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Season 9, Episode 2 of the Success is a hard concept to define in racing in the 24 Hours of LeMons. Is it:
It's all those things and more. In the nine years that Team Pro Crash Duh Nation has been racing in LeMons, we have had our share of laughs, tears, fun, triumph, and more man/woman-hours of work than I could have ever imagined when we began. Team members have come and moved and come back again. Sounds like an epilogue, no? It's not. That little bit of time when everything is going right and Angelina is screaming out its song at full chat makes it all worthwhile. We will be back. So on to the race at Thompson Raceway: We made some improvements to the chassis and installed a new exhaust system for this race in addition to the usual extensive preparation we do. Despite being labeled "The best sounding car in LeMons" by Jay Lamm, my hope with the exhaust system was to reduce the noise level in the car, but Angelina refuses to cooperate. The car is still quite loud but the new exhaust has reduced the obnoxious raucous sound. We arrived at the track Friday morning and were able to secure one of the best spots in the paddock. All of our team members arrived from their far-flung locales and we set up and began our practice and testing. The car was a rocket. Great power, and the grip level and handling were better than ever. The only weak point was the brakes that seemed to want to lock the rears early despite the new proportioning valve. We passed our technical inspection with flying colors and also sailed through the "BS" inspection. It helps here that everyone in the tech shed feasts off the table we set on the roof of the car while we also pull espressos for whoever wants them. Back in our paddock, we went over the car with a fine-tooth comb – nut and bolting it and securing anything that looked iffy. Locked and loaded, Angelina was ready for her big day. Saturday morning dawned a bit wet but clearing. Racing was starting at 9:00 AM and going till 6:30 PM. Typically for me, I thought we were starting at 9:30 AM and was in no hurry to strap into the car. I would race first, and then Frank Farrell followed by Lon Barrett. Sunday was reserved for Nick Fonte and Ted Wolmers. The team loaded the car with our camelback of cold water, ice in the Koolsuit tank, and a large bunch of grapes snap-tied to the rear view mirror. We use the grapes just like pet owners use treats to train their pets. Do something good on track, you get a treat – a nice, juicy, sweet grape. It fits well with our whole Italian shtick as well. We completed our radio check with Greg LeBlanc, our spotter / radio man, in my ear and we were ready. We race to win on laps, so each driver change costs time. Long driving stints pay off if you can stay focused and safe. So I planned on a 3-1/2 hour shift for me and 3 hour shifts for the other two drivers. I waited too long to strap into the car, and as a result the green flag dropped while I was on my way to enter the track. I was imagining the scene back at the trailer with my teammates saying we haven't started the race yet and Greg's a lap down. With that in my head, I thought, "OK, maybe I should make up a spot or two." So I set a pretty good pace and, without knowing it, on my 3rd lap posted a 1:32 in traffic, which was good enough to hold up for 20 – 30 laps as the fast lap of the race. My shift went well, and it seemed I had good speed and that the car was very good. The only issue with the car was that it would get smoky with oil smoke in turn 1 after the threshold braking on the straight. Somewhere in that drive, I managed to get the lead and was actually able to put a lap or more on the field. At lap 70, I ran a 1:27, which held up for 3 hours as the FTD. Interestingly, a team that has won overall twice in the past that usually sandbags on Saturday reacted to our lead by trying to stay within reach of us. This caused them to take chances they wouldn't usually do and they got black flagged. (One Tire Fire) At the 3.5-hour mark, I came into hot pit and jumped out of the car. The team managed to put 22 gallons of fuel into the car, ice into the Koolsuit system, drinking water, and one large Frank Farrell in less than 3:10. That is FAST. Frank did a good job holding onto the lead we had, relinquishing a lap or two but not losing position. He had a good drive, with only minor drama when he and another car(s) attempted to occupy the same space. At some point, Frank radioed in that he thought the exhaust was leaking into the cockpit. With a little time left in his 3-hour shift, Frank radioed that he was starting to lose his edge so we prepped for the change. Frank came into the hot pit and we put in 20-plus gallons of fuel very quickly. Lon climbed in and was strapped down and out in about 3:20. Looking back over the lap charts later, I can see that our team has some of the fastest changes of the race teams, especially considering we are putting in more fuel than most teams. Lon went out with a great pace right off the bat and only managed to get faster as his stint went on. He radioed in with some developing issues at about hour 8 saying that 2nd gear was getting balky. The car that eventually would win on Sunday had managed to slip by us at some point, but Lon had been holding position in second about 30 seconds back. We were in great position for Sunday's race start, where our hot shoes Nick Fonte and Ted Wolmers were going to be unleashed. Unfortunately, not too long after that Lon reported that the he had lost power and heard a big bang while a huge cloud of smoke enveloped the car. Not exactly the news that we wanted to hear. The car came in on the hook and it took about ten minutes to spot the hole in the oil pan where some part of our engine had decided to escape. Game over, and time to break out the Peronis and Morretis. Tech Stuff: We had been losing oil all day; hence, the smoke on braking. I was gambling that it would hold out with its 8-9 quarts of capacity; I lost that bet. I tried to second-guess myself but I'm not sure I would do it differently. We were in first place, and taking the car off track would have cost us at least six minutes to fix a problem I wasn't sure we had. Post mortem: So eventually the oil level dropped enough to starve the motor while the car was cornering. This made it hard to see the problem, because typically the driver only looks at the gauges when traveling down the straight. You are pretty busy in the corners! Taking apart the motor, there is a massive carnage. But looking closely you can see some things. The most heavily damaged is one #2 forged Chinese rod and its crank journal. The only other bearing that is damaged is #5 rod bearing. Everything else is quite good. So #2 and #5 rod bearings are supplied by the same main bearing (#2). The rod bearing heated, failed, and then spun. The #2 rod and journal got red-hot while the piston was now hammering up higher into the combustion chamber. This bent the valves and made the timing skip. Somewhere in this timeline, the rod contacted the piston skirt, or the piston traveled so far down that the counterweight clipped the piston skirt (only 1/8" to 3/16" clearance when all is well). So the piston comes apart and metal is flying around in the pan getting between the counterweights and skirts. The rod cap melted at some point and the rod bolts fractured. Before that happened, the piston pin fell out and the rod was flailing around, hammering the block and liner. Up top, the #2 cylinder intake cam follower cracked when the cam said "move" and the valve said "no". So the cam lobe is wiped. All of the exhaust valves hit when the timing skipped on the right bank (1, 2, 3). This broke all of the exhaust push rods and the followers. So the parts I need to build a new 3 liter are:
I am hoping I can reuse the right bank head. The issue will be whether the intake lifter bores are destroyed. There's a hell of a lot of work in the heads. I have a spare block of unknown condition that I am breaking down now and a 3.0 parts car on the way. But to make the NHMS race it might be faster and easier to fix the old 2.5 liter and go racing for fun.
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