NASA Thunderhill August 21 & 22

[Gitter Dun]

actually, what are people doing for dinner friday night? thinking of leaving work earlier to get there maybe 5pm...

I'm waiting for a call from Doug at Track masters to see if he will allow me to run the last few sessions with them on Friday due to there being a stand by list for cancellations right now.

If I dont hear from him I may not be there till Saturday morning.

I'll keep you posted.

[SIK02SS]

I'm gettin' a free-bee ;) Helps to know peoples, lol.

Damnit!!

I know Alan through another forum, but apparently not well enough :o

actually, what are people doing for dinner friday night? thinking of leaving work earlier to get there maybe 5pm...

my yellow vette friend's birthday, so a few of us are probably going to the mexican restaurant

[sik68]

Thanks Steven
I should be able to find you... I've watched your videos and I know Gaetano and the orange beast!

I'm in HPDE 3. This will be my 5th time to Thill this year but I've never done the turn 5 bypass. maybe I can get a ride and you can show me what we're supposed to do with that turn...

Rides? No problem! Not sure if I'm the best guy to get advice from though. There are race groups between the HPDE groups so that will make it easy; no hot seating. Since you're in group 3 maybe I can carpool with you for a run.

[Gitter Dun]

Dream Speed Motors once again knocks one out of the park with some changes to my rear suspension. Thanks guy's, you made my car so much funner to drive.

Asif, good seeing you again, Steven, hope you make it to Buttonwillow, Sevilla, third time's a charm, lol, siko2ss, or was it curtiss? nice to finally meet you.

Vince, Allen, and Brian, Thanks for the trackside support and hanging out.
Here's a couple of pic's...

[Gitter Dun]

Couple more pic's.....

[SIK02SS]

Wait, we talked today? :o

Sorry, I've had a hellacious day with my crappy tires, 3 back to back run groups, and trying to figure out my shock settings for the bypass...which I caught air on my 2nd lap, 1st time through this config. yikes

[Gitter Dun]

Wait, we talked today? :o

Sorry, I've had a hellacious day with my crappy tires, 3 back to back run groups, and trying to figure out my shock settings for the bypass...which I caught air on my 2nd lap, 1st time through this config. yikes

LOL, I thought he said it was you, dam, I hate when I do that. Tall, skinny dude with a hat. Did you see him? Maybe it was Curtiss. If it was, sorry Curtis, when you intruduced yourself al I remember hearing was ss.

I dont remember seeing your white vette, but your buddy in the yellow vette was fast. My msd box went out after my second session so we watched you guys for awhile.

[sevillaz28]

It was cool meeting a few more PT guys. Don't ask me who exactly but I do remember the cars. Any way, Got shot down by NASA Tech for the cage not having front or rear support and the sub belt not bolted in. So needless to say no run time for me.

Dream Speed, you guys did a great job on Gaetanos car and I'm thinking I want you to do the same rear brackets on mine and some other stuff.

I WILL be on the track on the 25th in Buttonwillow, its time to have fun.

[Gitter Dun]

Sevilla, thanks for finding the problem and helping me fix my car, turns out wasn't a bad MSD box but a cracked spark plug. Oh, and thanks for the new MSD box and coil, guess the old ones can be spares now.

Here's a good pic showing the rear suspension magic
Dream Speed Motors laid on my car......

[MrQuick]

...now for the fronts....muuuhaaaahaaaaahaa haa

sure John, shoot me an email and I'll get a $ quote for you. Good meeting you too.

Vince

[SIK02SS]

LOL, I thought he said it was you, dam, I hate when I do that. Tall, skinny dude with a hat. Did you see him? Maybe it was Curtiss. If it was, sorry Curtis, when you intruduced yourself al I remember hearing was ss.

I dont remember seeing your white vette, but your buddy in the yellow vette was fast. My msd box went out after my second session so we watched you guys for awhile.

<---- tall, skinny, had a hat, but I think it was Curtiss not me

I was so busy chasing my own tail on Saturday with 3 run groups I didn't have any time besides setting tire pressures, strapping in, heading out, coming back in, getting water, re-setting tires, adjusting shocks, heading back out, repeat

But your car looked and sounded great out there

Oh, my vette is yellow too, just has a white rear bumper (for now), while his rear bumper is black.

It's too bad you weren't there for Sunday, we had the race of the day in Group A ST2 class. I ran a 1:59.11 in Sundays ST2 race running my friend and a RX7 down (on some very tired Hoosiers), and on the last lap I made a pass for 2nd in turn 9 on the RX7 and was setting up my friend in turn 11/12/13 when the RX7 decided to punt me in the transition from 12 to 13. So I finished 3rd due to his douche-baggery-ness

I'll have video up later

[Gitter Dun]

1:59, thats sweet!! I qualified a 2:08 1st session which put me in 10th position, when I lined up for 2nd session I looked at my gas gauge and it was empty. I had to pull out of line, filled up, then got behind a bunch of slow cars and only got a 2:10 best. Third session my engine was mis-firing, thought it was MSD box, turned out to be cracked spark plug but didn,t find it till I got home. Missed last two sessions.

