Car show report

That was a fun day. The weather was just perfect, not a cloud in the sky. I guess about 500 cars took part in the show. The place was packed and I'm glad we got there early for setup. That's one of the smaller parking lots that was used for the show.

It's held at the M&M factory/headquarters and yes we did get free M&M's.

A few street rods.

And you might even find a race car. The day was filled with questions. The most asked was "do you race it?". Then a lot of people wanted to know where, and I guess finally was, "how fast does it go?". All in all it was a very nice Sunday. Maybe I'll do it again next year.

Few more Mitty photos

Photos taken by James Deck.


The esses between turn 4 and 5.


Saturday afternoon Qualifying race.

Tires here, gears not

The tires are here and I'll mount them next week after the show. However, the gears and dog rings are not. The company that makes the dog rings is out of stock and the machine they use to manufacture them is waiting for replacement parts. So they're not sure when they will be back up and running. Still waiting on the gears from England.

So plan "B" is to leave the gears out and just place the cover on back of the gearbox for the car show. Then Monday pull everything apart and wait. I'll get the dog rings from another source.

Getting ready for the car show

A lot easier getting ready for a show than a race. The Watkins Glen event is being hosted by "Historic Motorsport Productions" (HMP), a new vintage racing group started by Bobby Rahal last year. I talked to Michele at HMP and she's sending me brochures, some give aways and the ability to purchase discounted tickets for the Watkins Glen race. Now I have a little more promotional material for the car show. Think it's going to be a fun show, and I heard the weather is to be sunny.

HMP site:
http://www.legendsofmotorsports.com/

Goodyear tires on the way

Got a phone call yesterday from SascoSports http://www.sascosports.com/ They have the Goodyear tires I use and should have them here today or tomorrow. That was a close one, I had talked to tire dealers on the East and West coast with the same results, "on back order". I really had started to accept the idea that my old tires might see another race. Now to find out where my gears and dog rings are.

Waiting for parts

We'll, this week I hope to receive the gears and dog rings. I still have 2 weeks before Watkins Glen, so time is on my side for now.
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In the meantime I'll check the valve adjustment, and install the new spark plugs.

Car show next Sunday

I'm going to bring the Lola to the "Memorial Motor Madness" Car Show in Hackettstown, NJ on May 30. It's a big show at the M&M Mars factory parking lot. Their 100's of cars, trucks and a little bit of everything. The show is only 10 minutes from the house and a good place to promote the F5000 cars and the race at Watkins Glen in June (10-13). So let's hope for sunny weather.

Car show web site:
http://www.hackettstownrotary.org/carshow2010.php

Looking for Mr Goodyear

The Goodyear tires I need are still on back order. I guess it's just a wait and see for now.

Cleaning

Not much I can do until the dog rings and gears arrive.

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Cleaning up all the odds and ends that have been getting covered in oil. I'm starting to think that the oil tank is not large enough for this application.

Weekend off

No work on the car this past weekend.
Waiting for the gear set will keep the rear of the car disassembled. So this week do a little de-greasing, order the spark plugs, pickup oil and the oil filter and buy race gas.

Gears

The hunt is on again. I'm still trying to get the proper gears for Watkins Glen. Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta are similar tracks so if the gearing was not right at Atlanta, I know it's no good for the glen. Chuck Haines might have found a gear set, it's in England. I won't know until next week if it's available. Another lesson learned, if you see a good used set on ebay, buy it.

Oil tank

Besides the problem with the oil overflowing into the catch can, the top of the oil tank was leaking. This was making a big oily mess at the back of the car. It was requiring a lot of time and paper towels to cleanup after every session.

Removed the oil tank, plugged the lines and added some cleaning solvent and turned it upside down. The solvent leaked out at the cap.

Sure enough, their was a hole that someone drilled as a vent. In this application you don't need a vent hole. In fact the idea is not to let oil leak onto the track. That is what the catch cans are for. To hold excess liquids.

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Soldered the hole closed, this should stop the leak.

Gearbox

Disassembled the gearbox and other than the dog rings, I noticed no other damage. So I'm assuming that's the problem and will order 2 new dogs today.

