That’s right folks, in fear of the Stealth Monkey losing his license from a lack of racing the team here at PitMonkeyRacing needs to get some racing in.  What better place than Inde?  No No No it is not a type-o…  We are not running at INDY, but rather over at INDE in Arizona.  New track for us so it should be interesting.  We just need two races to stay licensed, so hopefully we can make it.

Here is one pic of the Stealth in 2012 trim with its wing!  The wing helps out quite a bit and seems to have settled the car nicely.

The ever problematic Stealth is finally getting sorted out, and behaving as a real race car should.  The alignment, corner weight, and wing changes has really settled down the car.  Racing the car in December of 2010 at Phoenix was a real pleasure.  The car stuck well, was very neutral, and kept up with everyone in the corners.

The weekend started off with the back end stuck like glue, and there was the ability to experience some driver induced understeer.  Unfortunately it was near impossible to rotate the back end around it stuck so well.  This resulted in taking some wing out of the car.  Understeer was reduced slightly and the back end just started to rotate around.  Ideally I would like to have the back end a little more loose, but in the corners the car was holding its own very well.

The newest problem this weekend was twofold:  clutch and weight.

As some of you fans know the car is heavy…  200+ lbs heavier than its competitors.  With it being heavy and a motorcycle power plant, that motorcycle clutch gets a beating.  The clutch continued to slip when trying to put power down.  Every shift resulted in cars walking away, and it was very frustrating especially when I caught up to some of them at turn 1, and they only got away at shift points.  The first day I just sucked it up and limped the car around the track.

At the end of day1 the clutch was taken apart and measured for wear.  The friction plates we within spec (barely), and my spares on hand were no better.  With those measurements, it was either marginally bad plates or the stock clutch spring couldn’t handle the weight of the car combined with the newfound request to drive hard(now that the car handles).  The next stage is to disassemble the clutch in the shop, do some more precise measurements and upgrade the necessary weak components.  Weight reduction is also being looked at, however here at PitMonkeyRacing safety is #1, so we are very careful before removing any metal.

To end the story, even with a slipping clutch lap times were reduced by almost 5 seconds a lap.  Had the clutch not been slipping all the way around the oval, and at the exit of every turn it would have easily been 5 seconds a lap faster than before.

Unfortunately my benchmark of PIR is no more (see other story), so I wont have my old measuring stick any more as a guideline.

December of 2010 PitMonkeyRacing participated in the SCCA race over at Phoenix International Raceway.  Unfortunately this may be the last time we race there…  EVER!  It is certainly the last time we will be racing with that track configuration.

It appears that the boys from NASCAR need some enclosed garages and other garages for their race over at the PIR oval.  Of course these garages will be at the infield of the oval which is where the road course is located.  So, during 2011 the PIR road course goes bye bye for “improvements.”

I was fortunate enough to have the Stealth set up well enough to go into turn 1 from the oval onto the inner road course at speed before the track got tore up so the NASCAR boys can work on their cars in a better environment.  It was a good feeling to dive into the turn, and I am now sad to see it go.  I am sure with a little more tuning and comfort in the cars ability I could have shaved a couple seconds off my lap times had been given the chance again.

The rumor mill has stated that PIR will re-do its road course and I will have the opportunity to road race again at that facility.  I hope it is true that they make a new road course, but my cynical side sees the new road course getting replaced by the Sprint Beer garden powered by Bud.  I hope I am wrong and the Phoenix road course does resurrect itself from the ashes in true Phoenix fashion and come back better than ever.

The wing on the stealth will finally be field tested at Phoenix International Raceway on Dec 4 + 5.  We have not returned in full force, but if the results are promising more races will be in the near future.  Stay tuned for updates.

In theory this should provide adequate down force.  Not having a wind tunnel, nor having the entire car set up for engineering simulations I am doing this all shade tree mechanic style.  This experiment in down force was designed using paper, pencil, and making an actual prototype for real world testing.  I know real world testing is a novel concept, but that’s how we roll here at Pit Monkey Racing!  OLD SCHOOL!!!!

The wing mounts were finally welded up, bodywork was modified to make it all fit, and hardware was installed to secure it all together.  The stealth still needs an entire alignment to adjust the ride height so that the additional down force on the chassis is accounted for.

Here is the first post from a mobile device using the newest 4G network. Now it will be even easier to give updates on pit monkey racing.

Here at Pit Monkey Racing things are completely mothballed.

Tough financial times have put all R+D on hold.

There are no plans for attending competition events in the next six months as well.

It has been real, it has been fun, it has been real fun.

Pit Monkey Racing will return in time, so stay tuned for updates on when the monkeys will be back.

It has been a slow time here at Pit Monkey racing.

The December race demonstrated that a wing was in the future for the Stealth, LeMons make it painfully apparent that Fuego needs a good once over and a redesign for any more endurance races.

Well the wing for the stealth is mostly complete, with some finishing work to be done.

The brake redesign is in process for Fuego.  Parts are being acquired, and the brake system should be more than adequate for a 24hour race when it is complete.

The Monkey’s are still around, but just taking it easy.

We are hoping for a March return for Stealth Racing, but only time will tell.

In order to finish first, you must first finish!

The Stealth has acquired its first checkered flag…  Yeah checkered, Boo DNF!

Results are here!