BFE GP 2023 Race Recap Part 1 (the gettin ready)
Let's get the best part of our story out of the way first. Both cars, our 2002 Ford Escort ZX2, and the 1981 Datsun 280zx finished the race, top 10 in class! We are thrilled, we are amazed, we are soaking wet, but we are top 10 with a brand new 43 year old racecar build, and our trusty steed in the hands of a rookie driving team. Full results are here, our ZX2 finished 5th in class and 4 laps ahead of the 280zx in 7th. Neither car broke down (much). We didn't have any penalties (ok some). We had a blast (hella sweet).
In Lemons as in life, nothing goes quite right. And so it was for us with everything leading up to race day. We couldn't find parts. Transportation fell through.The entire race both cars ran without major issues, but it rained 13 hours, out of a 14.5 hour race. We perservered, and with a little luck and a lot of help, we had a great race.
Thursday
As we loaded up Thursday we had two known problems. We needed to replace the left front steering knuckle, hub, and new studs on the ZX2, thanks to a sheared stud caused by an unnamed team membermatthew . We needed to replace the radiator drain plug on the 280zx, thanks to a disintegrated drain plug caused by an unnamed law of physicsentropy .
The drain plug chose to end it's life Thursday morning at around 10am, just as we were finishing loading up to leave. This sent us into a flurry of attempts at locating a new plug: online, over the phone, and driving around Denver. We finally found one two! 3 hours of panic for a couple $3.82 parts. #lemonslife #whydoidothis
Along the same time, we discovered a mistake in our Uhaul reservation, which left us without a trailer, or any immediately obvious way to get both cars to the track. Well, the immediately obvious (but highly undesirable option) would be to drive one car out (1.5 hours) then back (1.5 hours), then back again (1.5 hours). We have only one trailer, you see. Happily, a friend of a friends' former brothers' college roommate knew a guy with a racecar towing rig. This guy was available to bring the Datsun out, and pick her up on Sunday! High fives all around.
We still had this knuckle to install on the zx2. It had been prepped with new ARP studs by Nick's ever helpful neighbor (who’s daughter does REAL real racing). He had to press the hub out of the knuckle to install said studs, and (as we discovered when picking up the knuckle) didn’t fully press the hub back in.
Fun challenge: we don't have a bearing press. The Spirit of Lemons is Helping, and our neighbors and friends (and Halloween & Gasoline Winners) Hangar 13 saved our butts. If you're keeping track, that's two neighbors also involved in racing. And two neighbors whose help saved our butts. If you want to be successful in Lemons, live in a neighborhood with a lot of RVs and race trailers!
The Hangar 13 crew didn't have a press on hand either, but they did have a collection of ball joint cups, a block of wood, and a mallet. The Spirit of Lemons is making the best of whatever half-assed janky shit you have on hand. So with some precise (ha, eyeball at best) measuring we found a suitable cup, and with exactly 2 well aimed swings we had the hub seated in the bearing, and we’re back at our paddock space reinstalling the knuckle.
Both cars, ready for the track day on Friday. Time for bed.
Friday
Friday is an open-lapping day at most events. We were fortunate with the weather, sunny and warm is ideal for a track day. Our new driver, Adam, would be getting his first laps in the zx2. Adam also got the honor of taking our Datsun out for her first shakedown cruise. The Datsun had probably not seen any significant use since the Reagan administration, and we all had some nerves about how she'd hold up.
How did she hold up? Well, not well. Each time the car went out it overheated within 5 laps. Not a great situation for endurance racing. The Spirit of Lemons is cutting holes in things, so we tried solving the problem by adding ventilation.
Friday afternoon we met the fine gentleman of Bakit Racing, who also run a 280zx, and who know a ton more about these Datsuns than we do. They were kind enough to lend us a fan, and some diagnostic thoughts. We swapped the fan, but were still running way too hot.
Fridays are also tech, BS inspection and theme day. Our College Party theme wasn't as strong as Essere Ferrari, but we had fun with it, and most importantly both cars passed tech and were cleared to race!
Cleared to race, but with an overheating 42 year old car. We did some searching online, and there did not appear to be a radiator within 1000 miles of Denver. Did I mention the Spirit of Lemons is Helping? Did I mention those nice guys from Bakit Racing racing who knew a lot about Datsuns? In addition to consultation and knowledge transfer, these guys happened to have a spare radiator for a 40 year old Datsun, and! they were willing to let us use it for the race!
Radiator swapped! We couldn't really simulate race conditions in the paddock, but we had high hopes that our overheating problems would be solved, or at least, not worse for the race.
While all this was going on, Tyler started investigating a clunk in the front right of the zx2. Not terrible, not super loud, but a new clunk all the same. You have to pay attention to details, and follow up on them. A new clunk is not a positive the night before a 14 hour race. Thankfully, Tyler discovered several bits of suspension on the front passenger wheel were loose. This probably shouldn't be surprising, we had this car in a whole lotta pieces during the offseason. Easy solution, saved the race.
I never quite know how to summarize racing to people in casual conversation. Writing this post reminds me how much mental energy goes into troubleshooting and diagnosing. How much physical energy goes into the preparation, the thrashing on the car, the crawling around on ground in awkward yoga poses. One thing is overwhelmingly clear: this is a racing community, and we're so happy to be part of it.
We'd had a full 2 days, and we hadn't even seen the green flag yet!
