Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

[Lost_Husky]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

I believe now is the time of year where other teams suddenly find that player X is no longer someone they want and player X becomes available to recruit by everyone else. I just wish Player X wasn't in denial all this time and that the staff at school M who deluded the kid all along, can be a little more forthright on his chances before he ages out of the system.

Are you referring to anyone in particular?

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

Are you referring to anyone in particular?

Hard to narrow down when there are multiple guys born in 1997 committed to Michigan right now...
Jake Gingell (former MTU recruit)
Jimmy Lambert
Garrett Van Wyhe

Not to mention another handful of '98s
Keaton Pehrson (former MTU recruit)
Strauss Mann
Jack Olmstead
Nick Blankenburg
Nick Granowicz

[manurespreader]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

Hard to narrow down when there are multiple guys born in 1997 committed to Michigan right now...
Jake Gingell (former MTU recruit)
Jimmy Lambert
Garrett Van Wyhe

Not to mention another handful of '98s
Keaton Pehrson (former MTU recruit)
Strauss Mann
Jack Olmstead
Nick Blankenburg
Nick Granowicz

You ll have it wrong. I'm not referring to any particular school in particular at all. Just a general observation.
BTW anyone interested in doing free race car engineering, send me a note.

[JohnsonsJerseys]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

BTW anyone interested in doing free race car engineering, send me a note.

Ok, I'm curious, what's the gig? Yes, I am free next weekend if someone needs some help shaking down their car for Le Mans and I prefer to work with teams sporting Michigan Tech colors. I do however require a slightly larger seat when I'm in the car. Sorry I'm not 150 lbs any more and I like to be comfortable behind the wheel. I can however bring my own helmet...

Ryan

[John J. MacInnes]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

I can however bring my own helmet...

Ryan

Get rid of the piano dog.

[JohnsonsJerseys]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

Get rid of the piano dog.

Well I would have done "Ovular Dog" but he didn't exist when I had the helmet painted up.
My helmet certification doesn't expire for another three years so Piano Dog will have to live on a bit longer...

Ryan

[MTUHuskies]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

I'll venture to guess that the script "Huskies" existed when you painted the bucket.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

Pd4L

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

pd4l

hs4l

[manurespreader]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

That's a nice car. Actually i'm more into cars without fenders or roofs.

BTW. anyone here who hasn't seen Game Of Thrones, you are missing out. When the band plays the theme it's great but for one thing: The drums aren't powerful enough. You can't even hear them, yet the drums are what makes the song so good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdQ3JDLlmPI

[JohnsonsJerseys]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

That's a nice car. Actually i'm more into cars without fenders or roofs.

You're holding me in suspense. So what is the race engineering gig?

I used to follow IndyCar pretty closely and attended a couple races each year when I lived in WI (Elkhart Lake / Milwaukee), but then the IRL killed it for me. Diluted the talent too much and made both series unwatchable. I grew up in a great era for American open wheel racing watching the Unsers, the Andrettis (four of them at times), Foyt, Mears, Sullivan, Rahal, etc... heck they even let Mansell come play for a while. Then Tony George blew it all up for no reason other than greed. (He sort of reminds me of those "like minded" people in college hockey... but that's another story.)

In the last few years IndyCar is drawing me back in again. The talent level is back up and the cars are starting to shed some of the ridiculous / excessive body work they added in the early 2010s. F1 is ok. I like the technology, but only one or two teams really has a chance to win. Everyone else is fighting for the final spot on the podiums most races. Heck, just scoring a point is an accomplishment for most F1 teams.

I've taken a liking to sports car racing in recent years. In spite of what most fans will say about "balance of performance" it generally works. If a team has their stuff together, nearly anyone can win in a given season in spite of the vast differences of the car profiles and drive trains.

Ryan

[manurespreader]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

You're holding me in suspense. So what is the race engineering gig?

I used to follow IndyCar pretty closely and attended a couple races each year when I lived in WI (Elkhart Lake / Milwaukee), but then the IRL killed it for me. Diluted the talent too much and made both series unwatchable. I grew up in a great era for American open wheel racing watching the Unsers, the Andrettis (four of them at times), Foyt, Mears, Sullivan, Rahal, etc... heck they even let Mansell come play for a while. Then Tony George blew it all up for no reason other than greed. (He sort of reminds me of those "like minded" people in college hockey... but that's another story.)

In the last few years IndyCar is drawing me back in again. The talent level is back up and the cars are starting to shed some of the ridiculous / excessive body work they added in the early 2010s. F1 is ok. I like the technology, but only one or two teams really has a chance to win. Everyone else is fighting for the final spot on the podiums most races. Heck, just scoring a point is an accomplishment for most F1 teams.

