Boy Racers

If you know me, you know that for most of my life I've been interested in making old Volvos go fast. Faster than most old Volvos, anyway. "Volvo" and "fast" often don't fit into the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence... which is a large part of the reason that such a thing is among my aspirations. Something about the underdog appeal draws me in.

This last weekend I was fortunate to be included among a pit crew for one of the best known (among us Volvo folk, anyway) fast Volvos. Jim and Joy Perry own a 1962 Volvo P1800 that is among the most fully race prepared such cars, and they brought it out to Portland to participate in the Historic Races this last weekend.

My thinking was that if all went well, I'd enjoy my full access pass and sit around watching cars go fast; and that if something didn't go well I'd see if I could lend a hand toward whatever repairs might be called for.

The first day, Thursday, was "testing and tuning." This is the day when racers get their cars onto the track for some practice and (primarily) for fine tuning the car for the coming races. Different tracks, different elevations, barometric pressures, ambient temperatures, and available fuel each influence different variables. Jim's car had a couple minor tweaks we knew we'd want to look into, but before you can tune one of these things, it's best to give it a try as it is and then see what needs tweaking.

First, we unloaded the car by rolling it out of the trailer and onto the ground. Of course, my sensible shoes were in my duffel bag and as soon as I stepped onto the pavement with a fair amount of racecar pushing me backward, I slipped out of my sandals and peeled a callous right off the bottom of one of my feet. It was bleeding a lot, so I patched a square of duct tape over it.

The bad news is that this made me walk funny for the rest of the day; the good news was that my blood sacrifice for the car had been made early on and would, no doubt, ensure good fortune for the rest of the weekend.

We made a few initial checks, got the car started up, and I climbed in with Jim to head over to the tech inspection. Sitting on a square of foam (there isn't a passenger seat in this car), it was clear that the thing is built for speed. It's also clear that it's bolted together really securely and doesn't have any of the rubber bushings nor mounts that are found on street driven cars... which means that the engine, rear axle and exhaust each transfer some amount of vibration into the cockpit. Add to this the lack of insulation and very taut suspension, and the ride is a bit on the noisy side, a bit on the rough side. I loved it even though we didn't get out of 1st gear and kept it below 20mph.

Tech was a breeze, so we went about getting Jim suited up. He put on his fireproof undergarments, then a 'Cool Shirt,' which is a shirt that has tubes sewn all over it. These tubes connect to what's essentially an ice box and a pump, and they circulate cold water all around the driver's torso. This is a good idea given that it's hot outside, that race cars are hot, and that the driver is wearing several layers of warm clothes.

Jim went out for his first tuning run, which was to be 10 or 15 minutes and would, no doubt, give us some insight as far as what we might want to do about tuning the carbs or whatever other minor tweaks a car of this caliber might need.

During the first lap, the transmission made a very loud "bang" and Jim brought the car back in before he'd completed a single lap. It wouldn't go into gear properly and we quickly decided (mostly he decided, as I was there to follow the instructions given by those who know more than I do about things like this) to replace the transmission with a spare he'd brought along.

The transmission that came out is a fancy race piece that costs a lot of money and that you can't get parts for at the local Napa. You probably can't get parts for it anywhere in the US, really. The one we put in is an old gearbox taken from someone's broken down passenger car.

So Thursday, we were busy changing out transmissions and the clutch and we missed the second tuning run. By the time it was back together, the track was cold (meaning 'no more cars allowed').

We did make a couple changes to the carbs that we knew were good ideas. Our friend Phil knows these 48 Weber DCO carbs far better than most people, so he chose the bits to replace and we did that.

The next day, the car was running well with its meek transmission and Jim was getting the hang of the track. We watched his lap times get faster though we could tell the carbs weren't quite right. A couple more changes to the carbs would be helpful before getting back onto the track for the second practice run.

Unfortunately, my blood sacrifice was proved inadequate and Jim would have more issues with the car. Friday turned out well enough, but Saturday was less agreeable. Still plenty of fun and good times, but more wrenching.

