Fuzzy Dice

Today was another double SSS event at PBIR...I was up at 4:30AM and on the road at 5:30...got to Palm Beach at 9AM...it was warm and muggy already but no one knew what we were in store for...

Anyway, I took my first time shot at 10:30AM...the car ran good...I missed the tree with a .003 red eye but that's OK...unfortunately when I lifted after the finish line the car backfired like crazy...oops!...I knew what it was immediately...

Some may recall my last race report where I blew out a header gasket...yup, I blew a new set on that first run again...sheesh...obviously there is a problem...back at the pits I pulled the hood and, sure enough, it was blown in exactly the same spot...the same bolt was loose as well...sigh....tightened it up and got ready to run again with the familiar ticking sound and backfires...

I decided to skip my second time shot and dialed for the first round off the 6.93 I ran earlier...who pulls up next to me but a good buddy in his fast 72 Dart...qwap!...I dial 6.96, holding maybe 3 and he dials 6.49, holding 5...we both leave green and he trees me with a .033 to my sluggish .042...at the stripe I get the nod on a double breakout...I went one under and he went 5 under...oh well...

Second round I catch a lady whose husband is an old friend...she drives Jeremy's old car form Horsepower Sales...this C5 is deadly...she dials 6.43 and I dial 6.94 based on my 330' from the previous round...I tree her badly and take the easy win, whomping...my light was .027 and hers was awful...btw. the DA is now +3000 and climbing...Africa hot and brazil humid...

Now it is the third round and I pull up next to Rick in his silver 96...WTF!...he has run right lane all day but decides to switch...only thing is he forgot to tell me and we are pitted together...I hate racing friends unless I absolutely have to...he dials 8.49 and I dial 6.97 holding 4...

Sadly the same staging problem I had last weekend happened again...I pre-staged and went up to 3000 rpm like always...when I went to final stage the car pushed and I had to lift off the gas or I would have gone red while staging...now I am in way too deep for my dial....oh well...I cut a .022 light to Rick's .027....sadly I ran my car as hard as I could with it's tongue hanging out only to go 7.05...no surprise there but lots of frustration...

Shortly thereafter the rains came...it finally stopped but I knew at that point it would be a very long night...they did dry the track and resume race # 1...my buddy in the Dart made to to 3 cars and Rick made it to 6...I took off but had already bought my tech card for race # 2 so I get credit for that...

This coming week will be back to finding a better fix for the header gasket and then on to Orlando Speedworld on Saturday for a charity event...

99ZX9R

3rd round ain't bad. Have you tried deep staging Dan? Creeping in at 1500 might be easier to manage than 3000.

Fuzzy Dice

Yes, I have deep staged but I have a real good spot on the tree at 3200 rpm...I think the issue is the new motor...more power and torque so it pushes sometimes...

I am going to try the button this coming weekend and see how that goes...this way I can stage at idle and still leave at 3000 rpm....heck, I put in a stage 3 FTI glide, billet converter and trans brake so why not...

I'll work on a new foot feed spot at a lower rpm for the big money foot races...maybe deep will be the answer for those...thanks...

kazman

+1 on this. Why make it harder when you can use the button. In the vette I had to preload the suspension as it would be .1 slower staging at idle vs foot feeding it at 1500rmp. I would stop bring the rpms up to 1500 then shallow stage. When all prestage and stage bulbs went on press the button, stand on the gas, release the brake. Car launches when the button is released.

I have a Dan Waleigh throttle controller in my firebird. Its legal up in div 1 when t-brakes and 2 steps are forbidden. You still launch by footbreaking but it holds the throttle at the preset rmp. When the device is released the car drops back to idle....the device doesn't launch the car.

BIGMAC

FD,

At least you got home at a reasonable time this week! I went to round three at OSW. R1 was a .0058 MOV squeaker over a beautiful '68 Camaro with a big blower sticking out of the hood dialed at 5.81 to my 7.68. I R2 I got lucky when a nice gen 3 Camaro went red. My luck ran out in R3 when I had a comatose light against a gold 78 Trans Am. Both of us had lousy lights that I will blame on the track being late on clearing the times from the previous run and getting our dial-ins on the board causing the starter to back us up and re-stage. Wait a minute...no excuses- I know better than to let that distract my routine but I did anyway! In any event I was happy to take the 40 points that kept me in the top 10.

I will see you on Saturday at OSW for the charity race.

BIGMAC

Fuzzy Dice

Nice going Mac...I know the cars you raced and they are all tough...we are going to try a fix on my car...apparently the header on the passenger side is a tiny bit catawampus due to the collector hitting the sub frame...

Glensgages made a 1/16" thick aluminum shim exactly the same as my header gasket...we will sandwich this with two ultra seal gaskets...this should square things up just enough to stop the blow out's...we'll see on Saturday...

We are trying to solve this issue without cutting the frame or pounding on the new header to make it fit...