1967 Nova SS

[RadLS67]

Back in 2014 i was laid off from my career as a drilling fluids engineer offshore for Baker Hughes. After working a few dead end jobs i was hired on with AT&T around March of 2016 in hopes that the oilfield turning around. While working for AT&T i put in to take Aug 5th off months in advanced so that i wouldnt be rushed and have enough time to trailer the car to Austin to set everything up on Friday. Needless to say when the time came around i was on my 2nd manager and i was under strict instruction that even though i put in for vacation that i would need to work that Friday. Having stayed up until 2 or 3 am and being up to go to work around 6 or 630 for days in a row getting the car ready Friday rolled around and I didnt even hear my alarm go off. Woke up around 9am, called my manager and told him that i was late and couldnt make it into work and that i would see him monday morning to deal with the consequences. Turned my work phone off, tossed it onto the kitchen counter and absolutely not a care crossed my mind about it all weekend.



Very thankful to my friend that just opened up his new shop Triple Threat Racecraft for all the help working on the car with me and trailering the car to Austin.

[RadLS67]

We rolled into Austin the evening of Friday Aug 5th, checked into the hotel, dropped the trailer off and drove into town for dinner and a few supplies for the next day. That night we came back to the hotel, unloaded the car and drove it around to get some more data logged to adjust the engine and trans tune accordingly, after an hour or so the car was pulling and shifting great so we filled up the car with premium and drove back to the hotel.

[ah64pilot]

I want to go to the next one with you! Don't leave without me! Sure wish I hadn't missed this one.

[RadLS67]

Day one: We get up, make sure we have everything, stop to get some breakfast and drinks and head to the track. Having only seen pictures of the track and seeing a video or two online I was absolutely shocked when we showed up. I realize that Circuit of the Americas is one of the better brand new F1 tracks in the US i had no idea just how big and beautiful it was, to put it plainly i was blown away...

3.4 miles
20 turns
130 foot elevation change

So we get to the parking area, sign in go to pull the car off the trailer for tech inspection and my luck cashed in. Really wished i got a picture of this but my transmission line down by the transmission ruptured and puked a solid 3 quarts of ATF onto the trailer before i was able to kill the car. I had extra hose but 1 quart of ATF and zero clamps to get it back on. Immediately we unhooked the trailer and sent my buddy to the nearest parts store for ATF and clamps (a solid 45 min round trip) needing to tech in only 30 minutes i cleaned up all of the transmission fluid out of the engine bay and trailer. Then i started going around to the larger trailers asking to see if anyone had hose clamps and was able to grab 2 from another driver, slapped them on and added the 1 quart of ATF. Just had enough to limp into tech and passed tech with no problems. Added all the appropriate decals for the event including 2 #63 Todd Rumpke green stickers to show support and solidarity for a huge competitor in the series that was battling cancer. My buddy finally showed back up, added a few more clamps just to be on the safe side, topped off the trans and was ready to begin.





Day one consisted of a speedstop, autocross, road rally and the Lingenfelter design/engineering judgment. Having no time to actually test the car and adjust suspension and brakes i went straight into the speedstop. Pulled up to the start got the go and the car chirped the tires twice and took off, came into the first turn a little quick and got a bit of under steer, got a little oversteer in the 2nd turn and stopped in the box without issue. Went back to grid, adjusted all 4 coilovers and brake bias. Did another 3 runs and picked up a full second with each pass getting more and more aggressive trying to find the limits of my driving and the street tires.




Went and ate some lunch to come back into the autocross portion. With the outside temp being around 100* we kept a close eye on my intake air temp (still havent finished a good cold air box yet) at one point on the run i beleive we saw my IAT's get to around 174* which was killing power and running chances of knocking. Trying to cool the car off in between runs was able to get some good times, very good wheel time and come to know the limits of the car and my driving.

Went through the Lingenfelter design/engineering with little expectations the judges seemed very interested in what all i had done to the car but dinged me quite a bit for having a few obvious flaws (no horn, no finished interior, having a hung brake light switch and not having my turn signals work correctly) Honestly i was just happy to be there and in the midst of some truly great drivers and great people in the industry.

