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To Da Front with Mitch - 8/28/17

     Once again we've been slacking on the updates, it's been a crazy 2nd half of the season and unfortunately we have minimal good news to report.  Since our last update, we ran 2 events at Waterford as a Mini Stock, one with the 4cyl Enduro, a tour race in Massachusetts, an 8cyl Enduro at Riverhead, and finally a Thompson Mini Stock race.

     Our 2 events at Waterford were solely done out of boredom and curiosity.  We had the reliable but slow single cam motor in the car, and decided to run for fun.  Support our home track, get a little excitement, put on a bit of a show, even a little experimentation with the Saturn single cam motor.  The fastest we could get both times out was 18.2 second laps.  For those keeping score at home, that might get us a win as an X-Car.  Unfortunately it'll be pretty hard to go faster than that, seeing as we had the pedal to the floor all around the 3/8ths mile oval (maybe just a touch of brakes on entry but didn't lift).  We finished 15th and 11th each time out in July.

Passing Bird Photography

     In between those 2 events, we blew off some steam in the 4cyl Enduro as a part of their Wild 'n Wacky Wednesday program.  No we weren't frustrated, we literally blew off some steam.  With the help of Andover Auto Parts getting us what we needed to put the PT Cruiser back together, we made it nearly the entire 50 laps.  With a front row starting spot, and shifting issues from the Unity Raceway event in March rearing its ugly head again, we were off to a bad start and was immediately punted into the turn 2 wall.  But it's not all bad news!  It was a pretty impressive save and the shifting issue seemed to have disappeared after that mishap.  We went on to avoid all the carnage, with only one stoppage for safety purposes, to cross the line 5th.  We only made it 49 laps as the eventual winner lapped us in the closing stages.  Around halfway we noticed it getting a little hot inside the car.  Keeping an eye on the temperature gauge, it was pegged with the lights shining bright.  Then suddenly it wasn't so hot in there, as the sweat was building on the driver.  Well come to find out our new radiator held up to the demands of racing, however the 100+ thousand mile hose from the radiator to the block did not.  After the checkered we parked the car next to the trailer to steam pouring out of the hole in the hood.  After then it would not start.  Pooduro-IV, and whatever is left of its muddy coating from February, is now a member of the junkyard in the sky. RIP.

     We were pretty excited to be able to race semi-local under the jurisdiction of someone who respects his drivers.  Little did we know, we would be a fierce contender during a tour event.  The North East Mini Stock Tour invaded Massachusetts for a 50 lap event,  and we were equipped with a questionable Twin Cam motor (for good reason).  We picked up a motor that had various visible issues, and without investing too much money we addressed them.  These included a front crank seal, thermostat, water pump, oil pan, tensioner, it goes on.  After the track refused to mount our new tire, and some creativity with tire placement, we were at a very respectable position on the speed charts in practice.  But the car was overheating.  Bad head gasket ended up being the case.  We ran the race hoodless and it seemed to keep the temps down,  in the heat we were fairly dicey with our competitors for once and it really got us excited for the feature.  That picture up there? That's battling for position and not getting freight trained.  Come the feature, we were running about 6th at halfway, when all of a sudden the car was slowing down and we were losing track position heavily.  The yellow flew for someone in Turn 1, our our motor grenaded on the back straight.  Eventually the fire crew drove down the hill to tend to the fire, luckily it was only a small lingering one.  So again, we blew up in a Tour race with Thompson a few days away.  We officially finished 16th.

   Back to Thompson with the Single Cam again, and we got creamed.  Fairly embarassing showing.  We avoided trouble on the track and finished 10th however.  But before those last 2 events we drove down to Long Island, bought what will now be Pooduro-V, and raced it that same evening.  We competed at Riverhead Raceway for their Gut&Go 8 Cylinder Enduro and crossed the line after 40 laps in 11th.  Unofficially, in our humble opinion, and by looking at lap times, we were the first TRUE Gut&Go car, as the top 11 seemed to be what we at home call Super X's.  Or old school Grand Enduro cars.  Regardless, it was alot of fun, and all we need to do now is change the water pump and she'll be ready for more action.

Up Next: Another busy span of events.  We hope to do the NEMST event at Waterford 9/2.  Sunday at Noon there will be a meet and greet at the Woodstock Fair.  After that we will try to make it to Waterford for the Enduros.  Then on 9/9 we will attempt the Enduros at Riverhead, and the next day on the 10th is Thompson's for the fans event.

 

Waterford 7/15 Video: Click Here

Waterford 7/22 Video: Click Here

Riverhead 7/29 Video: Click Here

NEMST 8/5 Video: Click Here

**Andover Used Auto Parts, Biggins’ Auto Repair, So Sorry, Lucky Strike Lanes, Thirty Marketing. **

Mitch Bombard, driver of the #10CT Enduro, NEMST Car, Mini Stock,  is the writer of the weekly recaps, and expresses the views of his own from his viewpoint behind the wheel, and after watching video (if available).

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