Blackhawk Valley Harvey West Memorial National

[gpdatsun]

Posted also on the Roadster Racing website....

Hey roadster race fans,

First race of the season and first race win! Like last year, this same event, the race leader, Steve Sargis, who sets the pace in Cendiv, retired late in the race and I inherited the win. I'm grateful to my man Steve, 'cause I can use the tires, but commiserate his frustration. He was out of sight...ran a lap 1/10th off of his Blackhawk record.

Leading up to the race, I built a new engine and had a new radiator built by C&R. If you remember last year, after I hung on the new FP legal Mikunis, I couldn't keep the car from overcooking. So C&R finished the radiator and delivered it to me on Friday, the day before the event! Of course, I had the engine in the car and had run it in the garage with Joe's old original radiator, but no time to dyno the fresh engine to see where we stood going into the first race.

We were group 5 of 8, so we had some time at the track to do the usual stuff with a fresh built. Retorque the head and check the lash, timing etc.
Morning practice showed that the engine had potential, all went well. Still, it got a bit hot 210, but stayed there. I stayed out all session to put laps on the engine, giving it about 8-9/10ths. I clocked a 1:20.8xx, in range of my GP lap record. Oil pressure was good and it pulled willingly through the 5-8000 range, so I was pleased. But I was concerned about the engine temp, as it wasn't a very hot day. However, I had moved the temp sender back onto the head from where Joe always had it in the pump, so it was more accurately measuring the true engine temp.

Afternoon qualifying went well, though I found it tough to get a clean lap. I ran into traffic in the initial laps, so the best tire lap was a wash. I actually cruised though the pits to find some clean space. I pushed through the session until, all of a sudden, going into corner 6 the pedal went to the floor and we weren't slowing down. I was turned enough that I survived going onto the grass and across the access road. Rejoining the track at a more sedate pace, I decided it was time to come in. Good thing because the brakes were entirely gone; I'd blown the front master. Best lap was a 1:19.966 placing me 3rd in FP and 10th over all. Temp was still hot but the 22-24lb cap was doing it's job, no tell-tale vapor from the catch can.

Spent the rest of the day removing the master and chasing down a replacement. Mike Gnadt, a fellow FP competitor had a new 3/4 Tilton master (mine was a 0.7). Close enough! Blackhawk is only an hour from home so I brought the master back with me.

At home, I found I had another 0.7 master (forgot I had it), so I reassembled one from the two finding a mangled seal the one that had been on the car. I also found a shroud I'd used in the past for the radiator and packed more brake fluid to take back down.

This morning we arrive back to replace the brake master, but it still wouldn't hold/build pressure, so I bummed the one Mike had and we put that in. Now, we went from a 0.7" to a 0.75", ~15% difference in area/volume, so now the question was, what happens to bias? The concensus among folks we put the question to was to go a couple clicks to the front as the larger diameter pushed more volume but at less pressure than the 0.7. That proved to be the correct assessment. I went two clicks to the front and the brakes were good....to start.

The race started out well from my stand point. I was initially gridded right behind Gerry Lamb in second and we filed through in order, though I went two wide through 3 with an EP RX-7 until I had the inside leading into 3A and he had to give it up. I believe I got past Gerry on the next lap in turn 1 and began to stretch a lead over both he and Dieter, while keeping Steve Sargis in sight, at least for the beginning. I still had the RX-7 (Rob Hummel) behind but he was strong and Gerry and Dieter had dropped off, so I let him past. Of course, now he's in front taking my air and the temp starts to go where you don't want it to...At one point I saw 215, but I let abit more gap between us and it came down some. At this point, it was the tires and brake pads, both wearing thin (good for at least one more race, right?!), came into play. I started having to pump the brakes multiple times before I got good pedal and the tires were beat. Lap times increased ~2 seconds as I held on. Thankfully, the gap I'd built held up despite my spinning at the entrance to three when the brake pump up didn't work. I kept it running and sped off again, but Dieter now was in my mirrors (Gerry had retired). The starter held up the one to go sign, and I knew I could hold him off, all the time thinking that Steve was way down the road, and Dieter and I were distant 2nd and third.

We came down pit lane after the cool down and the stewards point to me and to the guy holding the checkered flags. Who me?! What, really?!
Believe it, Steve had retired, leaving me to inherit the win. Maiden voyage for the new engine/radiator, not without some issues, but it's a win! Best lap was a new personal best 1:19.645.

Next up is again at Blackhawk in two weeks. See you at the track! Time for new tires and brake pads and more work to cool this baby down some.

[spl310]

Congratulations Bill! Well fought!!

[S Allen]

Congratulations Bill and thanks much for sharing. I hope to make it to Road America some day. Sound like you would be a hoot to watch on the track.

SA

[srl311-04425]

Good job, Bill! Glad to see that you're making progress in FP trim.

See you at the Sprints next month!

Mark C.