July 11, 2011

The Big Bang


The size nine stiletto of one miss Lady Luck kicked us square in the chops this weekend as we lost our first engine of the season.

Sixteen thousand RPM's one second, and absolutely nothing the next.  And as it usually goes, the catastrophic failure always occurs on a high speed stretch of the track so to anyone who has experienced this before you know it can be quite the horrific moment.

After all this sudden excitment he still managed to keep it out of the fence, or anything else with some weight behind it, and coasted safely off the track.  Later it was found that a ring had let go and got ingested in the engine, putting day one of a two day race weekend in the books as a DNF.

On the brighter side of things, thanks to Greg Hobbs (son of legendary sports car and formula one pilot David Hobbs) Sam learned a few things this weekend that are already proving to be key in his development.  Greg so graciously took Sam under his wing for the day since I could not personally be there and besides an occasional chassis or engine set up tip, he worked with him on some trouble spots he was having on the track.  Now he has a new mantra when he sets off down pit road that should hopefully bring us one step closer to his goals.

What could have easily been one of the most disappointing weekends to date actually was a great learning experience for both of us.  Thanks again Greg for all the advice.  I figure it would have cost far more for a professional driving coach than the rebuild I'm facing so we're pretty much ahead of the game here.

Next up, Shawano, and my turn at the wheel.  If, and only if we get this engine back together in time I might get to finally find out what it is that I'm expecting from my son every weekend.  And although I expect to have fun, I feel certain that I probably won't be able to deliver.

Oh how frustrated he's going to be.