2016 Green Grand Prix TEAM ROSTER & DETAILS

[Grant-53]

I live in Elmira, NY which is just south of WGI. I am available for a team support member /spectator. The road US 15 north of Wiiliamsport, PA is being upgraded to I-99. I do fairings for upright bikes mainly but I have automotive parts sales and engineering tech experience.

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by Grant-53

I live in Elmira, NY which is just south of WGI. I am available for a team support member /spectator. The road US 15 north of Wiiliamsport, PA is being upgraded to I-99. I do fairings for upright bikes mainly but I have automotive parts sales and engineering tech experience.

Cool. We'd love to see you there! I drive through Elmira every time I go to the GGP.

[changzuki]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

I so want to come to one of these things but it's close to 800 miles each way. No great fan of NY roads or drivers in my tiny little car LOL.

regards
mech

Seriously?
You'd be fine!
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A Mirage and a decent driver would do very well at the Green Grand Prix!
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~CrazyJerry

[svt98t]

I'll be there. I just put the motor and trans in my car Saturday night. Now all I have left to do is hook everything up, change the engine harness, convert it all from EEC-IV to ODB II, start it, and make sure everything works properly, get the exhaust tips welded back on, and get it inspected.

I got this.


-ryan s.

[brucepick]

Looks like you'll be pretty busy!
Welcome!

[brucepick]

REQUESTING INFORMATION

Last year's track time sheets:
Looking for anyone with laps that earned them a point, with a lap time shorter than 3:14.437 (Jerry's lap in Centurion) or longer than 3:16.966 (I did that in my Accord). Please pm me. Mike L, I thought you sent me your sheet last year but I can't find it...

TURN ONE SPEED FOR HONDA INSIGHTS
This is my first year driving the 2000 Insight in the GGP.

Turn one has always been a key turn for me - I want maximum safe speed going into the turn so I don't have to pour fuel in, to get up the hill that follows. For anyone here with experience driving a 2000-2006 Insight in this event, what speed(s) do you like for entering that turn? Please tell. I assume Insights had stock Potenza RE92 tires - if different, please mention it. Thanks! Please pm me if you have any word on this.

Related, for all our drivers - Re. Turn 1: I strongly recommend you arrive at the end of the preceding straightaway over at the far left of the available roadway. Turn right so you cut across the inner corner of the right hand turn. Of course you can only do that if there's nobody on your right. You must check for that carefully.

Then when past the inner corner, continue on that path so you end up in a middle or left lane as you leave the turn. This path makes the turn much more gentle - that is, a larger radius. Otherwise it would be a very tight corner and will give you trouble unless going very slow.

[changzuki]

Originally Posted by svt98t

I'll be there. I just put the motor and trans in my car Saturday night. Now all I have left to do is hook everything up, change the engine harness, convert it all from EEC-IV to ODB II, start it, and make sure everything works properly, get the exhaust tips welded back on, and get it inspected.

I got this.


-ryan s.

Good luck getting everything together Ryan. It's a lot of work but you'll have a good time at the event!
~CrazyJery

[svt98t]

Making big progress this week. The engine harness should be done and installed tonight. I still need to change over the PCM.
New water pump goes in, along with new lower radiator hose.
If all goes well, I should be turning it over Saturday evening.


-ryan s.

[brucepick]

This will be the first of hopefully several planning posts for this year's GGP.

Ethanol Free Fuel

I've been using ethanol free fuel for the GGP for a couple years now. I estimate at least a 5% increase in mpg when using ethanol free fuel, maybe more than that. There's a source just south of Watkins Glen, at:
Lake's Gas
2020 Highway 14
Montour Falls, NY
Phone: 607-535-8097

Starting today, I plan my fillups so I'll arrive for a fillup at my Pennsylvania pure gas station with a very low tank. Then I top up again at Lake's Gas just prior to the GGP mpg competition. That way I have the purest possible concentration of ethanol free fuel in my tank. When I get to the TOPS station for the official GGP fillup, my tank is nearly full. This year, with the road rally in the morning and the track event afterwards, I'll visit Lake's between those two events.

As I enter NY state driving west on I-84, I fuel up at:
Dutch's Market

1564 Highway 507
Greentown, PA
Phone: 570-676-3373

GPS has sometimes gotten the route wrong for the Dutch's Market address. You must go just over a mile SOUTH on Hwy 507 after exiting 84, not north. Dutch's is a decent size supermarket; not a bad place for a quick bite and a pit stop.


