A good deal on a set of tickets yielded a weekend at Watkins Glen for the
IMSA Camel Continental race, among others. Saturday was a great day for racing,
sunny, breezy, and not too hot, but was, alas, only pratice and qualifying
day. Sunday Tilly and I wandered about during the early races, trying to
stay warm or dry, and still get a view of the track from time to time.
The fog rolled in, and the rain came down, cutting the Toyota Trans-Am
off after 4 laps. The "Luk Clutch Challange" managed to complete.
The garage was one of the best places to be, lots of activity getting
rain tires setup, and getting a close up view of the Castrol-Jaguar
#60 & #61 undergoing prep.
We took position in the main stands on the S/F straight, directly
opposite the Jaguar pits. I'm still amazed at the lack of yellows, with
the track going from soaked to dry during the race, and a bit more rain
from time to time. (The only yellow, at ~lap 70 of 92, was due to one
of the Toyotas running out of electricty in the back end) Jaguar made
an impressive and consistant showing, with one of the cars missing the warm
up lap and getting onto the track 3/4 into the first lap do to a bad fuel
pump. The 2 Jags ran together, one lap apart for most of the race. First
place was lost to Nissan in the last 5 laps, with Davy Jones blowing
the engine on the last lap. It was a sad sight to see him coast into
the pits, letting all of the all-important smoke out of the car. You can't
say he didn't try.
Monday, I finally got the brakes sorted out in the Sprite. The rears
hadn't been releasing, which is a real drag. I pulled the master cylinder,
but everything looked fine. So I pulled the pistons from the rear cyl's.
Hey- thats funny, there should be fluid squirting out when I step on the
pedal! Turns out the rear (centered) hose had swelled/become plugged,
could have something to do with the DOT3 which lived in there upon a time.
That solved, lines flushed, and I can start working on some other
things that a car needs after 6 years of storage, and 10 years of barely
competent ownership before that. Like pressing new bushings into one of
the radius arms (1/4 eliptic rear) instead of the silicone cement which
had been substituted (!) and battered out. And fitting new o-rings which
seal the rear hubs, so the gear oil is no longer leaking in to the brake
drums. Fitting seat belts. Even cleaning the orange & white (8-o) interior.
I still have to change out the generator bracket and belt for the longer,
set off the 1098, so I can get _some_ tension on the belt. Seems the 1275's
got a shorter bracket & belt in order to clear the air pump, but even with
a new belt, there isn't enough adjustment to tension the belt.(!?) This allows
the water pump to slip at high RPM's, and results in rapid overheating
unless I let it idle as I coast down the road.
Tuesday, now that I had belts to strap her seat in with, Kim got
her overdue first ride in a roadster. Tilly followed in her 'BGT. I have
an exaust leak due to the old style manifold->pipe clamped flare joint,
which will soon be eliminated by installing the later, larger bore, exaust
manifold & pipe, as soon as I get a muffler. In the mean time Tilly said
that she was looking for the RC plane she heard as she was following me. :-|
It does make quite a buzz just before I shift... Kim enjoyed it, anyhow.
Wednesday morning, I made a pilgrimage up to see a potential
project. It was moved "over the hill" a few years ago, into a field
amoungst various examples, ranging from a Hudson Teraplane, the rear clip
off a Vette, misc. US stock, a Fiat 600 & a 1200, a Mini, and a Cortina.
Most have a decent start of returning to the earth, with the field rapidly
turning to woods. The wreck was much sadder looking than when I last
saw it, with pieces of panels tossed on the remains of the seats, and
the wear and tear of the years of NY winters and sun taking their toll. I
tried in vain to get the owner to give it up once, and now that I've
got my shop, and being even less sane, am ready to try again. It may
need more work than it's worth, or be beyond reasonable hope, but,
just rotting away to nothing is not what it deserves. Not when I can
offer dry storage, and hope of a day in the future when I can turn the
key, and have it spring to life, and once again enjoy the spirit it's
British creators gave it many years ago.
[and, no- it's *not* an MG!]
________________________________________________________
Roger Garnett (garnett@tcgould.TN.CORNELL.EDU)
The South Lansing Centre For Wayward Sports Cars
"All donations of stray, orphaned, odd, neglected, etc.
sports cars and bits in need of a good home accepted."
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