The Story of 2017 - from beginning to end - Race 1 New Hampshire

So after an almost 4 month sabbatical from income producing work, I got a job where I used to work and went about planning out my year.  There were no grandiose plans, just time to go out and enjoy racing again. 

The car was still in one piece from last year (2016) and I had only missed the last race due to the wedding of my son and his bride.   I have a fairly large supply of used tirtes, so the goal was to jusy to out and have fun - I thought.

There was little work to be done, but I did it anyway.  Removed the side pods and repainted them, made a new adapter for the steering and misc other minor changes to the car.  So even with 6 months to prepare, the car was on its way to NHMS without a full checklist being done, but almost every part having been touched in some way.

I remember the first practice session as being not exciting, except for almost collecting Ron when he spun in the first turn (Oval).  MY lap times were nothing to write home about, so I contemplated buying a new set of tires. The first race of the weekend was anti-climatic.  I moved up a  few spots but was overdriving the car just to keep up with mid-pack.  Buy the tires.

$800 later, the Sunday morning race beckoned.  Breaking in a new set of tires in a race is a bad thing, but I looked to take it easy and save them for the afternoon race.  Nothing special, a good solid race moved up a little more - still lap times nothing special.

I was ready for the afternoon race.  I was going to check the valves but everything sounded good and the engine was running well.  There was no oil leaks and just a very small top off.  Rechecked the alignment - what could go wrong?

The race started and I began moving up after dropping a few spots on the start.  I was in 6th and closing on 5th, maybe even a top 4 was in sight.  Going into the small bowl I looked down and there was no oil pressure.   Shut the engine off first and think later.  I coasted off the track and on to a back road I knew existed so there was no chance I would affect the race which was just past 1/2 over.  Coasting was so quiet, like flying a glider after a 747..... I had time to contemplate the problem - simple sensor problem?  There was no oil all over the engine that would point to a massive oil leak.  This was a puzzle.

The drive home was a long one - instead of fourth it was 12th.  I had filled the engine with oil and upon starting it the dreaded rod knock was apparent.  I took a valve cover off and there was the culprit.

The gasket had split, and this allowed it to pull away from the edge.  Little by little the oil left the engine.  At the end I might have driven almost a lap with no oil pressure (synthetic oil is amazing).  But is the season over?  Do I pack it in?  Stay tune for part 2 of Chris's Excellent adventure.

Time to catch up

I have been neglecting this blog as racing has a tendency to suck up time.  There are some truths to racing:

If you have a budget for racing - racing will take your budget + 20%
If you allocate time for your racing - racing will take your time + 20%
If you......well you see where this is going.

So you have two options:
1. Take your budget and before you start, reduce it by 20% and you will end up at the original budget.
2. Time allocated will not change.

So the last 3 years, 2014, 2015 and 2016 were very interesting years.  Some day I will go back and summarize them.  For now I will try to get everyone caught up on 2017.

I took a lot of the car apart over the winter and barely got it together for a NHMS race on Memorial Day weekend.  If not for the fact that my engine decided to lose all of its oil in the last race of the weekend, I would have considered it a minor success.

With 3 weeks in between NHMS and Lime Rock, I was luck to find a used engine from Dan Grace.  Putting the engine in, and doing the things I wanted to do at a relaxed pace (like make a new seat and do all the normal maintenance) ended up being a thrash and I finished the car with no hours to spare.  BTW - Thanks to my wife for being so patient with me...)

Lime Rock started out good, went very downhill Saturday morning and ended up on a high note Saturday afternoon.

Actually I finished 2nd - should have been standing to the right of Tyler Reynolds.  I started last, made my way up to pass Chris Barry.  He made a great move to put me back in 3rd in the uphill, and I squeaked by him by .01 at the line.  

Now why did I start last?  One was a mistake on my part, another was a mistake but  really an issue with me not being familiar with the new (to me) engine.  I dropped out of the qualifying race, even though I had the 4th fastest time.  

So that is the quick summary - the car is still in the trailer, I will take it out soon, check over the condition and then decide on the next plan of action.  I need to get my primary engine together and then I will have the spare destined for my otehr car.  Hmmm there goes the rest of my summer....