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Team WTF?! at Summit Point for MARRS 4 |
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Written by Pinecone
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Saturday, 18 June 2005 |
Team WTF?! is hitting Summit Point for the fourth race of the Mid
Alantic Road Racing Series. Again, Pinecone is representing the team in
a Spec Racer Ford. Qualifying turned out to be a true WTF?! event.
The fourth race of the MARRS series was this weekend at Summit Point.
Pinecone representing the team is driving the latest addition to the
team inventory, the Spec Racer Ford that he rented at VIR last month.
But this time in the stages of actually purchasing the car.
Open practice was Friday with a LOT (and I mean a LOT) of track time. 7
(yes, SEVEN) track sessions of 20 minutes each. So some 2 hours 20
minutes of on track time. This was good since Pinecone has never driven
Summit Point at all.
The day went well, with nice weather, not too many
cars running, and after learning which way the track went, spent it
trying to inch down the lap times.
Saturday saw two qualifying sessions of 15 minutes each. First sesson
went fine, with a best lap of 1:28.490, good for 15th out of 19 cars.
Provisional pole was a 1:24.8.
The second session was not as smooth. Started off behind a couple of
cars that were slower, so backed off to get some room. But then
couldn't catch them. NOT good. Almost money shifted the car on the 4 -
5 upshift during an attempted pass. But the engine seems fine.
Then WTF?! struck. Entering turn 6 (start of the Carousel), just
approaching the apex and applying power the rear started around. Oops,
screw up. No problem correct and go. But it kept coming around, even
with proper anti-spin applied. Bigger screw up. Then WTF?! number 1
scraping noises from underneath and hadn't even hit teh curb yet to
bend any sheet metal. OK, fine. Then the true WTF?! moment as the car
spun off the track, passed by the left rear wheel and tire. WTF?! Oh
well, at least the spin was not driver error. 
Pinecone got to ride back in the wrecker with the Spec Racer hanging
from the hook. Inspsection revealed all 4 studs had sheared off. There
was evidence of over torquing sometime in the past.
Not a big deal, the car is back together, with a new hub, bearings, and
4 new heavier duty studs. Ready to race on Sunday. Updates and pictures
to follow. |
