- Joined
- May 26, 2001
- Messages
- 2,893
Welp, another GS Nationals has come and gone. And this one was definitely one for the Buick history books. I arrived around 1pm on Wednesday, to see wonderful rain forecast for the rest of the day. No biggie as it was expected and it always rains at least one day at the Nats. So we all pulled up chairs, sat around sharing stories and watching it rain. Later that night we had a great dinner at Rafferty's.
On the way to the track, I had a nice inpromptu street encounter against a nice metallic grey Turbo T. He pulled out to do a ricer fly by and I obliged by going WOT. It was a good run and I can proudly say I was lucky and won, as he never passed me. It was a quick T for sure. Yes, I was the crazy person who drove and parked a Grey Mustang in the pits of a Buick event.
It's a simple combo really. 2011 Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote automatic with bolt ons. Runs 12.ohs at 115 N/A and high 10's on nitrous. However, no nitrous was brought on this trip. It will be getting a JPC Racing single turbo kit and built engine when it's all said and done though. Ok, back to Buicks....
Thursday's forecast looked to be overcast but with perfect turbo temps for racing. Everyone could tell this would be the year that records were shattered and racing would be excellent. Dave even predicted Wednesday night that we'd see 7.70's and maybe some 7.60's in TSO. So on Thursday morning, everyone was getting busy unloading, unpacking, setting up and warming up their cars. Getting ready to make their first test hits. Temps hovered around the 52* - 56* range with no sun. The question of who would be the first to lay down the law was on everyone's mind.
At a little after lunch time, racing had started and the track was well prepped. Slowly but surely quicker and quicker cars started making test passes. TSM and TSO cars started making hits and the track was golden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtqJY4qJn18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bs4gBUHInU
Then "Mr. Basic Famous" comes up to make a hit and blows everyone away right off the bat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUhcqX77KhA
Shortly there after, Tony steps up to bat and swings for the fences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA_d6WYFzMQ
Billy T sorting his car out with his second test hit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS3kAus9H-s
Followed a hour or so later by Dave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M9r2VDUysQ
After this aborted run, we head back to the pits and proceed to cool the car down for a 3rd hit.
Billy T makes a 3rd pass. That frickin starter loved getting in the way, GRRRRRR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAi_J9rgGws
Dave's 3rd and unfortunately for us, final pass of the week.
Right at the finish line, the radiator cap blew off and emptied it's guts all over the engine. Dave said he reached up to pull the parachute and the car suddenly got severely sideways headed towards the wall. Quickly pulling the parachute and after 4 severe steering corrections, Thank You LORD he was able to save the car from any contact with the wall or complete loss of control. Ken and I were on the starting line and did not notice anything wrong, just a little bit of smoke that we didn't think anything about. No announcements were made and nobody was making a fuss, so we headed back to the pits. By the time we got back, others were telling us to go get Dave, he was still down at the end. We rushed down only to see a somewhat dirty GN and Dave with a wounded look on his face. Not good. We could definitely tell the car was hurt with the coolant everywhere. Popping the hood the engine was completely covered in coolant and block sealant. Sigh....
We towed the car over to a water spicket and proceeded to wash her off. Eventually others started showing up and offering to help. Before we knew it water hoses from JD and Tony and a bucket with car soap was brought over. We spend about 45 minutes carefully washing the car, hoping like all get out that the block sealant didn't ruin the paint. Finishing up we towed her back to the pits. When we got back, I proceeded to thoroughly dry the car the best I could and give her a good pep talk. After all, she had just run the quickest ET ever in TSO racing and I was absolutely going to give her some love, broke or not. After the bath, the diagnosis quickly began. All the data showed good, no issues could be found, EGT's were perfect across the board and the boost was not high at all. Everyone was pretty stumped. At this point, the track was getting close to locking us in so a decision had to be made whether to tear into it, or wait? Dave asked around and everyone agreed, let's get it done. Not knowing how much time they had before being locked in for the night, the guys tore into the car like it owed them money. First a compression test showed #1 was at 70 psi, but the rest were perfect. No coolant in the oil either.
I grabbed my chair, video camera and proceeded to watch a thorough and efficient tear down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm7dJss7ePg
After 45 minutes the guys had the drivers side cylinder head off and within a couple of minutes discovered the problem. #1 cylinder's chamber had failed just behind and to the side of the intake valve. This pressurized the coolant system and caused the ugly soak down and near wreck.
