Pocono in July

[lateapex911]

Thanks Dick and Dave.....

Not my best weekend... I can't say I am a fan of that place, but not because of my issues, it just lacks ..ummm... character.

Anyway, I have to apologize to those who were unlucky enough to be in my race group and who came upon the mess I left on the tunnel turn. Notably Gary Hutchinson in the silver BMW...sorry about the tire. (And a special thanks and sorry to the Weavers, whose windshield I did in. You couldn't meet nicer racers if you raced for 20 years.)

It seems that a clutch/pressure plate exploded in 4th gear, 6500 rpm or so, and scattered 20 pounds of itself and bellhousing and other bits of my car for hundreds of feet.

It was a loud bang, followed by what sounded like rocks being hurled at a tin roof. I coasted, trying to stay up along the wall in case of fluid spills, then crossed the track sharply to an infield road, but evidently the debris field was too great, and clean up took quite awhile.

The collateral damage was comprehensive. Fortunately, due to the short nature of the RX-7 engine, the flywheel is just in front of the firewall, so damage to the interior, and living objects, was nearly non-existent. But, CAT scan the car's section at the 6" range in front of the firewall, and it's another story. The transmission remains bolted in the rear. But the entire front of the bellhousing is gone. And the parts of the engine it bolted to have gone with it. The back half of the starter was dragging under the car, hanging by the solenoid wire. The heater hoses, oil gauge, fuel gauge and all electrical lines are mangled or severed. The clutch slave cykinder is missing parts. The throw out bearing is thrown out, along with the levers and such. The header is collapsed. There's a 2" hole in the hood in a double thick section, and a 4" gash in the firewall.

And i haven't taken it apart yet! I'll post pics when I do.

Why'd it happen? Not sure yet. The clutch and PP have been in the car for two seasons, the bolts were torqued when it went in. They've got, I'd guess, about 10 or more events on them. Last spring I rebuilt the engine and checked the clutch wear, all looked fine for the season. ISC did the initial build of the motor and balancing. I've felt slightly loose wheel bearings thru the steering wheel before, I've felt a driveshaft that had a harmonic to it, but I didn't feel a thing here. It just went BLAMO! (in the wors of Steve Matchett!)

So, I dunno.

[dominojd]

Weel Jeff where's your freakin video? I have been waiting all day.

[JLawton]

Here's the video. It's probally a little more forgiving than I or Jeff would describe.

Please know that I am not trying to make this about Jeff. We have the right to get annoyed and upset with each other as drivers. The real question is did I do anything wrong in my strategy? We can learn as we go.

Have a look.
Sorry - you'll have to fast forward through the full course caution.

Laps in question start about minute mark 16:20.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...46016071248769

As Agent 86 would say, "I missed it by that much."

Holy crap Tim!! That was a hell of a start!!! I missed from way back where I was!! Nice job!

[dyoungre]

Dick is right, I shouldn't pick on Jake's prep, and I'm sorry, Jake, that I wasn't better prepared. I was really looking forward to the enduro! I am glad to say that my RX7 passed it's flight test, and more importantly, the landing gear survived it's second carrier deck landing.
The tongue-in-cheek was that I still passed Jake, with a flat carb and no clutch. I'm glad I got out, too, but barely. It's tough to call when making the time to get out isn't enough. I shouldn't have raced if I couldn't 'properly' prepare the car, but I can't make the time to prepare the car if I'm not entered ....

[benspeed]

Tim - great strategy - no dirty doggery on that. You made Jeff work for it and I bet next time you will make him work even harder :-)

Nice driving by a lot of guys in that video - loved the outside pass by Harding on Driscoll in the second gear right hander. T-4? You guys drive a different line than I do at Pocono and I wonder if its because of fwd or strategic corner hoggage.

Great being back in an IT car for the enduro - which was more like a test day with 9 cars. Very much put the hook in.

Great time at Pocono and a blast to see the 'crew' racing hard, kicking ass and no wrecks.

[gran racing]

Honestly, it's too hard to tell from Tim's in-car video as you can't see wide enough. It would be interesting to see Jeff's.

[JLawton]

Honestly, it's too hard to tell from Tim's in-car video as you can't see wide enough. It would be interesting to see Jeff's.

None from me. Either a bad battery or a bad charger. it's too bad becasue there was some GREAT action.

[lateapex911]

Yea, good call Ben on that Harding pass, it was sweet!

Timmah my man, you were trying hard, good for you. Jeff was annoyed, as i would have been. But, you have a right to drive where you want as long as you leave room. Jeff returned the favor once he was by. All in all, you pushed as far as you could, Tim. And Jeff, if he came over on you once you had an overlap, and you had to either go off track or brake, you have a serious case. But it doesn't look like that's what happened.

I bet another strategy would have been to hang back on him pre chicane, then get a run, feint inside, get him to go for the block, then drive around the outside down the start/finish straight. Even if you couldn't get it to stick in 1, or 2, 3 is a lefty, and you would have had it then.

[lateapex911]

One last question/thought. What does the crowd think ....

It doesn't show on the video, but, what if Jeff had the overlap, AND had his nose a foot or two in front of Timmy? Do the roles reverse, and now Jeff can ease Tim to the left and up towards the outside wall??

[benspeed]

I will try to move the other car to my advantage without contact so, yes. Jeff would be totally cool on that move.

But this crap never pays off in the long run. Example NHIS ITS race - I dive bombed the field into 3, the right hander before the hill. Got inside Nick going up the hill and drifted left to press him into crappy surface/grass. He let it go for a moment and then wacked the shit out of my car, ripping off the driver mirror and leaving a deserved door dent. He got a fender dent.

He was probably cool with me running him to the edge, but not into the grass and let me know it. We pushed each other to the edge at a couple of other spots and then he got away from the field and zoom zoom. Sorta depends on comfort level. But almost every time I try this crap it never pays off and really isn't safe. After a few expensive seasons I stopped doing that stuff.

[Andy Bettencourt]

The missing element is Jeff's video. If Tim FORCED Jeff over (because they were side-by-side) and Jeff moved to avoid contact - and continued to do so, then I see where the issue might have been.

If Tim drove to the inside and created a very small lane for Jeff to pass, then it's a very agressive defensive line...

[Tkczecheredflag]

The missing element is Jeff's video. If Tim FORCED Jeff over (because they were side-by-side) and Jeff moved to avoid contact - and continued to do so, then I see where the issue might have been.

If Tim drove to the inside and created a very small lane for Jeff to pass, then it's a very agressive defensive line...

I encourage Jeff to offer is thoughts but from my seat, if Jeff had the additional UMPH the lane was clear to pass. I was trying to control his race line, forcing the car to stay on the bottom of the track (I thought the video didn't do the stratgey justice - it looks like there is plenty of track to work with), and making it difficult for him to set up his "turn in" for T-1. I would call it an aggressive defensive line - Jeff might call it something else. Keep in mind that Jeff chose to initiate his pass on the inside. I would have continued to defend the inside line whether he was trying to pass there or not - Right?. If Jeff chose the outside line, my only choice would have been to defend the inside to hold on to P-1. By using the inside line to pass it just made it easier to defend and control his race line. Just my take from my seat.