Team all present, at dinner....

We came...we mounted and demouted tires...we're through tech and at team meal. Looking forward to tomorrow...

18th!

We're done, apparently my last post courted one final mechanical demon as we ran out of gas with 10 mins to go....a great team gave us 5 gals of fuel because Kebin was at the other end of the pits (we didn't know what was wrong at first, he should have had fuel). So, 18th it is! I'm extremely proud of our ten that was here AND our ten members that couldn't make the trip! Stay tuned for more updates in the future!

One hour to go...

We are now in 16th, and barring mechanical catastrophe of ours or the competition, that's probably where we'll finish. A few more problems struck...yet another pair of broken wheels (at the hub, this is getting old...I don't want to run this car any more with stock wheels, it seems they always break on MY shift...hmmmmm.....), a broken wheel stud in the replacement right rear (fixed that one on pit road in style, but I had to run at reduced speed until the team was ready to fix it (again, why does this sort of thing always happen while I'm driving...I don't even drive on the rumble strips!). Robert, Stephen, Dennis, Kevin and myself are all having a great time anyway!

Life is giving us lemons at the moment...

After a short time back out, we ran into another snag when the steering rack decided it didn't want to turn right anymore. Unfortunately, we're on the road course right now, where turning right is not a luxury.... Replaced rack and Robert is back out...turning very quick laps. We think we're in 18th now but live timing was out when I started this post....

Kevin has now discovered what happens to a TR6 when a half-shaft breaks in the middle of a hard left-hand corner. Answer: pretty much everything on the right rear of the car is junk. Thanks to Jack, we came fully equipped with the spares to do the job. After replacing the halfshaft, hub, brakes, wheel, and trailing arm, then bleeding the brakes, we're back out there but have fallen to 15th. More to come....

9th...but....

Two cars in front of us got together on the oval...both need major repairs. Not the way we'd like to move up. One of the cars has been pitted next to us and is a nice group...we hope they can get back in. They were running third in a V6 mustang much like Grim Reaper's.

10th on the oval...so far

Running 10th on the oval this morning, nothing wrong, just some faster cars were right behind us last night.

7th after day 1....

By the time we finished working on the car and found a 24 hour Walmart that would sell us a battery, we got to bed around 2:30. This meant that the 6 am alarm was greeted with less than enthusiasm... However, we're here, Lacey's ready to start from 7th position, and so are we!

8th...we think...

Timing/Scoring is temporary down, so we're not completely sure... :-)

10th again....

But on the bright side, we've made our final pit stop (tonight). Robert driving. I'm hoping some of the cars in front of us have to pit again. We're about a lap and a half behind the car in 9th. Lacey is running well... :-)

Climbed back to 7th

We dropped to 10th after pitting, but Kevin has us back to 7th...

Now 7th

Stephen is proving that yes, Triumphs belong on ovals too.... :-)

9th and catching 8th....

We're now 9th and Stephen has been catching the 8th place car by about 4 seconds a lap. They still have a lap on us though....

13th and climbing....

Now running the oval...I just finished my stint, most of which was intermittent rain on the oval...

Still raining!

Up to 10th, Robert doing well!

12th in the rain...

Now 12th, under yellow for some incidents (other cars).

It's a downpour....

Serious rain here. Been running yellow for a while. Up to 10th position!

We're Racin'!

Running 18th, out of 47, just started. Kevin driving.

Testing Complete

Testing is done for the day. No problems... We changed the rear fuel filter and checked everything else. She uses a lot of fuel running the oval! Worked on tire pressures all day and nailed them for tomorrow. There are definitely a lot of fast cars here compared to a "regular" chump race. Of course, that's what you'd expect! All drove well today. I'm the slowest, as usual, especially on the oval. But it's only by a second or two, not the 30 seconds some of us were slower at VIR in the dark. Race starts for real at 10 am tomorrow. 3 hours on the road course, then 5 hours on the oval, then 5 hours on the road course...then Sunday! More tomorrow. Let me know with a comment if you read this...

We sailed through tech as the first car through, no problems. Getting ready for practice now.

In Iowa!

Ok, folks...I'm going to try to real-time post from Iowa, if the electronic gods cooperate.

