driving a front drive race car - Team Juicy Racing`s Skip Barber

'SKIP BARBER,
RACING NEWS,
JULY 1988
VOL. 2, NO. 2
DRIVING A FRONT DRIVE RACE CAR
By Terry Earwood, with Dorsey Schroeder
and drive over to Suzanne's, who would in later years become my
ex-wife.
(Editor's note: See author profile inside. Best read with a Southern
drawl.)
I chose the DKW in the snow because everybody knew front wheel
drive was better in snow, and it was much easier to push than the
Plymouth. Here we learn the first lesson of front drive, or any other
stolen car for that matter. If you don't know where the choke is, don't
glide it into the next county if you live above that county. My fury (not
the Plymouth) at brother Steve for not imparting that tidbit of info was
only exceeded by his fury of being awakened at 2 a.m. by his brother
the car thief.
When an old drag racing buddy, Paul Rossi, asked if I wanted to drive
his Shelby Charger in the (then) Playboy Series, I graciously consented.
He had lost a couple of cars and was ready to receive professional
help, but at the time a driving instructor was all we thought he needed,
and I had lots of front wheel drive experience. I drove my brothers'
DKW one snowy night in high school. Well, I coasted it one snowy
night from our driveway (after hours) to the bottom of the next hill. A
feat I had performed in my Plymouth Fury many times, when out of
earshot of my parents, I would fire up the Fury (no pun intended)
Twenty years later I met Rossi and crew at Road Atlanta for my next
front drive experience. The choke was under the dash of the DKW,
but non-existent on the Dodge. The cars were not hard to drive at
SKIP BARBER TRAINS DISC RACERS
Skip Barber Racing School was chosen to train celebrity musicians
for the Dodge International Star Challenge (DISC). The Dodge International Star Challenge is a series of three regional celebrity auto races
each sponsored by one or more record labels. Held at officially sanctioned International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) road race
courses, a fourth championship race will pit the top four finishers from
each of the first three races against each other.
and driving by combining the natural appeal of top recording stars
with the excitement of auto racing.
The musicians will compete in 1988 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z cars
which have been modified to include expanded safety and performance features.
Every Dodge International Star Challenge race will be taped and syndicated for broadcast on network, local, or sports cable television,
carrying the "THINK" message even further.
•
Organized by the Dodge car division of Chrysler Motors, this Series
is aimed at making young people aware of the danger of drinking
SBR instructor Jeremy Dale (foreground) with DISC racers before the
Road Atlanta race. Pictured are, left to right, RATT's Stephen Pearcy,
Motley Crue's Vince Neil, solo artist Vince Gill (formerly of Pure Prairie
League) and recording artist/songwriter Gary Chapman.
The Dodge Celebrity Challenge Dodge Daytona Shelby Z cars at the
Series opener at Road Atlanta. Gary Chapman won the event, with
Vince Neil second.
BOSCH
EASTERN
BEARINGS
Dodge
all (these were non-turbos the first year) and, with an all former drag
racing effort, we won the twelve hour contest. Having been the Chief
Instructor at Road Atlanta for six years didn't hurt.
straights. "Standing" the rears straight up works well. In other words,
no negative rear camber. On lower speed tracks, like autocrossing,
reducing pressure in rear tires lets them "squirm" around.
When we acquired turbos and moved to the Firehawk Series the following year, things changed. There's a popular two word bumper sticker
that comes to mind.
At Mid-Ohio last year, after a rain storm, Dorsey brought me the car
(in less than perfect shape, but another story), so I hopped in with
a full tank and what I thought was a complete tire change, full treaded
rains to shaved "slicks." The crew neglected to tell me there was only
time for front slicks during the driver change. When I entered turn
one on the second lap, I discovered a new way to induce rotation.
Of biblical porportions.
If we all subscribe to the basic premise that you can brake and turn
simultaneously, then we know the car can accelerate and turn too.
However, one important item that enables us to brake/turn efficiently
is the force you're applying to the front tires. Being an old drag racer,
I'll call this weight transfer. When your big foot is on the brake pedal,
your major weight is on the front tires, forcing them to "bite" better.
