Long weekend

A very long weekend for me. I didn’t expect to have this many new car bugs holding me back this far into the learning progress, but I knew going into this that I was making do with the ultimate “budget-built” project, and that setbacks were to be expected. When Dan arrived on Thursday night, we found that the tranny was the problem. It was low on fluid, and wouldn’t lock up properly. Filled it back up, and found that the drain plug had been loose. I got down and tightened it, and cleaned the undercarriage thinking the problem was fixed.

So, Friday arrives. First pass, I was lined up a bit crooked I think, and it went hard left. Came back, got ready for 1st round of qualifying. Didn’t do so bad, but the car is still very, very lazy. Run a 7.85 @ 189. That would be my only pass of the whole weekend. Each time I’d go up to the starting line, the car was leaking trans fluid. We’d bring it back, jack it up, and check again, but it seemed each time it would drop fluid. And of course, each time it would hit the tires and cause the car to lose traction. Aborted pass after aborted pass.

The lone 7.85 put me at #15 qualifier, matched against Chuck Samuels first round. We blanketed the transmission to avoid any leakage and headed for the starting line. Added some power to try and wake it up, but of course as soon as the power came on, it affected the pre-load and drove the car out of the groove.

On the positive side, I feel more comfortable in the car, and I’m ready to start turning it up to avoid the constant load changes on the chassis. The car wants to leave under power, and doesn’t like it being thrown down track after such a soft launch. So, more testing to come… Thanks so much to everyone who lent a helping hand this weekend, as I showed up with zero crew for the weekend: (Dan was driving, Josh & Biscuit were in Bradenton crewing for the 10.5 car) Brad, Debbie, Alan, Al, Brian, PJ, Dennis and everyone else who helped out–THANKS!

It was also great seeing Heather & Mike back out at the races, and Sarah & her dad who came out to offer some support. I had a great time! We have such a great group of people who race with us, its always such a blast with everyone! CONGRATS to John & the whole Gullett empire on such a kickass weekend! At least we kept it in the pit!

Next up: going to the paint shop, the powder coater, and all the other little details.