It’s been a while since i have had time to sit down and update everyone on the current Pro3 race car status.

Well the race car is great and after breaking the clutch Cris and I took some time to do a remodel on the house so she could move in, we moved her and the boys into the house, enjoyed the holidays with family and friends, and celebrated some birthdays.

We are just now getting back to a routine and BAM! Racing season is about to start so there are tons of little things to do to get the cars ready and to prep for events. The sad news, however, is that I have not yet gotten the correct controls for the race car. I do believe I have found them but coordinating the purchase and install of these has been a challenge.

Here’s a shot of the controls:
aob0qg

And a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8-1xfbTwHg

They are made by a company called Guidosimplex and are used quite widely by WRC and other racing drivers in Europe. The company is in Italy and thus coordinating the parts and install has been challenging.

In parallel I have been working on a control unit that can manage gas and brake using a servo and some pneumatics. The results have been positive but we have yet to get a solid prototype installed in the car for testing. I expect as the weather gets better this will increase unless I get the racing controls in the car sooner.

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of going down to PGP Karting in Kent and modifying one of their carts installing hand controls. What a blast, let me tell you it was so much fun I went back the next week and made more modifications and dialed the cart in. It is now ready for use by other wheelchair users.

Plan to return to PGP in a week or tow and do some longer stints and get even more refinement out of the controls.

Those are the highlights for now…I’ll leave you with a picture of the cars after we got done doing the end of winter cleaning on them….BTW: It snowed the next day!

And the Pro3 Car with some sponsor love on the nose…

Posted on February 23, 2011 by jaybri | Leave a comment

So damn close…..just a few more details.

Posted on October 17, 2010 by jaybri

Yep, the remodel is really close…just a few more things to finish up and details to complete then we are ready to move in!
Can’t tell you how excited I am to get out of the living room and guest bath so we can get moving on the next project.
This remodel is the start of moving Cris into the house and the next chapter in our relationship together.

I am excited to “get on with it”; here’s some shots from this morning….

   
The closets were installed along with the doors and the base trim

Next week, finish plumbing, tile, and final details. Then we get to start moving stuff in and making it ours after our anniversary trip to Victoria. Two years together this weekend and celebrating by taking her to Victoria for four days…it will be nice to just get away from the stresses of home and work and be with my sweetie. Looking forward to the time together.

Pro3 Update:
Been discussing options with Greg Miller (fellow Pro3 driver) about controls and input options. So far we have pretty much narrowed down the placement of the controls. Wheel and shift linkage and are working out the details of what those actuators are and how they work. I have also been talking with Marc from a company called Shitec www.shiftec.com about applying his actuation system to my car. He is confident that he has the parts we need to do the job, but I am concerned about the cost. One actuation unit is $6K USD, which pretty much blows my budget. But, there is light…we are going to start looking for major sponsor monies to help fund this R&D.

Here’s the unit….

At some point if the cost of the actuator outweighs the cost of a M3 SMG it might be time to cut bait and move platforms.

Until next time….Jay

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Hello world!

Posted on October 12, 2010 by jaybri

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

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Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Posted on October 12, 2010 by jaybri

yep, you heard right…another year has past and my birthday was a huge success.
It was really great to see everyone and have such a great time!

This year has been a busy one…with the race car, remodel, and job life has been crazy. I am blessed to have such a patient partner in crime and a family of friends that continually amaze me with their kindness and generosity. I thank you all for that! Here’s to another year of great times and new adventures.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks! Jay

And yes that is a duck-face. 🙂

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Houston we have paint….

Posted on September 19, 2010 by jaybri

Yep, the remodel is cooking along and we managed to get the paint on the walls last weekend and the base and casing is all primed and painted. Thanks to everyone that helped!

So far the remodel has been pretty smooth and nothing major has cropped up to snag us. That said we did find out that the flooring we got might not be nail down and may not be the correct flooring for our application. Sucks cause they usually have about a 2-3 week lead time for flooring. We’ll know more Tuesday when our GC’s installer looks at it and can determine if it is the correct stuff or not. If not we will most likely have to order more and see if we can expedite it…might even be worth while chasing down the flooring from Boen again and shipping it in. But we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Saved a of money on some things so we could do some other things around the house, like the French doors between the entertainment area and kitchen/living room. Should create a nice break from the boys area in the back of the house. Also looking at putting some tile on the backsplash in the kitchen. Found a tile called “Fuggettaboutit” from Susan Joblon in California who creates all the tile mosaics for show like Hell’s Kitchen, Trading Spaces, etc…. Anyhow it’s a pretty cool mix of reds, stainless, blacks, grays and textures.

Here’s the link: http://www.susanjablonmosaics.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/77688

The racecar is still sitting patiently waiting to be let free from the box, but there are still lots of things to do before that will happen.
I have to get the garage ready for a fridge and freezer coming from Cris’s house and that means re-arranging it again. Shouldn’t be too bad though and actually will allow better use of the space overall.

Here are some shots of the paint and remodel…I’ll add more as we get further along.

Welp that’s it for now….until next time.

Jay

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Holding pattern….

