Race Prep

I decided to run the 2-pc Bogart rims versus the Cobra Mustang wheels this race to see if the weight difference between them would have a dramatic change in my lap times. When I went to check the tire pressures one of the Bogart’s was down to ten pounds. I sprayed some soapy water at the 2-pc seam and discovered it was leaking air slowly but surely. I had three weeks until the race so I shipped it back to the manufacturer for a free fix. It only took a week and a half and I was in business.

I also made the decision to go back to the stock cooling setup and disconnected the closed breather system and removed the thermostat. I figured between the plug blowing out at California Speedway and the major upper radiator hose detonation at my last race, I was afraid I might be building up too much water pressure. Personally I don’t understand why the 13-pound cap on the thermostat housing and or the 15-pound cap on the breather bottle didn’t purge before a thick radiator hose did?

I changed all the fluids, bled the brakes and tranny, and put a new set of Porterfield’s in the front Stop Tech’s. I normally change the plugs but the ones from the last race looked to be in good shape with good color.

Off to the races

Friday morning we started our trek back to Willow Springs International Raceway. From San Diego through Los Angeles we were on autopilot up into the high desert. We landed at the track in only three and a half hours to mid-eighty degree weather. Yes… there is a God!

Saturday at the track

We woke up to an absolutely beautiful day with temperatures in the mid sixties. When we reached the track I was amazed with the low attendance of racers. All I can assume is that everyone assumed it was going to be literally hotter than hell or they’re preparing for their respective trips to the Nationals at Mid-Ohio.

We made it to our garage and set up for our day of racing. Tom Dixon came up for the weekend to help out and as always he made the weekend that much easier to deal with. I got the racecar log-book signed, started the car up, set my tire pressures at 32 pounds each, and suited up for our track warm up session. I love driving on the track first thing in the morning. The sun is still rising, the air is crisp and cool, and the track has just been freshly swept for the day’s activities.

NASA was only running one large race group at this event because of the low turnout. With over forty cars in the field at the same time, running from 115 to 800 horsepower, it would definitely make for an interesting day.

Warm Ups

We all took to the track under a double yellow flag scrubbing our tires to generate some heat. As we made the last turn onto the front straight the green flag was thrown and our session was under way. The Flying Banana felt good as I floored it and flew down the straight to turn one. I took the next lap fairly easy as I patiently waited for the tires to come up to full temperature. With my next trip around turn one the car stuck like a bloodsucker to a bear’s butt. (Sounds like something SlowOldPoop might say… huh?) I remembered that I was running the Bogart’s so I accelerated through the small sweeper at turn two and the car dug into the apex like it was on rails. Oh what a feeling… to finally have the power to take those fat ol Hoosiers to the limit put a huge grin on my face. The next turn was the off-camber, uphill, tight left hander, to the immediate right hand buttonhook, then down hill to another quick right then tight left hand off camber, get close, but don’t touch the inside of the apex because it might suck you in at high speeds. It takes some seat time but if you master these series of turns with smooth shifting, braking, and acceleration, it’s like you’re doing a dance with your car. Other then these series of turns this track is extremely fast. My wife Kathy got some great photographs of the elevation changes in this area to help give you an idea of what it’s like.

The car continued to stick like glue as turns seven, eight, and nine approached. If you remember from my past commentaries of Willow Springs, turn seven is almost a straightaway, and turn eight is the beginning of a long 160 mph sweeper that ends with turn nine that shoots you out on to the front straight. There are a lot of people that don’t like running Big Willow because if you touch the edge of turn nine it’ll suck you right off the track. But I digress…

With the car fused to the track like hot glue I blew down the front straight at lightning speed. The steering wheel felt as light as a feather and the car would respond to any slight movement. It was a little unnerving at those speeds for the first time… but I got use to it!

I ran the warm up session until the checkered flag, passing just about everything on the track. The car temps were between 210 and 220 but I figured going back to the stock cooling setup would account for those higher temperatures.

I did my cool down lap and pulled off the track in anticipation of seeing my lap times. They were three to five seconds quicker than my last outing up here so my confidence level boosted by two fold. How sweet it was!

