My first race……sorry it has taken me so long to write the story about it it’s just ….. well I have no excuse really. Here it is……
Find all the pictures from that weekend Click HERE!
Years of preparation, sacrifices and hard work have all come to this weekend. My first days as a racecar driver or "pilot" as we say in Brazil. It’s official this poor Brazilian kid has a race license and a race car! Spent all Friday morning eager to get leave work since I know I had lots to do before I left to be able to make it to my rookie ground school. Ground school is a required classroom session on Friday 6.30pm. It’s the last chance the instructors (in many cases our fellow competitors) have to give us our last warnings, instructions and advice. Well it is required to me to attend to be able to race that weekend and I had a lot to do before I hit the road!
I left work around 12.30 and raced to my mom’s house in Burbank. I had to pack up all my gear, load the car on the trailer, load up the 4runner (aka hotel room), prepare some food for the weekend etc…. etc…. all by myself! Somehow this is the story of my racing life. Ever since the days of my motorcycle racing, my friends all find better things to do along with most of my family members. I’m left to do run around like crazy and try not to forget anything. Well I had to make it to the racetrack classroom by 6.30pm for the ground school…. Willow springs international raceway is around 90 miles from Burbank, CA were I was. Normally it would take you around 1hr 45 mins. to get to WSIR. Well when I finally sat in the drivers seat of my mom’s 4runner and pulled out of her driveway with my car in tow it was 5pm!!!! So it was in this mad dash that about 20ft. into my trip I had a feeling I had forgotten something…..so I glanced in the rear view mirror to see of all things my freshly painted fiberglass hood flying 15ft above my car!!! Aarghh!!! Nooooooo!!!! I as screamed and slammed on the brakes to see almost in slow motion it slamming into the tarmac!. I ran out to survey the damage. Turns out in my rush I forgot to pin my hood down! Luckily it landed paint side down (ouch!) but it landed flat. So it did not break in half or severely damage it. It now had some road rash across the hood and a small crush on the corner. I was so mad at myself! But I had no time to morn my paint job I had 1hr and half to get to the track. I pined it down and checked the trunk lid and ran back to the truck and gassed it onto fun LA Friday freeway traffic. This was just not my day as I inched ahead on the freeway. By some miracle and my heavy foot I arrived at the familiar sight of WSIR and ran into the classroom only 15mins late. Somehow I managed to get there 1 hr 45 mins.!! I soaked in as much as I could during the class. The instructors basically hammering into our heads to be safe and our goal this weekend was simply to have a clean event and finish. Good goals for anyone
here's some of the damage on my hood.....argh.
Now that that was over, calmly walked over to the truck and began unloading at setting up my pit. Was able to find a spot surrounded by most of the BMW racers, Jeff Ireland, Scott Parsons, Mike Ward, Nick Reed and others. We hung out chatted a bit as I began to make friends with everyone. I have to say the vintage racing community is so friendly and everyone has welcomed me. I could not ask for a better welcome. In true grassroots fashion I prepared my bed inside the 4runner. You know, with the seats folded down a pillow and a sleeping bag I was pretty comfortable! I opened up my laptop and to my surprise they had wireless internet! So I was able to make some posts and watch a dvd to put my nervous mind to sleep.It is a marvelous thing to be awaken by the sound of vintage racing motors warming up! No time to eat and wake up, we were in group 1 the first group on the track that weekend. I ran over to sign up then to the drivers meeting. Quickly from there I put on my gear get in my car and anxiously head to my first tech inspection. I read thru the rulebook carefully and I was feeling pretty confident about passing. He found a few minor things that he just noted in my brand new logbook but he put the ok sticker on my windshield. I put on my balaclava and tightened my helmet straps dropped it in first and made my way down the hot pit lane and onto the track. It was a surreal moment. No time to be emotional. Time to focus and qualify!
