SCCA National at Lime Rock!

I just painted the QP, rear bumper and f/g deck lid today. All the repairs are now complete.
Mechanically I think the car is ready. Only a little reassembly Thursday and I'm off to the track.
If anyone in the area is free on Saturday and looking for some fun, come on up! My race is either right before or right after lunch.
Admission is $15 at the gate.

Somebody take some pics.


B

Glad to hear you got it back together!!!

I know the feeling - I finally got the brakes squared away on my 74, along with the motor reinstalled after an EGR port weld blew out.

I should have the car running in the next few days!!! I signed up for my first AX event of the year (sad, eh?) on Aug 8th. I'll have my wife video taping with the new DV camcorder...

Later!
Tom

Good luck Chris. The feeling that you're going racing soon is one of the best.
We've had a 3 month layoff. I just had my entry confirmed for Laguna Seca Aug 20 and I'm already getting excited.

Have fun Chris. I'd love to see that event at Lime Rock.

TV?

Go get 'em

cheers,

Jeroen

Don't lift until you see this flag.

Good luck Chris!!

I'm trying to get mark back together so he can still have a shot at the championship after his explosion..

The new engine will be even better, he will be running Nickies

Hi Chris,

Great to hear you're gonna be running again...I hope the car runs strong for you. Enjoy!

Bill P.

Write up one of those press releases and let us know all the details.

Paul

Great, new footage for the in car camera!

Good Luck Chris!!!!!! I will try to get up there to watch and cheer you on . Tony D

What an awful day!
Actually it all started to unravel last night. When I got to the track I had enough time to go to tech for the car's annual inspection. I guess I wasn't quite rerady after all.
What, no brake lights? Well that would be because I never re-attached the wires that I clipped last fall. NO biggie, and the tech inspector was willing to let it slide, since I would probably get black flagged if they didn't work on the track. Pretty easy to fix.
Uh-oh, the window net wasn't attached either. Once again it is something I won't get past pre-grid if it don't work. And how come only one of the straps I use is with the net? Must be at home still. Ok, no real problem, as it was right where I left it in the garage. Good thing I was planning to go home anyway Thursday night.
The tech guy was nice and didn't write anything up about the discrepancies in my log book. We talked about some other minor issues that I agreed to resolve in the near future, for my own safety. I did a little research today on one of them and decided he was wrong anyway, so I'm not sure I'll do anything about it after all. He claimed my ballast plates had to have 2 half inch bolts holding them to the floor, instead of the four 5/16" ones I'm using. My 2004 GCR doesn't spec any size, just that it be securely installed, which it is. Once again no biggie.
So this morning Mary and I are going over the check list at the track so I can go out for practice without any mishaps. Down to the last item - pull the safety pin out of the fire extinguisher system. Mary, you can do that while I... what's that? God damn it the extinguisher is going off, f_ck, f_ck, f_ck! I'm sorry I'm yelling Mary, I know it's not your fault. I'm the dumbass that neglected to finish the installation, so the pull wire will prevent the bottle from discharging until I need it. Now what? Driving Impressions has no Halon bottles, just complete systems (AFFF or whatever) for $599. There's gotta be someone who can help me for less than that around here. Well, of course no one carries the spares that I need! What's wrong with me? Time for practice now. I can go out for a few laps without any need for a fire extinguisher, right. Yup, I'm just shaking out the car and looking for other trouble spots. Phew, got away with it, did a 1: 05 without even trying and had no big issues. Well, maybe one. The brake pedal is too firm because my Tilton master cylinder selection is too big. I can't really modulate the pedal. At least the car stops though.
A quick call to Racer Wholesale confirms that, yes, they have a full bottle on the shelf, but it ain't ok to overnight Halon bottles since 9-11, or something. Well I'm gonna need it anyway, so just ship it UPS ground to the house. No one important knows I don't have a fire extinguisher on board, so I'll just get a handheld unit from the local hardware store in Canaan and be reasonably safe for the rest of the weekend. One more problem out of the way.
There's more though! It started raining just before lunch. I'm ok with that, I like driving in the rain just fine. After all, my 914 has a roof and a windshield. The rain gets worse though. In fact it's so humid here that the temp is below the dew point in addition to all the water dropping from the clouds. Rain-x and Fog-x aren't enough for the conditions. I simply can't see the track in front of me, and pull in and ask Mary to go get a towel from the paddock. That takes a few laps, while I sit in pit lane twiddling my thumbs. That's ok, because there is a river in several places on the track anyway by now. I go back out, but it's useless. I have the towel in the car, but it's just too dangerous. I've already decided I'm coming back in as I get to the end of No-name Straight. What's this - waving yellow - a blue Mini in the Armco? As my brakes lock up I know the session is over for me. I get around the corner safely though and very carefully return to pit lane, no worse, except for having done the dreaded 3-2 upshift once while trying to see through the fog. The engine sounds ok so it must be ok, right? We'll see.
I managed to qualify 17th (1:30), ahead of all the guys who chickened out, but nowhere near where I'm capable of. At least I'm ahead of Steve Limbert who's driving an EP 914-6, and he was out there in the rain with the rest of us nuts. It seems I'm always faster than him, even though he has twice the 914 building and driving experience I have.
I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. I probably won't sleep a wink tonight.

But don't feel too sorry for me. If I wasn't having a good time I wouldn't bother doing it.

Oh yeah, Mr. Newman drove his Corvette to a 1:14 in the rain for Pole in the GT1 race, five seconds faster than than 2nd position, his own teammate - Mike Brockman.
The guy isn't getting older, just faster.

Good Luck.... Have Fun.....

Nice write-up Chris. Good Luck tomorrow!

