Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Thanksgiving Weekend Racing, Saturday 11/30/19

I headed out to SDRC again for more club racing during Thanksgiving weekend.  We would be doing heads up starts again for qualifying, which were fun, as you had to race your way to a starting position in the Main, but more risky, as you are racing everyone.

For Heat 1 I would start on the pole.  I have a clean start and keep the lead for the first 7 laps.  Then with a fast 2nd place car behind me I go too wide over the hump before the triple and don't carry enough speed to clear the double.  I crash on my wheels, but end up pointed into the pipe.  I hop over the pipe and get back on the track in 3rd place.  I make a pass for 2nd on lap 13, but lose it on the last corner at the end of the race.  I finish in 3rd with a 16:07, fast lap of 17.835, and consistency of 91.7%.  My crashes where I lost track position were due to driving errors with no other cars involved and needed no marshal.



For Heat 2 I started last this time, 7th of 7.  I made my way up to 4th by lap 3 and started to hunt down the top 3.  But after a hard landing off the triple, I had no throttle for a split second.  It drove alright for another lap, but stopped again right before the hump to the table top step up leading back to the straight.  The marshal picked up my car then put it back down and I was able to drive to the start of straight, where I could pick up my car.  All the symptoms pointed to a disconnected sensor wire, which I did find and plugged back in.  For Heat 2 my fast lap was 18.024 with a consistency of 85.7%.



I thought I was ready to go for the Main, as I plugged in the senor wire to my motor which was clearly loose when I inspected the car.  But the set screw for the rear diff input coupler also loosened in Heat 2, and I didn't find out until I hit the throttle to start my warm-up laps.


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