[Fot] CVAR Feb race weekend report Part 1

[Bob Kramer]

Friends,



The Texas FOT season began last weekend with the CVAR Spring School and
Races. TxFOT was well represented with a TR3, TR4, TR4A, GT6 and two
Triumph powered Morgans on hand. All the Triumph cars made every race
all weekend and except for a couple of minor inconveniences held up
remarkably well. Bobby Whitehead led the way for the Group 7 Triumphs
with him and his GT6 setting a personal best 2:08 around TWS and he ran
well all weekend with the two TR4s in hot pursuit. Greg Blake paced the
two Morgans in Group 4, hitting consistent 2:09s and 2:10s.



Bobby has spent the last few years struggling with the GT6, from
transmission problems to fuel issues and he fully enjoyed what I think
was his first weekend with a sorted car. Greg finished bolting in his
rebuilt engine with little time to spare and he was more than pleased
with the results. My son Andrew bought his first set of new Hoosier
Speedsters and thoroughly enjoyed them, besting with a 2:10s and
beating his dad more than once.



I was saved on the first Saturday race when the ceramic cracked and the
electrode in spark plug number 4 left home. He developed a misfire
coming to the checker and I got by. I joked that my remote kill switch
worked, but once I saw the plug I was more worried about piston damage.
We got the scope out and after some twisting and turning we felt
comfortable that the pieces escaped through the exhaust. He bested both
Bobby and my lap times that afternoon, so the engine appears to have
suffered no ill affects. That race started with a Porsche 911
downshifting to first instead of up shifting to third. He locked them
up; snap spun around and collected an Alfa door and sprayed bumper and
light pieces all over the track. I managed to get through OK after
getting pelted with dirt and grass from another 911 coming back on to
the racing surface, but Bobby and Andrew had less luck. Andrew had to
make a quick dive to escape.



During that race I managed to break both my new rear shock links,
resulting in a nice bouncy ride. I thought better of it and took the
DNF. Ill have to re-think the heim jointed shock links. They came with
the car, but I broke one of the original rods and replaced them with
modified grade 8 with poly trailing arm bushings. I thought it was an
upgrade, but the Grade 8 doesnt bend well and the poly doesnt give. I
had to get creative to fix it for the rest of the weekend, but some more
bolts and = tubing did the trick. Bobby also took a DNF in that race, I
think because he had to drive through the debris and wasnt sure about
tires.



Bob Kramer