Open Track Challenge 2003

Test day at Spring Mountain (Pahrump)

These pages were written, late at night or on the road, during the race. They are not always accurate about other teams as we were both tired, sometimes cranky and working on insufficient information. Since they do capture the mood of a team in competition we have left them unedited.

A nice quiet day of testing and final shakedown, right? Well, no.

After finishing up the race car late on Friday, the team left for Nevada at around 6:30 pm and rolled in to the hotel in at around 4:30 am. Spring Mountain Raceway in Pahrump, Nevada was open for the teams to test today. Bill took the Track Dog out in the morning with Gary Sheehan in the passenger's seat. The goal was to finish the break-in of the race engine, scrub in some tires and give Gary a bit of a tour.

When the car got back in, Bill was concerned about low oil pressure at idle. Rick noticed a bit of play in a rear wheel. That was diagnosed as a bad bearing, so Gary and his crew chief Joel took off to get it replaced. Meanwhile, Keith started changing the oil. When the engine was restarted, there was almost no oil pressure. After some more investigation it was decided that the likely culprit was debris in the oil pan. So the subframe was dropped and the pan removed. It turns out the pressure relief valve was stuck open, so the pump had to be rebuilt.

The problem with the rear wheels wasn't the bearing. In fact, despite a lot of head-scratching and measuring of extra axles, it was never figured out. We'll be keeping a close eye on that over the rest of the week. The engine went together, oil pressure was good - but the track was closed. A hard day's work, and we're ready for competition tomorrow....

Cornerweighting in the FM shop before we leave for the track.
Bill plays with a 944.
This is not typical maintenance.
Rick, Bill and Keith pulling the oil pan.
Dr. Bill investigates his patient.
Meanwhile, Gary Sheehan is warming up to drive the Dog.
The big dogs at this event - Radicals. Technically street legal in the UK.
Toby Weir-Jones just finished this Miata. Toby, you forgot the windshield!
Nice paint job!
The end of the day, reassembled.
Let's see what happens tomorrow...