My first race car

kevlarcorolla said:

In reply to accordionfolder :

Sure but if there's anyplace at mosport to feel safe enough to use the throttle its out of 5:)

That's exactly what I thought... as soon as I was pointed in roughly the right direction, my foot was on the floor until close to the bridge heading into 8. I could've pushed it farther, but I was being cautious.

I haven't updated this thread in a while, so here's some pics of the offseason progress

You may have the most adorable mechanic ever!

Tom1200 said:

You may have the most adorable mechanic ever!

He's also more famous than me, he's appeared in GRM

Hmmm are those hose clamps really sufficient to hold the fire bottle?

In reply to amg_rx7 (Forum Supporter) :

It's what came in the kit with the previous OMP fire system. Bottle is the same, so I don't see why it wouldn't be ok.

All ready to hit the track this weekend :D

Have you looked at the forecast?

 Not a good time at any track when its wet and just above freezing but mosport is pretty unforgiving.

We have a track day on Sunday.........................the high for the day is supposed to be 84F.

In reply to Tom1200 :

 That would be nice,the mosport event is a practice day saturday and 8 hr race on the sunday.

 We're leaving our freshly built car in the shop where it can't find any walls at speed.

In reply to kevlarcorolla :

It seems to keep changing almost every day... I'm hoping for the best and expecting the worst. As long as it doesn't snow, I'll at least get some practice behind the wheel.

In reply to P5Racer (formerly BMWGeoff) :

You'll be fine, walk up to the limits, get some time behind the wheel, you'll have fun!

Easter weekend in Canada!  

Go have fun !  Did you find crew for the weekend?

In reply to P5Racer (formerly BMWGeoff) :

Yep,crazy storm is really messing with the forecasting.

 Snow is forecast again now,down below zero sat night.

 Rwd cars aren't so bad as at least they can heat tires evenly,getting enough heat in the rears of fwd at those temps isn't so easy.

 If they don't call it(hope they do as we've already paid)and you go be carefull :)

In reply to racerboy000 :

I found a couple of guys to help out for this weekend, and a couple of others who would like to help out in the future.

In reply to kevlarcorolla :

It definitely looks like it'll be interesting. My goal is to keep the car on the pavement, and shiny side up... anything more than that will be great.

Well that didn't go as planned. Cold weather meant that I couldn't push hard this morning. Started to notice a bit of oil smoke from the exhaust, possibly turbo seals on their way out, but not bad enough to stop. Then late in the 3rd session, the transmission started kicking out of 5th gear when slowing for turn 8. Came in to find gear oil leaking from the transmission end cover. Game over.

In reply to P5Racer (formerly BMWGeoff) :

Ah, bummer - All part of shaking down a race car unfortunately. Sounds like you got a bit of track time anyways!

In reply to accordionfolder :

I got 20-some laps in, though the tires never got warm enough to drive it hard. Not a great day, but it could've been much worse.

P5Racer (formerly BMWGeoff) said:

Tom1200 said:

You may have the most adorable mechanic ever!

He's also more famous than me, he's appeared in GRM

Time to sign some autographs. 

Onboard video of one (slow) lap around Mosport: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3tBv9MkHy8

Turbo is out and being rebuilt by an expert. Pulling the trans tomorrow... thankfully I have 2 spares.

Dang! That sucks. I hope next time is smoother. Love the car!

Transmission is out, and the problem has been found. 

The retaining nut for 5th gear wasn't peened correctly and backed off the shaft, cutting into the end cover. 

The gear itself was able to move on the shaft, pushing on the shirt fork, causing the transmission to kick out of 5th gear. 

Amazingly, there appears to be no other damage, so a new nut and cover, and the transmission will go right back in place.

In reply to P5Racer (formerly BMWGeoff) :

My wife's mini van once did the same thing.

Friday:

Sunday:

Now:

Almost ready to race again.