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Post by mirada on Oct 21, 2013 16:01:00 GMT -4
Here we are on the backside of 2013,This give me an oppritunity to reflect on my year at the track After a few years of BAD LUCK and some poor decisions , I was able to have a great year , Starting in May after picking up my new Armstrong powerplant I was eager to tear up the track, low and behold after I installed the engine and thought thats all i needed to do to go FAST, BOY WAS I WRONG!!..The thirty year old suspension and chassis didnt quite agree , and so started my learning curve of how chassis works .New terms like CG (center of Gravity )and CL (cars center line )were intraduced and I was to learn just what an efficiant RACE CAR chassis is.The first weekend in Greenfield was the tell tail of just how weak the rear of the car was.Afetr my second time trial and still really not much faster then last year,I knew that the car had alot in it,just couldnt get it to hook ,Overall we had a great weekend ,ran just on the index and won a round so all was not lost, I had my girlfriend and a whole trailer full of kids who supportted me all summer long , and for that i am truely lucky... stay tuned as I let in on how the rest of the summer went and where we are heading in 2014......
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Post by mrgoodwrenchns on Oct 21, 2013 19:27:16 GMT -4
thats great look forward to it.always great when you have your own cheering section sadly i lost mine this summer but thats ok racing still gave me the out from normal life and kept me sane well half sane lol
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Post by mirada on Dec 10, 2013 17:28:40 GMT -4
Race #2 Oysterbed, after a quick turnaround from the Greenfield race, we found a few issues with the car, the RH spring pocket was starting to pull away from the frame bringing with it the four link mount,so you can imagine how the car would react to the wheelbase changing under excelleration and in the traps, it was a little crazy.A trip to my buddys chassis shop where we replaced the pocket and reinforced both side and also checked the wheelbase and made sure everything was up to snuff.The drive to the Island was filled with high hopes of a better showing, unloaded the car on Saturday and first pass again it spun, but then I went back tp the pits and cranked the nose up two inches which ofcourse transfered weight to the rear and the nexr pass was very promising ,running .02 under the 1/8 mile index and finally getting some hook ,I just foot braked the car this pass so first round I figured I would play it save and foot brake , and after going red and finishing the day early I was very encouraged by the performance gain!! We decided to stick around for a lap or two on Sunday , and the first pass in the morning on the brake was the one!!....11.05 118mph 1.41 in 60ft best pass ever by nearly two tenths and best 60ft by .06 I knew then that we were starting to find the handle on things.We then packed her up and waited for MDP...A long month away....
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Post by Indynut on Dec 10, 2013 22:26:22 GMT -4
I enjoy these stories . . . its great stuff and keep it going. Indy
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Post by mhowes on Dec 11, 2013 19:42:32 GMT -4
Good Picture!
The Mirada is hauling the mail!
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Post by mirada on Dec 13, 2013 16:50:19 GMT -4
During the break between races i decided to do some rear suspension upgrades to the car, after a promising outing in Oysterbed ,i knew the key to those better timeslips was ringing everybit out of the old car.I started by looking at the problem area and concentrated on those, the rear shackles with the nicely rotted rubber bushings was providing a nice BIND to the rear spring travel, so after locating some NOS hangers I came up with a solid steel bushing setup (Peterbilt hood bushing almost and exact fit}!! so we changed both hangers and mounts ,cleaned and lubed the four link joints and cleaned and greases the sliders{the car has leafs with four bar and a slider type setup}.Over the next few days we gave her a fresh oil change with nothing but Royal Purple and a quality Gold Series NAPA oil filter...little product placement there!!haha...Sam came over for a quick valve set, and she was set for MDP,but before that the ATLANTIC NATIONALS all Chrysler show on the Saturday night at Moncton Chrysler Dodge,Thats always a good time when you can stand around and talk Mopar all night!!! Then just before loading the car for the night a gave a couple of preteen kids a ride around the parking lot...trust me smiles all around!!!....couple more weeks til Race #3...stay tuned !!
