The Big Sky 200
Its been a while since we have posted and followed up with the race. So unless you have been following along on social media you have not seen anything about the Big Sky 200.
Well sit back and enjoy the read.
The Sherpa Motorsports Team participated in their first race over the weekend in Broadview, Montana. The 200 miles of course proved to be a great test of both the car and the team.
Pre-Running & Testing: Our first run around the course made us aware of all the things we would have to learn quickly. The pace of the car, reading a GPS and understanding just what the car feels like. The first 25 miles were solid until we started noticing the engine cutting out due to a fuel feeding issue. 5 miles later the car stalled out and we began troubleshooting. After talking with the pits we traced the problem down to vapor locking and a fuel filter that was too small. The fuel in the cell would slosh around the All-tech baffles and allowed our pickup to suck in air. The air in the line would then starve the fuel pump, causing increased heat. The air plus hot fuel would then vapor lock the fuel system. We limped the car back to the pits while a few members of the team raced into town for parts before stores closed. We were able to get a new filter and apply heat to lines that were near a heat source in hopes of fixing the vapor lock issue. The hope was to reduce heat, decrease stress on the fuel pump with a better flowing fuel filter, and the plan was to keep the fuel cell full at every put to reduce the possibility of air in the lines. We continued testing the parts until the sun went down and the car was ready for race day.
Race Day:
As we lined up to start the day it became clear that we were a little outgunned in our class. The two desert trucks in front of us were running large bypass shocks and had us beat in the travel department. We knew that if we were going to have a shot we would have to race smart and find our own pace.
Lap 1: We decided to make lap one our chance to get a feel for a mild pace in the car. The plan was to slowly increase our pace as the day went on. Right out of the box the car felt great and the shocks really settled in over 40mph. The fuel issues seemed to be behind us and the car felt like it had its power back. We ran our first lap with zero issues and rolled into pit. Again, our plan was to take in fresh fuel every lap to reduce the amount of air and hot fuel in the tank. At this point in time a member of our team pointed out a small cracked weld on our front left shock hoop from the previous day of testing (we had a couple hard hits when learning the car.) Which most likely got worse throughout the first lap of race day.
The plan was to reduce our pace a little and baby the car for lap 2 until they could get the welder setup to bandaid the shock hoop for the remainder of the race.
Lap 2: This lap was slow but we still got a feel for the car. Slow in the choppy sections and fast as we could manage in the open straights to make up time. During this lap we began to notice all of the broken vehicles on course. It became obvious to us that this race was going to be about survival more than we had thought. We got the car through lap 2 and the pit team prepped for a double pit. At the first stop we would take on fuel, water, and little creature comforts like sliced apples.
Once that was done we rolled forward to the second pit where the team was ready with the welder and grinders to repair the shock hoop. The pit lasted ~4min and the car was 100% again. The pit crew raced to get us back on course. It was amazing to see how organized and efficient our pit crew was while we hydrated and got ready for lap 3.
Lap 3: We had a ton of time to make up. We pushed the car hard and it really began to settle in. The General tires hooked up, the Locked Offroad shocks were smooth, and we had our callouts/lines dialed in. We made great time on this lap and we were ready to push even harder on the next. Thinking the fuel issue was behind us, we opted to skip fuel on the next pit stop and focus our entire pit team on checking bolts and hardware to get a better idea of how it was holding up to the abuse. The car got the green light and we were flying back on course.
Lap 4: We made it around the first hard right turn on the course and the fuel issues were back. It was immediately clear that the issue was actually a pick-up issue within the fuel cell after all. We regretted not taking on the extra fuel but we pushed on hoping it wouldn’t be too much of an issue. We pushed the car harder than ever before. Even on stock A-arms and stock rear geometry the car just works. We were making great time around the course until we reached the same point where we had fuel issues during pre-running. After coming around a sweeping right turn at high speed the 4Runner coughed and stalled. Before we had a second to think about it, Alex jumped out of the car and ran through the same process we had before to get the car moving. We opened up the fuel line after the pump, bleed the access pressure, and got fresh fuel pumping to the motor. We adapted our driving style to use the banks of the turn to solve the fuel pickup problem. Riding high on the banks in right-hand turns, we could keep the fuel on the right side of the fuel cell where our pickup is. We still had 3 more stops and gave up a ton of time fixing the vapor lock issue. Our team met us on the course, as we headed into the back section and last 12 miles of the course, with a fresh can of fuel.
We were notified that we had 10 min to complete a 12 min section of course. The second the fuel was dumped and the pit crew clear of the car, the pedal was to the floor. We found new boundaries with the car and pushed it beyond what we thought possible. We finished off the lap with a massive jump and we were across the finish line with 3 minutes left before the time cutoff. At some point during the last section of the course, we lost a lower shock bolt, our limit strap along with it, our driver bump stop mount bent by our lower control arm, and bent an upper control arm. Somehow the shock managed to stay in the cup and we were able to cross the finish line and fly past our pit crew in excitement.
We left this race with a very clear understanding of the car, our team, and just what components needed attention. We also officially had 200 hard race miles on the car along with a podium finish in a class the car is arguably under built for, a big accomplishment for the Sherpa Motorsports first race.
THANK YOU
We can’t thank all of our outstanding sponsors enough for all of their hard work and amazing support for our program.
Big thanks to these few,
General Tire: The Grabber X3’s ate up the course. We put 200 hard race miles on these tires and they took all of the abuse. The tires hooked up in the turns and helped us get our power to the ground. They also ate through the deep mud pits without fai even at our higher race pressures. We opted to run the tires at 28 psi to keep them strong in the corners and fast in the straight, but still low enough to help absorb bumps and grab in the loose sand.
Locked Offroad Shocks: We are extremely grateful to be partnered with Locked Offroad. In the weeks leading up to the race they went above and beyond to get us fresh parts for the car in time to put it all together. On race day the shocks and bump stops absolutely delivered in every way. Right out of the box they got the job done and the adjusters helped us get every bit out of them. We do plan to stiffen up our front end quite a bit to accommodate our driving needs. Shock tuning will make a huge difference in our cars ability to go even faster.
Shrockworks: We found our skids a few more times than we had planned. Luckily they were bullet proof and kept our front end alive. The front diff skid found almost every G out and took it like a champ. Without it, we would have been stranded on course with broken diff mounts or a cracked radiator.
Hot Rod Fuel Hose: The quality fuel lines and components made it super easy to track down our fuel system problems and make quick adjustments on race day. The A/N fittings made bleeding air out of the system a breeze. It will also prove to be a great asset when upgrading the fuel system and adding more components in the near future.
BXBuilt & ExtremeLED: Our lights made it easy to push some of our testing into the night to make sure that the car was ready to go the night before the race. As most everyone knows, wrenching and prepping a race car is never an easy task. Allowing us to pre run after sunset proved to be a great asset. Having quality lights that turn the night into day goes a long way.
Black Peak Engineering: Huge thank you to these guys for going out of their way to help us make some custom suspension components just days before the race. They also leant us much needed equipment to get the car ready and competitive, speeding up prep and allowing us to test the car before leaving Colorado. Without them we might not have had the opportunity to race in the first place.
And everyone else who helped us get to this race and across the finish line. We could not have done with out everyone else.
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