We had our test date last Saturday, got to see a lot of old friends including Mr Dan who I met on my first visit to SSR, he has followed Connelly's progress throughout his brief career, it was great seeing him again.
We had a busy agenda for the test session, new engine to break in, new tires to break in. Mr. Joe said that the engine was ready to go as we had it dynoed in Charlotte, but I am so cautious I broke it in again, when you spend that much money you want to be sure. In our first time on the track there were about 7 cars out with us, I told the other drivers we were going to be running about half speed and that we would stay out of their way, which we did. We got a break as there were no cars in the grid and we got 20 laps before the next class was up. We did two more 10 lap sets gradually increasing speed. The car handled great and the enging felt really strong. In the next set I told Connelly to increase his speed and push it a little. He turned some pretty good times, He even practiced a restart. The car really looked good on the track, very smooth. We ran the whole practice without the front fenders or hood or grille in order to maximize air flow to new engine. It still got very hot. We put a fan on it between sets to bring it down which it did. In the final set I told Connelly to run it, he got some really good times, although the track was cold, the ambient air temperture was around 50 degrees with a 20 mph wind, it was more than cool. All in all we had a very successful test and are looking forward to the 3rd of March to start the season.
We had some liquid on the top of the engine and some oil drops on the left rear fender and running board. I thought that the head bolts were leaking, so I called Mr. Joe Sun. morning all concerned. Mr Joe pointed out you were running too good to have an oil leak through the head bolts, you would be loosing compression. I was so paranoid about that new motor. Joe told me go out there and find your oil leak and you will be fine. The rear oil cooler line had worked about an eighth of a turn loose and there was just a slight drip, which accounted for the oil on the rear fender and running board. The liquid on the top of the engine was brake fluid, we had over filled the tank. Joe probablly thinks that I am a raving lunatic worrying about every little thing without checking it out first. O well that is what us neophites do. Again Joe sorry for being such a pest.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Off Season Prep for 2012
The #32 team began preparing for the 2012 season in early fall. We tore the car down to the last nut and bolt, had the chassis clipped and powdercoated -gloss black. The old clip was out a bunch, 1/2 inch in on the right side and almost 3/4 inch up on the right side, probablly a result of three too close encounters with the #4. We just seemed to have an attraction to each other. We ordered a new engine from Mr. Joe which is now installed, changed all of the brake lines, put all new bolts in the controll arms, new steering collum (we had already replaced the steering box last August), changed all fluids. It took us forever to get the car scaled as the front clip was so far out that we had to go back to the measurements we took of the car when we first got it. We have it pretty close. It was a lot of work but the car looks good and we are waiting to get to the track on the 11th of Feb. The new engine sounds strong, we will see how strong. We are certainly looking forward to the 2012 season.
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