Race Report: 2013 Capitol Offense - The 24 Hours of LeMons

Not. We failed tech.

On our home track.

On the most-fun-per-mile track on the east coast.

On a gorgeous weekend.

What did it? A perfect storm of:

• Old Fuel Cell (RCI, not FAI rated) and 
• Rear fuel cell protecting roll cage that tied into the front roll cage (a no-no for 2013 that we somehow missed in the rule updates, and the safety tech judge at Monticello either missed or let slide and didn't mention) AND also 
• Diagonals of rear roll cage tied from the main upper hoop to behind the rear axle (another no-no, for 2012 that we somehow missed in the rule updates, and the safety tech judge at the last 4 races either missed or let slide and didn't mention). 

We couldn't just cut out the offending sections because they were holding in the fuel cell. Another team graciously offered to stay up all night to help fix it, but as they had 2 of their own cars needing work we didn't feel comfortable leaning on them so heavily. Death before Dishonor! Still, this hurt, being our favorite track and our home track.


MGB GT Race Car : Friday Practice Session in style!

We did have some mechanical issues Friday at test day; burnt a half quart of oil driving to the track (rings? uh oh), and the accelerator cable was very hard and making grinding noises. We also could not get above 4500 RPM (redline is at 5500 RPM), which renders the weak car even weaker, to the point of idling around the track - no fun for anyone. We checked the pedal linkage (since it came off last year at Summit), adjusted the carb linkage, greased the heck out of it, and did not find the solution by the time Safety Tech came around, at which point it was moot (though it did play a role in making us decide to not stay up all night gerry rigging an unsafe roll cage fix to get past tech).


Inconsequential Drama Recap:

Lesson 1: Do not go to Pep Boys for your tires, and if you do, (1) do it well ahead of time, (2) make sure the tires you order are not discontinued, (3) make sure the team mate ordering them knows "200 treadwear" is the top priority, (4) make sure the placement of the wheel weights do not chew away your tie rod bellows, and (5) don't go to Pep Boys. We did finally get them. See: photographic proof:


All 4, we counted

Wheel weights on inner rim interfering with tie rod bellows, move and Gorilla Tape elsewhere!

Lesson 2: Be Excessive. It's best to clean out Perty Ada The Short Bus to Adventure Tow Vehicle and Pit Party House with a Roomba and a 140 MPH leaf blower:

Friggin stink bugs from hell, begone!

Lesson 3: Bring chalk. Other than that, there may be no fix for this one. LeMons said no entry Thursday night, but we had an old friend that lived nearby walk over to the main gate and he said teams were setting up and Summit Point Gate said "go on in!". So, I threw everything I could into Perty Ada The Short Bus to Adventure and drove up to Summit; the front gate said "go on in" but when I got to the bridge at Shenandoah they had just tied it off, the LeMons judges saying Summit messed up and let some teams in. But she felt bad for me (I enacted Lesson #2 and was excessively polite) and she suggested that I could, once they left, hand carry all my spare tires and big crap a mile down to the pits and  mark off 3 pit spots (I was also saving spots for our Sister teams Team Judge Phil and Ruby McQueen (aka ex the DRTy e30s). So I did, damn the Hiatal Hernia (that has knocked me out of 2 other races), luckily I had grabbed some of my kids Sidewalk Chalk and a tape measure (Judge said 20 foot spots, any more and penalties would be levied) used it to mark off spaces. I ran out of chalk, but at least had enough to mark them some:

Midnight at Summit Point 24 Hours of LeMons Pit Land Grab and Cluster Fark

The punch line being that by the time we left Thursday late at night, the Summit Point Security guard told me it was stupid to hand carry that stuff, and that he had to drive through the gate tape anyway do his rounds 3 times and hour. >:(  But, as I had given my word to the LeMons judge, I left the school bus at the gate and moved it in the morning. Whatever, it's all good.

Lesson 4: Do not be last in line for Tech Inspection. After 8 hours in the sun listening to spoiled race car people whine, the judges may be a bit grumpy. Get 'em while they're fresh & happy.



Unreasonable English Engine Studs

After measuring the compression of the cylinders as 150/110/100/100 and finding water in the valve cover area it was obvious that, at a minimum, the head gasket needed replacement. Sounds simple, until the you realize the engine in question may not have ever been disassembled since 1978, and all the bolts are fuzed to the block.

Those that gave their all in attempting to remove the head from the engine block:

MGB Engine Head - Stubborn as a British Tory

Autocraft Stud Remover - only partially accurate :-(

MGB Center Head Stud - Snapped; air injection holes plugged.

