Topic: Barber IOE Valiant #225
Well that was an absolute blast!!
We ran most of the race with a clutch that wouldn't release. We had to start it in gear, lurch through the pits and once on track grind our way up to fourth and just leave it there. The clutch issue this time was much easier to endure than our smoky escapades last year. It sort of just became one of those little nuances you have to deal with. We were caught by surprise when they announced we had won IOE.
We changed tires for Sunday to a previously used set that were,... umm,... older than we maybe realized. It was pretty tail happy and resulted in two spins. After the second one the judges kindly asked us to switch drivers. We did that, but kept the same crappy tires on the back while the car owner took a stint.
After lunch I took a turn (still with the old tires) and after about an hour into my scheduled two hour stint I brought it in because the brakes just weren't where they should be. We bled them and found that the rear drums needed to be adjusted. That took care of the brakes and since we had the wheels off we swapped tires. That made the rest of the afternoon to the checkered flag pretty uneventful (minus the no-clutch issue we had by that time become accustomed to).
Much better than last year when the air cleaner bolt broke and bounced around in 4 of the 6 slanted cylinders, eventually taking out #2 piston. We removed those pushrods and continued racing for another couple hours until the Leaning Tower of Power finally had enough. We likely would have taken IOE last year if we had been able to make it to the checkered flag. We were maybe an hour or two short of that.
There will likely be three Slant 6 powered A bodies there next year:
Escape Velocity #13 with their '64 Dart (they were a close second in C class this year)
Slant 6 #225 in the '64 Valiant (We'll have a different clutch next year :-)
Off-Kilter #?? in the '62 Toadracer Valiant (We're building it now)
The Barber track and facilities are awesome! We can't wait for next year!
'62 Plymouth Valiant "ToadRacer" - Organizer's Choice, IOE...
'86 Toyota MR2 (needs engine)