So the first race is in the books. I finished last. Normally, most anyone would be very upset with the results, but I'm not. I'll tell you why:
I didn't get to go to any of the pre-race practice sessions prior to Icebreaker weekend because of work. I did get to scale the car, but since this is my first year working with setting up mini stocks, I didn't really have an idea if it would work well or not. When I had arrived at the track on saturday, I had already missed the first practice. By the time I unloaded and signed in, I had missed the second round as well. The third round, I was ready to finally get some seat time. Green flag comes, I stand on it. As soon as I do that, the car starts breaking up bad in the straights under heavy throttle. After a few laps of almost getting steamrolled, they finally end it. Even with the motor breaking up, I still got a lot of good info on the setup.
I get back to my pit and we dive into the car, because the next thing on the track is the Whelen Mod Tour for about 90 minutes. We try to start the car and it won't turn over well. Turns out the timing is a bit too advanced, so we back it out enough to run safely and then check the carb. First glance shows that fuel is being dumped into the engine from the squirters, because of improper float levels. We adjusted the float, idle mixture screws, and set the timing to the proper level before we buttoned up the motor. I was given the signal to shut down the car, and as soon as I hit the switch, I hear a knocking sound as the engine shut down. We start the car again, and hear a constant knocking sound from somewhere in the bottom of the engine, which resembles a rod coming apart. I immediately shut the engine down. "We're done, it's a rod". We got a few people to help me push the car onto the trailer. I was extremely disappointed, because I had just finished putting so much time and effort into that car to get it there that weekend, and to have it end before qualifying was a real dissappointment.
As I got home, tired, cold, and wind-burned, I unloaded the car at about 4:00. My mind was made up. I wasn't going to work on the car for a week or so, because I was tired of putting work in on that car in the cold garage. It wasn't until about 7:00 or so, when everyone else returned to the shop, that I decided I was going down there to at least see what happened. If anything, I could drop the motor off to be fixed and it would at least be done in time for the next race. We worked until 9:30, and the engine was free of the car. The Chief took a look at it, and everything seemed pretty normal from the back, until he touched the flywheel. It was loose.
At that point, the thrash was on. The racecar was on 4 jackstands, drained of it's vital fluids, its heart removed, and it was 10:00. We examined the flywheel, determined that it was fine, and proceeded to lock-tite the bolts and crank that baby on enough so that it will not come off unless we take it off. The oil was drained to check the internals of the engine, and there was no metal in it, so it was refilled and a new filter put on. The engine was installed in a mad dash and the motor was re-fired by 11:45pm. "We're back in the game now! You can't keep us down!"
After a night of little sleep, the truck was reconnected to the trailer, and the car was reloaded. Another long tow up to Thompson was well worth the supportive faces who greeted me and the car when we returned to our pit. It turned into a game of sit and wait as we still aren't allowed to fire engines until noon, per order of some old CT law, even though we use mufflers. After 5 laps of practice in the brand new car, I readied myself to get in and pushed onto the track. I asked what time is was, and Dave Trudeau perks up with, "If you don't want to drive, I will!" Too funny.
So I start last, in 30th place. We fire up on the backstretch after opening ceremonies, and the officials are feeling generous and tell us that we're getting hot laps. "Good," I thought, "I'll feel out the track before we hit it." Well, the only feeling I did, was feeling how badly the car was fluttering and hesitating under load. I was ready to pull it off, but I thought, "if I don't take the flag, I won't start, and I won't get at least my $30. I may as well see if it gets better." Green flag drops, and I can't go. I can't even catch the cars in front of me. I can't even get up to 6k rpm's. I waited 5 laps before I pull off. No one blames me, apparently it really sounded like crap. With time to think while standing in the infield, I reflect on the weekend I had, and quite honestly, it wasn't that bad. I went from believing my engine was blowing up, to working a small bug out of the carb. I went from paying a lot of money to have something fixed to paying nothing. I learned a heck of a lot about how to tune carburators, which I never knew before. So I learned a lot from this experience! I also learned how tiring it is racing again.
So, the car is all better, and I'm going to take her to one of the next two testing sessions on either May 7, or 14th, to try out some new stuff. I want to explore a few combinations. So until next time,
~Brent~
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