2005 Atlanta ProSolo

So we get to the event site, do a lot of basic cleanup and prep work to the car.

Batlground (fuel supplier) won't take my credit card over the phone (Canadian zip code gives their machine fits) but no biggie; I've got at least 6 gallons in the tank, and half of that is C16, so I'm probably OK on the fuel front.

New laptop refuses to talk to the ECU because it doesn't have the right dongle driver - that's no biggie, I know I can get them off the GEMS website later.

Go to tech, inspector wants me to follow him and get a new helmet sticker. I close my hood so it won't blow away, but don't latch it. I say to myself "Make sure you latch that when you get back"

Find out there's a 96db sound limit at this event. Go down to the sound check station. Go roaring past the sound meter at full boost and the wastegate wide open, and FWOOMP! Hood blows over the car. Comes clean off the hinges.

Guess which dumbass forgot to pin the goddammn hood?

Luckily, the Squidskins hood is built like a canoe, and it's undamaged - didn't break the windshield either. Pulled the hinge blocks off the hood, but otherwise no damage.

30min trip to Home Depot for some JB Weld, and the hinge blocks are now bonded back on.

Oh, and I pulled 100db So now I get to figure out a way to knock 4db off the car, or every run where I break the barrier is thrown out.

Happily, I've been told that a steel wool pad can do the trick - and I bet it's the wastegate dump that is the problem. So I'll be trying that tomorrow.

Fun stuff huh?

Thanks to all the guys who came out to watch. I hope y'all had a good time at the track.

As it happens, I was leading after the first heat, slipped to second after the second heat, and wound up third (by 0.072) in the final results. Front end of the car just wouldn't grip any more, and it started pushing real bad.

I made the Show though (I was only 2 tenths off the win) and made it to the second round before being eliminated by the eventual winner. I had him COLD too, but the car pushed wide in the last corner and I blew it.

And it seems like I may have hurt the car. The rear diff was wet when it went back on the trailer; leaking a little bit from somewhere up high on the diff pumpkin. Is there a vent up there somewhere?

So I get to pull and inspect the diff to see if it's hurt. Happy happy.

The sound check and the fuel situation turned out to be not a problem. Car never broke 95db. Thanks to everybody who offered help with both issues.

The JB Weld on the hood hinges worked too.

Overall, not a bad weekend. Not the results I had wanted, but I felt I drove well considering how horrible the car was handling. Those tires just suck. I hope the new 285/18 A3S05s are better.