to observe the interactions between winners and judges as people, which explained a lot. I'd like to not be someone who says that, but it's true. At one point I swore I'd never send another dollar to Goodguys and I didn't...at-least you're still with Optima.

I've said that in my corner-turning days I was only an average driver with an average car, but what had me nearly on top of the local scene besides having young-guy reflexes and vision was intimate do-it-in-your-sleep knowledge of the "courses" I drove on. Every feature, every bump. Mulholland three nights a week, get home from work and take a blast up Angeles Forest & Crest to the top of the mountain and back, a drive that was routine for years, home in an hour-and-a-half. When challenged by anything but a 'way superior car, no one who doesn't know the road like you do can get the better of you. I don't know how you do that on a road course you've never been on before, or anywhere you hardly go on and have to be sharing with other cars while you learn it. It takes dozens or a hundred hours of time alone without distraction to really understand that road and how your car works on it. Also you have to be willing to wreck but that's another thing.

My neighbor loves his fancy virtual racing set and did drive roundy-rounds so his opinion that it helps on the track is worthwhile. I just can't engage a video screen like "kids" who grew up with them can, so it doesn't do much for me.

At its' best, racing is a fraternity and worthwhile that way. Be with folks who are not stopped-up back at the bullsh*t filter. I found that with corner-turners more than at the dragstrip, but you need to also party, dine, camp and fish with those people for that to really happen so I don't know.

???

the tl;dr of all of this is - I build cars for me. This doesn't make my cars better (then autox or SCCA track nights already do), so why bother? they want new cars - that ain't my gig, which is simply fine.

so the longer version is I was mildly upset - there were some who I wondered whether or not they were going to go too far. I don't do this for that crap.

[silver_bullet]

BTW.... Love seeing PFII in action!

[2020 mustang]

Get this man a go pro. lap video's are so cool.