SCCA RUNOFFS H-PRODUCTION RACE REPORT
 
Man, what a week.  We had problems before we even got to the 
track, and they kept on coming, but we perservered, and managed
a very respectable result.
 
We put the car on the dyno Saturday before the race to make sure
the engine was doing what it was supposed to, and 
were down on power and couldn't figure out why.  During the 
couple hours of testing, we also encountered an occasional 
mystery no-start while sitting on the rollers.  The motor would 
crank over, but not start.  A few jiggles of wire bundles later,
and we always managed to get it running.  Afterwards, we
double-checked everything, it all looked right, so we went 
to the track Sunday morning hoping for the best.
 
Monday practice left me stranded on track after a lap from 
the same apparent electical problem. We thought we traced it
down to a connector on the fuel injection harness, but went 
out for Tuesday qualifying and encountered the same thing 
1/2 lap in.  Two sessions wasted.  After many false leads, 
and tearing through nearly all of the wiring, we traced it 
down to a bad Electromotive pickup (a Huffaker, no less) 
that would only flake out when it got hot....
 
I spent a lot of the first couple days looking like this:

 
We got the problem fixed about an hour before Wednesday
qualifying, and managed to get a full session on the track,
but was tenative, waiting for the car to act up again, and 
managed to turn a 1:45, about 16th fastest overall.
 
Sitting on the grid waiting for Wednesday qualifying to start:

 
Thursday's session was only 4 laps long after a car farther  
back in the pack dumped oil on the track causing a 4 car 
mess in the esses, but we found another second of time,
to qualify 1:44, on the final grid in 14th.  
I was disappointed, because I figured we had 1:42s 
at a minimum in the car based on previous long-course runs
which should have put us top 5.
 
Alongside all of this, we had been struggling with another 
mystery condition which started earlier in the season in 
which the engine would run very strong initially, but as 
green flag laps click off, the oil temps would rise, and 
performance would progressively fall off.   In impound 
right off the track after the last qualifying session, 
we noticed the plugs were really white and it had obviously 
been running very lean, although we have deliberately set
the mix relatively rich on the top end.
 
Marnie and I at impound:

 
Andy, the very smart guy leaning over the car in the picture
above, surmised a fuel supply problem after long-runs and were 
going to verify during Friday morning practice, but 2 laps 
in Friday morning, the same car that oiled the track on Wednesday
did it again, cutting our session short, and preventing any 
real data collection.
 
So we gridded for the race qualified 14th, it was a nice, not-to-hot
day, and got ready for the race to begin:  
 

 
While the starting procedure for this race was 
no different than any other, it seemed that time was 
compressed, and within just a minute or two of arriving at the grid, 
we were entering Turn 1 and preparing to start the race!  How the 
heck did I get here?  We’re about to race!!!  I had the best
start of any race I’ve run so far, and picked up 5 or 6 spots on 
the first 1 ½ lap, and moved as high as 6th before the mystery power 
problem came back, but we did verify via a pressure gauge 
that it was indeed a fuel supply problem on the low-pressure side 
of our system during the race. Even with dual 
low-pressure pumps, our normally 3 lbs of pressure, 
dropped between 1/2 - 0 lbs after 5 o r 6 laps and through
the rest of the race! DOH!  Mystery solved.  The low 
pressure pumps were giving out, or possibly a collapse of 
the suction lines inside of the cell.  We are sure it's not
a vent issue, that was one thing we could verify prior to
the race.
 
Race Start Video
------------------
 
Low bandwidth Windows Video:
http://www.midwest-x19.com/videos/Runoffs-Start-Short.wmv
 
High bandwidth MPEG2
http://www.midwest-x19.com/videos/Runoffs-Start.mpg
 
 
I also ran over debris from an on-track crash between two other
cars that occurred behind me on Lap 3 or 4, 
and had a RF tire slowly losing air pressure, 
so the car was very sloppy at the end.  On the way off the 
track at the end of the race, #2 cyl exhaust header tube broke 
completely off at the head flange!  It was hard to keep 
track of all of the dodged bullets, and we were very happy 
with the 9th-place lead-lap finish.  
 
After the race, Brayden was a big help getting us packed up:

 
If the car had been running 100%,  I'm sure we had a top 5 
car, but that’s OK, we'll be ready for next year.
 
Thanks for all the help, support, emails, and advice 
from everyone who helped us through the season!
 
See you next spring!
 
-Matt and Marnie Brannon
#22 Fiat X1/9
H-Production