Rochester DSM One Lap Team

8 March 2010 in Featured Comments off

Stephen Burke, Timothy Harper, Sean Caron, and Chris Wirth talk about racing their 1992 Galant VR4 in the 2009 One Lap of America race.  Quite possibly the most epic interview we’ve run here at Mitsubishi Gearbox Magazine.  It’s Galant VR4 Month.  You don’t want to miss this story!  Does your Mitsubishi race team have an official name?
Stephen started the club as a Yahoo group which evolved into the RochesterDSM.org website that we represent today. Along the way each of us got into autocross, drag, and road racing and out of that we formed lifetime friendships. So its the club is what brought us together and thats why we are named after it but its really the freindship and common love of cars that ties us together.

What would that be?
Rochester DSM One Lap Team

What Mitsubishi do you race?
This year the team is bringing two cars to the One Lap of America. The 1992 Galant VR-4 that the team ran last year and a 2008 Mitsubishi Evolution X GSR. If you break it down outside of One Lap, we have some pretty strong roots in Mitsubishi. Out of the four of us going, we have two Evolution X, one Evolution IX and Tim has transitioned from his 1992 Eclipse GSX to the Galant VR-4 for his track events.

In what series?
The only official series we run is the One Lap of America every year, if you call the second consecutive year a regular occurrence. Most of our tracking revolves around using the various driver’s education courses to get onto the track. We run with the various groups like the Niagara Region PCA and call Watkins Glen our hometown track.

What’s your real name and role in the team? (Do you have a screen name online?)
It is interesting that you asked about screen names, as the world has made a strong transition into representing real names online with the growth of social networking.

Stephen Burke (nrvous)
Timothy Harper (greengsx)
Sean Caron (tevenor)
Chris Wirth (hiboost)

For One Lap, you can either be a driver or a transit driver. For us, everybody’s role is driver as nobody in our group wants to go on this trip without driving the tracks.

Where do you live?
We all live around the Rochester NY area, which is that equally snow buried area between Buffalo and Syracuse.

What do you do for a living?
Sean, Chris and Stephen all work within the Information Technology realm in some fashion, while Tim breaks the mold as a Analytical Chemist.

How did you all come to do this together?
We came together as friends through the Rochester DSM club, which was the local car enthusiast club for organizing our Mitsubishi addictions. We came together to race on One Lap of America in 2009. While Tim may object, the rest of us like to blame this on his mid-life moment of wanting to take the “once in a lifetime” trip he had always dreamed about.

How long have you been doing it?
It feels like we have been modifying, breaking, and fixing Mitsubishi’s to make them better for racing since birth, where in reality we all dived in around the mid-90s. We have been on the track for years, starting into the SCCA solo events about that time and getting onto the real track time around 2001-2003, depending on who you talk to.

Why did you choose this Galant to race? Features? Benefits?
The first reason has to be availability. As much as we would have loved to have a selection of cars at our disposal, we had a vested interest in the Galant VR-4 as a platform and we had one that became available. It was actually Stephen’s car that had been built up over the years, but Stephen was moving to a Mitsubishi Evolution X. That made the car mildly expendable and having a car  that we could walk away from was important. The real attraction was that we had so many race parts between the VR-4 and Tim’s 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse that we knew we could make a pretty competitive car for the event. The benefit was that it had enough room to fit three guys, otherwise we would have taken the Eclipse that was already track ready.

Got a favorite story to tell about building or racing the Galant?
To ask this question in a garage with the group of us hanging around, we would talk for longer than this article could possibly accommodate.

Building it up, there was a lot of pressure in a short amount of time. The most fun in the build process was closer to the end when the paint and the decals really transformed the car. All of the hard work up to that point turned into a lot of glowing pride as we represented such a nostalgic look into Mitsubishi racing history. It brought a grin from ear to ear.

We took a lot of pride in what we did last year and it wasn’t just the build up of the car and all the work we did to build a following and land some really cool sponsors. We had a great time and earned the respect of our fellow compeitors some of which had no idea what the hell we were driving. After the Motor Trend article came out that really put the finishing touches on what was an epic journey for us.

What have you already accomplished with the Galant?
Surviving the One Lap of America trip in 2009 was a milestone. It is amazing to take a four door sedan which started as 195 horsepower and produce a reliable track car up closer to 450 horsepower.

When giving the car the final once-over before a race, what sort of things are you looking
at?
Brakes, Brakes, and mostly Brakes. We have just driven the car for hundreds of miles if not more, so we have a grasp on how it is running, engine wise. The only thing that we want to ensure is working better than anything is the braking. When you are driving a relatively blind track for the first time, the brakes can make up a lot of mistakes.

