CMP FEB 2007

So, after another trash of work and fitting the replenished 7 got it's first outing on 2007. Track was CMP and the plan was to have 30 minute sprint race and 60 minute enduro done with practise and qualifying sessions. My friend Jason had to leave his car home, but he was willing to come and help me with the weekend and the help was very welcome.
So, main changed for the car at track was new 13" x 10" wheels and tires, new suspension rates and geometry somewhat, adding GT28R turbo with required ancilliaries.
As usual, the install was left to last minute and the first and last test drive was done at 6 pm on Friday and race and tech was on Saturday morning. Very promising results for performance on few accelerations to get an idea of fuel mapping needed.
Quick gathering of some of the parts needed, pack up, and off we went.
Trip and accommodation was ok, waking up was rough after so many sleepless nights to get everything together. Track was cold, needed things were left home including datalogger and the main switch. Couple of loaners later (Thanks to Jason and everyone who helped) we got everything in order enough to get to practice, including retarding the base timing to 6 degrees. Session revealed that stock injectors run out of volume at 6500 rpm and 7 PSI, even when they are driven at 100%, so modulation of gas was needed to keep engine from running lean. Real time AFR readings could be read from Official WB Display (Harbor Freight Voltmeter taped to dash). So one eye in that, the other bouncing from temps to oil pressure and occasionally road ahead I drove through practice without incidents. Torque and acceleration felt great, and everything seemed to work as it should.
The qualifying went well with decent margin to next guys, several seconds to be exact. Apart for one 911 lubricating main straight and Jason seeing the smoke and being sure it was me and starting packing up, nothing spectacular happened.
The race had split start, but only one starter flag so some of Lightning group cars had the whole front straight to accelerate into first corner. Start went well and there was no trouble to accelerate away from lightning group and start catching Thunder. Everything went well for about 20 minutes, I was passing DeSalvo’s Mustang, then in 4th place overall, I noticed boost fell from 7 PSI to 3 and within seconds the motor turned off.
It happened in backstraight at kink and I coasted into pits, trying to keep oil and water circulating by letting the motor rotate on 5th gear.
Upon checking with all doomsday ideas floating in mind we did not find visible connecting rods or huge holes around engine which weren’t there to begin with. Further ideas and checking while the engine was cooling down revealed loose wastegate. One of the bolts was missing completely and wastegate was barely hanging from the other. Gasket was disintegrated too. The harness certainly showed signs of extra heat and we noticed that fuel pumps were not running.
Some new bolts and sheetmetal and forcing the fuel pumps to run when ignition is on we were ready to qualify for Sunday. Jason borrowed his videocamera and I took the car out to few laps of qualifying. Driving was not pretty, but the time was good and it gave 3rd spot overall! Pretty good for Lightning car.
Of Course start was split, this time with separate flag, so Thunder had pretty good jump on us. During 50+minutes of actual racing time there is good time to learn lines. I was probably too conservative, but knowing the preparation it was better to be safe than sorry. In ambient temps of 55 deg F the engine never went over 200 deg F, oil was good and AFR stayed ok as long as I adjusted gas so I was not pushing above 6500. Right foot started to get uncomfortable before halfway and I turned fan on just in hopes to get more cooling there. In addition I was basically running one gear higher all the time compared to qualifying time. Tires were fairly greasy, but nothing too bad once the temps equalized. I saw Jody Austin in his Corvette and kept too much distance between us to catch him after white flag was shown, but at that point I wasn’t saving the equipment, I wanted to catch him! I made some distance but not enough to get even close.
I worked my way up to 4th overall, no doubt helped by some pitstops from faster cars. There was enough gas and nothing came loose or wrong with the car during the race. Granted it was not pushed to the limit, but still these engines are pretty tough.
Thanks to Janet and rest of the family for continuing support of this madness :)
Also I'd like to thank several forums for very good advice for initial sorting of this equipment.