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We spent Monday in NYC, so just got back to Tulsa last night. <br>
<br>
We had a wonderful weekend. I had originally planned to fly in and
hang out, but at the last minute Tom was available to drive, so we
brought our car (#16 yellow TR3). We arrived about 6:00 pm Thursday
only to find out we couldn't get into the track due to closed
registration. Bob Lang was in a similar predicament. Luckily Jack
Woerhle came down to the gate and got us in. Thanks Jack. We missed
the Thursday practice, so Tom was already behind the learning curve.
On Friday's session, he was not far behind the other SW/FoT, Bob Kramer
and Greg Hilyer. The Friday afternoon reenactment was amazing. We
could not believe the number of spectators and the support by the local
community. We also had ground clearance issues and the tailpipe got
knocked loose behind the header.<br>
<br>
Saturday morning was wet, but we ran anyway. The car came in with a
bad miss. For those who don't want to wade through the details, I'll
put the problems and diagnosis down at the bottom. We missed the
Saturday afternoon session, so the Triumph feature was only Tom's
second time on a dry track. He was doing well at the beginning, and
the SW/FoT were running together (Hilyer, Kramer and Young). Tom says
we were faster on the straights, but they did better in the turns.
Unfortunately, the overdrive went out in the middle of the race. I've
now got a 4:55 rear, so the overdrive is essential. Due to the loss of
speed on the straights, Tom fell back at that point and was eventually
passed by Richard Brown's Spitfire. I think we may have fried the
overdrive during the reenactment due to the loose tailpipe. Bill, do
you still have those overdrive parts? I may need them. I was watching
the race at the toe of the boot. Saw the wonderful three car dice
between Frye, Williams and Wright. We saw the spin by Randy Williams
and his TR3 sideways in the middle of the track. Then two yellow TR4s
went around on each side. It was also great to watch the TR250K - so
beautiful and so fast!<br>
<br>
I was completely overwhelmed during the FoT awards ceremony, when they
announced my name for the "Bill Ames, Racing for Life" award. I
suppose this has something to do with my being a cancer survivor. I was
diagnosed a couple months after our 2006 gathering at Hallett.
Fortunately, for multiple myeloma the best treatment center in the
world is in Little Rock. After six month long chemo sessions over a
one year period the cancer is in complete remission and should remain
that way for several years. I would not have made it through this
process, if not for the wonderful care by my wife, Sue. Unfortunately,
the cancer did a number on my back, so I had to give up driving. Tom
has been doing a great job since he took driving duties. He has now
gotten married and moved to Albuquerque, making the logistics too
difficult, so we are selling our car. I may not be actively racing, but
I do plan to stay active with the group, as long as you'll have me. I
have never met a better bunch to hang out with. Thank you so much for
the award.<br>
Larry Young<br>
<br>
<u>Saturday Engine Problems:</u> First, we discovered a broken rocker
pedestal stud. A second one was bent, but the rest of the valve train
looked ok. We got that all fixed with the help of spares from Henry
Frye and Bob Kramer. Thanks guys. We thought we were home free, but
no, the engine was still missing. Discovered no compression on #1.
Then, discovered no valve clearance on #1 exhaust (didn't measure the
lash, just felt that the rocker was not loose). Reset the lash. Still
had a miss. Rocker was still tight, so thought we had no lash. We had
about 8 guys hanging around trying to figure out what could be causing
this behavior. Is the valve seat going away, causing the valve to
recede in the head? Someone noticed that there was very little
clearance between the valve retainer and the rocker arm, but we didn't
follow up on that. Henry has this really cool bore scope, which seemed
to be indicating a problem with the exhaust valve. Tom and I looked at
each other, and I was thinking "Oh no. not another Mid-Ohio". We
decided to pull the head to check the valve. Couldn't find anything
wrong with the valve or valve seat. We were getting a lot of good help
and advice from Ed Diehl - how cool is that? Finally, noticed a spot
where the rocker had been hitting the spring retainer. Decided that
was the smoking gun. A little grinding with the Dremel tool was all
that was required. Unfortunately, we went through a lot of work to
discover this small problem. We have been chasing a high speed miss
(6,000 RPM) for more than a year. We had thought it was fuel, but I
believe this clearance issue has been the problem. With all the valve
train dynamic calculations I've been doing lately, I should have known
there could be enough vibration to cause a problem like this. So, add
this to the list of clearances to check.<br>
<br>
<br>
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