Schenley year 5 in the books and our highest finishing position yet at 7th! Internally I was shooting for a top 5 spot but all things considered, I'm very happy with this. How did we get there?
I try to get to the park around 10AM on Friday giving me plenty of time to get my paddock set up, car through tech, BS with vintage racing friends, etc. Apparently there was a big wreck on the turnpike that I got off to avoid and some traffic getting on to 79 but I rolled in around 1045.
I was through tech easily in the early afternoon, spent time cruising the paddock catching up with people then headed over to the AirBnb to clean up before the driver's meeting. I came back and shot out for the course walk to bring a friend some water. It was HOT and his wife said he was hurting for some hydration. This was also his first time at Schenley so I completed the rest of the walk with him, providing pointers where I could. I hadn't decided whether or not I was going to the driver's reception so I just hung around with friends. There was also a long traffic jam getting out of the paddock for the parade. Still have no idea what happened with that but I wasn't in a rush to get in line. By the time I decided to go, the parade was long gone and I had no idea where I was going. The volunteers told me to go to Phipps and I couldn't miss it. Well, I did miss it. I got up to Endless and knew for sure the party wasn't up on the golf course so I turned around and came down.
On the way back down the hill it was clear that one of the rear brakes was sticking something fierce. I did finally find my way to the reception, parked Hatchet (last in the line) and headed in for some food. Lines were super long so I grabbed something quick and went back out to take Hatchet back to the paddock to figure out the issue. I was greeted by a huge puddle of water coming out from under the car. Sweet.
The left rear was hot hot. Figured the piston must be sticking. I didn't have my tool with me so a buddy let me borrow his channel locks and I screwed it back it. Turns out, that was the fix.
The coolant leak was one of the caps I put on the transfer tube where coolant used to come back in from the intake. Double fixed.
My group was first out Saturday morning and, although I wasn't pushing, everything felt good and I was 4th quickest for the session. I believe my time was a 2:27. At one point though, going into the Fountain, my throttle stuck wide open. I was able to woah the car down and shoved it into third forcing the revs down but, um, that was sketchy.
After some poking around, I found that the rod ends were super sticky. Don't think they're supposed to stay like that.
Further investigation found a real ragged edge in one of the sockets where the retaining clip goes through.
Paddock friends to the rescue again. I was hoping for a small file to remove that burr but a friend had misc original rod ends and bits and bobs and I was able to piece together a new rod.
Our afternoon session was very, very wet and was black flagged early on for an 02 that went straight into the jersey barriers at Phipps. Sitting at start finish during the black flag, I noticed temp was slightly over half which is unusual at idle but when they sent us out, I went out with the group. All told I probably got 3 full laps including the out lap and came in qualified 10th. Rain had been threatening but I decided to stay on the Hoosiers and, although my wife brought it and asked me a few times if I wanted to use the RainX, I didn't. With those factors, I was disappointed but figured, oh well that's where I am.
As I was rolling down the paddock I noticed that temp was very, very high. Turns out, I had lost about 2/3 of my coolant because the replacement cap I used had popped as well! The cap on the other side was going to pop in short order as well.
At least the brakes were good! I let the car cool down and ran a length of fuel hose between these two barbs, getting rid of the cap situation. An 02 buddy of mine showed me his cooling setup that he's been running for season after season. It totally removes the path out of the water pump to the back of the engine as well as the t-stat and he's never had an issue with it. I'm probably headed in that direction.
Saturday morning felt good. I only ended up with 1-2 clear laps and turned a 2:24. Not where I was last year but everything felt good so I wasn't complaining. Later in the morning an announcement went out that, since our quali session was such a mess, they were going to grid using a blended time, placing me 7th on the grid.
I had the pointy end of the field directly in front of me, a fast Alfa behind and another E21 with an M50 engine in it behind the Alfa. I hung with the pointy group for the first lap but going through turn 1 a second time, right on their tails, they just all disappeared over the hill. That hill is my nemesis at Schenley. I feel that I carry good speed where I can and have actually gotten compliments on how I carry through turn 1 itself but I just don't have the power to stick with the quick cars up that hill. At about lap 4, I had fallen to 9th with the Alfa and the M50-powered E21 getting by me.
Less than a lap later, I catch the tail end of the E21 going straight into the jersey barriers at the Fountain. Spectators and corner workers alike were still scurrying. That corner is more difficult than it appears on the surface. You are carrying considerable speed out of Phipps, have to cross over the crown of the road either under braking or right after and then dive down into the corner. It's no joke. He was totally fine physically but what this meant was we had a huge yellow section for the rest of the race as the car was unable to be safely moved totally off track. 2 laps later I passed a B who was off track after the hay bale chicane putting me back in 7th.
Unfortunately, we ran the last two laps under full course yellow. Not the way you want to end a race but, hey, I'll take it. I wasn't going to catch the front runners but I was in absolutely no danger of being caught by the cars behind me.
I still haven't seen times from my Sunday morning session but I don't think I bettered my 2:22 from last year during that session and my quickest in the afternoon was a 2:24. So, because of things specific to my sessions and out of my control, I didn't really get a chance to push the car consistently through the whole track to compare performance to last year.
Elmore did his thing to and from and we got home early evening yesterday.
After unloading, with my family out to dinner, I was drawn back to Hatchet for a celebratory beverage.
Despite the headaches I totally love this car and leave this weekend very satisfied. I didn't hit my goal of a top 5 finish but I continue to climb up the finishing order and feel confident that we'll get there.
Amazingly, when the butterflies can close all the way, the carb works a ton better. 
