Good Evening All......
Lynne and I launched 'on schedule', Thursday afternoon, enroute Willow Springs
Raceway. Everything was perfect until we got to the rest stop on US395 right
below Big Pine. "CLOSED" signs out, and they even had a portable Jersey wall
across the entrance; so unless we were driving a D-8 bull dozer, we were not
going in. As we drove south toward Coso Junction I thought to myself (1) I
DON'T want to drive another 75 miles today and (2) the STUPID state of
California anyway(!!) and (3) they can have 'same sex' marriages in San
Francisco but they can't open a rest stop!?!?!?!?!................
Well, right on the south side of Lone Pine we came across a nice looking RV
park, so we decided 'what the heck'....... Turned out to be impecably clean,
really nice managers, cable TV, and all hookups. Made for a very enjoyable,
quiet, pleasant night.
Back on the road Friday morning, arriving at the track around 1300 hours.
Plenty of time to get unloaded, set up, registered, tech'ed, you name
it........ We had a nice visit with all the HSR crowd at the Friday night 'get
together', then back to the motorhome where I bar-b-qued some 'killer'
steaks!! The wind was blowing a bit (WHAT!?!?!? the wind blow on the
California desert?????)!! Once again an enclosed car trailer was worth it's
weight in gold! Set up the bar-b-q on my workbench in the trailer (i.e......
no wind!!), put some music on the stereo (installed in the trailer), so not
only was "I COOKIN'..... I WAS ROCKIN'!!!!!!!".
Saturday morning was clear, calm, and after lots of cold snowy weather in
Reno..... warm! Down to drivers meeting at 0800, then back to the motorhome.
Our racing group was last for each practice session, qualification race on
Saturday and last race on Sunday as well. I would "boast" about running the
"Main Event" each day but the truth of the matter is we were just put last on
the schedule for a change. This did give me plenty of time to go through the
car one last time and make certain everything was set right.
Philippe Reyns was there with both his Lotus 51 and his Lola sports racer, so
I was going to have my work cut out for me in the Lotus Challenge.
The first (untimed) practice session was the usual refamiliarization of the
track and the car. My new driving shoes were slipping on the pedals, also. I
guess when I get home I'll hit the soles with the belt sander so they'll
'stick' a little better. I didn't get lost going around the track, though, so
all was not lost.
The second (timed) practice session was going well until the 4'th lap.... As I
entered turn 8 the corner worker was frantically waving the "debris/oil" flag.
A quick scan across the infield yielded quite a cloud of dust off of turn
9..... OK...... someone has spun off course at turn nine. A few seconds later,
as I drive through it and start "slipping and sliding"........ hmmmmmmmmmmm,
lots of oil on the track, too!!!! DON'T TOUCH THE BRAKES..... power and
steer!!!...... Great, your out of the oil, now to maneuver through all the
rock and debris on the track from those who did spin in all that oil.....
Fortunately I had turned a fair qualification time before the track got oiled
down (1:37 and change) for an average speed of about 92mph. The remainder of
the session was good practice for the rest of the track..... and tippy toeing
through turn 8 and 9. This qualification time started me on the inside of the
fifth row, so not all was lost.
At the end of the session I came in and parked, and saw that Philippe was
already in, parked and out of his car. That didn't seem right so I walked over
to talk to him, only to discover it was HIS ENGINE that had oiled the track!!
Philippe pointed out the big hole in the left side of his oil pan from the
'recent penetration' by the number four connecting rod, and those still
attached pieces of the crankshaft, piston, and other bits of 'formerly'
rotational mass that made up a racing engine!!! About the only words of
'encouragement' were to point out to Philippe that a year ago in February it
was the 'other side of my pan' where "the number four connecting rod, and
those still attached pieces of crankshaft, piston, and other bits of
'formerly' rotational mass that made up a racing engine" on MY ENGINE had
crashed through; ending at least, that day's racing festivities!!
The formula Ford Pacific Challenge qualifying race was scheduled for 4:30 in
the afternoon. Not a really great time, as the afternoon shadows would be very
deep and we would be looking into the sun at several places on the track.