Finally - after many injuries and curses - the head is removed; the head gasket looks less than optimal - perhaps we shall not reuse it:

MGB Head Gasket is less than fantastic

Well now that the head is removed.... I can't get ANY of the seven remaining head studs out of the block. You can see the center stud is a bit shorter than the others, mostly due to its upper part BEING STUCK IN THE BLOODY Autocraft Stud Remover And Snapper(TM). As we have a race in about three weeks, I shall decline to snap the remaining bolts and let a professional snap them. They will probably be quicker - took me a few days to just snap one!

Seven Angry Studs

Race Report: 2012 The Real Hoopties of New Jersey - 24 Hours of LeMons

The MGB was all ready and rarin' to go for the 24 Hours of LeMons race The Real Hoopties of New Jersey at New Jersey Motorsports Park on April 14 & 15 2012.

Sometimes it takes 12 wheels to get a tiny 1500 lbs car to a race.

Nice open pit area, front row. So front row that the LeMons crew came over to inspect us early so we didn't have to wait in line! Classy! 

Those big gold "50" balloons later detached in the gusty wind and floated up into the next-door airports airspace... oops - sorry NORAD.

Safety Inspection found a few items, which we fixed pronto:

1. Some of the seat bolts were a bit loose which allowed them to move it a bit side to side, so we tightened them all up and added bolts to the back bottom of the seat for extra stability.
2. Bolts holding the seat back support to the seat itself needed spreader washers (the seat is aluminum and would tear easily).
3. Seat harness bolts needed tightening.

Since we had plenty of spare time, Bob & Scot replaced the Weber DGV Carburetor Accelerator Pump Diaphragm:

Blue engine bay, blue roll bar, blue engine, blue hands, blue shirt... gee, no wonder we blew the engine.

Poor Queenie the Solar powered forever waving monarch fell off the MGB 50th Anniversary Cake and had a bit of a mash up - we didn't recognize the portent for what it was until too late.

"I Shall Forever Wave No More Forever"

Having fun while it lasted:

Now that's what I'm talking about!

 My bad, turn 1, ran out of talent:

The tire mark is only halfway up the MGB fender - what's the problem?

Scot's first stint - came in and reported the drivers side front suspension "wobbles" at high speed. We told him to keep his elbow INSIDE the window, but to appease him we checked it out anyway... sure enough, the bolt that sealed the oil in the shock / dampener had vibrated a bit loose and was leaking oil. Yes, MGBs have dipsticks on the shock absorbers. We filled it back up and out she went, ready to rumble:

"Knock yourself out, buttplug!"

Scot was just happy that, since it was indeed the dampener, he could return to hanging his elbow out the window:

She wobbles at high speed, just like the Queen!

At the end of day 1, the car seemed a bit underpowered but was running good enough as far as we cared to admit, so we offered Steve - who had just come down to pit crew and see what was up with endurance racing - some seat time.

Unbeknownst to Steve, he prepares for the worst.

Remember that whole "If someone offers you something for free it's probably worth every penny" parable? Yeah, that... Engine Grenade in 3...2....1.... I think he only got 4 laps or less!!! Sorry about that.

The old MGB cylinder 3"Bearing Blender" maneuver.

Hey! You can't park there Steve!    Wait... why aren't you out on the track!?!

Manly tractor engines can cry too, you know.

The full extent of damage in the blown engine may be found in this post: Engine Done Blowed Up Real Good!

The other four drivers - notice the correlation between the still-running engine before the race and the smiles - 100%!

The MG is thinking: "Uh huh - put your asses on ME will you?!!? I'll show you bastages in about 7 hours!!

Engine Done Blowed Up Real Good!

Post Race Engine Inspection : 24 Hours of LeMons The Real Hoopties of New Jersey 2012

MGB Oil Pan Removal

Can't quite get the socket into that tiny place to remove the oil pan? WWGD? (What Would Guinness Do?) Make your own socket!

Grinding a 7/16th Socket to fit MGB Oil Pan Bolt

ShortBus Socket

ShortBus Socket half done (left); CrapTastic Harbor Fright socket thingy sucks donkey doo-doo (right)

MGB Oil Pan Shrapnel

Finally removed the oil pan... and immediately found the problem - no oil in that one section!!! How could we have been so stupid!?!?! Let me just dump all these random bits of British Steel out of the pan, and refill with oil...

 

Oh yeah, and these issues may be problems too...

In summary: