Winterfest 2010

Opening of the 2010 season. We had a rough start on Thurs. chasing all kinds of braking issues. Completely soft brake pedal is not fun when you are over 100 MPH and approaching a turn with a concrete wall. turns out we had a broken bolt that was sheared off and we didn’t catch it. We had installed brake bias gauges recently installed and they had a slight drip so that focused our attention on air in the lines. So after changing out the entire braking system (both master cylinders) and flushing about $100+ worth of SRF fluid down the drain we found we had a broken bolt and everything was good. At least it was a practice day.

Friday started off with a bang...was messing with setup and lost the rear end at about 130 MPH and while doing a 180, caught a cone which was thrown up thru the hood tearing away body panels. Well this is why we own a Panoz. A little sheet metal and some rivets and we were all set. I didn’t qualify well but it is a 90 min. race and I was happy to be racing.

The race was going well. 60 min. in I was close to the mandatory pit stop window. I was stuck behind several cars that I was faster then and there was no point in pushing to get by since I had to make a pit stop anyway. I radioed the crew I am coming in and they had my brother in the pits with a power steering belt issue. They told me to hold on for a few laps. During those laps I passed all the cars I had in front and got some clean running. THENNNN some lap traffic idiot lost control of their car and took me out. The driver never even came to find me to see if I was ok or anything. He didn’t report to race control to report the contact or nothing. He just left. I was told he won’t race in this league again. As it turned out, if the Penske shock vendor had stayed at the track or I had a spare front shock I would have been able to run that weekend. But that would have been too easy. So the weekend was over for me.

The Damage:
· Center hood section damaged but will re-use with some extra rivets
· Passenger fender destroyed
· Passenger door damaged but will live with the war wound
· Rocker panel destroyed
· Body attachment arms destroyed
· Door hinge messed up but should bend back into shape
· Radiator damaged but will fab a new mount and reuse
· Radiator overflow damaged but will fab up new mounts and reuse
· Front radiator support damaged may be able to straighten
· Upper and lower control arm destroyed
· Shock piston destroyed
· Spindle destroyed
· Ball joints and steering arms destroyed
· Brake duct destroyed
· Rotor destroyed
· Brake caliper should be reusable but don’t know yet
· Bearings ruined
· Brake strut destroyed
· Custom headers bent – hoping to straighten but not sure yet
· Muffler looks rough but will most likely reuse
· Jack bar tube is destroyed and will be cut off and replacement welded on
· Front wheel inner and outer wheel half ruined
· Rear wheel outer wheel half ruined
· One of the door bars is bent a little but will leave it for the next crash

SORRY ABOUT THE BOUNCY VIDEO. THE CAMERA WAS TOUCHING THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

90 Min Enduro Jan 15th
http://www.vimeo.com/9008540


My brother had his set of issues but his car is race ready (short of a few body adjustments that him and other cars thought would look nice) :evillol:. During his 90 min. race he lost a power steering belt (while I was being creamed) and it just came off again so his race was over. The 30 minute race Sat. he rear ended a radical or similar. Finished the race with sheet metal and rivet repairs. The 30 min. race Sunday he had minor contact with a viper comp coupe (brand new) and the owner agreed there was nothing that could have been done. More sheet metal and rivets.

Could it go any worse? Probably....I wont get into how we attempted to let me drive the other car for the 2nd race on sunday and never made it onto track. The car was fine......:screwy:

I guess when you raced only 2 times since Nov. 2008 its a little rough.

Racing is luck, skill, then money to win..... no luck for us that weekend....

April here we come.

If you dont watch it all watch from 10min. mark to about 23min.

Slow in and fast out is how you win. Passed all those expensive pieces of iron pretty easily and I am not faster in a drag race. Exit the turn faster and drive right by....

That is how I like to get it done. Low percentage dive bombs and agressive moves if you have to only....try not to crash and then have some POS natzi cream ya...I cant win!

Great footage except the wreck. I am in the process of trying to buy a GTS car as week wright. If I can pull this rabbit out of the hat I look forward to try and run with y'all. I must admit that Sebring does look like a fun track to run. Good luck with all the repairs and go find the ASSHOLE that wrecked you.

Good Lord there's a lot of P-cars! Most excellent driving Brian... you keep this up and you might just figure it out. So what was the problem with the a$$wipe who couldn't find his brakes? Sucks man...