Keep a Clean Car

Some people refer to their racecars as hot rods, no matter how far removed from the typical American V8 they may be. There’s no question that racecar owners drive their cars hard like anything built for performance should be. The question is, once off the track, do they baby it like a hot rod?

Go to a custom car show and you’ll see cars so clean they sparkle like jewelry. There are mirrors laid on the floor to show off the chrome and anodized aluminum underneath; look in those mirrors and you won’t spot a bit of dirt or grease.

Should your racecar be that clean? That’s probably overkill. But neither should the underside and engine bay be caked with dust and grime. That dust and grime could be hiding something you need to see. In other words, notes Andris Laivins, crew chief for CJ Wilson Racing in the Continental Tires SportsCar Challenge and MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich, never discount the importance of a clean car.

“You can’t underestimate the importance of cleaning, and cleaning very, very thoroughly,” he says. “It goes up on jackstands and the whole thing gets pressure washed. Even on the race weekends we spend a lot of time cleaning. The bottom should be spotless. Cleaning the car constantly is when you find things you need to work on or things that need attention – you find a hose that’s rubbing on a piece of metal. Second, when the car’s really clean and you’re trying to work on it, you’re not being slowed down by a crusty car. [Cleaning’s] not the fun thing to do; everybody wants to put cool parts on. But that’s the first thing we do after every race”

Cleaning doesn’t have to be complicated. Again, you’re trying to make sure you can see and get to everything – you’re probably not putting mirrors under your car in the paddock.

“We use a three-gallon pressurized bug sprayer, a white plastic container with a pressurized pump and a spray wand. Mix Simple Green and water in there. You can hose down the whole car that way – get under the car and into the wheel wells. Saturate everything in Simple Green and water, let it sit, then come back with a pressure washer. That’s the easy way to do it,” says Laivins.

“For general cleaning we use a lot of Mother’s products, particularly the R3 rubber remover. It’s a pretty gentle cleaner but it takes rubber marks off real well.” he adds. “It doesn’t hurt that they’re friends of Mazda, but I would be recommending their products anyway.”

With the grime gone, you can then concentrate on making the paint and glass sparkle. It never hurts to have a professional appearance, even for the club racer.