We did it! Picked up the gearbox at Jack Nesset's shop Thursday
night. Left work at noon Friday, picked up clutch and throwout from
Ron Hirabayashi. Changed clutch and throwout and and mated gear box
to engine. Susie and I hoisted it with the come-along, tilted it into
its home and pushe the car forward til it all lined up. The rear
mount bottom holes were too far back, but a 34-inch length of furring
strip put in where the driveshaft goes was used to push it forward.
After everything was bolted down, we tried to insert the driveshaft.
The difficulty of doing this on a Spridget is legendary. Someone had
cut a hand hole in the left side of the tunnel, but I was unable to
get the shaft onto the spline. Suesie said she didn't like working
under the car, so we switched places. I stuck my arm up the elbpw
into the tunnel adn supported the shaft with the very tips of my
fingers. This made the front lighter so Susie would get a better feel
on the spline. (She had wanted to know how straight it had to be to
start, so we tried it on the bench with a spare shaft.) She says that
helped a lot. After a few minutes of frustration, it slid home! This
is damn near midnight by now, so we washed up and crashed. Saturday
was used to clean up the details. When the TEAM.NET sticker arrived
in the mail, we took it as a good omen. I was at the Autocross at
nine on Sunday. Car was running great on the way up. Spent the next
two hours teching cars, so I couldn't walk the course. This
combination event with SOLO II is really a hassle. We had to provide
two classings for each car. I really think the SOLO II classes are
screwy. My stock Spridget against a Suzuki Swift GTI or a CRX?
Ridiculous. Sue arrived with the kids (our two and a neighbor who
thinks she lives with us) in time for first runs. We had a cooler
lunch while watching the Sports Racers, Prepareds and Street
Prepareds. Brian Erickson was killing the Vettes in his '70 MGB. I
blows peoples' minds when I tell them that this beautiful BRG machine
is legal STOCK except for the rear sway bar. That's right, those
Yokos are on stock Rostyle steel wheels, the springs and shocks are
stock, the engine is stock except for the Mallory Dual-points. Brian
loves the way it handles so he keeps the trick sway bars and does very
well, thank you, in Street Prepared. When I find the right body, I
will build a Midget that looks as nice, until then, I make his car
look even better by parking next to it. Contrast, you know. Then I
hit the track. The layout was interesting. Start in northeast corner
of lot. right turn. Timers in middle of short straight. Nice
sweeping left long straight, completely wound out in second, slight
kink to left that the Midget doesn't notice. Next 180 to left
reqiring serious braking, Short straight north. 180 to right. Go
straight south ALONGSIDE slalom line. Turn left around pivot pylon to
start north on slalom. Finish slalom by going to right of exit pylon
from the previous 180. One more little dodge to left, back right to
set up for 90-degree left and you are on the west bound straight again
throught the timers. Make that nice left sweeper again for lap 2.
After second time through timers, go straight at the sweeper and turn
right. Full stop is required before entering paddock, but no sweat,
you are off the clock. First run I boggled in confusion at the end of
the slolam. Some folks actually went the wrong way there, but we all
figured it out. My 2nd lap I knew where to go. I could nail the
throttle at the start of the slalom and keep it floored all the way up
the east edge of the course until shutting down for the left before
the timers, thanks to Yokohama (stick!) and Abingdon (worlds greatest
steering). First run 1:13.6xx. Second run was smoother, no getting
lost. 1:12.8xx. Third run 1:12.35x. I took stock of the situation.
I was mostly concerned with my Met Council classes. This is for
points in two series on Met Council classes. I will probably not do
any more SOLO II. The boards are all set up on SOLO II classes, with
alist of drivers' name only on the side in Met Council. This
figures, as they will issue trophies today for SOLO II, and no
trophies for Met Council, just points. I search out my MC standings
and discover I am lying third out of twelve. I have beat my cousin
Sean in his Quantum Syncro (which won the class last week) by over a
second. Ahead of me are hot shoe Har Holmes, probably unreachable at
1:10.xxx. Next is (?!!) a Honda Civic Wagon, the new, high kind. It
has the SI engine, I hear, but they are so heavy and high, didn't
worry about it at tech, even though it is on Yoko 008Rs. I had warned
him to be carful not to flip it on such good tires. I never saw his
runs, and I wasn't going to. He had packed up and gone home. His
first run was awful, littered with pylon penalties and slow. His
third was 1:17 or so. But the second was 1:12.094! If I could cut a
quarter-second, I would have 2nd out of 12. I did very well all over
the course with one glaring exception. I blew the pivot pylon on my
first lap. I was using trailing-trottle oversteer to set up and this
time I did it too soon and scrubbed too much speed. This is no big
deal for most cars there, as they had to tiptoe through the slalom.
But I treated the whole slalom as a straight with my fast-steering,
pitifully underpowered car. So it cost me big time. 1:12.6xx.
Lesson learned. The Spridget is closer to nuetral with 50 pounds in
front and 40 pounds in the rear. I almost felt like I had a
four-wheel going in the sweeper between the tiemrs and long straight.
Too bad the car was down for the first two events when Har Holmes
didn't show. This is his second season. He took all the marbles last
year, his first time out. He will concentrate on SOLO II this year
and go to Salina, so maybe he won't be around much. He deserves the
success, he has the talent and dedication. The rest of us race for
second, it seems, but there is no real talk of reclassifying his car,
a 1988 VW Fox.
We all seem to recognize that its success lies in the connection
between pedals and steering wheel. Only bleak spot for the Spriget is
that I noticed on the drove home the front shocks seem weak. Sure,
they are dry! I had them rebuilt last spring and have been guilty of
ignoring them. The rears are still OK since I bought the car as a
basket! I will have to stop off a a cycle shop and get some hard fork
oil. I suppose I should ask if it is safe for British bikes, eh?
All-in-all, mission accomplished for my first outing. This car was
virtually the slowest on the lot every outing last year, so I think we
are coming along.
phile@pwcs.stpaul.gov
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Login name: phile In real life: Philip J Ethier
Phone: 298-5324
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