[s-cars] NAC First drive in DP-02 car

[Bill Mahoney]

Folks,

Here is my “Clueless Racing” neighbors report on his first drive in his
fractional ownership of an IMSA lites, DP-02 car.  Tonis is our Estonian,
real race car driver buddy that is “go fast” possessed and at the ripe old
age of 31still chases any ride that will sponsor him.  Reed is my neighbors’
son.  Rick, the author of this, has been competing in a SCCA spec ford racer
for some years now.  He has been known to over amp and crash on a warm up
lap, but has had some very good overall success in the series.  Spec Ford is
probably the most inexpensive way to go real racing that there is…. If there
is such a thing.

The DP-02 IIRC is 1,175 lbs. and 215 hp. Looks like a mini Lemans car.
HYPERLINK
"http://www.elanmotorsports.com/images/DP02.pdf"http://www.elanmotorsports.c
om/images/DP02.pdf

Bill~working on seat floating~M

 

 

 

Driving the car is AWSOME.

 

I remember when Tonis went for his first driver test in a Champ car. Me and
Reed, and I think a few other fans, flew down to Sebring to watch and keep
him company. I’m sure he was a little nervous and He certainly wanted to
impress the Dale Coyne team. They strapped him in the car, talked to him for
about fifteen minutes about what the car was going to be like, and then sent
him out to do one lap. He went out and came back in and they talked to him
some more and then sent him out to do two laps. He went out and during the
second lap they called him on the radio and asked a question about some
minor switch position. Reed and I had headsets so we could hear the exchange
between car and pit. We thought that he sounded a little…. winded…….like he
had been walking fast or something. He came in and they talked to him for
about twenty minutes and then sent him out to do 5 to 10 laps……as many as he
felt comfortable with. After 4 laps they started calling to ask about
handling and other such nonsense and Reed and I were stunned at how he
sounded on the radio. We thought we were listening to a man who was on the
20th mile of a marathon….total exhaustion with a little fear and anxiety
mixed in. We could not fathom what was happening to him in the car to make
his voice sound like that. Reed and I had been watching down by the hairpin
and he looked like he was pushing the car pretty good but not breaking any
records.  After 6 laps he called and said he was going to come into the pit
to rest. They told him try to stay at it a bit longer. At this point he was
almost unintelligible on the radio. He came in on the 7th lap and sat in the
car wheezing like an old man after a bar room brawl. 

 

I was never able to understand what could have been going on in the car, or
in his head, to induce that physical reaction. 

 

I now have a much better perception. You must understand that I have never
been able to get myself to “work up to it slowly”. I’m sure I’ve wasted a
lot of money on crash repairs that could have been avoided with a little
more patience. I just can’t stop myself from going as fast as I can, as fast
as I can.

 

His step from Formula Atlantic to Champ car is similar, bigger really, to my
step from Spec Racer to the DP02. My quickest on the south track at Autobahn
in The Spec racer was 1:38. My quickest in the DP02 was 1:30. Best
theoretical 1:28. When I got home last night I got out my computer and laid
that 1:38 over the 1:30. Oddly, all of the corning speeds in both cars were
the same…the braking points, more or less, were the same. The only real
difference, in a pick up of 8 seconds, was terminal speed at the ends of
straights. So…….where the Spec racer shows a top speed on the back straight
of 93mph, the DP02 is going just a hair under 130mph. That doesn’t sound too
extreme, but you just gotta be there to understand. They called on the radio
after about 6 laps and it wasn’t ‘till I keyed the mic that I realized that
I didn’t have ANY breath to use to speak. I had exhaled long ago and didn’t
even realize it. All I could do was wheeze into the mic. Ended up sitting in
pit lane wheezing like an old man after a bar room brawl.

 

The car will literally, take your breath away. Can you imagine an
environment so intense that one might stop breathing and not know…… or care?

 

I’m sure we’ll learn to be comfortable with the acceleration and our
cornering speeds will come up quite a bit. I suspect that we’ll get into the
mid 1:20’s at some point. The acceleration curve is as steep in 5th gear as
the Spec Racer is in 2nd gear and it just keeps pulling, right to the
limiter. Braking is much better than the spec. Consider the speeds are 25%
higher and the brake points are the same. The car is very nicely balanced.

 

We will all be learning to left foot brake, which I did all of my time in
the car. It is difficult to learn that technique….not so much to remember to
use your left foot, but to learn to modulate your left foot. My left foot
just isn’t as smart as my right.

 

The sequential shifting is really cool. Little blip for downshifts and a
little bit bigger lift for upshifts. The shifter needs a pretty good pull to
make the shift. Being able to keep your feet centered on the brake and gas
is very nice. It’s a little disconcerting to have no dead petal, you just
have to relax your body and let it float around in the seat.

 

 


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