Sebring, Florida - February 21-22, 2009

Well, I had work weekend. At least it seemed like I worked on my FP Miata all weekend.

I went out for Practice Saturday morning and found had uncharacteristic handling problems and the rear brakes were locking up. Afterwards, I found one arms for the rear anti-sway bar had come off and a plastic spacer was missing. The plastic spacer prevents the anit-sway bar from side-to-side. I used a hose clamp, the top of a Gatoraid bottle and some duct tape. The hose clamp prevented the side-to-side motion. The bottle top prevented metal-to-metal contact between the hose clamp and the support bearing. The duct tape was the backup for the whole mess.

I went out for Qualifying Saturday afternoon and everything felt great. Toward the end of the session, I finally found some clear track and was on a hot lap. On Turn 16, I got in too hot and spun. So much for a good grid position!

When I was prepping for my Sunday morning (8:00 a.m.) race, I found the right front tire flat. I took it off and found no damage to the tire. I took to my very friendly and helpful Goodyear tech. He found the leak to be between the tire and the wheel. He noticed the steel wheel wasn't round and suggested that I try to get it round and see if that helped. Well, after about an hour of pounding, it didn't. So, I took it back and he found sand between the tire and the wheel. After cleaning it, it still leaked, so he put some bead sealant on the area. And it worked! I took back and put it on the car. The next morning it still held pressure. Thanks Goodyear, Competition Tires South and Eric!!!

Sunday morning race started normal - I had my traditional bad start. I started regaining some places. I was approaching Turn 16 when the car lost all power. I parked it on the outside of Turn 16 and sat there. Then, a full course yellow came out and I couldn't believe I was in the "impact zone". Then, a black flag all came out. If this was for me, someone was over reacting. As it turned out, there was a bad crash at Turn 17. A SRF joined the infamous Bridge Club, whose membership is reserved for those who have crashed under the Turn 17 bridge. I don't know if the driver was hurt, but they transported him in one of the ambulances. Hopefully, he's OK. I got towed in during the hour long break to repair the tire wall. As it turned out, the race was further shortened when 3 SRFs got into each other in Turn 1. For that one, the rest of the ambulances were used. Hopefully, those drivers are OK as well.

I figured out that my master (cut-off) switch was bad. It was about 7 years old, so it was about time. I had to cut the lugs off the heavy cables because the studs turned in the switch. About 2 hours later, I had it replaced. Once I remembered the starter interlock (clutch) switch was acting up as it is 19 years old, I was able to start the engine.

The afternoon race was starte with my traditional bad start. I lost about 3 positions. I soon regained them and gapped the guys I passed. Unfortunately, my next fastest competitor had gapped me. On the next to the last lap, he made some kind of mistake or he had a problem. I closed on him, but it was too late. I finished 3 in class (2.4 seconds back) and 5th overall.

That's all for now and thanks for staying awake,
Perry Young