All:
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Our sports car club meeting was it the local Irish
Association last night, and I must say I've never seen a room so full of
fresh kegs o' Guinness! Seriously. We have met there for many years and I
have never been witness to EACH line being flushed, rinsed, and tapped wit
the fresh stuff (never worked in the bar, though! :) )
Now, the two subjects, from personal experience.
The fire extinguisher issue is easy. Ahead of the passenger seat, behind
the crossbrace. A standard 2a 5bc handheld will fit nicely and will not
roll around much in a car with later heats. Early cars may need the
bracket. This was my preferred location when racing, as I could reach the
bottle when strapped into the racing seat and harness.
Now, the fires. I've had two, one in the GT6 and one in the TR4a.
1987. Kid has just turned 19 and is proudly driving his rust-primer-red
(several different shades) TR4a in the local solo II race - the big one that
gets video taped, of course. The car has been, shall we say, neglected
(only had 55k mi, had been sitting, rotting in a damp garage since 1977!),
but my times in stock class were good. I was into this (just the beginning
of my racing career) and flailing around quite hard in the stock
non-retractable 3 point seatbelts and stock steering wheel, flimsy.
The light switch gets flicked on in a hard corner. Several turns later, a
baaaad and very unfamiliar smell..... the rheostat has decided to turn the
entire string of gauge light wiring into a kind-of-electric BBQ lighter -
all smoke and glow but no flames.
Yikes!!!! I'm on the far side of the course, and nobody had really SEEN the
smoke (who would watch a rusty TR4a?). By the time the fire "had not
started", the hood had been semi-pried open, the battery cable cut, and the
better part of a 10abc bottle spewed under dash.
5 miles home, in tow behind Dad's car. Looked like I'd been dipped in
pollen!
(note: the car suffered worse later, but this was the escapade that caused
me to buy the 2a5bc bottle)
Lucas1, Terrick naught.
Round 2.
Gimli, MB. One month to the day after the Big Crash at same location. Sept
1998.
...and all that remains of the original GT6 racer is the tub. Most of a
parts car was sandblasted and epoxy painted as spares. Maybe 80 hours of my
time has gotten the car back together after "Last Rites" was given in turn 1
(The Healey has still not see a spanner thrown at it!). The car should be
happy, right?
It's about 40 deg F, rainy and windy. Perfect LBC weather, if you own a
GT6. The car should be happy, right? I've just finished my final CFP exam
and am on the way to a Large Beer at the race track. Boy, Is Everyone Going
To Be Surprised to se MY Car here under it's own power !!! Am I right to
have thought that thought?
Without a word of a lie the following happened exactly as told.
Turning off the main highway, there is 2 miles of blacktop, then a turn into
the old WW2 Airport racetrack - a 1/2 mile gravel road. You can see the
track as soon as you pass the hangars - about 1/2 way up the blacktop.
Aaaaah, home.... turn onto the blacktop....2nd....3rd......4th.......what's
that smell?!?!?!?! Yes, you guessed it, an electrical fire. But this car
has a kill switch, so I did. Quickly. All that was lost was the stereo and
the fuel pump wire.
Yes, fuel pump wire. This is a Racing Car, remember. It came with a Facet
Blue top and Aeroquip stainless lines. And it needs electricity to run but
the power wire is melted into little pools on the carpet (unfused (read your
comp.prep book), a dead short turned it into a mini-welder). The fuel in
the bowls got me off the highway and about half way down the gravel.
So I find myself arriving at the gate, soaked to the bone and freezing cold,
requesting a tow into the pits (now flooded). And I was greeted with
surprise, but certainly not for the anticipated reason!
The Moral of the stories? Street cars are not Race Cars. Nor vice versa.
Even a Lucas fuse can be seen in a good light sometimes. Interior mounted
kill switches can save the use of an extinguisher. And yes, extinguishers
are messy but they work.
Dave T
Winterpeg (again, sorry to report)
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