Saturday afternoon Sept 15 found us on our way to Sunny South Raceway, we got away early as we had a lot to do when we got to the track. We were very tight at the last race before the huricane and couldn't keep the car on the bottom in the center of the turns which cost us a lot of time. We had an opportunity before the storm to scale the car and got the numbers to where we thought they should be (this coupe handles a lot differently than the sedan), but we are still "chasing it". After registering and going through tech we got on the track and were too loose, but the track temp was 132 degrees, so we tweaked the chassis a little to get it quicker, didn't gain much. We had to wait for the track to cool down some. After another minimal adjustment we qualified in fourth place. We wanted to take a big swing at the setup before the heat race, but Mr. Joe said he wanted to get an early start because we had the Bombers and the Mighty Mites on the schedule that night. I didn't want to get the car torn down and have him call Legends to the grid, so we decided to wait until after the heat plus the track was cooling down which would tighten it up some.
The cars that were in attendance Saturday were the #7 Hunter Lewis, #55r Ronnie Osmer, #44 Joseph McArdle, #53 Jeremy Lundy, #04 Dawson Kenner, #10 Chan Robinson, #94 Brad West, #33 Dalton Chipley and of cource #32 Connelly Dubuisson.
Qualifying: The #44 laid down fast lap for the pole, followed by #7, #53,#32, #55, #10, #04, #33, the #94 missed qualifying and was to start at the rear for the heat race. The top 5 qualifiers were separated by less than one tenth of a second.
Heat Race: As a result of the qualifying we started 4th in the heat, we were still too loose, Joseph in the #44 started from the pole and lead wire to wire for the win, followed by the #53, #7 and Connelly in the #32 for fourth with Ronnie in the #55r in fifth by a whisker. It was a well contested close race with the first five cars separated by no more than 150 feet.
After the heat race we went to thrashing on the #32. We changed the right front spring, Connelly said the car felt like it was "rolling over" on the right front, we then changed the camber in the left front. Part of the front suspension has to be disasembled to accomplish this and it took four tries to get it where we wanted it. Then it was off to the tech barn to scale the car, and it was about where we wanted it on cross. Then checked the ride hieght which was way off due to all the changes. We adjusted it to where it was close and decided to "go racing". This violates all of the rules of racing Rule #1 only change one thing at a time, Rule #2 NEVER violate rule #1, but what could we do we wanted to be competitive in the feature, so we took a "big swing" at it. We would probably start 4th in the feature and that would give us a chance to feel the car out before we really started racing hard. "Not so fast" Joseph throws the dice for the invert and you guessed it he throws a 4 now we are starting on the pole with a race car that we have no idea what it is going to do, with 8 snarling cars behind us looking for the win, we really felt like all the changes helped it, but who knows.
The Feature: I told Connelly in our pre race discussion to just hold his line and feel the car out for a couple of laps then go racing. He lead the first lap by a whisker and then got into the right front of the #55r with our left rear and fell back to 4th behind the #44, #7, and #53. The car appeared to be handling better and Connelly was able to close up to the rear bumper of the #53 and ran there for several laps. We were about 10 car lengths ahead of the #55r who was only a bumber ahead of the #94 when on lap 16 of 20 Connelly suddenly spun on the backstretch the #94 was right behind the #55r and didn't see Connelly spin and when the #55r slowed down the #94 went to the inside and had nowhere to go. He hit Connelly in the left rear doing fairly signifigant damage to the trailing arms, panhard bar, the pinion angle bar, all associated heims and the right rear axle bearing, relegating both the #32 and #94 to DNF's. Upon examining the left rear wheel we saw some blue paint off of the #55r on the wheel where we had gotten together with him, the wheel was slightly dented and it appeared that this was the created a slight leak which let the tire go down and caused the spin. Connelly said the incident with the #55r was his fault he should have given him more room. But what can you say, the last time we got together with the #55r in the same place on the track his tire was cut down and he had to drop out of the race. So what goes around comes around. Just one of those racing things. Betty did not tape the final 4 laps but I understand there was plenty of action, it seems the #53 and #44 got together sending the #44 to third, allowing the #7 to win, with the #55r moving up to second. Congratulations Ronnie. The final finishing order for the top five was: #7 first #55r second, #44 third, #04 fourth, and the #10 fifth.
