Alan Baker
2019-04-23 19:22:27 UTC
I'm not sure what possessed the Sports Car Club of BC and the
International Conference of Sports Car Clubs to schedule our first race
of the year on Easter weekend, but it was frustrating to see the reduced
turnout when looking at the list of entries.
But I was satisfied that there were at least a couple of cars that I
expected to be mixing it up with.
But it was frustrating when Saturday morning dawned and one of those two
cars wasn't there because the driver got called into work. Still, there
was Larry Bangert up from Washington, and I was satisfied that he'd be
able to make me work for anything I got.
So it was frustrating when he had brake problems and so could run with
me in qualifying. That left me qualified on pole for Formula F, and 4
seconds faster than Larry. So I had to be satisfied with that, and
hopefully, Larry would have his brake issues sorted by race time four
and a quarter hours later. And it was certainly satisfying that I
qualified faster than one Formula Continental. :-)
In the race, it seemed like Larry would be up to speed as he was only
about a second behind after things got sorted, so I was frustrated that
I had to run a fairly boring race in first place from flag to flag. But
given that we almost put too little fuel in the car and it started to
misfire when it got about about 4500rpm, I was definitely satisfied to
cross the line for the win (still running more than 2 seconds a lap
faster than the next fastest FF)
The next morning while we were refueling, it was frustrating to find
that at some point in the race, the rear anti-roll bar had broken, but I
was satisfied with how the car handled after I adjusted the front bar to
full soft. And I was definitely satisfied with qualifying on pole again,
still more than 3 seconds faster than the next fastest FF), but I was
frustrated by the continuing lack of Dave, who had to work on Saturday,
but said he'd be there on Sunday. And Larry was still having problems,
so it didn't bode well for a satisfying race.
The race came, we put sufficient fuel in the car, and I had to be
satisfied by being so far in the lead with 5 minutes to go that I
couldn't see the car in second place.
So imagine my frustration when a small piece of tape jammed open the
throttle butterfly just enough to prevent the car from slowing for turn
7A and I ended up off the track after riding over the apex curbing at
7B. With the engine revving to more than 4000rpm with my foot off the
throttle, there was no way to get the racing clutch throwout bearing to
disengage the clutch enough to get back into gear, so I got to watch the
end of the race in my rear-view mirrors until the safety crew came over
to move my car a little farther off the racing line. Then I could see
anything at all, and we waited until the last car to exit the track was
ahead of us before I got flat-towed back to my paddock space.
Still, one race win and one race in the bag except for a mechanical issue...
...I guess I'm satisfied.
:-)
International Conference of Sports Car Clubs to schedule our first race
of the year on Easter weekend, but it was frustrating to see the reduced
turnout when looking at the list of entries.
But I was satisfied that there were at least a couple of cars that I
expected to be mixing it up with.
But it was frustrating when Saturday morning dawned and one of those two
cars wasn't there because the driver got called into work. Still, there
was Larry Bangert up from Washington, and I was satisfied that he'd be
able to make me work for anything I got.
So it was frustrating when he had brake problems and so could run with
me in qualifying. That left me qualified on pole for Formula F, and 4
seconds faster than Larry. So I had to be satisfied with that, and
hopefully, Larry would have his brake issues sorted by race time four
and a quarter hours later. And it was certainly satisfying that I
qualified faster than one Formula Continental. :-)
In the race, it seemed like Larry would be up to speed as he was only
about a second behind after things got sorted, so I was frustrated that
I had to run a fairly boring race in first place from flag to flag. But
given that we almost put too little fuel in the car and it started to
misfire when it got about about 4500rpm, I was definitely satisfied to
cross the line for the win (still running more than 2 seconds a lap
faster than the next fastest FF)
The next morning while we were refueling, it was frustrating to find
that at some point in the race, the rear anti-roll bar had broken, but I
was satisfied with how the car handled after I adjusted the front bar to
full soft. And I was definitely satisfied with qualifying on pole again,
still more than 3 seconds faster than the next fastest FF), but I was
frustrated by the continuing lack of Dave, who had to work on Saturday,
but said he'd be there on Sunday. And Larry was still having problems,
so it didn't bode well for a satisfying race.
The race came, we put sufficient fuel in the car, and I had to be
satisfied by being so far in the lead with 5 minutes to go that I
couldn't see the car in second place.
So imagine my frustration when a small piece of tape jammed open the
throttle butterfly just enough to prevent the car from slowing for turn
7A and I ended up off the track after riding over the apex curbing at
7B. With the engine revving to more than 4000rpm with my foot off the
throttle, there was no way to get the racing clutch throwout bearing to
disengage the clutch enough to get back into gear, so I got to watch the
end of the race in my rear-view mirrors until the safety crew came over
to move my car a little farther off the racing line. Then I could see
anything at all, and we waited until the last car to exit the track was
ahead of us before I got flat-towed back to my paddock space.
Still, one race win and one race in the bag except for a mechanical issue...
...I guess I'm satisfied.
:-)