The string of bad luck continues at Lowes Motor Speedway
09-02-2003, 09:49 AM
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The string of bad luck continues at Lowes Motor Speedway
Yet another machine shop error :-/ One piston was damaged while it was at the machine shop. Steve didn't notice this until it got back to the shop and we were about 2 days out from the race. Doh... He had to press it off himself and put a new piston on.
Looks like the rod got overheated during the wrist pin install, because the small end of that rod failed in a very peculiar way. It's quite evident what happened.
Anyhow, it punched through the block after about 45 track miles. I'm talking tennis ball sized hole in the block, and a huge chunk of the cylinder is missing.
Oil, smoke, engine/wheel lockup, and cars zooming off. Namely RIGHT AT ME. Note to self... If you're going to go off track, face away from the track. Watching cars slow down from 140+ mph and wiggle through oil is not fun.
As soon as there was a break in traffic I bailed and went over the wall. That is some scary chit. Err.. Speaking of scary stuff. I also had a very sudden axle failure earlier in the day at 140mph coming out of NASCAR 4. This is as you are sliding up towards a concrete wall. Awesome... Both ends of the axle exploded. I'm talkin like completely exploded. We reached up and just took down the shaft, which was pretty much just getting held up by the boots.
Sane people would have packed up and gone home. We're not sane or smart, so we had the spare motor brough down from 5 hours away. It won me one race at VIR North, so I can't speak too badly about it. 150k miles and ticking. We had it back in by Sunday practice, only to find out that oily coolant lines plus spring hose clamps is not a good combo. One of them blew off in grand fashion. HUGE explosion of water. Like a shotgun of water going off. The sucking continues.
Oh, and my mechanic, Steve, didn't get any sleep the night before because our buddy Gordon, who came along for the trip decided he wanted to go to Hooters after dinner. Well... Steve and I were tired as it was, so we were going to crash. Gordo grabbed the go-ped from the truck, and cruised on over, with 6 beers already in him. Well... after imbibbing God knows how much more beer, he managed to do a full on face plant off the go-ped. Nice.
He gets back, and wakes us up one by one, standing RIGHT OVER US. That's what I wanna see. Some dude all road rashed when I wake up. Lovely. Go away, and go sleep it off. Noooooo... The alcohol is really kicking in at this point and he's all panicing that he broke his jaw. Well, for someone that just broke his jaw, he sure talks an awful damn lot :-P Steve took pity and drove him to the ER. 5 hours later, he gets a few shots in the *** to keep him from puking any more, and Neosporin to treat his broken jaw.
Ended up 4th in class on Sunday. Too spooked from Saturday and there was one turn in the infield that was throwing my car into lurid crazy oversteer. I gotta put up a video of that. Enjoy the video of the motor going Chernobyl.
Long winded, as usual,
Warren<ul><li><a href="http://www.wilkerstaff.com/2003-ECHC-Lowes-kaboom.WMV">Kerblewie and stuff</a></li></ul>
Looks like the rod got overheated during the wrist pin install, because the small end of that rod failed in a very peculiar way. It's quite evident what happened.
Anyhow, it punched through the block after about 45 track miles. I'm talking tennis ball sized hole in the block, and a huge chunk of the cylinder is missing.
Oil, smoke, engine/wheel lockup, and cars zooming off. Namely RIGHT AT ME. Note to self... If you're going to go off track, face away from the track. Watching cars slow down from 140+ mph and wiggle through oil is not fun.
As soon as there was a break in traffic I bailed and went over the wall. That is some scary chit. Err.. Speaking of scary stuff. I also had a very sudden axle failure earlier in the day at 140mph coming out of NASCAR 4. This is as you are sliding up towards a concrete wall. Awesome... Both ends of the axle exploded. I'm talkin like completely exploded. We reached up and just took down the shaft, which was pretty much just getting held up by the boots.
Sane people would have packed up and gone home. We're not sane or smart, so we had the spare motor brough down from 5 hours away. It won me one race at VIR North, so I can't speak too badly about it. 150k miles and ticking. We had it back in by Sunday practice, only to find out that oily coolant lines plus spring hose clamps is not a good combo. One of them blew off in grand fashion. HUGE explosion of water. Like a shotgun of water going off. The sucking continues.
Oh, and my mechanic, Steve, didn't get any sleep the night before because our buddy Gordon, who came along for the trip decided he wanted to go to Hooters after dinner. Well... Steve and I were tired as it was, so we were going to crash. Gordo grabbed the go-ped from the truck, and cruised on over, with 6 beers already in him. Well... after imbibbing God knows how much more beer, he managed to do a full on face plant off the go-ped. Nice.
He gets back, and wakes us up one by one, standing RIGHT OVER US. That's what I wanna see. Some dude all road rashed when I wake up. Lovely. Go away, and go sleep it off. Noooooo... The alcohol is really kicking in at this point and he's all panicing that he broke his jaw. Well, for someone that just broke his jaw, he sure talks an awful damn lot :-P Steve took pity and drove him to the ER. 5 hours later, he gets a few shots in the *** to keep him from puking any more, and Neosporin to treat his broken jaw.
Ended up 4th in class on Sunday. Too spooked from Saturday and there was one turn in the infield that was throwing my car into lurid crazy oversteer. I gotta put up a video of that. Enjoy the video of the motor going Chernobyl.
Long winded, as usual,
Warren<ul><li><a href="http://www.wilkerstaff.com/2003-ECHC-Lowes-kaboom.WMV">Kerblewie and stuff</a></li></ul>
09-02-2003, 04:41 PM
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So, when are you going to have pit babes?
You'll have to train them to turn wrenches as your friends/mechanics won't need to go to Hooters anymore.
Boy, that sucked for you. You need that S4 back.
Boy, that sucked for you. You need that S4 back.
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