The Pro Solo Finale this year brought memories from last year’s National Championship. RAIN! Although this wasn’t the drying conditions of last year this was hurricane weather. Friday (the first true day of competition) brought flood warnings and three inches of rain, perfect weather for a Miata without a top.
The rain was coming down so bad the Pro Solo equipment failed for morning runs making it a flag drop practice with no timing, just so the competitors could get an idea of the course. Ladies 2 class went before the open class, so we helped Kathy Wolfskill (Tom’s CSP ladies driver) get ready and she ran her four runs trouble free without wipers (electrical problems I had not fixed, we do run most events in California). It was difficult to see where she was stacking up because no times were shown.
After a few run groups it was CSP open run. Being the first driver I jumped into the cold puddle of a seat get the engine warmed up and pull to the line. When I’m just about to get my helmet scanned i rev the engine to pull forward. The engine revs instandly up to 5,000 rpms and stays, i can’t get it to lower…. Tom comes over opens the hood to find a 3/8 inch hole in the intake manifold. The person who ported the intake used JB weld or some other epoxy to fill a vacuum port that was no longer used. The vibration from the engine over time had won and the plug got sucked into the engine. Tom had me stop the engine and the car was pushed back to the pits. Morning runs were done for both of us.
Back at the pits.
Tom and I pulled the upper intake off the engine and handed it to Jeff Keisel who happened to know a local TIG welder who could weld the hole while he waited. At this point I found a crack running from cylinder #1-3 and starting on cylinder 4 on the intake. Apparently Mazda engineers were right, the extra support brace is needed. It was too late to get the intake completely welded, we had to finish the Pro. Tom and I continued on the car. Pulling the spark plugs, checking inside the intake for the missing plug. Nothing was found but when we turned the engine over without plugs and it looked as if something (maybe some left over dust) came shooting out of the combustion chamber. We cleaned the intake mating surface and got ready for Jeff to return with the upper intake manifold.
Afternoon Runs for Kathy was coming and Jeff wasn’t back. The car wouldn’t be ready for her runs leaving it to her Saturday morning runs since the morning runs had no timer.
We were able to get the everything back together for the open afternoon runs. Crossing our fingers the engine wasn’t hurt we ran the afternoon runs without any easy testing on the engine. It ran great and the intake manifold held together. I was able to leave the first day of the Pro Solo event with the lead.
The second day of the finale was a gamble if the intake would hold together long enough to finish the event. Kathy’s runs went well she finished without problems. The rain had stopped and the other CSP competitors swapped over to dry condition tires. After last years gamble with running the dry tires in the drying conditions and it not paying off for Kathy, Tom wanted to leave the wets on (it was also easier to leave the wets on). Tom needed to win the Finale and I could finish second so we could one, two the points chase in the series.
I ran again first because of leading from the first day runs. This worked great for us considering it was a toss up, rain or dry tires. I rolled up to the burn out box and knowing it was wet and wanting to get heat in the tires I got to practice my left foot braking burn out! (check out video on youtube, not up yet). I ran my four runs and didn’t improve that much while everyone else shrunk my lead.
So for Tom’s runs I told him he had to swap tires and run the drys. He agreed and it was a fire drill changing tires and getting everything ready for him to take his runs. Tom goes out and keeps dropping every run. He continues this and gets to his last run on the right side only having to drop two tenths to take the victory and finish second for the series. Well, he went to the first corner and spun… game over. it ended up he got second for the event and third for the series. Best Finish for Tom at the Finale and best series finish. So considering all the problems, headaches and running around we still finished smiling!