Sounds like a typical *first* race weekend for most of us. Scramble..fix..repair..run.. scramble..fix..repair.. add some rain and you have the perfect race weekend. Congrats on the qualifying ahead of Limbert. I met him back in 1994 when the Runoffs first ran at Mid-Ohio. He was running GT3 with us in his red/yellow car.

Good luck.


B

Beotches!!! :finger2:

I am seriously behind on seat time this year so far. Now August will be busy as hell for work but also the month to get the car ready to run as many events as possible in Sept-Dec.

I am gonna put a passenger seat in the car this weekend, so I can find out how many instructors and students I'll be able to terrify in a single weekend!

Plus I'm gonna finish my fuel and fire system upgrades ASAP to avoid a possible Dale Jr. experience....

Yep.
One of the things I discussed with the tech official was the location of my pull handle for the fire bottle.
Since I am unable to reach it while strapped in it isn't too useful, and the corner workers usually arrive with a fire extinguisher of their own.
I actually feel better with the handheld unit until I can relocate the handle.
Of course the best thing is never to need it in the first place.

There are Halon units with a automatic discharge feature. It's a cable that can be dash mounted (or where ever is close) and the other end attaches to the bottle. Pull the cable and the unit opens.

There are also units with a heat sensing globe on them. When it gets too hot the globe breaks and unit dumps the gas.

Sounds like you had fun.

At the track Saturday morning it looked like the rain had ended early because the grassy paddock area we occupied was nearly dry. I didn’t go out for the morning warm-up and immediately began to work on the car. We had a long inspection list, including a check of the alignment. Since the car had been completely disassembled for the better part of a year it was pretty important to be certain all systems were up to the contest ahead. We used up the rest of the morning and worked through much of the lunch break. When the corner workers returned to their stations I was ready to climb aboard the Tangerine Racing 914.
When we moved onto the track I was positioned on the outside of the eighth row. I was right behind Dave Kicak, who was the top FP qualifier, driving a red MG Midget. We took the green flag and headed down the straight. Dave got a great start and pulled away, slicing through the middle of the field. I stayed to the outside, passing several cars as we reached the braking zone. Halfway through Big Bend I noticed a car ahead, spinning over the curb to the inside. This caused a tie up for many of the cars on the inside line. No contact occurred and everyone resumed, but I had managed to get clear without being held up. Only a red EP 240Z was between myself and the rival MG, a few seconds ahead.
As we circulated the track several faster EP cars came up and I let them past, but this also increased the distance between me and the Midget. After the traffic cleared I set off after the FP leader quite a distance ahead. I caught up to him on lap 10 and on lap 11 he closed the door in the left hander when I showed him the nose of my car on the inside of the turn. I resumed my stalking and as we headed down the front straight Dave stayed a full lane off the outside edge of the track, giving me the opportunity I was waiting for. I had made a better run through the diving turn and the pass was made easily before turn 1 on lap 12. I started pulling away slowly; the car felt good and I was feeling confident.
I put some distance between myself and the second place runner, and began to think I could cruise to the finish line. Someone layed an oil slick down at the entry to the esses and in my mirror I saw the red Midget do a brief dance and slide off the course there. Maybe that would be enough to ensure my victory.
Unfortunately, after a few more laps I felt the engine go flat for a moment. Then it happened again. One cylinder was not pulling with the rest and I was having trouble accelerating away from the corners. The problem would clear up sometimes as the engine rpms climbed, but it didn’t go away, and I became concerned that my lead would not last. I continued to circulate at about 2-3 seconds a lap slower than before. Eventually I noticed Dave’s red Midget was closing in, and he had Andy Williams’ third place yellow Midget in tow. It wasn’t much longer before I had no choice but to let them both by. I had led for about 10 laps and that was it. I would be lucky to cross the finish line the way the engine felt.
A couple of laps before the checkered flag I noticed a fuel smell. I was hoping it was the car ahead of me, but guessed it was probably my own car, giving me another clue as to my engine problems. Another issue I had was a greasy feel to the rear tires late in the race, which I thought was a track condition at the time. Once I parked the car in impound I could see the oil dripping from the left side of the car, near the engine compartment, which explained the lack of grip. The fuel smell was also definitely coming from my car. Maybe I’m real lucky I didn’t need that Halon bottle that was emptied inadvertently in the paddock on Friday.

sorry about your car.

I love racing. I hate racing.
The highs are very high and the lows really suck.
It is fantastic when you have a bit of luck and everything goes the right way and all the work and planning pay off with a good finish. It's a real bummer when something goes wrong. I know both the frustration and the ecstasy. It is not as bad getting beat if you did your best and ran a good race as it is to lose because something broke on the car.
You'll get 'em next time.

You oughta be a writer. Great post. (sorry about the ending)

Chris, when (if) you retire from racing, you have a career writing about racing - excellent narratives! Would have been up to LRP to cheer you on if I had noticed this thread in time.

Are you going to do the CVR race this year now that it's been move to September?

First problem solved; a loose hose clamp was the culprit in the oil leak. Nothing serious, and less than 2 quarts missing from the tank.

The Runoffs are at the same time, so no. I haven't kept up my PCA race license since I decided to do SCCA National racing.


It's one of the things I want to be when I grow up, so I practice a little every now and then.

A leak down test last night confirms a probably bent valve. #3 had 30% leakage with lots of air coming out through the carb.
I guess a teardown is next.
I'm thinking about racing at Mid-Ohio in mid-August if I can get it back together in time.

Lemme know if you need anything.. What was that piston/valve clearance?? The cam that I *think* you are using opens pretty early.

Damn Chris, I'm hoping there are no nasty surprises when you tear down. Keep us posted. I would like to see you race some day. Anything local to NE this year?