Not much to report so I'll keep it brief to alleviate the boredom. 3 of us hardy souls turned up to race, only 2 remained. Gerard, Ezio and yours truly fronted up to play. Me and Ezio raced and Gerard got the bye. I ran a 13.76 which off the trailer I was happy with. Ezio ran his usual 15.80. Unfortunately Gerard's engine internals decided to check out life on the outside of the sump which resulted in a long delay for clean up and a long face for Gerard. Big ends poking out of both sides of the sump can do that to you. The upshot of that was with only 2 of us left we would be getting equal points for the day and not able to run a final. Because we run a Chicago shoot out format and not eliminations like all the other brackets, we get at least 6 runs. To be able to run a final meant we get another run for our money and more importantly, our fun. After some sensible discussions with officials we were told we could run a final but still get equal points. Fine by us, we just want to race. In the Shoot outs I did a redlight on the first, broke out on the second (13.633 on a 13.65 dial whilst on the brakes) and finally got Ezio to breakout (15.793 on a 15.80 dial) in the last Shoot out. The final that wasn't a final ended with me taking the win with Ezio getting stuck in 2nd gear. The funny part was me noticing his problem so did a lazy change into top gear, hardly any throttle and still running 13.68 on a 13.60 dial. Ezio ran 20. something and I nearly broke out. Last round in five weeks so hopefully Gerard has a repaired engine by then. (He might be still covered by warranty after buying it off Nigel. )
Your reports and videos are never boring, spanners. Thanks for posting to this otherwise all too quiet forum.
Thanks for the nice comments and for watching. My apologies for not having footage from the 'stands as the crew chief has been helping a fellow competitor's wife who has mobility issues.
Gerard's wife contacted me about warranty on the engine. I told her it had full warranty, just take it to your local Ford dealer and I'm sure they will look after it for you. So sad to see the old girl throw her rods out like that. I sure do hope he gets her fixed soon. Maybe a good set of Scat "H" beams will stop it happening again.
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