Diary
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07/15/2010: Well it was a helluva week. I unloaded the car and the golf cart last night and will start preparing for the Runoffs now that the regular season is over. So here are the details. Four races in eight days at two tracks we'd never run before. And we came away with four thirds and now have a solid grip on the divisional championship with 47 points (see GLDiv points here). And we are a surprising fourth in the national HP points chase (see results here).
07/13/2010: Watkins Glen was a mixed bag. On one hand you had the beautiful track and surrounding area, the really nice folks at the track and a great race track to drive. On the other were a myriad of minor issues that, when added together, diminished the trip a bit. I'll elaborate: We arrived at the track about 2PM on 7/8. Registration would open at 6PM but we thought we could at least get inside, drop our trailer and set up shop. No. Grrrr. So we dropped the trailer and headed into town for a couple of hours of sightseeing. We got back and waited in line, got registered and off we went. We found a great spot in the grass and set up camp. By now Rob and Doris Bax we close so I went back to registration to wait for them. We got them all registered and prepped as well. the next morning would be our first qualifying session for Race 1. This track wasn't real tough but you had to stay sharp as there was guardrail everywhere. Rob and I were on a steep learning curve. The afternoon session was marred by a black flag all (BFA) that ate up eight minutes of our 25 minute session. Add to that the in and out laps and half the session was a wash. Grrrr. We also didn't get a five minute warning which added to the angst. The next morning's session was another qualifying jaunt for Race 1. But at only 15 minutes, its hard to get a good time in that short of a session. T&S was unable to give out timing sheets so we never really knew where we were on the grid until we went down for the race. Grrrr. Our race was supposed to be right after lunch. But a T&S delay meant we didn't race until almost 2:30. We delayed lunch thinking we would eat after the race but that turned out to be a mistake. Grrrr. Race 1 was great......if you liked full course yellows (FCY). We were supposed to have a 14 lap race. It ended up being 11 because of FCYs. We actually had five racing laps. Grrrrr. As for the race itself, Ron Bartell broke and was out by lap six so this left Tom Broring, Charles Gerundo and me (in that order) to vie for the lead. We were all together on the track. With a lap and half left, we get the green. I dove under Charles in T10 and he cut me off and forced me into the grass. I regained my momentum by T1 and dove under him again. We were side by side all the way through the esses and up to the bus stop when we saw a waving yellow. I broke last and assumed second with Tom just in front of me. We weaved our way through the incident and set off to do battle again. I used a slower GTL car as a block in T7 but apparently there was a FCY out there that I didn't see. I crossed the line first but was dinged to third by an appeal. And rightly so. Race 2 was another animal all together. I went out and qualified on Sunday morning and did better. but again, a lack of grid sheets didn't tell us the whole story. Today we were supposed to be the second race after lunch so we ate before the race (lesson learned). But there was a huge incident in T8 which required the repair of the guardrail and tire wall. This delayed our race by 90 minutes. The problem was that the grid didn't know when we were supposed to start so we actually were belted in with the helmet on twice only to have the race delayed. Grrrr. In the end the delay was enough to shorten our race from 14 to eight laps. Grrrr. When we did go out, the race was kind of boring (at first). Tom and Charles got away from me and I decided to soldier around and collect another third. On the seventh lap, the leaders were coming around. I saw them coming quite early and moved out of their way. I hugged the inside of the corner (a left hander) I pointed to the right but still go hit anyway. I was so furious that I lost concentration and allowed the fourth place HP car (Joe Camilleri) to catch and pass me on the last lap. I stoked the coals and passed him back just before the finish line to save my third place. In impound, the offending driver apologized but siad my damage was "minor...and its only fiberglass". Grrrr. I filed a protest but it was found "...not well founded" and it was rejected. Grrrrr. So we packed up and stayed the night in Corning. We drove home on 7/12, parked the rig in the new shop and went home to sleep it off. Two more races, two more thirds. See photos here and results here.
