Topic: CYBERFUKD Steps On Their **** Again
Tldr: Truck was fast. 5 lap class lead after 8 hours of racing day 1(we would have been 2nd in B class out of 66 cars). Day 2, 1st driver someone spun and stomped on the brakes. He hit them pretty good. Mostly body damage and a broken ignition ground wire was a quick fix, but took 25 mins to come in on the hook. I had a clean run as the second driver. 3rd driver clobbered the slobra.
A little background about the truck:
First race was Buttonwillow 2020. Ended up 5th in C class after a comedy of errors. Too many black flags to count. Most from putting myself on the marbles trying to stay out of peoples way. Lost an alternator mid-race. Full race report here: https://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/view … p?id=39475
Then came Sonoma 2021. Had a 5 lap lead after Saturday. Alternator let go Sunday, finished 2nd.
3rd Race Buttonwillow 2021:
A couple months before the race I saw someone on the forums asking if they could shadow a team. Given we are a 3-man crew, we reached out and invited him to a be one of our crew members, gratis. Best case scenario he would be an asset, worst case scenario we’d just tell him to not touch anything and just observe.
The Saga begins 12 days before the race. The new transmission is in, everything is buttoned up and it’s time to do a test drive around the neighborhood. That’s when we discovered we had clutch issues. We spent multiple days trying to bench bleed the master, only to find out it was likely a bad check valve in the master.
Normally not a big deal with so much time until the race. However, we are calendar challenged and the 2 teammates who wrench on the truck both booked separate vacations to Hawaii the week before the race, unbeknownst to one another. We have 3 days to fix the truck, so we order parts and pay for the overnight shipping. Of course storms in the mid-west ensured the parts didn’t show up until we were sipping Mai Tais.
Dave gets back on Wednesday before the race and is able to install the new master cylinder after about 5 hours of cursing on Thursday. I ended up landing from Hawaii at 1am Friday morning. Spent the rest of the night packing up our supplies. The clutch issues stole our prep time. We loaded up and were on the road by 5am. About 2 hours into our journey a couple of motorists let us know our sleep deprivation got the best of us. A ratchet strap came loose and we lost a wheel and tire on the highway. We never found it, thankfully no cars were hit (we went back and checked). Call up the Buttonwillow tire shop, they have a tire that will fit. $200 stupid tax is charged.
We met our new crew member, Steve. The 3 drivers are all in our 30s. Steve started wrenching professionally 15 years before any of us were born. It was an interesting dynamic, but turned out great. Steve was an absolute asset to the team, as will be shown below, and a pleasure to be around.
We test Friday, come to find the alternator isn’t charging. F*** How can we be having so many alternator issues? This one was brand new out of the box. We go buy a new one from NAPA, install it, and it’s not working either. WTF. After many hours of troubleshooting, we figure out it is not a self-exciting alternator. We fabricated a harness, that went to a switch on the dash that needs to be flipped on and off every time the truck starts to “excite” the alternator.
Dave goes first Saturday. Has an epic run. We are setup in the pits ready for our teammate. Unfortunately 2 cars ran out of gas and decided to park and wait on pit lane for over 10 minutes. A miscommunication on our radio and the truck was in the pit lane a car-width away from the wall. Big no-no. A trackworker told us to backup to get next to the wall and we did. Another big no-no. A stern talking to and we learned a go-around is much faster than a chat with Mental.
I’m up next. Curious how my session will go with all my black flags from the previous race. I ended up putting in a clean run and set the fastest lap of the team. During my run, exiting Phil hill, the 708 and another car forgot the race can’t be won on Saturday. The second curb on the left (the tiny one before the straight) is very unforgiving. The 708 had no room and took the whole curb. It launched the 708 into the air and then their tires caught. The rear wheels of the 708 were at least 2-3’ off the ground, if not more. That was wild to be a spectator to.
Chris was third in the truck and had a clean run. We finished the day with a 5 lap lead in class. We would have been 2nd out of the 65 B class cars. We only had the 63rd fastest lap, but kept it on the track all day and our lap count showed it. He even showed off the truck’s jumping capabilities: https://www.instagram.com/p/CURaa2KgOHp … _copy_link
We normally run 15” wheels but decided to use the 17” set that came with the truck for the weekend. We also made some suspension adjustments since our last race at buttonwillow. The truck was noticeably slower on the 17” wheels. We decided to go back to our 15” tires that had 4 race days and 2 practice sessions. They were whooped, but we were confident they would be faster.
Day 2 started off great. Truck running well. The old 15” tires were 4 seconds faster than the new 17” tires. 15 minutes left in the first driver’s stint he got caught up in another driver’s spin. It was only body and bumper damage, but the truck wouldn’t start. Took about 25 mins to be pulled in by the hook. We quickly diagnosed a broken ground wire and got back on track. 42 mins down saw that 5 lap lead disappear, plus some. We forgot to change tire pressures during the chaos.
I went out slipping and sliding for 2 hours. It was a bundle of fun. Kept it clean all day. Near the end of the session I was inside a slower car at the last turn. The 708 felt 3 feet of curb/track was enough room to divebomb 3-wide through there. Clearly it wasn’t. We were black flagged. The judges had enough of 708’s antics and they were given painting supplies. I got tire pressures done on the way out and the truck was back on rails for my last ¾ of a lap. Brought it in for fuel and a driver swap.
The last driver is in the car. He tangled with the John Deere Diesel pretty early in the run (apologies to them). We spoke to the judges and went back out. We were now 3rd in class, 1 lap back. Within 25 laps he had unlapped himself and we were cruising towards a 2nd place.
With 21 minutes left in the race he was in a freight train of cars. He had a run going through the bus stop. You Mad Bro was held up by a slower car and our driver went for the pass on the exit of the bus stop. At the same time, about 50 yards ahead, the Slobra 77 and the red focus made contact sending the Slobra spinning. Chris met the Slobra head on doing about 70-80. I just so happened to lookup right before the wreck and saw it all unfold. Ran over to Mental, let him know there was a huge one (of course the tower knew, but just to be safe). They immediately rolled ambulances and red flagged the race, ending the weekend for everyone. Both drivers are ok.
Here is a link to the video of the incident: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUTfW-TpQZu … _copy_link
The C-Channel is bent on the truck and will be a ton of work to fix, if it is fixable.
Overall we had a great weekend. Saw old friends, made new ones, and had a blast doing it. Shout out to all the safety mandates, the awesome Lemons staff, marshals, safety team, and fellow competitors. Thanks to everyone that offered a hand, or a tool, or an idea.
We’ll see you at a future race, with or without CYBERFUKD.