Thanks guys. I had a great trip. Seeing the mountains for the first time was quite an experience. It was a pleasure meeting all of you. I wish I could have made it out to the Lat-G party.
The OUSCI was a lot of fun. I had never been on a track before and was incredibly nervous. Once out there, it wasnt so bad. I was having a good time chasing Brian Finch around. He must have been afraid of the Mav though as he kept trying to get away from me. Luckily, I had the guy in the Lincoln helping me out by sitting in front of him to keep him from getting too far. LOL. When it was my turn to make my hot laps, it became clear that I was grossly underpowered. There was a Shelby mustang that started behind me that was catching up quick on my last hot lap. I could hold him off on the curves but was loosing in the straits. Later on, while talking to some of the others, I found I was down a good 40mph in those sections. I need more power.
The autocross was deceptively simple. Nothing too unusual about the course but man was it slick. I had the hardest time getting any traction. It didnt help that I had installed new coil overs with a different spring rate only days before leaving for Vegas. I had no time what so ever to get used to them much less know how the handling was going to change from what I am used to. Britt was on hand in the Ridetech booth so I asked him for a base performance setup for my car. It felt alright but still waaaay different.
Up to this point, I havent yet embarrassed myself or the Mav by doing anything stupid like having an off-track excursion, stalling on the start line, breaking down in the middle of the autocross... but it was coming. I made my first pass at the speed stop. first and second gear on the strait and back into first on the slalom. I kept bouncing off the rev limiter though so the next run I'd leave it in 2nd. I was doing really well and thought I've be in for a 19 sec run until the end. I came into the box WAY too hot and locked it up sideways. In the process I managed to also knock over the flag guy at the end. I couldnt apologize enough to the guy. I was soo shooken up, I made my last run more of a parade lap. To make it worse, photos of the incident are now showing up.
Despite my poor times and embarrassing near disastrous run in the speed stop, I still consider my OUSCI experience a triumph. I drove 1200 miles, raced and was leaving under its own power. What a blast!
We left that evening and decided to go have a steak dinner to celebrate. On our way down the interstate, we got hit with the strong sent of fuel in the cabin. we quickly shut off the fuel pump and come to a stop. Popped open the hood to find fuel had sprayed all over the engine bay and even filled up the valley under my intake. We're lucky the hole car didnt instantly go up in flames. It seams the seal in my fuel pressure regulator decided to let go allowing fuel to spray out the unused vacuum reference port. Fuel was coming out of there strong enough to spray clear of there radiator support in front of the car. We ended up getting a tow back to the hotel so we could trouble shoot in the morning.
The next morning I get up and start looking for the problem. I expected to find my return line had some obstruction that caused it to blow fuel passed the seal in the regulator but found nothing of the sort. Took the regulator apart and found nothing broken. Put it back together again and ran the fuel pump and no leaks. Odd. The seal randomly decided to give up. To prevent future disaster, we ran to the Pep Boys and picked up some vacuum line. We ran the line to the port and then to a vacuum source on the throttle body. At least now, if it fails again, it'll just flood out the motor.
Its 9 am and we're on the road home. I have my Dad with me and life couldnt be better. We make it to Albuquerque that night and get up a 3 am the next morning to do it all over again. About 150 miles west of Amarillo, we're cruising along and all of a sudden the throttle sticks open. Again, I hit the fuel shut off switch so that we can coast to a stop. (So glad I installed that switch before leaving) We stop and think thru the process. Play with the pedal again and its freed itself up. We scratch our heads and decide to continue on. 20 miles later we pull off to get some breakfast and take a look at the throttle. While in the Sonic parking lot disaster strikes. We hear some rattling coming from the motor followed by smoke and a cloud of steam from the exhaust. We quickly shut the fuel and the car off thinking, this is it, the car is burning down around us. We get out, and nope. No fire. Seeing water drip out of the tailpipe though makes us think its a blown head gasket. I open the hood to find its much worse. The air cleaner and hold down nut is laying off to the side. Then I see it. The air cleaner stud had broken off at the base where it screws into the throttle body and fallen into the motor. If only we had popped the hood on the side of the road when the throttle stuck. Shows over, time to call the wrecker.
Luckily, I added roadside assist with my Hagerty insurance days before leaving. It included 125 miles of towing. So lets see... thats 10ish miles used on Saturday night and now its 115 miles to Amarillo where the closest U-Haul and car rental place is. We get to the U-Haul and are lucky the tow driver is talented enough to drop the car onto the trailer for us. We call home to have a truck come pick us up and tow us home. 15hrs later, we make it home.
Besides the troubles, I had my Dad there to keep me company and out of trouble. Best trip ever... and now I have a reason to fix that under powered issue.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
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