[Fot] VARA "Big Bore Bash" Willow Springs Nov 7 Triumph Race Report

Sun Nov 15 06:32:19 MST 2015

Great recap and pictures, thanks

Thanks, Mike

62 TR4, Race car
63 TR4, Street car

Mike & Becky Moore
6050 Ruhl Road, Fairview, PA 16415

mmoore at mtmcpafirm.com

From: Fot [mailto:fot-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Steven Belfer
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2015 10:54 PM
To: FOT Triumph <fot at autox.team.net>
Subject: [Fot] VARA "Big Bore Bash" Willow Springs Nov 7 Triumph Race Report

Dear F.O.T.,

Last weekend (Nov 7-8), was the final VARA race of our 2015 season. Here’s the race report:

I went up there Friday to register my TR3 and get a good spot in the paddock. The event was well attended, (around 150 cars) and I pitted behind the grandstands near turn 1.
Since it was the final event of the season, I entered in both group 1 (EP and FP,) as well as group 5 with DP and the large group of tin-top sedans. I wanted to get maximum track time!
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Steve Belfer’s ’62 TR3B (with ’57 front apron)

On Saturday, I went out with group 1 and went as fast as I could right away.  After 6 laps, right as I crested the hill at turn 6/7, I shifted from 3rd to 4th and immediately, my clutch started slipping badly. I could rev the motor in 4th gear and watch the tach go up and down but I wasn’t accelerating.  I think I turned a 1:46.5. I nursed the car back to the pits and was fairly convinced that the clutch was oiled-up. The Triumph guys all pitched in and helped me pull out the gearbox. We found a bunch of oil in the bell-housing, but not a ton of oil. We then cleaned everything off and came to the conclusion that the gearbox wasn’t ventilated enough. (I recently plugged the vent hole because I thought it wasn’t necessary. We all figured that It got pressurized and blew oil past the seal, oiling up the clutch plate.

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Frank Daly troubleshoots a starter issue.

It took a couple hours of work to get it all back together and I was just in time for the qualifying race, where I started in 6th position.
I made a good start and was going strong until lap 8, where the same exact problem happened at the same place on track, going over the hill and shifting. Bummer!  I brought the car back again to the pits and basically thought I was done for the weekend.  By this time, 4 of the 5 Triumphs were all having problems of their own.  Mark Vaden overheated and had to swap the cylinder head, When Mark drained the oil, it all looked like greenish-brown slime!  Frank Daly’s starter quit working, and Dale Wallace’s gearshift lever could rotate 360 degrees and he couldn’t shift the car! At one point, all of the Triumphs were on jack stands.

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Mark Vaden’s restored TR4 from San Diego gets a different Cyl Head.

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Chuck Gee and Mike Bruner eager to lend a helping hand.

The guys offered to help me pull the gearbox AGAIN but I was frustrated with the car and made the decision to pack up and go home the next day. I went back to the hotel and then had a nice dinner.

Sunday morning, I sadly loaded up the truck and drove the car onto my trailer.  Then a funny thing happened. The car felt FINE!  It was a cold morning but there was no slippage at all when driving the car onto the trailer.  Then I thought, hey, maybe the pressure plate is starting to go bad when it gets really hot. I brainstormed with the guys who helped me repair the car earlier and we started to think that a little clevis-pin that actuates the clutch was binding up. I started to think about it and it really did feel mechanical in nature, not oil-related.

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Mordy demonstrates a slight mechanical issue.

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[cid:image007.jpg at 01D11F80.1ADCADC0]
Mark Vaden was happy to complete his repair and get back to racing!

The guys were getting suited-up and ready to go out and here I am, looking at my car on the trailer thinking, “Shit, I drove it onto the trailer and the clutch didn’t slip, I’m going to run it!”
So in a big hurry, I unstrapped the car, took out the ramps, unloaded my car, suited up, and went out with group 5. By now, every single Triumph was fixed! I went out there starting last and methodically passed each and every Triumph one-by-one!  I changed my driving to keep the pressure plate as cool as possible. I only used 3rd and 4th and, over the hill, I waited until the back-side of the hill and did a very slow shift from 3-4. Altering my driving style seemed to work and I made it through the whole session and blew right by my competition!

[cid:image008.jpg at 01D11F80.1ADCADC0]
Craig and Frank make some adjustments.

We had a little time so we modified the clutch slave cyl. pushrod length underneath the car that may have been binding up and I made the group 1 race and the group 5 race.
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Paul Smock with his TR4 after smoking the competition during the qualifying race on Saturday.

[cid:image010.png at 01D11F80.1ADCADC0]
During the qualifying race, a helicopter rescued a motorcyclist who had an accident in the hills above the track.

Group 1 Flag Race:
I started 25th position because I did not run the qualifying race. Instead of starting in a nice tight bunch, the last 10 cars or so were all strung out and I was way in the back, almost dead last. I was really antsy but the cars in front of me wouldn’t pack up! I made a good start and passed about 5 cars before turn 1, I passed some other guys going into 2 and we were three wide going through turn 2. I was on the inside, that HUGE XK 150 Jag coupe was in the middle, and a MG Midget was on the outside. All of a sudden we were all sliding in oil. I avoided a 4 car accident at the very end of turn 2 where two sports-racers, a FV, and a Spitfire got together. My buddy Allen Mizutani was unfortunate to be involved. He came out with a freshly painted Sports Renault in Gulf livery. He was in the wrong place and couldn’t avoid the accident. His car was heavily damaged but mostly fiberglass bodywork.  After the incident, there were not caution flags YET, before I knew it, Josh Roddenbush was Spinning wildly in front of me in turn 6. I think another car went off in 9. ALL ON LAP ONE! They brought out the pace-car and went full-course yellow followed by a black flag-all. We came into the hot pits and gridded up again. After about 5 minutes they sent us out for more green-flag racing. It went Green, White, Checkered. In those three laps, I moved through the field up to 4th overall, 3rd in class.  On the very last lap, The green 911 and Val, in his orange 911 were side by side in turn 2. I got between them, causing the green car to lose pace and fall behind. Then I was on Val, finally passing him in turn 9. I gave him plenty of room and took the whole turn on the inside.  He used his Porsche power and got me by a nose at the finish line! He was ecstatic!

[cid:image011.jpg at 01D11F80.1ADCADC0]
From the view of David Isaac’s camouflage Spit: Alan Mizutani, in his beautifully repainted Renault couldn’t avoid a spinning sports racer.
This incident involved a bunch of cars and the race was red-flagged until the area was cleared.

[cid:image012.jpg at 01D11F80.1ADCADC0]

Group 5 Flag Race:
Started dead last, and worked my way to mid-field by passing cars one by one. The passes got increasingly difficult to pull-off as the cars were more closely matched. I pulled-off some pretty good moves, If I do say so myself. I used the classic over-under a couple of times in turn 3 and it was awesome! I made several passes in turn 8 where I’m pretty quick and I basically have to force them to slow down a bit as I get right in front of them before turn 9.
[cid:image013.jpg at 01D11F80.1ADCADC0]
It’s nice to trust your friends on the track! Our cars came close together but never made contact.

[cid:image014.jpg at 01D11F80.1ADCADC0]

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Great times with great friends!
[cid:image016.jpg at 01D11F80.1ADCADC0]

~STEVE
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