NO BRAKES!!!!!


h1 April 13th, 2006

First event went down over this past weekend… It was standard operating proceedure, we got there the night before at 1am because of all the things that were not ready to go. Woke up the next day to 25 degree temps and snow on the ground and ice on the track! Was a bit sketchy for the first couple sessions but it started to warm up later in the day. Once again we hit the place in Elkhart Lake for a Raj Pall (steak) saturday night. Sunday was much warmer, with temps starting in the 40’s and getting to the 60’s. Overall good weather once again at RA.

Unfortunately on the second day I ate up all the brakes I had by the second session, and I went into turn one at 140+ and my brake pedal went to the floor 4 times before I gave up and slid the car sideways through the turn. I got back to the paddock without any brakes and the front left was smoking alot. Checked it out and I had actually put the piston all the way through the metal distribution plates, through the backing plate, and through what was left of the pad and onto the rotor itself!!! Needless to say that wiped out the piston quickly and I pushed it right out of the seal. So all I was doing was pumping brake fluid onto my wheel. I did manage to get everything back together for the drive back home, but my brakes were really poor. I’m going to have to do a caliper swap for the next event this weekend and then rebuild the calipers.

Other than that the actual driving went real well. I felt more confident in most turns, the new RA-1 tires worked really well, and hardly wore at all. I’m hoping to get at least 10 events out of them so that’s a good thing. The car ran like a champ the whole time. The only issue I have is with the oil catch can filling up. I’m going to attribute that to the carousel, since it doesn’t happen at any other tracks. I was pushing out 1/2-3/4 of a quart every session. At other tracks I don’t even fill it half way in 2 days.

Damian and I were testing out the new bullet cam setups, and after not being able to figure it out saturday we had to check the manuals back at the hotel and got it working for sunday. We’re going to be able to get some killer footage with these deals. If I ever have time I have a great couple vids to make. :)



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