Now we have a race car to repair, and a short week to do it in (we are scheduled to race again next Friday night) we will see what we can do.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Friday & Saturday Aug 31-Sept 1
We were supposed to be at Sunny South for the Friday night regular race event and Saturday night Bandolero national championship event, but hurricane Isaac had other ideas. Isaac was not a prticularly intense storm from a wind speed prospective but it made a tremendous amount of rain. Our wind speed here in Metairie probably got to 90 mph, but man did it rain !!!!! My rain gage goes to 10 inches and it was full on Thurs am. We have never had so much rain and so much sustained high wind for so long. I know we had wind speeds above 45 mph with moderete to heavy rain for at least 36 hours. I am so tired of seeing "sideways rain" if I never see it again it will be too soon. We were very fortunate in that we sustained no property damage, did loose elect power from 4:00 Wed morning to 10:30 am Saturday. Thank God for my generator, it ran everything referigerator/freezer, fans, plug in lights. Had enough extension cords running around the house to trip/hang half of the Italian army, but guess what NO A/C. Fri night it was 86 degrees in our bedroom. We had two fans working one oscelating and the fan we use to cool the Legend off in the pits. At that temprature they don't make enough fans to keep you cool. If you see me hug the generator in the back of my truck in the pits you will underatand why.
Some good news. Connelly had no school on Monday because of the storm, we used the day to "batten down the hatches" for the storm, then rolled out the racecar and started to work on setting the cross. We got it very close to where we feel it needs to be and rolled her back into the trailer just as the rain started, we feel very comfortable that we are close. The next race date is Sept 15 followed by the makeup dates of Sept 21 and 22 for the reg race date on Fri and Bando nationals on the 22, we can't wait. Come on out to Sunny South Raceway and see some outstanding racing put on by some very good young drivers. Sunny South is less than a one tank trip from the New Orleans area. You will enjoy the racing.
Some good news. Connelly had no school on Monday because of the storm, we used the day to "batten down the hatches" for the storm, then rolled out the racecar and started to work on setting the cross. We got it very close to where we feel it needs to be and rolled her back into the trailer just as the rain started, we feel very comfortable that we are close. The next race date is Sept 15 followed by the makeup dates of Sept 21 and 22 for the reg race date on Fri and Bando nationals on the 22, we can't wait. Come on out to Sunny South Raceway and see some outstanding racing put on by some very good young drivers. Sunny South is less than a one tank trip from the New Orleans area. You will enjoy the racing.
Saturday Night August 25, 2012
Saturday evening found us at the Sunny South Pit gate for 4 pm right at opening. We got there early, as we had a lot to do. We had put a lot of lead on the coupe since Joseph used a different set of wheels than we do and we were underwieght by almost 30 pounds. At home we got the car "legal" as to overall weight and left/right percentages, but the all important "cross" was way off of where we wanted it. Connelly had never driven a coupe in competition so he suggested that we wait until we get to the track to adjust the cross. When we got to the track he tried the car and he was way too tight. We came down, still too tight, came down again, same result, adjusted again still tight, so we put it back on the track's scales and all that adjusting only gained us 2%, we were still almost twice that off. We kept on adjusting until we had the ride hieght at the minimum so we stopped. We would now have to adjust the front and that is more sensitive and we were running out of time. The car was drivable, but not where we wanted it to be, so we adjusted the air pressures for qualifying and took a break.
The Competitors: There was an excellent field of cars for tonight's competition; the regulars of Ronnie Osmer in his #55r, Daniel Thompson in his #39, Jeremy Lundy in his #53, Hunter Lewis in his #7, Joseph McArdle in his #44jr, Chad Robinson in his #10, Dalton Chipley in his #33, Michael Beaslely in his #110, Robbie Johnston in his #96, Dawson Keener in his #04, Brad West in his #94, and of course the Blue #32 driven by Connelly Dubuisson. A good field of 12 cars.
