http://www.sfrscca.org/Results/20030518/
Hi all,
Well I made
it to the track without having to rent a truck, yippee! I arrived at
Practice
didn't go that well. We didn't check the lug nuts on the wheels like we usually
do. Neither one of us remember loosening them but after 5 turns I felt the
brakes soften and by the 7th turn it was time to pull off. All but one of the
nuts was attached. Three studs were broken with one nut missing on the other
good stud.
We replaced
the hub with on from last year and we were ready for qualifying. I went out
hoping to repeat my performance of the first race of the season, 2nd on grid. I
was not able to duplicate that performance yet again even with brand new
245/50x15 Hoosiers, I qualified 7th. The stutter turned in to a bog and I was
having trouble getting my shifts right. This the first time I've run this setup
at Thunderhill so the shifting wasn't a big concern.
But going from a stutter to a bug was.
I got the
computer out and plugged in to the ECM (car computer) to see what was up. We
checked the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) and it looked okay when we moved it
by hand. What was strange was when I used my foot instead of 100% it was at 20%.
We went through all kinds of guessing as to what was causing the anomaly. We
finally stumbled on the fact that it was only when the TPS was positioned where
my foot would be to the floor. Mind you there was all
kinds of serious guessing before we stumbled on this fact. Since a step beyond
on the TPS sent the throttle position to 100% on the ECM we put a vacuum cap on
the TPS lever to give it a little more travel. Honest it's what did. Now in
theory we were ready for the race.
I was on
grid early, don't want to repeat the fiasco at the beginning of the year, and
was put in my spot at number 15. We rolled out on to the track and began our
warm up. Instead of a slow role as we came on to the straight before the
starting line on the straightaway I was having to floor it to keep with the
cars in front. Needless to say they did not give us a green flag. We went
around one more time this time I was hoping for a good start. I was all ready
for a slow start as I came on to the straight. Instead they started role on the
speed, not as bad as the first time but still..., and I was forced to shift.
Well shift is the wrong word for what I did. Since I had been anticipating a
slower start I was ready to drag the brake in 2nd. Instead I was trying to
shift to 3rd. Some of you may have guessed what I did next. I put my left foot
down but not into the clutch pedal. I hit the brakes! Luckily the ITB of Tom
Lewis behind me was asleep and didn't even notice me hitting the brakes so he
didn't hit me. :-). I lost one position and quite some distance to that
position. I was able to catch them by turn 2 and was now chasing Ron Carol,
John Smalle, and Tache
Callas who was trying to get by Andy Banta, now running in ITS with a BMW
325is. Tache was able to get by Andy with in a few laps.
Ron finally got by John. I was trying to keep up with everybody and succeeding!
I had not stumbles, stutters, or bogs. John is very difficult to pass so I was
biding my time. I was starting to be able to push hard on John and was hoping I
find a place to get back. The one lap finger was given so it was now or never.
We had hit traffic which didn't cause to much
trouble until this lap. A Miata we were lapping ended
up between us and I lost some ground to John. I then tried to make that up in
turn 11 and I went off track. I was able to drive back on but the chance to get
by John was gone. John had almost lost it twice during that lap but I was the
one who made a real goof.
Well at
least we finished, no problems, found that the TPS was causing problems, and
we're almost ready for Laguna Seca. The old bearing
was making all kinds of noise by the end of the race so we'll be retiring it
for good. We'll have some more made up for the next race.
I forgot to
mention times. I qualified with a 2:14.375 at least a second off what I've done
in 2002 and 2001.
My race
time improved to a 2:13.455 and I had another
I forgot to
mention the other ITA times and my weight issues. ITA qualifying times:
1) Steve Borlik - 2:08.928
2) Bob
Bradfield -
3) John
Beckwith - 2:11.000
4) Peter Tachi - 2:12.258
5) John Schmalle - 2:13.738
6) David Vodden - 2:13.743
7) Alan
Hamilton - 2:14.375
8) Ron
Carroll - 2:14.457
My weight
was 2803 with driver. I weighed 208 which meant the car weighed in at 2595. The
legal weight for the '88 GT in IT is 2600 + 180 (driver) = 2780. So the car was
5 pounds light and that is with 60 pounds of weights. What we have found is
that the coupe/formula shipped at 100 pounds lighter than the GT. The only
weight considered for the '88 was the GT. So we will be writing to the
competition board on an "errors and omissions" issue to look at the
Formula as 100 pounds lighter and since it is include in ITA that the weights
for the '88 Fiero V6s should be 2680 with driver and not 2780. If anyone
is running and '88 and confirm our findings please consider writing the board
to request a fix. TIA
ITA race
times:
1) Bob
Bradfield - 2:10.276
2) Steve Borlik - 2:10.486
3) John
Beckwith - 2:11.799
4) Peter Tachi - 2:11.889
5) Ron
Carroll - 2:12.455
6) John Schmalle - 2:13.381
7) Alan
Hamilton - 2:13.455
8) David Vodden - 2:14.112
Oh and
there were 16 ITA starters with 14 finishers. So I finished middle of the ITA
pack and 14th overall which was one position higher than I qualified at.