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Post by mirada on Dec 24, 2013 14:09:35 GMT -4
Race #3 at my "HOME" track MDP .., many great times here and some rough outings as well, last years Rod throwing party being one of those, but this year with plenty of positives from the last few weeks I was banking on a strong showing.While most of us CLASS RACERS figured we would have a good turn out after the week of postings on the Message board,I was excited to see a record number of entries for RACE #3 and could be a good points day for many of us still shuffling in the points standings, we were sitting in the top 10 and the points had closed up alot in just two events.Again we struggled in qualifing after I had the bright idea i would Take some weight out of rear of the car ,I had been 80lbs heavy over the last couple races and i figured ONE less battery would not bother anything, NOPE!! WRONG!! car needs that weight in the back, with the weight out car 60fts 1.58 with weight in 1.42, so yeah battery stayed put, round one withj Blair , he is always tough and I caught a break, Blair goes Red and I score another round win,I lost a close race in round two with a break out pass and our weekend was over....But I was able to load the car on the trailer under its own power and for me that was as good as a win for sure!!....Next Race back to Oysterbed Labour day weekend......
On a side note I would like to send my deepest sympathy to Kevin Gallants family on their loss , Kevin and I faced each other once and I can remember he won after mowing the tree down and was very gracious and shook hands after ,A real classy kid....God speed...
Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!!! A new set of STRANGE FRONT BRAKES UNDER MY TREE!!!
Alan and Brandie
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Post by Jeff Kempton on Jan 1, 2014 15:20:50 GMT -4
Fun reading to help us through this long, cold and snowy winter Al, keep up the good work!
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Post by mirada on Jan 12, 2014 20:35:07 GMT -4
To continue my recap of the 2013 race season,I have to include the weekend before, the labourday ACSSA race, I had kinda an off weekend and the car was all ready so I decided to go over the week early and maybe test and hang out at the track.The Tuners were having there weekend and I figured I would make a run or two and just relax...check out the action, Saturday they put on a crazy show with some pretty stout runs, Saturday night took in the action at the stockcar track..Sunday with minimal traction I decided to leave the car in the trailer and thanks to Arnold, I was able to leave the whole deal at his place to save dragging it home.
The next weekend was labourday so I loaded all five kids in the minivan, and headed for Oysterbed, I had the car trailered over from Arnolds and we set up for the weekend, Sat brought my parents and uncle Sam over for the race,it was great having a cheering section and an extra set of hands,in the pits never hurts.after quailfing at 5under which put me in around the 13th spot, always a stout field in the ACSSA for sure...I was able to pick up a couple more round wins which helped the overall position in year in points series....a great weekend for sure!! last stop Greenfield!!in three weeks..
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Post by mirada on Jan 12, 2014 20:35:41 GMT -4
To continue my recap of the 2013 race season,I have to include the weekend before, the labourday ACSSA race, I had kinda an off weekend for me, and the car was all ready so I decided to go over the week early and maybe test and hang out at the track.The Tuners were having there weekend and I figured I would make a run or two and just relax...check out the action, Saturday they put on a crazy show with some pretty stout runs, Saturday night took in the action at the stockcar track..Sunday with minimal traction I decided to leave the car in the trailer and thanks to Arnold, I was able to leave the whole deal at his place to save dragging it home.
The next weekend was labourday so I loaded all five kids in the minivan, and headed for Oysterbed, I had the car trailered over from Arnolds and we set up for the weekend, Sat brought my parents and uncle Sam over for the race,it was great having a cheering section and an extra set of hands,in the pits never hurts.after quailfing at 5under which put me in around the 13th spot, always a stout field in the ACSSA for sure...I was able to pick up a couple more round wins which helped the overall position in year in points series....a great weekend for sure!! last stop Greenfield!!in three weeks..
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