If you're shifting the transmission and hear a grinding, the dog ring is making the grinding noise against the gear. The teeth on the dog ring lock on to the side of the gear.

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Dog ring

Monday and it's back to work.

Started on the routine maintenance, oil and filter change. Going to install a new set of spark plugs for the Watkins Glen. The engine runs on the rich side and the plugs foul easily. Hoping by the end of the day the I'll have answer on the gearbox problem.

Happy Mothers Day.

Happy Mothers day to all the Moms out there.

3rd gear?

Just got the car back in the shop, wasn't planning to start until mid-next week. But the more I thought about the gearbox, the more I figured I better get started on it now. If 3rd gear turns in to a big problem, the gearbox will have to go back to Indiana to repair.

More Mitty photos

Found a few photos from Sunday's race on another web site.
Sunday's F5000 race photos

Getting ready for Watkins Glen

I have 5 weeks before Watkins Glen (June 10-13). Right now the oil tank is the problem, I spent the weekend cleaning up oil on the back of the car. The catch can for the oil is fulling up at about 1/2 quart per race session. Another problem is I lost 3rd gear during the race, I guess it's time for some new dog rings, and still need the proper gear ratio for Watkins Glen.

The Mitty on YouTube

I can't make the video screen smaller. Your better off going to YouTube to see the whole video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3cVe63BtFM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-b8n1MC4g8

What a weekend.

I was very surprised to find myself on the front row for Sundays race. Even so I finished 4th in Saturday's race, they still go by lap times and I had the second fastest time.

On Sunday, all the cars are placed in there grid position in pit lane.
For the next hour spectators get a closer look and the drivers answered questions.



We even got grid girls from the local high school. The HSR club did a really nice job making us the feature race of the day.



Engines running about to leave the pits.

At the start of the race I took the lead into turn one. By the time I had reached the end of the back straight the lead had grown. At the end of the straight you brake hard, then there is a quick left followed by a quick right. During the whole weekend I never had a problem at this corner. But my 3 old tires plus the odd one just couldn't keep me on the track anymore and I spun. I was hoping to get two race weekends per tire set. But everybody is using a new set per race and some people use 2 sets per weekend. Anyway the engine stalled and took about 40 seconds to re fire. Back in the race and in last place, I took off in hot pursuit only to lose 3rd gear close to the end of the race. Decided to park the car and call it a day. I was very disappointed, but this is not the first time I lost the lead by a mistake. I don't think I could have kept the lead anyway, 3 other cars were much faster than me.

Now for Watkins Glen. I'm leaving the car in back of the truck until the weekend. It's time to catch up on non race projects.

Saturday at The Mitty

First, the car is still running, but the oil tank is still pushing oil out into the recovery can. I will have to talk to Brian about this.

Apparently the laps times we did Friday only counted as practice and not qualifying. I did have the 4th fastest time. So Saturday mornings qualifying would set the grid for Saturdays afternoon qualifying race. We still thought Friday times were included. Well, on the 4 lap of qualifying one of the faster F5000 cars hit a tire barrier and they stopped the session. We ran out of time and that was it for our session. I had the second fastest time, that puts me on the front row for the afternoon race. If we used all timed sessions, I would have been 4th.
To make a long story short, I finished 4th in the race, and second in class. But I finished.

YouTube

Just came across this on YouTube. Saturday report Tomorrow.

Friday flat tire

F5000 tent

Friday their was 2 practice sessions. but your laps times counted for grid position for Sundays race. I don't know why they just don't call it qualifying.
Anyway my lap times are coming down and the track is feeling more comfortable. After the last session I went to the truck to change out of the racing gear and came back to find I had a flat rear tire. I stood there dumbfounded, just 5 minutes ago it was fine. So what to do, a tire supplier is at the track but the Goodyear tires I use general have to be ordered in advance. Went over to see if they had tires for my car, no tires. But a fellow F5000 drive had just got a new set of tires(Goodyears he ordered in advance)and if my tire wasn't repairable I could use one of his old ones.

My tire had a hole and wasn't repairable, so I'm using one of his old ones, it is a harder compound than than my old tire, but it does keep the weekend going for us.

Today may be rain.