Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thursday began with Alex and myself loading the Old Mother Hubbard with the Pleasure Evo and our gear and my Ford F350 with trailer and the RASpec. Alex was preparing the trailer for the 240RS Maxi for an 8am departure while Bill continued to work on the blue spaceship, since the engine had arrived only days before.
By 4pm, our plans changed and we relocated the RASpec to Old Mother Hubbards’ trailer for a 22-hour ride to Chicago without Bill and his blue spaceship.
Along the way we listened to a 5-CD audio book of “World War Z” and a host of trip-hop, trance and rock music. We drove straight to Erie, PA where we stopped for a few hours sleep.
Friday June 19th, 2009
Dawn broke, and we were off again to Joliet, IL. We arrived by 4:30pm, gates opened at 5pm and we were unloaded, pit setup by 6pm, showering in the hotel at 7pm and dinner by 8.
Back at the hotel at 10, Alex headed to his room to wait for our guest Burak Tuglu from BTM Sport who was arriving at the airport while myself and our photographer/mechanic Q decided to crash a wedding reception in the hotel ball room and patio.
Saturday June 20th, 2009
Woke up a bit late and rushed over to Autobahn Country Club for the 8am drivers meeting by Chris of the Redline Time Attack staff.
The track is a series of mid-speed straights linked by tight chicanes, so its a horsepower/braking track. Me and Alex got familiar with the racing line and worked through a few minor mechanical issues. The RASpec blew out 2 couplers in back-to-back sessions in the afternoon. One replacement was found in our spare bin and another from a take-off from Crawford Performance Ken Block Gymkhana 2 Subaru GRB courtesy of Quirt Crawford. She also had overheating issues all day, reaching 110c in the second lap, causing a rev-limit of 6800 - limiting horsepower and changing my shift points. The Pleasure Evo had a problem with the shifter that was easily fixed.
The team retired around 4:30 to head into Chicago with our local host David White for dinner in Wicker Park.
Sunday June 21st, 2009
The day went surprisingly fast and easy despite the overheating problems with the RASpec. I tried to take the warmup lap more conservatively to keep temps low, then go full attack on the 1st hot lap, pitting early for the other laps. This strategy had limited success as the engine would still hit 110c and cut revs in the middle of my hot lap.
We exited stage left around 4:15pm to make an early 22 hour get-away for Boston before the awards ceremony. Both of us with a list of ToDo items for round 4.
Video
The RASpec Impreza makes an appearance at: 1:52, 9:25,
What’s up with that sexy white S14?
I dunno, it looks kinda gay.
Sorry you guys had some minor problems.
Ron, have you thought about upgrading the silicon couplers with Wiggins clamps? They’re pricey, but worth every pennies.
Anyway, keep up the good work !
Where is the Maxi?