07-06-2010, 07:34 AM
Great write-up Darren! The free beer and last minute fuel was extremely appreciated.
Tiger's Wood PGA Racing had a truly amazing weekend with a win for LEAST HORRIBLE YANK TANK!
Friday we put some old tires on and squealed around the track for more than four hours of practice. Fortunately, at the end of the day third gear scattered and we were forced into changing out the tranny with no time for testing the backup. I say fortunately only because we had the opportunity to change it before the race began.
Saturday morning was highly anticipated as 86 cars on Shenandoah was sure to be compared to a pinball machine. Our dirt track, Mustang driving ace, Matt started the race because no one else was willing to get in the car. We're not real sure which position we started in, but at one hour in Matt had P15 and was continuing to move. By the end of Matt's 2 hour stint he had managed P5 on the lead lap and it would be up to the rest of us to live up to his standard.
We had considered pit stops as an important part of the race, but we didn't realize we might be competitive. Stops took an average of about 10 minutes each. We had 6 driver changes Saturday and 3 Sunday. As Darren stated above a four stint day would gain significant advantage. It was much to hot and we weren't prepared for anything longer that two hours of torture. Not to mention the fact that very few cars were bouncing off one another.
Saturday ended in P4 or 5, I can't really remember, but we were 7 laps down. For us, this was a tremendous accomplishment and we celebrated by dropping our backup tranny to figure out why it felt like the drive shaft might fly out at any moment. Thank goodness for extra parts. The expert crew, read not me, replaced the drive shaft and swapped tranny parts from Friday's mess and Saturday's beat down to get the Cougar back in top shape. On jack stands of course. Another untested morning around the corner.
Did I mention thanks for the free beer!
Sunday noon came a bit to quick and we were fortunate to be one of the few cars lined up on the starting grid. Matt took the first stint again and proceeded to pass all of the front running cars and make up an entire lap. The Cougar continued to shake, rattle and roll without complaining one iota. We had avoided black flags and realized that quick pit stops were essential to staying in the top 5. Based on car problems, the Flying Spaghetti Monster team had an empty space beside them, so we weaseled our way down front. And begged for gas. The pumps had stopped again.
Our 7 minute stops combined with other teams black flags and car problems helped us move into P3, 11 laps down for the finish. Sgt Shultz Mercedes S-Class was in our class, so first in class was bestowed upon us when they took the win.
Thanks again to RTR for all the support!
Tiger's Wood PGA Racing
Craig
Jerry
Graham
Matt
Chuckie
Tiger's Wood PGA Racing had a truly amazing weekend with a win for LEAST HORRIBLE YANK TANK!
Friday we put some old tires on and squealed around the track for more than four hours of practice. Fortunately, at the end of the day third gear scattered and we were forced into changing out the tranny with no time for testing the backup. I say fortunately only because we had the opportunity to change it before the race began.
Saturday morning was highly anticipated as 86 cars on Shenandoah was sure to be compared to a pinball machine. Our dirt track, Mustang driving ace, Matt started the race because no one else was willing to get in the car. We're not real sure which position we started in, but at one hour in Matt had P15 and was continuing to move. By the end of Matt's 2 hour stint he had managed P5 on the lead lap and it would be up to the rest of us to live up to his standard.
We had considered pit stops as an important part of the race, but we didn't realize we might be competitive. Stops took an average of about 10 minutes each. We had 6 driver changes Saturday and 3 Sunday. As Darren stated above a four stint day would gain significant advantage. It was much to hot and we weren't prepared for anything longer that two hours of torture. Not to mention the fact that very few cars were bouncing off one another.
Saturday ended in P4 or 5, I can't really remember, but we were 7 laps down. For us, this was a tremendous accomplishment and we celebrated by dropping our backup tranny to figure out why it felt like the drive shaft might fly out at any moment. Thank goodness for extra parts. The expert crew, read not me, replaced the drive shaft and swapped tranny parts from Friday's mess and Saturday's beat down to get the Cougar back in top shape. On jack stands of course. Another untested morning around the corner.
Did I mention thanks for the free beer!
Sunday noon came a bit to quick and we were fortunate to be one of the few cars lined up on the starting grid. Matt took the first stint again and proceeded to pass all of the front running cars and make up an entire lap. The Cougar continued to shake, rattle and roll without complaining one iota. We had avoided black flags and realized that quick pit stops were essential to staying in the top 5. Based on car problems, the Flying Spaghetti Monster team had an empty space beside them, so we weaseled our way down front. And begged for gas. The pumps had stopped again.
Our 7 minute stops combined with other teams black flags and car problems helped us move into P3, 11 laps down for the finish. Sgt Shultz Mercedes S-Class was in our class, so first in class was bestowed upon us when they took the win.
Thanks again to RTR for all the support!
Tiger's Wood PGA Racing
Craig
Jerry
Graham
Matt
Chuckie