The weekend started in typical WTF fashion. Last Summit Point race ended with a blown head gasket, so the first practice session was supposed to be an easy break in session. Second lap, coming out of 8, the engine quit ... then restarted with a BANG. Thus ended the session.

The problem turned out to be a loose heat shield that was shorting out the alternator. So out for session 2. Water temp running 230, normal is 200. NOT good. So during lunch some work was done trying to get it cooler. Third session, still running warm. More work. Finally on the 4th session, the car was running cool enough, but stil warmer than it should.

Qualifing is started by series points, so the #4 WTF?! car left the false grid in 26th and had to get past some slower cars and eventually wound up in 15th with a 1:27.48. Second session was HOT. A couple of people went out on fresh tires, and bumped Pinecone to 17th for the race start.

The race was rather eventful. Start went well, picked up a couple of places, lost one of them. On lap 2, down into turn 1 and a car spun.  Not a big deal, except the driver didn't lock the brakes, drifted back onto the race line and took out 3 cars.

Mistake 1, note to self, SECOND gear works much better. Lost all the places from the cars out of the race to a train going by. Again, not a big deal, just hooked up with someone and went, the #4 was faster, so should have been able to get the places back.

Same lap, turn 8, oops, turned out that somebody left coolant in several places on the track (which may have caused the turn 1 wreck). So the #4 WTF?! car spun, but stayed on the track. Down into 1st gear and back to running, only losing 1 or 2 spots.

After that, there was some great racing, passed a few, got passed by a couple. Chased two guys that were similar in speed. But then a big time push in turn 6a and 6b, keeping Pinecone from putting power down. He lost ground through the carousel, but made it back up other places. The whole group passed a car ahead, and things were looking good. Second to last lap, Pinecone got to thinking that if he did not screw up turn 10, he could maybe catch and pass at least one of the guys in front. NO PROBLEM.

Mistake 2, note to self, think POSITIVE thoughts, not negative thoughts. Think about doing trun 10 PERFECTLY, not think about screwing up. So guess what? He had a LATE turn in for 10, wasn't able to put power down and the recently passed car blew by on the straight.

Oh well. Pinecone finished the race, was 1 position up from the start and had some great racing. Learned a couple of racing lessons, too. SCCA put on a nice party outside the carousel to celebrate the 30th anniversary. Food, beer, fireworks. Special decals for cars running in the race. Not a bad job. And as a final note, the #4 SRF is now officially a Team WTF?! owned car.