Man it seems the track has no love for my 7.

So after driving 5 hours (one way), spending over 140 dollars on gas, and 80 on tolls I arrive at Ebisu track in. this place is a Mecca for grip drivers it has 5 tracks total with the longest being 2.2 Km's all twisty and turny and ya know good stuff

I am running with my friend and fellow gear head Tom, who owns a 4 years old Suby with some supportting mods and we roll out onto the track to test out the whole Franken 7 that I have created.

see this thread for info on car https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/half-way-there-554678/

Backgorund its a (nighter)(1800~2400 track time) and its sprinkling off and on.

So after 3 or 4 warm up laps, I change to my rain tires and I started really getting into the groove (mind you its been 4 years since I really ran hard at any of the tracks, so I am busy flogging the seven and getting some decent lap times when my car starts sliding out on the hard right turns, (only the hard right) (hard lefts are fine, as well as sweeping rights) I was thinking maybe the suspension was setup a little off or something, plus I am datalogging on the PFC at the same time for engine stuff so I am not paying it much mind, then low and behold I spun out really hard on the tracks small chicane that comes right after the large high speed right turn, and my battery holder broke and the battery literally flipped and started shorting against the body...

stopped flipped the battery and noticed smoke coming from under the right front fender. my first thought was electrical fire so I shut the car off and popped the hood, **** the turbine was still bright red, yet there was no smoke under the hood?????? started the car again in an attempt to save the turbine and smoke starts billowing out from under the right fender again. **** I got my fire extinguisher in hand and I am running over to the front right side, no flames checked my fuses etc, smoke is starting to die down when the safety truck arrived.

can you make it back, yeah I think so was my reply so I roll back at low RPM to the paddock and pit area. pop the hod again looking for the casue of the smoke now that I can see (the paddocks are well lit) when Tom pulls in walks up and says what the F(*& your puking oil! I shut off the engine and the go look at it and the front right oil cooler is leaking, not quite puking as Tom thought but bad enough.

then the reason for the smoke became apparent, the oil had been squirting on a really hot brake rotor and smoking off as a result, and my right front tire was coated with oil also

mind you I am 5 hours from home and Japanese towing is expensive as hell. so we have an hour left in order to ge tthe car out before they close the track for the night, so Tom and I started wrenching trying to find out why it was leaking, to make it short, A hard line right before the oil cooler had vibrated and cracked, and I had to park the car outside of the track, while tom and I drove back non stop to borrow a flatbed from a friend, then drove back again to get it and back to home.

total time on the track 3 hours total time on the road and in transit (4 trips total back and forth) 20 hours total expressway fees 240.00 dollars and over 400.00 in gas between my car and the truck.

What a fathers day..... moral of the story if you start to slide out look for the cause instead of ignoring it and having fun

kenn

 

geez. That REALLY sucks. And those costs are in USD?

 

Damn that sux man, sorry.








Man you got lucky, glad it worked out in the end.

 

That does suck man, glad the car is ok though and it all worked out. Guess this is one of those "it's funny when you look back on it" maybe.......

 

damn man i know it sux but then again....

 

man i thought you were gonna crash in the wall or something. but can you even laugh about it now?

 

wow that sucks!

 

Sucks.. but repairable and no injuries.. so it could be a helluvalot worse.

Jon