The plane?

Yes, the plane.  It's been a long time since my last flght.  In fact it was February 26, 2011.  Decide the other day it was time to wash and clear out the birds nest and go for a flight.  But I was not up to date on my bi-annual flight review.  Every 2 years you need to do 1 hour of ground and 1 hour of air work with a flight instructor.  My last review was in February 2009.   So I called the flight instructor (Joe) and made a date to complete this.  The plane was ready and so was I.  It started with an aborted takeoff.  What looked like a large crow decided to fly in front of me and started weaving back and forth.  I still had plenty of runway left to stop so I braked and went back to try again.  From this point on it was just a routine flight.  A few power off and power on stalls, a couple of step turns and now I'm good for the next 2 years.

One last video from Elkhart Lake

The video is taken from the pace car that we followed in the Friday night race car parade to Elkhart Lake.  Where he stopped is just about the same placed I parked.

More photos from Elkhart Lake 2011

All photos taken by Steve Johnson. 
Photos Elkhart Lake 2011

3rd gear

It happened at Road Atlanta last year and Road America this year.  Toward the end of the race 3rd gear starts to jump out.  I have to hold the shift lever in to keep it connected.  I think the 3rd gear shift fork is out of adjustment.  This will cause more wear on the dogs.  Sounds like a job for Brian, maybe this fall I'll take the gearbox to him.

Rims

In the collection of parts Eric purchased was a set of rims that fit my car.  These originally came off Chuck Parsons Lola Can-Am car.  I'll have them checked out, and now I have rims for rain tires.

What's next?

With the car back in the shop, I think I'm going to call it a season.  A couple of months ago I was planning on going to San Diego for the Coronado event.  But after careful consideration, I decided it was going to be a very expensive trip for a 2 day event.  So, I'll save that money and put it into next years racing budget. 

When I was at Road America I talked to Eric about the radiator for Lola T192, said he had one and will send it to me.  Then I can send back the Lola T190 radiator that never fit right.

Interview with Brian Redman and David Hobbs at Road America

Road America Photos

Here's a link to photos taken by Steve Johnson at Road America.
Road America photos July 15-17, 2011

Elkhart Lake Movie

Very short video taken by Deb at the
Race car parade to Elkhart Lake

Race Recap

Sunday was one hot day.  The heat index was over 100 degrees.  The one thing bad about these old formula cars is that the radiator is directly in front of the driver.

The first couple of laps of the race I was able to better my qualifying time by over 6 seconds.  But the cars in front of me started to pull away and the cars behind, faded back.  By now I was pretty much alone.  By the 5th lap my water temperature was at 250 degree's, by the 7th lap I was losing 3rd gear.  With one lap left, I slowed down and took the checkered flag. 

Tony Adamowicz took 1st place. 
 I was 2nd in class, 4th overall.

Eric's weekend did not go well,  he spent most of it working on a fuel problem.  Only turned a couple of laps in the race and then stopped with a water coolant leak.  He has 2 months before the next race, he really needs some track time to resolve all those little problems.

Sunday night through Chicago, no traffic. 

Back home

Good to be home, arrived early this morning.  I'll start to work on the photos and place a few on the blog tomorrow.

Sunday Elkhart Lake

The internet service at the hotel we're at is poor. So this will be a short report. I finished the race 2nd in class and 4th overall. Should be home late Monday tonight.

Saturday Elkhart Lake

Saturday qualifying went OK, was third in class.  The qualifying race in the afternoon was half run under the yellow flag and was only two laps of racing.  Finished second in class.  The car ran good the the whole day.  Sunday is going to be in the 90's.   But I'm ready.  Sorry no photos, running late again.

Friday at Elkhart Lake



Practice in the morning went well.  The engine is running good and I'm starting to learn the course.  Qualifying in the afternoon was uneventful.  We also did the race car drive to town.  Thousand of people lined the streets, just amazing.  We we're still up at 11pm last night.  Today should be a little slower pace.

Long day yesterday

Arrived later in the afternoon at Elkhart Lake.  For some reason it just took a long time to unload the truck and set everything up.  I guess we bring more stuff.  Didn't get back to the hotel until 10:30 last night.  Today is a practice at 11 and qualifing 4.  Then the race car parade and I won't get back from that until 9pm.
I have photos but no time to post them.  Maybe tomorrow.