• sergio
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  • Registered: 2009-04-30
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Topic: A Bittersweet SHO Win

Sunday morning we got a phone call with the news that Sally Bulger had passed away earlier that morning after a long illness. She was the mother of our SHO friend that we got the Red Rocket from. She was a big race fan from way back when. Indy cars, IMSA GTP, F1, Nascar, NHRA, Moto GP, you name it. We want to dedicate this win to her. We will miss her.

Now about the race.

None of our team had ever seen ECR before Friday. The car had a few break downs on Friday. First was the cooling fan, burnt and locked up. Next during testing we find the front rotors are warpped. Then the crank sensor quits, car has no spark. Luckly the O'Reilly's in Sanger delivers to the track! They bring us new rotors, we had the other parts.

On Saturday the plan is to not stress the car. Drive less than 100%, brake early, shift 1K RPM before redline, etc. At the green flag we are 40th. By lap 82 we are first. Then back to 2nd. Swapping with the #1 Speed Racer. On lap 136 we take the lead til the end. I saw 120 degree's on the dash mounted thermometer. Even with no rear doors. The oil temp was 240-250! I got a BF early Sat. Speeding in the hot pit. Other than that, everything went smoothly. We finish with a 7 lap lead. That night we check the brakes and rotate the tires. We find both front swaybar endlinks loose at the strut mounts. So we go over all the suspension bolts to make sure they are all tight. That night we worry about something breaking from the heat and 10 hours of racing earlier.

Sunday everything is going good, we have a 13 lap lead. Around noon we spin. We thought we had lost the race then. Jay and the Judges were very kind to us. They made us change drivers. I think we lost 7 laps. The last 2 hours we tried to stay out of the way and win.

What's shocking is that 4 SHO's were in the top 10. And the other 2 were still running too.

We put the doors and trunk lid back on, put my cool shirt on and drove 4 hours back to Houston. In three days we put around 1400 miles on the car. Used 4.5 quarts of oil. Burned about 8 gallons of gas an hour during the race. I fear to open my credit card envelope next month......

  • Troy
  • Troy
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  • From: Houston, TX
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
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Re: A Bittersweet SHO Win

Good job Sergio.

We certainly fumbled on Sunday.

A drivers zipper failed during a change.  Talk about a cluster.

We warped our rotors and burn through most of a set of brake pads Saturday.

It was a great race.  Congratulations.

Troy

#35 LRE
1973 Datsun 240Z
  • sergio
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Re: A Bittersweet SHO Win

Thanks Troy. It was a fun race. Most everyone drove well. No real numbnut driving. Are we all getting better as a group of racers or was it just luck?

MSRH here we come!

  • Mulry
  • Mulry
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  • From: Dallas, TX
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
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Re: A Bittersweet SHO Win

sergio wrote:

Are we all getting better as a group of racers...

Bingo. I think that having only 75 cars on a 2.5 mile track helps too by thinning out the herd. Density is definitely higher at races like MSRH when we have 100+ on a similar length track. Or especially in the races out west when they're running like 140 on a similar length track. I never saw larger groups of cars running together like I did at Sears Point, where there were frequently groups of 7-10 cars all entering Turn 7a or 11 in a tightly clustered pack.

One of my teammates observed that he thought that Jay really cracking the whip on the 4 flags in a day rule had some real effect.

Pat Mulry, TARP Racing #67

Mandatory disclaimer: all opinions expressed are mine alone & not those of 24HOL, its mgmt, sponsors, etc.
  • From: Houston
  • Registered: 2010-05-06
  • Posts: 15

Re: A Bittersweet SHO Win

Good job Sergio, I can't wait to see the SHO/Z/E30/Miata (and Lord knows what else) action next time at MSR.

  • sergio
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Re: A Bittersweet SHO Win

The SHO motor likes those long MSRH straights. smile It should be fun. And if it rains, all bets are off.

  • Registered: 2009-10-25
  • Posts: 1,993

Re: A Bittersweet SHO Win

Sergio
Congrats on win #2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was amazed at the number of SHO's present...it appears SHO's are the E30's of Texas!!!!

Richard Doty
1984 Porsche 928 "Estate"
Porsche- "there is A substitute" Racing
Dirt Poorsche Racing #2