I am home from Kershaw, SC and the 2022 Yokohama Block Party at Carolina Motorsports Park., here's what happened.
We got in Thursday night and there were no RV hookups available (we rented an RV for the team instead of saying in a roach motel or 30 minutes from the track) so we parked in a spot labeled "VENDORS ONLY", plugged up, and waited for someone to tell us to move. No one ever did so we stayed there all weekend. Bonus, this was right next to the garages, one of which we rented so that was convenient. We did a quick unload, wandered around a bit, then attempted to sleep on very uncomfortable surfaces. I largely failed in this regard and managed 2 hours total knowing Friday was going to be a long day.
Friday rolled around and we started prepping the car. First up we had to turn the music on in the garage which was as easy as turning the key. Next we needed to attach the splitter only to find the bolts for it had been left at home, and given they are rather long metric bolts replacing them was going to be a challenge. 2 trips to a local hardware store and quick thinking on my part got us there through so Eddie hit the track complete. We did a bunch of little things, none of which I can remember now, breezed through car tech and gear tech, then I took a nap.
Friday nigh was the block party in downtown Camden, a lot of people came out and the nicest restaurant on the block did not like our lemon suits but we got a table anyway, ended up in class C with 0 penalty laps after BS inspection, and went back to the track when it was over for a rather cold shower and some sleep. We did some sleeping arrangement realignment after a bunch of us found or original situations untenable and I was much better rested for Saturday.
Aside from some serious knee pain (bad enough that I thought I might not be able to drive) Saturday went well. We got on the grid early, I took the first stint out, and the car was great! Our engine ran well enough at the last race but fueling problems plagued us all weekend with hard cuts on right hand turns. A fuel cell was installed over the past couple months in an attempt to alleviate this issue and it worked perfectly, I was able to drive the car hard everywhere on the track. It felt faster this time, not much but enough to notice, and I passed a lot more cars than before. I was also being passed slightly less often, even on this shorter track.
I drove an hour, as much as my knee could handle, then we swapped for driver 2 who went 2 hours, then driver 3 went 2 hours, then I took the final stint of the day. It was getting hot our and our tires were showing their age but Eddie just kept on running
Saturday night is where we hit the first snag. We checked the brakes and decided to change them, not a big deal as we had all the parts. The first rotor did not want to come off so much hammering commenced, and when it was finally removed the new rotor we pulled out did not fit. This was a highly worrying moment as the old rotor was now unusable, so I checked the second box and that one was good. The part numbers on the boxes were the same, it looked like the first one never went through final machining. Thinking on my feet I decided not to hammer off the second rotor but instead reuse it. Unfortunately this one had some surface cracks developing that worried one of our drivers greatly, and since he was first out the next day it kept him awake a bit trying to figure out just how hard he could drive. Without any other options though we popped in new pads, swapped wheels (first set of tires was done), changed the oil, and went to bed.
Sunday morning we checked tire pressures and one read 0. It was not 0, but we could not get a reading. Attempts to add air pegged the gauge on the compressor immediately. One solution was to run only new tires on the fronts and put the most treaded old ones on the rear, but I had a better idea. Thinking this had to be a valve problem I yoinked the stem and swapped with an old one, problem solved and we had 4 new tires.
Day 2 started with some slow laps bedding in the new brakes and wearing in the tires, plus the whole "rotor might self destruct" problem. While the driver was on track I started calling auto parts places for new rotors and, miraculously, the Advance in Camden had 2 in stock for our car. I have no idea why but we sent someone down immediately to grab both knowing the track has a quiet hour on Sunday where we could swap with no time penalty.
Which is exactly what we did. When the quiet hour was over I was strapped in the car with new brakes, new tires, a full tank of gas, and ready to send it.
The rest of Sunday went off without a hitch, the car drove perfectly. The more laps I turned the more confident I felt and during my last stint my average lap was about as fast as my fastest from my first stint on Saturday.
This time we finished the race, took the flag both days. No breakdowns, no time repairing things during hot track. Our little minivan, all 130hp of it, ran flawlessly.
When I came off the track Sunday the head judge told me to park in the penalty area. I didn't know why, I never got a black flag or did anything wrong. I joined 3 other cars there.
Waiting for the awards ceremony at the end of the race I checked the stats and we finished 23rd overall, 4th in class, 297 laps total. 79 cars entered, 76 of them turned a lap, 53 were beaten by a 30 year old DSM minivan with a sound system.
We stayed for the awards ceremony which was conveniently happening right next to where we parked the car after the race. We all had celebratory beers in hand. Last race we took home organizer's choice, second highest honor in a Lemons race, no way we would win that twice in a row.
I was right, we didn't win org choice. Instead we won IOE, the highest prize in Lemons racing. The car that does the most with the least, a team that comes out in the true spirit of Lemons and kicks as much ass as possible.
Don't mind how bad I look in that pic, it was 85 out and I just took off a fire suit.
It took a lot to get this far but we did it, our little race van is the real champion.
