C4 at Sebring HSR event - pics & story

[racelance]

The weather has been beautiful down here in Florida for the HSR Sebring event. I decided to take advantage of the test day on Thursday to help refresh me with the course. The car handled incredibly well, power felt good and of course the driver (me) needed a little more work
Friday morning we had two more test sessions and the car felt really good, even the driver improved a bit. Next up was the qualifying and we were ready to roll. I went out for 3 laps and didn't get a clean lap, however a full course black flag came out due to a competitor going into the wall. Once in the pits we went right back out, the car felt great up to this point...

Unfortunately when I drove back onto the track the car had a minor vibration. It felt like flat spotted tires, which was strange because I didn't have any lock-ups or do anything to cause this. So I decided to take it easy and play with the throttle a bit... next thing I know the vibration started to get much worse, I decided to really milk it and just get the car back to the pits. Unfortunately I only made it half a lap before the car really started to vibrate harshly and seized up. The car was pouring out oil and smoke filled the cockpit of the car. It was obvious at this point that the motor seized up / blew.

Ironically enough, the car felt great minutes before it went. Below are a couple of photographs from the weekend, notice the hole in the oil pan - I have a few pieces of iron that I picked up after we moved the car. It could have been a better weekend if the cars motor survived but I'd rather the car break than the car break me.

I used the downtime as an opportunity to really clean and wax the car. Now it's time to get the new motor and get it back onto the track in a couple of weeks for the SVRA races. I'm hoping we can pull it off - wish us luck!

The car is a 1990 Tommy Morrison R9G World Challenge Corvette. Enjoy some of the pics we took below:

Life is good,

Lance

 

[So Bay Vetter]

Wow! That hole looks disturbingly familiar. I’ll bet you tossed a connecting rod! Here’s what I did with mine . . . I keep it on my bookshelf.

View attachment 22080

 

[racelance]

Bummer - I'll let you know soon enough. The new engine is going in early next week.

Cheers,

Lance

 

[So Bay Vetter]

Well, look on the bright side; If it didn't go thru the piston then your top end is intact. You might get away with a short block and have a good back up motor. I'm unfamiliar with the your regulations, is the car a full tube chasis or a cage on the factory frame?

 

[So Bay Vetter]

OOOPS! Stupid question; I can see the frame in your pictures. Sorry, when my hair went it took some of my brain cells along with it:bash

 

[racelance]

OOOPS! Stupid question; I can see the frame in your pictures. Sorry, when my hair went it took some of my brain cells along with it:bash

LOL - I guess I have the same issue...

 

[racelance]

UPDATE: Here's the latest...

We got the new engine in the car just in time for the practice session. I went out and took it easy for two laps as the cockpit filled up with smoke and watched out my rear view mirror as smoke hazed out the rear of my car. No big deal I kept telling myself... knowing the oil & lubricants were burning off as I gently took the car around the track. On the third lap I decided to take it a little bit harder and the smoke went away for the most part. Unfortunately once the car was shifted to 5th gear on the longer straights the car had a slight vibration. I decided to push it a little harder on the next lap to see where the vibration was coming from - more in the steering wheel than my seat of the pants. It vibrated much worse when I pushed it a bit harder so I decided to bring the car in and call it a day. We pulled the wheels & tires off and replaced 'em with new ones. We took the drive shaft out and turned it 180 degrees and bolted it back up.

I found out that our practice session was a practice/qualifying session - so needless to say I was a little bummed because I was breaking the car in & didn't realized it was a timed session, oh well!?! Lesson learned; always check the schedule of events closely before going out. Needless to say I didn't qualify well at all - well, last place! LOL... Way to represent right?! Thursday came along and we had our one hour endurance race, of course I didn't know if my car was going to vibrate or not so it was kind of nice to start off at the back of the pack.

There were 72 cars that started the 1 hour race (with a mandatory 3 minute pit stop), yours truly was at the back of the pack. The green came out and I powered past a few cars and played it cautious due to the lack of confidence that the car was completely fixed. I got around to turn 17 and was going full tilt in 5th gear and NO VIBRATION - needless to say I was thrilled! Long story short I ended up locking in 18th position overall and 1st in class. All in all it was a great race and the car felt exceptional. The new engine didn't have near the RPM's as my old one but it was certainly crisp!

Friday came along and we have a 1/2 sprint race and the car didn't miss a beat once again. I ended up in 12th overall and 1st in class again. All in all we had a tough time at the last race as you can read above, but this one brought big smiles to the entire crew (including yours truly).

Life is good,

Lance

PS Nice to meet a lot of C4 fans out at the track, thanks for stopping by!

 

[So Bay Vetter]

Glad to hear it all held together! So - was the vibration in the drive shaft or the wheels? I've never heard of flipping the drive shaft; how does that arrest the vibration?

 

[racelance]

Glad to hear it all held together! So - was the vibration in the drive shaft or the wheels? I've never heard of flipping the drive shaft; how does that arrest the vibration?

I believe it was in the drive shaft, sometimes if they are off slightly when you put them back in (perhaps you put it in 180 degrees different) it could cause a slight vibration - sure enough it worked like a charm!

Cheers,

Lance