First time I drove a FV...

[BLS]

I was 18 or 19 I think. SCCA rules at the time required age of 21 for club racing. My friend Paul who I had been "helping" at the races with his FV had a high speed miss at VIR a couple weeks earlier. My next door neighbor and Paul's mechanic, Herb, reworked the carb, but how to check? It ran fine until at high speed and under a load. We did not have a dyno nor did Paul use a pro engine builder just yet. In northwest South Carolina, the state was building a new highway along the base of and through the SC mountains. There was a nice section that had been completed but not opened. Perfect test track for a FV! About 45 minutes from our home, off we went early Saturday morning. Unloaded the car on the side of the road at the barricades of the new section and off Paul went. The car was declared fixed. Then, Herb and Paul insisted I give it a try. They really had to twist my arm...

I've never forgotten the sheer thrill of driving the Zink down Highway 11.

It has been a long couple years since I bought the used Citation. Today, I drove it down our street. Unbelievable. I feel like a 19 year old again.

I don't know if I can drive this thing competitively, but I really look forward to giving it a try.

Thanks to everyone that has patiently answered my questions and given advice.

[Dietmar]

Barry:

It's just like riding a bike !

Have fun at the first outing

Dietmar

[BLS]

Dietmar,
Thanks for all your help. Hope you're right. I can still ride a bike

[FV80]

Barry,
I know you've been looking forward to this for quite some time. I hope nothing gets in your way and you have VERY SUCCESSFUL AND ENJOYABLE WEEKEND
Steve, FV80

[BLS]

Thanks Steve. Seems like a long time to just take a car apart and put it back together. A few changes and rework along the way. I am actually fairly comfortable sitting in the car now, although another couple inches would be a big improvement. Just an incentive for a new car someday...

Looks like the weather may be interesting this weekend, but I am going.

[BLS]

We need some evidence:

New rustoleum paint from the back:
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It's a tight fit:
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[WilkmanRacing]

Beautiful car, Barry. I predict tons of fun!

Bill Wilkman

[BLS]

Thanks Bill.

Looks like the weather may be interesting this weekend, but I am going.

Just got back from Summit Point. 1:30am. 6 hour drive. weather. Did I say "may be interesting"? Sat morning instructor ride arounds in the dry. Line up for first in car session, rain starts to fall. The rain continues throughout the day, every session wetter than before. Could it get worse? Sunday morning, it's a bit difficult to see through the ice (sleeting) building up on the visor. Sleet stings at somewhere near 100mph. Next session an improvement, nice big snowflakes. Then more rain and COLD. Yes it was an interesting way to start. I have no idea how to drive in the dry Not one lap.

Anyway, I had a great time. I did OK under the circumstances. My car was not setup properly at all for the wet and there was zero time to make any changes. It was a real twitchy drive in the wet requiring a lot of concentration. However, the car performed well, only issue is a slipping clutch. Since I backed off the adjustment and had plenty of free play before engagement, either the pressure plate is weak or there is bit of oil leaking past the seal.

WDC region did a magnificent job. The entire weekend was run like clockwork in spite of the unusual weather. I had a great instructor. There were something in the neighborhood of 150 volunteers. I cannot thank them enough, especially the corner workers that worked the event through all the lovely weather.

[rphillips]

Hi Barry,

I was one of the instructors and trust me when I say that you and the other students did a fantastic job in REALLY, REALLY awful conditions. I have personally never seen it snow like that at Summit Point during a driver's school. Your instructor, Dan Voss, and I were watching at T1 when it was snowing and just about every driver's visor was fogged up. I don't know how you guys were seeing where you were going!!

Ray Phillips

[BLS]

Hello Ray,

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm sorry I did not get a chance to meet you, and if I did and just did not recognize the name I'm doubly sorry. While waiting in line for registration, Dan walked up and introduced himself. I recognized the name even though we had never met (internet thingy) as I would any number of FV people. I was doubly lucky as Dan put on his scrutineer hat and teched my car right there in line, saving me some time

The weather was lovely but the WDC did a great job in spite of it.

After my first drive around the track with Dan, I was ready to go back home and get my Suburban to race Dan did a great job and I felt lucky to have a FV driver as an instructor.

