[Fot] Blackhawk Farms race report

Tue Jun 19 15:54:45 MDT 2018

The times were pretty close between Ryan and Tony, about 0.8 seconds difference in their average best times for the 6 dry sessions and about 1 sec difference in their overall best times.  It seemed every time Ryan would go a bit quicker, Tony would go that bit quicker also.  Due to traffic Tony was always out of reach of Ryan but it was fun looking at the times.  Ryan's race craft is getting better and with the next engine upgrade maybe we can find that second at Blackhawk.  The car ran great, no problems what so ever.  Now that we are properly venting the crankcase and not blowing oil out seals and gaskets, we don't even use any oil.  It still leaks when stationary a bit, so we are still able to mark our Triumph territory with oil spots!

Murphy's Law Racing
Tim Murphy

-----Original Message-----
From: Fot <fot-bounces at autox.team.net> On Behalf Of Tony Drews via Fot
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2018 8:58 PM
To: Amici Triumphi <fot at autox.team.net>
Subject: [Fot] Blackhawk Farms race report

The Triumphs made a good showing at Blackhawk with 5 in attendance.  To my knowledge, only one was beaten by equipment.

Bill's right, there was much discussion of the Thunderbolt at Tech and afterwards.

The weekend was blazingly hot, mid 90's Sat and Sunday and close to 90 on Friday with very high humidity.

Triumphs that I know of that attended are myself (Tony Drews - TR4), Alexanders (Sean and Brendan driving - TR4), Murphys (Ryan driving - TR4), Paul Ricco (TR4) and Allen Washatko (sp?) (TR6 in a different group than the 4's).  I don't know Allen's finishing positions - but his car sounded sweet every time it went down the front straight.  The only mechanical issue I know of is Alexander's car broke a nice aluminum fuel fitting - he noticed fuel spray coming from the LEFT side of the hood - it was spraying all the way from the carbs to the other side of the car. 
Thankfully it got shut off promptly and fixed quickly.  Looking at the results, Paul Ricco didn't run the last two races, so he had some sort of malady.  Someone mentioned a front suspension issue but I'm not sure.

We had 3 "regular" races plus I signed up for the Dad's Day Scramble pursuit race.  Plus we had two practice sessions and two qualifying sessions.  First practice was wet track but no longer thunderstorming. Of the 9 cars that showed up on the grid, 4 were TR-4's.  :)

For the first race (Sat), I qualified 6th / finished 5th, Ryan qualified and finished 7th, Paul qualified 10th / finished 12th, Sean qualified 25th / finished 15th.  32 cars in the group.

Murphys and Ricco have made great progress with their cars and are a looming threat to me in upcoming races - which is very welcome. Normally it's Sean and I with the epic duel, I look forward to more Triumph player entering that game.

2nd race (Sat) we started in prior race finishing order.  I moved up to 3rd, Ryan to 5th, Paul didn't run (I heard something about taking front suspension apart), Sean dropped back to 26th with the broken fuel line.

Sean and Brendan ran the Enduro.  Sean ran a few laps, Brendan did the rest.  He came in a bit early thinking he was beginning to get dehydrated - a very mature call for a 22 year old!

Sunday feature our pole-sitter didn't show so I started in 2nd / finished in 3rd, Ryan started 4th / finished 5th (the fast car of Ron Suave spun in the 2nd race and finished behind us - when he took his rightful place he pushed us both down a spot), Sean started 25th / finished 11th (!).  Starting on the front row is always cool.

We all had good battles throughout the weekend.  I had two races very close to a Ford powered Elva Courier.  One of them he overcooked the last turn on the last lap and I pulled him by half a car length on the finish line.  That was an epic battle.

In the pursuit race, I was the only Triumph.  Of the 7 cars that stuck around, I was gridded 6th (fastest at the back) and worked my way up to 4th.  One car got 1.5 laps head start on me, another had at least 2 laps head start.  I passed them both but not enough times.  :)

Race videos will be forth-coming.

TRiumphantly, Tony Drews

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