It's
been tough this year... It all started when I decided it would be good to
disassemble my car and check the frame for cracks. I did that and found
several places that needed to be welded, made the car more comfortable, and
replaced some rod ends with ones that didn't sound like maracas. I
completed the work just prior to my regions (Southern West Virginia Region)
third event. I got a parade lap and about 5 feet of the course finished
before I shattered a sprocket hub (no spare then, but I have a spare
now...). Second time out was a GEEZ school in Philly and I sheared a 1/4"
key at the end of the first day. No big deal I was able to get the second
day in without my car thanks to some of the other students in the class.
Took
the car home and fixed the key, replaced some others and lowered the front of
the car a bit. I checked the camber on the front but I didn't have enough
room in the garage to check toe 
Other than that the car just sat there
waiting while I did other things (I really hate it when life gets in the way of
my hobby).
I left
the house Thursday night at around 21:30, as I was winching
the car up on the truck I noticed a small puddle of oil on the floor and made a
mental note to check it out when I got to Rome. I arrived around
05:00 and slept for a couple of hours. Found the site and started to
unload the car. I'm glad I remembered the leak because it
turned out that one of the oil injection lines, for the rebuilt motor I put in
over the winter, was rotten and came apart when I touched it. Oh well, I
happened to bring along a spare motor, I just stole one of the injection lines
from that unit. Problem solved.
The
reason I left so late at night was to make it to Rome to run the car prior to
the event and verify that the changes I had made were going to work. Just
about the time I finished the oil injection line job, the first storm rolled
through. It rained off and on all day long and I never did get the car
out. At about 15:00 I gave up waiting for a break in the weather and took
my car to tech. Everything passed. Except for a verrry slightly
loose bearing on the right front hub. I tried tightening things up a bit
but it still wobbled just a little bit. Barely noticeable. No one at
the site had a suitable replacement. After 3 stops (Advanced,
AutoZone, NAPA) and about 20 miles of driving the NAPA guy found one
at an industrial supply place. By this time it was about 16:30 on a Friday
afternoon. He gave me directions and I was on my way. Almost.
There seemed to be an awful lot of cars around for such a small town... I
called the place (Camen Tech. in case you're ever in Rome, NY and need a
bearing) and one of the employees promised he'd give me some extra time to
make it over there. Paid for the bearing, put it on the car, passed
tech. Tough day. I headed to the campground, checked in, took a
shower and went to bed.
It was
a bit cool the next morning but the sun was shining and the birds were
singing. I got back to the site around 07:00, walked the course a couple
of times (I still have trouble playing that back stretch from Saturday in my
head), talked to a few people, met some others in my class, and had some
breakfast. I watched most of the first heat and then went back to check
out the car. Up to this point, I hadn't ever really looked at the
suspension from a distance. As I was eyeing things up I noticed an awful
lot of toe out. No problem. Since I wasn't able to measure it in the
garage I can expect it to be off a bit. I got it adjusted all
the way in on every rod end but one (apparently the threads didn't go deep
enough on that one) and ended up with about 3/16" toe out. I used to like
1/8"-1/16" so that was OK for now. As I was reassembling the tie rod one
of the spacers fell into the steering arm (it's still there) so I had to dig
around for some washers to make up for the gap left behind. By this time
we are about halfway into heat 2 and I am supposed to be in grid. I
gathered my paraphernalia and get in to start the car. Click, s**t, click,
S**T. I had to pull start it this time but it started with no
problems.
I got
to my grid spot and was wandering around grid meeting some of the other FM
drivers I hadn't had time to meet (you've already heard why...). One of
the other guys comes by and asks me what the track width on my car is set
to. "I dunno", was my response, I hadn't ever measured the track because I
hadn't ever changed it. We went to look at it and had several other people
look at it and everyone seemed to think it was OK, but I really wanted to
know so I went to get my tape measure. 56" was the verdict and the rules
say 55". Apparently the car has been illegal since I got it and I (nor
anyone else) ever noticed. No problem, everyone agreed to ignore it this
time. It bothered me, but I figured I would worry about it later.
First
run the starter worked great. I thought the battery must be getting
weak. I ran a 42.034. Not too bad a run but lots of room for
improvement. Just before I left for the course I noticed the car next to
me with several people around it. When I got back it was in pieces in
grid. His starter had gone out on him the night before and the pull start
had broken while trying to start it for his run. Since I had a spare motor
I offered my other pull start and they got it on his car in time for him to make
his last 2 runs.
Second
run was better but I know that there was probably at least 1.5 seconds of time I
left on the course. I pushed a bit into one of the offsets, got sideways
in the turn around when the car got a little light going over the crown,
and then I was late for the turn in to the final slalom and had to brake
too much to reel it in. My time was a 40.538. The leaders were
into the 39's and I was pretty sure I could get there if I cleaned up the 3
mistakes (and didn't make any others).