What are your primary concerns at this point?
One Lap of America is a unique event. You only have three hot laps, making every mistake compound. The first concern is keeping control of the car and not over-driving the track.  You put a lot of effort into trying to learn a track that you may have only watched videos of, or seen a map of.

Walk our readers through what happens between when you get into and out of the Galant for a run and your concerns each step of the way.
The event is a very strong team effort on race day. While there is not enough time to make all of the prep work happen, the driver of the event tries to get out on the track early to walk some of the turns. This isn’t always available, but it gives a chance for the driver to focus on what is coming up and to start running through entry and exit points of the turns.  While the driver walks the course, the co-driver preps the car. After a long night of travel, this means getting all of the gear out and giving the car a once over to ensure everything is where it needs to be. We stiffen the shocks for the track, check the fluids and pull the wheels off to make sure we have plenty of braking still in place to make things go smooth.  We do a lot of balance with tire pressure depending on the conditions and the track.

Getting called to grid is pretty straight forward, unless something didn’t go well during the prep stage and we are short on time. Lining up in grid, each driver goes through his own mental routine to be ready. Anything mechanical is out of our focus now, so it is all about where to run and trying to find a line that works.

For the One Lap of America, you have one recon lap to drive around the track to learn the turns. After one recon lap you return to grid and get staged for your 3 lap timed run. That recon lap is huge. You have to drive conservative, but take note of the areas that aren’t so smooth. That recon lap also shakes out the cobwebs and brings everything into focus.  Anything that you drive mildly smooth, you don’t change and all of the focus goes to the problem turns to make them better.

After an eternity of waiting for that recon lap, the next time in grid moves really fast. The adrenaline is already moving and all of the butterflies have been ingested. There are five cars on track, so you make some quick negotiations with your group to ensure nobody is in a position to pass anybody else. The next laps are about time, and not about passing.

The only Galant specific concern we ran into last year was aerodynamics. For most of the tracks with a bunch of cars who do not know the lines, we overcome everything with horsepower and braking. That was different for the large tracks like Sebring and more importantly Daytona. You quickly realize that around 140 MPH you are driving a box that does little for keeping the car down on the track.

And, when the car gets back to the pits? What then?
Most of the events have two sessions, after the morning session it is time to go back and feed back to the team what the car and track is doing. We send the same person out on the second event, to use the track experience to improve our time.

What does it take to go the distance? Mechanically? Mentally?
Mechanically it is a different form of assault on what we used to consider “race parts.”  While aluminum brackets keep things light, anything load bearing or vibration intensive gets replaced with something stronger. While the car only needs to survive 3 hot laps on the track, that happens 16 times over the course of 8 days with 3000+ miles connecting them all together. It should be the new testing ground for all new products entering the market.

Not to pick on the great state of Ohio but we ran into some of the most lunar like roads in that state. Some of the pot-holes were big enough do some damage and we were no exception. We broke a rear upper control arm on our way to Kentucky that almost cost us the race. Luck for us Curtis from GalantVR4.org saved our butts but the whole trip is punishing on the cars and if you think about it there are so many unique parts on these cars that sometimes its the little parts that you said “that will never break” end up leaving you stranded.

Mentally it takes a solid team. The time on the track is the easy part. Finding a rhythm to get between the tracks, prep the car, load it back up and keep momentum going is the hard part. Then there is the personal part of it all. Spending a couple of days together with friends is cool. Spending 8 days of non-stop driving, racing, and wrenching can put a strain on any bond. You have to be careful who you chose to ride along with because once you set out there is no turning back. We are lucky and even though we have our moments we can handle the pressure and still remain friends.

How is that mechanical/mental prep different from, say, drag or rally racing?
By spreading the event over 8 days, you go through a maturing phase of learning how to handle an endurance race. At the opening meeting they joked about how you find all of your frustrations by the 3 day then you fall into a balance out of necessity. They were right.

How have you tuned the car for what kind of powerband? Flat torque curve? Peaky?
The first rule for us was to tune the car so it would come back home agian. It’s easy to rag on us for not running 10′s with the Forced Performance FP3052 turbo we were using but we witnessed first hand last year as the high dollar GTR and a 520HP Sti both retired from the race with “tuning” realted mechanical failures. So we dialed the car back a bit running 25psi of boost and conservative timing up top to give us a good cushion against knock.

Keep in mind that not every state offered the same quality of fuel and our elevation changed too so we used water/meth injection to insure we had all the ocatane we needed. Pulling everything together is the best damn tuning system on the planet, ECMlink which was easy to use and easy to adjust on the fly if need be.