Regards,
Barry

[tiagosantos]

Congrats on finally taking it out! I really am happy for you and I can't wait to see (virtually, at least) your reaction when you finally get a chance to drive it in the dry as well

[BLS]

Just some notes on the drivers school.

I was looking forward to some track time both to shake down the driver and the car. In reality, the driver did OK and the car setup was probably pretty bad for my first try. Due to the wet track the entire time I really had no idea what to adjust, nor did I have time to do it. My "pit crew" was my son Lee, who did an outstanding job for his first experience at this. But he has no knowledge of the FV. If I were to do this again I would take the advice that many of you gave me and try to rent a car with a qualified crew for help. They would know how to set the car up for the conditions and have time to find any issues while I was in class.

The car was a mess as a result of the last lap spin into the gravel trap in turn 3. After an initial hose down I began taking off the bodywork. First off, the nose. Oops, what's that? Parts. Specifically, the right hand spring adjuster. The bolt broke off so I had a loose spring on that side. The broken bolt is broken in such a way it could only be the result of a cheap defective bolt. When did it break? I suspect early on and it probably had something to do with my ill handling car. I'm sure my setup was way less than the best for wet, probably not good for the dry. I'm guessing the toe settings were not correct for wet/new driver conditions, tire pressure wrong for the cold, rear droop and initial camber off, and probably way too stiff in the front. Maybe in the dry I *might* have realized something was off, but in the wet I just assumed it was all my lack of skill. I'm sure my skill level had a lot to do with it...

The school itself is fantastic. I don't know if all SCCA schools are conducted the same way, but I found this to be much more than just laps around the track. My personal instructor, Dan Voss, gave me much critique as he worked his way around the course to observe. Not to mention piloting his Suburban around the track like a race car The rest of the crew from the chief instructor on down seemed to really know what was going on with individual students. We were encouraged to push hard. After that first wet session in our group the question was asked "who spun?". 12 of 13 hands were raised. Instead of the spinners being chastised for a lack of skill, the lone holdout was advised they might not be pushing hard enough... Safety was emphasized. Driving the right line was emphasized. Discussion of any incidents occurred (we had no contact through both days). All in all, a thorough weekend of instruction.

Last but not least: I could not have done this without the help of my son Lee. He put the gas in, adjusted the air pressure, checked the oil, changed the tires, helped the old man in and out of the car, sat on the grid in case any help was needed, kept encouraging the same old man, and he did all this in the same cold wet miserable conditions the rest of us endured. It was his first time and he performed way beyond any expectation I might have had. Thanks Son!!! On to a race weekend.

A couple of pictures. One of the pretty car and the other showing the broken spring adjuster.

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[BLS]

Thanks Tiago, you must have snuck in while I was typing.

Dry would be good...

[BLS]

An update:

It seems work sometimes gets in the way of my FV career. I had hoped to go to VIR last weekend but could not finish with the latest modifications in time. There is a race in Atlanta this weekend but could not make it either. Next weekend there is a double at Carolina Motorsports Park and I plan to be there. I took Friday off and worked on the car and with today's work I have her put together again and cranked her up. I do love the sound of a FV!

A couple (well, several) of items gave me a headache at Summit point. First was the slipping clutch. As suspected it was a leaky rear main seal and a new one is in place.

Second was the broken front torsion spring adjuster. When I wrote the earlier comment I just figured I used the cheap bolts that came with the adjuster. Not so. I had already replaced those 1/2 - 20 set screws with different ones. The nose on my car would hit the longer ones supplied with the adjusters, so I ordered some shorter ones. OK, I figure since I did not use the torque wrench I just over tightened the broken one. Put in a new one and torqued it to 60 ft/lbs. All is well. For a while. For about 2 hours. Taking a break I am sitting on a stool when a rifle shot takes place followed by a tinkling noise of a piece of metal hitting concrete. Closer examination reveals a really crappy set screw and an engineering failure. First the set screw appears to have been broached to get the hexagonal inner shape. You can actually see the metal peeled down at the bottom of each hex side. Second, and more importantly, since I needed to shorten these up, the nut only screws down to where the allen head socket ends. So, instead of having nearly a half inch diameter of steel in tension I have much less. I replaced these with the originals cut off to the length I need (and eliminating the internal wrenching entirely) and I made a slot for a screwdriver on the end. Seems to have solved the problem. With the broken adjuster on the right side it means my spring rate was 40% less than the left side, as the left side adjuster was now the anchor for the right side as well. The two turns I had the biggest problem with at Summit Point were both left handers. Maybe this was part of the reason.

