Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival - Road America 9/16-18/07 Time for the official debut of the roadster, the new trailer, and my first race since last July. Preparation was feverish the week before and right up until the night before. I hate that, but familial obligations just didn't leave me the time. After all, it was just a month or so prior that I had to finally replace the entire ignition system, then do a little work on the carbs. Thursday A day off, final prep, head up to RA for tech. On the way up stopped off to get a fuel press. reg. as the new one that had ust been put in was flakey. Passed no problems. Installed the new reg. Even the transponder I had to yank off my other car worked. Good start, good day. Paddocked amongst some Alpha guys, ended up at Seibkens for a couple. Slept in the van at the track that cold night at. Friday 8:00am - Practice. Oooo that's early. But I'm all ready. Still cold, cloudy and windy. Running good. but slow. Coming done into 5 I notice the hood flopping loose. Hmmmm. Wind around the tires into the paddock, grab the first guy I see walking along. me: Hey, can you push my hood shut? him: huh? me: repeat, him:Ohhh, OK. walks around to the front. me: no, back here, by the windshield. him: huh? me: repeat. him: pushes on front of hood. me: rinse, wash, repeat. Finally get him to push it closed. Back to grid, session closed. Oh well, got some good laps in. Handles predictably, fairly neutral, great in the carousel and kink (my favorite parts of the course). Fearing some such incident, I had actually brought along a spare hoodpin kit, bits and cordless. Remove stock latch, put in hood pin. Wooohoo. Check, bleed brakes. Best time 3:18. :-( 10:30 - Practice 2. Still cloudy cold and windy. Fairly uneventful. Video isn't working though. Lipstick cam decided to stop putting out video. Fiddle a bit, not luck. Start formulating alternatives. But the car's running and I'm here, albeit alone! Best time 3:20 >:-(( Well now, here's the sticky wicket. At the last moment I had decided to run the all closed-wheel enduro. Hmmm. 1 hour, 8 gal cell. At least it could be fairly cheap track time. Well... I can fuel. Oh, need a extinguisher holder do I? I was able to find a couple guys paddocked up by the grid not in the enduro to lend a hand. Last minute of course. Never having done an enduro, lots to learn quickly, then align with them. Decided "somewhere along the fence", I'll come in arounf 20 mins. Sprint back to the car (down the hill), put gas can in back, drive up to grid. Oh, they're gridding way before the usual false grid... behind a row of trailers. Can't find my guys. Gas in back, 5 mins. Alright, unleash, grab the can, run up along the fence. Ahh found them. Yeah, we'll try right... there. Back in the car, buckle up. Train them on helping me do the Isaac HNR, click, go, go, go. ***Note to readers: Read this paragraph, and you'll have the gist of the weekend! I had a number of cars behind me on grid, as we come around 14, most all of them pass me going up the hill. But they all bunch up at 1, so I just cruise on thru, pick up a couple spots, loose then by two, get 'em back in 3, then watch 'em walk away down the back stretch. Catch a bunch down in 5, hang on thru 6, 7, 8 as most are slowing for those bends. Carousel beauty, 9/10 to full throttle, make a pass or two in the carousel, wind it out to 6k, into 4th before track out at the bottom. A couple pass me before the kink, then promptly slow down, I'm right on their tail now, but after the momentum I've gained wears off in another 20 yards, they're gone. After another lap, I'm all alone. Still some way behind, others way in front. Good seat time I guess. Car doesn't flinch, but doesn't really go either. Now the big boys are coming 'round again. Humongus closing speeds! me: passing corner 4 station, a small dot's coming out of 3. me: brake marker 5, Whamm! There goes a Can-Am type car, then a Porsche, then Vette. Of course I out brake them, go wide around them in 5, then watch them fly up the hill to 6. A bit hair- raising, but in a masochistic sort of way, fun. Time to think about fuel and the mandatory 5 min pit stop. Hang my hand up 3, then 2, then 1, pull in looking for the boys. I had seen their approximate location on previous laps, as I would look up from the