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Emerging from Covid-19


Croc

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Tomorrow the track opens up. 50 people. No guests or family members - just drivers. Box lunches. Social distancing in the pits. Must wear masks. Usual stuff.

 

But I get to drive!

 

The car was still fresh from it’s winter service. So all I had to do was check oil levels, swap over to 13 inch wheels, and check tire pressures.

 

Ah no....

 

Tires swapped over but then I blew up a compressor. Switch to a back up compressor.

 

Then I noticed the battery was suspiciously bulging....

 

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So that came out and new one went in.

 

Then the car just did not want to fire - oh it cranked over nicely. I had air. I had spark. But was missing fuel - no whiny bitch fuel pump could be heard?

 

Hmmmm. Checked the fuses. Checked the roll over switch. Checked the immobilizer on the steering column. All good. Fuel pump was good. Hmmm.

 

At this point I go off searching for a second light to help me see. At which point I stub toe. Into a steel seat frame sitting on the garage floor.

 

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Ripped the toe nail off. Nice meaty gash. Blood everywhere. Many bad words were said. I secured the toe nail with race tape and then band aids on top to keep it hygienic. Hindsight says the race tape may be a bad idea as I stuck it to the top of the toenail. So it will lift when I try to remove the tape? Crap.

 

After much tracing, the culprit proved to be the fuse box disintegrating. The little metal cops that carrying current were moving. So it’s bodged together to allow me to run tomorrow and Wednesday. Will do a proper rebuild afterwards.

 

She runs. So a few test drives around the paddock. Confirmed oil levels.

 

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Then prepped by getting gear - helmet, gloves, etc. Got fuel as the NJMP tanks are probably last years.

 

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Ready for tomorrow now. A neighbor (also a Birkin owner!) dropped by with some beer to numb my pain. Then the track founder turned up to help drink some more beer. I am feeling nicely buzzed.

 

Bring on some driving tomorrow - I am so over this lockdown.

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Wow, even your battery has boobs! Too bad about the toe. But, exaggerate it a bit more and you can play hero tomorrow. The tape may not be good. When you to not need them, get some "butterfly bandages" for the first aid kit. Good news about the beer. Have fun tomorrow.

butterfly-bandage-how-to-1.jpg

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I think you underestimate the emotional trauma I suffered from seeing my pedicure mutilated today.

 

Besides, I am now fascinated that you felt the need to put a fancy sticker like that on a trivial scrape you suffered. Did you do it with a red sharpie? Feather?

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Paul - Just put the Osmo battery on charge for you. Today wont be the interesting day on track. Wednesday afternoon will be.

Edited by Croc
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Croc,

You're causing flashbacks!

 

You wearing jandals in the shop? The Kiwi's I used to work with did that and so did I, until a weld BB landed between my toes! Hope you find an easy way to get that tape off and heal up quickly!

 

I had the same model battery do the same thing last year on a long drive. It inflated quite a bit and started leaking. The passenger was not pleased... Ended up being the alternator, the regulator failed and it was overcharging the battery. The battery was still functional!

 

Enjoy you track day, I'm off for a drive with some friends today. We've done ~400mi. in the last few weeks, it's a nice respite from being trapped at home.

 

Andy

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Darn. I forgot to put on my safety hat and chide Croc about proper footwear in the shop.

 

For a happier example: At the Indy 500, our group was getting a tour of Gasoline Alley when a lady was prohibited entry. She had on some fancy sandals and it turns out that, prudently, one has to have closed shoes to go there. She ended up with duck tape all over her sandals.

 

Croc, print out and post immediately:

 

OSHA-PPE-Foot-Sign-OCE-3240_1000.gif PPE - Foot > Signs">

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I think you underestimate the emotional trauma I suffered from seeing my pedicure mutilated today.

 

Besides, I am now fascinated that you felt the need to put a fancy sticker like that on a trivial scrape you suffered. Did you do it with a red sharpie? Feather?

 

Toe...I want to see blood.:jester:

 

....and here’s a sign you need for those exciting garage moments.

 

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Edited by xcarguy
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Well Andy wins the prize as the smartest guy around. By session 3 the new battery was dead and I think the alternator is the cause. That’s what likely gave my old battery it’s boobs. New battery is on charge now just so I can put a meter over the terminals to confirm. Found the new spare alternator in the storage closet and it is on the seat to change tomorrow when I err cough cough ...work from home.

 

Sorry Paul - no video. I was planning to do that session 4 which never happened.

 

Oh and Shane. It was not just F Bombs. There were Cs and Ts and Ss and many other things!!!

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Still, it was a damn good day. Blew out some cobwebs and cheered me up no end. Mechanical destruction does that to men for some reason.

 

So,, how was the seat? Did the big toe fit in your racing slippers?

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The resin bead seat was excellent. Kept me very secure and comfortable.

 

Toe is bleeding again. I think I bashed it on a snap down change. Oops.

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Just came back from 2 days at VIR with the Chin group. VIR is a great track, not very 7 friendly, a 3/4mile back straight does not help. But there are some very tricky technical areas. The Chin group run a very well organized event, lots of high end cars, more GT3RS's that you could count, a couple of race teams were using it as a practice day, so the expert group was crazy fast. Randy Probst was there with a old ex-factory Volvo 740, it was fun to watch him mussel it around. A Pikes Peak Tesla was testing it was crazy fast. Most of my winter upgrade appeared to work, cage, the new fuel tank setup, new belts, Garmin GLO GPS, the cell phone mount will be good after I Locktite the bolt:) The only issue was the new cooling setup led to a slow upwards water temp during a session, I was having to soft peddle the last lap or 2.

 

Tried to upload a couple of pictures but uploads failed.

 

Graham

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Working from home today!

 

My car’s rear end is like Kim Kardashian today - waggling it’s fat chops around all over the place as the tires have obviously done their max heat cycles.

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Sun screen is your friend. Normally this time of year we would all have a natural tan, well I have sun burn on the back of my hands from just driving, so beware.

 

Graham

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