an update on the race weekend at Clastres last weekend.
This may seem as a pittyful post and a cry for attention and compassion. But this is not Facebook, so it isn't. just a real view of how the weekend went from my point of view.
We arrived Friday and did tech inspection. the cage and improvements (belts, springs on the carbs,...) were met with a thumbs up from the inspector. My new bike helmet (certified but not good for autosport) and my overall I bought last year, was OK up to 12.00 but could be improved. He advices a Hans for better neck support. I will be looking into this, but suggestion and leads are appreciated.
Saturday I ran for the first time on slicks. I was really nervous and expected 13-14 seconds of looking at a blue sky.
that didn't happen. I barely did a burnout. the guy next to the track even came out to make me do it again. I did. I tried?
the first run was scary. I tried to feather it a bit. In my mind I have been on boats that are more stable. the car danced a bit. of course everyone who saw the run say it all looked pretty straight and basically good.
after talking to Stephan Speelman of the Muppet Racer he said I shouldn't feather it on slicks. he summed it up as slicks=putting your foot in it!
so more stress. in my head I went from yoga to herbal tea and sandalwood candles in the car all the way to a good well aimed lobotomy to cut out the nerves. the best option in the end was to calm down, take a deep breath and do it step by step and go for it. Which I did and that resulted in better and better times.
I even, for a few minutes thought I had run my first 12
I raced against Lena Kunold and although I didn't win, I think I held my ground. After the run a little oil dripped on her exhaust and when getting of the track I stopped just to let her know. At that moment she got a message that she had ran her first 11 (big congratulations), which she improved over the weekend. So that got me thinking that I wasn't THAT far behind... I could have run my first 12? it ended up being a 13,16... but still my best run, a better feeling about the car. good times are on the way (pun intended)!
So then something upset my zen state again and it was the car not starting. I had this before at Marl. and I diagnosed it as a bad coil then. but now again. strangely the car would start again sometimes, also without a clear indication. So I opted to look at it and try to see what the problem was. I tried to make the mad distributor run on a coil only without the box. as the box seemed suspect. In the end and a couple of hours later. I lend a 009 (with a type4 clamp wedged between two washers) and a msd coil. that ran good. checked and reset my timing and tried a last run of the day. it was getting late and last run calls were made. only with one misshift from 2nd to 3rd on a run against the muppet Racer. But confident that I could race and the car working, albeit without 2step. 13,49 to end the day was Ok.
Sunday we had the plan to do as much runs as possible up to 12 -13 hours as we needed to get back in time.
the first run was around 9:45 against a 10 second Honda Civic. Righfully assuming I wasn't a match for him, I concentrated on my own run and everything felt good and pretty comfortable (but still a heartbeat of 10000), but good. Confident to make a few more passes like this.
It turned out to be the 12.79 run.
the weekend was good. now I didn't need to do anything, just enjoy it and learn, learn, learn. seat time.
the races were delayed by a few oil downs and around noon we got to make another pass.
So I got in the box and did a burn out. that is what I thought I did anyway. in fact I didn't. add to that that I didn't know if I was or not, I kept my foot in it... to long, way too long,... the engine stalled and I couldn't start. I was pushed back out and I pushed the car back to the pits with some help. the smell was not good, the feeling even worse.
Now one week later the engine is out to get a idea of the damage done. I didn't take my foot of the clutch fast enough and the clutch slipped. so that got really hot. the bad news is that I did it too long and ended up seizing the trust bearing as well... a big bummer on what could have been a really really nice weekend.
this is a steep learning curve, and will continue to be. but that is OK. Now my main focus is how to get that 38mm scat gland nut loose and disassemble the engine. check the crank. hopefully save the case and crank. rebuild it with a new flywheel if necessary , balancing,...
I am learning the hard way, but you know what they say, happiness is a 12 second pass!!