After the tear down and quick pack up, we called it a day and proceeded to Rafferty's for a well deserved meal. Good grief Charlie Brown what a day it was. The plan for Friday was to try to find a machine shop that could fix the head and get her back together maybe in time to make 3rd round of qualifying Saturday morning. At least that "Was" the plan...
Stay tuned for Friday.
On the way to the track, I had a nice inpromptu street encounter against a nice metallic grey Turbo T. He pulled out to do a ricer fly by and I obliged by going WOT. It was a good run and I can proudly say I was lucky and won, as he never passed me. It was a quick T for sure. Yes, I was the crazy person who drove and parked a Grey Mustang in the pits of a Buick event.
It's a simple combo really. 2011 Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote automatic with bolt ons. Runs 12.ohs at 115 N/A and high 10's on nitrous. However, no nitrous was brought on this trip. It will be getting a JPC Racing single turbo kit and built engine when it's all said and done though. Ok, back to Buicks....
Thursday's forecast looked to be overcast but with perfect turbo temps for racing. Everyone could tell this would be the year that records were shattered and racing would be excellent. Dave even predicted Wednesday night that we'd see 7.70's and maybe some 7.60's in TSO. So on Thursday morning, everyone was getting busy unloading, unpacking, setting up and warming up their cars. Getting ready to make their first test hits. Temps hovered around the 52* - 56* range with no sun. The question of who would be the first to lay down the law was on everyone's mind.
At a little after lunch time, racing had started and the track was well prepped. Slowly but surely quicker and quicker cars started making test passes. TSM and TSO cars started making hits and the track was golden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtqJY4qJn18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bs4gBUHInU
Then "Mr. Basic Famous" comes up to make a hit and blows everyone away right off the bat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUhcqX77KhA
Shortly there after, Tony steps up to bat and swings for the fences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA_d6WYFzMQ
Billy T sorting his car out with his second test hit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS3kAus9H-s
Followed a hour or so later by Dave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M9r2VDUysQ
After this aborted run, we head back to the pits and proceed to cool the car down for a 3rd hit.
Billy T makes a 3rd pass. That frickin starter loved getting in the way, GRRRRRR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAi_J9rgGws
Dave's 3rd and unfortunately for us, final pass of the week.
Right at the finish line, the radiator cap blew off and emptied it's guts all over the engine. Dave said he reached up to pull the parachute and the car suddenly got severely sideways headed towards the wall. Quickly pulling the parachute and after 4 severe steering corrections, Thank You LORD he was able to save the car from any contact with the wall or complete loss of control. Ken and I were on the starting line and did not notice anything wrong, just a little bit of smoke that we didn't think anything about. No announcements were made and nobody was making a fuss, so we headed back to the pits. By the time we got back, others were telling us to go get Dave, he was still down at the end. We rushed down only to see a somewhat dirty GN and Dave with a wounded look on his face. Not good. We could definitely tell the car was hurt with the coolant everywhere. Popping the hood the engine was completely covered in coolant and block sealant. Sigh....
We towed the car over to a water spicket and proceeded to wash her off. Eventually others started showing up and offering to help. Before we knew it water hoses from JD and Tony and a bucket with car soap was brought over. We spend about 45 minutes carefully washing the car, hoping like all get out that the block sealant didn't ruin the paint. Finishing up we towed her back to the pits. When we got back, I proceeded to thoroughly dry the car the best I could and give her a good pep talk. After all, she had just run the quickest ET ever in TSO racing and I was absolutely going to give her some love, broke or not. After the bath, the diagnosis quickly began. All the data showed good, no issues could be found, EGT's were perfect across the board and the boost was not high at all. Everyone was pretty stumped. At this point, the track was getting close to locking us in so a decision had to be made whether to tear into it, or wait? Dave asked around and everyone agreed, let's get it done. Not knowing how much time they had before being locked in for the night, the guys tore into the car like it owed them money. First a compression test showed #1 was at 70 psi, but the rest were perfect. No coolant in the oil either.
I grabbed my chair, video camera and proceeded to watch a thorough and efficient tear down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm7dJss7ePg
After 45 minutes the guys had the drivers side cylinder head off and within a couple of minutes discovered the problem. #1 cylinder's chamber had failed just behind and to the side of the intake valve. This pressurized the coolant system and caused the ugly soak down and near wreck.
After the tear down and quick pack up, we called it a day and proceeded to Rafferty's for a well deserved meal. Good grief Charlie Brown what a day it was. The plan for Friday was to try to find a machine shop that could fix the head and get her back together maybe in time to make 3rd round of qualifying Saturday morning. At least that "Was" the plan...
Stay tuned for Friday.
. Thank you.