QualifyingAs I drove around the first lap and warmed up my brand new Toyo’s my many years of motorcycle racing around WSIR helped me get up to speed fairly quickly. It was quickly apparent that I was not the slowest in the group as I made a few passes. My car was stumbling heavily exiting most corners suggesting a fuel delivery issue and was really lazy above 6000 rpms. I dealt with it and just tried my best to put down my first laps as a racer in the most professional manner I could. I was able to put down a fastest lap of 1:45:881. Getting me a starting position of 21st out of 32 starters for Saturday’s 12 lap qualifying race. Not bad! It was cold and besides the stumble on exit everything was okay.
Super Fast Steve link
*** Fastest BMW was 06’ class champ Pam Plavan qualifying in 7th with a 1:42:778. Steve Link in his Datsun 510 grabbed pole position with a blistering 1:38:382 ***Pam Plavan tearing it up.
I came back to my pit with a sense of relief more than anything. Relief that I just achieved my dream of build my car and racing it and relief that I didn’t screw up and that I was not sucking too much!I pulled my plugs and saw that I was lean!! No wonder that car didn’t want to rev! So I increased my main jets and changed my air correctors courtesy of my new pit buddy and owner of Long Beach Autohaus www.lbautohaus.com Scott Parsons. So big thanks to him!
I rested attempting to keep cool in the increasing desert heat and tried to calm down for my first real race....Saturday's 12 lap qualifying race.
Saturday’s qualifying race (12 laps)
Got my head together, my gear on and found my place in the pre-grid lineup. Now as the worker flashed her 5 fingers at me signifying 5mins. to start It finally hit me and the butterflies in my stomach were quickly drowned out by the thundering sound of 20 cars ahead of me leaving single file onto the track for the warm up lap. I pulled in the clutch rev’d my M10 and rolled onto the blistering blacktop of willow springs 2.5miles of high speed heaven. I did my best to imitate everyone around me swerving left to right to try to build up some heat in our tires. I love how as soon as my foot made it’s way to the sheet metal all my worries and butterflies disappeared and my mind cleared and my world shrank to a very small world of my car and the track. I tried my best to watch to line up in my spot in the rolling start. Rolling starts are new to me as all motorcycle races at standing starts and I’m learning this new technique. I left way too much room between me and the car in front when the flag was thrown. I was cautious thru turn one as everybody bunched up and tried their best to position themselves.
I had a good battle with a red 911 but 3 laps or so in my temp gauges was north of 210 degrees, soon it was at 220! I had not choice but to take it easy on the straights and wave people by me as I attempted to finish. The temps did come back down to 200ish and when the brown immaculately prepared 2002 of Ken Blasko passed me I had to give chase! But soon my temps rose back to 220 mark again! To add to my woes was that the jetting change did not correct my corner exit stumble! So I had no choice but to back off and be content to nurse it to the finish. I was relived to see the checkered flag as I limped my way back to my pits concerned with my temps. I didn’t even realize that I had just finished my first race! ! !
Watch all the action of my First race on video here,
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ouNomP5qRjI
I finished a disappointing 30th out of 34 starters. Jeff Ireland was the fastest BMW putting down a fast lap of 1:40:121 !!
I took my gear off and had a much needed drink of water. Pulled my hood off to start to address my issues. I took light of the good side, I finished and my car survived. That’s about it really!
Luckily Jeff Ireland had one of his new aluminum radiators on hand and gave me a great deal on it ! (Thanks!!www.bmw2002.com).
Just as I started to remove my brass 320i radiator my mom and my step dad arrived. Was nice to see them and I caught them up on the latest news. They helped my by going to the race supply store and buying some water wetter and some silicon radiator hose (they only had a straight piece.) I was able to quickly install the Ireland radiator.
I also went to a bigger main jet and Scott adjusted my float bowl height to address my G-stumble. I rotated my tires since willow has lots of right handers put the cover on it and went to sleep this night in the cushy confines of my parents hotel room! Yeah!Find all the pictures from that weekend Here
Morning practice
After a good hotel breakfast we headed to the track for morning practice. In traditional desert fashion it was cold as I suited up and began to warm up my car. The water temp with the new radiator was not surprisingly stone cold and it never got above 160 degrees. So it seamed as my cooling issues were solved with the new radiator but the ambient temps were on the low side. Practice went pretty smooth except my stumble was still there and then on the last lap of qualifying……..all went quiet ! Oh no! Pedal to the floor…..snapped throttle cable? I was able to coast my way into the pits and pushed my way to my pit area. The hunt was on for a throttle cable! After looking for 40mins all I could find was a broken Porsche cable (but long since engine is in the rear). I was able to ingeniously make it work for me. It was not the best but better than packing up and going home! I could race! Scott also broke out the manual and we readjusted the float height again. Cleaned my windshield and tried to relax. I was very happy to see my brother. He came just in time for my race. I finished in the nick of time and put my gear on and carefully headed to the pre-grid.
