So for my local vintage race this year I went all out. Normally I buy a fresh set of take offs but this year my normal source only had Avon ACB9s, nothing wrong with them but I can use up a set in a day so I took the plunge and spent $800 on a brand new set of Hoosier Street TDs. I also enlisted the help of my pal Jim whose is an actual mechanic (versus my being a parts changer). I also took a set of rotors over to a friends machine shop to have them perfect as the brakes have been chattering like mad.
Jim followed me out to Mountain Motorsports Ranch with his service van. For the first session I needed to break in the Hoosiers, for some reason I got placed in the medium bore group in with the likes of 911 RSRs and other 300 hp things. My pal got a good laugh because I passed four cars even with driving carefully to run the tires in. Of course if I had a million dollar Porsche I might drive it slowly as well.
It became obvious that the brake problem was not solved. For the afternoon session we (read Jim) slapped on my old set of Avons, adjusted up the rear brakes and bleed the system. I've also had an issue with a intermittent misfire which was still there.
So as usual I took my frustration out by driving the snot out of the car. I came up on some cars with slower drivers (I should not be catching Lotus Elans and Lotus 23s) but this is the nature of vintage racing. Coming out of the last turn a Renault Spec Racer dropped a wheel in the dirt so I pounced on him got a good run and out braked him for turn one. Naturally it wasn't till after I came in that I noticed the star in the windshield, before Jim could say anything I pointed out only an idiot driver keeps his foot in it to get past a car throwing rocks in Friday timed practice but I would also do it again.
On the plus side even with the old tires on, brake and ignition issues I put in a 2:42 (a second faster than last year when the really worn A12 motor was in the car) this put me 10th out of 28 cars. before we left, we (Jim) swapped the tires and Jim changed the distributor as the one in the car seemed to have a bit of play. I speculated that if the miss was fixed and with new tires I think I could manage to get down to 2:38 but that might be wishful thinking.
In Saturday mornings timed session the misfire was gone and I was pulling 7500 rpms in 4th at the end of the two longest straights, which is just shy of 106 mph. The brakes were better now that the rears were working better but after 3 laps it would still chatter like mad (no pedal pulse though) and the windshield crack started to grow. I ended the session with a 2:37, Jim wasn't there as he a job scheduled for the day I called to let him know the time and that I was 5th on the grid for the afternoon qualifying race.
For the qualifying race I was simply hoping some cars ahead of me had issues or that I could snag a spot on the start. The car behind me was a Lotus 7. The driver said he liked my lines, we chatted a little bit, the instructor in me came out and I gave him a few pointers which he was appreciative of, he laughed and said he'd just follow me around and then go by down the back stretch on the last lap.
I got to the grid early and psyched myself up..........on the warm up lap the group was choppy and sure enough the starter sent us around again, on the second try we got the green, the Lotus 7 (Ford cross flow motor) got by me on the way up to turn 1 but I jumped him and the 4th place car into one and then went bombing around the outside of the third place car (58 Turner) and nearly got past the 2nd place series one Lotus 7 but would have had to hip check my way past. Meanwhile the Turner in 3rd, the Lotus 7 in 4th and a Formula Vee in 5th started duke it out allowing me to pull out a gap. I managed to stay with the 2nd place Lotus 7 and the leading Austin Healy Spridget for about a lap and a half. With only a few laps to go the 3 cars behind me came to their senses stopped battling and started realing me in (they were 2 seconds faster in timed practice). Sure enough just like he said the Lotus 7 blew past me down the back stretch but we came up on a lapper in a Daimler SP250 which allowed me to just catch up for the last two corners, a 3rd gear left leading a double apex right onto the front straight. The Lotus over slowed for the left I saw the gap and dove in but as it was so late in the day it was very difficult to see through the corner. Naturally when the car rotated far enough to be pointed away from the sun I could see I was offline but still had the momentum to slide in front of the Lotus and that's when I felt the back of the car start to float (sand was all over the track), the backend in dropped the dirt and now my goal was not to T-bone the Lotus, he flashed past just ahead of me and I bounced over the apex curbing for the final right hander pointed 180 degrees the wrong way. As the car grabbed the curb I wound on more opposite lock and booted the throttle and the car snapped back the other way. I frantically fished for a lower gear but the Turner got past and I ended up back in 5th. On the cool off lap I noticed the windshield was split top to bottom. On the plus side I managed to put in a 2:34.9 which was a huge jump in lap time.
For Sunday I knew the cars in front of me would pick up a couple of seconds, again just hoping to zap one or two and then hold them off. Sadly on the start the Turner (said he was using my line) passed the 3rd place Lotus 7 around the outside, I got the Lotus going into 3 but on the next straight he blew past and the gap was to big for me to close up. In the meantime I had mirrors full of a Formula Vee, I held him off for over half of the race but knew I was slowing us both down, with 3 laps to go as I was drifting the car through a 3rd gear double apex right hander I noticed the top of the Vees roll hoop as I was heading into the second apex. The guy did an amazing slide job to get past me, it was so well done that I even shouted "right on" inside my helmet.....it was awesome to see even if it did push me back to 6th. Once he got past he pulled out 10 seconds running a 2:32 flat, it was just as well becuase the Elva sports racer behind us was catching up. Having diced for most of the race my best lap was slower than Saturday at a 2:35.21. The front 3 cars ran 2:31 and under.
On some final notes: after fixing the end play on the H190 (see my post on this) the car is now super predictable and I am going nearly 5 mph faster around turn 1, lots of people remarked to me about how impressed they were with the little 1200 and my driving the wheels off it. I always felt like there was more corner speed in it. I still have yet to set the corner weights after the last few tweaks. I also need to get the car on a Dyno to make sure the A15 is dialed in. Jim is coming over this week to go completely through the brakes to fix them once and for all. Despite the problems I was stoked to run up front and do think I can win overall once we get everything fixed.
I have some video and will try and get some pictures up as well........meantime the auto glass guy is coming over Saturday to rectify the spilt window coupe.

Today my weekend was put in perspective; the owner of the Lotus 23 stopped overnight in Chatsworth California and some *##*#* dirtbag stole the car. It's a 100k plus car.......scumbags.

Tom in Vegas.

Split window coupe, like this?

Dave sort of, mine is on the opposite side of the car........

cracked window Datsun 1200 Coupe. Got it. (at first I was wondering if you passed a Corvette)

Good stuff Tom!
Great read and well done.
Cheers
Dave

Well done Tom, and great reporting! Wish I coulda been there to cheer you on. Since I'm retiring this April, perhaps I'll be able to provide some Datto 1200 competition next season. (he said, eyeing the dust bunnies collecting under his coupe project...) And don't think your extra 300cc's and decades of experience will give you any kind of unfair advantage over an A12 and my rookie stripes.

well done Tom,
makes me want to go out and build the Thou in the garage and do some laps...

Stan I may retire in April..............of 2027. On a different note, I do not assume the big block A15 means its faster than an A12 powered car. Les Cannaday's A12 powered car is making something like 125 hp at the wheels versus maybe 110 for mine. As for my driving, don't tell me ego but there are guys who drive thier cars has hard as I do.

Tom