Sorry I missed you too. Eric was a great host during the short amount of
time that we had. I think that next year I will make it a point to do it
again. This time with out the rain! - Ian
GSTROM99(at)aol.com wrote:
>
> 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
-- Ian Spencer <www.sunbeamalpine.org> '61 Harrington Alpine B9104782 OD HRO '62 Harrington Le Mans BH9115930 OD LRX
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