But when your aforementioned foot is pressing on the gas pedal, your
weight transfer accumulates in the trunk, offering excellent "bite" to
the rear.tires. The rears on the front drive have two major functions
in life. To enhance the looks for prospective buyers on the car lot,
and to keep the gas tank from sparking on the pavement.
In the last newsletter, Carl Lopez "redefined" trailbraking. The front
drive re-emphasizes it. If you attempt to power prematurely, the hands
still have a fair amount of steering dialed in. It reminds me of trying
to teach a pig how to sing. It just aggravates the pig and frustrates
the teacher. Impatience with throttle aggravates the car and frustrates
the driver.
As this impatience continues, we begin to overheat the fronts and,
unlike in little pigs, they don't squeal with delight, they simply respond
less. So why race a front drive? Life is full of little challenges. And,
in 1987 our team won eight of the ten Firehawk races and took first
through fourth in drivers points, so it ain't no big problem. With
patience.
Patience, with weight/wait management, and with the proper blending of steering wheel position vs. right foot position. Unfortunately,
as our car control graduates know, to go quickly we must rely on the
second dumbest appendage of the male child, the right foot.
With shaved fronts (read: stick) and full treaded rears (read: squirm).
Did you know there are grandstands behind the bridge inside the apex
of turn one? I didn't either until the Dodge pointed me in that direction at 100 mph. The fronts finally pulled us toward turn two, but not
until after I had sung several verses of the last two words recorded
on an airplane's blackbox that has augered in. Kids, don't try this
at home. I ain't recommending different tread depths.
Also, careful threshold braking across puddles in the front driver. As
Dorsey found out, if you lock the fronts while in gear, it kills the motor.
As I found out, if you'll modulate the brake and unlock the fronts, it
will "jump start" itself immediately, assuming you haven't run out of
talent and pavement simultaneously.
To recap. The front driver is very forgiving due to the ability of the
fronts to "pull" you about. Set the rear to help steer, with toe out or
neutral rear camber, don't be impatient with throttle, even if you are
entering a corner and no longer need to reduce speed, momentary
"trailing" throttle can continue to help develop your "site picture," and
if your picture "over develops," the rears, just like a bad kid, can be
put in their place with a certain amount of right foot.
And, oh, as I slid back down the hill toward the DKW armed with my
knowledge of choke location, I promised the good lord that if it would
just crawl long enought to get me back to the top of the hill, I'd never
sneak out again. It fired rather nicely and as I headed to Suzanne's,
I promised — next time. . .
•
Rear slip angles help. We already know the many time saving (stop
watch) pluses that trailbraking produces in a rear drive car. One of
the bigger values is the ability to create rotation, which is actually a
form of mismanaged weight. Under brake/turning the front tires are
receiving more than their share of the load (no pun intended), the
fronts stick better, the rears begin to slip (slide), resulting in a lot of
direction change in a short period of time, producing an increasing
radius corner.
The more the rears slip at turn in, the less we have to crank in front
steering, the more power available at "point" time. Point time is when,
during rotation, the taillights are lining up with the headlights on a path
to the apex and then a relaxing arc to the pavement side of the trackout
area.
Now, here's the big plus for the over achievers in the world of rotation. A front drive car has the ability to "pull" the car through the
corner, regardless of the earth class slip angle the rears have obtained.
As the car begins to point and your "site picture" is developing, simply
begin feeding throttle and you're off in pursuit of another corner. Actually, we'll go one step beyond this. If for some obscure reason, such
as locking the rears, the taillights are headed for greener pastures
(or guardrail) and the headlights aren't keeping up, simply spin the
front tires with power and that should put taillights in their place.
Therefore, we are able to "help" the front driver point. Anytime we
can get the rear to do its fair share of steering, we can go to power
sooner. Rear toe out is simple, but can scrub some speed on long
FRONT DRIVE RACING
SCHOOL OFFERED
We offer our Three Day Competition
Course taught by our highly successful
front drive expert instructors in Dodge
Daytona Z's at selected locations. Learn
from the best of the pros in winning front
drive Dodge cars. Call us for details.
