Road & Track Concours d’Elegance for Race Cars

During the Road America event you can join the "Road & Track Concours d’Elegance for Race Cars" that happens Friday evening. It's a parade of race cars that leave the track and continue on the streets to Elkhart Lake, escorted by the police. Once up there, the cars are judged, you hangout for awhile, then drive back. Sounds like fun, I've signed up already.

Last year's event.

Making room

Not having a trailer for the car does require using the space you have, to the fullest. Up to now I've placed the nose of the car on the top shelf of the truck. It really took up a lot of space.

So made up a couple of brackets and rope, and now will place the nose under the shelf, hanging over the car.

That will free up a bunch of room.

18 F5000 cars at RA

18 F5000 cars are on the entry list for Road America. That 's a good turnout, and the years will span from 1969 to 1976. In fact, 6 cars are from 1969.
As for what's left to do on my car: change the oil and filter, add gear oil, make sure all the nuts and bolts are tight and bleed the brakes. At Watkins Glen, I found that I was pumping on the brakes a couple of times to get a firm pedal. I'm using the old DS-11 brake pads that came with the car and they take a lot of pressure to work well. See if I can get a firmer pedal at Road America.

Gearbox back together

The gearbox is back on the car. This will be the first time I have the correct gears for the track (I hope). At least on paper they look good.

Two weeks and counting

We'll be leaving for Road America in just over two weeks. I had a big long list of things to do, but with this being the last race of the year for me, I'll save some of the list for the off season.
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Exhaust pipe issues.
Photo taken by Jim Knerr
If you look at the white arrow back by the rear tire, it's pointing at my exhaust. The pipe was contacting the track going up the esses (turn 2) at Watkins Glen. This is known because I saw a photo of the car at the esses and you could see no space between the ground and the exhaust pipe (plus some scratching on the pipe). This photo, like many others of the F5000 cars, was on the Bobby Rahal site the following Monday, but now they're all gone, a mystery.


Two possible reasons for contact. One, the springs are to soft, or two, the rear wing has to much down force. But there is a possible third reason: the designers of the Lola T192 never intended for the exhaust to exit under the car. I'm not anticipating the pipe to hit at Road America, but I'll keep a eye on it.

YouTube time at Road America

It's time to learn Road America. I've never raced there, only visited as a spectator. I found this YouTube of Bruno Junqueira in an Indy car. He's going to be a lot faster then me, but it gives me an idea what I'm going to see around the next corner.

The YouTube lap is about 1:47. I anticipate my lap to be around 2:20. The track is 4 miles long. The average speed is just a little faster than Watkins Glen.

At both Road Atlanta and Watkins Glen I was using a 28-28 gear as my 5th gear. This was giving me 6500 rpm at the end of the straights. But at 6500 rpm the engine is only producing 420 HP. I need to get the rpm's up to 7200-7500, that's were my max 450hp range is(dyno). So I'm going to try one of my used gears, a 27-29. If it doesn't work, I'll change back to a 28-28.

Back to the gearbox

The gear sets and dog rings arrived Thursday. Only one dog ring is usable, the other one has a coating on it and won't fit. Only one needed replacement, the other was just a backup.


I took a close look to see if 3rd gear was completely engaging, not sure. If the problem arises again at Road America, I'll send the box out this winter for inspection.

Missing Gear set found

Apparently my gear set has been vacationing in Florida. Chuck sent me the FedEx tracking number, anyway it might arrive today. But who knows.

Jun 14, 2010 4:39 PM
In FedEx possession
SAINT LOUIS, MO

Jun 14, 2010 6:08 PM
Picked up
SAINT LOUIS, MO

Jun 14, 2010 9:17 PM
Arrived at FedEx location
SAINT LOUIS, MO

Jun 15, 2010 12:36 AM
Left FedEx origin facility
SAINT LOUIS, MO

Jun 15, 2010 4:21 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
CHAMPAIGN, IL

Jun 15, 2010 8:50 AM
Departed FedEx location
CHAMPAIGN, IL

Jun 16, 2010 12:34 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
LEWISBERRY, PA

Jun 16, 2010 3:53 AM
Departed FedEx location
LEWISBERRY, PA

Jun 17, 2010 1:23 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
ORLANDO, FL

Jun 17, 2010 8:35 AM
Departed FedEx location
ORLANDO, FL

Jun 22, 2010 8:33 AM
Departed FedEx location
ORLANDO, FL

Jun 23, 2010 5:32 PM
Arrived at FedEx location
LEWISBERRY, PA

New dogs here...Gears?????

The new dog rings arrived today via FedEx. The gears are MIA. When I talked to Chuck last Friday I was lead to believe the gears had been shipped. I sent a email out to Chuck today, and I'll give him a call tomorrow to see what's up.


The new dog ring is in the middle, the one to the left is my newer broken one and the one to the right is from the 1970's. Not sure what generation the dogs I got from Chuck are, he found them in a coffee can.
It looks like I should be back working on the car this Friday.

Gears and dogs in the mail

Talked to Chuck Haines last Friday, the gears have been shipped and 2 dog rings will go out today. When I get the gearbox out of the car I'm going to make sure 3rd has the correct adjustment. I have a long list of lots of little items that need attention before Road America. Sometime this week I'll get back to working on car.

Sam Posey at Watkins Glen

Sam Posey at Watkins Glen June 2010

Road America

Road America is a month away. This will be my last race of the season. Chuck Haines has shipped the gear set I needed. It was for Watkins Glen but I think I can use it for Road America. He also might have located some new dog rings.
The oil tank overfull into the catch can is still continuing, despite a few alterations. For RA(Road America) I'm going to try switching the inlet and outlet lines on the oil tank. Talked to Brian and he said give it a try.

Front Cover

When we were up at the Glen, I had a couple of people mention my car was on the front cover of Victory Lane magazine. I do subscribe, but had not received it yet. This is great promotion for the F5000 cars.

Watkins Glen review

I do have to say, the Bobby Rahal event was top shelf. Well organized, great food and a lot of track time. I do hope we do it again next year.

The one thing I will take away from this race is I can't bring mechanical problems to the track. This gearbox problem has to be repaired before Road America in July.
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Part of the story on the Watkins Glen event. Ron Levanduski was the reporter from the "Star-Gazette" I was talking to Friday.

A long day with a short story

Watkins Glen is know for rain and fog. Sunday morning when we arrived at the track it was pouring rain. This lasted for an hour, and as soon as the rain stopped the fog rolled in. The fog was so thick they deemed it too dangerous to race and would put everything on hold.

Waited all morning, no one went on the track. In the early afternoon the Can-am cars went on track in the fog. We were next. They lined us up in the hot pits and then the fog got heavier, so we waited for a half-hour. Finally they canceled our race and we did just a couple of parade laps around the track.

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Having fun in the garage, waiting for the fog to lift.

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Grid girls again, I'm getting spoiled.

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With no race, they used yesterday's qualifying race for finishing position. That gave me 2nd in class.