So you noticed.
Actually, we had a big problem and a very rough start to the season. (But all worked out fine
)
Started out on Wednesday, May 7 - at Mosport for a Test Day. During the winter we had installed a new Quaif Sequential Gear Box and it had to have a custom drive shaft fabricated. First thing in the morning - First lap out - first time I stepped on it - the drive shaft broke! We had to run into Scarborough to have another one fabricated. Back on the track by 2:30 - and the transmission was great. But new problems - we were way, way down on power. Hitting only 180 kph on the Mosport backstraight (normally 240 - 250).
Spent all day Thursday diagnosing and searching for the problem. Thought we had it fixed. Changed the ECU, cleaned up several connectors on the engine harness - all looked good. Back at Mosport for the Friday Test day (before Saturday and Sunday Races - May 10/11) - once again - no power. We put the car on a trailer and took it down to Durham Dodge for access to the factory Scan tool and Diagnoses - absolutely no unusual error codes.
Best guess seemed to be a fuel problem, so my crew worked most of the night replacing the fuel pump.
Saturday morning (race day) - the car started the first practise with no power again, but them seemed to kick in and started working for the last two laps. When I went out for my qualifying session - the problem came right back. Best lap I could do was a 1 minute 35:526 (about ten seconds off normal) and qualified in 8th place out of 35 cars.
Back in the pits, we thought we had a good workaround - but when the I ran in the Saturday race - well - it was sad !
I finished 11th in the field, struggling to get a 1 minute 37:859 (We actually seemed to be getting slower as the race went on). To add insult - the Corvette that won the race, even put me down a full lap before the race ended.
Another late night for the crew on Saturday - and without finding the actual problem, we did find a possible workaround (pull the O2 sensors and let the ECU run the engine at full rich all the time).
Sunday was MUCH better. It wasn't pretty, but I had my HP back. Starting 11th, I moved through the pack, caught the leaders and won the race, setting the fastest lap at 1:25:651. For the Feature/Trophy race in the afternoon - I led from flag to flag - winning the race with a weekend best time of 1:25:533.
I came out of the first weekend, leading the championship (but just barely) with 75 points to second place 72. Could have been much worse. Also (fortunately) my biggest rival, Alex Habrich (in another Viper Comp Coupe) couldn't make it out for the first weekend.
I am trying to 3-peat my local championship after winning in 2006 and 2007 - but I think that this year will be much more difficult - with Alex, a couple of really fast Corvettes, a killer Datsun with Buick power, the occasional Transam car and several other contenders.
We are running at Shannonville this weekend (May 30-June 1) and then back at Mosport on the Canada Day weekend.
In between I will be going up to Calabogie to run in the Viper Racing League event during the Viper Days. Hope to see you all there.
Nick
