We got off to a little bit of a rocky start when one of the twins got a little car sick on the way over.
Little did I know this would be an omen of things to come. But anyway we finally rolled in to the patch and unloaded our stuff, set up some shade, and headed for tech. There is a reason we go to "test and tune" prior to the first race. It gives you a chance to dust off the cob webs and not only get the cars tuned, but get the drivers and crew re-acquainted with the procedures needed on race day. Right off the bat I headed over to tech but forgot my helmet and jacket. First fubar of the day. Well second, if you count when the Twin burped up breakfast. Omen. (Actually, B-Dawg was faking it. That's really bird poop running down the door) So, let's get on with it...
But first things first. Just look at these two hot rods, all fresh and shiny, with the new Central Coast Autohaus decals. Dan and his twin Barry, along with Dave" the wrench" Lee and others put in a ton of work getting ready for this year. It's really cool to see all the work pay off in some really stout runs. Like I say, "you can't always run good, but you can always look good". It looks like Dan and crew have that one covered on both ends! Who says Fords and Chevys can't get along?!
As for the red car- Barry whipped the hood back into shape with a little fiberglass work, lot's o' elbow grease and some fresh red and white. Now I can really see how bad the rest of the car needs paint....next year. But I'll tell ya, at 125 MPH it looks GREAT! I'm just the lucky one, cause I get to sit at the wheel and look out over that perfect hood!
So, we headed up to the lanes, Dan and I, and set up an awesome first run of the year, the blue car in the left lane and the red car in the right lane. Dan looked like a natural, staging the blue camaro for the first full pass ever! Me knowing I had to get the better of him at the tree or never live it down! So when I saw the second amber, I twitched and red lit by something like -.028 seconds. Omen. Haha! The Blue car made a clean, straight pass down the quarter mile, clocking an 11.57! Not bad for the first squirt down the track, eh?!
The red car? Now that's another story. It seemed to leave pretty good, with none of the porpoising and spinning I was so stuck with last year. But then when I pulled second gear there was this long pause while the engine spun up and then finally started pulling. Hmmmm... Not so good. About the time I was maxing out second gear I realized for sure the tranny was slipping bad, so I pulled third gear and watched the tack go to 6400 but no go power. Drat!
Back in the pits, Dan crawled under the pig, loosened the tranny blanket and had the wrench re-shape the linkage cotter pin just in case that was hanging up somewhere... and we went back and made another pass. Unfortunately, the result was the same so, the piggy is going back to the poke...ehr, the transmission doctor. with any luck at all, we'll get it out, re-built and back in the car in time for next weekend- Summit race 1 and 2.
So with the red car sidelined, I got to watch Dan make his final tuning passes of the day. He even let his twin take a shot behind the wheel. It was impressive! B-Dawg ripped off an 11.50 ET on his first go down the quarter mile! Since Dan is going to be running in the Sportsman class this year which has a quick limit of 12.00 seconds he will be having to slow the car down. On his last pass he recorded a nice 12.08 ET, so he's got a feel for where it'll need to be for competition. It will be fun being one of the quickest cars in the class and getting to race from the catbird seat...chasing down the opponents and spanking them at the stripe! Go Dan!
I'm looking at next weekend. Famoso or Bust.
SLORacer. Out.
So, we headed up to the lanes, Dan and I, and set up an awesome first run of the year, the blue car in the left lane and the red car in the right lane. Dan looked like a natural, staging the blue camaro for the first full pass ever! Me knowing I had to get the better of him at the tree or never live it down! So when I saw the second amber, I twitched and red lit by something like -.028 seconds. Omen. Haha! The Blue car made a clean, straight pass down the quarter mile, clocking an 11.57! Not bad for the first squirt down the track, eh?!
The red car? Now that's another story. It seemed to leave pretty good, with none of the porpoising and spinning I was so stuck with last year. But then when I pulled second gear there was this long pause while the engine spun up and then finally started pulling. Hmmmm... Not so good. About the time I was maxing out second gear I realized for sure the tranny was slipping bad, so I pulled third gear and watched the tack go to 6400 but no go power. Drat!
Back in the pits, Dan crawled under the pig, loosened the tranny blanket and had the wrench re-shape the linkage cotter pin just in case that was hanging up somewhere... and we went back and made another pass. Unfortunately, the result was the same so, the piggy is going back to the poke...ehr, the transmission doctor. with any luck at all, we'll get it out, re-built and back in the car in time for next weekend- Summit race 1 and 2.
So with the red car sidelined, I got to watch Dan make his final tuning passes of the day. He even let his twin take a shot behind the wheel. It was impressive! B-Dawg ripped off an 11.50 ET on his first go down the quarter mile! Since Dan is going to be running in the Sportsman class this year which has a quick limit of 12.00 seconds he will be having to slow the car down. On his last pass he recorded a nice 12.08 ET, so he's got a feel for where it'll need to be for competition. It will be fun being one of the quickest cars in the class and getting to race from the catbird seat...chasing down the opponents and spanking them at the stripe! Go Dan!
I'm looking at next weekend. Famoso or Bust.
SLORacer. Out.
