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HSR SEBRING |
Sebring International Raceway |
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No sooner had we returned from Mexico than it was time to leave for HSR's Sebring weekend of Enduros. Our semi was still on its way home from Mexico, so the cars destined for Sebring were being transported by other means. Unfortunately, our "hauler" could not take all our equipment with the cars they were transporting, so immediately on our return from Mexico, our crew set about unloading the logistical equipment from the transporter to one of our smaller trailers. On Tuesday morning Lee set out for Florida to arrive at Sebring on Wednesday afternoon. The rest of the crew had flown into Orlando and then driven to the track that afternoon.
(photos by
Junmei Zhao,
Scottie Yeager, Tom Yeager, |
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We set up our paddock quarters and Ed fit Hamish's Lola T70 with the new screen that had been overnighted from the UK, getting on quite well until darkness overcame any further efforts. |
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Thursday we were on the track with all the cars except for Tom Yeager's Merlyn. Tom knows this track like the back of his hand, so he had a social day watching everyone else wear themselves and their cars out on test day. |
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Pete Gulick was flying from the word go in his Chevron B23. The new motor
sounded fabulous. I don't think he believed us when we told him we could
hear his car all the way around the track. Did it scream! He and Joel Finn
were playing really hard from the moment they got onto the track. In fact,
Joel was the pacesetter this weekend. |
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Hamish went out in the B23 first of all (far right), but had overheating issues from the start, so came in. Water wetter and a full purge of the cooling system made things a lot better. In the meantime, out he went in his Lola T70 (below), the new screen fitted and the car looking resplendent with its new decal-graphics replicating the car's livery when Parnelli Jones drove it in 1967. |
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The Lola was quite the star of the paddock with a never-ending stream of admirers stopping by to look all weekend. Even Lola T70 guru John Starkey stopped by, drawn to the T70 like a magnet. After giving it the once-over, he proclaimed it to be one of the best-looking Spyders he had ever seen. Thank you, Mr. Starkey! |
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We had done quite a lot of work on the T70 since its first outing at Daytona last fall (prematurely curtailed with engine maladies in the Enduro). A fresh MWE motor had been installed and the gearbox had been massaged by our tranny expert, Mark Wehrmann, to make the shifting a lot easier. |
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We got the old girl a lot lower to the ground. Now it really did look mean and aggressive. Shocks had been changed and a new approach to the setup was undertaken. From the first session onwards, it seemed obvious that all the changes were paying dividends, as Hamish was really on it with competitive times from about the second lap. |
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Pete took over the Lola for the curtailed last test session of the day, but was able to begin where he left off the next morning. He needed seat time as he was going to share the car with Hamish in the three-hour Historic Enduro on Sunday. We had changed the car quite a lot in a fitting session during the winter to get the car to fit Pete. Now both he and Hamish were nice and comfy in the Lola. Believe it or not, Pete could even fit into Hamish's form-fitting seat. We now have the ideal Enduro car and a perfectly matching pair with which to drive it. No messing around with seat changes at pitstops. Best of all, Pete was on the pace almost immediately as well, almost matching Hamish's time. Things bode well for the season if they continue to do Enduros with the silver-blue beast. |
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Rick Carlino was reasonably optimistic with his Gropa after its winter strip-down and freshen – except for failing oil pressure once again after a lap or two... this was a problem that had haunted us with this particular engine all last season. On top of that, as soon as we started the car up, the water pump proceeded to dump coolant at our feet. It had been fine at the shop!!! |
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With a lot of trial and adjustment, we got the oil pressure to hold up to reasonably acceptable levels for the weekend. We believe the problem to be a really "screwy" oil pump, because the engine sure has a lot of "grunt." |
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The leaking water pump was addressed with a lot of Barrs leak and a very old, weak, low-pressure radiator cap, which seemed to do the trick as it gave us no more reason for concern for the rest of the weekend.
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The water pump virus must have been contagious because no sooner had Rick's started leaking than Hamish's B23 pump began to leak from the weep hole in the pump. On advice from Ted Wenz, we kept the engine running up to temp and, miraculously, the pump ceased to leak – again, giving us no further problems. However, early season problems continued to dog us with the car all weekend: failing fuel pressure, fuel pressure ceasing altogether, then fluctuating fuel pressure. Anyway, with much hard work from Thatch and Chuck, the car was kept running and, at the end of the weekend, competitively. |
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Tom had woes with the Merlyn from the word go as well. Gear ratios had got screwed up, so we addressed that. Then the next session came to a premature end when the flywheel detached itself from the crankshaft. All of these maladies were addressed, plus some other minor gearbox problems as we went along. We got him out for a few laps of qualifying and all felt good. It gave him a reasonable grid spot for Sunday's race. |
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The rest of the boys and girl were all in the same race group. Rick qualified pretty well. Every session he was knocking seconds off his previous best. Divina, who had taken over Hamish's B23, was the one now experiencing fuel delivery problems that we were working our way through.
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Pete seemed to be going slower in his B23 as the sessions wore on until, most unexpectedly, the engine let go big time – our first BMW blowup. It put the car out for the rest of the weekend. Hamish was flying in the T70 and managed to secure outside pole in the qualifying race on Saturday for Sunday's sprint race. He eclipsed Joel's time (marginally), but was well off the pace of the well-driven Gulf Mirage of Chris McAllister. Tom elected not to run the Merlyn in the Vintage Enduro Saturday, so that was it until the crack of dawn Sunday for the Historic Enduro, which was our main reason for being at Sebring. |
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Divi tries on the Lola
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Pre-Enduro R&R
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SUNDAY – PAGE
2 |
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