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Man... I decided to withdraw from the VIR 13 hour race... Booooo
Posted by
davecarama
,
10-25-2011
·
1,590 views
Well. We were chasing a gremlin for about a week and a half. Motor started smoking all of a sudden (smoking bad actually). Was absolutely burning oil. The things that changed? I put synthetic oil in, installed a header... but really, that is about it.
Did a leak down check
Scoped the cylinders and all had oil and carbon build-up.
We tried replacing the PCV and we replaced the synthetic oil with dino oil. No luck.
The original thought was "run the damn thing". We could just keep adding oil as we need! But at another look, we were worried that much smoke would raise a corner worker and/or steward's eye and that we might be black flagged.
I attempted to find a used motor, and DID find a low miles motor for the right price. I was ready and willing to swap this old tired motor out, but one of my drivers decided that was too much of a risk to go to an unknown motor and he decided to withdraw from the team.
The last driver and I had a talk, and decided it would be easier, and less expensive to not track down a third driver, and to withdraw from the race.
Needless to say, I am more than disappointed. The VIR 13 hour race has been on my "wish list" for about 10 years now. To come 4 days from the event and have to abort mission. Well, lets just say I am as bummed as they come.
There is always next year I guess.
Did a leak down check
Cyl 1 - 5% - good
Cyl 2 - 11% - not great but not a show stopper. Diagnosed as exhaust valve.
Cyl 3 - 5% - good
Cyl 4 - 11% - not great but not a show stopper. Diagnosed as rings.
Scoped the cylinders and all had oil and carbon build-up.
We tried replacing the PCV and we replaced the synthetic oil with dino oil. No luck.
The original thought was "run the damn thing". We could just keep adding oil as we need! But at another look, we were worried that much smoke would raise a corner worker and/or steward's eye and that we might be black flagged.
I attempted to find a used motor, and DID find a low miles motor for the right price. I was ready and willing to swap this old tired motor out, but one of my drivers decided that was too much of a risk to go to an unknown motor and he decided to withdraw from the team.
The last driver and I had a talk, and decided it would be easier, and less expensive to not track down a third driver, and to withdraw from the race.
Needless to say, I am more than disappointed. The VIR 13 hour race has been on my "wish list" for about 10 years now. To come 4 days from the event and have to abort mission. Well, lets just say I am as bummed as they come.
There is always next year I guess.
