Forum : NWOR Airport autox - 7 September 08

I made a last-minute decision to head up to visit our friends at NWOR on Sunday.

Jeff suggested it might be our one and only opportunity in advance of actually running in Topeka to try to figure out our driver changes, set-ups, practice on-the-fly tire changes, etc. This becomes more critical since he will be flying in the day before the event from his road-race team at the Glen. What with 2 cars, four drivers, racing in 2 locations in 3 days, Jeff has indeed become the Roger Penske of the FMod world.

So Mr. Penske and I met up to make the drive to Toledo together. Most of the drive there was in rain. I was kind of curious how THAT might work in a FMod. Yikes.

The NWOR guys kick their day off about an hour later that most clubs I've run with, which in this case was just about perfect for us to get registered, tech the car and fit three course-walks in. First car was off as-scheduled at 11.

The course was long, and used many, many cones. If you were to have looked at the course from the sky, it was essentially in the shape of a capital 'M', with a line uder it, and very long legs. As Jeff and I walked it, we speculated that this type of course could only come from the twisted, evil mind of one John Fessler. This theory was later confirmed… Sick bastard…

Kidding aside, it was a VERY nice course, with a great flow. The only time it looked painful was when I was working and watching the first run group (of three) clear the course of rain. Many spins, many off-courses. But as the pavement dried, as one would expect, speeds ramped up, and the line looked good. There were several medium-speed features, and a lot of nice sweepers. Also a few slaloms, one of average gate length, and one that paced at a huge 35 paces for me, that purely tested your mettle to stay in the throttle.

For me, personally, it was a great event. I got to see a couple pretty cool rides I hadn't seen at events before, like the 1970 orange 911 BSP car. The Noble M400 ASP car. Also got to see a ridiculously stout GM Drivetrain testing vehicle with a Chevy Trailblazer body on it in EMod, which, cool as it was, may have only been kind of as cool as the white 1982 Ford F150 Stepside that was ALSO running in EMod. On propane. 

As always, it was cool to see a lot of friends and fellow rogues out as well. Got to see Chip, Buddy, Jason Sukey, Wiseman, Robert and Charina, Jack Burns, Mark Sommer, Greg McCance, Tim Fulgham, Betsy, Marc Porschke, Thad Evans, and many others. On that note, can I just say that Thad kicks ass? He's my hero.

 

 

 

 

All in all, a great day. I think Jeff and I are set to go for Topeka, and we did successfully pull off a 4-tire change with driver change in less time than would be needed for Nats, so we've got that going for us. Which is nice.

A full gallery of photos can be found at:

http://mageep.smugmug.com/gallery/5917637_85gSt#368312253_NTxHN

I am really sorry Mike & I were unable to make this event. Since I was at the mercy of my employer and our head mechanic I had to let 'actual work' take precedence over 'government work' and wasn't able to complete the extensive repairs to my Panhard bar mount until this week.

Remember in auto repair as in woodworking the adage to measure twice and cut once also applies. While the repair and 'improvements' made to my Panhard bar mount were indeed a thing of beauty and inspired engineering, it became quite apparent that the boxed in section I had insisted on to add additional strength was a wee bit too long and would not allow me to mount my Panhard bar properly.

I sent Mike off to Harbor Freight to procure a PROFESSIONAL model air cut off tool and borrowed Paul's primo Harbor Freight reciprocating saw (purchased to assist in the infamous 2-week header install ) and set to work. While the saw worked great the Chinese metal cutting saw blades lasted about .ooooo6 of second before the teeth were completly gone and I had made .0000000001 of an inch progress. Oh, my, this is not going to go good. I became pretty adept at changing blades (I will get you some replacements that actually work, Paul) and got most of the long cuts done. I was able to finish up with my newly purchased cut off tool and finally the panhard bar would fit in place.

Now I just had to put the bolt and two spacers in and tighten the bolt. Insert bolt, spacer, panhard bar, spacer, spacer, spacer, whoa the second spacer won't fit! It appeared that the down legs of the panhard bar mount were tweaked a bit either through the failure or the repair and what once was in that space would no longer fit. Shit. Off to the grinder. I shaved a little off the space and it then fit.

Tighten the bolt, lower the car, add gas, turn key, …..and it started.

Mike & I are more or less ready to actually go to Topeka with a car that ought to run!

Scott