4 years, 5 podiums
Palatov Motorsport
by dp
2y ago
For a 5-person company designing and building cars completely from scratch and going against top-level international competition, I’m proud of our record.  Especially considering that two of the five podium finishes were class wins.  My previous post may have sounded a bit negative but that’s because I set my goals and the expectation of myself and the team very high.  We shoot for the sun, so a walk on the moon feels like coming up short sometimes.  But then I look at the big picture and see what it is we have done.  We walk on the moon a lot. And then I see how ..read more
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Race Day
Palatov Motorsport
by dp
2y ago
All the work, preparation, testing, trials and tribulations come down to this.  One run up the Mountain. Yesterday we got to sleep in, today was another early day.  Surprisingly little traffic on the way in. We arrive at the pits, a couple final checks and then we wait.  And watch the weather. Friday was a forceful demonstration of what the Mountain can do.  Yesterday was intermittently cloudy.  Today can be anything.  It starts out thankfully clear and temperatures are mild. The bikes start pretty much on time at 8 am and their runs go fairly smoothly. First ca ..read more
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Ready for race day
Palatov Motorsport
by dp
2y ago
Today was pretty relaxed – we got to ‘sleep in’ (I actually still woke up at 2:30 am but was able to go back to sleep till about 6-ish).  After an actual breakfast and loading things like rain tires into the trailer we headed up the Mountain. We were among the first to arrive which was good.  The pit area is small so space size is limited.  We were lucky enough to get one of the 35′ long spaces (vs 20′) but it’s up against the trees.  Our trailer is 20′ long at the box, then about 4′ for the tongue, and the car is 9.5′ long.  We’re required to keep everything insi ..read more
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Testing in the clouds
Palatov Motorsport
by dp
2y ago
Today is the final test day and we’re on the upper section again, at 13,000 feet.  Turned out to be a powerful reminder of how fast the conditions on the Mountain can change. It started with clear starry sky and spectacular sunrise. Yesterday we spent 4 hours replacing the broken torque splitter on Rodney’s car, and messing with gearbox settings on David’s.  Many thanks to Under Pressure Performance for letting us use their shop. Our custom portable gantry is pretty handy for this work.  It disassembles and mounts on the trailer wall, taking up virtually no space. We had an is ..read more
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Middle Section testing
Palatov Motorsport
by dp
2y ago
Yesterday we gathered some data which indicates we need to tweak the ECU map a bit.  The cabin we’re staying at is rustic so we can’t do much mechanical work here, but electronics/software is fair game. After waiting out the hottest part of the day, and the subsequent hailstorm, we opened up the trailer and got the tweaks done. Didn’t take long and we were all set for today’s testing. The pit space at Glen Cove is crowded but the officials did a good job of directing everyone and making it work.  Overall so far the whole race week experience is proving to be more streamlined and eff ..read more
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Qualifying
Palatov Motorsport
by dp
2y ago
Based on the data gathered from testing (mostly AFR and boost levels) I tweaked the ECU map and programmed one of our two ECUs with it.  We have two in case something goes wrong with programming, and also to be able to switch between two programs just by plugging in one or the other.  Today is qualifying, on the lower section. As always we set up in the dark.   The main goal for the first run is to test the new ECU map and to scrub in the tires we’re going to use for the race.  The secondary one is to finish a run so that we qualify – actual time is not super important ..read more
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First test day
Palatov Motorsport
by dp
2y ago
This is our fourth year and still there are countless unknowns. The Mountain is famous for throwing challenges at competitors. On top of that, the D2TT is a brand new car and the D1PPS has some engine tuning changes that need to be verified and/or adjusted.  So going up the Mountain at 4 am still entailed some anxiety. The location of the cabin we’re renting is indeed convenient and as a result we can get almost half hour extra sleep each day.  That means a lot.  Testing on the top section today and the van is challenged to pull the loaded trailer up a 7% grade to 13,070 feet ..read more
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Tech Done
Palatov Motorsport
by dp
2y ago
The first official activities of the race are done – both cars have passed tech and are ready for testing tomorrow morning.  We showed up early and left early, so didn’t see David’s D2 go through, but we did see it in his trailer.  The new paint job is distinctive and looks striking in person.  Numbers and graphics will complete the look. This was also our chance to see some of the competition.  As always a lot of very cool cars are entered and it’s fun (and a privilege) to compete against them. There was even some history on display – Spencer Penrose’s Yellow Devil, a m ..read more
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Here we go again
Palatov Motorsport
by dp
2y ago
Yes, we’re back at Pikes Peak this year.  The effort has already been quite eventful and full of stress and drama, I just haven’t documented it yet. The reason for the late start on the blog is that until recently (like two days ago) we weren’t fully certain we were going to be here.  There are two of our cars running this year, which I’ll go into shortly, but one is a full customer effort with a brand-new twin turbo D2 and didn’t require our presence.  The other, Rodney’s D1PPS from last year,  was a last minute decision and I’ll go into that too.  Then it was ‘GO’ an ..read more
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Summing it up
Palatov Motorsport
by dp
2y ago
The awards ceremony is Monday morning, which is a change from last year to give officials time to verify results and address any issues.  It is held at the Penrose House. A very cool place with lots of history.  Judging from the official timing results we have some awards to collect. Rodney is confirmed third in Unlimited (11th overall) and receives his trophy standing shoulder to shoulder with Romain Dumas.  Not bad for a rookie whos car first ran 10 days ago The Open class in which Jonathan took second is combined with Open Wheel class for awards.  It is not entire ..read more
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