Summit Point MARRS 9

Sept 28, 2019

After the lengthy repairs to the car after the August RCFFS races, I decided to go to the last race of the SCCA season at Summit Point. With the race being held in late September, the weather forecast was great -sunny and warm. Mark Walthew would be attending along with four other CF regulars, so there were enough CF’s to have some interesting competition.

The car’s bodywork had 20 plus man-hours of work. Getting paint, and getting it again when it didn’t match well was an adventure. Not being happy with my gearing, I decided to try the “stack” that Mike Rand said he used. It didn’t seem to follow “conventional wisdom” but I decided to give it a try. As part of the $840 parts order (sway bar, mounting brackets, rod end) from Neal Porter, I got a new piece that goes inside the rear upright that the axle bolts to. The part on the car when I bought it was too worn and the bolts always got loose. With the car being hit twice HARD at the prior race, I did a suspension alignment (front toe out was ½ inch, not the 1/16 recommended), and checked corner weights. (I have lost a FEW pounds and had to add some more lead ballast.)

Weekend agenda was a 12 minute qualifying session Saturday morning followed by a 15 lap race in the afternoon. Sunday we would have a 20 lap race after lunch. Track let us in about 6M on Friday for setup. Highlight (actually the low point) of the evening was the Virginia Tech football game on ESPN. Neither Mark nor I watched it to the end. When we got to the motel Friday night, I found my wallet missing. Mark paid for my room and I had something to worry about all night.

It was warm and sunny on Saturday. A guy came by and said my wallet had been found at the gas pumps and I got it back intact. I was third fastest of the CF crew and just 0.043 seconds behind Joe Marcinski. My time of 1:21 was OK but I have done much better but it was getting pretty warm.

For the race, I was gridded behind a P2 car that I assumed would be quick at the green flag. He wasn’t. As I followed him into Turn one, Joe, Mark, Chuck Van Nostrand, and Jay Voissem blew by on the inside. I was now DFL. Joe would drop out with a brake problem, and it would take me a couple of laps to get back by the group. Wayne Nicolette, the usual front runner in CF was unchallenged by the rest of us. I was locked in a battle with Mark and Chuck for second in CF. Chuck would dive bomb me in T1 a couple of times and get by for a brief time. At lap 11, my ECU went wonky (likely caused by high temperature stress) and the engine went into the “limp home” mode. My race was over. I recycled the ECU power on the way to my paddock and all was well again.

Sunday was warmer yet. Not good. Track temps were in the 110 degree range. I got a good start and got 75 yards on Mark and Chuck. However, I was beginning to lose contact with Joe. After a handful of laps, Chuck and Mark were on my tail. I was driving a defensive line in T1 and T10 and not turning very good lap times. Chuck would get by me twice in T1 as I slowed a tad to let the winged (fast) formula cars through. The second time, I aggressively took the inside line in T3 to get back past Chuck. On lap 12, my ECU went wonky again and I was done. Drat! I’ve had Honda ECU problems before, so all this was of no great surprise to me. A replacement ECU is pricey at $1318.09.