| third and final segment:|
| | THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF MY WRITEUP OF THE SCCA ENDURO@SearsPt
| | ---------------------------------------------------------------
| Friday was:|
| | the first part of this write-up described Chris Blanchfield and I
| | trying to get the biggest bugs out of the car at the Friday open track
| | session.
| |
| Saturday ended:|
| | By the time we were done it was too late to start the engine that night.
| | There is a "noise" rule against starting race engines after 6:00 pm or
|before
| | 8:00 am. That night found us once again full of spagetti and beer and
| | wondering if the car would startup in the morning.
| |
Sunday started:
The final practice was 8:30 am Sunday. It was our last chance to get it right
before the enduro which started at noon. Andy said be on pregrid by 8:15 or
risk not getting on track. The field was a full 65 cars, and there were lots
of standby cars and drivers.
8:01 I hit the switch and the car fired right up. We had a last check of the
ignition timing which Andy and I had set by a combination of good luck and
good management the night before. Down to pregrid and out on the track.
The car was running GREAT. After a couple of laps I stopped thinking about the
car and made a consious decision to start thinking about my driving and line.
It went well for a few more laps then I saw the temp had droped to zero and the
oil pressure was down a little. I was afraid I had dropped all my coolant.
I pulled off track and found that the spade connector had fallen of the temp
sender. I slipped the connector back in and the car ran fine the rest of the
session. Our efforts were finally coming together.
Back in the paddock we fired up the generator and Chris drilled and pinned
all the connectors under the hood. Bob Crawford the guy who had originally
built the car 15 or 20 years ago was padocked accross from us. I asked him
what oil pressure he remembered the car having. He agreed that a bit more
pressure would be ideal. We beef up the oil pressure bypass valve with
a small shim. At this point we all kicked back for a couple hours.
The Race:
Rochelle was going to start and drive the first 45 or 50 min. Her plan was to
be steady and smooth, and to stay out of peoples way at the start and for
the first couple laps while the tires warm up. We had heard that there are
offen wrecks as drivers try to win the race on the first lap or two.
The previous day I hadn't completed a clean timed lap but they had an
unofficial
time from Rochelle's morning run that was good enough to place us a bit ahead
of the back of the pack. As the enduro is 4 hours and well over 100 laps it
is not usually won as a result of starting position... And as novice drivers
driving a 2000cc car in the Unlimited class, we didn't expect to win anyway.
Our hope was to finish or at least to complete more then half the laps of the
winner so we would get credit. Our plan was to drive concervativly until we
were at least that far, after that we could pick it up a bit.
The race started smoothly and the first few laps were without any significant
incidents. Rochelle, was in a group tward the back of the pack with FooCar and
a brown Fiesta driven by Bob Crawford. Rochelle's lap times were coming down
consistantly. These long races are great for gaining experiance and
improving your times. I leaned against the paddock fence and talked to my
daughter Lisa and her husband Todd. I think Todd has ridden motorcycles at
SearsPt. Now he was photographing. (good pictures too)
Many of the turns at Sear are blind and-or off camber. Midway through
Rochelle's
first driving session number 23, a very big, very fast, very white, very wide,
GT1
car rocketed past Rochelle on the down hill leading to turn 4 and disapeared
from
view, Only to reappear a second later as Rochelle came to the apex of the turn.
>From there the road falls much more steeply. She said it looked like a wall of
refrigerators accross the road a couple of car lenghts in front of her. It was
still spinning so she aimed for where it was and sure enough by the time she
got there it had spin off her line.
After about a dozen laps Rochelle took advantage of a full course yellow
(pace car on track) to come into the pits. The crew fueled up the car.
Rochelle's driving glove were stuck to her hands. When she got them off
she found that the palms of both of her hands were COVERED with blisters.
She had never had any problem with her hands before. A week or so before
she had retiled the bathroom. Out best guess is that she had worn off the
top layers of skin and that the chemicals had made her hands more sensitive.
We changed drivers and I went out on track. The car was in the pits 3min36sec.
Jack had been keeping lap times. Rochelles time were steady and showed a nice
downward trend except where she was interupted by yellow flags etc. The car
and the tires were well warmed up by now so I just went on from there. About
my second lap I was going fast and braking very late coming into turn 11, the
hard 180 in front of the pits. As I went to hit the brakes I caught the gas
and ended up going VERY DEEP. I was afraid I was going to join the throngs
who have hit the tire wall there. With some good luck and a little graceless
sliding, I managed to save it, but I resolved after that not to late brake
so much and to work instead on driveing a little better line.
