WEEKEND REFLECTIONS: RACING
We just finished the Washington 500 this weekend-4 classes of race cars totaling 500 laps.
Friday night we practiced and ran 140 laps. We were looking for some speed and longevity to the setup. We found both and I was stoked for Saturday, on only 12 gallons of fuel.
Saturday we arrived at the track at 10 am, got set up and did a "once over" on the car. Things were ready, so we bolted on the race tires to go scuff. After scuffing a few laps we came in and changed to a practice set.
I went out on those tires and turned a 23.480 in practice which was pretty fast compared to the 23.466 that set the pole last time we raced on the big track. I pulled the car in.
Qualifying came and we ran a 23.384 which is the fastest I'd ever been around the big track. It was good enough for the pole at the last race. One problem, Naima ran a 22.9 and shattered the crate motor track record! I would start 4th.
The car was amazing for the first half of the race. Very fast! Bad fast early! It began to fade after lap 120 pretty good. I fell from third to 6th at one point before there was some mayhem up front taking two guys out. We had a 2 lap--green, white, checkered--finish. As I was rolling under caution the car lost power in turn three. It felt like it ran out of fuel, but that's impossible. I'd completed this race last year using only 13 gallons, and on Friday night we ran 140 laps and only put in 12 gallons of fuel--the fuel cell is 22 gallons. Something happened, I will not be able to explain it until we pull the fuel cell apart to inspect and also examine the fuel pump. We've replaced one fuel pump this year and the 31 car had one fail, so that may be the culprit.
The guys ran toward me with some fuel and opened the cap to pour some in. The car started to fire again. The good news was we ran so many laps under caution that the cautions no longer counted keeping me on the same lap. The bad news was we ran so many laps under caution that I had this problem, I really think if we had stayed green nothing would have happened.
Anyway, I had a legitimate shot at the podium taken from my grasp when the motor quit. We were scored officially in 6th; however, that may change as I don't understand how a car scored ahead of me only completed 148 laps to my 149. Anyway, such is racing.
I really wanted to be on that stage for Mike this weekend, but it wasn't meant to be. We came up short, but Jeff Barkshire did not. He won the Camping World West Series and put the 46 on the top step. I appreciated him honoring Mike in such a way, and congrats to his whole team for the hard work they have invested. Great job to all.
Next weekend is a double header on the 3/8's. Two races, both 50-laps. See you there.
Added Tuesday: We did the research on the fuel situation tonight and after taking the fuel cell apart it is apparent that we did not have the tank topped off at the start of the race. In fact, we topped the tank off while on the scales before the first practice, but discovered in our notes we did not add fuel at any other time during the day. It was an error. Between practice and qualifying we ran about 20 laps, thus we ran out of fuel on the longest race of the year, costing us the podium.
Added Wednesday: Further investigation and testing of the spark plugs revealed we are also running very fat, meaning too much fuel. This would cause high fuel consumption as well. In addition I spoke with another engine tuner and he reminded me that when your chassis is hooked up you consume more fuel because you can be on the throttle longer.
Conclusion on Fuel situation: We certainly would have avoided all problems if we topped the tank off before the race started. In addition, we need to spend some time dialing in our carb jetting for the next 150 lap race on the 5/8's. I'm glad to know we got the situation sorted out and look forward to this weekend.