07/07/2010: On 7/2 we drove to Nelson Ledges and got set up for the weekend. A couple of laps into the first practice session on Saturday, I heard a loud grinding noise. I pulled into pits and inspected the car. Nothing obvious. So we took it back to the paddock and disassembled the rear a bit. I took out the fuel cell assembly and the rear axle tube cover panel and observed that the chassis end of the third link had moved forward an inch or so. This allowed the diff to point downward a bit and the drive shaft to scrape on the sway bar. So a serious fix was in order. After consulting with some prod guys, a repair plan was hatched. Maurice LaFond directed me to the track manager (Scott Lane) who has a prep shop on the grounds. We got the car over there and started working on it by 11:30 or so. After a few breaks, we had it done by 6:30 that afternoon. I had missed my qualifying session for Race 1 but the car was repaired and we'd just start at the back of the field. This would be a challenge as there were 10 HP cars in the field. But I had my game together and we eventually ended up third as we passed seven of them. It was a lot of fun as it was a 'next target on the range' situation. Every time I passed another HP car, Melinda told me how far back I was of the next one. As it was very hot and humid, I was rung out at the end. But the day was just starting as we had to qualify for the second race. I qualified third and was looking for a good race the next day. Ron Bartell was the class of the field but Tom Broring, Martin Burk and myself would do battle for the next spots. Tom had a motor problem and that left Martin and I to do battle. I was six or seven seconds behind with a dozen laps left. Melinda called out the gap every time we went by. Finally, I was all over him going down the front stretch. By the time we got to the carousel, the leaders were coming around. I gave them a point by, got in the marbles and almost slid off track. this allowed Martin to get away a bit. But the hunt was not over. I got closer again....and again I made a mistake. I didn't match revs and spun a bit in T13. This allowed him to get further away. By now the race was almost over so I conceded second place to him and made sure I didn't do anything else too stupid. I brought it home third. So one repair, two races, two thirds....not too shabby. On to Watkins Glen. See photos here and results here.
06/29/2010: Over the last couple of weeks I have continued with maintenance and prep for the next races. This included door sill and rear wheel well turd barriers, scattershield insulation, fuel test line mount, replacing a twisted axle, oil filter repair (so it wouldn't leak) and upgrading the engine's breather system. I've begun cleaning up and organizing the trailer for the next events. We're off to Nelson Ledges for a double national there over July 4th weekend. After that its a few days in central PA while we visit Bryan and Sharon Floyd before we head to Watkins Glen for a double national the following weekend (7/9 - 7/11). See photos here.
06/26/2010: Today I agreed to start renting a larger section of the same building for our shop. Its 3180ft2 and the current one is 1855ft2. The additional space will be used by the WMR trailer and the storage of the region's hardware. Also we may be renting some extra space to driver soon. See photos here.
06/08/2010: After a couple of days of decompression, I got back into some general maintenance on the car. Cleaning it up, routine maintenance, prep for the next race, etc.
06/04/2010: A quick recap of the weekend can't possibly be all that brief.....so bear with me. I arrived at the track Thursday night so I could set up the compound with Rob Futcher and get everything ready for the following day's testing. Both of us would be testing our cars to make sure they were ready for the races on the weekend. I came back Friday morning and did some minor prep work (put in some fuel, torqued the lugnuts, etc.). About 45 minutes before our first session, Rob suggested we start the car and get it warmed up. No problem as we had started her the night before and it had worked flawlessly. But she was in no mood and the started was dead. Fortunately, I had a spare so we installed that and the car started without incident. As this was the first time the car had been on track since all of the rebuilding, I went slowly during the first session. I wanted to make sure that nothing fell off, the brakes worked OK, etc. One of the biggest things Rob and I needed to work on was the brake bias (the ratio of brake pressure on the front and rear brakes). We had set up the car will all of the bias on the front wheels. We would slowly work the bias towards the rear during the day until I thought I was getting maximum braking in the rear without locking up the wheels. During the second session I noticed that there was a bit of oil smoke in the cockpit under heavy braking. After the session, we discovered that the timing cover seal was leaking a bit. Nothing serious. During the third session, I was going as hard as I could. We were still working on dialing in the brakes and progress was being made. We discovered another oil leak after the session. This time it was on the pressure relief fitting on the oil filter. As Rob's borrow car had spun a bearing (and luckily had the same type of oil filter), we borrowed the fitting from his car and made the repair. At the end of the day, we had made four of the six sessions and the car had work beautifully. Now it was a matter of getting ready for the races. Saturday morning we had a practice session and I was feeling more and more confident as time went on. I qualified at a 1:38.858 for the first race (Sunday morning). Due to some mechanical problems by other drivers (Duane Bailey, Matt Brannon and Greg Gauper), I was on the pole for HP. This was my