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A Wayward Day at the Track

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  • A Wayward Day at the Track

    A day that doesn't go like you hoped at the race track is far better than a good day at work. So they say and so I agree. It's supposed to be fun, and it is, as long as you make it back home safe and in good health. I believe that, I know it's true.

    And we're already back home safe and sound, though we were planning to run the race track all day and spend the night in Georgia and come back home tomorrow instead of today. The best laid plans of mice and men....

    First run of the day....I've been around this track so many times. SO many times, but that blower got to howling and I know I've got the best brake setup anybody could have, and at that speed that I'm not really used to going into Turn 1 that fast, I missed the mark by maybe 50 feet. I missed it. They have marks, counting down the hundreds of feet to the turn. And it's a throwaway turn, no speed available through there.

    BRAKES BRAKES BRAKES, too late, I'm not gonna make that turn. If I TRY to make that turn, I'll get sideways on the asphalt and for sure roll the car when it hits the sand sideways, so I went straight into the sand. I've got video of me doing this, and what led up to it, but I no longer know how to upload videos. Click image for larger version

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    That sand pit, if you keep your wheels turning, you can drive out of there. If you come to a stop and start plowing and digging, you're stuck. I didn't want to be the guy who stopped the run session.

    But that wasn't the big "it." The game stopper came on in the second session of the morning when the right rear brake caliper started squirting brake fluid on the wheel. AGAIN. For the 4th time. With that sanctioning body, I-group drivers (Intermediate Solo) can only take passengers after lunch. Aside from blowing the same caliper seal 4 times in a row, I was most upset and depressed that Sue Unit didn't get to ride along on her favorite track.

    Went back to the motel, it was too late to check out, we gave them that room back paid for and came home. Maybe and probably they'll rent that same room again tonight to somebody running from Florida.


    Last edited by pdub; September 9, 2017, 03:05 PM.
    Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

  • #2
    I'm really pissed off at the car, just a small part of it. The right rear caliper, 4 times, it always busts, just that one. It's a mystery that gives me a genuine physical headache.

    I'm most angry that Sue Unit didn't didn't get to ride along today, on her favorite track. She sat there in the paddock waiting her turn, she can't ride along.

    And I can't get the software here at home to work, while I'm aggravated already. Maybe me being aggravated has something to do with it as well. Here's a video, I think, with no sound, because the software hates me. I think, here's a video, and it's on the Daily Motion platform which everybody already hates.



     
    Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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    • #3
      I notice the title first, RED runs off. Poor Red gets blamed for everything! I got sound, and low def video when I click on the Red Runs Off At AMP link. Of course I clicked on everything else first. Not complaining, mind you. I did get to experience BRANDY again, what a fun time.
      Last edited by sueunit; September 9, 2017, 06:45 PM.

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      • #4
        Pdub - I now carry 4 ignition modules for my FJ40... 4. I get your frustration, but if you knew it was a problem - why didn't you have a spare? yeah, I know I know, I'm being all sensitive and stuff.... why don't I just tell you what I really feel? have backup parts - no matter how unreasonable it is to carry that backup part... as for the ignition bit - I've had hundreds of GM vehicles and I may have replaced 3 since I started working on cars before this blanking fj40.... still, it is a blast to drive... just sometimes it takes a bit longer to remember that.
        Doing it all wrong since 1966

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        • #5
          Originally posted by SuperBuickGuy View Post
          Pdub - I now carry 4 ignition modules for my FJ40... 4. I get your frustration, but if you knew it was a problem - why didn't you have a spare? yeah, I know I know, I'm being all sensitive and stuff.... why don't I just tell you what I really feel? have backup parts - no matter how unreasonable it is to carry that backup part... as for the ignition bit - I've had hundreds of GM vehicles and I may have replaced 3 since I started working on cars before this blanking fj40.... still, it is a blast to drive... just sometimes it takes a bit longer to remember that.
          SBG, I love you Man. I don't think you "get" it. Red's blown 4 seals on that one brake caliper, the right rear. That'll end your day after you've spent motel and track fees and gone to the effort to get there. Four times. I said 4. Four trips to the track to have that happen. Two stock ones and now two aftermarket ones. Only on the right rear.

          There is something wrong on the right rear. And please, as internet friends, please don't tell me it's a circled problem. I'm not in the mood to hear that shit right now, not tonight. Maybe tomorrow, but not tonight.