With the car back in the garage and cooled down we did a systems check. The left front tire was 3 pounds higher then the other tires as a result of the elevated friction levels exerted at that particular point of the car through the turns. We lowered the pressure by three pounds. We checked the water levels and discovered the system was almost two quarts low. That was a bit disturbing but there were no visible leaks and the motor didn’t appear that much hotter than usual. We topped of the water and added some Water Wetter. Oil and all other fluids were good to go…

Qualifying

The race group took to the track like a swarm of locusts belching out race fuel. The track was immediately hot (no double yellow flags) so the insanity began. All I could assume was that everyone had experienced a similar confidence booster in their warm up session and they blasted onto the track at full speed. Cars were running off into the dirt at every turn, and then they would come back on track dumping wheelbarrow full loads of rock and dirt on to the apexes of the turns. It became an instant obstacle course of sideway cars while trying to tiptoe through the gravel. I had started in the back of the group so I got maybe two crappy laps in before the entire session was black-flagged.

Race Time

The Super Unlimited series, a group of eight cars, had its usual field of Nascar style stock cars, the Trans Am series Mustang, Grand Am Viper, GT Porsche, etc. We had the Spec 944 Porsche series and SER Nissan series starting behind us. The Honda Cup cars were to do a standing start in front of us, as we would come up real slow behind them following the pace car.

The Honda’s did their start. I don’t know who was driving the pace car but he appeared completely out of touch. He started to speed up way beyond what a pace car normally drives and the front four Super Unlimited cars began to race toward the flag stand. Our formation went into complete chaos and the green flag was thrown. It was the worst start I’d ever been involved in.

We blasted down the straight to turn one. We were all so split up there was no concern of cars bottlenecking at the turn. For some odd reason people took it easy through the first race lap. All I could guess was that the qualifying session had some impact on them. After lap one it was balls to the walls. The Flying Banana was running just like it did during the morning warm up. My race group began passing Honda after Honda until the 944 Porsches came into view. I began to notice cars sitting off track like the Viper and the Mustang Trans Am. Then the Honda guys started to do their off road excursions. I’d been watching my temps when all of a sudden the water temp gauge read 250 degrees. “Holy crap!” I screamed. I was at turn seven going into turn eight when I decelerated. With the high temperatures holding steady I shut the motor down at turn nine and coasted onto the hot pit lane, then onto the paddock to my garage. I had no idea but the white flag had come out just as I pulled off the track. One frigging lap to go and I had to shut down. At that point of the race I was in contention for 2nd place in class. My little part of the race world came crumbling down.

In all the excitement of the race I hadn’t noticed that my cool suit water line had broken and was pissing water all over me, and on the floor of the car.

Once the car had cooled down we discovered we were three quarts of water low in the cooling system. There was still no evidence of a leak or an extremely hot and or steaming motor.

We discussed our options and thought that maybe the water was running so quickly through the system it wasn’t getting cooled. We decided to reinstall the thermostat with additionally drilled holes. By the time we completed the task at hand the track was down and the drivers were attending a beer fest, compliments of NASA. I had used up the last of my Water Wetter so we needed to head towards the hotel to find an open auto parts store. Fortunately we found an Auto Zone and we were in business.

Sunday

After a fairly decent night’s sleep we were back at the track preparing for the Sunday morning warm up. I took the car out and slowly brought it up to race speeds. Within eight or nine laps the water temp gauge read 250 and I shut it down and coasted back to the garage. Once again the car didn’t seem to be that hot. As a matter of fact Tom was able to put his hand on the radiator without getting burned. We thought maybe the temp gauge was faulty but we would wait until it was cool enough to see what the water level was. The OEM water expansion tank wasn’t over flowing and it was at the same water level that we started the warm up session with. When the car was cool enough we discovered we were again three quarts of water low. What the hell is going on?

I made the decision to throw in the towel and not race that afternoon. I wasn’t going to chance doing any harm to this engine.

Back in the garage in San Diego

This past Monday I did a water pressure test finding no leaks and the cooling system holds pressure like new. I pulled the radiator and checked that all the fins were straight, intact, and I could visually look through with no obstructions. I pulled the plugs finding no problems or indications of water. All the cylinders and piston heads have a nice dark coating of normal combustion chambers. I did a compression test resulting in 190 psi straight across the board.

The car drives like a bat out of hell. It’s so competitive at this stage it’s insane. I can’t wait to deal with this issue and kick some major ass! It’s all about the learning curve and I ain’t gonna quit until it’s solved!

It was an excellent weekend of racing, when it lasted…

Greg