The team is all here, Stephen, Robert, Kevin and myself, along with Dennis. Everyone got here fine and we're going to bed. We'll be attempting to get through tech early tomorrow and practicing on the speedway. Robert, Stephen and Dennis actually got to ride around the track today with the Iowa Speedway "track boss," they report that the "rumble strips" in the infield section are essentially CURBS and we should treat them as such...hope none of us end up going over one!

Check back here for more updates...

Jamie

The Race!

To make a long story short...we came, we raced...we had a few minor problems...we finished!

The Top Ten Notes:

1. Having your first ever time around VIR full course being at 10:45 pm on a moonless night is...not fun.



2. Having a wheel center break out (!) of the left front wheel under braking is...exciting, but not fun.



3. Racing 83 other cars at VIR is...FUN!



4. Some folks on our team can really drive. I'm not one of them. Wayne is.



5. Changing out superheated calipers when the caliper seals blow is...not fun. Being filmed for a documentary/reality show WHILE this is going on just makes life more interesting. Being interviewed immediately after the fix was...surreal.



6. Lacey 2 is a better race car than Lacey 1. Period.



7. Ethanol-based gasoline outgasses A LOT MORE than avgas. This leads to interesting experiences when you pop the filler cap at the first pitstop after using avgas. Thank you, Robert and Stephen figuring out and instituting a fix.



8. Watching the sun come up after a day and night of racing should be on everyone's bucket list. Awesome...and that's an overused word.



9. The 'never say die' attitude within RiffRAF Racing is something I wish everyone could experience. Very uplifting!



10. If we had to lose a position in the final hour due to having no brakes, I can't imagine anyone I'd rather lose it to than Piggy. Nice job, Ken!

We finished 20th of 84 cars...first time out with a new car that was much better than anticipated. On to the Chumpionship!

VIR Pre-race--Keeping Calm and Carrying On!

The "Classic VIR 24" has been over for almost two weeks now, but I'm still coming down from the great feelings of accomplishment. Simply making the race at all, considering where we were May 1 (no car, little time, oh my...) was a Triumph of monumental proportions, but to finish 20th out of 84 entries was even better! Here's the whole story...

After the usual mad dash to finish the final components on the car, Kevin and Robert drove up Thursday night to make sure we got good spots for the paddock and the camping trailer they had brought (which became RiffRAF HQ for the weekend). They ended up 14th vehicle in line if I remember correctly.

When I got there early am Friday, there were probably 100+ vehicles in line outside the gate. I found Robert and Kevin by walking up the road just in time to have the gates open and them start the long path in. By texting back and forth, we could follow each other's progress, which was added to when Tim ended up about 8 vehicles behind me in line.

Kevin and Robert got a GREAT parking spot for the trailer at John Condren's recommendation and we found ourselves in a good paddock spot as well. We were able to thank John by dropping off an ice-cold bottle of water on the way through the line.

Honestly, it was amazing how ChumpCar managed to organize us all in that little space. I heard few if any complaints and we certainly were happy. Soon Joe arrived and we prepared Lacey2 for her first laps in anger.

Practice on the South course went well...but it was really hot. One mistake we made was hooking up the power brake booster on Lacey2. The original Lacey didn't have a functioning booster so we never worried about it. Thinking more brake action was better, we made this one functional, but it cost us dearly down the road. More later.

What it cost us at this point was proper brake bedding. We had new Hawk pads and were not able to modulate the pedal well enough to get them bedded in properly. Consequently, the brakes were very grabby and there was A LOT of vibration when they were applied. After consulting with Dennis and looking up bedding in directions again on the internet (thank you, smart phone!) we took the pads out, ground them to a fresh surface with an angle grinder and tried again. Better, but still not ideal (and still had vibrations). However, the car was at least stopping RIGHT NOW when you pushed hard enough on the pedal.

After we had all tried out the South course (and found out yet again that we have exactly ZERO straight line speed but can out brake and out corner almost any other car in the series) it was time for dinner. We all headed to Shoney's, had a good time, and then crashed for the night.

As for the race, that will have to wait for the next post!

Lacey2 is Finished!!! Yay!