My friend Stevan pointed out that in the picture above I might not pass the broomstick test. The picture is a bit misleading as I'm not really sitting in the car in a normal manner. However, upon checking it was clear that it was too close even if I was legal. So, how to get more space? I found that there was some room to be made by moving the fuel cell back a bit further, modifying the fuel cell cover, and requiring moving the firewall to the back of the rollbar. Simple enough. Except after modifying the fuel cell cover I find that the new position of my helmet hits the back roll bar brace. Long story short, I cut that brace out and fabbed up a new one that allows my head to go back as much as 2 inches. A new firewall angles back to meet the new brace. The fiberglass cowl had to be cut to match and re-glassed. Since I mounted the fire bottle and battery to the firewall all that had to be re-engineered to fit. Anyway, it's all done now.

Along the way I discovered another interesting fact about the Citation. The wheelbase that I thought was 83.0 inches is in fact 81.5. I had 83 in my head, and discovered I got that from the logbook. It says 83 and I just took it as being correct. Never measured it. When lining up the car I never measure wheelbase. While looking for that extra room and knowing the wheelbase was 1/2" short of the max I decided to measure the wheelbase to see exactly how much I had to work with. Was I surprised to find both sides dead on 81.5. Lathrop verified the car has the minimum. So, next project will be to get that extra 2 inches. After the last race this year...

I dug gravel out of the car forever it seems like. Those gravel traps do the job but I plan to stay away from them in the future. There was gravel in each drum, in the cylinder and head fins, in the floor and everywhere else. Painful.

I'll update this thread with my (hopefully dry and warm) experience at CMP when I'm done.

Barry

[BLS]

Work gets in the way sometimes but I did get to Roebling this weekend. I planned to do the test day and that got nuked, then Friday drug out and finally got on the road late. Pulled into Roebling about 2am, by the time we got the tent up and hit the air mattress it was near 3am. Up at 6 to unload and get ready, registration at 7am and tech opened at 7:30. FV is the first group starting just after 8am.

The first session I was late due to getting finished with registration and tech. Only four complete laps but at least it was dry My clutch was slipping (again), and the driver was really off and very slow. The wet weather school (plus some broken suspension and rear toe out) had me on edge expecting the car to just jump around under me. A completely different experience in the dry. So, the race is next which is going to be more of a practice session for me. Put on a new set Hoosiers. Started last with my very slow time. The clutch is now fine after adjustment, but in 3 of the faster turns the car just dies, like you turn off the switch. Nothing. Then is sputters back to life. Suspecting the float is the problem. The driver was just awful, a combination of too little sleep, carb issue, and just general timidity I suppose. So slow I got lapped. Honestly, I had thought that maybe I wasn't capable. My expectations seemed to clash with reality. Best time was around 1:35, about 14 seconds off a good national level time and 10-12 seconds behind the four fastest cars.

Duke Waldrop came by before the race and introduced himself. Great guy. After the race I dropped by to see what he thought of my new motor dying issue. Duke introduced me to Fred Clark who rode up on his bike as we talked. Another great guy. Fred asked about my float. I remembered taking the float that was in the carb out as I though it was a real oddball with a weight epoxied to it, placed in upside down, and the arm not attached. As it turns out that is what is needed. Fred and Duke both offered to let me borrow their spare carb. I don't know how to thank people for this kindness and willingness to help. I decided to work on the carb and Fred loaned me the proper float and arm. I then discovered that my accelerator pump still didn't work. Back to Fred for advice. So, I then went back and removed the carb and took it to the air conditioned bathroom to perform the surgery out of the heat and away from the bugs. Fred was kind enough to come down and give me a hand and we got it working. Long story short, problem solved. I will never be able to repay Fred and Duke for their kindness and help, but they certainly saved my Sunday. In bed early, I was beat, mentally and physically. Dejected is not a strong enough term. I was determined to do a better job in the morning.