The car uses a HKS 264/272 cam combo, 2-216 FMIC, a home made custom intake manifold, and the FP 3052 turbo. That means that the car isn’t going to make a lot of power below 3000 rpms but by 3500 rpms all hell breaks loose and we enjoy 355 wheel hp and flate torque cure all the way to 7500 rpms.

How much fuel does the Galant use during events? On the road? How much fuel do you use during the series? Average MPGs for the entire series?
Tim wanted to keep careful records of our fuel economy but after about 1000 miles of ridicule those records were hidden away for ever. We budgeted $1000 for gas and that was overkill. The Galant with three guys and a trailer got 21-22mpg on the road and about 7-8mpg on the track. We were happy with that milage considering the amount of spare parts we were hauling around and the size of some of our drivers. At the start of the race we were wishing for a bigger gas tank but the reality is that we got about 300 miles to a tank while we needed a driver change about every 270miles (that would be every 100 miles if we caved to Mike’s walnut sized bladder).

What other expenses are involved when budgeting for the One Lap of America series?
The only set cost is the entry fee. Beyond that we have to budget for the consumables of the car, including the Tire Rack approved tires, and two sets of brakes. Then the cost is the trip itself. 9-10 nights of hotel rooms, fuel, food and random expenses that pop up. For the first time entry, you have to make sure you have race suits along with SA rated helmets along with all of the gear you might need to bring. A good estimate for the whole show is $6000 if your car does not need to be upgraded before the race.

What’s next for the Galant? Why?
This year the Galant is being strengthened by addressing the weak points that were exposed last year. Last year we broke a rear upper control arm, blew oil out of the catch can, ran out of injector (99% duty cycle), and the POS GM MAF we were using flaked out every time it rained. So here is a short list of what’s on tap for this year.

Harper built crankcase catch can
Curtis built sub-frame connectors
Pina Motorsports rear upper control arms (sponsored by the fine folks at GalantVR4.org)
Adjustable cam gears (sponsored by Tom “autobahntom” on GalantVR4.org)
Siemen-Deka 880 injectors (sponsored by Garfield Wright and www.tunersnation.com)
Corbeau race seats
Some sort of harness bar

To make the suspension and chassis strong we are installing a set of Pina Motorsports chromoly rear upper control arms which were purchased for us by the GalantVR4.org community. TunersNation donated a set of 880 injectors to help us with our fuel issues and a set of there rear sub-frame bushings which along with a set of sub-frame connectors by Curtis from GalantVR4.org should help tighten up our 200k+ mile 18 year old ride.

To improve our wet weather drivability we are ditching the GM MAF (POS) in favor of a speed density set-up using ECMlink. Tim is building a large crankcase catch can. Three laps of a lot of crankcase pressure caused a lot of pressure in the engine, causing a lot of oil blow out into the overflow can. It is expected while racing, but we need a larger crankcase catch can to accommodate.

As with any racing vehicle we will have to go over every inch of the VR-4 and root out problems so they won’t kill us during the race. Right now the car needs a rear wheel bearing, new strut housings for the koni inserts, a head gasket, and new hoses for the radiator. I am sure that list will grow by a mile as we get deeper into the preparation.

Can people come watch?
People can definitely come by and watch. Last year all of the tracks were open to the public and visitors were given free reign of the sites to get down in the pits, interact with the drivers, and hang their heads over the barriers geting closer to the action then you could ever get in any other type of racing. We were suprised last year that they opened up Daytona at lunch time for some high speed “wink..wink” parade laps. Some lucky GalantVR4.org members who showed up to support us hopped in the One Lap VR-4 and we all screamed like school girls racing at 110mph around the high banks.

Now we are not implying we can give rides because frankly we can’t. But we love what we are doing and nothing makes us happier then to see guys take time out of there day to come down and check us out. At every event last year we had a crowd of hard core Mitsubishi people come down and it really helps us. Not only do we get a boost from it but at the end of the day the support we got from Mitsubishi community got our photos into August 2009 issue of Motor Trend. When you take into account all the other cool cars that were there like the GTR, Sti, Evo, Ultima GTR, M3-M5-M6, GT2, GT3, etc all of which were trying to get into the magazine seeing our 17 year old Galant VR-4 get more photos then the race winning GTR was really special for us.