The road rally was ok. When you tech in you get your drivers license placed into a sealed envelope that you keep on you until you complete the road rally. This gives them indication of wether or not you had been pulled over for any reason docking you of points. Was a simple 30-40 minute round trip in south Austin traffic to a parts store where they would mark you as arrived and head back to the track. Times dont really matter being on the street so go point A to point B and back to point A without getting pulled over. Went accordingly without a hitch other then ALOT of stares from the public seeing a steady stream of pro-touring cars drive by.

Around dusk they opened up the inside of the track so we could set up trailers around the garage areas in prep for the next day. Dropped the trailer and changed diff fluid in the rear end.

[RadLS67]

Day two: Started out the same as the day before. Got up early, got some breakfast and drinks and headed out to the track. We reserved a garage in pit lane (one of the coolest parts of the whole trip) where we had a fully lit 2 car garage that the F1 racers use. Epoxied floors, bathroom, power outlets and most important SHADE. We set up chairs, ice chests, tools etc. attended the drivers meeting then killed some time making sure the car was tip top.



The whole day was devoted to just time trials. Broken up into expert, intermediate and novice groups we got a time sheet to know when to grid. Each run group got 2 - 30 min runs in the first half of the day and 2 - 15 min runs in the later half. My novice group gridded in no particular order for an orientation lap to get acquainted with the track followed by the first 30 min lap. Cruising around half speed distancing ourselves from each other we got the green flag to go and i was set in kill mode. Each lap got more aggressive than the last. A lap or so in i had a 69 camaro on my tail and was doing everything i could to not impede his laps as the novices couldnt pass unless there was an issue or the track flaggers appointed it. Finished the 30 minutes, drove into the garage, put the car on ramps and put my fan up underdeath the rear end to cool it off as much as possible. I sat in a chair pounding water and gatorade, chain smoking ciggs with my hands kind of shaking for a few minutes trying to calm my nerves and hide my freaking out of how insanely awesome i was feeling

The grand stands were massive (usually seats in the grand stand during F1 go for thousands) but had free roam of the place for the event. Was able to watch how truly fast some of the cars were like Danny Popp in his C5 scream by the stands on the straight with time in between runs.



Got called to grid for the 2nd run and didnt realize they grid us on lap time. Got to grid and talked to the worker there and i told him id rather stay towards the back of the pack so that i didnt hold anyone up, he just laughed and said i gridded 4th out of 16 cars or so and that i was running faster than i thought. So i got 4th in line with a bit of swagger seeing the competititon in the novice class.




Ripped around the track and had a few issues with the rear end vent wanting to puke a bit of fluid from the rear end getting to hot with not really much to do except cool it down in between runs. All in all was probably the most fun ive had in my life with my clothes on.

We ate lunch, did our last 2 runs of the day and decided to pack up and head back to houston as i had to go back to work the following morning. Got a few great pictures of the car down on pit road and a few that have popped up in various places since.

[ah64pilot]

Did you meet Michael Schumacher?

[RadLS67]

I want to go to the next one with you! Don't leave without me! Sure wish I hadn't missed this one.

Might need to get some brakes and that 4L80E to run decent on that track. No, I havent met Mr. Shumacher but i met Danny Popp and Brian Hobaugh!

[rickpaw]

Awesome car Radley. I participated in optima challenge last year at Texas Motor Speedway and had a blast. I wanted to do COTA this past August but did not have time/funds.

Would love to get together with you sometimes and check out the car.

Tu

[Michaels 69]

What happened when you went back to work?

[RadLS67]

What happened when you went back to work?

Lol went back to work on the following monday. Manager was upset even though work load was extremely light and everyone went home early that friday. Got a written reprimend, wasnt there but maybe another month or so anyways. Since I quit i went back to school full time to finish out my bachelors. Of course now that im in school full time things are picking back up in the oilfield...

Tu, sounds good. Im trying to get a few cars together to go for a decent cruise, ill be sure to shoot you an email when we pick a date with good weather.

[rickpaw]

Shoot me a PM when you want to get together. The local firebird club normally do a cruise after the new year as well. I'll let you know if they do it again this year.

Tu

[RadLS67]

Woooooo! 10k views on my build thread!

[RadLS67]

Drove the car around for a while the other day and went to adjust the front coilovers a little softer for the street and found my passenger side shock was broken and leaking. Gonna take the wheels and coilovers out to try and see if there is any suspension bind. When i installed the front sway bar and wilwood drop spindles everything seemed correct. Will order some adjustable ridetechs here soon and update with some pics.