I've taken a liking to sports car racing in recent years. In spite of what most fans will say about "balance of performance" it generally works. If a team has their stuff together, nearly anyone can win in a given season in spite of the vast differences of the car profiles and drive trains.

Ryan

Is this car of yours an SCCA car or is it set up for another sanctioning body and what class is it running in.

A race car engineer is someone who is primarily responsible for the set up of the car. Every track has a different set up. You can fudge in a basic set of parameters but you won't be quick unless you can make changes at the track that improve lap times over a period of time.. Even older cars, if well engineered can be quick. It's 1/2 art and 1/2 science.

As an example, the primary two parameters to making a car quick are spring rates and shock settings.( but there are many more parameters to monitor) Shocks these days can be adjustable up to 4 ways. You have to know what kind of changes help with a particular problem and what hurt. You might change spring rates several times during a test day.
Indy car has improved greatly in the last year or two. So has indy lights. The Detroit GP is a great place to see them up close.
Also once you get to the higher classes, there are so many different parameters it's mind boggling.. Downforce being very important and the effects that changes make in downforce or the reaction to downforce are critical. Every change to even one small thing will effect all the other parameters you are following. It's very easy to mess things up big time. Also data analysis is huge. big teams have a couple of people who's sole job is data analysis.
Lastly, downforce is only one component of Aerodynamics and so managing drag numbers has gotten huge recently.

[JohnsonsJerseys]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

Is this car of yours an SCCA car or is it set up for another sanctioning body and what class is it running in.

I don't run in any wheel to wheel competitive classes as my car is bone stock other than tires and brake pads. Currently I just run open track days and PDX (Performance Driving eXperience) portions of SCCA and NASA event weekends. They mix our sessions into the weekend and frankly we just subsidize the cost of renting the track by getting more participants involved. And I suppose they also hope to hook a few people and convince them to work their way up through the ranks to get a competition license. I'm about halfway through the NASA program, but I don't have an interest in getting a comp license as I can't afford to race the Corvette. I would rather get into Spec Miata / LeMons / Chump Car where I can repair body work damage with a hammer and spray paint rather than a couple thousand dollars out of pocket.

The only competitive event I've ever run was on my trip to Laguna Seca last summer. Out West they have a Spec Corvette series where you can simply put a timing/scoring transponder on your street legal car and complete on a time trial basis where best lap time wins. It was a blast and I took second in my class by a couple tenths to the overall series winner. He runs Laguna Seca all the time as he is local to the area so I was thrilled with second on my first visit to the track. I've watched races there on TV for 25+ years so it was awesome to finally drop through the corkscrew behind the wheel.

I thought you had the inside track to get someone working behind the scenes as a gopher or something else non-essential for a race weekend (waxing rims, getting marbles off used tires, fetching lunch, etc.). Sorry I can't you with trimming out an actual race car.

Ryan

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

There's a guy I work with who was a raced Forumal Ford in his earlier days. He's been writing a website on his observations about training his mind to "go fast." I'm not a racing guy at all but I found this fascinating, especially what he calls the learning spiral and sensation of speed. It may be trivial for you racing experts but since I'm trolling your thread on a non-hockey topic I figure WTH. http://www.intuitivespeed.com/

[manurespreader]

Re: Michigan Tech 2018 Off-season - The Next Step is Just Inches Away...

There's a guy I work with who was a raced Forumal Ford in his earlier days. He's been writing a website on his observations about training his mind to "go fast." I'm not a racing guy at all but I found this fascinating, especially what he calls the learning spiral and sensation of speed. It may be trivial for you racing experts but since I'm trolling your thread on a non-hockey topic I figure WTH. http://www.intuitivespeed.com/

that's a good approximation of what it's actually like. No one goes fast right away. Only a few are really talented enough to be professionals. It's just way harder than it looks. Right now the best way to get inexpensive track time is finding simulation racing someplace..Rfactor2, is a good place.
Usually some, insert expletive here, thinks he is fast, comes roaring into turn one right after the start and collects 2 or three other guys in his trip to the grass. I hate being the person collected. There are no scouts in the stands at these events, and you are not going to get an indy ride by going fast in some lesser class. it's a really fun hobby. that's it. In fact there is not more fun to be had with your clothes on.

Ryan I encourage you to get a license,.. find a vintage car, which is a lot cheaper than that vette, and go racing.With your present experience you would qualify for a vintage license.
You could trade that car for a good Formula VEE and have the time of your life for three or four years before the money from the sale ran out. Believe me, Vee racing is fun, you learn a lot and it's a lot faster than you think. And no I do not race FV, but it's by far the best way to get into it.