Chapter 29: Hoosier Blues

Weight. Specifically, less weight. One thing I often talk about with this car is saving weight, but lately I haven't done anything to reduce weight. In fact, the new engine probably added some weight to the front of the car. One big realization is that glass is heavy, especially automotive glass. I've been eyeing a lexan rear hatch for a while, but they are expensive, around $450 new plus shipping. While lexan is fairly cheap, I doubt my ability to make a good hatch, and getting the factory hinge off of the glass without breaking it is nearly impossible. Luckily for me, one day on Corvette Forum a lexan hatch popped for sale in Dallas. It was new in box, but the guy had owned it for a while and never installed it. The best part was the price was a mere $250, and it came with a hinge. I made a road trip to DFW and picked up. Due to school, however, I hadn't gotten a chance to install it yet. With the end of school, I spent an afternoon with a drill, hinge, latch, and got it on the car. While everything was apart, I weighed the factory glass as well as the lexan replacement. The weight savings is an impressive 29 pounds. While this is off the rear of the car, not the front (the car is already front heavy), weight savings is still weight savings, and as the car gets lighter, finding weight to save is getting more difficult. I ended up using all factory hardware to attach it, and the results are pretty impressive. The hatch fits perfect, and its very hard to tell that it's not factory. The plastic is a little flimsy, but so far the factory latch has held it down just fine. The best part about this hatch is that I can actually see through it. My factory glass has at least 2 layers of tint, and everything I see behind me is blurry and dark. It is a nice change of pace to be able to recognize what cars I just passed. :)

With my newly installed hatch, it was back to the track. As usual, it was another MSC event at Texas World Speedway. I used a driving credit I had saved up and showed up Sunday morning ready to drive. Since the event last month, I had fixed the power steering hose (under warranty), and I had changed the PCV/vent setup back to the factory configuration. I can't remember exactly why I changed it, but it was definitely worth a try to see if it would keep the oil where it needed to be and NOT blowing around the engine compartment.

The day doesn't start to well. I go out for the first session and the warm up lap goes well. Car is running good and I'm ready to go fast. Half way through the first hot lap the car begins smoking heavily. Ugh. I pull into the pits and discover there is power steering fluid all over the entire engine compartment. I do some checking and the pressure line is loose where it goes into the power steering pump. I tighten it up and refill the system. I go out for the second session, complete the warm up lap, and exactly 1.5 hot laps, then I lose the power steering. I also notice that the volt meter is reading low. Blah! The belt came off. Being prepared, I brought a spare with me. I swap that out and then it's time for lunch.

Heading into turn 3 with a nice trail of smoke behind me, taken by Zack Driver

When the third session comes around, I'm really ready to go fast. I complete the warm up lap, and several hot laps. 5 laps, 6 laps, 7 laps. The car is working well, the engine is making power, the coolant and oil temps are amazing: 195 and 235 respectively. I'm a bit rusty, but I'm starting to remember and I'm working through traffic.

Heading up the hill out of ten to nine, taken by Zack Driver

Middle of ten, taken by Zack Driver

On lap 8, I notice a vibration that varies with speed. It isn't too bad, so I decide to give it a bit of time to see if it is just rubber that has stuck to the tires. Going down the front straight a few corners later and the left rear tire comes apart.

315 Hoosier with a tread seperation

I manage to keep it straight and slow it down on the straight. After the session ends, I limp into the pits slowly to find this:

C4 bumper after an encounter with a Hoosier

In the grand scheme of body damage from tires, this is nothing, but it certainly doesn't help things. With no spare Hoosiers on hand and a bumper that won't hold together, my day is done. Another day at the track wasted sorting out problems. I'm really starting to get fed up with spending more time in the garage than on the track, but there really isn't anyone to blame but myself. The good news is the engine seems to be holding together well, even if some of the accessories are being difficult. With switch back to the factory breather setup was a sucess: there was no oil blowing around the engine compartment, and the corner workers reported no smoke from the tail pipes when the car was actually on track. The lexan hatch did great. Despite the flimsy construction and factory latches, there was no deflection at high speeds.

It pains me that I'm going to have to do some body work before I can get back to the track, but there is no way it can be driven hard as it sits. It is unclear if I'm going to attempt to repair the bumper or try to find a replacement.

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