22KBThe Team Munro MR2 saga continues here in the South.
I think I left the last report with the little darling back in the shop billowing smoke everywhere, needing another rebuild and run-in before Teretonga on 1 November. The motor was duly rehoned and reringed, and the head stripped, cleaned and relapped. Then came the chore of clocking up 1,000 or so kms in the week before Teretonga - hey, its a tough job, but someone has to do it!
The first 500 kms were great - everything as it should be. But, after 500 kms I figured I should take it beyond the self imposed rev limit of 4,500 to 5,000. So, in a passing manouvre I used 7,000, and then just let it slow back into the traffic on the overrun. When I hit the accelerator again there was a massive amount of smoke out the back. With a sinking “bloody hell - not again!” feeling I tried it time after time - same result every time, but only from high revs. There was nothing from under 4,500 rpm.
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So - straight back to the shop with less than a week to go. They tried it, and said it wasn’t smoking. I took the guy out and showed him that it was. By this stage everyone was getting a little nervous, and I sensed the potential onset of a dose of buck passing. It was a peculiar situation. I was sure that it was not mechanical, as it would happen all the time rather than the inconsistent way it was acting. After talking with a few other Car Club guys, we concluded that it must be to do with either pressure build up in the cam covers, or simply there being too much oil at high revs to drain away, and being sucked down the valve guides. We tried a simple experiment, by blocking off the cam cover to throttle body breather pipe, and taking a new breather pipe from cam cover to atmosphere by way of a Coke bottle elegantly stuffed into the induction system. A trip out over the Northern motorway at high revs showed some smoke, but not much. As it was Thursday before race day by this stage, this had to do, and in this form I headed to Teretonga.
But first, a quick trip to the second hand mag shop for another set, and to the tyre man for a set of Hankook Z2000 race tyres which had been recommended. Thus, on Saturday night, I headed to Invercargill with 4 race wheels in the passenger seat, and a boot full of helmet, tools and a container of Avgas. By eleven that night it was shod with its racing boots and three quarters full of Avgas. To show I was going to be serious about this, I even removed the spare wheel, although didn’t bother taking out the rubber overmats or anything else.
Sunday was a beautiful sunny day in Invercargill, and the car was running sweetly, and handling brilliantly on the way to the track. On arrival for scrutineering, a quick inspection indicated about 45 or 50 cars, the vast majority having been trailered in as they were purpose built race cars. This, I can tell you, was rather daunting, and I had strong images of the poor little road going and basically stock MR2 trundling around a very distant last. Add to this the fact that I had not driven on a track for 10 years, and have never driven a mid engined car on a track, and I had to do some head mechanics to persuade myself that I was just there to have some fun and to get to know my car a little better. Having successfully acheived this, I headed out with the rest of my class for some much needed practice. The cars went out in a very straggly fashion so I was essentially on my own. I reached the loop, braked hard, and powered into it. It held on great. Then hard to the floor going very wide out of the loop down the short straight before castrol corner, hard on the brakes momentarily and hard onto the gas for the triple S, feathering the throttle through the apex of each. Then it is hard on the brakes for a nasty left hander (can’t remember what it is called) and flat out down a dogleg straight before braking hard again for the elbow onto the long start-finish straight. At this point things became very interesting. No Brakes!!!!! A quick flick back into second and flick the wheel to the left to try and scrub some speed off, followed by an ungainly sideways flight through and beyond the apex culminating with a back wheel in the gravel, foot now flat to the floor and car and driver emerged onto the straight pointing more or less the right way leaving a cloud of dust behind. Fortnuately, there is quite a long straight which allows time to calm down a little!
All that had happened was that during the shenanigans with the engine during the week, everyone had forgotten the competition pads that were supposed to be ordered, and the wheel camber adjustment. God alone knows how old the road brake pads are, but they simply refused to grip after three hard braking sessions. Oh well, I reasoned, I will just have to adjust my driving style to accomodate the lack of brakes, and besides, they only slow you down anyway :-). One enters the straight via the hairpin at about 30 kms, and I was reaching almost 170 kms before having to brake down to about 100 km to enter the loop, which can be very unforgiving. There were really only three places where I had to brake hard, and all I could do was get off the gas earlier and rely on changing down to slow me down, helped by a little “scrubbing off” of speed using the tyres. I also persuaded myself that as I was going to lose 2 or 3 seconds a lap because of this, I needed to make it up on the other sections of the track. I eventually finished up taking the triple esses flat (which was exciting) and really concentrating on getting the lines right.
