Test Day this Saturday

I had been struggling a bit with whether I wanted to do a test day or not. Do I want to spend the money and go to the effort, not to mention the wear and tear on the equipment, tires, etc.?

But then I quickly remember my Daytona experience (the car had issues) and I think -this is my first race and the sponsor and his employees are going to be there - it makes sense to schedule the day to ensure a better showing later this month at Road Atlanta.

So this Saturday, July 5, my father-in-law and I are going to be at Carolina Motorsports Park (CMP) for a Turn One test-n-tune day. It should be fun. We are going to go down Friday night and camp, so we will already be there come Saturday morning - man having a motorhome is nice. The AC will be an added bonus in the South Carolina summer heat. Not to mention a private place to change into my fire proof underwear.

The main priorities - See if we solved for the tire rub, get some time on the motor and scrub in a new set of tires, all the while tightening the nuts and bolts along the way.

I have not been to CMP since September 2006, but I did enjoy the track and have been watching YouTube footage recently to study the track's new configuration. Attached pictures are of the SCCA Performance Driving Experience (PDX) that I did in Sept. 2006. It was a blast and as you can see, the car was still in full street regalia.

Hap will be there, my friend Kevin, as well as the car's previous owner may drop by. Another competitior is participating with me - Dick May, who drives an SCCA HP Bugeye Sprite. Dick has a new rear suspension and is sorting it out. He needs to make sure he has not lost his mojo given that he is in contention for the SCCA Southeast Region's (SARRC) Championship.

On another note, we are registered and paid up for the July SARRC event at Road Atlanta. Registering for my first race was an exciting moment. Two years and 1.75 months later, the dream is coming true.

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

Where is the time going? I am getting excited about the upcoming SARRC race at Road Atlanta this July. It will be the team's first real race.

The car is on jack stands and I have been going over each nut and bolt in preparation. We pulled the motor again and inspected the bottom end following the school. It looks good, so it went back in the car. Rebuilt the rear suspension - installing new lever shocks from Peter Caldwell and 2" dropped springs. In addition, I cleaned and painted all of the suspension components such as the roll and traction bars.

I also shaved off the metal along the rear fender wells to give the tires more room to prevent rubbing. I reoccuring issue that I hoped to have solved.

What else are we doing - installed a oil temp gauge and sensor, as well as a fuel sender and gauge. Still need to do the electrical wiring for these two gauges. I took care of a few oil leaks where I did a poor job of applying plumbers tape and had to clean up that mess. Oh yeah, something real exciting - Third Wave Advertising - my sponsor - funded a new set of Hoosier Street TD racing tires. They are mounted and sitting in my garage.

On the support side, we had the Camper's - a.k.a the Cramper - roof re-sealed and my wife bought me a generator as an early Father's Day gift. So, now we will have power and be fully self-sustained at the track. That AC will be down right nice in the hot Georgia sun this July.

Shooting for a test day at Carolina Motorsports Park - http://www.carolinamotorsportspark.com/ - on July 5 to get a few more miles on the motor, shake down the rear suspension and see if we cured the tire rub issue. Should be a good time.