Subject: The Weekend from Hell.....
You ever get the feeling you want to back up a few days and start over?
Like back to sometime on Thursday when the mail/internet gateway to all of GE
CR&D
croaked a horrible death and wouldn't come back to life? Maybe the forcast for
storms all weekend?
Ok, maybe not that far. Maybe just back to Friday night when the race
car wouldn't start in the parking lot of the auto parts store. Or maybe to
several
minutes later when it ran out of gas. No? How about 5 minutes after that when
it
died for no visible reason other than to make me walk the 2 blocks back to the
auto parts store to get the truck?
Maybe we can go back to when I finally got to the shop to work my shift
an
hour late, and there was a TR-7 trying to get it's engine out. And my roomie,
who
was supposed to meet me there had left. With my shop shoes. I guess we can let
the stay there till 1:30am trying to get the anti-roll bar mounted slide though.
But Saturday morning. Now that I just can't pass up. If the rest of the
weekends racing the Spitfire go like the inagural weekend, I'm gonna take up
thistle gardening. Or artichoke hearding. Maybe bonsai cabbage pruning.
The morning dawned way too early. But I dredged myself out of bed,
poured
water over my body until I couldn't stand it any longer and headed over to the
RPI Fieldhouse for Saturday's event. Upon arrival it was clear that they were
not
going to be ready to have first car off at 11:00. I should have gone and gotten
breakfast. No question. But no, I went the 4 blocks over to where the race car
is
stashed, and drove it over. Got it ready for the first run except for one
detail.
I forgot to check the tires. Bad oops. I was quickly reminded coming into the
1st
turn. Scratch that run. Nearly scratched the rim.
Second run. Short straight coming up to start lights. Lights are where
I
needed to shift to second. Reach over, grab shifter. Pull knob right off.
Stripped
the threads clean. Toss in back of car. Continue, concentration shattered. 2
sec
behind the better street cars. Later cannot find the shift knob anywhere. Turns
out
it's lodged in a crevice in the seat.
Third run. First lap is ok, then car stumbles badly. Very bad, getting
worse.
Drive straight off course, head for pits. Didn't make it. Out of gas. I only
put a
gallon in last night...Go get gas. Fill fuel cell.
Fourth run - Split upper radiator hose. Go back to auto parts store.
These
guys are getting to like me. Buy shortes 1.25" they have. Still too long. Modify
to Spit. Refill from 2L coke bottle of water. Bonnet catches wind and flips
all the way forward. Dent bonnet.
5th run - see my own air filter in line on 2nd pass. swerve to avoid,
loose
time, but still best time so far.
Sixth run - Good run. String it all together. But finish is set up
kinda
weird. You can go through th estart lights again or around them. Decide to try
to
go around. Understeer. Ok, we'll go through them. Understeer. Hit reflector
dead
center. Go home in shame. Oh, and sunburned. Had come prepared for snow, and it
was 80.
We had massive t-storms saturday night (and a tornado in fact) an I
thought
that there was no way the Sunday event would be happening. But called and
arranged
for trailer sunday am if need be, and went to bed. Alarm rang @ 7:dark:00 so I
could
peek out the window and go back to bed.
But the sun was shining brightly. Very brightly. Promise of another 80
deg
day. Load up the truck, head the 15 miles to get the trailer, and am back to
oad up the race car by 8:30. Car might not go on trailer. The Spit has this
little
ground clearance problem you see. And the sway bar robbed me of another 15%
(0.25"
lower than anything else.) But it went on the trailer like it was made for it,
I grabbed my track bag, and headed out.
Upon arrival, it was cold and very windy. Sand swirled around the
Brodie Mountain lot, and the 9 cars there. Worked Tech with Richard, and we
(mostly
Rich) got the full field (50 cars in the end) through with little trouble. But
I was freezing. Forgot my jacket...Bozo. But the Team.Net long sleeve t-shirt,
another T, and my nomex undies were enough to keep me warm.
The course was fast. Very fast. I don't know how fast, but I was
tempted to reach for 3rd on the main straight. First run was good, slower than
the ESP Z28's but acceptable. Except for the cone. But I was in 2nd, and the
guy in
1st had no cones. Rerun after a timer failure on the second run. 2nd run was
good.
sliced 2+seconds off, but kept a cone. Good enough to move me into 1st.
Lining up for the 3rd run, I did a guague sweep and stoped dead in my
tracks. Didn't realize I could move so fast. Oil pressure read 0. A quick check
revealed this was the case.
Roll the car onto the trailer. Glad I trailered it. Turns out I sheared
the drive to the oil pump. Further dissassembly will happen this week. Should be
ready to go to Ithaca next weekend. Parts arrive Wed evening, and I believe
I'm going to pick up a new engine Tuesday evening. I'll toss the engine in the
truck
before I head to Cornell. Just in case I have to swap it in the parking lot...
Putting the car on the trailer I notice a crimped/dented brake line.
Need to replace that this week as well. Feh.
iii
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