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Anyway, I was somewhat surprised to discover I had qualified 9th out of my class of 15 (at 1.23.5 - there were 4 cars in front of me between 1.23 and 1.23.5), despite all the above. Thus, to race one where most of the cars were racecars powered by the trusty 4-AGE in various states of tune. The little darling left the line like a startled rabbit (try as I might, I could not make the Hancook’s lose traction - brilliant!) and overtook 4 cars in the first 100 metres. WOW, I thought, this is great! Just the words Murphy loves to hear!!! Into the loop holding position after using the brakes for what I knew was the first of three times I could for that race - and all the way round to the hairpin - holding the car in front of me - then the lack of brakes - passed by a car on the inside under brakes which screwed my line up. But, I managed to hold on down the straight, only to be taken under brakes by the rest of the cars I had dragged off the line. This threw me right off line for the loop, and consequently Castrol, with the result that another 2 cars got through, leaving me second last. It took the next lap to settle in and get determined to recover at least a little honour by pulling back at least one place. I really tried to calm down and concentrate and started to catch the car in front. I caught him by the hairpin on the last of 4 laps, and brakeless or not, was determined to get by. Another real hairy hairpin followed, but with a good exit, and from there it was a straight drag to the finish line which we won by a car length. Best lap time - 1.22.4 - which must have been the last lap. But, the first race achieved a lot. The car felt great, the tyres were really holding on, and I was dialling myself back into circuit racing much more quickly than I expected.
Race 2 was a handicap or reverse grid race. Having finished third last in race one, I expected to be third away, and was determined to get it mostly right and be very hard to catch. God knows who did the handicapping, but I was 6th car away. The first car was given 15 seconds on the second, and it was 1 or 2 seconds per car from then on. During the first lap I managed to struggle past all but the first car away, and found myself in 2nd. I canned any thoughts that might offend Murphy, and settled in to getting the circuit right (compensating for no brakes as far as possible) and thoroughly enjoying myself. Laps 2 and 3 were concentrated on reeling in the car way out in front. By lap 4, he was getting closer, but so was a fellow club member in a very hot Corolla 1800 behind me. He knew I had no brakes, and I let him through on the inside of the nasty left hander, tucking in behind him. I stayed with him on the run down to the hairpin, and he passed the leading car towards the end of that straight. I had to button off way before him, so couldn’t take the (now) second placed car before the hairpin. But, I knew that I would get him before the finish line, which we did, coming in second with a huge grin and having thoroughly enjoyed the race. Best lap - 1.21.7.
From then on, the classes were all mixed up, and I didn’t do better than 8th for the rest of the day, although consistently getting faster in each race. In the last race, I finished last, and it was the best race of the day for me. It was won by a Transam series Falcon producing something over 750 bhp, followed by a Group A Holden Commodore, a race prepared Mustang (Paul Fahey replica) producing around 450 bhp, a race prepared Corvette StingRay, a couple of very fast race Mazda Rotaries. Then followed a group of 6, which included the guy that won the reverse grid race from me, another OSCC guy in an equally fast Nissan powered by an 1800 (he finished third in the reverse grid race) three HQ Holdens, and the MR2. By this stage, my lap times were quick enough to hold them, albeit from the back of the bunch. They would pull away from me in the braking zones, and I would catch them through the back of the track. There was absolutely nothing in it down the back straight, and most of the time, we were separated by inches. I got past the HQ in front of me a couple of times, only to lose to him again under brakes into the loop. This is what racing is all about - But I wish I had remembered to take some brakes with me - DAMMITT!!!!!
Best lap time was 1.20, which I was delighted with. This far exceeded my expectations, as does the way the car handles. There were a lot of other people somewhat surprised at how it went. The good thing is that it can only get better. By way of comparison I have set out some best lap times for some of the cars;
| Transam Falcon | 1.05.61 |
| Fahey Mustang | 1.08.73 |
| Gp A Commodore | 1.09.18 |
| Classic Race Camaro | 1.08.91 |
| Classic Race 240Z | 1.13.92 |
| Race prepared StingRay | 1.14.71 |
| Race prepared 4-AGE cars | 1.17.66 to 1.23.00 |
All in all a fantastic day. I can’t wait until the Otago / South Canterbury Sports Car Club challenge at Timaru on 28 November. Hopefully with brakes that work, and more negative camber. I have never driven at Levels, so the learning curve continues. As for the smokey engine - the smoke has all but disappeared, but I am left with the knowledge that all is not exactly right. Has anyone else had a similar problem? If so I would love to hear about it.
Keep up the great work on the Mag.
Cheers
Daryl Munro