Long Beach, CA 1975

This is from the Los Angeles Times newspaper dated September 29, 1975.  Reporting on the F5000 Long  Beach Grand Prix race.  The whitish car in the center of the photo is the JB Lola T192.  

Another Long Beach race report this time from the Independent

Oshkosh...looks like New Jersey to me

Oshkosh starts today but it's a trip that I'm not going to be able to make this year.  Other issues having taken priority. But on a positive note, I did clean and wax the plane.  It takes a couple of days and one of those things that you put off doing for years.
Don't have any work plans for the race car in August.  September is when I'll start on it again.

A clean race car

I took a quick look at the car and think this is the cleanest it's every come back from a race.  Really no reason to clean any of the body work  Now I need to setup a schedule for the car overhaul.

Finally back in the shop

Yesterday I removed the car from the back of the truck.  After I winched the car out, I went to winch up the cable and nothing happened.  The switch was clicking but no winch movement.  Glad this didn't happen at the last event. It would have taken a whole lot of people to push the car back into the truck.

Other uses for the shop

There's no rush on the race car so I'll take advantage of the shop. Both cars needed work and this sure beats working on the dirt. Lights and a cement floor, I'm getting spoiled. The Lola is still in the back of the truck.  It will be removed before I leave for Oskosh.

VARAC Presents the Canadian Historic Grand Prix 2014

Looking at 2015

 Mike, Nancy, Rick, Rudy and Ed. (L-R)

I was 99% sure that Mosport was the only race for us this year.  After the gearbox problems, I can say it's now 100%.  The car really needs to be disassembled and inspected.  That's going to be the project for this winter.  In 2015 I would like to return to Canada for the Canadian Historic Grand Prix.  Had a great time and got to see a few friends I would have missed if my option was to stay home.

Next on the to-do list is to fly to Oshkosh.   My last trip was in 2009.  It's toward the end of July and as always, the weather will dictate my travel plans.  Looking forward to the fly-in and I'll blog from Oshkosh.

Steve and that guy on the right.
Steve took the photographs for the F5000 group at Watkins Glen

Ken, Steve's brother. 

Loose roll bar

This is what a normal roll bar support mount in the rear of the car looks like.  The rod attaches the roll bar with the lower A-arm.  

This is what happens when the bolt (top arrow) falls out.  The rod drops and gets tangled with the drive shaft. 

The rubber doughnut on the drive shaft continued to pound the roll bar rod. I had just tighten that bolt the day before.  This happened during the last race on Sunday.

Aerial View - CTMP Canadian Historic Grand Prix 2014

Interesting idea, but should have been closer to the cars and followed them a little longer.

Here's a link to photos from our race group.
More photos from all race groups.
More photos.

Back in the U.S.A.

Got home last night.  Crossing the border back to the US was a breeze.  As soon as the border officer knew that a race car was in back of the truck, the conversion turn to that.  The truck ran fine for the 1000 miles we covered, and with the exception of my gearbox woes, it was a great trip.

Already have my first project.  Must have had a big storm during our absence.  Some large branches came down on the power line to my shop. 

Mosport Report-Sunday

The first race was in the morning.  My gearbox started to have problems on the pace lap.  I came in and parked the car.  Looks like I'm removing the gearbox again.  I replaced the dogs with a couple of not so bad dog rings.  Also re-adjusted the shift linkage again, I don't believe it was correctly done yesterday.

The afternoon race was later in the day which gave me the time to complete the job.

The second race would last 30 minutes, really not sure if the gearbox would make it.  

In the end ,the car completed the race just as it lost 3rd gear.
There's many more stories and photos about the weekend to follow in upcoming blogs. .  We head back to home later this morning.

Mosport Report-Saturday

Saturday morning started with removing the gear box and inspected 4th gear.   4th gear was damage and no longer usable.  Also the dog ring was damaged.  I had a replacement for both.  I was still concerned about the shift linkage.  Replaced both dogs and 4th gear, and then tried to shift the car into 4th.  Still the same result, won't shift.  So the gearbox still wasn't completely together and I started to look into the shift linkage as the start of the problem.  Sure enough the the shift rod linkage had moved out about a 1/2 inch.  So the gear wasn't making full contact and grinding.  Made an adjustment on that, and now it's 2 o'clock and need to get  ready for the race.  To make a long story short about a couple of laps from the end the shift linkage move again and I came in a couple of laps early.

This morning I'm re-readjusting it and drilling a hole and placing a rivet in it.  Today we have a race in the morning and a 30 minute this afternoon. 

Mosport Report-Friday

There was a 30% chance of rain, only got a sprinkle.  The weather will be nice for the rest of the weekend
I missed the morning practice session.  The car needed a few adjustments and a real good going over.  The afternoon qualifying went well, knocked off a few more seconds.  Our race group had only 5 cars, so there's not a lot of racing.  The afternoon race lasted just a couple of laps at first, one car hit the wall and did some damage.  Not to bad but I think there done the weekend.  3 of 4 laps under the yellow and I started to notice I was having trouble with 4th gear.  Once they cleared the wreck car, the raced continued.  That's when 4th gear was just about unusable.  Did finish the race.  Today it's gearbox day, might be a dog ring or a linkage adjustment. Still lots of racing left this weekend.

Mosport Report-Thursday

Thursday turned out to be a non-weather event.  It never rain the whole day, that was a relief.
The race track is challenging with it's blind corners and lots of elevation changes.  One thing for sure, this track was made for F5000 cars.  Ran 3 sessions yesterday.  Each session I learned a little more and went a little faster. All went smoothly with no problems.
Today it's practice in the morning and 2 qualifying session in the afternoon.  Added a few photos to the album, but really have been to busy to walk around.  Today should be a little less hectic.

Mosport Report-Wednesday

Arrived at the track around 6pm last night.  We setup the tent and a few other things.  Holding off taking the car out of the truck because of the rain.  Today the weather is looking not as rainy.
Today is practice and instruction from one of the Mosport staff.  We'll see what happens with the weather.