comics I would read on the front stretch just long enough to locate them. Actually it was really easy. Brad, the designated fire extiguisher holder, was derssed in a nice bright orange jump suit. I never did ask him how he got that thing, I was ust happy I could see him from a mile away. Unleash, grab the trunk key, fuel up (through a standard 1/2 inch gas can tube, yawn), re-attach (they're already pretty good with the Isaac), and I'm off in a tad over 5 mins. Amazing to me. Rejoin the melee, feeling ok. I might make the whole hour! "But wait!" says Mr Roadster, "It can't go too easy for you now." Coming up through 13, major clacking, loose power, but still running. Pull into pits. Hey boys what do you think? Hmmm, sumthin in the valve train. Yeah, sounds like it. Roll it down the hill, remove valve cover... ouch, busted rocker arm stud. Hey, it's early, I can just drive into Sheboygan and get a stud, looks fairly normal. - By the way, Brad & Bob, you guys rock. 17+ hours from New York to do this race in an awesome Mustang and still kill an hour helping a putz like me. Thanks so much. Unhook trailer, start van, wah, wah, wah, click. Dead battery. But once again, boy scout Steve has brought a juicer. Chili dinner starts in a bit, I'll charge it whilest eating chili and jawing with the crowd. Easy choice. There's actually a funny story carried out during the dinner, but I'm already approaching novel length here, so that will have to be told another time. Onward to Sheboygan! Me: Do you have rocker arm studs, oooo, metric? AutoZone: A rocker what? What's a stud? me: this. AZ: Oh, we sell car parts, we wouldn't have one of those. What year? me: 1967 Datsun. AZ: A what? me: Oh, how about one of those hangy pine tree air fresheners? AZ: Sure, aisle 5. me: Psyche! I don't even have a hangy mirror to hang it on. Back to the track. Hmmmm family was supposed to be here by now. Ring, ring, wife & kids: Hello? me: Hiiiii, hey, where are you? w&k: in the pool. me: I thought you were coming to the track!?? w&k: well, we decided to come here instead. me: OK, i fixin, I'll be there when I can. 9:00pm - My worst fear of breaking the car on Friday and missing the real weekend is a looming reality. NO! Snap out of it! Can't stop now! Wander the track looking for parts. Big huge semi's, nice trailers, nice people, nothin. Then at the back of the paddock I spot a Brit flag, a Lotus, and a bonfire. "The Brit guys are always breaking, I bet they have somthing." sure enough, we find a bolt of the right size, some wonderful mechanic's advice, and off I go to put the car back together. Turn on the van lights, break out the tools and do it. 10:00.pm - Done. Back to the hotel to meet the family. Wow, what a day. BUT I SURVIVED! Saturday: Great weather, absolute clear sky, 70s. A qualifying session and qualifying "race". Good thing the second one was 'Race' as you don't have to report in for 4 wheels off during a race as you would if it were a "session". 4 WHEELS OFF!!!?? Yes, got wide coming out of 5 (making room for somethin faster no doubt), out onto the new wide runoff, which then ends in a little sand trap about 3 feet long. But what happens at the edges of sandboxes?? Sand goes down, edges go up. Woooooo Hoooo, 4 wheels off the ground! I keep it straight and just join back in up the hill a bit. What a ride! Still at 3:18 plus or minus a couple tenths though. stop in to watch the 1927 Bugatti 35B, supercharged 2.3 litre 8cyl, and end up helping the guys get it up and going, actually carried the bonnet and helped put it on. craftsmanship and a whole other planet of automotive design and function. More great guys, "just another car", nothing special, lets go out and drive it. Most I'll ever touch a $.5 mil+ car. Give a bunch of rides during track touring (race cars free), most were first timers. Good time, and cars were moving! They all think it's so easy, then you get them out there and they're screaming at 60mph! 5:00 - Gather everyone up. head off to the Osthoff for "Gathering on the Green", a high-falutin car show on the grass in front of the big white house. Real nice stuff, but I end up yakkin with people from Seibkens, the track, chili dinner the whole time, only see a couple of the cars! Off to find a dinner, try the bar at the Victorian Villas. Looks nice. Ends up not so good, but they had kids toys and chalkboard, so that helped. Then back the hotel, kids swim, we have a few drinks and play some games. Sunday: Another warm and sunny day. Race at 10:30, but I'm up early at to the track. OH YEAH, I FORGOT THE 8:00 "Warm up" session! Quick prep, in the car and make the grid. Two more laps, more of the same, I feel I'm doing better, but I'm not. Same times. 