During practice a strange event took place, our good friend and competitor Daniel Thompson in his #39 was testing on track when the #10 spun in the apex of turns 1 and 2, Daniel went to the outside to avoid hitting the spinning #10 and lost controll and hit the outside wall hard, the impact apparently cut the fuel line and the entire engine compartment went up in flames. The safety crew was there quickly putting out the fire and more importantly Daniel got out unharmed. Another competitor Jeremy Lundy got to the burning car first and helped get Daniel out, however the #39 was finished for the night. The car appears to need a signifigant amount of reapir before being ready to compete again. I offered whatever help we could give and will respond when called upon. The whole #39 team are good people and fine competitors and we want to see them back out there. The most important thing is that Daniel is OK, you can always replace broken parts, you know the rest of the saying.
Qualifying: Connelly in the Blue #32 qualified 5th out of 11 cars (no #39) starting him inside second row for his heat race. Not bad for a tight race car. In his heat race he finished third which would start him fifth in the feature
Feature: Connelly started fifth in the feature and held position for the first half of the race. Ronnie Osmer was always less than a car length behind, ready to "pounce" when the opportunity presented itself. They both were in close pursuit of the #10 and both finally made the pass. Connelly and Ronnie put on a really good race for fourth place for the remainder of the race. Finishing order was the #7 first, #53 second, #44 third, with Connelly #32 fourth and Ronnie in his #55r finishing out the top 5. The most hotly contested race for position was put on by Ronnie and Connelly for fourth place. Hey good racing is good racing no matter what positions are involved. We will work on the car if at all possible as the next race is Aug 31 and that is a short week. Looking forward to the next race already
The Competitors: There was an excellent field of cars for tonight's competition; the regulars of Ronnie Osmer in his #55r, Daniel Thompson in his #39, Jeremy Lundy in his #53, Hunter Lewis in his #7, Joseph McArdle in his #44jr, Chad Robinson in his #10, Dalton Chipley in his #33, Michael Beaslely in his #110, Robbie Johnston in his #96, Dawson Keener in his #04, Brad West in his #94, and of course the Blue #32 driven by Connelly Dubuisson. A good field of 12 cars.
During practice a strange event took place, our good friend and competitor Daniel Thompson in his #39 was testing on track when the #10 spun in the apex of turns 1 and 2, Daniel went to the outside to avoid hitting the spinning #10 and lost controll and hit the outside wall hard, the impact apparently cut the fuel line and the entire engine compartment went up in flames. The safety crew was there quickly putting out the fire and more importantly Daniel got out unharmed. Another competitor Jeremy Lundy got to the burning car first and helped get Daniel out, however the #39 was finished for the night. The car appears to need a signifigant amount of reapir before being ready to compete again. I offered whatever help we could give and will respond when called upon. The whole #39 team are good people and fine competitors and we want to see them back out there. The most important thing is that Daniel is OK, you can always replace broken parts, you know the rest of the saying.
Qualifying: Connelly in the Blue #32 qualified 5th out of 11 cars (no #39) starting him inside second row for his heat race. Not bad for a tight race car. In his heat race he finished third which would start him fifth in the feature
Feature: Connelly started fifth in the feature and held position for the first half of the race. Ronnie Osmer was always less than a car length behind, ready to "pounce" when the opportunity presented itself. They both were in close pursuit of the #10 and both finally made the pass. Connelly and Ronnie put on a really good race for fourth place for the remainder of the race. Finishing order was the #7 first, #53 second, #44 third, with Connelly #32 fourth and Ronnie in his #55r finishing out the top 5. The most hotly contested race for position was put on by Ronnie and Connelly for fourth place. Hey good racing is good racing no matter what positions are involved. We will work on the car if at all possible as the next race is Aug 31 and that is a short week. Looking forward to the next race already
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