Third
run I got into the car and Click, s**t, click, S**T. No big deal, plenty
of people around. I had someone pull start it for me and on the first pull
the cord broke . No problem I'll get one of those jumper boxes and jump
the car. I had to hunt a bit but I found one and hooked it up. Click,
s**t, click, S**T. Steve offered to pull my spare starter off of his
car so I could use it but by that time my mechanical would be up. Steven
Rosenberg had offered me his car earlier so I hopped in, well, I squeezed my fat
butt into a skinny butt kind of car. He's also a little bit shorter than I
am so it was pretty cramped. Faster than my first run but not my
second. Oh well, at least I got to run in a well setup, more powerful
car. (He has a Rotax 500, I am still using the old Kawasaki
440).
Got
weighed in impound right at 750 (my min weight) and made a mental note to put
more gas in for Sunday.
The
problem with the starter turned out to be a heat shield (which I had moved in
the rebuild) touching the post on the starter and grounding it out. I
stuck a screwdriver in between and pried it apart and the car started right
up. There were a few things in the way, but after removing them,
repairing/rerouting the wire, pounding in the heat shield, and fixing another
questionable lead I was back in business.
Almost. One of the comments that most FM drivers have had in the
recent past about my car is how loose my drive belt looks/feels. I've run
the same belt for almost 3 years and it has always been that way. It
worked pretty well but since it was the only belt I had ever experienced on my
car I had nothing with which to compare it. Everyone suggested a shorter
belt since I was at the adjustment limit for the car. Jeff Blumenthal
happened to have a used one that he gave me to try so I put it on. It was
getting late so I didn't try it out that night. In the meantime Steven
Rosenberg had a pair of new tires mounted on his wheels and he gave me his old
ones, which were in better shape than my good ones. Out of curiosity I
checked the offsets on my second set of fronts and they were different than the
wheels that actually came with the car, in the right direction 
. Over
to the Hoosier trailer to get the "new" tires mounted. Tom (Mid-Atlantic
Motorsports) said he'd have them by Tuesday, I requested Sunday. He said
he'd try .
After
a great meal with some of the other drivers, a couple of beers, and a good
nights rest it was off to the races (err, timed event...). I arrived at
the site, did a quick walk of the course, then another, and went to get the car
ready for the day. Took the cover off and checked everything out that I
had worked on the previous day. All looked good. Started to move the
car so I could test the new belt and just about fell on my butt. Usually I
can move the car very easily but the new shorter belt was too tight and I was
unable to make it roll. I got out the rolling jack and moved
the car around so I could go straight out. It had a little bit of trouble
turning the motor over but I think the battery was just weakened from the
previous days fiasco. The belt seemed to work pretty well. I stopped
by and thanked Jeff and went back to my pit spot. The previous day Larry
Shauf had offered his battery charger if I needed it so I rounded him up
and put the car on the charger. In the meantime I rounded up the tools to
change the belt back if I didn't like the way it worked (it only takes about 5
minutes to complete the job).
Now
the good stuff starts...
I knew
almost immediately that I wasn't going to need the tools. It wasn't a
night and day difference, but the mid range throttle response was much
crisper. It's one of the things that I had always felt my car lacked after
driving other peoples cars. Especially the ones that had been setup
professionally. First run was a 37.317+1. I picked off a cone on one
of the offsets coming back. When I was walking the course it seemed like I
would be able to keep the throttle full on and control my speed with the brakes
only. That didn't work. I actually ended up having to lift
twice on the way back. At this point Art Trier was wandering around grid
looking for rags. He'd busted a brake line . He'd run a 35.745 on
his first run but his pedal was spongy. We found the leak and he proceeded
to fix it.
Second
run was much better and put me closer in times to the leaders in the
class. I ran a 35.336, which if the guys already in front of me didn't get
any better was good enough to move up in the standings a spot. I still
hadn't nailed the turn around right and I bobbled the car on the very first
slalom a bit, so I felt like there was more time on the course for me. The
leaders in the class were all in the 35's (except Steven who couldn't resist
hitting cones on his first 2 runs ), so I was feeling pretty good about my
runs so far.
Third
run went very well. I didn't bobble the slalom, I wasn't late for the
offsets, I did the turnaround well, and just barely had to lift on the way
back. 34.821. I was pretty calm through the run but when I got out
of the car my hands were shaking. I love adrenaline! It stuck as the
fastest time for the class for that day and I went from 7th to 4th (A trophy
spot ). Art ended up getting his brake line fixed using tools and help
from everyone around and then the other side started leaking. He declined
offers to run in other cars so his first run was his only run. He would
have only had to go about .08 seconds faster and he would have had that last
trophy spot.
The
car weighed OK, and we were released from grid. Got the car loaded
up, walked around some, and worked the course 5th heat. Went to the trophy
presentations and talked to a few more people. Left the site about
16:30 and made it home around 00:30.
Peru's
next. I hope I can get the time to loosen that belt before the 3rd of
July.
Ron Madurski
FM
124
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