Going faster...but working harder

Saturday

The morning qualifying session was going well until I was blacked flag for going over the noise limit. So I could not complete the session, but did drop my lap time by another 5 seconds.

So back on went the muffler end pieces. Went out during a hardship practice and didn't exceed the noise limit. But I was hearing a exhaust leak. When I got back I found a exhaust manifold gasket piece missing and also a sizable oil leak, both I believe are related.

Had two hours before my qualifying race to repair the problem, but no replacement gasket' so it was off to the local auto parts store. The had one and also a valve cover gasket that I think was leaking the oil.

I had to remove the exhaust header to replace the gasket. Fortunately no problems arose and the job was completed. But I could not replace the valve cover gasket, so I just tightened down more and crossed my fingers.

Made it to the grid in time, the race was uneventful and the leak had slowed. I'll do a little more work on the car today, and see how it goes. One last race today.