Racing at Kershaw - Spring 2002

Elams hit the Moonshine Run!

Ok.  What a bizarre race weekend.   The inaugural NASA points race of the 2002 season got kicked off at Carolina Motorsports Park (also known as Kershaw) for the Moonshine Run races.  Dan was racing, Harry was playing instructor, and Bobbie was taking the pink RX-7 out on the track for the first time!  No matter what we expected, it couldn't have prepared us for this truly strange time - especially as we begin our first real attempt to win the season championship.

One of the hallmarks of the eVisory Cobra has been it's reliability.   We really have had very few problems.  This weekend we managed to cram a number of problems all into one time.  First, the fan died.  With temps above 90F, it wasn't the best time.  The car was also having electrical problems which made it difficult to start - especially when hot.  When the Saturday race rolled around, we were really worried about getting the car restarted so we went to the starting grid and left the car running.  Unfortunately an accident on the track delayed us getting out and the car got very hot.  No problem.  The warm-up lap would be enough time to cool the car down and get things back to normal.  We hoped.

One thing that made this race especially exciting was that Harry was driving one of the Factory Five cars.  A weird set of circumstances meant that many of series regulars weren't around so Factory Five helped round out the field and give Dan vs. Harry our first chance to play.

Sure enough, the temperature was headed down when the green flag dropped.  A nice move up the middle and meant a good start and run down into Turn 1.  A few more cars got passed quickly as the Cobra powered through turns two and three.  But that was about it.  The water temperature instantly shot up and I had to back off to see if it would cool down.

To make a long story short:  it didn't.  I tried to stretch it out to halfway in order to get the points, but miscounted the laps and pitted early.  Harry finished second behind the talented driving of Gary Kirchbaum.

Meanwhile, Bobbie spent the weekend playing with her RX-7 and as trophy girl.  She had a blast, even if we had to run off some of the would-be trophy girls for being ugly.  (See, we can say that when it is our web site and not the offical NASA web site!)  Bobbie learned a lot and made some dramatic improvements in car control.  On Sunday, during touring laps, she even got black flagged.  As usual, she took this as a honor, although it turned out that they thought the car was too loud.

Harry spent the weekend busy playing instructor and had recently completed the instructor clinic.  Sunday without the Cobra still meant lots of time to see the track and refine skills - even from the passenger seat.

Sunday morning had dawned to find a Cobra that still wouldn't start.  Some engine diagnostics led us to discover that some sounds that indicated some potential serious problems.  As Harry and Bobbie wrapped up their duties, I got the trailer packed and ready to go.  I was helping Harry get the car back in the trailer.  We had recharged the battery in order to start it and drive it in.  When it restarted, the engine sounded normal.  After some quick diagnostics, we decided to scurry and head to the track even though we would start from the back of the pack.  The temp looked a little hot, but much better than Saturday.   I was even dreaming about doing a little racing! 

That idea came to a screeching halt just like Saturday.  A nice jump, a good line through two and three, and then the power dropped as the temp shot sky high.  The rest of the race was spent in 5th gear (which we have never used on the track) and simple motoring just to get the points for making it halfway by trying to keep the engine as cool as possible.  Even though I had expected it when we started, it was a miserable feeling to be driving at highway speeds as you get lapped.  I felt like 'granny' out for a Sunday drive as I just tried hard to get my laps and stay out of the way of those actually racing.  The car held up and made it around the track in order to get our points.  Certainly not what we had hoped to start our season.  I am sure that we will have it sorted out by the time we get to Summit Point for our next points race.