first ever pole for a national event. I knew I would not be the fastest car if the others got fixed for the race. And that's what happened. Gauper and Brannon passed me right away making me third. Bailey passed me a few laps later. Once he was past me, I relaxed and slowed down a bit. He later had an overheating problem that allowed me to get back to a third place finish. My fast lap was a 1:36.242. Not too shabby for her first time out. Later on Sunday we would qualify for the Monday race. Again, the car behaved great and I was set a fast lap of 1:37.951. I was now qualified in second place as Gauper could not stay for the second race and had gone home. The weather was now a question for the race. All weekend long the weather had been mid 80's and dry. Thunderstorms had been predicted for Monday morning. Our plan was to mount the rain tires on one set of rims (taking off the tires we had used for the entire weekend) and having stickers (brand new slicks that still have their stickers on them) on the other set of rims. we had no intermediates. Monday we awoke to a lot of rain overnight. And it continued to rain until 9AM or so. But by the time our race came along at 11, the track was dry so we went with the stickers. As we were getting ready for the race, Rob gave me a pep talk. He was disappointed in me backing off during the first race once Duane was past me (and rightly so). I would give it maximum effort on every lap and we'd see what happened. After a couple of laps the radio started beeping loudly. I assumed that this meant the battery was dying. So I turned it off. As we had no pit board, we were on hand signals (note to self....get a pit board). Brannon was in front of me and Bailey was behind. Eric Vickerman had dropped out a few laps into the race at T8. I saw Bailey coming and he passed me in T2 on lap 8 in some traffic. I was determined to stay as close as I could because I thought I had more power and could pass him on the front straight. And that's what happened. I was only a few cars lengths back coming onto the front stretch and drafted him down the straight. I passed him going into T1 and I never saw him again. By now Brannon had pulled into the pits with transmission troubles. Little did I know that I was the only HP car left. I was in a pack of cars (an EP Austin Healey 3000, a GTL Nissan Sentra) and having a lot of fun. I kept hammering the car around the track. It seemed like forever. Once while going by Melinda held up four fingers. I assume this meant there were four laps left. I was correct as a couple of laps later the 'one' board was held out signifying that we were on the last lap. What a relief. I got the checkers and headed into the pits where I was told I was the winner. I motioned for Futcher to hop in and carry the flag on the victory lap. Nobody deserved it more. It was his hard work and engineering skills that created the car over the last few years. As a lot of corner workers knew me, several ran to the edge of the track and emptied water bottles at me as I drove by (a VERY nice touch). One worker (Jai Deagan) actually stood in the road and made me stop so he could pour water on me.....and it was COLD (but refreshing). A few corner waved all their flags at once as I drove by (again, a VERY nice touch). When we got back to the tech it was time for the post race schmoozing. That's the best part. So now we had to brake camp. due to my tiredness, I was too slow in packing everything up and by the time we were ready to put the car, cart and canopy in the trailer it was training pretty hard. And lots of lightning too. What a pain. But Melinda and I got it done and got home unscathed. On Tuesday, I unloaded the car and cart, dried everything off, got the car on axles stands, removed the body panels and got prepared for the next race's prep. We had some things to do before the next race. Some mildly serious (insulating the scattershield), some not (adjusting the mirrors). Next stop.....Watkins Glen in early July. See results, photos, videos, etc. by clicking here.
05/09/2010: Melinda and I bleed the clutch to see if this will help it performance. It does not. So I jack the front end of the car up in the air and remove the slave cylinder rod. As it runs out, its length is adjustable. I make it 8 turns longer and re-install it. I test the clutch and its much better but not quite there yet..
05/08/2010: Melinda and I go to the shop to put the decals on the car. I had finally gotten the last ones from the sign shop and we were ready to put them all on the car. It was a long session (3.5 hours) but in the end it was worth it as it looked great. We would turn on the heater and fans to dry out the backing sheets. We'll be back tomorrow to peel them off.
05/01/2010: I returned tonight to finish a couple of things. I mounted the axle cover panel, anchored the fuel cell assembly to the car, put the footwell panels in place and put on the front fenders.
04/29/2010: Rob came over tonight and we ran through a final chassis setup. With the ballast now in place as well as the correct springs/shocks on all four corners, we could finalize the setup by re-doing ride heights and corner weights. With me sitting in the car, Rob measured the ride height and noted the corner weights. We jacked weight around until the cross weights were spot on. Next he connected the sway bars. We bled the clutch and called it a night.
03/28/2010: I tied things up a bit today by working on a few more loose ends on the car. I installed an engine bay starter button. I put in the 2" spacers under the front springs. I wired power to the tach (no wonder it wasn't working). I cut off 3/4" of the rear sway bar so it wouldn't interfere with the Watts link. I routed the EGT leads through the firewall and connected them to the gauge. I mounted the mirror on the driver's side door. See photos here.
