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[924RACR]

This past weekend we were back at Waterford Hills for the 2008 season opener - plenty of new upgrades on the #55 car, and some tweaking of the suspension on the #77 car, looking for some good improvements!

Major news of the season is that the #66 Bimmer has left the class; Doug Spencer has sold the car, and while he's still parked next to us in the paddock, he's now running an ITA Nissan 240SX.

Chris went out for a couple of practice sessions on Friday, but the first was just getting an idea of how the car responds with the completely new suspension (upgraded bushings from plastic to full Racer's Edge spherical install, and upgraded the shocks from Koni yellows to custom Bilstein and Carrera QA1's). The second session he went out for was damp conditions, and while it was a good chance to get a feel for the car in those conditions, it wasn't very good for either getting used to the car or improving the driver's confidence!

The Practice/Qual session went off much as usual; shaking off the cobwebs, remembering how to get the cars around track, and scrubbing in a new set of tires on the #77 car. I got the #77 car on the ITB pole by a handy margin, a good two seconds ahead of the next ITB car, the 88 Mustang, and Chris was seriously hampered in his efforts by traffic, coming up with a 8th in class.

Queue the excitement! Chris's car overheated on the cool-down lap, due to the pace and the rad fan not being on, so the head gasket blew. However, as there was sufficient time, we replaced it and took the chance to clean the head. Inspection showed the valve guides being quite worn, but serviceable and no real opportunity to replace, we went ahead with the reinstall, and got the car back in service in plenty of time to grid up.

And shortly before we gridded, a rain shower dampened the whole area... yet with a good wind and no further rain, we all gridded up on drys. This held for a little while, and though the track was damp, a little slippery, and holding speeds down, we were in the process of drying the track. Then we dropped a cylinder due to a once-again loose plug wire on the #77! Apparently it was jealous of all the attention given to the #55 car!

Then out came a full course yellow for a car stalled just off the edge of the track - a perfect time to fix the bad wire. But the radio wasn't working, so we didn't pit until too late, the field took the green, and we were stuck waiting for help. Easy fix, we rejoined the field, but were already a lap down. Just as we started to charge back for position, the rain started, first in only a couple of corners, then over the whole track, then increasing from a light rain to a full-on downpour with thunder!

Chris, meanwhile, had worked his way up to 5th in class in the #55 car, but was again stuck behind slower cars, with trouble finding a way past, his tired motor giving him no help in that regard!

As the race came to a close, we'd closed up to in sight of Chris, but still a lap down, ending up finishing in 9th - last in class, except for the car that broke.

Fortunately, the fix to the #77 car, the loose plug wire was easy, and the #55 was cooling just fine. The next morning Chris bailed us out with a set of stock plug wires to get a more reliable ignition, and we worked on getting his stock fuel and temp gauges working.

The first Sunday race was a fairly easy cruise through the field with the #77 car, everyone giving plenty of way and not contesting any positions too hard, allowing us to fairly easily take the win. Chris once again struggled with difficult to overtake cars, holding his position for 5th (actually moving by one of the Mustangs in the process).

The final, Feature race had the #77 car well out in front of the ITB field again, with a couple of rows of cars from other classes in between. Chris, thanks to his aggressive efforts in the Sunday race, had moved just in front of the Mustangs he'd fought with so hard, starting 4th in class.

The race was a little more exciting! We were off to a quick start, the #77 pulling just ahead of the two leading IT7 RX7's, until the start of the second lap... where a boneheaded entry into turn 1 led to an off-track excursion and a detour through the gravel trap - allowing the two RX7's and the two trailing ITB cars to motor on by!

Reentering the track, we proceeded to make all steam and chase down the two ITB cars - the MGB and the 88 Mustang - eventually working around both, though not without effort - to regain the lead and take 1st place with a couple laps to go.

Chris, meanwhile, faded slightly, ending up 6th after getting caught out by some nice moves by the Mustang pilots again.

Not a bad start to the season, and everything still in working order; at the same time, it does appear clear that there's some refresher work in order before we'll be showing quite the form we'd like to have! We also have big hopes that Chris's motor builder will finally deliver his long-overdue new motor in time for the next race weekend, and he'll be able to motor on up to the podium finally.
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[924RACR]

Some pics of the cars tearing up the track Saturday...




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

[Neil924]

Very nice photos, not so interested in the league news but I'm sure it's a blast.

[924RACR]

Update - here's a couple more photos!




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

[Neil924]

A nice big field. Are many drivers there year after year?