Saturday night we got rain showers but Sunday morning was dry. Out on the track on time this morning. Car is working well and I settled in to try and figure out a better line and keep my foot down. I still suffer from that uneasy feeling the car is just going to snap around, but as I increased my speed I found nothing bad happening and began to develop some confidence in the car and driver. Lap times were much improved, down to around 1:28, not fast enough but much better than the day before. The driver was much happier.

The race is around 10am. The rear tires showed some rear suspension adjustment was needed. The fronts looked fine. Not enough experience or time so I opted to leave it alone. 7 V's starting, I'm gridded 6th (FV) with 5th place at about the same time as mine. I'm hoping for a good start and , maybe, I can get behind the front four faster cars and learn something. They are running in the range of 1:23/24. In turn 1 the 5th place car was to my outside and I went a bit wide as we approached 2 resulting in Matthew out in the loose stuff. He spun and I had to slow down and take to the grass on the inside to avoid him. By the time I got back up to speed the front 4 were out of my reach. So, I settled in and ran off the laps practicing some new lines to try and figure out what works where. Around lap 10 or 11 I can see the orange V of Matthew and when the FF's come through I slowed way down. He caught me and now I had someone to race with. He passed me and I re-passed on the next lap, then he went by once more. I settled on trying for a pass at the checker since we were down to a single lap. I kept just enough distance around the final turns to get a good run as we enter the straight, it worked and I passed Matthew for 5th place at the finish line. Best time was a low 1:27. More importantly, I had fun and learned a bit more about the car and driver. I'm certain there are several more seconds easily obtainable before I would get to the real difficult increases. One more day on the track would have been nice. After the Saturday disaster, Sunday brought me back.

So, thanks to Fred and Duke for all the help. You probably saved more than just a Sunday.

My son Lee was fantastic again. I couldn't do this without his help. I cannot put into words how much he means to me.

Barry

[BLS]

Second weekend of racing. Summit Point Regional. I am the only FV in a "wings and things" group including 4 P1/P2 cars and some FF's and a single F600. Having never run a dry lap at the DS, the first session Sat morning was nice and dry. I have a bit more confidence now and settled in to try and figure out how to drive the car. I have set up the rear of the car quite differently than the setup I used at Roebling. Based on what the tires were telling me and with advice from Stevan D, I made a rather large adjustment to the rear camber and tire pressure. It seemed to be better but I was not fast enough to really know what the car is doing. A short session at 15 minutes, so very few laps, but I had an idea of what I needed to work on.

I am by myself this weekend so belting in and getting ready is slow, so I start early to make sure I am not late to the grid for the Sat afternoon race. Way early. It begins raining as I finish getting in the car. Head to the grid expecting the SSM cars to be gone and on the track and they are still on the grid. It is raining harder, a downpour. I stop at the back of the grid figuring the SSM cars will head out shortly. Shortly being about an hour later. I sat there like an idiot through the rain because I was concerned with getting out then back in the car in time. the SSM race finally starts, black flagged twice, so I sat for a looong time. The rain quit at least. On the track finally but it is still quite wet in some key places so times do not improve but not bad for a wet, beginning to dry track.

Sunday is an 18 lap race only, no practice/qual time. I am in the last group so we race last. Threat of rain but it never materializes. The start goes well as I watch those fast cars drive off. I will have several laps by myself to concentrate... First lap, last turn (10) I drive the car into the gravel trap and spin back onto the pavement. Nice start. But I don't let it bother me and get in some decent laps in between the faster cars coming through. Then yellow at the beginning of turn 5 for several laps, then black flag all. Restart and get a few more laps in following a CF for a couple of laps before he picked up speed and motored off. I am slow but not as bad as the first day at Roebling by any means. I know where there are improvements to be made...

The car did pretty well. I do have an issue with something that prevents me from getting above 6K or so in 4th gear. The motor is smokey at idle speeds but it clears up on the track. Dietmar has been very helpful in helping me with the proper procedure for doing a leakdown check which shows good on 3 cyl and possible issue with #4. The smoke is coming from #1 cyl, so there is an issue. This motor sat for a few years... Not enough time to build now so will give it another try at Summit first weekend in August (majors). More seat time which is what I really need. Praying for a rainless weekend. The majors format yields a lot more time than the regional did. In reality, I only got about 15 - 20 decent dry laps at the regional when yellow/black flags are considered. I did better with the faster cars coming through then I did at Roebling.