03/16/2010: I had gotten a new rear brake master cylinder from Duane and mounted it on the pedal assembly. Once I put that in the chassis, I connected the lines to the three master cylinders. See photos here.
03/13/2010: By now I had gotten the ballast, painted it and drilled the mounting holes. I mounted it today along with the new front shocks and springs. See photos here.
03/07/2010: Well now I had my marching orders and first on the list was ordering the shocks/springs/spacers, getting the ballast and moving the fire bottle. I did the bottle first. See photos here.
02/27/2010: I had been preparing for the big day for a couple of weeks. I got the WMR scales out of the trailer and put them on the floor in the correct location, marked (with bright yellow duct tape) where they would go in case they got moved and practiced weighing the car on the scales. It was waaaaay under weight. I would eventually need at least 80 pounds of ballast. For now I had some free weights and we could use those for practice purposes. I was there by 7:30 so I could get the place ready (turn on the heat, etc.). Rob and Phil showed up at 9:00 and we jumped right in. Jon Craig arrived a few minutes later and he helped out as well. By noon we had figured out that the rear shocks were junk and the springs were too soft and too short. Rob volunteered to go back to his trailer (with Jon) and get some parts (springs and shocks) to install in their place. While he was gone Phil and I worked on the brakes. We discovered an bad fitting and replaced it and then discovered that my rear master cylinder was too small (0.625"). I would get another larger one (0.700") from Duane Bailey. By now Rob and Jon were back from Grand Rapids. We installed the new rear shocks and springs. The axle was too far to the right and it was positioned properly. The toe was well out of whack as was the bump steer. After a day of this (we left at 7:30PM), the car was all setup. I would have to get new front shocks, springs and spacers. I would mount 80 ish pounds of ballast in the right front footwell (this would require moving the fire bottle). I would get a new rear brake master cylinder from Duane. Once I did all of that we could adjust the ride height accordingly. whew....thanks fellas. See photos here.
01/23/2010: I calibrated a new fuel cell gauge today. I emptied the cell months ago when I replaced the foam. today I put in two gallons of fuel and made a mark on the 1/2" dowel. I added two more gallons and made another mark. Wow....they were equidistant apart. How cool is that. The next step is mounting it top the fuel cell bracket so we never lose it. Sheer genius, I'd say. See photos here.
01/09/2010: After the holidays it was time to get back into the shop and get moving forward on getting her back together. I was able to design, fabricate and install the scattershield, install fittings for the new fuel testing port and painted the oil filter mount. See photos here.
12/20/2009: Over the course of the last couple of months, I've been rebuilding the car. Almost all of the engineering, design and fabrication has been done by this point. Now it was a matter of attaching everything to the chassis. A high point was on 11/23 when Rob Futcher came over and we got the motor running. It took a bit of doing but she started right away after finding out which plug wire was which. And, man, did that sound good. All of the hard work was paying off. See photos here.
09/01/2009: The last few days I've been actually working on the car again. Now that everything (well almost everything) is down at the shop, I can return to rebuilding the car for the 2010 season. I fabricated and installed the rear brake lines, mounted the rear calipers and mounted the seat belts and seat. I also worked on the front fenders/valence/air dam alignment. See photos here.
08/15/2009: Over the last few days I've been moving the assorted crap to the shop. Today, with Melinda's help, I was able to get the car and trailer moved down to the shop. There are still a few things left in the garage and basement but, for the most part, the team is moved into its new digs. See photos here.
08/07/2009: Today a bold step forward was taken by WTR. After years of pissing off my neighbors by having a trailer in front of the house (and making Margie scrape ice off her car), I decided to rent a race shop. Things have been going pretty well in the instrument sales biz, so I decided to empty the garage for Margie so she could get her car in there. This space is 1855ft2 (35' wide by 53' deep) so its large enough to back the trailer in as well store all of the team's crap. It has two office areas. One with a bathroom. Each of the office areas has a hard roof so extra items can be stored on top of them. Its heated so I can work in there all year long. And its only five miles from home. As I'm going to the runoffs, I'll have to act quickly to get all the crap out of the garage and into the shop before I leave. See photos here.
05/30/2009: Today I was back in the garage. I fabricated and mounted the front brake line bulkheads, cleaned and installed the rear firewall, installed the diff and connected the drive shaft. See photos here
04/04/2009: I was out in the garage this morning playing cars again. I got the shift light and center mirror mounted. Once I did that I had to cut a hole in the windscreen so I could mount the windscreen. I also got the rear brake line installed. See photos here.
