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!