I had a lot of fun driving the car. And I always improve with each session. I am really looking forward to the majors race back at Summit in a couple weeks.

Barry

[BLS]

Just an update on my continuing experience in the car.

Race 3 - Summit Point Majors. A few weeks pass by since the previous race at Summit. I have hopes that I will continue to improve...

Friday morning qualifier - Not quite what I hoped for. 4 spins and a talk with the race steward I put on a "new" set of older tires I had. They were a disaster and I was really pushing. The car was uncontrollable for a newish driver, IMO. Second session I used my newer hoosiers with 7-8 heat cycles and it went much better, at least I stayed on the track However, no meaningful improvement in my lap times. Sat morning qualifier much the same. I am however beginning to get a better feel for the car.

Sat afternoon race. New tires. I am very outclassed with this group but there are two V's within my range so a few decent racing laps. More importantly, I now understand what problem I am really having with the car. It is not severe oversteer or just a really bad driver (my real fear - maybe I just cannot drive the car). I notice that the rear of the car is actually just hopping across the track, bounce - bounce - bounce. Anything above a certain speed or any mistake and the rear of the car is just bouncing across the track. So, my friend Stevan Davis who has been very busy repairing crash damage to his car takes the time to come investigate, correctly guessing from my description that I *might* not have enough rebound control in the rear shock. Now, for the stupid. I thought my cheaper rear shock had no external adjustments... Stevan jumps on the back and determines I have little to no rebound control. Then Stevan turns the adjuster that I somehow did not remember and finds it on zero. 15 of 20 clicks and it looks much better. I of course think it is the key to several more seconds...

Sunday race - high hopes The car was a different car. While my time improved only slightly to just a tick under a 1:30, the car was really a much better car. I however must learn to drive it without the feeling it is going rear end first at every corner. I was able to drive through every corner much faster and recover from mistakes that before would result in a spin. I just could not put together a whole lap, particularly with those FF's and F5's coming by all the time. I still have to learn to negotiate with those cars. I did spin once, but it was a minor spin compared to the others, just a result of hitting the brakes with the car not straight going into turn 5.

So, it's a new car Many thanks to Stevan for his help. It really makes a big difference to be able to call upon the experienced. I just need to learn to drive a car with a bit better rear manners.

I met a lot of new people who all offer help. Jim Smith from the northeast introduced himself very early. he helps a couple of the very fast drivers. Jim brought Dave Carr by Sat morning who checked my shock pressures and filled as needed. Pretty lucky to get so much help from so many people in just a few races.

[BLS]

Race # 4 - I had hoped to go to Barber for the ALL FV Race, but work had other ideas, so I had to cancel. But Charlotte is the next week and <30 minutes from my house

I last ran a race at Charlotte in 1978. It is also the scene of my worst wreck, around 1975, destroying my first FV in turn 1 (CMS turn 5), the turn off the oval into the road course.

We have a qualifier and race on Sat, then a qualifier sat evening for the Sunday race. I have on my tires purchased at the first race with about 8 heat cycles. First session goes reasonably well. I do not know what a good FV time for CMS would be since there have been no national level races run there recently. One other FV entered in a wings and things group. We typically had a FB, FE, 2 FM's, a P1, and 7/8 SRF's one a gen3. I met Shannon who is driving the other FV. He helped me with a tip on not bottoming out every time I went back on the banking. Ouch. It worked. Per my last post, the car is like a new car. I can get it almost sideways and still recover, it just slides in a controllable manner. Trying to learn the track I end up at a mid 1:34 time. But I know there is a lot more and most importantly I feel like I am driving the car, rather than the car driving me. It is fun, a lot of fun and I cannot wait for the next session.

