[Fot] Gearbox woes and trash talk

[Jim Norlin]

So we had a good weekend with the Spitfire until the gearbox croaked.  
Patty's turn to drive and she did a great job, finishing 3rd in class on 
Saturday out of 9 cars.  Her qualifying time this morning was less than 
a second off my best time at the Portland Historic Races last month.    
She was racing for the class lead this afternoon when the gearbox packed 
it in - stuck in 2nd gear.

We're running a modified GT 6 gearbox.  She caught 2nd for one of the 
slower corners and then could  not find either 3rd or 4th.  She was able 
to get 2nd, but we can't move the lever at all anymore.  I'm not sure if 
it's a problem with the selector forks/shafts or if the clip holding all 
the gears on the output shaft came off.  I'm heading off on a business 
trip in the morning and won't be able to look at the car until next 
weekend.  Anyone got any idea of what I might have to be dealing with?

Now for the trash talk.  Patty had an incredible run with a MIdget in 
Qualifying this morning and they were nose to tail in the race until the 
gearbox failed.  After the race in impound, the Midget driver told Patty 
something like - if you had 5 more horsepower, we'd have a great race.  
She got all over him and responded - "If I had five more horsepower, I'd 
leave you in my dust".  His response to the crowd around them was "This 
is what I like about vintage racing - being trash talked by a grandma!" -lol

Got 3 weeks to get things fixed before my last race of the season.