After forming up on the pre-grid, Topper Chasse', driver of the pace car all
weekend, came and told each of us to stay 'bunched up' because he would be
giving us a very fast start. G R E A T!! The best way to start the formula
cars!! Topper almost did too good of a job! We came out of turn 9 and I was in
2'nd gear.... but on the bottom of the power band.... Just as I started a
shift back into 1'st the green flag came out(!!!!), and there I was, out of
gear, and scrambling from the 'git go'!! After that it was an uneventful race
and I finished 6'th, for a 3'rd row start on Sunday. Well, one thing.... on
the last lap as I came out of turn 2 (a long, long right hand 100+ mph sweeper
for those of you who have not raced Willow Springs) the engine faltered
momentarily; like it was out of gas! It came back to life, so I figured I had
just pushed all the fuel to the outside of the fuel cell.
Sunday morning an uneventful warmup session, then fuel the car and be ready
for the Lotus Sports Challenge at 11:15.
Since Philippe was out I essentially had no competition, so just 'keep it
running' and I had the win. I started on the outside of the second row, next
to Ed Carden in a Super 7, and behind two Elises. (Equates to 2 "rocketships"
on the front row and "a speeding bullet" next to me! I WAS NOT going to be
leading the pack into turn 1!!). A good start, but my 115 horsepower versus
180-200+ for the Super 7 and Elises left me 'earning' my keep for the
remainder of the race! I tucked in behind Ed and worked very hard to catch him
after two laps. I 'pushed' him around the track for two laps, and the
'relative ease' by which I could stay right behind him told me I could beat
him; but I would only get one shot at it..... so save it for the last lap!
Then, THEN, THEN, as I was going up the hill from turn 3 to turn 4, turning
about 6000 in first, I had a sudden serious falloff in power, the engine
started running VERY rough, and I wondered if I could even keep it
running...... (Houston... We Have A Problem!!!!)...... I found that by staying
under 5000rpm the engine ran.. actually pretty smoothly.... but got really
rough over 5 thousand. OK, keep it under 5k, and just finish! I did, and won
the formula class in the Lotus race with a race average speed of 85mph and
change!
Since driving this car at 5000 rpm is about as 'taxing' as driving the
motorhome down the freeway at 60mph, I thought of something. At Phoenix when I
broke the throttle linkage I was duplicating Dan Gurney at the 1962 L.A. Times
Grand Prix when he was dueling with Roger Penske and broke the throttle
linkage on the Lotus 19 he was driving. This time, I figured if I could just
get the car back to the start/finish line I would stop just short of the line
and when the checkered flag was waved I would hit the starter and "crank it"
across the finish line(!!!!).... just as Dan did in that same Lotus 19 at the
1964 Daytona 6 hour enduro!! (OK, since I seem to be emulating good ole Dan,
WHEN do I (1) start getting Ferrari's to race and (2) when is the Porsche
factory going to hire me!?!?!?!!?).
Well, so much for the "wishful thinking"...... (heck, at least I'm
thinking!!)...... I drove the car back to my pit and pulled the spark plugs to
check things out. OOOOOOOh Oh........ the #1 and #4 spark plugs have ominous
pieces of aluminum stuck to their respective electrodes. Well, we're done for
this weekend........ I did a compression test before loading everything up,
and at least knew I had compression in all four cylinders; telling me the
engine wasn't 'totally' gone.
After getting home this afternoon I pulled the head on the Lotus; expecting to
find the piston tops on #1 and #4 badly eroded and burnt. And what did I find?
The tops of all four pistons looked perfectly normal!!! Tomorrow I'll drop the
pan and remove the pistons for further inspection. I guess hoping no piston
damage would be a lot to hope for....... I'll be happy and take whatever I
get.
I am reasonably certain that the fuel pump I'm using can't keep up with the
demand. I'm changing to a Bendix pump before the car runs again.
So that's the Willow Springs Report. Still unknown what caused the problem
although I strongly suspect fuel starvation..... and further suspect fuel pump
problems. I'll work on it, we'll find the problem, and go from
there............
Two wins out of two starts in the Lotus Challenge series and I've yet to
finish a race in the Pacific series this year. Stay tuned..... the Fontana
Historics at California Speedway are in two weeks. Last year at the March
Fontana Historics, ironically enough, I "fried" a piston due to a failed fuel
pump....... Maybe I'll keep the car up and running this time because of the
same problem occurring at the Willow.....
See'ya in two weeks!!
Carl
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