The weather was spectacular, albeit a tad hot... The Triumph gang ran well
overall, with a few disappointments. I had a blast, but had my share of
hard luck.
On Friday night driving the race car into town to participate in the
festivities down town, I bottomed out hard on a steep elevation change in
the road. The resulting jolt caused the engine to shift enough to open a
hole in AN fitting for the Accusump feed. I dumped 3 quarts of oil on my
way down to Main Street. I was sort of wondering why that Corvette behind
me was staying so far back! The SVRA guys had arranged for wreckers to be
at the ready, so I was back at the paddock on a flatbed before the running
of the original road course even started. With the guidance of Russ Moore,
(put a Guinness or two in Russ's hand and he will provide all the guidance
you will ever need!) and the help of Russ's son Patrick, the pierced
fitting was removed. Naturally I thought that finding a #12 AN 90 degree
compression hose fitting at the track was a lost cause, but Russ directed
me to Kent Bain's outfit, Vintage Racing Service. Yup, they pulled one off
the trailer in 30 seconds... Even asked me to replace it at VIR as opposed
to paying cash money for it! After a few well placed swings of the BFH
modifying the engine compartment to insure this never happens again, the
new fitting was installed and we were back in business.
This was the first race with a new header. In my haste I installed the
header without a heat shield. I suffered from poor hot starts all weekend,
and a significant drop on power as engine really heated up on track.
Raising the hood pins and getting some additional air flow under there once
underway helped the power loss problem. In the false grid for the feature
race I could not get the engine spooled up until the grid was emptying, so
I was put out last. Not that I didn't enjoy myself immensely working my way
up the pack! Great fun until my brakes went away that is. I had picked off
a handful of cars and was setting up to pass my buddy Lane Malley in his
beautiful 356 in the boot. Lane braked a bit for the uphill right hander,
and I knew that I was not going to outpull him up the hill that never ends,
so the plan was to tuck in behind him on the line and get him before the
front straight. Problem was as I hit the brake pedal it went to the floor.
A couple of very fast pumps on the pedal and switching out of 3 OD
prevented the contact I was expecting.
I persevered, let a few cars I had passed get by me and found a big piece
of open track to play in. About 10 pumps gave me a little braking action,
so the pucker factor was not all that high. Took the checker and clocked a
2:35 in traffic.
I finished a couple spots lower in the grid that I should have if I would
not have had any problems, but had a great run and learned a few things
about excessive heat in the engine compartment and the calipers in the
process. I was down to 2:33 in the qualifying race with brakes, so I was
rather pleased.
Nothing major to do before VIR next month, so life is good. See ya at the
races!
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