Wayward Sports Car Racing's First Outing
Having been working on the house most of the winter, the last few weeks
were quite a flurry of getting a new racing effort off the ground- my
first race, with a new car & fresh engine. As I'd rather spend my time
working on the car at home than at the track, I did what I could, without
actually being able to test things out. After fiddling with numerous
large and small projects, about the only thing that bothered me was a
possible oil leak, past the inner seal on the left rear wheel hub, and
thence onto the brakes.Once all the mechanical bits were together again, I
poured various versions of Castrol's finest into the engine, tranny,
diff, brakes, and shocks, packed it all up, and headed North to Canada.
After many miles of listening to the Suburban suck gas, we pulled into
Mosport Thursday evening. There was still lots of room in the paddock, so we
picked a choice spot, set up shop, and unloaded the sky blue Bugeye. On the
way to tech, I got it in 2nd gear for the first time. The time spent in
preparation first paid off, as we passed tech with a clean slate.
After that, Pete (my crew) and I grabbed a brew, and walked the track.
Mosport is not a beginners track. Oh, boy. This place is full of blind,
downhill or uphill turns. As you come down the S/F straight, you can see
part of Turn 1, before it dips downhill behind a wall. Turn 2, which no one
actually claims to know the right line through, comes up blind, and goes off
left, downhill, and off camber to boot. The best description I heard of how
to get through 2, is to "Turn left, and hang on". Three, although blind, is
banked in the right direction, leading on to a short straight before the
road disappears as it turns down through 4 and under the bridge. Next, brake
going up a short hill and right into 5, a second gear, 3-part decreasing
radius hairpin, which is followed by a very long, fast, uphill, amounting to
3/4 mile straight, with a couple slight bends (6 & 7) and a blind rise
before 8. 8 is an almost flat right hander, the beginning of the esses of
9-10. 9 is a quick left, blind of course, then right at 10 back onto the
front straight, for a total just under 2 1/2 miles.
A clear blue sky greeted us Friday morning as we prepared for the first
practice, the first of 3 bright, sunny days. A few last checks, and we
strolled over to two to watch the CanAm cars warm up. On his third lap,
and not yet up to speed, George Folmer, former CanAm champ had the only
major incident of the weekend. Coming out of 2, the throttle may have
stuck, and he hit the fence to the left, sending pieces of the nose
skyward, and continued spinning down track into a sand trap. The front of
his McLaren was destroyed, and George suffered a broken shoulder. After a
delay to clean up, things got back under way, and we headed to the grid.
My group consisted of production sports cars, combined with sports racers.
This meant I'd be running with the likes of Alfa's, Porsche 356's, E-Types,
various Lotus 7's, a Diamler SP250, an MGA, me and one other Bugeye, and a
Turner MKI, as well as a couple very fast Lotus 11's, Elva's, etc. My class
consisted of the 2 Sprites, and the Turner, driven by another novice. The
fiber glass Turner has the same 948cc engine, but is 15% lighter than my
Sprite. So, once on track, I had lots to keep me busy. Like watching my
mirrors as they all went past. The car ran great, other than being a bit
loose in the rear. I followed the Turner, as we were fairly matched, and
could be seen together for most of the weekend.
Back in the paddock, we tweaked tyre pressures, checked everything, and
pulled the rear drums. That bothersome oil seal let quite a bit of 90 Wt
onto the shoes. Everything else was in good shape. Luckily, the previous
owner of my car, now running a Lotus 7, had a couple spare seals. We
replaced the culprit, and buttoned it up in time for afternoon practice.
This went much the same, until the Turner pulled off, and I continued
alone. My times improved some, to a 2:26, far slower than the field, but
fine for a rookie. When we pulled the drums after that session, there was
some seepage from the outer axle seal, and a broken return spring on the
other side. That's about when people started telling me that Sprites
don't really need the rear brakes anyhow. After digging up a spare
spring, we went down and found the Turner had blown a head gasket.
By Saturday morning practice was mostly uneventful. Mike had the Turner
together again, and we ran close, and both improved our times. I was
ahead, and could see that yellow Turner in my mirrors at times. He'd
would close in places, but I'd get away again. Between sessions, we
re-torqued the Sprites head, checked the rear brakes (The outer gasket
still seeping, so we gooped it with super blue.), and fiddled with the
rest.
Afternoon was qualifying, and I never saw the Turner, until I came
through 5 and there he was parked off to the side. Nothing major this
time, his distributer had come loose. But this meant that even tho he
turned a 2:14 to my 2:15, he'd be starting farther back. Careful
preparation had paid off again.
Saturday evening was steaks and stocks- a bar-b-que, followed by the
stock car races at the Mosport 1/2 mile oval up on the corner.
Sunday morning was a short warm up. The other bugeye took a couple slow laps
to show us his line, then after a couple more, I waved Mike by, so I could
see his line. Our race was moved up a 1/2 hour, which left us only a little
over an hour till grid. Practice had been short, and leisurely, and they
were dry the night before, so I almost decided to not check the brakes... We
did anyhow, and the return spring on the OTHER side had snapped! A quick
scramble, and we located another spring, and made it to grid.
The red Bugeye was around 11th, and I started 18th, of around 24 cars, and
Mike was 2 cars back. Now, if I could just keep him there... One lap to warm
up, and get in formation, and we were green! The faster cars who had started
behind me went on by, and there was Mike, hot on my tail like a little
yellow Pac Man. The game's afoot! I'd manage to gain a tad, but then he'd
come right back. The Sprite was running great. A couple times he got close,
and nosed over to try a pass, but couldn't catch my tail. This went on for
the first 5 laps. Our lap times fell- I was running a 2:07, and Mike even
hit 2:06, before slowed coming up the hill, and pulled in the pits. That
left me out alone. I just needed to finish cleanly to take a second in
class, so I slowed a second or two, and watched those silver Lotus 11's
rocket past. Getting close to the end, I started watching for the red
Bugeye, as it was about time for him to lap me. Coming up the hill from 5, I
spotted him, but not where I'd expected. He had pulled off on the right, and
was getting out. But that means... yes! I was now first in class!
Preparation had paid off again. Three more gentle laps brought out the
checker, and I had won my class in my first race, 14th over all.
I'd like to thank my crew, my family, the corner workers, and all those
who have helped my get my start.
Roger -Boy, that felt good- Garnett
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