Dorkiphus.net - DE in TX.. Dorki Style! (long)

Since moving to TX I have been trying to get settled. Everything is good here and we are settling in nicely. the ST is nearly finished and should make it to the track in Nov. Even so I had a need to hit some curbing. This past weekend I attended the Maverick Region DE at Motorsport Ranch outside Ft. Worth. A local friend John (donk on Pelican) joined in the fun for his first DE in his 72T targa.

What a weekend.

The DE was TX HOT! The sign read 100F on the way from the track at 6:30 Sat night. I am still wondering if it will ever cool down. This is what caused some of my problems. I will get to that in a minute.

The weekend started off with a long trip up to the track. It took almost 6 hours to get there. Some of it was trucker delays as we talked to two of them at a rest stop and truck stop respectively. The next delay was stopping for Gas in Cleburn and not being able to start my car. The thermal overload cut out on my Permatune CDI unit and I had no spark. Ice from the cooler works wonders and would prove to be a saving grace the next day. Next we noticed that the starter didn't want to spin. Low Voltage? The alt. light was dark so I don't know. We jumped the car from John's and off we went. We finally start the car and get back on the road following the directions I pulled from Yahoo Maps. WRONG MOVE. The directions had us going South and not North. We drove about 20 min. down the road and stopped to look at the directions. I called the hotel and heard "honey, you are going the wrong way..." The desk clerk was nice, set us straight and we arrived about 1am. When John hits the parking lot, his car is smoking. We pull the air cleaner and see the top of the engine full of oil and its burning off. The breather tube was not completely tight so we pulled it, cut off an inch, cleaned the engine and hose, and reinstalled.

6am we are back on the road, the track was about 15min away from the hotel. We unpack the cars, check in, have the driver's meeting and class with no problems. First run group. We grid early and meet our instructors. Had some conversations to discuss previous experience and then it was time. The first run was no helmets, no passing and just learning the line. As usual in Green the inst. drove the first few laps to show us and then we switched seats. My first few laps were slow since there was no passing. It was just getting the line down having never been to this track. This would all change when the speeds go up.

The second run was much faster this time we had helmets on. Full braking more shifts and a whole lot of squealing tires. Time to focus on being smooth. Everything went well. Comments that mention I have good car control and awareness are in the debriefing. This is good - safe and smooth are fast lines.

Third run group and I can not start the car. First the starter is locked. It will not turn. I made sure John made it to his run and tell my instructor I have car problems. I was able to clean the contacts to the starter and get it to turn after about 10 min. The only problem then was the thermal cutout my CDI is out again. Keep in mind its about 100 outside. Quickly I grab ice from the cooler and within about 1 min it fires. I drive up to the grid to get a few laps. My instructor is off in the paddock and I get another to ride along. I just want practice being smooth on line and he makes some good comments. I think I get 3 laps in the run - better than none. When we come off for debriefing my instructor is standing. He says, lets ride in my car. Cool, Red run group (fastest, club racers and instructors) and his 996TT with slicks. This could get interesting.

OH MY!!! That car is seriously fast and smooth. You don't even notice the turbo spool but he is a really good driver. We lap most of the field running with a Z06. I notice different lines and FAST footwork to keep the car stable. I now have Major respect for the pro racers who can drive like this for hours. I could not believe how fast we took some corners. It was incredible.

And then the fun begins. This is where the Dorki's would have shined! I had parked my car next to my instructors - at the opposite end of the paddock. When we got done, the car would not start. I climbed under the car laying on hot asphalt and tried to bang on the starter. Nothing. WE tried to push start nothing. The car wouldn't even rotate over. I jacked up the car and cleaned the connections again. Still nothing. I tried pouring water on it to cool. Still nothing. The starter is dead. I then have to push the car all the way across track to our pits where the tools were. this paddock area is nearly as long as the front straight at Summit. John is steering and its down hill for the first part. My instructor sees us after coming in with another student and helps us push. Once the car is in place I say I am going to drop the engine and pull the starter. The look of disbelief on my instructors face was funny. Even the guys next to us with matching 944 cup-type cars were amazed that I was getting ready to pull the engine.

I then proceded to put the car on stands, loosen the rear engine bolts and drop the engine about 6 inches to get to the top starter bolt. It's really tight but I finally manage to break it loose. Keep in mind I am working with limited tools. I was bending an 8mm allen wrench about 4 inches on the end using a 19mm box wrench for leverage. Once the top bolt is out I jack the motor back up and go to the bottom. We have to borrow a 15mm socket to get to the bottom nut. 5 min later the starter comes out. I can barely turn the motor by hand. Its stuck!!

I clean up and we leave my car in the paddock on stands with the engine on the jack and loose mouting bolts. Off to dinner and the store. Small town TX does not have lot of retail stores. Between Walgreens, Home depot and Autozone we manage to collect enough tools to tear down the starter. I finally get it apart using a newly aquired impact screwdriver and find it’s the solenoid that is frozen. Some carb cleaner and 3:1 oil and I manage to free it. I clean the bearings/bushings with some fine sandpaper and put it all back together. It now spins freely and the plunger moves with little difficulty.

Time for sleep. Early Sunday morning we get to the paddock and I quickly go to work putting it back in, having to pause for the driver's meeting. Before class (8am) I have the starter back in the car. I turn the key, nothing happens. Crap! it didn't work. Oh yeah, don't forget to plug the engine back in. make a connection and turn the key the starter spins so fast I don't recognize the engine. Wow! It works. I walk into class dirty and greasy. The head instructor says, "Uh Oh its broken". "NO, now its fixed" was my reply which generated some laughter from the students. They wait for me to wash up and then class begins.

Sundays run sessions go by just fine. John is really getting faster. He started off really slow and learned the line. I saw remarkable progress as he was coming out of Big bend hard on the gas fighting the whole way. He made great progress. I will let him tell the story. My first to runs on Sunday went well. They were very smooth and my instructor tells me he wants to do a check out ride to move me up a group. The problem is that the head guy giving the check out rides is really tough and critical. The check out ride goes well. He shows me a new line here, different braking points there and says that I am doing well. Makes a few suggestions and says enjoy the blue group. Cool, I got the upgrade. Now John and I are in different run groups. I get the camera and snap some pictures and he does the same. Blue is faster than the green group. I am still driving faster than I was but getting passed a lot. This is good since it lets me follow the faster cars. I can keep up through much of the twisties but not the straights. Cornering is fast with the lighter car. Its amazing to watch how slow some of the 993s, 996s and Boxsters are on car transisitons. Lower weight is good!

The day ends, the tent is trashed from the wind and we pack up and start up. it’s a long day and I get home about 9. What a fun weekend. 623 miles of interstate, back roads and track time. Its all good! Not the same as Potomac and the east coast but Fun, and that's the most important part.

I will have pics tomorrow. I did not download the camera last night.

Jamie