Race 1 - 16 laps (13 for us slow pokes in FV) Really fun getting to dice with Shannon a bit. He has a long box in preparation for a race at Daytona, so I easily pass him early on the oval, and he will pass me next lap as we get around nascar 3/4. Shannon also has some clutch & shifter issues that result in me getting away. Good session for me, drop another second off, but more importantly I'm really getting used to the "new" car with a stickier rear end. I stayed on the older tires and can really feel what they are doing. FV race winner \

Sat afternoon qualifier - drop another half second but can really tell the tires are starting to drop off. More really good experience. Shannon beats me by about half a second so I'll start 2nd in FV on Sunday.

Sunday race - I put on my newest Hoosiers with 2 sessions. I watched video Sat night and realized I was loosing some time in the first 3 turns as I came off the oval. Part of the reason is my brakes were not as good as earlier races, the rears were just locking up going into the first turn requiring me to back off a bit and overshooting the apex by too much. I remembered I adjusted my bias adjustment (hydraulic type) one more turn to the rear and reset it to the original settings. So, brakes adjusted, new tires and I am really excited. I had 5/6 laps of good racing with Shannon before his clutch became an issue and I moved away. The difference with the newer tires and the brake adjustment is dramatic. I can go through the first turn much better and the exit onto the oval is much quicker with the stickier tires. I knocked off another 2.5 seconds to get down to a mid 1:30. Most importantly, the car was fun to drive and I felt like I could drive it. As long as I continue to improve I'll be happy.

Again thanks to Stevan Davis for "fixing" my car. What a difference a few turns of an adjuster make. Might have saved my career as I was really beginning to think I just wasn't capable of driving the car.

What's next? Maybe the Road Atlanta ARRC with an all FV race that Stevan is working on. Hope so anyway. All depends on what I decide regarding this car. I really need more room and better aero. So, much work ahead once I decide on what direction to take.

Thanks to everybody for all the help!

[FV80]

Barry,
Really glad to hear the changes have made a difference. Suggest you forget the aero issues. If you saw Bullet at the beginning of the Summit Point race on Saturday (and Sunday), you'd KNOW that aero is a smaller part of the package than one might think .. at least for mid pack (where I was).

Sorry you missed Barber .. we had a pretty decent field of 12 cars and a couple of great races.

Hope to see you again at Road Atlanta - keep those seconds coming off and keep on having FUN driving your vee.
Feel free to ask for help any time.
Steve, FV80

[BLS]

Stevan,

I did see Bullet, both before and after. I was amazed that you were able to get that car repaired in less than a day. it would have taken me a week...

Actually, the driver is the slow part of the car at the moment, but I need to make changes which will require new bodywork anyway. Not sure if Alan's SB will fit once the changes are made, something I will discuss with him before I make the frame changes.

I really appreciate your help.

Barry

[BLS]

One more race this year. Road Atlanta ARRC and an all FV feature race on Sunday. I have been looking forward to a return to Road Atlanta for some time. I last raced there in the 1978 Runoffs. I was a bit slower on my return...

Friday, two qualifying sessions:

Went out on my older 12 cycle tires to get a feel for the track and figure out how to drive around. I really didn't want to buy another set of tires and wanted to save my better set for the all FV event on Sunday. I've studied the in car video , but I'm not prepared for some of the bumpy curbing... Those bumps on the right leading into the uphill left hand turn 6 are brutal Figured that out quick enough. Time was slow but I got better towards the end of the session.

Second session I improved but felt rather slow still, and I was, best time was a low 1:51 (compared to Stevan's Sunday time of 1:44), but I am still trying to figure out the track and the car is really twitchy. Tires for the most part I guess other than the still learning driver.

Saturday ARRC race:

