Hey All,
The G prod Porsche finally made it to its first SCCA event.
What an eventful weekend!!
Went up on Friday to practice. It rained, hailed, thundered and lightininged most of the day. Made it out briefly, never got any heat in the engine or tires and spun it twice. Managed to keep it on track and out of the mud.
Came home friday night to see the wife and kids and got up early to make it back to the track for practice. It's a two hour drive each way.
Hit the grapevine right as they were closing it due to snow. Sat on the freeway totally still for an hour and a half. Finally got through 30 minutes before I was due out for the first practice session and I'm forty-five minutes from the track.
Made it to the track just before qualifying. Still lightly misting and butt cold. Got out to qualify with very cold, damp conditions. Ran 5 laps and then got cocky. Did a real tank slapper coming over Magic Mountain, almost saved it three times and than spun into mud that was nightmare thick clay and the car sank to the floor pan instantly. Got towed out at the end of the session.
When I got back to the pits, the car just wouldn't run. I had high RPM's and nothing else. Of all the good luck, one of the mechanics for a super production camaro next to me heard the car and walked over and figured it out. I had tank slapped it so violently that one of the plugs in my fuel injection hose where the cold start and smog lines used to be had popped out. Got that fixed and went out for the afternoon race. Really excited getting to the line. This was gonna be great! Little did I know. Went out for the warm up lap, all good so far. The starter threw the green and I punched it. By the time I hit fourth gear the car was vibrating so badly my teeth hurt and my vision was blurring. I hadn't had time to take the tires completely off the car, I just cleaned them from the outside. Well, there was about a pound and a half of mud inside each rim. What a nightmare. On the third lap I was running down the front straight when the car began to miss. I later discovered it was bouncing so hard it bounced a plug wire off of the motor. Ran another couple of laps and another cylinder cut out. Two of the other GP cars had gone off track and into the mud by then. What a bummer!! Knew I would never catch the MG running in front of me and with only two cylinders running I was to slow on track so I pulled it in. Still managed a second place finish as one of the last cars running. First podium finish, Wohoo. Could not get the car to run right but by then it was late so I went home hoping to fix it on Sunday morning. On the way I stopped and bought new plugs, plug wires, rotor and cap.
Got to track on Sunday put the new plug wires on and the new plugs and then discovered something I've never heard of on this list. There are two different types of distibutor caps for the 914!! The small, lockdown tab is in a different position depending on the cap and the caps are not interchangeable. Car still wouldn't run on more than two cylinders and I was about to give up and put it on the trailer and come home.
As a last ditch effort I used my drill and ground the tab out of the distributor cap and used the cap springs to secure it. Hit the switch, it ran flawlessly. It had bounced so violently that the distributor cap had actually moved and gotten cockeyed and cut out the third and fourth cylinder.
16 minutes to make it to the line, I'm not dressed and there are still other problems. Quickly pulled the front tires and found the afore mentioned mud. Cleaned and pulled the rears also just in case. 5 minute board and I'm not in my suit yet, haven't checked my tire pressures and the enigne isn't warmed up. Flipped the switch and started the car while I checked tire pressures and dressed.
Hit the hot pit right as the cars are getting ready to roll. Starting dead last on the field since I didn't get a chance to qualify. Found out as I was going out that the two cars from yesterday hadn't made it out. It's just me and the MG.
Took the green, the car was screaming fast, what a blast!!! This car is flyin', I'm trying to take it easy, my adrenaline is pumping, I'm on cold tires, I've had very little sleep and I've had no practice. Not sure if the set up is any good since I haven't had a trouble free practice in the last two days. Second lap out I see the MG parked, he's thrown a rod.
Car ran fabulous the whole 30 minutes, by the end I was 8 and a half seconds quicker per lap than I was at the start. I improved drastically every lap. Car was pushing a little at the end so I still have some adjustments to do but, all in all a great race and, drum roll please, I picked up the first place trophy and flag.
Learned a whole lot about the car and about having a never say die attitude. Cal Club is a great group to race with. Some very helpful and nice people.
Weekend ended with beautiful weather and a first and second place trophy. I understand that being early in the year, with those two finishes, I'm either first or second in points after this weekend. What a trip that is.
A huge THANK YOU to all of you for you help and advice over the last year.
Alot of the changes I made on the car were from this board. In particular John Rodgers, Eric Madsen, Cap'n Krusty and Chris Foley; special thanks to you gentlemen.
Can't wait for the next race.
Sorry, No pics. Regular camera and film hasn't been developed yet.
Wow this is a long post. Sorry about that, I'll keep them shorter from here on out.
Randy Andell
Car 54 Here I Am
G prod, SCCA Porsche.

Was That a Yellow MG with blue trim??

Ventura County Porsches are Faster!

Hi Spunone,
Yes, It was Leroy Shaver's Yellow MG, #79. It's a beautiful car and very fast but he's having trouble keeping the engine together. Nice guy, actually came over and offered to help with my car on Sunday morning so I could get out.

Howard, et. al. the Ventura contingent was strong there this weekend. There were 5 of us racing in different classes, including Jim Hall and Nick Kodenko (Kodenko's automotive in Santa Paula). I met a guy named Mark Fallon who lives over by me near Pierpont racquet club who is building an E prod Porsche for next year.

The most amazing was a couple of young guys who had towed a 914 to run in ITB all the way from Utah. 13 hours one way. I gave them this list address and told them to contact Eric Shea. They had never heard of any of this. So we may have another couple of racing non-members.

Randy

Yea Thats Leroy a buddy of mine does all my welding .He's not sure yet what happened to the motor aint nuttin stickin out LOL .He said it was a little cold when you guys ran His car was runnin !60 degrees before he blocked of the cooler.Next time you see him tell him MR.Spinny sez HI

Randy,

Way to go!



Can't wait to see the pics


If you're looking for a time/place to do some testing, a few of us will be at Buttonwillow April 15-16. . .

Greg

Good Job Randy

Contratulations!!
Great story too. I'm glad you found all the problems and your weekend was a success.

Congrats!

great job
great story..


I'm so jealous

brant

Chris,
Thanks; you, John Rodgers, Trekkor and Eric Madsen were my inspiration all last year. Can't tell you how much time I spent watching videos from all four of you and picking your brains for advice.

Brant,
I've been jealous of yours for a while. Your build is beautiful and you've done things I haven't thought of or can't do because of the G prod rules.
Mines just a race car. It's not pretty, it looks good at 10 feet moving at at least 20 miles an hour. This weekend just completely thrashed the paint job. I just finished the paint the Thursday night before I went out. It looks a little different than the pictures I've posted. With all the rain and on track mud and debris it got good and sandblasted.
All the money and time is in the suspension and engine. Hopefully it's compettitive; we'll see over the course of the season.
Having gone out this weekend I learned a valuable lesson. I was working hard trying to make the car perfect. There were a couple of people here who told me to just go race and finish the details as I went along. I should have listened to them.
Randy
"Car 54 Here I Am"

Sounds like a rough weekend. I keep telling people, racing is not like taking up golf! Glad to hear your perserverance paid off.

Way To Go Randy.

Excellent!

The 914 is way restricted in G prod engine wise, so you did an exceptional job to say the least!

When you want more power, call me! LOL

Congrats Randy!

You had my heart rate picking up just reading about your weekend.
Mike