The day started with some drama.
When I arrived at the track I found Terry and Jim huddled over the table in front of the truck with my right rear brake caliper between them. They we deep in discussions, shining a flash light into the puck bore, inspecting the puck and o-ring, and generally shaking their heads.
It didn't look good.
Mary and I just went for breakfast, and hoped it wasn't as bad as it looked.
Half an hour later we returned to the truck and the caliper was back on the car and they were bleeding the brakes.
The old cast aluminum calipers are so porous that they are weeping brake fluid around the seals. Terry smeared them with grease and they seemed to hold pressure. The plan was to stomp the pedal periodically until race time and see if they held pressure.
For the morning race I was gridded 23rd. I spent the race battling three P cars, 2 RSRs and a 934. There was a fair amount of blocking being done by the 934, which was pretty frustrating. I finished 19th. The brakes held up fine the entire race- thankfully. My best time was a 1:41.8.
I was determined to get by the 934 at the start of the feature race. I was gridded right beside him, and right behind the IROC 911 of Ernie Spada.
I got a decent start and was able to stay on the outside of the 934 around the Andretti hair pin. That gave me position for turn 3, and I had him. I was still behind the IROC car and Dennis Singleton in his RSR.
We ran nose to tail for about 3 laps, and finally I was able to out brake Dennis going into 5. The next lap Ernie got balked by a slowing Ferrari coming out of 5 and I dove under him and out dragged him up the hill to 6.
The race was black flagged on the next lap when Ken Epsman broke a wheel going into 4. The wheel hit the tire barrier and went into the bleachers. Fortunately no one was hurt, but the medical folks were all dispatched to the scene just in case. That forced the stoppage.
Once everything was sorted out they lined us up and sent us out on one pace lap. The 2 Porsches were directly behind me. They gave us a green flag with one lap to go, and I was able to hold them both off for 8th. My best lap was a 1:43.2, probably due to the hotter track and lots of oil dropped by the other groups.
I was very pleased with the results. Luigi performed incredibly well. The brakes worked fine all race.
I still have more to learn to get the best out of him, but we are making progress.
When I arrived at the track I found Terry and Jim huddled over the table in front of the truck with my right rear brake caliper between them. They we deep in discussions, shining a flash light into the puck bore, inspecting the puck and o-ring, and generally shaking their heads.
It didn't look good.
Mary and I just went for breakfast, and hoped it wasn't as bad as it looked.
Half an hour later we returned to the truck and the caliper was back on the car and they were bleeding the brakes.
The old cast aluminum calipers are so porous that they are weeping brake fluid around the seals. Terry smeared them with grease and they seemed to hold pressure. The plan was to stomp the pedal periodically until race time and see if they held pressure.
For the morning race I was gridded 23rd. I spent the race battling three P cars, 2 RSRs and a 934. There was a fair amount of blocking being done by the 934, which was pretty frustrating. I finished 19th. The brakes held up fine the entire race- thankfully. My best time was a 1:41.8.
I was determined to get by the 934 at the start of the feature race. I was gridded right beside him, and right behind the IROC 911 of Ernie Spada.
I got a decent start and was able to stay on the outside of the 934 around the Andretti hair pin. That gave me position for turn 3, and I had him. I was still behind the IROC car and Dennis Singleton in his RSR.
We ran nose to tail for about 3 laps, and finally I was able to out brake Dennis going into 5. The next lap Ernie got balked by a slowing Ferrari coming out of 5 and I dove under him and out dragged him up the hill to 6.
The race was black flagged on the next lap when Ken Epsman broke a wheel going into 4. The wheel hit the tire barrier and went into the bleachers. Fortunately no one was hurt, but the medical folks were all dispatched to the scene just in case. That forced the stoppage.
Once everything was sorted out they lined us up and sent us out on one pace lap. The 2 Porsches were directly behind me. They gave us a green flag with one lap to go, and I was able to hold them both off for 8th. My best lap was a 1:43.2, probably due to the hotter track and lots of oil dropped by the other groups.
I was very pleased with the results. Luigi performed incredibly well. The brakes worked fine all race.
I still have more to learn to get the best out of him, but we are making progress.
