ANATOMY OF A VINTAGE RACE. Road Atlanta Oct. 14 - 16, 2012
1. Two weeks before race: remove head and grind 3 angle valve seats.
Replace guides and all valves.
2. One week to go; replace head, crank up engine and hear the deep
stomach growling of a loose piston. Plea goes out to FOT.
3. Four days to go; pull head, pan, pistons, etc. and discover
collapsed piston (called by Kas).
4. Cannot get 89 mm kit in 3 days so overnight 87 mm pistons &
sleeves. Install that night.
5. One day before race; drive to Road Atlanta but engine fails 10
miles from track. Broken rocker arm shaft. (#4 exhaust cantilever).
6. Drive 50 miles back to ATL on 3 cylinders (& rush hour traffic
pulling trailer)and locate used shaft. Install & drive back to RA.
7. Saturday: Lose overdrive in 2nd qualifying race. Find hidden broken
wire. Ready for Sunday Enduro.
8. Sunday morning: running first in class, 1 :10 in the 1:15 minute
race, left front wheel bearing fries = DNF.
9. Drive with Neil back to ATL and remove front disk & old bearings
from junked TR-3. Rush back to RA & install.
10. Feature @ 1515. Finish first in class. (It's none of your business how
large the class was!)
11. Sunday, 1800, finish turning #196 back into street car. Hook up
trailer and drive home with a total sense of satisfaction.
As anyone who reads this knows, this kind of tom-foolery cannot be done
without the support of a bunch of friends. My friend, Neil Estes, (Neil's
Restorations) tops the list for this weekend. Ted Schumacher is a close
second and, of course, Kas was the looming support in the background.
Thanks gang!
The only other Triumph at the track was Greg Kimbrough's #551 Spitfire. My
little anguish-list above appears inconsequential compared to the nose
damage his car sustained during qualifying. It looked seriously whoomped.
Richard L. Taylor, Jr., FAIA
TAYLOR ARCHITECTURE
<blocked::blocked::http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&addr=112+Krog+S
t.+++Suite+196&csz=Atlanta,+Georgia&country=us> 112 Krog St. Suite
196
Atlanta, Georgia, 30307
tel:
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04)+223-1313&Email=tarch@bellsouth.net> (404) 223-1313
fax: (404) 223-1312
mobile:
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<http://www.taylor-architecture.com/>
www.taylor-architecture.com
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