Pueblo Double Regional
Well, it's only a regional, and we were the only FB, but we had a roller coaster last weekend at Pueblo. Friday started off on a couple down notes which included changing a shredded trailer tire on Monument Pass and not receiving all the hardware for the new awning that we knew we would need in the 100+ heat. We had been warned that the track was very rough and is slated for a much needed re-paving this fall.
Saturday started early with practice and qualifying with the car sprung way too stiff for the track. In one section, a dip in the track was so bad my feet kept flying off the floor right before the turn-in for 8. The ride over the drag staging area/turn 10 was worse, with me trying my old lines form 10 years ago and almost putting the car in the wall on several occasions.
Qualifying ended on Saturday with me well off the pace and 3rd in the group behind a local FE and a fast FC. 50 minutes before the race was to begin in the afternoon, the heavens opened up with rain and hail. The water was feet deep in several corners, and as such, racing was postponed until Sunday morning. On the plus side, we received the missing awining parts and had it up, even during the hail storm. It worked great.
Saturday I went to bed trying to find places to make time and hoping that the 6 year old tires we were running the day before were part of the problem.
The first race on Sunday was lots of fun, with me still finding the "smootherishish" line around and dealing with a stiff car. New tires helped, and while backmarkers almost runied my day (when you point to the right for me to go by, don't proceed to drive over there! WTF), we managed the race for an overall win and just .7 off the FB track record set in '07. I have to beleive it was in better shape 4 years ago. I was really happy after the morning "moto."
Feeling much better about our first go Sunday, including a new Manaco-esque right to miss the dip then left-to-go-right appraoch to the dip between 7 and 8, we put on some different rubber that was prototyped 2 years ago at the run-offs. The story was they were great for 5-6 laps and then quickly faded. The price was right and we had some fresher skins. The driver didn't do a great job of listening, because after besting the track record by more than a second, on lap 6 I sent the car off the outside of 6a-b and ripped up the diffuser. Bad move by the driver, we had just 2.5 hours to get the car ready for the second race.
My father and I set forth into pulling the diffuser, sucking all the dirt and weeds out of the back of the car, giving it a quick bath and health check, then exacting repairs to make the race. After 2 hours and 25 minutes of thrashing, I rolled up to the grid to take the pole spot and roll out.
The race was a challenge. One problem we noted during the health check was the rear break line had been bent with loads of dirt being shoved into the rear of the car. While the initial check showed no damage, there was a crack, because 2 laps in, the pedal was headed to the floor and kept getting softer and softer throughout the race. I knew what the issue was and rolled the bias forward to try to mitigate the pressure on the rear breaks. While we didn't get close to the track record in the race, I felt a humble victory in managing our position and the wounded car after a driver screw-up in the morning. I managed to limp home. After a huge effort from my dad, we came out on top again. I was pumped.
Overall we had our ups and downs, but the car development is coming along nicely with lots of speed yet to find. The ambient temps were over 100, and we had oil and water temps at 200-210 during peak race conditions. I was really happy with the cooling package we have put together. Now we need to find another diffuser or make another home(ly) one and see what we can do about continuing to improve the performance of the driver and car.
Not trying to rival a Coop Cronicle, but thought I'd share our milestones with others.
Once again, thanks again to my dad for all his efforts in putting a package together that never has a mechanical issue. His efforts make it easy to hop in the car and drive it without reserve. His thrashing through lunch paid off again with back-to-back overalls. Now it's off to fab another diffuser to fit our unique rear structure.
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