Scrotium? Who's going? (Page 4 of 4)

I had no idea what to expect, as the car was returning to a track for the first time in 7  years.  We threw the engine and trans from our wrecked mustang into the car, a rear and front spindles from a wrecked sn 95 mustang.  Completely re did the brake system from the master cylinder to the calipers/rotors.  The carb decided to pour raw fuel into and out of the engine, so we grabbed the carb off the galaxie and hoped for the best.

Friday, our first driver out reported a nasty shake in the driveline at 3000 rpm and up.  Eventually found front u joint shot.  By that time, all of the parts stores closed early but John found an auto zone 20 miles away that was still open.  He got 2 u joints and we started installing it saturday morning.  After the second cap went on, I realized it was the wrong one.  DOH!  Got the correct one and 2 hours passed before we went out on track.  Another stop for a thrown belt took another hour from us, but we were able to go out for the rest of the day.  I was so confused coming over the hill and having no points of reference on the horizon, my stint was spent driving slowly, trying to figure out what the Hell I was doing.

Sunday went better for everyone on the team.  The car was very thirsty, as mentioned by other teams.  We got a call from our last driver, low fuel,  with about 20 minutes to go.  When we went to respond, our radio battery died.  With fingers crossed, we watched the car go up the hill again and again, It was time to walk over for the finish, and when the car didn't drive up pit out, I thought (hoped) my driver had run out of gas on the parade lap.  It had actually run out a couple laps before the end.  22 gallons in about 1:40.  yikes!

RA is now my favorite track.  While it was no fun trying to lay down power in the snow when cresting the hills or in a turn with the Silver Bullet, it was a total blast in the dry.  The track really flows and I felt "safe" if I got a little squirrely (maybe that means I was going to slow)

FLAGGER WERE THE BEST I HAVE EVER SEEN.   The gave you plenty of lead time when there was problem ahead but let you go when it was clear.  They need to teach other tracks. 

Can't wait for next year.

Tim was out there on Sunday morning from 8:30 until 10am, Bruce went from noon until 2:30pm and then I finished the day. All the Integras seemed to run really good at this track. I had turn 1 figured out pretty well and could easily pass most cars on the OUTSIDE of the turn. That little Acura stuck hard in those corners. :-)

I didn't see anyone else mention it, but we ran the whole race on the same tires.  Didn't even bother to swap them front->back.

Despite living in Atlanta, I'd never driven RA before.  It was a blast.  I had always heard about the high speed and looming walls, but OLPD has enough drag that it never felt like an issue.  The big wing gave us a huge braking advantage going into 10A, especially against all the RWD cars that had been conditioned to be cautious by the earlier dampness, and I probably threw myself into a few situations I shouldn't have.

If my teammate ever gets me my video, I'll have about 5 laps of me right on your driver's tail.  I'll post a link if/when I get the video.

Would love to see video, as I was having difficulty explaining to my teammates why I was thrashing their lap times.  It was due primarily to a spiritual connection with the car and releasing all fear, but they want specifics on turn-in's and breaking markers.  They didn't seem satisfied with the answers of "late" and "later".

I eventually felt fast in most of the turns except for 5.  Never really got enough clean runs at it to get it figured out.  The afternoon sun in your face didn't help and the uphill chug to 6 if you didn't carry speed out of 5 was depressing.

Hey Phil,

It was great hanging out with you all. It definitely got me hooked on wanting to get into this!

Ya know,... Fort Campbell and Fort Knox are only about 2-3 hours apart... You've got extensive Valiant racing experience,... Your Behemoth BMW needs a new cage anyway,... My Valiant will be even slower than Jason's and EXPECTED to break (which means you can push it as hard as you want without fear... :-)

That all sounds to me like we should team up and build another Valiant!!
How could you say No to a face like this...?

You've got my number... ;-)

I'm surprised at all the fuel consumption stories- except for running out of gas during the 1st stint in Saturday, we were burning a record-low 8gph. Other than that, count me in for this track every year. Our fast lap was a 2:01.248, which felt good, and not too scary. Only real breakage was shearing 4 studs on the rr on Sunday. Thanks to the fellow that had some on hand and offered them up. We were back out relatively quickly. Great racing with all of you, and +1 on the great flagging.

You know you love it!

Someone talk us out of this.  Better yet,  jesus take the wheel....