A Racing Dog

A couple of shots of the truck and Verne’s trailer.  About 2AM early Sunday morning Amber and the neighbors were awoken by a crash.  It was a fully loaded 1984 Chevy Silverado careening over the trailer and slamming the back of our pretty new F150.  Within a minute they were outside.  No driver, keys gone, Chevy beached on the trailer.

Verne’s trailer took the brunt of it and likely saved the truck from more serious damage.  Cops went to the owner’s house (right around the corner) a bit after and got no response.  The truck will all his work tools were impounded by Metro and to get it back they’ll have to go have an interview with the detectives.  I talked to their claims person and she said at this time there is nothing to support it was a hit and run.  WTF?  You mean besides the police report and several people stating that there was no one in the truck?  Or the fact that the truck was beached on a trailer, abandoned.  When told that it would likely take “a week or two” to come to a settlement I advised her that I would be pursuing other means to settle the claim to my satisfaction.  That changed her tune.  We’re taking it into the shop right now for an estimate but I see this may be getting sticky.  The independent adjuster was great, a real pro.  Our insurance company has been top notch, responding at 4 in the morning after Ambi called and following up promptly and most recently offering to waive our deductible, pay the claim and pursue the other insurance company.  We’ll see what happens next.  I really feel for Verne.  He was doing me a solid and got caught up in this mess.

Even with the rough night at the track I still had fun.  Looks like it will be me and Matt battling for the mid pack spots.  I like racing him.  He’s clean and competitive.  In practice a power steering pump hose leaked and it appears I slid in the fluid.  the entire front of the car was drenched.  That contact bent the front clip a fair amount and broke the rad return spout.  The right side motor mount broke again and this time bent the shift linkage so it had a difficult time staying in 2nd gear.  The rear shocks and springs helped a bunch on the tight off but now there is a bad front end chatter about 8 or 10 laps into the run.  And then there is the transponder issue.  It’s done.  On solo runs it seems to do well but in a pack it randomly can’t be picked up by the loop.  I’ll rent for a while but will eventually end up buying one.  I’ll start tearing into the front clip, next stop Aug 17 testing and 18th race. Can’t wait.

The last few weeks have been packed full o’stuff.  We completed the big project at the day job, a big industry trade show was in town (like 3 or 4 of them are every year) and we keep plugging along with organizing the wedding.  Not too much time for racecars,  Internet forums and blogging.  I did get a chance to pull the rear end, count the gearing and remove the suspension.  I got some aftermarket stock style replacement springs and some bone stock NAPA shocks.  Even with the cheapest shock once all is factored into the equation the $100 shock claim rule is still laughably low.  With the mounting hardware, shocks and gas to get to the store and back I’m at about $104.  Not counting my time and labor.

The ceremony is this Monday and I likely won’t be back under the car until Weds.  I’ve elected not to test until after the break in an effort to a) make up a bit of what we’ve gone over this year and to b) make sure I have enough vacation time to finish the season, seeing I work Fri and Sat.  That’s the breaks  in big time showbiz, you work when the others are off to have fun.   Road racing we were usually running Sunday mornings at the crack of ass so that didn’t impact the gig too badly.  Except for being at the track at 6 AM.

Once I can get back under the car the springs and shocks will go in.  The right rear shock was broken and the springs are well past shot.  It should lower the car enough to get that weird forward attitude out and balance it a bit better.  Still needs rear bushings but it’ll have to wait until after the break.   Those changes should help the ride and handling, particularly the tight off the corners.    The lack of bite and acceleration can be compensated by changing the pinion angle a bit and going to a lower gear.  Right now it’s geared as grandma’s grocery getter at 2.73 but we’re able to go as low as 3.55.  Too bad 3.42 is the lowest GM gear for a 7.5 I can get.  I’d reckon there might be some out there running 3.73 or 4.10 but it’s not worth it too me to cheat it up like that.  Displacement, compression and stroke aren’t governed so why institute a gear rule?  But thems the rules, no matter how wacky.

As a followup on my transponder issue, I was scored 11th though I thought I should have been 10th.  Again, it’s racing and shit happens.  The transponder seems to be fine but it might have a) been tucked a bit close to metal bodywork and b) an inch or so high compared to spec when I crossed the stripe.  It’s being remounted but according to AMB I should be running a 240 series instead of my 140 series though I’m well withing spec for the speeds we travel with a Bomber.  I’ve crossed the line, many, many times, thousands in fact with a 140 at more than 105 mph.  Frankly I should just get a hardwired 240 and be done with it.  But at four hunskis each I’d rather buy stuff for the car.  Eventually I’ll do that cause charging and then remounting this one is a minor pain in the ass but not the point that I want to spend four hun right now.  Tires would be a much better investment.

When we start testing again after the break I’ll be fitting the car with my AIM EVO3 data system for the test days only. And also a camera.  The cam I might be able to get on the car before the next race but with everything else going on I might just wait until the break.  When I get some data I’ll start posting what the screens look like and how to use it to make the car faster and the driver better.  We’ll be logging speed, rpm, lap times, lateral G forces, oil pressure, water temp, brake and throttle percentage.  In road racing we used the hell out of data.  The logger provides enough information to accurately map the track then with the info provided get a better handle on how the car is operating and more importantly for me, the consistency of the driving.  I’ll post more on using data once I get the system fitted to the car but there are bigger fish to fry.