It was nice having a longer period of time between races where you could really dial in the car and make all the adjustments need to hopefully be more successful at the next race. That would be the thing to say if we took advantage of it but instead we may have waited until about two weeks before the race to swap the motor out. Honestly, we were hoping we wouldn’t have to but after taking the car to a track day at The Ridge and having the same overheating struggles that plagued us at Pacific in the spring we wanted to give ourselves the best chance to be successful on track. While doing the engine swap we were also working on another big change.
We had decided at the end of the last race to work on was re-theming the car. We did like the Mini Koopa theme on the car but it wasn’t quite obscure enough for the judges and it was really hard to build around. We wanted to change to something that was more unique for us and something that we could create some entertainment from. After doing some brainstorming sessions and debating a few ideas we decided on the GUTS theme. For those born not in the late 80s or early 90s, GUTS was a quirky teen competition show on Nickelodeon that would have some kids compete in random obstacle-like competitions to eventually win a fictional trophy called an Agro Crag. My brother made a big contribution designing the livery for the car and work on the large agro crag that lives in the back of the Mini.
Part of the new theme was also going to be us entertaining ourselves and guests in the paddock with a fun little obstacle course set-up. There were some key elements that we came up with to align with the tv show including sports-related obstacles (like a basketball hoop), a pedal cart track, and a ball pit (that we had to find lemons in). Come tech day we passed safety and in BS inspection we did our walk-ups and power poses for the judges. We also bribed them with some on-theme gifts and the obstacle course for punishment use. Whenever drivers/ teams accumulate too many black flags the judges could send them over to us and we could send them through the obstacle course.
I almost forgot to mention the Texas Lee Childers (TLC for short) joined us to race the Mini and my friend Billy had come up from Atlanta to join us as a mechanic as well. Their knowledge came in handy as we were testing the car on Friday trying to sort out a shifting issue we were having. Turns out the shifting cable connections at the transmission were bumping in the mount to the chases so we took a cut off wheel and created some extra clearance for it to travel smoother through selecting gears.
With all that out of the way it was time to start the race. We started off strong with quick laps and speedy pitstops. Got most of the way through Saturday before we had our first mechanical issue. We had the warning signs during the pit stops where we noticed a little water dripping out the front of the car but we had hoped we could make It to the end of the day. Once the temperature started climbing we brought the car in and got to work diagnosing. There was a tiny leaking coming from a small connector hose between the water pump and engine block. After patching up the hose we refilled the system and sent the Mini back out. It made it very close to finishing the day before it had a sudden pressure pop in the coolant system where air was getting in.
We refilled the system and got the car prepped for Sunday, all the while entertaining most the paddock with our obstacle course. Another fun feature we had was polaroid picture leader board to keep track of times for each competitor cause we had awards for best participants at the end of the weekend. Sunday was more of what we dealt with in the spring. Turns out that one overheating event had warped the head on engine #2 for the car. This meant Sunday was full of 45ish minute stints with 45ish minute breaks in between to let the car cool down and refill the system with more distilled water before sending it out again.
Despite our on track performance being less than ideal we still managed some major accomplishments as a team. We improved our finishing standing and lap count from the previous Pacific race, finishing 13th (out of 16) in class and 32nd (out of 53) overall with 245 laps. Each driver set their new personal best lap times around Pacific Raceway, we had our fastest pitstops to date, and we had a ton of fun throughout the weekend. Our dedication to the theme was also noticed by the judges and we were given the Organizers’ Choice award for bringing the entertainment all weekend, even when the Mini was on the struggle bus. I hope to bring back more trophies to share with the team, but for now it’s time to search for another motor. See you at the next one!
