The Dead Presidents MR2 raced at Gator-O-Rama this is the teams second race and the outcome wasn't as we'd hoped.
We arrived at the race track Thursday evening and unloaded got everything situated and started going through the checklist on the car. While doing it we discovered that we had a short and the car wouldn't start. So that evening we spent about 5 or 6 hours trying to run down the cause of our start to no avail. Friday morning came and test-n-tune began promptly at 9a.m. Rich still troubleshooting the issue found the engine fuse popped in the engine bay fuse box. We replaced it and we were running again. At this point Rich needed some driving gear and I had forgotten my racing shoes (now I have 2 pair) so we went into Houston to buy gear from Pro-Am. These guys were awesome and if you get a chance to stop go ahead, you won't regret it. Curtis and Rick stayed behind and took the car out on the track.
When Rich and I returned we were informed that when Rick got on the track the car died and had to be towed back to the paddock. Some quick troubleshooting revealed a discharged battery. We threw the battery charger (my trickle charger) on the battery and started working to determine the cause of the discharged battery. Rich and I pulled the alternator and Rick took off for Autozone. When they returned the bench test was fine on the alternator. We kept looking and discovered that the fuse for the charging circuit was blown. You've gotta be kidding me I thought. So we got it all back together replaced the fuse and went through tech inspection. After strenuously trying to convince Judge Phil that we didn't have a turbo on the car we got through with flying colors.
The next morning the race began, we got out to the grid and started going through the pacing laps. The car sounded and was running very well. But, the water temperature guage never started rising it appeared dead. I did have oil pressure and oil temperature so I kept going. I got black flagged on the last pace lap and pitted in. Seems there was a transponder issue and our laps weren't getting counted. After a couple minutes in the pits we were back on the track and the race was on.
Since the last race we installed new struts and springs. There were no motor changes at all, and the car was moving really well. I was able to dive the car into turns and carry a lot of speed into the turns. For a couple laps I mixed it up with a CRX back and forth it was very fun. Then my oil temperature bottomed out and the pressure went through the roof. We had blown a head gasket 37 laps into day one. My next post will be a recounting of the heroic effort to get back on the track.
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