SAARC @ Road Atlanta

[trueblue]

Well, I made it through. I did not bend the car and I finished with no car trouble at all.

I am disappointed in my own driving performance though. The track intimidated me but by the time I was 10 laps or so into the race I started getting a little more comfortable with the track. I never did find all the right lines. 12 and 7 were the most difficult for me. 5 gave me a little trouble at first but I started to play with it and managed to hold some Miata’s at bay. I still have much to learn. I have to be happy with the fact that I came within 1 second of the previous owner’s best time. I still ran an awful best of 2:00 flat.

My hat is off to Ron. He came away with second place in class beating out some very formidable cars! Great job! Thanks for all your help! After seeing what Ron did with his Mustang I can honestly say that a Mustang can be competitive.

Dr. Jon, I don't know were you finished but I never saw you again after the start and that had to be a good thing for you! Congrats!


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TOO MUCH POWER IS JUST ENOUGH



[This message has been edited by trueblue (edited March 09, 2004).]

[trueblue]

How can I get the results of the SAARC?

[Tristan Smith]

www.mylaps.com

has them listed.

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Tristan Smith
Buffalo's Southwest Cafe
ITA Nissan 240sx #56

[manny]

hey trueblue congrats on your finish. how did she handle with the sway bar setup? is your carbed or not?

[trueblue]

Manny,

Thanks,

I had a lot of snap steer. I think it would have been better without it (rear swaybar). The car did not lean as much but it was not as comfortable to drive. I am going to try an adjustable rear swaybar that is lighter. I never raced that track before so it is hard to say for sure. I had a great time. I just can't wait to get used to this car and the tracks. I think I have a good car.

Oh, My car is carbed. I am thinking about fuel injection though. Not sure yet.

[This message has been edited by trueblue (edited March 08, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by trueblue (edited March 08, 2004).]

[jericker]

Hey Jim, I had an okay race. I had a problem with a rocker arm bolt back out at the end of the qualifying session and retorqued thinking it would be okay. I started out great in the race and ran a 1:53.766 which beats my fastest time at that track handily. I passed cars right and left in the race and settled in nicely behind a SM car and we marched forward in a hurry. However, the bolt backed off again as I was starting lap 13 so I had to back off substantially and thus got lapped but took the checker in the pit lane. Overall, not a bad race, but I'll have to see why that bolt keeps backing out (likely going to be some work involved). Good job overall for you. Good luck in the future, hope to see you at the track again someday.

[Ron]

Hey Trueblue thanks for the kind words. Yes two years of development work on the car and many hours of dyno time on the motor paid off. We learned a heck of a lot last year running the test car and we were able to apply it to this car. With another year of work, maybe even by the ARRC we will fight for a spot up front. Hope to see you at Roebling in April. We are going to tear the motor down again and do some more dyno pulls. We are trying to find some more top end power by playing with the carb and air filter assembly. I love the low end pull we get now and I don't want to give that up.

[trueblue]

Jon,
Sorry to hear about the problem. I was wondering what happened. Hope you get that fixed soon. You had some nice times there!

Ron,
More speed. Good luck I am sure you will find it. Let me know where it is and I'll give you some competition at Roebling.

I will definitely go back to Road Atlanta! I am on a quest for a good finish.

[joeg]

Jon--Perhaps some new fasteners are in order.

Hopefully, you did not "ding" anything in the valve train with this new problem.

Cheers.

[jericker]

Hey Joe, don't know if I "dinged" anything or not in the valve train, I guess we'll find out at some point. I think we are going to see if ARP has anything up their sleeve for fasteners and if not then we'll helicoil the hole and use a new bolt and possibly thread lock too. I hope this is it for the probs.

Jim, enjoyed the talk, good luck with the "stang" hope to see you again some time soon.

[trueblue]

Jon,

Thanks. It was nice meeting you. It is good to see other Fords doing well. Are you coming to Roebling?

[jericker]

Jim, I won't be at Roebling. It's a little too far to tow there. I think I'll get the rocker arm bolt thing worked out and get my oil cooler on in the next couple of months and then I'll stay up here in the CenDiv at IRP and then Mid Ohio. I'll run into you all again sometime. I'm thinking about Barber this summer, what do you think?

[trueblue]

I would like to go to Barber. My sister-in-law lives in Birmingham so I would have a place to stay. I may even be able to get thte wife to go. I have heard that Barber is a real nice track.

[jericker]

I have heard that Barber is great as well. My brother lives in Dallas and races an EP Fiat 124 so he would like to come up and I would suspect that my family would go as well. Might be an idea later on.