My racing number plates came in with a few days to go (didn't need numbers for the school, but who cares).
I waxed up the car - guaranteeing rain and drove out to Fort McLeod (first read drive on the new rear end).
Lots of fast stuff out there with everyone learning a lot. Corvette's, GTR, Porsche, and the Ford ST's all showing everyone up. In my past efforts, the car couldn't get the power to the ground with the open differential and it just didn't want to turn. Now, some of this was me learning how to swing the barge around, but it wouldn't turn for the pro's either. I didn't reinstall the rear sway bar (the 25 mm from IPD) and with the new LSD and suspension parts I was hoping it would be better.
I had taken it in for an alignment (Friday afternoon for a Saturday event!) and found out the bad news. The BEST they could get for front end camber was basically 0 degrees. This is not uncommon for 240's where the spec is something like 1 degree positive. Being a strut style front suspension means there is no camber gain with wheel articulation. So what you have at static ride height, is what you have. As the car turns, camber allows the contact patch of the inside front wheel to stay engaged with the road surface increasing grip. What I had was 1 degree positive on one side, and -0.6 degrees on the other...the last guys to align this car were meat heads.
Passenger side...room to move.
Drivers side...maxed out at -0.1 degrees.
So I either cut the towers off and replace the tops with strut bearing plates or I can just extend the Lower Control Arms to get more from what I've got. I've got arms on order.
So, I arrive at the school bright and early with my somewhat wet, but shiny car. Then during the driver brief, I find out the run order...guess who's up first (because I was first to register)...yup, the slow guy in the Volvo with the damn racing numbers and no experience. Oh boy.
I get the young instructor first. He's stoked to be in the old car (funny, I always think of this as my newer car). We get two runs with me up first so he can see what I'm doing and comment. I've never driven this set-up and have no idea what it will do...and I'm looking at the sea of cones and trying to remember which way to go through things etc. I was super focused and living in fear that it would be as bad as last time.
We're off - new elements to try like a box, and some fast sweepers...my nemesis is the quick turn arounds and the slalom which just are hardest with the way it handled. No time to worry, just have to think about "what's next" - box and set up go fine, then the slalom - it's not great, I'm turning too late. I've got more grip for sure and can weld my foot to the floor when needed. First big turn and it doesn't push as bad...hey that's not bad. Gotta keep my head in the game as you've got to do the slalom on the way back then on to another sweeper, slalom, decreasing radius turn around, slalom and finish.
Whew - first run done. I'm pretty stunned that it was that good. So next time I push more. Then he drives and monsters the slalom...he's making a left turn as he's on the right hand cone...watching what the pros do is hard when you're trying to just remain in the seat. He's essentially driving out of phase with the corners (he was impressed that I caught this detail...I didn't want to tell him that I'm a nerd...though driving a Volvo is a dead giveaway). So after he goes twice, I go again. Making improvements - getting faster. Got a round of applause as I moved off the course from the GTR owner...that felt good.
Time - 10 seconds faster on essentially the same course and conditions as last time. Holly crap - that's better on a 50 second course. I was initially 5 to 7 seconds better than my previous best of just under 58 seconds (which was much slower than the rest of the field).
This continues for the next instructor - little tips. I'm told that my inputs are smooth and progressive and that I've got good car control. Still lots to learn, but we're really working on details rather than having them yelling at me to put my foot to the floor. Then all heck brakes loose. We have changed the track configuration to be faster and we get a third gear shift. New instructor at the wheel...one of the really experienced champion SCCA guys (there are two of these). He's flat out and the car starts to misfire. WTF that's random. He's thinking it's fuel starvation and we're pedalling it to the finish (still he puts in a 49 second effort).
After my runs, it's off to the pits.
I think it could be too much boost or something (compressor surge...what is that again?), what would spark blow out feel like? Weird. So I have a look and everything looks normal, nothing on any gauge (though it's not like you can look at a boost gauge when driving). I remove the manual boost controller...should have waited for things to cool off, but I'm a bit out of sorts. No one comes to look or help or anything. I can over hear the fat guy in the Honda making remarks about my classification in SM...hey douche, I can: A. Hear you. B. Your Civic should be crushed. C. That's what happens when you build outside of the rule book and I don't care if I'm last every time.
So MBC is removed when I notice this.
That line connects to nothing and is normally capped. Where did the cap go? Could this be my issue? Who knows, but I grab some tape to tape it shut and then find the cap sitting by one of the injectors. Sort of wedged in place. How lucky is that. Replace it, and tape it. That does seem to solve the problem, though I'm down at 7 PSI (totally doesn't matter).
Last runs go well, back to lower speeds, but still no issues. Then the heaven's open up and we get drenched - thunder, lighting. I've got 3 runs left and we're all keen to get them in without instructors. Last lap was my best wet lap at 53.79 which was 7 seconds faster than Civic-boy...fastest guys, like heavily modded S4 Audi and Cayman are only hitting 49 seconds. That felt great. School main instructor Tim, came over after that session (when they called the even due to lightning strikes) and shook my hand and gave me a high five. He's so enthusiastic - many complements on the car and driving. That was money well spent...and it was a lot of money.