Well, it was another typically great VDCA weekend at Roebling. We got LOTS
of track time despite some rain.
I had convinced my racing partner, Bob Van Kirk, to try racing with the
group. He was somewhat annoyed with the HSR experience at the Atlanta
Historics in October. All he needed to be legal for VDCA was tires, but he
couldn't get the Continentals that we run from Tire Rack (we subsequently
found out that they may have been discontinued!) so he decided to not go. I
insisted he come anyway and co-drive my car in the Enduro and half the
practice sessions.
Tech was conducted on Thursday evening and Friday AM in the paddock by
David Whiteside. The pre-registration materials included a detailed
pre-inspection form to allow the at-the-track process go faster and the
at-home inspection process to be more detailed and consistent. It worked
very well. The Friday AM drivers' meeting was quick and to the point. It
was mentioned that there had been only one 13-13 rule situation all year
and ironically, it involved two of the group's founders. After walk-ins and
no-shows, there were 7 entires in Production Class, 4 in Pre-War, 11 in
Small Displacement, 2 in Sports Racers Historic, 1 in Sports Racers Slicks,
6 in Sports Racers Vintage, and 7 in Trans Am.That should total 39 cars.
The weather was generally cool and never got above 50, even though the
Weather Channel said it would be near 70 on Sunday after Saturday night
showers. Those showers came earlier than anticipated and lasted into
Sunday. Those from the South were complaining about the cold and those from
the North were happy it was so warm!
The Friday 11 AM practice session was just a warm-up and re familiarization
with the car and track. Bob wasn't happy with the way the car sounded and
with what I told him it was doing in the 6000 rpm range. He did some
adjusting of the carbs, checked the timing, etc. We discovered that the
distributor was trying to come out of the block and was prevented from
doing so only by the oil line from the Accusump. When we pulled it out, we
found that the collar that the pinch plate bears against was cracked so
that the plate only squeezed it more towards broken and couldn't hold it
tight. He bent the plate so it bore on a stronger part of the distributor
and it lasted the entire weekend with no further problems. Another one will
be needed for next season, though. We hope the carbs need only different
needles. Of course, I didn't have any spares to experiment with. Strangely
enough, no one else with S.U.s had any either, most never having changed or
otherwise messed with the carbs that much.
The Friday 2 PM session saw the car running a bit better thanks to Bob's
carb adjustments. It got a little squirrely in turn 2 and 3 a few laps into
the session so I came in to fix what I thought must be a flat tire. The
problem turned out to be my first broken axle in ten years of racing and
only the second in a lifetime of LBC driving. At the Atlanta Historics a
month earlier, Bob broke the left axle on his car at the outboard end and
drove it back to our paddock. My experience was identical. Within a half
hour we were back in business. Fortunately, I had brought two spare axles,
already drilled for the larger studs, but I didn't bring a spare diff.
Luckily the axle broke at the outer end and did no damage at the splined
end inside the diff. It was a 4.55:1 by the way, on loan for this race from
Bob. Bob drove in the 4 PM Enduro practice session and thought the car
really had some guts but we couldn't get to them because of the carb and
fuel delivery problems. We were limited in what we could do at the track
because of lack of spares on my part and others. Now we have a long list
of things to check during the winter months.
We missed the 8:30 Saturday AM session playing around some more with the
carbs. The one hour Enduro at noon was great fun since it included more
than half of the cars that were registered for the weekend. At the Casino
Party Friday night, the person with the most funny money left at the end of
the evening got a free entry for next year. The second richest player got
to pick his or someone else's starting place in the Enduro. The third
richest got to do the same. Tim Slater won the free entry. George Wright
bumped his buddy Jeff Jacobs who had qualified his Z28 on the pole for the
Enduro, back to last place. Jacobs, in turn, bumped outside pole winner Udo
Horn to next to last starting place in his ' 63 Corvette Coupe. After about
fifteen laps, Jeff got through the field into first place and stayed there
for the duration. Udo, unfortunately, broke on the fifth lap and retired. I
did 20 laps and Bob did 12. We placed 12th overall and first in class. The
Enduro ended in a light mist and when our 3 PM session started under a
heavier mist, we decided not to go out. It is a mess when you get wet and
cold and the car gets water and mud everywhere. Only three SD cars went out
and about half way through the session it began to rain very hard.
At the Sunday AM drivers meeting, we all agreed to accelerate the schedule
since the weather was very iffy. It wasn't raining then but it looked like
it would at any time. A lot of the guys had long tows north into some nasty
weather and appreciated being able to leave earlier than originally
planned. The AM practice sessions were deemed to be races and the PM races
were dispensed with . Two groups were combined with others. The track was
very slippery all the way around, but especially in turns three and four.
The off course excursions resulted in mud on the track rather than sand
because of the heavy rain overnight. My times were about five seconds
slower than my best at Roebling, Bob's were about five seconds better than
mine but about ten seconds slower than his best in his car.
As is typical with VDCA events, there was lots of track time, great
parties, much camaraderie, and fun, fun, fun. Stan Heath in his red MGA had
counted 48 laps on Friday alone. He also went through two tires because of
so many laps. I went through $70 worth of racing fuel with all my laps. The
only gripe is that there isn't too much actual racing because the fields
are so small. We need to get more of you out there next year.
Regards,
Regards,
Bob Spruck
Sharpsburg, GA
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