[John Wright]

GC,
Hows the power with that new engine...still pulling strong?

[sik68]

It was great meeting all you guys. I'll post videos later as well.

I had a couple potentially dangerous mechanical issues this weekend that have opened my eyes even further to the level of preparation that is needed when tracking an old car. Vibration is absolutely a killer on a car's fasteners.

1) The small bolts on the mechanical fuel pump that sandwich the halves together, loosened up to the point that I was gushing fuel out of the pump like an cut artery. Asif and I felt and smelled it out of turn 2, and limped the car around the whole track. I lost multiple gallons of fuel in a matter of minutes. Thank God, could have been way worse.

2) There are ~6 philips screws that attach the carb baseplate to the carb body from the underside...they were WAY loose to the point that the body of the carb was wiggling on the engine. I don't know how close I was to having one of them drop, blowing up my motor. Luckily it was diagnosed pre-emptively as a terrible vacuum leak. Thank God, could have been way worse.

Besides those, my valve lash is way off, my clutch release is clunky, the car has many more creaks and rattles, and I am cooking the oil after every weekend (oil cooler time).

I've learned there's no shame in trailering a car. If you're going to track it, be prepared. I was very fortunate this weekend that my problems were fixable, but I'm done playing track roulette.

[SIK02SS]

It was great meeting all you guys. I'll post videos later as well.

I had a couple potentially dangerous mechanical issues this weekend that have opened my eyes even further to the level of preparation that is needed when tracking an old car. Vibration is absolutely a killer on a car's fasteners.

1) The small bolts on the mechanical fuel pump that sandwich the halves together, loosened up to the point that I was gushing fuel out of the pump like an cut artery. Asif and I felt and smelled it out of turn 2, and limped the car around the whole track. I lost multiple gallons of fuel in a matter of minutes. Thank God, could have been way worse.

2) There are ~6 philips screws that attach the carb baseplate to the carb body...they were WAY loose to the point that the body of the carb was wiggling on the engine. I don't know how close I was to having one of them drop, blowing up my engine. Luckily it was diagnosed beforehand as a terrible vacuum leak. Thank God, could have been way worse.

Besides those, my valve lash is way off, my clutch release is clunky, the car has many more creaks and rattles, and I am cooking the oil after every weekend (oil cooler time).

I've learned there's no shame in trailering a car. If you're going to track it, be prepared.

Good lessons learned indeed, and I'm glad to hear nothing serious happened in result! Even in newer cars vibration can be a deal breaker on track. lots of lock washers/fasteners/nord locks/safety wire are in use on my car

[SIK02SS]

1:59, thats sweet!! I qualified a 2:08 1st session which put me in 10th position, when I lined up for 2nd session I looked at my gas gauge and it was empty. I had to pull out of line, filled up, then got behind a bunch of slow cars and only got a 2:10 best. Third session my engine was mis-firing, thought it was MSD box, turned out to be cracked spark plug but didn,t find it till I got home. Missed last two sessions.

When I had my R888's on (all day Sat) I was running 2:08-2:10s. That's a very scary ride on non-R-comps in my car, I could only imagine being in your car turning those times! Nicely done!!

[sik68]

As far as lap times go, after skimming all my video from 7 sessions I got 1 whole lap without traffic, scoring a 2:20. Decent for 280 treadwear! I know I could dip into the 'teens being more aggressive on the throttle and without a passenger. And about a zillion other areas for improvement.

[MrQuick]

It was great meeting all you guys. I'll post videos later as well.

I had a couple potentially dangerous mechanical issues this weekend that have opened my eyes even further to the level of preparation that is needed when tracking an old car. Vibration is absolutely a killer on a car's fasteners.

1) The small bolts on the mechanical fuel pump that sandwich the halves together, loosened up to the point that I was gushing fuel out of the pump like an cut artery. Asif and I felt and smelled it out of turn 2, and limped the car around the whole track. I lost multiple gallons of fuel in a matter of minutes. Thank God, could have been way worse.

2) There are ~6 philips screws that attach the carb baseplate to the carb body from the underside...they were WAY loose to the point that the body of the carb was wiggling on the engine. I don't know how close I was to having one of them drop, blowing up my motor. Luckily it was diagnosed pre-emptively as a terrible vacuum leak. Thank God, could have been way worse.

Besides those, my valve lash is way off, my clutch release is clunky, the car has many more creaks and rattles, and I am cooking the oil after every weekend (oil cooler time).

I've learned there's no shame in trailering a car. If you're going to track it, be prepared. I was very fortunate this weekend that my problems were fixable, but I'm done playing track roulette.

You learn that it get expensive real fast without it. i had to tow my car from Infinion a few times.

I saw your car there but you might have been busy or in your tent.


Let me know if you need any help.

Vince

[MrQuick]

When I had my R888's on (all day Sat) I was running 2:08-2:10s. That's a very scary ride on non-R-comps in my car, I could only imagine being in your car turning those times! Nicely done!!

that was your T1 vette? very nice. My buddy Brian was drooling all over it.



Vince

[MrQuick]

GC,
Hows the power with that new engine...still pulling strong?

very strong before the misfires started.