Yay! Lacey2 is finished! Ok, almost finished...there's some numbers/letters coming that will finish dressing her out, we'll apply those at VIR. Kevin's taken her back to Siler City today and will be safety-wiring the caliper bolts, repacking the front wheel bearings, and installing the radio...but...other than that, she's done. Huge thanks go to team members and the extended team with Dave, Ted, Robert, Stephen & Doug especially allowing us to make it to VIR. I wish I could say that I never doubted that we'd make it, but considering the mountain we had to climb starting after the Charlotte debacle...totally phenomenal work, folks.

Anyway, here she is in all her glory... :-)

June 18 Update

Doug, Tim and I worked on Lacey2 today. Doug was able to completely finish and test all the wiring harness and installed all the toggle switches and the main switch into doug-made holes in the new instrument panel. We now have relays for all the lights and fuel pump installed in a really professional looking panel in the footwell, and a cool suit switch on the panel so when we forget to start it in the pits, the driver can start it!

Also, Tim was a workhorse, installing the carbs, exhaust downpipe w/new gasket, brake master cylinder, clutch master cylinder, fan belt, generator, and fabricated screens for the grill and two ducts in the front valence and figured out a way to install the grill as well.

I, on the other hand, can only account for the trunk latch and alignment and replumbing the fuel system up to the new conduit, including a new breather location where it's both more protected and going to stay cleaner and a better location for the pre-pump filter and cutoff valve. Also installed choke cables, temperature sensor, catch can and other miscellaneous items like a ground cable between the body and engine.

I also asked Tim to remove the offending part of the choke mechanism that caught the throttle linkage at Charlotte...it's gone! I have temporarily hooked up the mechanical linkage with a replacement clip (it broke in the wreck) until the cable system is worked out.

I'm hoping to install the rest of the fuel system this week, which will allow us to start the car for a short period (no cooling system yet) just to verify ignition and that everything's OK since the accident at Charlotte.

Please see attached pictures for more details. Note the great front and rear bumpers (that was for Jack's benefit)! Note that the radiator is just placed in and still needs to be recored in Siler City.

Please note that Doug mounted all switches so that "down" is off, "up" is on. We will be labeling everything this time as well, and the switches and gauges are in a much more logical order.

Further Progress

More pictures to share as Lacey-er (Lacey2? It rolls off the tongue better...) comes together. Work session at my garage this Saturday, but you can see the cage & bumpers are finished and there's actually wheels back on the car! Yay!!!!! Tim was kind enough to move the car to Raleigh while I've been out of town this week...

Projects this weekend will include finishing the dash and wiring, sheetmetal work between the rear of the car and front, and many other "small" details :-)

Well, it's been a long time, but here's an update

I had stopped using the blog for updates, but since there have been a lot of pictures taken, it makes it easier to use this for our mailing list. So...

We had a work day today. To catch anyone up that hasn't known what's happened, we turned the TR6 into an awesome...ok...a semi-awesome racecar. And then, when I didn't shut it off as quickly as I should have at Charlotte...it was totaled. So, since then, we've been working on making the car all over again starting from a new frame and tub donated to the team by Joe, our wonderful team member.

The team had a major work session today; the second one in the past two weeks. LOTS was accomplished. We now have four wheels worth of suspension, the engine and tranny are installed (bolts not tightened yet, but they are installed!), all four fenders are installed (thanks, Joe!), a new dash panel was fabricated and pre-installed (will have to be pulled one more time and painted) from Lacey's old drivers' side door. Brakes were installed, fuel pump and ALL electrical harness was put in place (THANKS, Doug!!!) and both headlight buckets were installed (we now have a TR7 bucket on the driver's side).

We actually would have put the car on its wheels, but didn't have enough straight wheels and tires to put it on yet. Jack sent three wheels by Joe today and I will be cleaning them up and painting them to re-create the famous ORANGE set of wheels.

From the top, you can see the new door (and Kevin's temporary (?) numbering). Nice to see how the door fastening will go.

Wanted to show Doug pondering the next move....

You can see the nice electrical panel Doug created for us installed in the footwell.

Also the fuel pump installation (in the trunk for more protection this time)...we will be running the fuel line through conduit through the interior to keep it away from the hot exhaust. This is "chump legal."

You can also see the (currently) camo dash and proof that the engine is installed.

Looks like more work next weekend as long as we can figure out a way to transport the car to Raleigh...I'm out of town, so it will have to be someone else...

Jamie
Squadron Leader, RiffRAF Racing