Sunday morning I could have slept in. I could have looked out the window
at the rain and turned off the 6:30 alarm and slept for another 3 hours. But
what fun would that be? After a quick shower and a check of the weather
channel, it was time to do a last minute check on the car, throw the toolbox
into the trunk and head to Columbus for my first autox in my MGB. Top up
or top down? It was only drizzling, so I left it down. The nice drive-thru
worker at McDonald's was kind enough to point out, "you're, gonna get wet."
She was right, but not until much later.
I was about halfway to Columbus when I first noticed there was a little
problem with the car. If I lifted off the accelerator, I would get a nice
little backfire. It wasn't until I was right outside Columbus that the
problem became serious. The muffler fell off. Last week I had the exhaust
system tightened and checked out because it had been loose. In doing so,
I think the folks at Speedy created a stress point right in front of the
rear muffler, since this is where it broke. Anyway, I wired the muffler
up (though it was no longer attached to the exhaust) and was on my way.
After a couple of missed exits and wrong turns I made it to the right
parking lot, parked the car and found John Lewis. I didn't want to register
until I had a complete exhaust system, so after getting some directions
to a Tuffy and a Speedy, I was on the road again. They were both closed.
Luckily, I found a BP station that was open and willing to take a look.
Two hours, part of a shock absorber, a coat hanger and five bucks later,
I was on the road back to OSU. By the time I got back, it was now 11:15
and cars were already running. John was kind enough to let me register
late since I had already been there. After he did a tech inspection
(luckily, he didn't look too closely at the exhaust :-), I went to watch
some runs.
The first thing I noticed was how fast some of these cars were going. I
just hadn't expected them to move so fast. There was a guy in a B Mod
Mid-engined Ford Escort that was loudly flying around the course. (He ended
up with FTD of 25.xxx) Next it was run group 2's (my group's) turn.
Sitting in line before the first run I had the same feeling I had the
first time I ever jumped off a ten meter platform into a swimming pool.
Kind of a nervous excitement where you're not sure you should really be
there. My goal was just to have a clean run. After the morning rain,
the course had dried by the end of the first run group, so I had that going
for me.
I made it around without taking out any cones and finished with a time of
37 something. But I got DNFed since I didn't come to a complete stop
at the end of the course. Oops. From then, after each run I stopped
at the stop cone and didn't move until they read out my time. My next
two runs, I tried to push it a little more, but the car wasn't responding.
Something was wrong and it was missing terribly under load. I still
managed a clean 37 + and 38 +. My fourth and fifth runs found the MGB still
missing, though not as badly. I got two 31 + scores!!! Then I found out
I had skipped a turn. Oops.
I spent the lunch break trying to figure out what was wrong with the car and
where I went off the course. The #4 plug was heavily carboned, so I cleaned
it up a bit and hoped that was the problem. I also figured out where I
was screwing up on the course.
For the second heat, I went out to work the course and talked to a group
of people from Pittsburg, one of whom was also a novice. Working the
course definetly helped me see what other people were doing. I also
was awed by watching VW's ride by on only three wheels. Quite exciting!
During the second set of runs my goal was to actually stay on the course
and to improve my time with each run. My first run I again ran a 37 +.
By now it had started raining again and my next run was on a freshly wet
course. I had a very wild ride, going sideways once (but I didn't take
out any cones) for a 38+. I then improved to a 36 +. Then I really
started to cook with 34.84 and 34.81 my last two runs! I wanted to keep
going! But, the show was over.
Competetive times were all under 30, I think, but I took 4th out 5 among
novices. I was pretty happy with this, considering how poorly the MG
was running. I was really psyched that my times kept getting better.
Though I was pretty pleased with the way my MGB handles, I wonder how I
would have done if it had been running right. And if I had sticky tires,
and if I had some sway bars, and if I had a header, and... . Anyway, I
had a blast!
Was it worth it? Definetly. Will I be back? Yes. Am I addicted? Not
yet. I think what I will do this season is get my exhaust fixed and keep
everything else the way it is. Then at the end of this season, I'll
decide if this is something I really want to get into. I'd like to run
some events closer to Dayton, since driving to Columbus on I-70 in an MG
is a really crappy drive with a lot of construction and trucks (and a lot of
rain on the way home.) I will go to Columbus again if I can't find anything
closer.
What I would have liked to have seen? Some novice instructions.
There may have been some I missed while getting my exhaust worked on, I don't
know. I would have also liked to see more older sports cars. There was
a Porshe 956, a '67 Sprite (that I think I beat by .0something). But that
was about it. A lot of Hondas and a few Mustangs ran. Still, overall
it seemed to be a very well run event with no mishaps or problems other
than the rain.
The exhaust kludge lasted all the way back home. Now I'm torn, do I want
to replace the whole thing from the engine back with a header and high
performance muffler (anyone got any suggestions), do I want to try to fix
this one, or do I want to just relpace the pipe & muffler and leave the
stock exhaust manifold? Any suggestions welcome. As for the problem
with missing, I don't know what it was, it was gone when I got home.
I'd like to thank John Lewis for telling me about this event and allowing
me to register & tech late, I'd have been really bummed if I had gone all
that way and not gotten to run.
Sorry this got so long, I guess I got carried away. I posted to both
the autox & british-car lists, because I thought people on each list
would be interested in the autoxing of a british car. I hope I was right.
Bob Jones
bobj@meaddata.com
Mead Data Central
Dyton, Ohio
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