Drag Illustrated Issue 149, October 2019 | Page 50

D.I. COLUMNIST Tuned Up with Will Hanna TUNING WITH A PURPOSE H ow many times have you walked into a buddy’s trail- er, asked him or her what they are doing, and they respond something to the effect of, “Looking at squiggly lines…”? All too often we get so caught up in the next run – or the next race – that we lose sight of the big picture. Sometimes you’re just trying to get down the track without smoking the tires or shaking. Maybe you’re try- ing to run quick enough to qualify. Other times you’re trying to figure out why the car is or isn’t doing something. I have seen a lot of people go to the track with the “well, we’re going to try ‘X’ this weekend and see how it does” attitude. Then a few races later, they are trying something else. Sometimes you try the right thing and it works. Many times, if you don’t have direction, you get stuck in that rut for a while. I think it is very important to have a goal of what you want the car to do. When you have a goal, it helps you shape a plan. Let’s say your goal is to run a tenth quicker by the end of the year. The plan is the “how” you are going to get there. Maybe it’s gear change, converter change, engine components, chassis changes or a combination of changes. While an experienced racer cer- tainly may have a theoretical advan- tage because they could use their experience to map a road to a goal, I think it is especially important for new racers and would-be tun- ers to have a plan as well. Obviously, there’s more trial and error involved when you are new, but if you know where you want to go, it’s a lot easier to figure out you aren’t going the direction you want. Also, sometimes a new racer tries something us ex- perienced racers “know better” than doing and kick our ass with it. One of the most valuable things I learned in school that applies to tuning race cars is scientific method. Without getting into a textbook les- son, scientific method was covered in those chapters in science class where you asked a question, formed a hypothesis (theory), conducted an experiment or test of the hypothesis, and then review the data from the experiment to confirm or refute the hypothesis. If the experiment con- firms the hypothesis, then it must be able to repeat the results. Racing and tuning a car is a con- stant scientific experiment. While we have to “take it one run at a time,” as the saying goes, each run needs to be part of a larger experiment to reach your goal. Often times, the experiment disproves our original hypothesis, and we have to adjust and reformulate a new hypothesis on what it will take to achieve our goal. For instance, for a long while I had a certain theory and method of gearing a car and the way I ran it. I had a lot of success with it over the years at divisional and hot national event tracks, but it was middle of the pack on good tracks. Every race I would try something a little dif- ferent to try to get it to respond to what I was trying to make it do. At one race, I had tried every “trick” I thought would make the thing run the way I wanted to make it run. I felt like we had reached a dead end on that road. What that told me was the answer was on the other end of the spectrum from what I had been doing. We made wholesale changes, ran quicker and quicker every pass until we made a career-best run to win Indy. The results were obviously great, but it wasn’t so much of a data- driven “big-picture” plan as it was running out of options for that plan. I try to be a little more data and numbers driven on my big-picture plans now. I also try to let the big picture drive the run-to-run deci- sions a little more. There are plenty of instances you don’t get enough runs to try some- thing. If you are running an event that only has two qualifying runs, it’s very difficult. I always think you should put your best “known” A-to- B tune-up in it for the first qualifier. If you have a good-running car, it’s easy to get into sticking with what you know until you are backed into trying something new because your opponent is quicker. Over time, that can lead to getting left behind. Even when you have a good-running car, you always need to be pushing forward. Tune with a purpose. Have a plan. You’re already lost if you don’t know where you are trying to go! DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI Will Hanna is a tuner/consultant- for-hire offering services from run evaluation to trackside consulting. He can be reached via email at [email protected]. TRACKSIDE CONSULTING • REMOTE TUNING • RUN EVALUATION / “Monday Morning Crew Chief Service” Available [email protected] • 979.415.4959 50 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 149