AU N EGL

wtknght1

Phil won it...I was 2d, Russ Snow was 3d...

My car ran great on the Friday test day, but on the first lap of qualifying, the LR inside CV joint on the half-shaft exploded - literally. I managed to scrounge another from Russ and with his help got it installed enough to do the 2d qual session (much hotter). Phil and I started side by side...sort of. A GT1 car spun or had something go wrong on the pace lap in front of us, so that opened up a gap on the start. The gap was on Phil's side and he opened up a lead for the first 4 laps or so. I ate away at his lead and caught him, but more mechanical failures caused me to drop back.

I thought I had a flat, but it turns out that the LF sway bar end link broke, the LR rubber shock mount (mushroom) failed and the RR sway bar end link has a ton of play in it. The shock mount was because I didn't use a big enough washer when I installed these new shocks and the end links are about 7 years old now...so they were due I guess.

I'm fixing all that tonight and will be testing at CMP tomorrow...and at VIR the weekend after. Hopefully I'll get it all straight.

Funny how things go in racing... I won Sebring, Homestead and CMP with absolutely no problems at all and now the mechanical bug bit me two races in a row. Stuff happens I guess.

davidfarmer

Chris, if I can ever help with that sort of stuff, keep me in mind. I'm pretty reasonable (in my opinion...I know what some of my friends pay ...ouch) and have lots of experience changing those parts. Also, as you know, I have scales.

My new NASA car is torn apart at the moment, but should have it reassembled and out of the way in a couple of weeks.

You're doing the THSCC at VIR, or is that another even???? I may be up myself, don't know yet.

wtknght1

Oh I know Dave...but this particular part (both half-shafts in fact) were installed just a week ago at the local dealer. I took the broken part back to them and they are going to cover the replacement via parts warranty!!

FYIW, the exit at turn 5 should be fixed soon, but right now it's like a very bad dream...rolling choppy little ridges and the car just bounces - rough!!!!! That still shouldn't have broken a CV joint though.
Other than that, the new pavement is pretty good, but not as grippy as I thought it was going to be. I was in the mid 33s on Friday practice with full race weight, but with the busted parts on Sunday, just hit a 34 flat. It was hot too - about 90 degs!!!

I'll be at VIR on the 7th and 8th instructing Russ and just checking my car out again making sure everything is OK. My next national is not til late May, so I have a while to tinker with it. It's been a long, long time since I've done just the north course so that'll let me updated my video collection too.

davidfarmer

I was just there with NASA 2 weeks ago, and didn't notice 5 being that bad. I usually drive across the outside curbing anyway, and it's always bumpy. I couldn't tell the surface was any better OR worse than before, but I haven't run there as much (especially recently) as you have.

I've never broken a half-shaft, and that's including standing starts with 550hp. Did they put in new half-shafts, or rebuild the old ones? That's just very odd to me....

It's pretty amazing the times you guys run in T1 these days. You should come do NASA....you'd be running faster than the Super-Unlimited cars with half the HP. I think there was only one car running the times you are running at the event. I'm not driven to push myself that hard anymore.....just want to get a car together I can go have some fun with.