OldSchool Speedshop Project Cars: The Sockmonkey Derby

[DirtDriver]

The Sockmonkey Derby: Part I



Tradition is important at the OldSchool Speedshop. That's why Dirt always drinks his coffee from a cup he stole from Blooze. That's why it took years to see a blue oval emblem on any of the shop cars. That's why Bert hasn't bought a new set of wrenches in 20 years. And maybe that is why the place attracts new folks who tend to stick with old ideas, traditionalists. So, when a plain brown box with Trixie's name on it appeared in the UPS delivery she just knew it carried inside an old tradition.

Staff meeting...

Skunk: I talked with Drift about those Pontiac engines. You were right, Dirt. His shop is the place for the job. I think he can build 'em to give GM Performance a run for their money. He's working up some figures now.

DD: Good enough. What about your drifting schedule? Anything new, there?

Skunk: Just about one weekend a month. We have been getting a lot of orders for the dealership cars in the saphire paint. One event a month is keeping us pretty busy.

Betsy: Oh, Trixie? A box came for you in the UPS shipment. It doesn't look like parts so I brought it in here.

Trixie: Southern Engineering and Development Company.

Bert: Well? Open it, Trix.

Trixie: I don't need to. I know what's inside already.

DD: Hell, I don't know. Give it to me. (Dirt takes out his little swiss army knife and slices open the tape) I'll be damned. That time again, Trix?

Trixie: I guess so. Seems like the last one was just yesterday.

Skunk: Uh...interpretation, please?

DD: It's three sockmonkeys and a note. All it says is SRT, Focus, Cobalt, B class, Sebring Club, Road Atlanta Short.

Trixie: And so it begins...

[DirtDriver]

The Sockmonkey Derby: Backstory

The story goes that Trixie attended her very first race school in the summer after her freshman year at Georgia Tech. Now, she had been a bit of a hotrodder and her car handling skills were...well, let's just say less than precise. As it turned out her classmates had similar difficulty. So, this instructor gave up on the idea of teaching them how to race until he could teach them to drive.

He made a few phone calls and the second day of the school they were all in distinctively unstimulating four-cynlinder FWD cars. He said they would be assigned to these cars until they didn't look like a bunch of "sockmonkeys" flopping around inside the car while making their way around the track.

Well, that kinda stuck. They all became good friends and decided to start their own tradition. Whenever one of them had a big wreck and went flopping around in the car that person had to organize a meeting of the crew for "The Sockmonkey Derby". Of course, they borrowed the name of an old covert GM operation to support racing when the Big Three weren't officially supporting it, "The Southern Engineering and Development" group. That meant they could build a little excitement into the cars but the tradition is it has to be cars from the Big Three.

The Cars:

Dodge SRT4
Chevy Cobalt SS
Ford Focus (either of the D class models)

The Class:

B700 (since my B class garage is in a shambles at the moment)
Less than 300 hp (Edit: I just checked all three cars to make sure this will work so let's start here and see the results)

The Tracks:

Sebring Club
Road Atlanta Short

This is not a challenge. But if any of you are interested in building similar cars I could use the help. I will post my efforts here. But yesterday's online excursions have me convinced that having a group of cars that are racey but also handle well and are comparable might be a good idea for some on-the-track practice. Lot's of sockmonkeys driving yesterday! Myself, included. So, maybe build one out and keep it handy for an online Sockmonkey Derby?

DD

[larryCR]

FF cars. Yeah! 

I don't necessarily drive them any better, but I do seem to enjoy them more. (Along with AWD cars.) With FR and MR cars I'm off driving in the weeds far too frequently. The angel on my shoulder just told me that I should therefore spend more time driving FR and MR cars to become proficient, but the devil on the other shoulder told me that video games are supposed to make you laugh, not sweat and grumble.

[DirtDriver]

Excellent...a fun factor!

Blooze and I both made our first runs in the game with two of these cars. I drove the Cobalt all the way up to B class. He pushed a Focus along a similar bath. When it came time to run the B class enduro I was happily driving the SS.

DD

[DirtDriver]

I just updated the build specs to limit to 300hp.

DD

[fndrbndr]

I was just about to start posting a C-class Focus when I made two discoveries.  First, I found Fit's Lexus and a more interesting/educational project.  Second, I found that the Focus is not very good in C-class.  Like Blooze, my first run through the career was in the focus (from the spec races in my case).  I picked it up the other day and was not too thrilled with it.  Maybe B class and 300 hp will allow more weight reduction/better rubber and turn it into a touring car racer.  There's a site that runs touring car leagues with a fairly large stable of cars at B700.  I can't find a link to them at the moment, but I've built out a few cars to their spec (racing slicks, racing platform, including weight reduction), and it seems like they would be fun to race.  We'll see what happens.  I'll post my Focus sometime in the next few days.

[DirtDriver]

Sounds like a plan, fndr...

I did a quick build out and run for baseline on Sebring Club. The three cars are in the area of 2500 lbs and untuned. Got a half second difference from slowest to fastest, all in the 59 second range. First thing I noticed is that they will lose speed real fast. They don't hold momentum!

But close and racey...that's what we are looking for.

DD

[fndrbndr]

Yeah, my focus beat the AI pretty soundly, but once I took it out into the real world, it got slaughtered.

[DirtDriver]

I am going to check and see if the lighter car (less than 2500 lbs) will bump the top speed. I already know it won't on the Cobalt but the poor Focus is pretty low on top speed rating compared to the other two.

DD

[larryCR]

Sounds like a plan, fndr...

I did a quick build out and run for baseline on Sebring Club. The three cars are in the area of 2500 lbs and untuned. Got a half second difference from slowest to fastest, all in the 59 second range. First thing I noticed is that they will lose speed real fast. They don't hold momentum!

But close and racey...that's what we are looking for.

DD

At 59 seconds you must mean Road Atlanta Short. (Or you mean 69 seconds.)

[DirtDriver]

69 was on Sebring Club...running just under 61 on Road Atlanta Short. Sorry. The 59 was a typo...no morning coffee yet. hehe

DD

[fndrbndr]

Hm...the Focus definitely loses speed in turns in C.  I'm assuming it would be similar in B.  Thinking maybe more torque in the build?

Sorry, been reading drift's thread...trying to apply these concepts.

[DirtDriver]

Yeah, I was worried about the focus (the lowest one in D class) until I hit Road Atlanta and it smoked my Cobalt...I am keeping my weight up at 2500 to help with momentum...got DOTs on all three and grip isn't such a problem.

DD

[larryCR]

I've got Hoosier slicks on the focus. Just got into the 69s on Sebring (69.. On my second lap at Road Atlanta Short I got to 58.3. Feels like there is a lot more in at both places if I can just:

1) Get the braking right on turn 1 at both tracks.
2) Get the braking right pretty much everywhere at Sebring.

[DirtDriver]

Slicks, eh? Hmmmmmmm

DD