shots from the garage...

two weeks ago we figured out a couple things..... A: the obvious, it sucks to work in a hot garage. B: it REALLY sucks trying to set up a used set of 4.56 gears in a D60 on your back in the aforementioned garage. After about six in/out I finally figured the pattern was race car "good enough" (define: don't care if they are noisy, just as long as they don't break!).
With the car still on stands I ran it in gear to at least circulate some fluid and adjusted the trans fluid level from the converter change.

I headed out Friday at noon for the Saturday night Match Race at Barona. This afforded me two things: A great parking spot, and the opportunity to have a few cold ones with the locals that I maybe get to see 1-2 times a year. My Saturday race involved running a small block powered Pinto that from my "intel" had run a best of a 5.9ish something at Irwindale a few weeks back. I pretty much assumed that he'd be in the 6.10-6.13 range up on the mountain so about a month ago I challenged him, he accepted, and it was ON!

...and that's where the thrash began. Since changing the stall in my 8" converter, while the consistency was deadly, it was at the cost of some 60 time. I already felt like I was taking a knife to a gunfight with the current combo so I conjured up the new tighter converter to get my 60 hit back down, and threw a little gear at it to get the load moving quicker. Track was marginal during testing due to the 135 track temp and the amount of street cars running. I lined up for a test hit and there basically wasn't a groove to speak of. Let go of the trans brake and was greeted to a 1.56 60 and enough tire spin to sent the air shifter pretty much straight to third. At that point I just decided to wait until our round 1 race, and since the track was marginal, opted to unhook the shift timer and just go about it by hand. Round 1 he got me on the tree by a slim enough margin that I hardly noticed driving around him. I lifted early and coasted through with a 6.20 something at 103. Not sure why I did that.... It was heads up, but old stripe taking habits die hard. I knew I was going to catch hell for that in the lanes when we met up again..... and I did :). Round 2 was pretty much the same. similar light and I drove it out for a 6.12 @ 112 thus ending my competitors "undefeated" status at Matchrace Madness. All in all, a fun time and got to watch some great matches.