Thanks for the tip guys. I did all the lequid wrench, HB blaster, and impact driver trying to save the screws but none of it works. So all of it is gone now. Jason, the screws are not coming back in anymore, to what I heard it's optional to have them in.

Allan (HMFIC) save the day. He came to the rescue. By the time Allan arrives, I was beat. Now I realized how bad my health has taken a nose dive. I never felt so tired like I did today. Plus gaining 60lbs is no fun, I can barely bend down now, so working on the ground like brake works is labor intense for me and I'm veery slow.

But on a positive note, all is done and the brakes are solid now. The clutch is done too and what a diffrence. There is a some squeeks because of the Japanese grease on a small round container that I put on there. But that is an easy fix on another day.

Going to sleep now.

 

Congrats on getting your brake upgrade complete. The disk screws are optional.

 

Thanks, Rob. Have fun on your comp school, I can't wait to watch your videos.

 

congrats on the brake job getting done!!



the shop hasn't even started on my car yet... i hope they can get it done this week so i can have it back to test everything out and get to some autocross events

 

WWOOOO i got my federal tax refund! 144 of the 720 will be going to Maryland for my taxes due... and the rest will go towards paying off the parts of the car i recently bought

 

Finally signed up for Summit Point April 9-10th! This warm weather is making me want to get out on the track bad. See everyone there, I'll be in group 2 and looking forward to meeting some other members.

 

What a track weekend. The 3 1/2 day SCCA double comp school has officially whipped my butt. I'm exhausted. Yesterday in the school one race I had the front left spindle snap. The only thing that held the wheel on was the RacingBrake brake disk. I got very lucky when the spindle failed in Turn 5 at about 60 mph. I was able to keep the car on the track and not hit anyone.

I assumed my weekend was over but the SCCA community sprang into action and an S2000 T3 racer brought a hub from his Dulles shop. Brenda ran out and bought at Charlestown's AutoZone. The final piece of the puzzle was the ABS pulser. It fell off the car when the spindle snapped. The pulser acts as a spacer and is required for assembly. Luckily a track worker found it and turned it in.

Oleg was working for Meathead Racing as my track mechanic so he sprang into action and pulled the knuckle and used a shop press to assemble the hub, bearing and knuckle just in time for me to make the final Saturday afternoon session. Many of you know Oleg is an excellent mechanic and he did a great job on the major repair while I was in class and doing ride-alongs on track. I was very lucky to get the car together and finish the school.

Nick (leadhead16) absolutely kicked butt in the hyper-freakin-competitive Group 2 made up of Showroom Stock Miatas and Spec Miatas. He had the fastest Group 2 lap time every day and won both races. Very impressive Nick!

For Sunday's race, me, a Corvette Z06 and a Porsche GT3 were gridded in the back of the 18 car Group 2 (Big Bore) grid. We were gridded by the instructors for their amusement so they put the three fastest cars at the rear to see how we'd do fighting through traffic.

The race started with two practice starts that allowed us to race from the starting line around to the flag station just before Turn 4. The first start was a standard two column start behind the pace car. After a double-yellow shown at Turn 4 we then re-formed into single file for the next start and raced from the starting line to Turn 4 again where a full "black flag all" was shown. Everyone entered the pits where we were split into two colums for the last start and a five lap race. Any position changes in the practice starts were kept for the final start. I went from 15th to 3rd in the 2 practice starts.

At the drop of the green I moved into second coming down the front straight and took the lead by ducking under an Integra coming out of Turn 1. I held the lead for 3 laps but the Z06 finally chased me down and passed me coming up the hill between Turn 1 and 3. He just had too much torque for the uphill run. I took a defensive line but he squeezed by on the left at Turn 3 entry. I stayed close to him to the end of the race but not close enough to try a Bonzai move into Turn 10 on the last lap--the only chance I really had of winning. The Porsche GT3 took a distant third. I'll post some video later.

Many thanks to my lovely wife Brenda. She took the voluntary crew class on Thursday night and crewed for me on Friday. She was one of the only wives at the track and I truly appreciate how special she is.

I had a great time, learned a lot but I'm really tired. Goodnight everyone.

 

great recap Rob. Sounds like a great weekend was had by many!

So Oleg will be at comp school next year?

 

Congratulations on a job well done! Very exciting synopsis of the weekend event, Rob! It felt like I was there, I can picture in my head every turn of event you described. From 15th to 2nd against Z06, freakin' awesome ! Good job to Oleg on a quick fix, truly a great mechanic .

Reading on Nick's impressive run is obsolutely exciting too althought it's not a big surpriese to me. I've seen that kid drive when we were on DE (toying with me), he was just flying and looks very relaxed. Nick seems to be one of those natural fast driver. Congratulations, Nick!

 

I just checked my camera and realized the battery died so I didn't get any of the race footage What a pisser.

I hope to race in both the NASA and SCCA MARRS races next month at Summit Point.