http://www.sfrscca.org/Results/20031109/
It was
going to be a wet two day event according to the weather reports. My son and I
drove up Thursday night and luckily did not hit any rain on the way up. It did
take us an extra half hour on top of the usual three hour drive to reach
Willows do to the Bay Area traffic.
Bright and
early we set up for Friday's and Saturday's events. Practice was in the morning
and it would be the first time we had run with the new hub/axle.
During
practice I did notice that the brake pedal was not staying firm. So there was
probably something going on with the brakes. It turned out that there was a
wobble to the new hub setup. We were able to adjust them so that most of the
wobble was gone.
The first
qualifying went a little better in terms of the brake pedal feel. So it looked
like we had addressed the problem for now. What we plan to do next is
to cut the end off of a drive shaft so that the shaft can align the bearings
the way it would in a normal installation. I qualified 6 out of 8, it was a
small field. I was hoping to do better but I need more practice in the rain,
adjust the suspension setup for rain, and a possible investment in real rain
tires instead of full tread race tires.
Our first
qualifying times were 2:37.606. The other ITA times where: RX-7 2:36.922, RX-3
2:35.936, Integra 2:35.805, RX-7 2:32.877, RX-7 2:27.438. I had qualified 13th
overall out of 21 and 6th in ITA out of 8.
The second
qualifying went better mostly do to track conditions improving. I qualified 5
out of 8 and the moved me up one spot for the start of the race.
Qualifying
Links:
Qualifying
Results - http://www.sfrscca.org/Results/20031109/gq5.htm
Qualifying
1 Video - http://racer.net/itafiero/Video/WSRRC%20Qualify%201.wmv
Qualifying
1 Spin Video - http://racer.net/itafiero/Video/WSRRC%20Qualify%201%20spin%203%20Mbits.mpg
Qualifying
2 Video - http://racer.net/itafiero/Video/WSRRC%20Qualify%202.wmv
Qualifying
2 Spin Video - http://racer.net/itafiero/Video/WSRRC%20Qualify%202%20spin%203%20Mbits.mpg
The race
started with rain. I was passed by an ITB Rabbit running Dirt Stockers. I
was able to move in with a train consisting of the Rabbit, RX-7, BMW, and an
RX-7. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay up with this train for long and had
to give up 5th place. By the end of the second lap I was in 6th behind the
Integra. Then during the third lap the ITB Volvo got past and I was running in
14th overall. Ron in the Integra spun during the 4th lap. I spun in turn 1
of the 5th lap and in turn 7. My final spin of the race was on the 6th lap in
turn 8. I finished up in 6th place and 16th overall.
Race Links:
Race
Results - http://www.sfrscca.org/Results/20031109/gr5.htm
Race Video
- http://racer.net/itafiero/Video/WSRRC%20Race.wmv
Race Spins
- http://racer.net/itafiero/Video/WSRRC%20Race%20spin%203%20Mbits.mpg