Shortly thereafter I heard some funny noises and pulled into the pits. The
crew didn't see any problems under the hood. Later I realized that the tires
had gotten hot enough and gummy enough to pick up much bigger pebbles and
rocks then I was used to; they were hitting under the hood and in the fenders
causing the noise. I made a mental note to thank Rosie and Chris again for
the air cleaners they had made. The car was running great and I was starting
to drive a bit more smoothly. I started to wonder where FooCar was. About
lap 25 I saw glimpse of it way up ahead. About a lap later I caught it and
laped it. I lapped it again 10 laps later. On lap 39 Jeffie called me into
the pits. They fueled the car and Rochelle went out again. She had covered
her hands with racer's tape under her gloves.
Rochelle drove the next 16 laps consistantly; passing and being passed and
eventually lapping the Cortina again. The biggest excitement being a
D-sport-racer that went spectacularly off the Carrousel shortly after blasting
by her. I saw the car later it was lodged head first halfway up the tire
wall, several feet above the ground. It looked like an arrow shot into a
target.
On lap 60 we changed drivers again on a full course yellow. I didn't know it
but this was to be our last driver change. The rules said no driver is could
drive more then 2 hours 30 min in the same car. Andy and Jack had figured
that I could run rest of the race without exceeding that. By now Rochelle's
hands had taken about all they could. I didn't see them until later but
they were pretty bad. Our times were still improving. The car kept running
better. The other reason why this was to be our last driver change was that
I ended up out of the race in lap 67.
As best I can remember this is what happened:
I was in the middle of a large group of cars coming through the Carosel.
Some very fast ones in back and some slow in the front. I was trying to
take the standard line. The Carosel is a large, long, sweeping, downhill,
left hand turn that dumps into a long straight. Sometimes it seems to go
on for ever. I entered it to the right of center intending to progresivly
tighten it up moving to left and eventually reaching the left side of the
track briefly at the apex before coming out on the straight and level.
The apex is so late you think it will never come. I was close on the back
bumper of a slowish 510, there was a big car on my tail; a Camero maybe.
we were being overtaken by a pack of sport-racers. The sport racers can
take a line more to the left of the track. ( the inside of the turn)
I waved the first racer by to my left thinking that they would all pass
me early in the turn and be out of the way by the time I crossed left.
As the first one passed me and started to pass the 510 the driver of the
510 seemed to loose it and started a spin. I looked over my left shoulder
and saw that the car that had been behind me was filling the only remaining
space in the solid line of cars passing on the left. I could not get in
without hitting someone. In front the 510 was spinning down the center
of the track. My only hope seemed to be to try to pass on the outside.
I went for it but the 510 started to go to the outside too forcing me
further and further out and finally off track. This is where a pedestian
bridge crosses the track and the track is down in a cut. The grass bank
is probably 30 feet high and very steep. I ended up using it for a banked
turn. Suddenly I was 3 car widths up it running parallel to the track.
The 510 climbed part it backwards then coasted back forward onto the
flat next to the track. The bank was steep enough that I was afraid the
car would role over if I stopped as I was sideways to the hill, so I
gave it just enough gas to keep it going and cranked the wheels hard
left to bring it down off the hill side. Back on the flat grass I waved
to the flagman and drove the car down to the drag strip. I could tell it
had problems but in the enduro the drivers are permitted to fix cars on
track if they are safely clear of traffic. I hoped just maybe...
I climbed out and found that there was no body damage but the right
front suspension had broken. When ever something like this happens I try
to look back and decide if another action on my part would have resulted
in a better outcome. Looking at this is as I remember it, I think I made
the right choices. I wish I had had a video camera mounted so I could
see it all over again and decide for sure.
About then Lisa and Todd showed up and took some pictures from up on
the hill. I was a long walk from the pits and started heading back to
let people know. Later Rochelle and I got a few tools and removed the
air dam so the truck could tow us at the end of the race. It was almost
3 hours into the race and we had made enough laps that we were considered
finishers. Rochelle stayed with the car and I went back to the paddock to
help every one load up, and to re install the pieces we had canabalized
off one of our other Triumphs so Rochelle could drive it home. By then both
FooCar and the gt6 were towed back to the paddock. The tow truck
crew helped us put the car on the trailer. By that time it was dark and
we all went to dinner.
On the way home the bus (tow vehical) caught fire and we ended up with a $200
towing bill... But that's another story.
Thank god it didn't rain.
Wow did we have fun!!
|