03/22/2009: Over the course of the last few days I finished quite a few things on the car. This included installing the throttle cable and return springs, covering the appropriate braided steel lines (so they wouldn't rub on anything), re-foaming the fuel cell, mounting the front hub assemblies (Duane rebuilt them for me), mounting and connecting the tach, adjusting and installing the fire suppression pull, installing the switch covers, threading the EGT leads through the firewall, installing the radio system cabling and mounting the radio box. These 'behind the dash' items allowed me to put the dash in place. By now we're down to a very long list of minor things. But they still must be done. See photos here.
02/22/2009: Rich Sheldon endured a snow storm and came down yesterday and we got quite a few 'two man' jobs done (mounting the steering column, inserting the drive shaft). He was nice enough to lend a hand while he picked my brain for advice on his racing future. After he left I finished some other items on the 'to do' list (created a grounding post, finished the dash wiring, anchored the fuel and water lines to the roll cage, mounted the dash). See photos here.
01/31/2009: Once again, I braved the cold and trundled into the garage and continued working on hanging the rear suspension on the car. Once that was finished I measured all the bolts so I could order the correct size AN bolts. See photos here.
01/24/2009: I returned to the garage and started installing the rear suspension. As it was VERY cold in there (the parts and tools were equally cold), it was no fun at all. But progress was made and that's the bottom line. Onward! See photos here.
01/19/2009: I finally got some time cleared out and was in the garage a bit over the weekend. I fabricated the oil pressure and clutch lines (the parts that are in the engine bay) and installed them. I finished the wiring in the engine bay and behind the dash board. Last but not least, I mounted the catch tank on the firewall. See photos here.
01/01/2009: Well it was an interesting fall. Circumstances dictated that racing became a low priority and, therefore, I didn't get any work on the car. Soon we'll be back at it as things have settled down. Our tentative schedule can be seen here.
09/06/2008: Today I got in a few more hours on the rebuild. I mounted the sway bar, radiator and oil cooler (along with some weather stripping to cushion them), the oil lines, the fuel lines and made most of the connections to the dash. As I have business and personal trips for the next week, this is the last I'll get to work on her for a while. See photos here.
09/04/2008: Tonight I mounted more crud on the car. Duane had rebuilt the master cylinders and mounted them to the pedal box. I mounted it to the chassis. While I was at Duane's, I picked up the nuts and washers so I could anchor the carbs and header to the motor. I also attached the hardware for the water system air release lines. This are the lines that connect the thermostat housing and the surge tank. It allows any air in the water system to be forced out of the motor and into the surge tank. See photos here.
08/30/2008: Over the course of the Labor Day weekend, several of the guys (Rob Futcher, Jai Deagan, Rich Sheldon and Rob Bax) showed up to help build the car. We got a lot of things done including hanging the front suspension, installing the motor, re-wiring the electrical system and much, much more. Many thank you's go to the guys who helped out. But more importantly, the biggest thanks go to Melinda for taking care of my "honey do's" while I was working in the garage and to taking care of us as we worked (lunch, drinks, running errands, etc.). We couldn't do it without you. See photos here.
08/24/2008: After picking the car up from Colin's last night, I removed her from the trailer, set her up on jack stands in the garage and started to rebuild her. See photos here.
08/22/2008: After the national was finished on 8/10, we drove to Colin's and picked up the chassis. We then drove it to the sand blasters place in Grand Rapids. We left the truck there with the car sitting in it. He blasted it on 8/11. That evening, Melinda (with the help of Jon Craig) came over and drove it to the powder coater's place in Zeeland. On 8/16, she and I went over there and took it back to Colin's place for a paint job. The end result was a fantastic job all around. See photos here.
08/03/2008: Rob came over on 7/26 and did some final welding before the car could go away. He welded the rear sway bar mounts into place, welded some plates that would reinforce the seat belts mounting bolts, anchored the fire suppression pull handle and boxed in the front suspension support plates. After he was done I could finish the final remaining tasks before the chassis could go to the body shop. See photos here.
07/25/2008: After another couple of months on the road, I finally got to pay attention to the car. So over the course of the couple of weeks I continued working on chassis prep items. I worked on the brake and clutch lines, added a brake proportioning valve, mounting the oil cooler, trunk and cab panels, air dam, fire suppression system. See photos here.
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Last edited by Dayle Frame on Thursday, July 15, 2010