Until recently the plan was to do a Heathcote run with some mates first up but an event came up that looked ok. The old Mitsubishi test track at Tailem Bend last week hosted an inaugural 1/8 mile street car session. The irony was I reckon my car was one of only a few actual street cars there and by far the slowest thing in attendance! Entering the event got me motivated to finish the car and trailer and all was set for a triumphant return to the track. Unfortunately the day didn’t go so well and here’s a run down….
Up at 4:30am. The car was strapped down the night before so not much to do other than final checks. Drove 20mins or so and met some mates at Castle Plaza Hungry Jacks for breakfast – my mate was bringing his Turbo V8 Triumph TR7 for a run. Just before meeting them I lost my dash lights and parking lights on both car and trailer. Stopped at a servo and replaced fuse but as soon as I put my foot on the brake, they blew again. Bit of a bugger as I completely rewired the trailer not long ago so a bit of a mystery. I grabbed the multimeter and it didn’t register a short so will have to suss it out further. Luckily it was daylight soon so continued on without Parkers. The trip there was about 2 hours. My poor old Commodore struggled with the nearly 2 tonne behind it but she got me there in the end. The trailer towed well although a few times it got a bit of a sway up with no real reason. I’m wondering whether it’s just that my commodore isn’t really that big so weight behind it was dictating terms. I think the balance was right so not sure – will test further.
Got to the track and the setup was interesting. All the cars were lined up next to the bitumen in kind of a ditch and the cars driven off onto the staging lanes. Here’s a pic:
It was pretty casual and we slowly got the cars off and ready. A drivers briefing, sign in, and walk the track proceeded. One of the down sides of the facilities is there is no return lane so groups of cars were going to have to wait down the end, they would stop racing and send the cars back in groups. This would turn out to be the only major downside to the event as with 70+ cars, wait times between runs was awful. By 10 they finally got racing under way and I lined up for a run. Over 5 hours after leaving home that morning I was finally in front of the tree. From here things didn’t go very well…..
Run1:
Entered the pre stage area and when given the go ahead, proceeded to do a stinka – that didn’t happen. What did happen was Tramp – earth shattering Tramp! None of my cars have ever had it so I was at a loss. Backed off the gas and went into staging. Green light and it’s all go but there was that tramp again – evil stuff. Made it through first, had trouble getting it into second, and then a lot of trouble finding third. Once in third I was able to check for boost – only running 8PSI. I have a manual controller so I tried to wind it up but ran of track and also revs left available in 3rd gear. Got out of it and did a u turn back to the holding area. After a few more runs came through they let us drive back to the pits – my time slip was something ridiculous like 11.5 from memory. Back in the pits the car wasn’t doing too well – it was only running on 3 cylinders. Spent about 15mins diagnosing stuff, changed plugs, checked compression and leads etc. Turns out the tramping had disturbed an injector plug so all fixed and ready for redemption.
Run2:
After what literally felt like hours of lining up, ready for my next try. I was worried about tramp so was going to skip the burnout and take it easy. My mates reckoned a heel and toe approach would help so I decided to give that ago. Was better than the first effort but still jumped a bit. Off the line wasn’t too bad – tramped maybe twice then hooked up. Got it into second, then missed third completely. Once in there I checked for boost again – still only 8PSI. Tried to wind it up but again ran out of track once more. More waiting and then back to line up again. The time slip was 10.5 – still crap but if I could get the boost up to where it normally is ( 15-18) and if I could learn to drive then I was confident all would be well! They breaked for lunch so there was more waiting ( theme for the day ). While I was waiting I checked the clutch adjustment and found there wasn’t really any adjustment left in the cable. I hadn’t thought it was that bad but apparently it is.
Run3:
After an eternity it was time again. I tried the heel and toe approach in pre-staging and this time the clutch got fried. Off the line wasn’t too bad, trouble with second and missed third again. Still couldn’t get the boost up and while focusing on that, the car peaked at about 7k rpm then kinda died. There was an evil scraping noise and things didn’t feel right. I let it cool down a bit then turned it off while waiting to be marshalled back to the pits. I baby’d it back thinking the worst and then pretty much found it – the timing cover was ripped open and the fanbelt had reversed itself. The car stunk like clutch and rubber. Here’s what it looked like:
So that ended my day. Car was put back on trailer and the long drive home followed. Finally got home about 5:30pm, then spent the next 24 hours pulling the car to pieces to find what went wrong. As well a new clutch, I now have to replacing the Timing Belt and either replace the Balance Shaft Belt or go down the road of pulling the shafts out. What had happened was the BS belt shredded and carved up the timing belt – luckily it stayed on and didn’t jump a tooth but it took out the top cover along the way.
So all up, long tiring day! Here’s some pics anyway – no burnout pics or anything for obvious reasons .
. That white Sigma is a southern car but not sure if he's a forum member. The car has a Turbo LS1 motor in it, is ridiculously quick and extremely neat. Here's some pics and vids of the car running up against my mates sub 10 sec Turbo V8 Triumph:
i wouldnt expect much from my car. its not making much power at the moment and the power kicks in so late due to lag that im changing gears straight away anyway.
. least you were lucky the timing belt was able to cling on to its rightful spot!!
.
