Amici:
Just got home from the Corinthians Vintage Marvelous May races. Texas in May
always means a threat of rain, and boy did we get it Friday night and some
more Saturday morning. Some parts got over 10 inches, and the garage area
was flooding with running streams, but we aren't going to let a little water
stop us. So, a mere 3 weeks after dragging a semi-retired TR4 home from
Atlanta, I went racing. The car had been raced 3 times in 3 years in SVRA
events at Road Atlanta, but had been campaigned in SCCA Production racing
for many years prior to that by Steve Ludeker. I was somewhat fortunate in
picking up this car for a good price, and beyond going through all the
hydraulics, fluid changes, a full servicing and getting a new roll bar
built, it was almost ready to go. A few things popped up at the track, but I
sorted through them. I'll never ask a guy to do a roll bar on short notice
again. It's fine, but my nose may never recover after paying that bill!
Anyhow, I missed the very wet Saturday practice session because I was busy
patching a serious exhaust leak in the flex pipe between the header and the
tailpipe. Since the flexpipe was welded at both ends, I had enclosed a hole
with a soup can and 2 clamps. Unfortunately, we caught a clamp backing off
the trailer. Have you ever pulled a thread on a sweater sleeve and watched
in horror as things just come apart? I had a soup can with a four foot
lifeline back to the header! I got some spare pipe from an MG guy, and
used it and what was left of the flex pipe with 2 fancy 3" wide stainless
steel clamps bought from a track vender to complete a repair. With that
complete, I thought I was ready to go.
Misfortune caught me again, and I didn't even complete a lap in the
qualifying session due to a sudden onset of a severe engine miss. Once I got
to my paddock, the problem was easily cured. The coil wire was getting
pulled in and out of contact by what appeared in my experience to be
excessive engine vibration. I made a note to get new motor mounts, and put
in a longer wire borrowed from the Spec Sprite clan. With no laps completed,
and no lap time, I had to start the Saturday race dead last. Managed 10th
out of 26 in a 20 minute race. I was closing hard on some MG's towards the
end, but the rear seal had slicked up the clutch and it started slipping. I
also lost my exhaust repair. The piece of old flex pipe crapped out, and the
whole thing came apart. My guess is that my TR4 rejected the MGB pipe
transplant. Not only did I drop parts onto the track (someone thoughtfully
kicked it off the line), I melted the tranny cover into position. We spent
the evening replacing the flex pipe with a new one from (whatever they call)
Western Auto these days, finding some repairable oil leaks and general
cleaning up. I sprayed the clutch as best I could through the drip hole
hoping to get a few more laps before the inevitable.
Saturdays finish set me up to start 10th Sunday morning. My Saturday lap
times led me to believe that I would have a few MG's in front of me to pick
off, so I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, the car started puttering early
in the pace lap and I had to pull out of line and find a safe spot. This is
easy at TWS, because we cross the back straight over and back in our 2.9
mile road course. I pulled into the middle section and killed the motor. I
had pulled too far across the straight and I was about 50 feet from the
where we cross back over. With visions of a launched Alfa or Mini heading my
way, I decided to back up to get to a safer spot. When I restarted it,
somehow cleared itself, and kicked over fine. Must of been a little swarf in
a float bowl. I did my best Jeff Gordon imitation and almost caught the pack
before the start. I lucked out even more as the starter waved 'em on by for
a second pace lap. This time, I progressed through the pack much faster, and
made it up to 6th position and closing on a yellow MGB before I started
getting a nasty driveline clatter on hard rights. I lost 4 positions quickly
while I slowed to prevent further damage. It didn't help that the clutch was
acting up again, but I wanted to finish the race since I figured I was done
for the day anyway.
With time to burn, I decided to have a look and find out what made all that
noise. Some of you probably already guessed that it was a failed
transmission mount, and that it was also partly to blame for the coil wire
pulling out. My son helped me get the mount out, and I turned it into a
solid mount with plenty of time to spare. Still 10th in the grid, I knew I
had at least 4 cars in front of me that I knew I could pass, and there was
that yellow MGB I had in my sights earlier. This race went well. I passed a
few cars down the straight right after the start, and before the first lap
was done I had all four. I spent a few laps chasing the yellow MGB and
finally picked it off by out braking it coming off the front straight. I
think another MGB dropped out ahead of me, but a blue Fiat Spyder caught me.
I followed him a few laps with the yellow MGB in my mirror. I had noticed
for the first time that my TR4 starving for fuel in hard rights and it
seemed that the Fiat was having similar problems. Whatever his problem was,
it allowed me to pass him back. A short time later, he dropped out
completely. Behind me another Fiat, this one black, was messing with the
yellow MGB. With just a few laps to go, I was determined to maintain my
position, but I knew the clutch could start slipping at any time. Lapped
traffic tied us all up, and the black Fiat and yellow MGB traded places a
few times, but I managed to finish 3rd by position. When I got the race
results, I found out that the 2nd place finisher had been disqualified for
failing to come in for his "stop and go" after getting 4 wheels off the
track, so I finished 2nd overall. This was pretty special, my first weekend
in the car, all the trouble I had earlier on, and my racing buddy Cas Salys,
MG inflicted as he is, had won the race.
The next CVAR event will also be at Texas World Speedway, June 24th and
25th.
TR4,TR4A, TR6, 2.5 Saloon
rgk@flash.net
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