[Fot] CVAR Spring race report "delayed"

[Greg & Alison Blake]

We had a very exciting weekend at Texas World Speedway for CVARs Spring
drivers school weekend Feb 22-24.  CVAR politics aside, it was a great
weekend.  We had a record number (I believe) Triumphs participating.  The
list included:

Bob Fire Ball Kramer -  TR4a

Andrew Smokey Kramer  - TR4

Bob sticky piston Blake - TR4

Greg Blake - TR3  cant nick name myself I am sure someone will offer one

Bill dip stick Collins -  Spit

Joe fiddle bits Hovey - Spit

Jim Lee and son Philip - TR4 Philip was taking drivers school so no nick
name yet

Dave Foreman  Spit also taking drivers school

Duncan Charlton - Morgan

Piers Gormly  Morgan that looked somewhat similar to a green 911 this
weekend for some reason

And of course Bobby lefty Whitehead in his super powered monster car.  We
strongly encouraged Bobby to get that GT6 back into shape.



Bobby already posted a pretty good recap of the weekend, to summarize, it
was great.  From my perspective there were several significant things that
made this weekend so special.  First, CVAR decided to break up group 7 which
typically has CP, DP, and BS.  DP and BS went to group 2 which is the home
to  EP and FP along with a few others.  This meant that we had all of the
Triumphs (except those in school) on track at the same time.  The second
thing was that sticky piston Blake finally got a checkered flag in the
Sunday PM race.  For most of us that have had the good fortune of the TR
gods looking over our engines and keeping them together this does not seem
like some great accomplishment.  Well, for dad, it was.  This was the first
checkered flag in 18 months.  In the past 18 months the engine has been out
for full rebuild twice, head off countless times, and liners/pistons
replaced multiple times.  He seemed to have solved the sticky piston issue
he was having and finally made it through a weekend.  We were all very
excited to see him take the checkered on Sunday afternoon.  I am looking
forward to watching dad get more seat time and less wrench time, it is well
over due.  Some of you will remmebr he got only 7 or 8 laps at Road Atlanta
back in April.



The group 2 races were fun.  Saturday morning I was having trouble getting
any temperature into my engine and only did one full lap during P&Q.  This
led to a fun back of the pack start for the race.  Video link
<http://youtu.be/Nzv_4V_ZfGI>   I had to cut the video in editing so it ends
right after making the pass of the B Sedan.  Not much in the race happened
after this.   I eventually caught but could not safely pass a BDA powered
Escort.  Fireball bought some new tires on Saturday evening and was ready
for battle on Sunday morning.  About > through the race my mirror was filled
with Bobs grill, I knew he was coming.  Turn 14 and I found myself watching
the mirror and my normal breaking point was a distant memory when I finally
clamped the binders.  I went a little deep.  I recovered only for a horrible
entry to 15 and I went 4 off to the outside after being unable to coax the
overwhelmed front tires to turn in.  Since this was the penultimate lap, and
I was right at the entry to the hot pits, I went in.  I later told Bob that
he was the reason for my first 4 off in the TR3.  Needless to say he was all
too happy to have assisted in that effort. Video link
<http://youtu.be/suOf6DvcVf0> .



I was ready for a rematch in the afternoon when it seemed fate took another
turn with Dads car.  There were electrical issues brewing and a quick look
around we found a half melted battery in the trunk.  Apparently the positive
post did not like to be in contact with the metal hold down strap.  Dad had
a minor off of his own earlier and we figured the battery moved around a
bit.  We quickly loaded my car on the trailer and put my battery in dads
car so he could get more seat time.  That turned out to be a great choice
since he finally got his checkered in that last Sunday race.



A great weekend in all.  We welcomed 2 new TR racers to the TxFOT, removed
two transmissions, fixed two rear mounts, changed a head gasket, removed a
broken ring gear, re-plumbed two cooling systems, swapped a battery, swapped
a clutch slave cylinder, and fixed a smoky TR4.  Oh and we watched Piers
simply climb in that 911 and turn the key