Where and when?
We have the schedule posted online, which people should check before coming out.
http://onelap.rochesterdsm.org/the-event/

Friday, April 30th – The Tire Rack in South Bend, IN
Saturday, May 1st – Road America Elkhart Lake, WI
Sunday, May 2nd – Mid America Motorplex Pacific Junction, IA
Monday AM, May 3rd – Hallett Motor Racing Circuit Jennings OK
Monday PM, May 3rd – Tulsa Raceway Park Tulsa, OK
Tuesday, May 4th – Gateway International Raceway Madison, IL
Wednesday, May 5th – Mid Ohio Sports Car Course Mansfield, OH
Thursday, May 6th – Lightning Raceway NJ Motorsports Park Milleville, NJ
Friday, May 7th – Nelson Ledges Garrettsville, OH
Saturday, May 8th – The Tire Rack in South Bend, IN

Is it easy to get into this type of racing?
Jumping into One Lap is big investment in both time and money. We did our best to budget last year but we really just jumped in with both feet and hoped for the best. This year the car is much closer to race ready so we can hone in on a budget and schedule.

For guys wanting to give this a try start by getting out on the track with your local sponsoring clubs to know how much you want to invest into an endurance track event. That being said, it is easily addictive. Somehow our “once in a lifetime” event last year has turned into a necessity.

Who has helped you the most along the way?
We would have never made the trip without the help of the GalantVR4.org community, which represents the fans and owners of this amazing platform. Not only did they raise funds to help us afford the trip, they provided us with better parts and provided us a support network across the country that kept this car running. They truly made us put more pride into putting that car together and representing the group than if we did not have them behind us.

Who do you look up to in the Mitsubishi community?
The largest influencers in the community are the innovators still investing into the platform. There are a lot of people selling parts, but there are only a few out there still striving for better equipment. Tom Dorris who owns and runs ECM Tuning makes the ECMlink systems for the Mitsubishi cars. When we consider what we had to go through to control the ECU of the car years ago, his innovation has revolutionized the industry.

There are also contributors who make better parts that aren’t considered name brand. It is amazing how the industry embraces a name brand part, while it is the small machinists and smaller names that make the quality parts. There is a lot of respect for specialty part makers like Harry Blanchard at Three-Speed.com. They take a safety part, like a scatter shield and engineer it to such a level that is nothing short of perfect.

How does your team encourage other enthusiasts to get involved in legitimate racing?
We encourage people to join us for the various track events throughout the year and advice people to start with basics like SCCA Solo2 racing to get involved with the sport.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the Mitsubishi community today?
There are a lot of sites, groups and people offering bad advice. While the Internet has defined the growth of the Mitsubishi racing to a grassroots level, it has also created a lot of mis-directed information. The largest challenge is getting through the muck to discover the sources of valuable information.

Do you spend time on any Mitsubishi sites? Which ones?
To say we spend time on any Mitsubishi sites would be an understatement. Here is just a sampling..

GalantVR4.org
rochesterdsm.org
teamNABR.com
dsmtuners.com
Mitsu-Media.com
dmslink.com
evolutionm.net

Mod list?
http://onelap.rochesterdsm.org/therides/the-vr4/

Turbo, Intake & Exhaust:
AGP L1R turbo
FP race exhaust manifold
Harper built intake manifold
Harper built O2 housing w/dump
Tial 38mm waste gate
Harper built 3” v-band exhaust (dual resonators and Thermal muffler)
Spearco 2-216 FMIC
Harper built 2.5” IC piping
Tial BOV
Harper built turbo intake pipe

Engine & Drivetrain:
JE 9.0:1 Pistons
Crower Rods
Polished Mitsu Crank (un-cut)
Balance Shafts removed
HKS 264/272 Cams
SI 1mm oversized valves
Crower Springs/Ti retainers
Lightly ported head
93 AWD tranny w/ double 1-2 syncro
4-spyder center diff
ACT 2600 clutch
ACT Street Flywheel
Custom short shifter

Fuel & Tuning:
ECMlink …like we would use anything else! (ECMTuning, Inc.)
660cc Injectors
6 AN fuel line from the tank
Harper built water/meth injection

Suspension & Brakes:
DSS coil overs 400F/350R
RRE castor/camber plates
Koni yellow shocks/struts
Urethane F/R bushings
Whiteline adjustable rear sway bar
F/R strut bars
Mustang Cobra 17×9.0 wheels
255/40-17 Dunlop Star Spec tires
Curtis built rear upper control arms
Baer track front brake kit (cobra rotors/caliper)
Hawk DTC60 front pads
Pagid semi-metallic rear pads

Interior & Exterior:
Curtis built upper and lower gauge panels
AEM UEGO wideband
Nordskog digital water temp
Nordskog digital oil pressure
Nordskog digital intake air temp
VDO boost gauge
1000W AC power inverter
EVO fully functioning hood vents (sponsored by TunersNation.com)
Works Rally paint scheme

Where can our readers go for more information on your team online?
http://onelap.rochesterdsm.org

Evo, Galant, Rochester, VR4