This weekend I joined HSR-West at Willow Springs Int’l Raceway for their Fall event. Ed Swart always puts on a nice weekend, and this was no exception. Unfortuantley the tough economy is taking its toll, and participation was smaller than usual. When I started racing cars ten years ago, I used to hope for a small grid like this so I could just learn the line and stay out of trouble. But now I look forward to a packed grid to work on my racecraft and mix it up with my racing buddies. A few other 510s showed up, and we had a grid of 8-10 cars in small-bore production. Dick Jutras even joined us with his gorgeous ’58 Devin Special.
The Wagon ran well all weekend, and my latest radiator upgrade did the trick. The weather was clear and 85 degrees and my water temps were more than 40F cooler leading to 10F cooler oil temps – problem solved. I had the Wagon down in the 1:39s, with my best lap being a 1:39.2. For most of the event I enjoyed racing with Shannon Johnson in his beautifully prepared (and very fast) 510. I tried to bribe him to keep this video of Sunday’s points race off of YouTube, but my cheap offer didn’t do the trick. Please ignore the wagon departing the paved surface in T9 with a lap to go, DOH! Several excuses are available (oil on the line, a broken switch at my feet, etc), and all of them are worth nothing…
As usual, this weekend I was asked several times about how quiet the wagon is. Not only do I run a snorkled airbox, but a pre-muffler after the header and another muffler at the tail. I set it up like this for Laguna Seca trackdays that require very quiet cars, but have grown quite fond of it. It certainly is less fatiguing over the course of a race weekend, and I can hear the competition go on and off the throttle. I do lose a few horsepower, but I’ll just have to make it up elsewhere ;-)
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