amsoil
20-05-2008, 09:46 PM
Just got back from the kittys 1st run having burned the midnight oil for the last 2 months.
Spa might not have been the best place to have a shake down but thats the way it ended up racing agains Nissans Porsches and Merc Turbo. The car was only just finished in time with some of the paint still a little soft and too shoft to rub the odd run out of.
Practice was good with the new pads being run in and the feel of the newly completed car got to grips with. Tyres where older than i would have liked but I was not happy to chuck 4K worth of rubber because it was a little too long in the tooth. The engine was as super as ever and I was slow for the 1st 3 laps before making a decision to go for it as I hadn't raced for 4 years either. Eau rouge flat was a terrifying buzz as I had totally forgotten that you should go straight over the top corner apex and straighten the corner out. Muggsy drove around it flat having kittens as it got very near to the edge of existance. Still all was well.
First race was was in the very worst coditions, neither wet nor dry. I went for slicks and cursed as it rained on the warm up lap. Half the field seemed to dive straight into the pits on the 1st lap (for wets no doubts) I continued knowing that rolling the dice in this way could give a super result against much newer machinary. I carefully circulated even overtaking 962's and got the hang of things until about lap 7 when I passed the pits to the hair pin to brake; there was a crack and the car twitched sideways. Round the hairpin and dived down to eau rouge but something told me to go a bit easy. Over the top and away down the striaght but not 10/10ths. Just as well as I touched the braked there was an enourmous bag and the back of the car locked launching me into a spin at slower 160 odd (could have been 190!) As a complete passenger I watched the armco come and go wondering if this was going to be really bad. I then tried to steer from full lock to full lock just to make a little difference in the route the car was taking towards the armco > Perhaps it made a difference? The back of the car and the rear wing kissed the armco a couple of times before I came to rest at 90 degrees to the end of the straight. Out i jumped from this bad place to be and from the side saw that the back of the body work had been broken at the rear wheel arch and the rear wing damaged and the wing mounts twisted. BolloXX.
Back to the pist on the flat bed to find out why.
It looked like one of the caliper lugs had failed and the caliper had swung out under braking to lodge in the wheel locking it up. Upright totaled bodywork very sorry for itself.
Lucky I had a spare pair of rear uprights fully assembled and some aviation super glue for the body work. 2 hours later and it was all done and the next day the adhesive would have hardened. Blagged atig welder to repair some broken ally components and we where there for the 1 1/2 race the next day.
But thats as they say another story. /pan
Spa might not have been the best place to have a shake down but thats the way it ended up racing agains Nissans Porsches and Merc Turbo. The car was only just finished in time with some of the paint still a little soft and too shoft to rub the odd run out of.
Practice was good with the new pads being run in and the feel of the newly completed car got to grips with. Tyres where older than i would have liked but I was not happy to chuck 4K worth of rubber because it was a little too long in the tooth. The engine was as super as ever and I was slow for the 1st 3 laps before making a decision to go for it as I hadn't raced for 4 years either. Eau rouge flat was a terrifying buzz as I had totally forgotten that you should go straight over the top corner apex and straighten the corner out. Muggsy drove around it flat having kittens as it got very near to the edge of existance. Still all was well.
First race was was in the very worst coditions, neither wet nor dry. I went for slicks and cursed as it rained on the warm up lap. Half the field seemed to dive straight into the pits on the 1st lap (for wets no doubts) I continued knowing that rolling the dice in this way could give a super result against much newer machinary. I carefully circulated even overtaking 962's and got the hang of things until about lap 7 when I passed the pits to the hair pin to brake; there was a crack and the car twitched sideways. Round the hairpin and dived down to eau rouge but something told me to go a bit easy. Over the top and away down the striaght but not 10/10ths. Just as well as I touched the braked there was an enourmous bag and the back of the car locked launching me into a spin at slower 160 odd (could have been 190!) As a complete passenger I watched the armco come and go wondering if this was going to be really bad. I then tried to steer from full lock to full lock just to make a little difference in the route the car was taking towards the armco > Perhaps it made a difference? The back of the car and the rear wing kissed the armco a couple of times before I came to rest at 90 degrees to the end of the straight. Out i jumped from this bad place to be and from the side saw that the back of the body work had been broken at the rear wheel arch and the rear wing damaged and the wing mounts twisted. BolloXX.
Back to the pist on the flat bed to find out why.
It looked like one of the caliper lugs had failed and the caliper had swung out under braking to lodge in the wheel locking it up. Upright totaled bodywork very sorry for itself.
Lucky I had a spare pair of rear uprights fully assembled and some aviation super glue for the body work. 2 hours later and it was all done and the next day the adhesive would have hardened. Blagged atig welder to repair some broken ally components and we where there for the 1 1/2 race the next day.
But thats as they say another story. /pan