The key reference for finding ethanol-free stations is:
Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada
They have apps for iPhone and Android. Check their site. It's been a long time since I used the app but it might be helpful.
Their listings are by state; for NY it is:
Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

Unfortunately you can't simply enter a zip code and find all the nearby ethanol-free gas stations. Each state covered has their own page, and cities/towns are listed alphabetically on the page. So the station you need might be right outside a major city but it will be listed by its address - which could be a tiny town. Usually the best way to find the station you need is to search manually, prior to your trip. Maybe the phone apps have a more automated search feature.

[brucepick]

Each GGP event is a Time-Speed-Distance Road Rally

We have some new people with us this year so it's probably smart for me to write a few words about this.

The first year I participated in the Green Grand Prix, I was a bit surprised when I discovered on the morning of the event, that I needed to know more about road rallies than I did. Hopefully your learning curve won't be as steep as mine was.

The GGP events are organized under the SCCA Road Rally rules. I'm convinced it would NOT be possible to organize such a large and successful event without the sanctioning of the SCCA or a similar organization - though I doubt there is any other similar organization in the US. It's also no accident that Bob Gillespie and likely others in the organization, have many years of experience in the rally circuit.

I decided some time ago that in order to support the event to the best of my ability, I would do my best participating in the rally component. I've enjoyed it.

I won't try to write here, all the rules and how-to's someone would need to be a competent rally driver. Google is your friend.

But I'll write a few things that are pertinent to the two Green Grand Prix events, and especially the track event.

The basic concept of time-speed-distance rallies is, you're given a route to drive. As you follow the route, you are periodically instructed to Change Average Speed To (CAST) x mph. Sometimes it's called CAS, for Commence Average Speed. Same thing. Your success at achieving the stated average speed over the segment is what determines your score for the segment. Your score for the event is the sum of your scores for the segments.

Scoring is done by the time measured between checkpoints. In the GGP track event, each time you cross the finish line is a checkpoint. Your time is noted electronically. On the road event, somewhere between 4-6 checkpoints are located along the route. You pull in when you come to a checkpoint, and your arrival time is noted on your score sheet. You don't know in advance where the checkpoints are. So, if you know you've been going too fast, you can't slow to a crawl just before the checkpoint to even things up. You need to do your best over the long haul.

The organizers do the math ahead of time - to determine the precise time needed for each segment, driving at the stated speed. Your arrival time is measured in hundredths of a minute in the road rally. In the track event, laps are measured to thousandths of a second.

Traditional road rally scoring is like golf: low score wins. You get a point for each hundredth of a minute you are off the ideal time for the segment.

GGP track event scoring is a bit different. Here, a point is a good thing. So for this event, high score wins. The ideal lap time is 3:16. That comes from the known 2.45 mile track length and the stated 45 mph average lap speed. [If you want to do the math, remember that a minute has sixty seconds, not a hundred.] The GGP sets a window of lap times that will earn a point. In 2015, any lap between 3:14 through 3:17 earned a point. Now, with the ideal time at 3:16, I don't know why you could be under by 2 seconds and over by only one second. But that is what we found when we reviewed our score sheets after the event. This year's scoring window may be the same, or different. But I expect the calculated time of 3:16 will be at the core of whatever scoring window is set.

The next time I write on this topic here, I'll go into some detail on HOW my brother/navigator Steve and I work to come close to ideal lap times.

Two quick tips - because you need to find these in advance:

1) If you can bring a digital stopwatch with you, do so. We got ours on Amazon. It's best if it will track more than 35 laps, but any stopwatch is better than none.

2) You'll need a tool to track average speed during each lap. Suggested tools:
SpeedTrackerLite (phone app)
RallyTracks, or Rally Tracks (phone app)
If using a phone app, get something to hold your phone to the dash. Your navigator will be busy with the stopwatch so you're likely handling the phone.
Or - a standalone GPS, such as a Garmin or TomTom

The tool you use must show average lap speed during the lap, to a tenth of a mile per hour. You need to be able to reset the average as you complete each lap. In the road rally event, you'll reset it at each CAST. [Go back to the top to reread what that means!]

Details on using both of these items in a later post. But I want to give you a head start on getting your hands on these.