          I honestly apologize for venting, I'm really pissed off at the car, and I don't know what in the hell to do about it.
          Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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          • #6
            in the same vein, I have no idea what is blowing those modules - but I do know that I can repair it enough to get it home or to race.... that's my point, yes there is something wrong but apply band aids.... no, it won't heal the issue but it will staunch the flow enough to let you play.

            my birthday a few years ago, I had the Corvette done, it was a weekend and they had an open track day very late in the season. I went, my Corvette started leaking oil out the front seal.... I couldn't go play. I ended up driving my wife's BMW - but missed several sessions because she had to drive from my house. Adapt and overcome. The fallout from that ... ugh... but still I got to turn a tire in anger - just not the tire I wanted to turn.
            Doing it all wrong since 1966

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            • #7
              One time when I was the Starter at Wilmington, a racer blew his engine or tranny running down the track with the same car he drove up from Florida. After chatting with Tonya & Donna, I agreed to give Valentine and his dog a ride to Daytona Beach, where his Son came from Tampa to get them and take them home. He left his car locked up at the track runway, parked half-hidden in the trees. Sometimes your sh!t breaks ...

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Monster View Post
                Sometimes your sh!t breaks ...
                Yep, It sure does. That's why like Russell's quote as my tag line. But what drives me insane is the same one part - only one - over and over and over. That's pure frustration. And it's got to be something so simple I'm overlooking. I thought it was the brake fluid level in the reservoir. Obviously that's not it. And I'm too dumb and/or ignorant to know what's causing it. And everybody I've talked with including some folks at the track yesterday, they've never heard of anything like that specifically. I get blank stares.

                But after getting a little bit of sleep I realize that's a good problem to have. We have a race car in street trim, as Patrick says. And Red and I didn't hit the tires when we ran off in Turn One. That wasn't the brakes or Red the Car that did that, that was the driver who missed that curve and he knew that curve was coming. He knew it all too well, in fact.
                Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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                • #9
                  I'll do a rare thing and give myself some credit. I F-ed up, I ran off the track.

                  There are three things at play here. First, I finally went fast enough to find out how fast is too fast on a road course. Yep, I overshot that turn. And I didn't total the car. I was able to drive it home.

                  Second, I'm blowing my horn, I think that was a mighty good save, if I may say so myself. Some other folks may have been hopelessly stuck in that sand pit.

                  Third, if I had had the ways and means to race when I was a young buck, I would have been a helluva good race car driver. But we'll never be able to prove that. That's what I wanted to do when I was a kid, race. I just got into it way too late.
                  Last edited by pdub; September 10, 2017, 07:00 AM.
                  Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Monster View Post
                    One time when I was the Starter at Wilmington, a racer blew his engine or tranny running down the track with the same car he drove up from Florida. After chatting with Tonya & Donna, I agreed to give Valentine and his dog a ride to Daytona Beach
                    I remember that day, just another reason I love LSR and it's participants.
                    "Somewhere the zebra is dancing". Garth Stein's The art of racing in the rain.

                    Matt

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                    • #11
                      Good save Peewee!! Sorry about that dang caliper, and I know we've all said it but if it's the last thing we do we're gonna figure out WHY!!!
                      Pt 2010, Long Haul 2011,12,13,14,15,16,17, 18, 19, 23
                      If you wait, all that happens is that you get older

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                      • #12
                        you ran off the track because your car surprised you with better performance then what you expected.... there is so much win in that story..
                        Doing it all wrong since 1966

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                        • #13
                          Did you upgrade the front brakes ?
                          Does the brake proportioning valve
                          need adjusting ?

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by malc View Post
                            Did you upgrade the front brakes ?
                            Does the brake proportioning valve
                            need adjusting ?
                            1. Yes. 4-piston Stop Tech Big Brakes with Hawk track pads. Throw you through the windshield stuff when they have enough heat on them. I run Hawk HP-Plus pads on the street so they won't squeal at stop lights. Much, The HP's don't squeal much....hold your hears.

                            2. There is not a proportioning valve on the 06 Mustang that I know of or can find out about, it was born with discs all around. I shot all 4 wheels with the temp gun after the first run yesterday, just aiming at the center of the rims. About 165 degrees, all 4 of them. The front ones are real happy, the Stop Techs with cooling hoses going to them, 14 inch rotors. 13 inch rotors on the back with the SSBC single pistons.

                            Motul brake fluid, dry boiling point 597 degrees or something like that. Fifteen dollars per jug. Liquid gold.

                            The right rear. It's always the right rear. Over and over. And over. Superman rebuilt the caliper the most recent time. He said the seal in it showed no damage whatsoever. But still the brake fluid gets pushed out of it on a race track. Only ONE race track - AMP. And that's the one where you need it the most.
                            Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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                            • #15
                              I don't remember so I will ask. The seal that is leaking. Is it between the calier and brake line? Have you replaced the brake line?
                              http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...-consolidation
                              1.54, 7.31 @ 94.14, 11.43 @ 118.95

                              PB 60' 1.49
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