924Board.org

[924RACR]

More pics to be seen on our Facebook page...
https://www.facebook.com/pages/PUB-Racing/224389769128

Anyway, will give a more complete run-down on the weekend's excitement, but here's how it finished on Sunday afternoon: some very close racing ended by a thoughtless move by an out-of-class backmarker, resulting in car damage and driver injury - though thankfully only badly bruised finger bone, not actually broken...
https://vimeo.com/107470322

Now's a good time to post the reminder of hands off the steering wheel when you're going into something solid... though this time she got hit, while still recovering from a spin...
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[Rasta Monsta]

That is some odd driving by 35.
_________________
Toofah King Bad

• WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3

[Ian89C4]

yup...#35 needs to go back and re-learn what a decent line is that allows fluidity and speed....he really held Merritt and the golf up.

That d-bag in the rx-7 had no business trying to shoot that gap that a bike couldn't have fit through. He should have waited for the exit of the corner and then seen what was available and tried it then....rookie mistake. The red mist was really blinding him...sucks she got caught up in it, but glad the damage was not too horrible.

Great season guys!

Cheers,
Ian
_________________
Ian Edgerly
North Carolina

Current:
1981 924 SCCA/ChampCar Weissach Race Car ("Serenity")
1987 924S ChampCar Endurance Car ("Der Weg")
1980 924 Euro ("Wahala")

[924RACR]

Yeah, 35 is a nice guy, but often quite clueless on track, sadly. Lots of those in racing. He held up a parade all weekend. A 944, in case you had any doubt - should be tons faster, as an ITS car.

Merritt was battling the blue Golf for the win in ITB. The #35 944 was was back in his running order. The two RX7's finished 3rd and 4th after one IT7 retired.

So the only ones there in a serious battle were Merritt and the Golf. Fast drivers held up by slow and careless drivers in faster cars.

Full story still to come, still busy.
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[924RACR]

OK... what all went down this weekend...

Prior to the weekend, we had 2 head changes. I was replacing the valve stem seals when I managed to destroy one of the cam bearing caps (snapped in half, plus pulled the stud out of the head). Major damage, repairable with welding, but not useable with a week to go. First spare head swapped in turned out to not be flat, and so wouldn't seal.

Second spare head was good but only after extensive rework of the valve seats, which were in very poor condition. But it ran well enough.

Took it out barely in time for Friday practice - after installing the head that AM. I drove, pulled out of the pits and parked it at Turn 2 with no ignition.

Jumped out, popped the hood, reinstalled the coil ground wire which'd worked loose, jumped back in. Refired no problem, strapped back in, and got going again.

Lost ignition again and parked at the next turn, Turn 3. This time I knew I'd have to wait for help; after a few minutes one of the cornerworkers drove over (reduced staff on practice day) to help. I said I could get a flat tow, drive it in at the end of the session, or actually fix it if he had a pair of pliers. Thankfully, he did!! So I crimped the connector tighter, reinstalled the driver again, and set off to resume testing!

But all was not well. Though it was running OK, the steering was very bad. Right turns were no problem, but left turns required 90 degrees of steering input before the car even responded! Very bad, can't drive that! So I parked immediately, driving into the pits.

Inspection quickly revealed that the RF balljoint was no longer tightly secured in the a-arm; the mounting bolts had come loose. Tightening them improved the situation, and I was able to take the car back out for another session.

This second session went much better; while the car did steadily develop a misfire, the handling was great, and I turned better lap times by nearly a 2-second margin than anyone else would run in ITB that weekend. This despite being so unfamiliar with the car as to not be able to put a proper lap together.

So we had some misfiring to chase, electrical gremlins perhaps, but we had a car to race...

Race weekend saga's up next...
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[924RACR]

So Qualifying. Merritt went out, and had a strong run in qualifying; she ended up 2nd in ITB, just behind the leader by only 2/10ths of a second.

The race started out well, but she again got tangled up with the slower RX7's while her competition slowly slipped away. Still fighting the misfire, only worse, she wasn't quite able to maintain the pace, and did a solid amount of work just maintaining her ground while losing steam, making up for it with the corners.

We worked feverishly Saturday evening right up till quiet time to try to cure the misfire, making progress after swapping out coil and retiming the ignition. Cap and rotor were also replaced for good measure.

Sunday dawned, and we sent Merritt out for emergency practice, to see if we had in fact improved the misfire. Results were good, and the car appeared to be running decently - though still not as good as it ought to.

So the first race comes around, and she's again into the thick of it with the same pack, the two RX7's and her competition in the blue Golf. A few laps in, while charging hard to take the lead, the left front knuckle snaps and sends her off straight into the grass field of turn 3. No obstables, so no additional damage, and she comes in on the hook at the end of the race.

We size up the situation, and have a spare knuckle or two plus a spare brake caliper down the street, so I set off to retrieve parts while the crew cleans and preps for install of the fresh parts. We assemble the right mix of new and old parts, and rough-in the alignment. Thankfully the Chief Steward is a friend, and sees what we're going through to get the car back together, and he gives me approval to take the car out for a brief recon lap during the worker break!

This is great, as I can see the alignment (toe, mainly) needs further work and the misfire's still in need of work.

So we sweat away some more, and are ready to go to grid for our last race of the weekend and the season.

The race starts, Merritt gets and excellent start and is challenging for the lead right from the start, no holds barred. But as things shake out, she and 2 other cars (the Golf and an ITC Mazda) are badly held up by the #35 white 944 (mentioned above).

Slowly the underpowered cars fight their way past the 944, until it's Merritt's turn. As she works to achieve an advantage, running side-by-side through a few corners, the same two RX7's catch back up due to the reduced speeds. As she enters Swamp, a long left-hand turn, the leading RX7, driven by the son of the guy who punted her just the previous weekend, makes an overly-ambitious dive-bomb into the inside of the corner, but can't hold it and washed out the front end into the rear corner of her car.

Of course this turns her sideways, but his judgement fails him completely as he keeps his foot in it and drives right into the front of her, tearing up the left front of the car. The impact on the front wheel bends the steering rack badly, spinning the steering wheel out of her hands (while countersteering for the spin) and badly bruising, very nearly breaking one of her fingers, ending her race and challenge for the win.

But that didn't quite stop her; after she got the car moving again, she drove it down pit lane for an inspection - but I could clearly see that the car was quite damaged, and needed to be retired.

So we will have to straighten and repaint the fender, replace the steering rack, and make sure the rim isn't bent.
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype