GT6Steve Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Been a long time since I brought a race report, eh? This past weekend, Feb 5-7 2016, had VARA racing at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch 100 miles north of Las Vegas. http://www.springmountainmotorsports.com/. This is a country club facility with a Corvette Driving School on premises. Great track. We've not been racing for almost four years so I intended this event to be a shakedown and debugging weekend to see where we are. There will certainly be much attention needed to both car and driver after the hiatus. Arrived at the track before dawn Friday morning and was amazed when a guard opened the gate for me. I didn't expect the premier facility this venue proved to be. I went right to work setting up and unloading. Got the car started and to no big surprise it was running ropey. Carbs were sticky with some crap street fuel I had used but I wasn't concerned as the race fuel would quickly flush it clean. First session was quite a bitch. First time in the Hans device had me screwed up, the car spit coughed and backfired while the suspension and slippery new tyres made for some wild laps. The body was flopping side to side in corners and the rear steer was insane on bumps. Mental note-crank out some of that rear steer for this track! Next session started to feel better, still quirky and backfiring but the driver is feeling better. Still simply driving corner to corner trying to figure it out though. Very slow and sloppy. Then, silence. Total electical failure and coasted to a stop clear of the track. WTF? Got towed in and determined the battery had failed. Also the alternator belt was missing contributing to the battery failure. No major problem, unhook the motor home and go to town for a new battery. Saturday morning I spent cleaning jets in the Webers and went out for morning qualifying. Cars running much better and Steve's starting to put some corners together. I'm having fun running down the back markers and studying the line. Finsihed the session and managed to qualify second. Good start for saturday's race. That race started late in the day and I still wasn't comfortable with the track. Halfway thru the first lap I let a friend pass me as I was still in testing mode. A few minutes later a Porsche and a Lotus passed and suddenly Steve was in race mode.! That will not stand. We diced for half a lap or so with another car slipping past in the twisties. As we came to the straighter sections GT6 power came in and I picked off the three in short order leaving the MGB and the killer Volvo in my sights. This sequence lasted a couple of laps as I closed the gap to those two. I was amused to watch Kenny in the Volvo drive NO FASTER than he needed to so as to stay in front of the B. He's done it to me enough times! LOL. Last lap last straight I set up for the corner and shot past the MGB for second and followed Kenny to the checker to finish where I'd started.. This finish promised to be a great race on Sunday as all of the top five cars were timing within a half second of each other! Sunday morning was just a warmup and the car quickly came up to speed and I'm getting better at the corners. Had cranked out the rear steer in the morning so handling was much improved. Starting to feel good when the motor zinged off a corner. What? Clutch gone? Back on the throttle and off we went normally?????? Next corner, a bang and the car slewed to the right and lost forward drive. Blown the rare and precious Detroit Locker diff! Damn. Only diff I had in the trailer was the 3.65 welded I use for the superspeedways. Hardly appropriate for this tight twisty little corkscrew track. Oh well, get to work, race in three hours! I started Sundays race with trepidation. I vowed to do my best but don't be stupid. If the dicing gets silly draw back and pounce at the end when theyre tired and hot. Parade lap has me and the Volve side by side when the green waved and I immediately pulled into the lead. I knew Kenny was going to hang back and wait until he needed to pass to make the finish. I pushed hard, connected the corners cleanly and without error. Noted flashes of red and yellow in my mirrors but ignored them focussing on my line and my corners! Turned out the 3.65 diff was not proving a handicap and to my surprise I started using fourth gear to run out the long corners. End of the first lap I check my mirrors and there's no one in sight???? I'm a full straightaway ahead or did they flag the race and I missed it? Turn workers aren't pointing at me so I kept driving my race while I tried to figure it out? Looking across the track I see cars opposite. I'm that far ahead? I keep driving my race. I don't lift, I don't falter and I hit my marks most every time. Last lap I cannot believe what's happening but now I'm terrified of a miscue and throwing this apparent victory away. I slow and focus and finish the race with nine seconds on the field??? Apparently Kenny got crossed up sideways on the first lap and slowed the equal cars enough for me to run away. Welcome back Steve!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pomwah Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Sounds like you had a very good weekend, diff excepted. I guess using a locked diff is going to chew through tyres somewhat and promote a "little" understeer. I was really surprised when I found out that our premier racing class, the V8 Supercars, raced with locked diffs, they too play on some tight, twisty little circuits, seems to work for them. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT6MK3 Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Mr Smith for the win! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Excellent! Thanks for the most enjoyable report Steve. Sounds like neither car or driver were as rusty as they might have been (I'm not really surprised) Shame about the diff but maybe it's fixable? Interesting that the welded diff was working so well for you on a twisty track. Sounds like you get full value from a race weekend! Very flash looking facility (from the website at least) - were you the gym or bar in the evenings? Nick PS Found a few pics here including a couple of a certain red projectile...... http://www.buitermotorsports.com/gallery/vara-duel-in-the-desert-2016/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT6Steve Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 I was being good. Walked right past the open bar without flinching... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteClan Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Well done Steve. It took me a season to get the old Clan sorted after my heart trouble. Not helped by organisers not making up their minds on which spec I could run. Having got the car sorted for this season they've changed the class from upto 1300cc to upto 1600cc so I'm going to have to peddle some with my little 1000cc car. Not sure how much racing I'll fit in this year as I'm down for a hip replacement followed by both knees. Pete Richards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHRIS211083 Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Well done Steve, glad it all worked out good. Would be good to take photo's of your diff demise as you open it up to look inside. Good Job. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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