The whipsawing of the last year continued at Mission, though (in retrospect) it was less severe.
The bad…
I dropped a valve when half the collet/valve keeper came loose. Fortunately the keeper got smushed back into place and nothing was damaged. With the help of Steve Poy, Greg McKinley, Geoff Tupholme, and Rich’s spare head, it was pieced back together without pulling the head. The Sprite-Midget team at its best again.
I looped the car with a big lead, more on this later.
I had my first ever car-to-car contact, though I didn’t know it at the time.
The car started running poorly during the SMC so I came off after less than a lap.
Sunday morning started with the water pump gasket giving up, thankfully in the paddock.
Bleh. Okay, that’s out of the way. Here’s the narrative.
The drive up to Mission is pleasant and fast, at least absent freeway traffic. Having not raced there since 2024 I added the Friday lapping day to get reacquainted with the track and sort out the different shift and brake points running a 4.22 vs. the 4.55 I ran in 2024, and checking out lots of new pavement on the track. Because we drove up Friday morning I missed the first session, but with five during the day, I was there for four and went out for three, skipping the last as I felt comfortable with integrating the changes. The organizers, Speedygoat, did a nice job with the sessions, allowing the closed wheel race cars more latitude for passing and nice 15 minute runs.
The other advantage of running the test day was getting to load into the paddock before the 5:00 PM entry the weekend-only entrants got. At 5:00 the empty end of the paddock for Sprites and Midgets started to fill and I felt happy to see all my buddies rolling in…nine Spridgets in total and a couple MGBs made up our end of the paddock.
Benefiting from the Friday practice, I ripped off one great qualifying lap Saturday morning, and reviewing all the other driver lap times, it was the fastest Spridget lap of the weekend: 1:18.402. Race 1 I got out of a big lead but opted to keep pushing and looking for time in Mission’s nine corners and four miserly straights that all end with hairpin or technical turns. Exiting the last straight into turn 7a, the rear end got loose, I just about caught it, then bumped a curb and I tank-slapped, then went around. The car wouldn’t re-fire, so I waited out the race and got flat-towed in. My initial review of the the video didn’t reveal any obvious error…I’ll be digging in more. I did have the overall fastest lap of the session, a 1:19.208, a second purple lap.
Race 2 I was dialed back a bit, but still running good times when something suddenly was off with the motor between turns 2 and 3. I nursed the car back to the paddock where we found the collet/keeper issue. I missed race 3 as we worked to get it repaired for the Sprite-Midget Challenge race at the end of the day.
For the first time this year, all the Spridgets entered for the weekend started the SMC race. With blazing-fast Formula Ford driver Cody Paris running for me in the Le Mans-style start, I got off well but the car popped out of 1st. I recovered from that, but then in a group of cars going around 2 it popped out of 2nd. I instinctively looked in the mirror as I put it back in gear and noted Rod close behind, but didn’t feel any impact. Half a lap later the car started running poorly, like it was flooded, and I exited the race before completing a lap. It wasn’t until I asked Rod why he came in that I found out we’d touched. So sorry, Rod! The rough-running issue, which can be heard in the video, didn’t recur, nor did the car pop out of gear again…Spridget mysteries.
After the race is SMC awards, and then a great meal (and I mean GREAT) hosted by SCCBC/BCHMR. They really put out a wonderful spread of food with some nifty awards at the end.
The damage to my car amounts to a few scratches in the paint. Rod’s fiberglass front end is broken and so we spend several hours that evening stitching it back together, just like 2022 in Portland.
I’m wiped out by the time we get to the hotel at 10:00 PM and unintentionally fall asleep where I laid down on the bed, fully clothed. I wake up about 3:00 AM, still wearing my shoes, and crawl under the covers (minus the shoes).
I miss the Sunday morning warm-up fixing the water pump gasket. We are all having this issue because the newer water pumps don’t have a machined gasket flange; it’s a rounded bead that cuts the gasket when the bolts are tightened. I feel really frustrated about the shoddy quality of many “new” parts we get.
Race 4, shortly before lunch, becomes my warmup, at least the first part, as I work through my frustration and grumpiness over the gasket, valve keeper, and race 1 error. Toward the end I pick it up and manage a few respectable, but still dialed back, laps in the 1:20s, including a fastest overall of 1:20.272; purple lap three of the weekend. Geoff Tupholme takes the win with a balky clutch and Mark Hansen is P2 to my P3: A Spridget sweep!
Race 5, the last of the weekend, I get back into form with a purple 1:19.993 and a string of 1:20s, still dialed back a bit from Saturday morning. With a lead of a few seconds over Mark, I ease back a bit on the last couple laps and end an up-and-down weekend with a P1 and fastest overall lap. Rich comes in 3rd for another Spridget sweep.
With the new shelves in the trailer, load-up is easier and is mostly done before the big all-comers closed-wheel race at the end of the day. I opt out, excited to drive a functioning car onto the trailer at the end of a weekend for the first time this year, but Rich goes out and we all crowd into the grandstands to cheer for him.
The drive home is easy except for a bit of a wait at the border crossing and then some inexplicably bad traffic in Marysville.
Though the air temps didn’t get higher the mid-80s, it was hot and tiring in the paddock and on track. I conked out quickly again as soon as I crawled into bed.
While the mechanical problems continued, they were more minor and we got them squared away at the track. The driver error with the spin in Race 1 is a bummer, but I didn’t repeat it, came home with a running car, four purple laps in six sessions run, a P3, a P1, and lots of fun.
Videos!
Speedygoat Friday Closed Wheel Session 2 (my first of the day). I didn’t record the other two Friday sessions I ran.
Saturday morning qualifying.
Saturday, Race 1
More coming soon…check back!