INSTRUCTOR PROFILE: TERRY L EARWOOD
In 1978, Terry was hired by Don and Bill Whittington to head up their
driver training school at Road Atlanta.
"I thoroughly enjoyed my drag racing career, mainly because we were
always extremely competitive, thanks to Bagwell's first class effort and
Chrysler's continued support, but I really enjoyed teaching the Pursuit Patrol curriculum at Road Atlanta in 1973. So, when the Whittington's offered me the position at Road Atlanta, the timing was right.
My parents had discovered water and boats, and the first time I sat
on the dock watching all the girls and drinking cold beer, it dawned
on me that there were other things to do on a Sunday afternoon
besides changing transmissions or pistons a thousand miles from
home."
In April of 1984, he joined the Skip Barber Organization and a year
later helped formulate the BMW Advanced Driving School and the
Racer's Car Control Clinic.
"At Road Atlanta, I had run a few regionals in SS/A and, with Doc
Bundy's help, was fairly competitive but had no idea the science involved in road racing until I joined Skip Barber Racing. My teaching
experience had been car control oriented, showing a driver his or
her limitations and capabilities with a car. So, when I ran into Paul
Rossi, a former Chrysler factory drag racer, and he asked me to join
his showroom stock endurance team, I jumped at the chance to practice what we'd been teaching." The team won their first outing, a 12
hour at Road Atlanta and finished third in points for 1985 in Dodge
Shelby Chargers.
Terry was fourth in IMSA Firehawk Series points in 1986 behind teammate and Skip Barber Racing Instructor, Dorsey Schroeder, and
second in 1987 to co-driver and Skip Barber Racing School graduate,
Garth Ullom, with Garth and Terry winning five of the ten races.
Terry was born some time ago in Atlanta, Georgia and exposed to
high school education in Jacksonville, Florida, where he won his first
trophy at age 15 by "borrowing" his father's F/Production Porsche
Speedster and attending his first drag race at Fernandina, Florida.
"I had to outrun six Corvairs and a twin cam MGA and was so nervous I could have threaded a sewing machine with it running," he
remembers.
After graduating high school at Briarcliff in Atlanta, he began "hanging around" with a factory Dodge drag racing effort and became a
integral part of the team immediately. "They let me wash the truck."
While managing the Gainesville Dragway in Gainesville, Florida, he
began teaching Police Pursuit Driver Training after attending the Los
Angeles County Sheriffs Department Pursuit School in Pomino, California in 1972.
In 1973, he returned to Atlanta as Crew Chief and driver for Steve
Bagwell, who owned two of the MOPAR "Factory Hot Rods." Over
the next five years, he amassed over 250 victories, four National Super
Stock Championships and 15 National records. "Back then, unless
it was a National event weekend, we would race Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday at three different drag strips, running up some
70,000 miles a year on each tow rig."
For 1988 the team has switched to Daytona Turbo Z's with Terry and
Garth winning the season opener at Sebring, along with Steve
Debrecht and posting victory at the Palm Beach Grand Prix over teammates Dorsey Schroeder, Steve Debrecht, Joe Varde and Skip Barber
Racing Instructor, Jeremy Dale.
Terry continues to live on Lake Lanier, near Road Atlanta during the
summer, and on Lake Huntley, south of Sebring in the winter.
Terry has also driven in 14 car commercials, and appeared on three
PM Magazine stories, on Good Morning America and the Today Show.
GOALS: continue teaching, boat riding, Firehawking and purchase
Vette roadster.
•
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Road America. Inc. •
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BARBER
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Located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Road
America lies midway between Milwaukee
and Green Bay, Wisconsin, an hour from
Milwaukee and three hours from Chicago. Its
4 mile long course, 2.2 mile short course and
autocross and skid pad facilities are located
in a wooded park-like setting that is a favorite
of drivers and spectators alike.
The Skip Barber Racing School and Formula
Ford Race Series uses the 2.2 mile short
course that is created by bisecting the long
course using the escape road at Turn 5. The
Barber Saab Pro Series event is run on the
4 mile course.
CLOSEST MAJOR AIRPORT: Milwaukee
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MAJOR 1988 SPECTATOR EVENTS:
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FOR TICKET INFO or to be put on Road
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