Hey Fellow makers, and especially those interested in motorsports subjects. I’m Rob, I know a few of you, though I’m a bit introverted and should probably know by now. I’ve been a member since last summer, I’ve learned some great things from some great people here, and I’ve been looking for ways to give back and share knowledge with others. Luckily this last weekend I had the pleasure of speaking with @JayJohnson600, who took a few hours of time out of working on his own project to share with me his enthusiasm for the Motorsports Committee as well as the 24 Hours of Lemons racing team. He has a great passion and great ideas for the future of the committee, and for finding ways to increase member involvement and make the committee more beneficial to the Makerspace as a whole. After speaking with Jay, I plan to become more involved with the motorsports committee and develop motorsports classes. Classes that will benefit not only those members that have an interest in actually getting behind the wheel on a racetrack, but others who may simply want to learn about the strategy, science, and physics involved in motorsports.
A bit about me, I’ve spent the last 20 years in professional motorsports, mainly sportscar road racing and endurance racing. From being the high school kid sweeping the floor of the shop, to putting cars on the podium at places like Daytona, Watkins Glen, or Road America – it’s been a fun ride and I’ve learned a lot along the way that I’d love to share with you guys. I’ve swept the floor, worked as a fabricator, technician, engine builder, crew chief, driver, and driver coach. I’ve raced about anything with wheels, from karts and vintage British smallbore cars to sportbikes or Ferrari 458’s. And, I’ve raced Lemons and Chumpcar, and have my own very low budget but successful WRL team with a few friends. One thing you’ll find is that the physics works the same on any car, and the strategy, tuning, and decision making is all the same process with simply different data inputs depending on what you’re racing. So ideas you learn from Lemons racing or from classes we create will really transfer to about any motorsport you can imagine.
I’ll propose a few classes and ideas that I think would be most beneficial to the membership, but what really matters is what YOU want to learn. What kind of motorsport classes would make you say “hey, I want to get involved in that”, or what topics have you wanted to know more about?
I’d like to start with a two or three class series on racecar chassis and suspension design, development, and tuning – from the basics of vehicle dynamics and kinematics, through chassis tuning and how to decide what changes to make and their effects, on to the actual practice of performing a setup or setup change and alignment. For the guys who do already race or autocross, learning how to make the most of what you have through tweaks, tuning, and setup changes will give you the best bang for the buck and easiest improvements. I’m developing a curriculum for this class series, and would like to get it on the class in the coming weeks. So if that class series would interest you, let me know what days or times are best for you to help me decide when to schedule it (I’m thinking next weekend, the 27th or 28th, or a weeknight close to that). If you have other ideas to discuss, or have input, I will be attending the Motorsports Committee meeting tomorrow night and look forward to meeting more members.
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