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The yellow car is a 1995 VW Golf, powered by a 2 liter OHC engine. This driver is THE man to beat in ITB hereabouts. He has won the SCCA Midwest Division Mid-Am ITB championship 14 years in a row, the last 5 or so in that very car. This year, I have turned faster laps than he at both Omaha and Topeka tracks, but have yet to actually beat him in a race, due to mechanical problems. First race at Omaha, a (professionally rebuilt) distributor crapped out. Grrrr! Second race at Omaha, I was body-slammed by an out-of-control Miata, which shook loose the 12v supply wire to the FI main relay (admittedly with a suspect connector). Double Grrrr! Then at Topeka, the alternator bolt snapped during the Saturday race. But not to worry, we'll get him before the year is out! Incidentally, that Golf was put on the trailer after the race you saw on YouTube... the rear main seal went out and oiled down the clutch, it was slipping badly on the last lap. So with him on the trailer, I won both races on Sunday, beating the only two other cars in ITB that day... another Golf (1987), and a Honda Civic, the details of which escape me.
On the shift light, I currently have it set at 6800, but as you saw, there is one place on the Topeka track that I leave it in 3rd gear well beyond that. After all 3 Topeka races I had about 7100 on the tell-tale.
The alternator belt was still hanging on, but without the pivot bolt in place, the alternator was naturally trying to twist around towards the radiator, taking most of the tension out of the belt. If you watch closely, when the problem starts (a lap or so before I mention it in the video), you can tell that in right hand turns the belt slips more than in left hand turns. But eventually, it was hot enough to lose some water, and it really didn't matter whether the belt was slipping or not... it was simply too hot to continue.
I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to make the Volvo meet at Lindsborg. We're obligated to do a weekend "thing" with the local saddle club. So instead of pulling the Volvo around that weekend, I'll be pulling a 2-horse slant load with the wife's toys therein. :)
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Gary L - 142E ITB race car, 73 1800ES
BlueBrick Racing Website
YouTube Racing Videos
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