10:30 - Race. This was a bit of fun, got to run with a Europa now and again, but finally left him in my dust. Near the end, the guy I went to Seibkens with lost it in the kink, and brought his car home in 3 pieces. Engine clean out, not much left fore of the windshield. Too bad, it was a fresh engine. 12:00 - Shortened touring session due to the cleanup, but took another 4 out, including my mom. I have never been around RA sooo slow, and she was white knuckle and blabbering the whole way. I finally had to ask her to please refrain. BUT SHE WAS OUT THERE and I have pics to prove it! Gave my daughter a good 80% ride, 90 thru the kink, she loved it. There is hope. More track meandering soaking up the sights and sounds. My throat is getting sore. There are contantly people stopping by to talk roadsters. Everyone either has had one or more, has one now, or wants one. Kinda neat and enjoyable meeting all those people. We eventually pack it up, say goodbye to old and new friends and have a thankfully UNeventful tow home. While slow, I consider it a success. I made the track, made all the sessions, drove the car as my main transport between the cities and back and forth to the hotel....JUST LIKE THE OLD DAYS. Cliff Notes version VSCDA again brings us the Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival, known iin our group as 'Fall Vintage'. A wonderful if not fickle time to be in Wisconsin, and it held true. Cold and windy early, but ended up beautiful for Sat and Sun. A lot of firsts for this event: - First race with this car - First open top racer driven (arm restraints, etc.) - First tow with a trailer - First outing in the tow van (old conversion van-The Velveteen Love Machine) this year - First time I was way behind in prep work... on a new car - First Vintage race - First VSCDA race - First Enduro attempt - First mechanical breakage on track Thursday: Pack everything up, get to the track and pass tech quickly! Swap in a new fuel press reg. and some other leftover task. Set up camp, meet some new friends (GREAT crab cakes George!), end up at Siebkens for a few. Back to the track and sleep in the van. Friday: 8:00 practice session (ouch!), but I was actually ready. Getting used to the car is easy, within a few laps I'm hard at it. Easy to drive, tracks nice and solid, just think and you turn, nice and gentle, no need to fight like I thought it might be. Near the end the hood pops open, oull it in. Throw in the hood pin kit I had in the spares. Done. check brakes. Next session much the same only a bit more comfortable, Best time 3;18. ENduro: I had decided at the last minute to do the 1 hour enduro, couldn't pass up the track time in a new car. Figured I either pull in early or just run it out of gas. but, I enlist some unsuspecting helpers for fueling. Around 50 cars in the enduro, all closed wheel classes. Kinda scary in a 3:18 car! Stop for fuel at about 20 mins, next lap, clackity clack. Pull it in. Busted rocker arm stud. Go to drive into town looking for a part, but van battery is dead. Go to chili dinner, meet more great people, have some fun (multi-tasking, van battery is charging). Into Sheboygan, no luck. Back to the track, locate a suitable bolt and advice (Thanks Yves), fixed by 10pm. Back to the hotel to meet up with the family. Saturday: Up early again, sunny and warmish. Clean up the car and hit the track for two more sessions. A little off-track excursion, but all OK. Meanwhile additional family and friends are joining us. While paddocked, a never-ending stream of people file by, looking and chatting. Everyone either has had one or more, has one now, or wants one. Cool. End the day at the "Gather on the Green" car show, a couple cocktails and dinner. Now I usually don't drink at all the weekends I race, but it did kinda fit with the "vintage" theme I thought. As long as I stay away from the beer, and stick with good distilled, I'm good. Sunday: Dawn's sunny and warm again