This is the typical mixed group, FV with FF and F500. Split start for each group. I have on my "good" tires (4 cycles) and have adjusted the rear a bit. Thankfully my notes allow me to make adjustments to the rear without having to find someone my weight to sit in the car. I have dropped the rear a bit, going from 3 deg neg to about 4 and changing the droop limit from 1.5 to 2. The car was a lot better, much easier to drive, mostly tires I'm sure. The split start was my first, and I really blew that. No green flag was shown and I did not realize the race had started nor did the cars behind me apparently. 12 FV's starting, I think, and I started 10th. About half way around the track I realize the race is on really blows. Fortunately for me, we have a double yellow after about 5 laps of the scheduled 20 allowing me to catch up and get another crack at this. Restart went much better. A 3 car group up front and then a 5 car group including me. I spent most of the race in 4th or 5th in that group finding it difficult to advance any further. I settled for a strategy (yes, I am beginning to actually think through these things) of trying to be in 4th on the last lap and see if I can get one or two more before the checker. Which works, almost. Except for the spin in 10A. Down the back straight I draft by the 3rd place car (in our group) and feel I can out brake the 2nd place car going in to 10A. Down the inside I go when the sudden inspiration occurs to me that a really good turn here will put me on the bumper of car #1 and, maybe, I can get him going down the hill. I've done it before (well, 35 years ago and a different track configuration). Turn hard left across the rumble strips and bam, the back comes around. Too much brake still on when I hit the inner curbing I think. Anyway, I tried. Lost one place as a result. Finished in 9th. But I was happy It was great fun. I felt competitive in my group and my time came down to a flat 1:49. Still a ways off from the front 3 who were at the 1:46, but it is my first time here and they either have experience or did the Thursday test day. So, I'm hoping Sunday will go even better... Congratulations to James Hannum on the win, his brother Bill for P2, and Sherman Engler for P3.

Sunday All FV Qualifying:

A very chilly Georgia morning. I think the temperature was right around 32F. I was not sure what to expect with the cold track. Went out with Stevan just behind me hoping I could latch on when he went by me. Not going to happen. Stevan just motored off as soon as we hit turn 1 and continued to leave me behind. I qualified with a time that was a bit slower than my fastest race lap from Sat. A high 1:49. Which puts me 8th on the grid again. 13 or 14 cars I think.

Sunday All FV Race:

I'm going to put my foot down green flag or not... But, since it is an all FV race it's not an issue. I'm on the outside and get a really good start, only to discover that my mirror adjustment really sucks for this. I have my mirrors adjusted to see FF's FA's and the like blasting up on me and don't realize that they are useless for what I need to know now. I could move to the inside and maybe gain a couple positions, but I cannot tell if someone is coming up on my inside and out of my view. Common sense prevails and I stay in line. On around the track I get caught up with a car that seems to be struggling over through turns 5/6/7 and we lose the group. His car is eventually sidelined and I spend the race basically running by myself after about the 3rd lap. It was not my best effort to date. The car seemed very loose compared to the Sat. race and it showed in my lap times which were almost 2 seconds slower. Somewhat disappointing, but I was in an all FV race for the first time this year, on the track with Stevan again which is always good, and I finished the race without tearing up the car. 8th place. Congratulations to Stevan Davis on the win! And to the Hannum brothers for P2 & 3.

That's it for this year. I have a lot of work to do. I have learned a lot this year. To put it in perspective, my expectations exceed my ability by a fair amount. So, the driver requires work which only more seat time will help. Next year is going to require utilizing test days and require a much larger tire budget...

I am very happy with the year however. It's been a long time, since 1979, and a long time since I first decided to give this a try again. Hard to believe it was 3 seasons ago that I went to a national at Road Atlanta where I met Stevan Davis and watched the my first FV race in a long time. The good news, I improved throughout the year, I figured out (with a lot of help) car handling issues, and most important, no DNF's. I made every session without any major issues. I didn't hit anything hard although I was off the track quite a bit. In fact, I was off the track or spun more times this year than I believe I did in all the years I drove before (1973-1979).

I have met a lot of very fine people this year and many either helped or offered help. At this event I met the Hannum brothers (James and Bill, and their Dad) from PA, Mark and Brian Farnharm from Ohio (father and son) and several others. They all become friends quickly and easily.

I hope reading through this that you guys with a car in the garage will dust them off and come join us on the track. It's still the best Formula class ever. Best thing I've ever done next to getting married and having children

Thanks to my bride that allows this, my son Lee that braved the rain/sleet/snow of Summit Point to help the old man through drivers school, and especially Stevan for his constant help and advice when needed and to Dietmar for his advice and quick parts shipments when needed. Lots of other people have offered their insights as well and help at the track. I thank you all. It is very much appreciated. I hope to be able to return the favors someday.

Looking forward to next year,
See You in Daytona
Barry