[Fot] Bushings, Bazookas and smoke bombs.

[chasgee22 at gmail.com]

Very nice Jason!  Looking forward to catching up in July!

Chuck

> On May 22, 2023, at 7:39 PM, Jason Ostrowski via Fot <fot at autox.team.net> wrote:
> 
> With this years quest to win the Kastner Cup. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for an early in the season chance at some extra laps at Road America. So I entered the Spring Vintage weekend with SVRA.
> I bit the bullet and paid the non-refundable $895 Knowing that my car was not quite ready for the track. 
> I thrashed on the beast with a few sleepless nights and managed to get “pretty close” to being fully prepared.
> In the off season we had put together a new cooling system and radiator, new fuel regulator and some fuel lines. On the final night, It came down to the wire as we happened to order a wrong adapter fitting for the fuel pressure gauge. I had the fitting express shipped to the track but without it, never got a chance to start the car prior to arrival at the glorious  kettle moraine. 
> Anyway, the part arrived as hoped and everything that we had worked on looked good and seemed to be flowing nicely. 
> It is typical that the first couple of starts for the season that I get a little weep of fuel drip coming from the bottom of my tried and true Stromberg 1.50’s. 
> We had a little leak again this time but it finally stopped.  I had already missed the first session and still had to do the final safety check of the rear suspension.
> That’s when I suddenly remembered that last season I had done a quick trackside fix to one of the rear wishbone bushings. It was tired and I had put a washer in place of a misshaped bushing. Well it had worked for that one last session. But it was not safe. 
> How could I have forgotten something so critical. 
> I felt shame. 
> What would Kas have thought of this horrible miss in preparation?
> With no spares on hand it seemed I was doomed.
> Rescue came from 2 of Triumph’s best friends. 
> - Richard And Dan Gehweiler Ageed to have me bring my wishbones to their shop for an 11th hour custom bushing making session. 
> Richard started with a coffee can size chunk of Delron; chocked it in the lathe and let the plastic bits start flying. We measured everything to ultra precise micrometer readings  and about an hour later we had 4 of the best exact fit Steel sleeve bushings I have ever had. That’s a total A+ to the Stonefield Vintage boys!
> Thank you!
> I went back to the track and put everything back together. It was 10:30 pm and I had missed the entire 1st day.
> Saturday morning I got the car through a tough and quite involved tech session and made a few laps in the qualifying session.
> Basically just a shake down, bedding brakes, sniffing for leaks and feeling quite run down. 
> Back in the paddock the fuel started leaking again.
> We monkeyed with it a bit but didn’t really have the right parts to fix it correctly.   I fashioned some silicone tubing So that if it leaked on track it would drop below the frame and not on the headers.
> Nothing to be proud of, but what I did.
> I took the green flag For feature race 1 and kicked some Austin Healey and MGB ass.
> Set my best time ever, 17th overall and 3rd in D production.
> Sunday I had some great racing and moved up another couple spots to 11th overall and 2nd in D prod. Took home a nice little silver medallion.
> Unknown to me at the time I got an email This morning from Eric “Jake” from FOT.
> Telling me that he was watching from the inside of Canada corner and apparently there were flames shooting out from under my right wheelwell as the tube I made up acted like a bazooka type flame thrower. I guess every time I entered the braking zone the car started on fire.
> Whoops!
> I killed it in the race though.
> The racing Gods punished me for living on the edge of burning it all down.
> My van broke down on the way home and it looked like I had set off a smoke bomb on interstate 57.
> Guess where... right on the exit ramp leading to the Gehweiler’s shop. 
> Dan and Richard had to rescue me yet again. This time hauling my trailer back to their house and helping me and a cop limp my van to a safe place off the highway.
> I got a ride back to Chicago from Brian Garcia ...carless, vanless. 
> As I was Getting ready to head back home they asked me what I needed to grab out of my stuff...
> I said “Only My Silver Medal”
> 
> Jason Ostrowski 
> Friendly Ghost Racing 
> 1969 Triumph GT6+ racecars.
> Sent from my iPhone
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