Cal Club Willow Springs Super Tour

[Eric Little]

After running a couple of events with Cal Club, having joined the SCCA, I decided to have a shot at a Super Tour. Some very good competition at a track I love. It was a great weekend. Every other driver, of whom I had only met one of them previously, came up to me at our pit and introduced themselves. Was nice to feel welcomed. A few even helped out with a shock problem I was having.

The race finishing positions were not great but the racing was a lot of fun. We had an electrical problem that had us down on top end power and it finally really let go on Sunday. Even with that, it was great to get to battle it out with some great drivers and fantastic people. I am looking forward to fixing the electrical problem and hopefully getting to battle it out at Buttonwillow next month.

Hope you enjoy the view from my seat.

Eric Little

Saturday race - https://youtu.be/VWnNIJmmcAE
Sunday race - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ0942G7JFg

[ianashdown]

Hi,

Happy to hear your lower engine stud issue worked out OK!

Ian

[Eric Little]

Thanks Ian. The mount was very solid all weekend. No issues there. Now if I can just stop breaking new things.

Eric Little

[ianashdown]

Ah, the joy of racing a vintage car!

Ian

[MotorCade]

Fun video - thanks for sharing!

[bhayes]

Nice video Eric. Looks like there was some good close racing at Willow!

[tdf4golf]

Eric,

I was watching your Willow Springs video and was seeing what looks like blisters or tire scrub build up approximately 2/3's of the way across you tires from the inside out at times. Did anyone else see this and have an explanation? What kind of tire pressures are you running? I would think that seeing this might indicate a setup issue or an air pressure issue but am not enough of an expert to address this. Maybe a knowledgeable someone can chime in and educate me and possibly others.

T.

[Eric Little]

It is pickup. I am new to the radial tire and still sorting out camber and pressure. Not there yet but hopefully will be. That was the first full weekend that I have been able to run the tire in conditions that I could actually judge what the tire is doing.

Eric Little

[BeerBudgetRacing]

Has Willow Springs been resurfaced? It's normally very hard on tires....

[Eric Little]

Has Willow Springs been resurfaced? It's normally very hard on tires....

No and Yes. It has not been resurfaced since I started 2 years ago (I am not sure when it was done before that but I would guess a while). Yes, it is the cheese grater of tires. I do not think it is necessarily the surface that causes it as much as it is that most of the corners are high speed. In 2.5 miles, we average lap at about 105 with top speed around 130. One 90 in third, one 180 in third, and one 180 in fourth. Up and down the hill are the only slow(ish) corners on the track (first gear at Willow is the ratio we run for second gear at Buttonwillow).

That all said, it is a really fun track to race. Easy to learn, hard to get that last little bit. Being precise is really important (and if you have watched my videos, you know I am anything but).

Oh, I found the electrical problem that did us in on Sunday. It turns out that if the plug wire is laying on top of the valve cover, it is not "close enough" to fire the plug. Picky little device. It does not explain the car being down on top end for Saturday. I have some ideas and unfortunately none of them are very pretty. If I am right, I will be making a necklace of bent valves in the hopes of warding off evil racing spirits (you know, the ones that keep causing me to miss shifts, zing the motor, and bend valves, blah blah blah). I guess as long as I get the power back so I can play up front at Buttonwillow.

Eric Little

[BeerBudgetRacing]

I'm very familiar. My image is on turn 6.
Probably 1000 laps there in my vette but only 50 in the FC.
The problem I have with the FC there is staying on track.
Off track is really bad there...