Race #10

The week leading-up to this race revealed some issues that I had to take care of.  Some big, some small.

A small issue was a crack in the bodywork.  It was about 7 inches long.  The impact loosened the edge of the old patch so I had some work to do to fix it.  Because the graphic decal was in such bad shape, I decided to peel it back and patch the outer part as well as the inside.  Here it is after my patch (before trimming).

Another issue that was a little bigger deal was that one of the header bolts snapped off just before the feature race.  I couldn't do anything to fix it at the track.  There was no way I was going to keep her off the track for the feature.  So she ran 16 intense laps with the header pipe rattling and banging, making the other bolt looser and eventually stripping the threads in the engine head.  The fix is one you can look up from an earlier post in this blog and a common job for Animal engine users.  In a word - Helicoil.  This replaced the damaged aluminum metric thread with a steel insert with American threads (1/4-20 size).

Third issue - I had to put off for another race.  I bought a compression tester to check the condition of the engine.  It seemed to make good numbers (around 47 psi) but I was still suspicious.  I bought some plumbing parts and converted the compression tester into a leakdown tester (sort-of).  This allowed me to pressurize the cylinder and investigate where any leaks might be.  The results of the test: intake valve leak.  Yeah, air was hissing out of the carburetor during the test so it needed to be re-machined to seal.  I'll put this off until next week when I can get it to an engine builder with the right tools.

Anyway, race conditions were a little warmer than average but nothing extreme.  Lian started fourth out of seven in Heat 1 and finished second.  She started fourth in Heat 2 and finished third.  This was a great effort and allowed her to start second in the feature!

In the Feature, Lian really had a shot at the lead on the start but was going to have to run hard for the first lap to stay next to the pole sitter to the right-hander.  Then, maybe, she could pass and get clear.  As it played-out, she just couldn't hold on the outside that long and had to concede the position.  Here is a video of the first lap of the race.  She finished in second going away from third but falling away from the winner.

Still proud of her because she had to work hard in the heats to start on the front row.