|
What I (Scott Miller) am doing this winter ...(I think I'll update this Journal style. Scroll down for earlier entries.) The car: Ovlov | S/\C Scottish Auto Club | My co-driver Mike Evans Feb 19/20, 2000 Got the car all repaired this week and towed up to Mindenhammer on Friday to do some tire testing on new Blizzak WS- 50's. The jury is out by me but Mike thought there was significant handling improvements. At best I would say better straight line grip but less side grip on turn ins. Looks like Ian Lok's Hakkis and quite likely driving skill are better. Air temps very warm on Sat with full sun (I have a slight sun burn to prove it). Sunday was overscast and snowed heavily late afternoon then stopped and was colder. I qualified 2nd and finished 4th, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd Mike qual. 3rd and finished 2, 3, on Sat. and 1, 2 on Sunday ;-) I think he did quite well , all things considered! Mike and I both got to drive a stud car after
racing on Saturday courtesy of Mike Jensen SAC#3! Feb 12/13, 2000 Minus 30 celsius Sat. morning at 7:15 am!!! Later the temp. rose as sun came out. Lewis Mackenzie (SAC #61, Car #132) joined us at the track and drove the green OVLOV to several great finishes during the course of the weekend. Lew has quite a history of racing starting when he was 35 and he now is racing GT1. I entered this weekend leading the points for Class 1 (rear drive rubber) but did not do so well this Sat. and Sun.: 4th's and 5th's. The Ovlov needs tires, exhaust and emergency brake to remain competitive. I think that the tires needed to have more tread block definition for the amount of snow that was on the track, ours have none left but a very good "fuzzy" appearance that's probably best suited to clear ice and very cold temps. Exhaust leaks on an Ovlov reduce back pressure essential in this cars particular intake/exhaust balance to maintaining peak ponys. Without the emerg. brake there were times when the car would suddenly catch on an unexpected patch of track and straighten itself out even though the steering was still turned. The quickest way to correct this is to pull the "E" brake quickly and release causing the back end to come about and the car to point itself back at the corner. All this having been said there were lots of people (myself included ) this and other weekends who will say..."I don't know what to do, nothing seems to be working". But that's the nature of ice racing; no one seems to have it figured out all the time, sometimes its your weekend and some times it ain't... Feb 6, 2000 Great BBQ weather on Sunday with warmer temps and bright sun, Snowed heavily on Saturday with very cold temps. Another good weekend for the Ovlov and SAC's in general. I won both races in class 1 (Rear Wheel Drive rubber to ice) on Sat ahead of two all wheel drive class 4 cars! after starting 7th and finishing 2nd behind Larry Kovacs in the qualifier. Ian Lok and I had a great 2nd race Saturday as he and i were way out front (two ovlovian station wagons battling it out, what a sight it must have been!). On the last turn of the last lap I went wide and had to climb out of the weeds, Ian , never one to miss an opportunity, had spotted this mistake early but got a little too excited about the possibilities and he too overcooked. I had been looking for him beside me because of my mistake but then saw him on opposite side mirror and breathed a sigh of relief. On Sunday temperature was warmer than Saturday with the sun blasting down on the ice making it a very slipper track. In the first race I forgot we were racing after the stud cars. Then I wound up being a pinball in the machine as several bounced me and I hit a snowbank hard down by the Quanset hut spinning out of control. I was in 2nd before. Now I would have to make up half a dozen places but was only able to manage a 4th place finish. In the process of passing Leon Lok (SAC#41) his front bumper corner hooked my rear bumper corner and we danced all the way through the peanut! In second race Sunday I started 4th but finished 2nd behind Tom Prentice who had begun to come back with a surge on Sunday winning both races! Congrates to Tom! My race partner Mike Evans (SAC#16) sharing the same car improved his driving skills all weekend under the guidance of passenger (and race driver) Carol Raitt (SAC#17). Weekend results for Mike were as follows... Qual. 2, finished 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd. This weekend Terry Dalton( SAC#60), Ian Lok and our car (all fine Scottish OVLOV's) all experienced the identical busted heater hose problem (coincidence, hmmmm?)!!! It was comical and heater hose (and 1" screw clamps) became a scarce commodity. (Thanks to all who came to the rescue). I think we may have a reason for Terry Dalton's hose breaking though: too much flexing. Terry had mentioned Saturday nite at the Cliffe that for sometime now his shifter had been leaning way over to the one side on acceleration to the extent that he would sometimes mistake 4th for 2nd and he was wondering what this might be! Most who were gathered at the Cliffe suggested correctly: motor mounts. On Sunday morning (too no one's suprise) Terry discovered not one but both mounts gone!!! The only thing keeping the Ovlov's motor from spinning right round was the single tranny mount! (these Scottish OVLOV's are amazing to say nothing of their drivers!) Phil Trevor (brother of Tony) showed up to the track this weekend with the same old datsun 510. He just won't let this sucker die!!! Apparently he spent good coin on replacing the entire floor...he must have a warehouse of parts stashed for this thing! On Sunday (after my spin) I got a chance to trade a little paint with Phil and I must say he drives very hard. Andy Hughes (SAC#59) and Steff Haas (SAC#14) put on quite a show racing neck and neck on several occassions in the front wheel stud class. Paul Gyger (SAC#18) had a good and bad weekend, he did well on Sat in studs but had a drive shaft CV failure on Sunday. After replacing said he went to test after racing and suffered electrical failure. Mike Jensen (SAC#3) will have his stud rabbit back next weekend he hopes as will Gianni Biral (SAC #12). Mike Zenon (SAC#69) had his stud (zomni turbo) car quit suddenly at speed through the kink not sure what's going on there. That's all for now. Jan 31, 2000 So... finally racing again! Oh it feels good!!! weather was perfect this weekend with sun on Saturday which made the track a bit slippy as temperature and sun's intensity rose. Sunday was overcast so not quite as slippery. Mike and I arrived Fri. to setup SACamp and do some tire tractionizing and testing.... Different Setups: Mike is doing a lot better after having somewhat recovered from a bout of pneumonia. He led a race on Sunday for like 10? out of 12 laps until looping and falling to 3rd. Well done Mikey! The track configuation was supposed to be a double one this year to help keep it from deteriorating from the stud cars. But due to lack of snow only one track in the usual configuration was used. A mighty fine job by Tom Prentice and Sons building a track at all as there was hardly enough snow to build safety banks with and they even had to truck some in. Jan 10, 2000 No Ice racing for the planned start date of Jan 15th, 2000. Bummer. Track preparation guy Tom Prentice says he needs at least two weeks to make the track. Well does anyone know if there is any snow accumulation in Minden yet and how much? Will it ever snow? Already people are excited about racing and I have received a number of phone calls and emails from fellow racers on topics related to ice racing. Once again I am sharing the Ovlov with Mike Evans who is in the Dominican Republic vacationing this week!!! What kind of ice racer heads south this time of year?!!! We still need to purchase tires for this season and are considering if something other than Blizzaks would do better. If you are interested in ice racing just drop me a line below...
Email me: Scoty Ice Race Report Archives: |
