I've got the remainder of the story...
Eric had invited me down to crew for him for the weekend VSCDA event, and
since IRP is the only other "local" track that I hadn't been too, I drove
down Fri. night (2.5 hrs from the Chicago area). It POURED rain Saturday
morning and lightened up somewhat for the afternoon. Drizzle and bad fog on
Sunday AM delayed the start, but there where Historic Stock Cars as part of
the event, and since they don't "do it" in the rain, the schedule was still
OK. Too bad those stock cars didn't go out, they looked cool.
Eric didn't go out Sat. morning (many others opted out too). He ventured out
for both sessions in the rain in the afternoon and did OK. He complained of
a "loose" condition (on full treaded tires) but since he has limited
adjustments, all I could offer was to lower the rear air pressure and it
helped. He was still slower than he wanted, but everyone says that. Per
Jarrid's advice, Eric set up the advance to 30 degrees at 3,000rpm. I guess
it had been 5 -10 degrees below that. He didn't seem to notice a big change
with the advance, but in the rain, its tough. Sunday, it developed a BAD
miss and ran REAL hot in the Seniors Tour Race. He found the problem fairly
quickly afterward, the back Zenith's mounting bolts/studs had come loose, and
it was WAY lean!!! He took it out for lunchtime track touring, gave some
kids a lap each and took me out for two laps (at pretty much race speed (WHAT
FUN), helmets are required for this at VSCDA) and miss was still there. It
would come and go, kinda like a float or needle sticking problem, but we (he)
didn't want to rebuild the carbs right there. He opted to start at the back
of the pack for the race after setting the timing back some (maybe caused the
overheating?). It had cleared and dried for the start, so we put on his dry
tires (he'll half to give you the brands as I forgot). About 1/4 way into
the race, he pulled in with the water and oil temps about 210F, he said it
was running "OK" so I sent him back out... After the race, he told me the
miss disappeared shortly after. He got feel of the car better after the
tires heated up and pressed it harder and harder into the turns. He found
out what I'd been telling him that the faster you can take the turns, it
gives you that much of an advantage going down the straights. He passed some
cars and finished the race, all smiles!!! Still runs hot, I guess the oil
cooler is going back in (maybe fix and reinstall the busted 4 core radiator
Eric?) before the next/last race next weekend and Blackhawk Farms. I'll be
there too, but probably as a corner worker (my other choice when I'm not
driving myself). The last race (Eric had to leave after his race) was for
formula cars. A couple Super Vee's, a bunch of older Fords, a couple of
awesome Atlantics, and one Shadow F1 car with a Ford Cosworth V8! Way cool!
The one March Atlantic gave the Shadow F1 a good run though... What a great
time. Thanks Eric. Sunbeam guys are the best. Too bad I missed you guys
Friday, Ian.
Gary Strom
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