The car, upon arrival at Monkeywrench Central was found to have a multitude of small issues to iron out. The first weeks were spent coaxing it to life (needed more amps) installing a new Optima battery, installing the bigger seat, fabricating new lap belt mounts, organizing the spares, buying and making ready a trailer, and dropping a G on a set of wee Hoosier slicks for the first time. Shakedown was at a TT at Summit, where it worked fine. SCCA double race school was the next week - 3 exceptionally intensive days - a broken half shaft on the second day fixed while I was in the classroom by a couple friends who’d literally just popped by my paddock spot as I was flat towed in. I got 2nd the Saturday school race, and won on Sunday. The rest of the season was generally uneventful. I qualified in the rain at my first event, finished mid-field. A Sunday race went from slightly cloudy to the hardest rain I’ve seen at Summit in 25 years - We continued on wets after a delay, and my logbook was signed off afterward.
I was accepted to the GRM UTCC, but didn’t find out ‘til a week before, and the car was essentially all apart. At the UTCC the car fuel starved every lap. Before the next MARRS race it got new fuel and fire suppression systems and the wiring harness tidied up and re-wrapped as well as finally being aligned and corner weighted. Time began coming off. At the final MARRS event I was gridded P1 for qualifying and faced a track that had been oiled and cleaned from T10 to T3. I put my head down, and after a partial spin and agricultural excursion in 1, did a 1‘17.2” anf the last lap of the session. In the Sunday race a Star Mazda and myself put on a good show. We were both single-car classes, so we had at it. I had the edge nearly everywhere except 1-2 where he’d close up. He got inside in 1 w/ 2-3 to go, I pressured him, braked crazy late for 5 with my left tires barely on the pavement, and he tried to carry inside line speed but out in the marbles - and he spun off.
I’ve acquired a Suzuki 1300 Hayabusa engine at a favorable price and will bump up to C sports racer class next season. My car is 200#+ over weight for DSR class minimum, and there’s a guy in CSR in a new Radical I think I can give a good fight.
