Barber Motorsports-Labor Day

[rickjohnson356]

Beautiful weather all weekend.

Next year we would like to see more FST cars for this event.

I fully expect to have my "CyClone" (Caracal Clone) ready for competition soon. And, I have convinced one of my Grid-worker teammates (Frank Thompson) to build a Citation roller that he just picked up from Ebay as a FST rather than a Vee.

Now for the sweet-and-sour news:

Garry Sharp overcame a qualifying glitch Saturday morning that caused him to miss qual entirely and have to start from the back of the group.

Garry drove this Citation FST down to the grid area a couple of minutes early and shut it off to keep from overheating. When it came time to go on the track ---- NADA--- no noise from the engine! Arrgh- the ign switch was new, so it was immediately suspect. Flat tow back to his paddock. After a further, detailed check, it turned out that the insulation on the starter connector hot lead had worn through, shorting and draining the battery. Got a new battery installed , and well insulated-rerouted the hot lead, then he is 'off to the races' albeit from the back of the pack of 8 cars including one FF and a CF in addition to a couple of F600s and a gaggle of Vees (Stevan Davis among them).

Well, Garry turned a 1:45.274 fast lap on lap 8 while overtaking the whole field, save for Steve Robertson's VD CF, to come in second overall in the non-winged formula car group!

Congratulations on your great drive-from-behind Garry!!

Sorry for no pics, but I was the splitter for this group.

more bad news followed, as on the cool-down lap then engine lost power and sounded like it was running on 3 cylinders. It was.

Checking into the evening, we found that number one intake valve was not closing all the way and was stuck partially open. Luckily, it appears that the piston did not hit the open valve from what we could tell without taking the head off.

Garry wisely decided to not try at-track repairs in order to be able to better diagnose the issue for future reference. At least he got the rest of the Labor Day holiday to enjoy his great showing at Barber Motorsports Park.

[jsteeb]

Hi Rick!

Thanks for the race report! I would love to hit Barber sometime! That place in on my, "list" along with VIR and Road Atlanta. Maybe next summer my budget will have the room (and I'll have the vacation days) to tow farther south than Mid-O. Who knows... maybe the Hoosire Tire FST Series will make it down there for an official race!

Sounds like Gary had a good run!!! I always have a good time slicing through traffic. At Mid-O we had the Vees covered. We could hang with the FF's in the corners, but the destroyed us down the straights.

Hope to see you guys next year!

Jason

[rgu]

Nice job Gary and thanks for the race report Rick. I keep mulling over adding another segment to our series. The real problem is the travel time which is a problem for most people in our series. Memories of the 3 hour stoppage at the Bluewater Bridge on my way to Grattan and the closing of the Milwaukee Airport as part of my trip to RA are still pretty vivid. We'll all have time to discuss it at the ARRC.

Lets all join the FFDA and go forward together.

R