It’s been a good six months since I’ve updated this thread….and I guess I just didn’t feel much like updating…but now that the diving season has pretty well ended here in the NE, I guess it’s time to play catch-up…
Last I posted, I believe Dad and I were getting set to head up to Watkins Glen for SAAC 37. That was a great few days and some good father/son time, near perfect weather, and great meeting people in person I’ve only chatted with here on the forum. There’s threads on CC regarding the happenings, so I’ll just offer up a few pic selections and a link to my photobucket albumn:
SAAC 37 at Watkins Glen Photos by Fullchat289 | Photobucket
After coming back from SAAC, I then attended the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. This past year, total contributions to The Autism Society of Pittsburgh, and the Allegheny Valley School surpassed the $3.2Million mark since the event began 30yrs ago! It’s always a pleasure to take part in the International Car Show held on the final Saturday/Sunday during the Grand Prix at Schenley Park.
Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix | Presented by Shop 'n Save
2012 PVGP Photos by Fullchat289 | Photobucket
So after dad endured the 560mi trip on that dreadfully hard FIA Comp seat, I contacted Dave Wagner and asked that he make a 289 street seat for me…I think it was late August when this showed up.. Very comfy, authentic, and smells lovely:
I posted this photo taken during a misty Summer morning in September in the “Coolest Picture of your car” thread, but many people have given it the thumbs up…I enjoy taking the car out and driving to work on my 45mi commute…experiencing the sunrise and soaking in the sounds of the weber-topped 347..
OK…so fast forward to the 6th of October..beautiful Saturday afternoon and a Volvo Powertrain sponsored Drag Racing event at Mason Dixon Dragway in Maryland. I entered the car along with a bunch of other suspicious characters from the Capital Area Cobra Club. Knowing that my Mickey Thompson radials would do nothing on the strip, I put my Hoosier A-6 autocross tires on the back and proceeded to steadily lower my time over the course of the afternoon…..My goal was to see how the 48IDA’s compared to the 44IDF’s that were on the car. As I recall, the lowest time I could achieve with the IDF’s was in the 12.5 range @ 105mph….I’m happy to say that the 48IDA’s were a huge improvement….the breathing was tremendously improved, and my butt dyno was proven correct with the times….11.9X @ 115mph. So yeah….quite an improvement.
Now for the not-so-good news….after about my 5th run, I lined up again….hit the tree just right, but the launch was sloppy with induced wheel-hop, and then something went flat….all I could do was coast under practically no power…barely made it off the track at the 1/8th mile.. My first thought was that it was the clutch, but later found that the clutch was fine…it was a stub axle failure on the LH side of the diff. So I called a friend, had the car loaded and delivered to my basement and submitted to a bit of a truncated driving season.. Here are the pictures:
So, that pretty much brings us up-to-date. I’m in talks with a few places that my buddy Nick Acton has placed me in touch with for replacement stub axles…supposedly I’ve made a good contact and it’s just down to the waiting…we shall see.
Have a great Christmas Holiday, everyone!
- Allen.