Well after the first weeks rained out meeting, we headed out for the second meeting with fingers crossed for good weather. The result of the first meetings track time was a whole 3 laps before the engine got rather hot and I parked it up so this week we were hoping for much more. I began the day by making some adjustments to the new carburetor as it was over fueling the engine (what a mistake). With the big trailer not quite ready both 53 and 73 made it to the track, couple of standard trailers in tow and with a few cars up from Huntly and the weather holding off it looked like we would get some racing.

Lining up for race one on the second row of the grid I was feeling good until the green, I had a huge bog down off the start and lost acceleration, that was until a moment later I felt the force of a big Nissan behind me. I lost a couple of places coming out the first turn from my poor start, but into the pit bend first time and a couple of cars spun up and I went up the inside of 24h to hit the lead but the lack of practice showed as I tried to multi task by checking the temperature gauges and keeping the car pointing in the right direction and around I went like a newbie. Back on the track the car was handling ok but being only the second time of hard use since March I was keeping my eyes on the guages. I finished the race with the engine pretty warm and I flicked on the water sprayers which helped cool things down. The biggest problem at speed was a huge hesitation at 5000rpm, pretty much just as the secondary butterflies are opening.

Once I got into the pits the engine cut out instantly and all the excess fuel in the exhausts ignited and ka-boom it went, truly a noise measurable to a super saloon. Checking my lap times once the results were posted showed I had lost a second a lap with changing the jets in the carburetor. But without good lighting we were prepared to pull the carburetor apart, so I would just have to live with the hesitation and lack of speed for the night.

Race 2, and grid number 2. I was in no way ready for the start. The ute/pace/whatever it is vehicle pulled of the track quickly and the lights went green way before the flag dropped and upon seeing the green my foot instantly came off the clutch, just a shame that my right foot was having a rest. I gave it a boot full and it sort of took off and then died, flooded up and cleared but it was all to late. The bunch of cars coming up the inside where all pushing out wide on the first turn and by that stage there was no way I could avoid the inevitable, I was going in the wall. To my surprise it wasn't only into the wall, but up it as well! I saw myself looking down into the cabin of the tank. As he drove off I went to hook a gear to drive off but my blasted arm had hit the kill switch and shut everything down. After a quick crank the engine fired, I hooked first and off I went. Upon catching up to the slowing tank I gave it a bit of a tap and pushed it to the infield and went on my way. But from then on the car wasn't handling quite right as was more tale happy than normal. But I finished the race without being lapped.

I pulled the wing straight, taped up the body and had a quick check over the car to make sure all was fine.

Race 3, was rather uneventful for me. The clutch started to smell so I pulled finding neutral and then back into gear, after it slipped a few times I got a good engage and I continued for the rest of the race. During the off season I bought some new clutch plates, but when it came to put them in the car we had misplaced them so had to use worn plates instead. But perhaps some oil leaked out of the box and onto the clutch plates causing them to slip. But I was still having trouble with the rear end being quite loose and I know it was bad because if I wanted I could hold a power slide for half way down the back straight when I wanted. Which of course makes the driving more fun but its not the fastest way down a straight.

Anyway back into the pits and I found the problem. When I went up the wall the inside radius rod (which holds the front axle in place), had bent under the stress, also bending the steering arms. This bend meant that the cars wheel base (the distance between the wheels) was and extra 25mm shorter on the inside than normal, which is why the car wanted to spin and was quite loose. Its like rolling a cone forward, it will always turn towards the smaller end.

The next meeting will be the first night of the Ollie Brown series. I'll need to change the carburetor back to nearly its original settings to get my lost second back and check the accelerator pumps. We have a crack in the diff housing that was getting worst by the end of the night, but there isn't going to be time to repair it by this weekend so fingers crossed it won't fail.

Catch ya....MadPhil
And a big thanks to "Katie Ann Elliott" for the pictures