So the first vintage race of the year was at my home track . Stan AKA OGREInc drove down as we were swapping some parts.

I probably should have know the weekend would go off the rails as it started with a bad omen, in the form of my trailer popping off off the hitch on the way back from fueling the van and car Thursday night. We were only going 35 or 40 mph but as I was getting it slowed down the left front fender rammed the spare tire (hangs on the back door of the van) denting the hood hand crushing in the top left corner of the left fender. So I was up till midnight going through the mechanism just to make sure I didn have repeat.

Friday went OK as I only ran one session to scrub in the tires.

Saturday's first session was OK but towards the end of the session I noticed a grumbling from the front end. Back in the pits it seems the right front wheel bearing might be loose. Stan jacked up the car and noticed a very alarming free play in the strut and after looking a the left side also noted that the strut gland nut on the right side was sticking up 1/2 or more higher than the left. Sure enough the nut was hand tight. I spun it down and then hammered it another half a turn using a cheap screwdriver turned chisel. As we were under the hood Stan also noticed this fuzzy snow globe nylon stuff everywhere. The stock nylon fan had been milling itself against the back of the radiator; I use a Sentra radiator and the impact against the back of the van must have dislodged it. So we unbolted the mounts and remounted everything.

The second session of the day set the order for the qualifying race later in the day; the handling up through the esses was no way more predictable (ya think), it no longer made snap direction changes now that the damper was actually held firmly in place. The net result were my fastest lap time ever as well as 10th out of 18 cars and 1st off the 3 cars in my class by 2.5 seconds. The down side is the radiator had bounced out of the mount again.

So for the qualifying race I used the tangs that are meant to hold the electric fan to safety wire the radiaotor down as well as repositioned the top mounts so that the radiaotor was no held down and had no budge whatsoever.

In the group before us a Siata lubed down turns 4-10 so they gave us two warm up laps so we could get a feel for the track. When the flag dropped I got usual mauling; the main class in this group, B-Sedan, is a mix of 510s & BMW 2002s sporting between 160-190 rear wheel horsepower but still managed to come off of turn 2 in tenth. On the run up the hill to turn 4 I picked off 9th place under braking (people were being cautious with all the oil dry). On the second lap running up the hill to 4 (fastest part of the course) I couldn't believe everyone was lined up like lemmings nose to tail avoiding the oil dry; naturally being the cautious type I dived bombed a whole row of cars. For about 200ft I was up to sixth, the Datsun Roadster with huge flares and stout motor match went back past almost instantly, then a 2002 and a 510. The Alfa I'd been ducking it out wiith finally made it stick on lap 4.

While duking it out I hadn't been paying close attention to the temp gauge and when I finally looked the car had crept up the the 235 range and shortly after it pegged past 250. As I was limping to a pull it it dropped a cylinder. So (lame excuse) the temp gauge is not directly in front of me as years ago, when we were going to do a Tarmac rally that never happened, we moved the guage over so the navigator could keep an eye on it. The course was really slippery so I had my hands full just staying online and on course, the sun was in my eyes, I was delirious with adrenalin.

Once the track crew dragged my back in Stan went to work pulling the plugs; one and two wer fine but 3 & 4 had the ominous grey powder on them, game over. Given the radiator was bouncing around it's no surprise it sprung a leak.

I pulled the head today; the head gasket is burnt between the water jacket & number 1. The deck between 3 & 4 is scabbed, the cylinder on number for has this lovely porus finish on the top 8mm. The GX head has a hole blown all the way through to the water jacket between 3 & 4. I'm sort of OK with killing the motor; it had 50 race hours on it but what really pissed me off was going to unload the car today (I left it on the trailer overnight) and Fu-King pigeons crapped on the left rear fender of the car!!

I have an A12 with ported GX head that I just need to finish assembling or I can install the cam from the cooked motor (if it's not trash) into the street A15 motor and bolt the head to that. I'll likely put the A12 in and take the A15 block and bore it out to 78-79mm. I'll have to see if the forged pistons were damaged and what the valves in the trashed head look like as well.

Big thanks to Stan for jumping in and helping; he took tire temps check pressures and even got me belted in. It was a nice change from having to do it all myself.

UPDATE; The radiator appears to hold water so this was likely a head gasket failure possibly brought on by detonation. It makes sense as the water came out of the motor very rapidly.

I can only imagine how you could rule the lot if you had a b6 dohc A series.
b6 head conversion on a 78mm A15 with suitable pistons, exhaust and 41mm R1 carbs.
The Miata guys are getting 160kws atw with unported late b6 heads and crazy skimmed
2mm off with which is nuts but works for them.

Good read. Sounds like a bit of a horror weekend though. Keep up the good work! Motorsport can definately test your resiliance. I hope you have more luck putting together the new motor. A15 sounds like a good plan if it doesnt effect the class you want to compete in

It was great to see you again!! and once again, so disappointed you were not able to be out there on Sunday teaching the 510's and 2002's how the little car can still kick some ass! One of my joys in the Wagon is being passed by you.. feeling that disappointment for a moment then watching you slide through the next few turns and smiling to myself about how cool you drive that car and how much fun it looks like!

Hope you can make a buttonwillow race some time with VARA and look forward to getting my 1200 out there next year to learn from you!

Steve it was great having the wagon out there again but I was disappointed that you weren't able to bring the 1200.

I dig my Formula 500 and often think about racing it instead but I'm having way to much fun drifting the 1200 everywhere; the great thing about 1200s is it they are actually faster driven that way. On Saturday afternoon Phil Eglin (510 & 240Z driver) was telling another driver the reason some of the guys can't get back by my is that I'm scaring the hell out them and they're to scared to try........this gave me a good laugh.

Hopefully Buttonwillow in the fall but it all hinges on our schedule; my mother in law had her surgery and is doing well. My mom has tentatively planned to come out in September so October looks open........fingers crossed. Obviously I need to assemble a motor.

Now may be you can use your pull for Monterey; I'm sure the spectators would find the manner in which I flog the poor little car entertaining..........and hey the car was in Road and Track nearly 25 years ago.........with that kind of provenance how could they refuse???