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!

Off-Kilter Racing
'62 Plymouth Valiant "ToadRacer" - Organizer's Choice, IOE...
'86 Toyota MR2 (needs engine)

Re: Barber IOE Valiant #225

Congratulations on the IOE!

Clutchless shifting on track is pretty easy (easier than on the street) and can be entertaining to boot. 

Pull the transmission into neutral as you unload the gears coming off the power.  Leave it in neutral while you do your braking, then blip-and-shift when you get to the appropriate road speed for whatever gear you want to corner in.  Dip the clutch if it helps with muscle memory.  Blip the intervening gears without actually making a shift if it helps with timing (the tendency will be to shift into your desired gear early, which can be hard on the motor and/or lock the rear tires).

Do that for a whole race and your shifting technique when you get your clutch back will have improved.  Look at it as an opportunity to work on your left-foot braking while you are at it.

Oh, and if you blow the shift just roll the corner in neutral and figure out what you need to do once you are pointed straight again.

None of that helps with the whole having to start and stop thing, though.

3 (edited by Dudefladge 2019-02-05 04:35 PM)

Re: Barber IOE Valiant #225

Thanks!

We could upshift with ugly grinding effort, but no blipping, flipping, burping or other tom foolery would allow us to downshift.  The clutch pedal was basically useless. There's going to be enough damage inside that poor transmission as it is.

Off-Kilter Racing
'62 Plymouth Valiant "ToadRacer" - Organizer's Choice, IOE...
'86 Toyota MR2 (needs engine)

Re: Barber IOE Valiant #225

Yea when you crack that drain plug it's gonna be a sparkle party!

Mistake By The Lake Racing (MBTL)
88 Thunderbird "THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!", Ex Astris, Rubigo / Semper Fracti
A&D: 2014 Sebrings at Sebring (NSF), 2014 NJMP2 Jurassic Park (SpeedyCop), 2012 Summit Point J30 (PiNuts)
2018 Route Sucky-Suck Rally Miata, 2019 World Tour Of Texas 64 Newport