Me trying to mickey mouse my go-cable.....
The big Show the final run to the flag!I nervously gave my brother the thumbs up as he turned my camera on for me and I tightened up my belts and ran through my first laps in my head. I now headed onto the tarmac with confidence despite my mickey moused rigged throttle cable.
I was a bit confused when we bunched up again for the rolling start but I followed the Datsun 510 ahead of me around the outside of turn one as I was able to pass a few cars as they all bunched up toward the inside. This put me on the inside of turn 2 and followed the same 510 passed a few more cars!
What a good start to my race I thought for a second as I exited turn 2 with good speed and trying to avoid what typically in my motorcycle days a turn were lots of first lap accidents happened at willow, turn 3. As I rounded on the outside (luckily) my reservations were confirmed as all hell broke lose and a big 3 car accident unfolded in front of me. I managed to squeeze my way between the crumpled cars and narrowly avoided a rogue wheel. I was fazed for a second and a triumph went passed me and I realized the race is still on you dummy! I floored it going down the hil toward turn 5 and did not loose any more positions as I screamed over the hill in turn 6 I saw what I was expecting, the red flag. (this mean a halt to the race as the incident is severe and ambulance needs to go onto the track) we slowly made our way onto the front straight as we all parked our cars and waited for the restart. As I sat there in the oven that my car was becoming due to the desert sun I realize my stumble was now gone! We all just sat there waiting. After a long wait we were told it would be a 3 lap sprint race due to the long cleanup and the 7 races that needed to be run after ours. So off I went warmed up my tires again and prepared for the single file restart. I had a decent start but a few fast cars went by me.
The car was handling well and I was having a blast when I came into turn 9 on the second lap of the restart my throttle got stuck!! Crap! Just when I was going to take action it snapped back as go on the front straight again. The throttle was sticking so I slowed my speed as I evaluated weather or not to bring it in next lap. Just as I went into turn four my pedal went to the floor again and I thought I guess my rigged cable snapped or failed ……. I found a safe place to pull off the track and remained in the car strapped in like I was instructed while I waited for the end of the race and a tow back to the pits. As I sat there I was oddly still so exited about my first race! I was able to avoid the big crash and did very well with what I had. I undid my camera from the mount and filmed the end of the race. I waited for the tow truck and they pulled me into the pits. Unfortunately they took off and luckily my bro was there to help me push my way into the pits...
Everybody helped me to push my car on the trailer and we confirmed that indeed my rigged cable did not fail! Turns out my linkage bolt backed out and the toothed wheel fell off!! Reminder Locktite EVERYTHING on a race car!!Here is a closeup of the bolt that backed out and allowed the toothed wheel to fall completely off!
WOW! What a rush! Even tough I had failed to finish I tried my best and I did not make any mistakes. The car didn’t get hot enough to test the new radiator but it looks like it defiantly made an improvement. (ultimately did not fix my issue, more to come)
I said my good bye’s, packed up and headed home pretty happy with myself actually. Things could of gone way worse!
I had a great time hanging out with everybody made some new friends and sorted out a few issues with the car. Got my first race experience and 2 race starts under my belt. Later reviewing my tapes I learned a bunch actually.
Enjoy all the action of my Sunday race even a slow mo of the accident
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CE1czK6vUtE
I said my good bye’s, packed up and headed home pretty happy with myself actually. Things could of gone way worse!
I had a great time hanging out with everybody made some new friends and sorted out a few issues with the car. Got my first race experience and 2 race starts under my belt. Later reviewing my tapes I learned a bunch more.
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