Well we did a mad dash this weekend to Indy Race Park on Sunday. The day started off with the alarm clock at 4:45 am. :o( Way to early for a Sunday.
I met up with Frank and Jack at 5:45am and hooked up the trailer. By 6:00 am we were on the road. Three really tired guys heading east.
The reason for this insanity was to make sure Frank has enough points to qualify for the SCCA runoffs in Sept. We were really just going up to take the green flag and have Ron Kranz the engine builder look over the engine. We wanted to see how healthy it was this point in the season. So the idea was arrive, enter, race and go home. The perfect plan.
We did pretty well on the way up. With the usual food and potty breaks we made it to the track in four and a half hours.
Until the race we really had little to do. Ron checked the valves and balanced the carbs a little. He said the engine looks good and really he sees nothing that has to be done at this point. (No kidding we have had 3 races from hell fixing everything) I was able to get a bunch of info out of Ron. He is bible of knowledge when it comes to making Spitfires fast. I took lots of photos of his car so I can copy some stuff and apply it to the Gt-6. Why reinvent the wheel when someone else already has gone through the pain.
When race time came Frank decided if the car was running good he would go ahead and run the whole race. He was starting at the back due to not running the qualifier. This took a lot of pressure off and would allow him to get some seat time and concentrate on learning the car a bit more.
The race had all the potential of being a good one. There were five Spitfires entered and one TR-6. There were 42 cars at the start and this was a narrow track that is in bad shape. The first lap was no disappointment. The start was nothing but wild. Cars that had more horsepower were gridded behind lighter slower production cars. It was damn near a 20-car pile up going into turn one. Luckily no one did crash but I am sure there were several dirty shorts and the end of the race. The first lap was not with out incident. I think five cars did not make it all the way around and had to retire due to off track adventures. Frank was almost one of them.
Frank did a good job charging off the green flag. He passed several people before turn one and then made a clean sweep onto turn 2 carrying a lot of speed. He was going to make up a lot of time if things went well.
Unfortunately one turn (I think 6) the track was broken up and had lots of rubber on it. This made it very slick.
Frank entered the turn and the car just went straight. If it was not for a deep rut in the grass he would have hit the wall hard. The rut kept him out of the wall but got him up on 2 wheels for a moment. He was able to keep going and made it back onto the track without hitting anyone or anything.
By the time he made it back around to the strait it was obvious he was not going to push hard anymore and just finish the race. That kind of thing can cause you to dirty your shorts and make you kind of timid for a while.
The funny thing about it is that taking his time and focusing on finishing the race without further incident paid off. As the race went on more and more cars either went off track or broke. By the time the race was over Frank had passed two guys in his class and two more broke. This put him in second place!
We even beat Ron Kranz's personal car due to his driver breaking the car.
This was quite a kick. We as a team placed #2 in a national very competitive race. This was first for us. Another kick was that we did not have to work on the car all day to do it. We have finally buttoned up all the loose ends and starting to finish races with out all the hassles of the past. ;o) We have learned to get the car fully prepped before the race at home so we can just arrive and drive. This is a major step.
So Frank Jack and I loaded up the car and headed home. 18 hours from wake up I was again back in bed totally beat but satisfied with the day. It was a good day for all.
See you all at the meeting. Frank and I are bringing our cars I think.