The fifth
H-Production report of the season comes from an
SCCA
national event at
remember,
this is the place that introduced me to the concept
of a
wrecked race car, as the last time I was here a couple
years ago,
I mashed the driver's side of the car and was out of
commission
for over ½ the season.
This event
included a practice session and qualifying session
Saturday and
a 20 lap race on Sunday. The weather was predicted
to be
lousy, but was decent most of the weekend. Qualifying
was rained
out for a couple of groups on Saturday when a thunderstorm
came
through, but we had gotten our qualifying finished before then.
Overall,
the event had a small turnout of cars in total, but
the
Production class was pretty big, including:
5 FPs
9 GPs
7 HPs
The
competion was again pretty tough, with a couple of
former
divison champs. One of the guys had just built,
you guessed
it, a Yellow Triumph Spitfire. Yech, I can't
seem to
shake these things. Now I have two of them to
deal with.
Saturday
morning practice was a pretty big disappointment.
Within the
first lap, I could tell something was seriously
wrong with
the engine. It would not rev over 6K RPM under
load down
the straight. I ran a few laps and found a 1:57,
but the car
was way off. The oil temps rose rapidly
to over 250
degrees, similar to what happened at the previous
race.
Also, the engine would start to mis-fire if/when
I was able
to get it past 7K RPM in a turn. Several
things were
amiss.
A summary
check of things showed that ignition timing was
correct,
the spark plugs looked OK, oxygen sensor showed
I wasn't
running lean, but compression test did show one
cylinder
that was about 20 lbs low on compression. Hmmm.
Do I have a
blown head gasket??!
About the
only thing I could do trackside was fiddle with the cam
timing and
hope for the best.
For the
next session, our qualifying session,
the car's
performance was MUCH improved for the first few laps,
allowing me
to record a number of laps around 1:55, pulling cleanly
through 7K
RPM, but as soon as the temps went up, the
performance
started dropping. As a side note, we made a few
suspension
changes before this event too, and the car handled flawlessly.
As soon as
the lap times started falling, about 7 laps in, I
called it
quits. I qualified 2nd of 7 in class,
about 2
seconds behind 1st place, held by a Sprite. The Yellow Triumph
had missed
qualifying so he was gridded last, 7th in class.
On race
day, we were gridded 20th overall, 2nd in class of a
36 car
field.
At the
start of the race, I kept the 1st-place car in sight for the first few laps,
but had an
off-course excursion about 5-laps in and that cost
me a few
seconds. That last cone in the video below is mine,
ALL MINE!!!
TURN 6 OFF-TRACK:
http://www.midwest-x19.com/images/web-pictures/videos/IRP-Offtrack-6.wmv
By that
time, the oil temps started
rising
fast, and performance started falling. By mid-race, I
was barely
able to sustain a 2:02/2:03, and losing ground
quickly.
To compound problems, the car was handling terribly,
completely
lousy compared to the day before.
About 5
laps from the end, I got into someone's oil and spun
the car in
the same turn I had wrecked a couple years earlier.
The good
news though, was that I learned from my first encounter with that
turn a few
years ago not to try to save the car, so I let it loop harmlessly to the
inside of
the turn. (Good thing no one was behind me though!)
TURN 12
SPIN:
http://www.midwest-x19.com/images/web-pictures/videos/IRP-Spin-Turn12.wmv
A few laps
later, with oil temps pushing 290 degrees and the car
sputtering
badly above 6000 RPM, the race finally ended,
with me
holding onto a 3rd place finish. Yes, the Yellow Spitfire
had managed
to dig through the field and pass me...
FINAL
RESULTS:
http://www.woundedturtleracing.org/images/1-eventshots/0407irpnatl/racefinal.pdf
On
inspection after the race, both the rear tires had worn down
to the
cords somewhere on the first couple of laps, which
explains
the lousy handling. They were the worst I've ever
corded
tires since I started racing. Yike! They looked good before I
started,
honest!
The best
news of the weekend though, is that all we needed to
do was start
the in order to finish our qualifiction requirements for the National
Championship
Race this fall. So, we're going to the big
show this
September!
Since it
appears that we have some open heart surgery to do
to the
engine, we will miss our next planned
event at
the end of the month, in favor of a National event at
Mid
Respectfully
submitted,
Matt
Brannon
74 X1/9 HP
#22