oh...and pictures will probably be up in a day or two at
http://www.digitalracephotos.com
and there are probably a couple other places... check
http://www.oregon-scca.com
All the best
Aaron Johnson
#38 F Production Spitfire Mk4 Oregon Region SCCA
http://www.geocities.com/spitracer9
Well...another "successful" weekend at the double regional.
The weekend itself had a somber tone it as it was the Earnie McCoy Memorial
weekend. Earnie raced a TR6 and died from a heart attack last year at this
event at turn 6.
Preface this by...I was flying solo all weekend...no crew help and no other
production cars (well 2 EP cars an rx7 and a mr2).
Friday...
Practise in the morning. Took it out and started to shake out
cobwebs...this event was with no chicane. The car seemed to have good power
again after the problems diagnosed after the last race weekend. It pulled
strong all the way to 7300 in 4th on the long front straight. I think I'm
still down on power from last year as I started to find I couldn't keep with
any of the Spec Miata's on the straight. The handling seems to be fully
sorted (well still developing but handles night and day difference from this
time last year). I brought the car in early. I forgot to wrap a little
duct tape around the dipstick and I have a little issue with oil creeping up
the dipstick hole and dripping out onto the header...makes a lot of smoke
but no damage. Wrapped that up...check tyre pressures and wear and did a
general inspection to make sure nothing was lost or falling off. Times were
a bit slow but I this was only the second time I've run the track with no
chicane and the last time was in the rain at drivers school. I managed a
1:34 and change...pretty bad...my best time with the chicane is a 1:36
Qualifying in the afternoon. Oil leak fixed and smoke screen was gone.
Finally figured out turn one. In the morning session I was going into turn
1 in 1st gear 5500 rpm. This session, 2nd gear 5500 rpm. It took a little
bit to figure out how much "sack" you need to get in there. The brakes are
so good now I'm having a little trouble getting used to them. Braking point
went from the 250 line to lift at 200 and brake about 150...Managed to
qualify with a 1:28.8 still not great but the car didn't have any problems.
Still running a little rich so I took another flat out of the carbs. I ran
the whole session just to get more seat time and see if I can get some
consistency. Checked everything over and then headed home for the evening.
Man does the car handle good, There isn't a car in the run group that can
take me in the twisty bits. A Porsche 911 RS America and an NSX both passed
me on the straight and had about 35 car lengths on me going into turn 1...by
the time we got to the back straight they were only 5 car lengths in front
of me. I think Sargis could eat these guys for breakfast!
Saturday:
Race in the Morning: Car ran beautifully again. I got a decent start and
got by 4 or 5 miatas but could get any gap before the back straight and 2 of
them got back by me on the back straight. Same story as before, not enough
power to pull them on the straights but I would get held up in the braking
zone and corners. after about 6 laps I decided I'd go for it and held back
a little bit on the back straight and then got a good run through the
10-11-12 complex and actually nosed ahead of one them at the corner exit.
This allowed me to pull in just behind and use the draft to not fall too far
behind. Through 1-2-3-4-5 I got by and made a nice little lead...just
enough to stay in front and start to extend the gap over him. I started to
work on the next one and got by him as well...using the same method. Then
the bad new came. Full course yellow for debris on the front straight.
Turns out it was more than just debris...someone had hit it in front of us
and it destroyed 2 windscreens...completely punctured one and serious damage
to another. 4 laps under caution after an aborted restart. I knew that the
restart would be bad and I was right, the 2 guys I'd spent all race trying
to get around got back by me on the restart. On the last lap I made a
little bit of a bonsai move to try and get back by one of the guys but
couldn't get it done...I won by default as there is still no-one showing up
for F and lowered my lap to 1:28.0
11:30 or so. I am asked if I would take the Memorial lap for Earnie.
Probably one of the biggest Honours I've ever had, problem though, one of
the saddest things I've ever done as well.
1:20 Start the memorial lap. I have a chequered flag with Earnie's name on
it and I'm surrounded by 2 pace cars. We drive start the lap and I realise
just how special this is. Every corner worker was out from their station
waving all of the flags...I'm trying very hard to cry. We get to turn 6 and
come to a stop. A corner worker comes out and take the flag I was holding
and puts it in the ground where Earnie hit the was. We continue the lap to
the same response from the corner workers...it's hard to drive at this point
because of the tears. We go past start finish...one last time for Earnie
with the chequered flag waving broader and larger than I've ever seen it.
I'm glad I got to meet the man, he was a true racer and everyone should be
thankful for the memories that he gave them.
Qualifying for 2nd race. Time to get back to work. I took the car out for
the qualifying session and it ran terrible. Fouled plugs maybe...I only put
in 3 laps and all dreadfully slow. I got back to the paddock and checked
every thing out. I switched plugs and it seemed ok. #2 plug was
oily...obviously the plug that fouled. But I'm still a little nervous as to
whether the problem is fixed.
Sunday
Morning - talk to the chief steward and get permission to race as well a
hardship lap. I went out nice and early to allow time to fix anything if it
didn't seem right. the lap started off good, but by the end of the lap it
started feeling off again. I switched plugs again and replaced the cap,
rotor and plug wires.
Race #2 mid-morning. the start of the pace lap was good...then about 3/4
through the problem started up again. I decide to give a go of it and see
how things work. It's dreadfully slow, but still good in the corners...It
sounds SICK! I was carefully monitoring temperatures and oil was steady at
200, but water was creeping up to 230...That is very unusual for, typically
I'll be lucky if it sees 170-180. I decide to just work with it and try to
get the finish. After a few laps I look down and notice that oil temp has
started to reach 260 (thankfully I switched to Kendall synthetic for this
race), but water temp is an amazing 250 and I smell water/water wetter
mix!!!!!! I immediately pull off course and shut the car down before I hear
a big boom or anything like that. I push the car back through impound and
over the scales...I'm not sure at this point whether I did enough laps to
count as a finish, so I have to wait for the results to be published. I get
the car back to my paddock and decide to see what went wrong. Water temp
spike was easy to diagnose. No water pump belt would be the culprit there.
The tensioner broke off at the weld where the post took off from the small
plate that bolts to the front cover. I didn't hear anything hit the ground
but I can't find the tensioner.. I have time to fix it though as I don't
think I'll be going to any more races until the regional at Blackhawk in
Sept or the Double at Gateway. Then the next problem...no water is left in
the radiator and engine oil catch tank is full. Obviously bad...I'll start
to figure that out this week, maybe blown head gasket, maybe worse...sure
seems like a lot of blow-by through the catch tank...maybe rings. The other
odd thing, the number 3 spark plug is completely eroded away! There is only
a little bit of the electrode left. Obviously I had something set wrong
there... Other than that it was still running when I shut it off so it may
not be too bad, I still have your tear down list and I'll go through it
again. I still don't know why it's down on power compared to last year. I
guess I have some work to do. I went down to timing and scoring and I made
10 laps...the group leader 19...so it was a finish and a win.
Overall I had a great time in the weekend...it had it ups, its downs and its
truly sad moments. It was also a bitter sweet weekend for me as it will
more than likely be my last race at Portland International Raceway. The
people there have been great and I'll truly miss the place. It's where I
got my start so I guess it will always have a little soft spot in my heart.
anyways...there is the breakdown of the weekend. The best part is that was
Race #3 and only 1 more needed to get my National license! Things are
getting better every time I go out!
cheers
aaron
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