Posted on August 27, 2010 by jaybri
Well for the past week or two after fixing up the transmission on the car we are in a holding pattern.
Yep, the car is in the hauler and we are taking care of a much needed remodel to prepare the house for Cris’s arrival.
Also built a driveway for parking the trailer and the van so that we are not parked on the lawn.
 
I wanted to get the car back out for another session but I don’t see that happening this year.
Just too much to do around here that is taking my attentions.
 
But, I am looking forward to finishing this remodel, re-organizing my garage, and getting back on it after the remodel is completed.
 
Not a whole lot more to share at this point…so until next time.
 
Thanks
Jay
 
 
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Re-assembly is almost complete!

Posted on August 8, 2010 by jaybri

Ok, so yesterday we got down and dirty with the transmission and new clutch.

Put them both back into the car and bolted it all back up. I seriously hope I do not have to do that again anytime soon.
There are a few bolts that are absolutely a pain in the ass to get out and back in…IE: the starter bolts!
You would have thought that they would be at least accessible from the top of the motor!?

No…no wait! They are if you take the half the upper section of the motor apart! 😦 WTFE

Anyhow…today we are planning to put the rest of the car back together, bleed the clutch and take it for a spin in the driveway.
Then I need to fabricate a better clutch release arm for the hand controls that allows me to engage without so much travel and remount the brake arm to do the same.

We have the remodel starting soon too and will be focusing in on that over the next two weeks so I don’t foresee allot of time spent on the car.
But who knows…

Until next time…Jay

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Disassembly begins….

Posted on August 1, 2010 by jaybri

Yep, we started to disassemble the car today to get to the clutch and fuel leak. It actually came apart pretty quickly and I was surprised at how easy it is…The parts should be here on Wednesday. Between now and then I am going to try to fix the fuel leak that seems to only happen when the car is running. this leads me to a fuel line issue.

We had to drop the exhaust and driveline out along with drain out 12 gallons of fuel that we had just put into the car.
That sucked because in modern cars it is almost impossible to siphon off fuel so we had to get under the car and drain it 3 gallons at a time.
I still smell like fuel….

There are a few other things a-foot around here too. The permits for the remodel are submitted and we are getting ready to start moving stuff around.
My bedroom will be moved out to the living room and my bathroom will be the guest bath until the remodel is complete.

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Track Debut! At Pacific Raceways – July 25th

Posted on July 28, 2010 by jaybri

This last weekend the Pro3 car made it’s track debut at Pacific raceways in Kent.
It was a big day for the car, me, and Cris…there were allot of unknowns out there and I was pretty damn nervous.

Besides the trips up and down my street (about 300 yards) this was the first time the car was going to be run at any type of speed.
I did get it up to 100mph just briefly to see what it would do…

But the goal for the day was to learn, get the car on the track, shake it down and see if anything breaks, get a log book, and return the car safely.

I am happy to report all those goals were met and the outing was a success of sorts. Even though the clutch gave out and I was unable to shift the car after only four laps, I learned a ton about exactly what I will need to do to keep up with the transmission, throttle, and steering. The car ran terrific and sounds great going down the front stretch. It corners well and is really predictable when it starts to slide. One area I noticed I am going to need to get much better at to preserve the transmission and clutch is rev matching and properly engaging/dis-engaging the clutch. I am pretty sure the clutch failure was due to a downshift coming into 3a where I basically dropped the clutch because I got a bit confused. 3a comes up pretty quick when you do 90+ through turn 2! Long story short my day was done after only four laps. But we managed to accomplish all the goals of the outing.

I have already ordered the parts for the new clutch and they are on the way here now. I would expect a few weeks of replacing the parts, modifying the controls and adjusting the clutch arm linkage and I will be ready to run again. Unsure if that will happen this year or next season just due to other life things going on around here.

Yep, we are starting our remodel soon and the toys will probably take a back seat to the immediate and the preparation for Cris’s exodus from her current household.

Until next time thanks again to my crew chief Cris and all the folks that have lent a helping hand to this project.

Getting my cage stamped and log book…Thanks Ken Hill for taking the time to do that!

Some current shots of the car…

Thanks!

Jay Brickey
Brickey Racing

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Final push to complete and get this car on the track this year!

Posted on July 12, 2010 by jaybri

Hey All,

It’s been awhile since I last made an entry in the blog.

That’s primarily because I have been working my ass off trying to get this car done for a July 25th day at PR.

Update:
Clutch, brake, throttle controls all in.
Windows in, still need to cut and mount the rear.
Seat is in, need to mount the belts and adjust them.
Hood is on along with all the bumpers and trim molding.

I took the car for a drive the other day up and down the street and the steering is very heavy.
Per conference rules I am able to remove or disable the power steering, but I think I am going to put it back in and take the 1-3 hp loss.
Negligible at best and it will make my life so much easier.

The throttle cable set up is pretty sweet although I may need to get a longer cable and rebuild the control handle it is serving it’s purpose.

Back to work Monday/Tuesday then off camping Wed-Sunday with the Bryant’s and friends.
Schedule will be tight to get the car thru alignment, corner-weight, and nut and bolted before it hits the track.

Fingers crossed this will work out and everyone will get to see the car at PR July 25th.

Until then…Thanks to all that have helped on this effort.

Jay

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