On the first run, the temperature spiked and cooland overflowed from the overflow bottle and splattered on the windshield. After a couple quick checks, it was clear that the head gasket had blown. The only repair for this is replacement, so we quickly went about changing the head gasket and were happy to button everything up about a half hour before Jim's second qualifying run.

The second run was really fun. We watched Jim give one of the locals in a BMW a run for his money and finally pass him on the front straight. Unfortunately, something went a little wrong at the end of the straight, and the Volvo ended up going off the track, over a bump, and came to a stop on the track facing oncoming cars. Once those cars cleared, he was back to it, though the heat was nearly over. We made a few more changes to the carbs and looked under the car, happily finding that the only substantial contact with the ground had been taken up by structural (and not fragile) parts of the car's belly.

Overall, things were going well. Jim had moved from 23rd position up to 8th. 8 is less than 23, so things definately headed in the right direction for us.

Sunday was the "actual racing" day and we were pretty happy about the car, so we didn't do much other than watch. At the beginning of the first heat, some of the other cars got tangled up (and the drivers were, apparently, not happy with one another), so half of the heat was held under a yellow flag (this means: keep driving slowly and don't pass anyone). By the time the race was on, the race was over and we only got to see a couple minutes of anyone vying for position.

Ours was the final race of the day and was to be a 20 minute heat. After lots of fiddling around with broken stuff, the car was as ready as we could make it, so we had time to walk to the far end of the track for a good view. The cars came out - Lotus, BMW, Cortina, Alfa, Volvo and others - and got busy. The first half (or so) of the race was fun. Jim and the Volvo continued to pick up speed, passing several cars (and getting passed by a couple, but certainly doing well).

And then the Volvo seemed to be going slower. We weren't sure if the old transmission had given up for good, or what exactly. Brake fade? Funny noises inside the cabin?

After the race, we all went back to the pit where Jim explained that the temp had spiked yet again and showed us that coolant was spraying onto the windshield yet again. Checked the coolant and found it again contaminated with combustion byproducts, which means the fancy race quality head gasket had - again - blown.

Because the racing was over and there wasn't any urgency to replace the gasket, we put all the toys away and loaded up the car. Someone else will have to replace the gasket when the car returns to its native Wisconsin I suppose. Everyone went home for showers, then we headed over to Dean and Jayne's where we ate all of their food. Good times.

The carb tuning is the easy part in all of this as long as you have someone like Phil around. The problems associated with a 'dog box' race transmission that runs straight cut gears and super exotic are less so. Finding someone capable of rebuilding such a thing is tricky enough, let alone sourcing parts. When that 'box came out of the car, we opened it up expecting to find some broken thing, or some shards of broken thing... but it looked perfect. We don't know what went wrong with it. Maybe nothing's wrong with it and some strange fluke befell the car. When it comes to a $7000 transmission, though, it makes good sense to err on the side of caution.

The continually blowing gaskets is the other thing that doesn't yet make sense. Jim's been through a lot of those gaskets on his new race engine, which is unusual even on a machine of this caliber. While the head was off, we all looked at how it was prepared and how the engine builder had gone about some elements related to the basic design -- things like porting, shaping the combustion chambers, and decking the block. There are a couple things we hadn't seen done quite this way before and that we wondered about (a little bit of "why do you suppose they did this?" and "what do we think is the benefit of that?"). I know that people who build race engines have a lot of understanding that I myself do not. I don't question whether or not a given approach is smart, but I sure do spend a lot of time trying to guess why some of the builders do the things they do.

Just goes to remind me that I don't know nearly as much about design nor maximizing potential as I'd like. I'm not bad with a set of tools and can get things apart and back together pretty well, but there comes a point at which it's up to someone else to let me know what things to remove and replace. It's really humbling.

This was the most fun I've ever had at a race weekend. Also the most exhausting and the most informative. Met some really terrific people, got to play with a race car, caught up with friends I don't get to see nearly as often as I'd like. Perfect.

It also reminded me that there was a time that I really wanted to race. That urge has passed (though I do still want to participate in track days) and I find myself perfectly happy to be a member of the crew. Really happy.

After that, reality came back and on Monday I found myself mowing a long overdue lawn, pulling weeds, and doing all the everyday normal stuff I also thoroughly enjoy. Now I'm back to copywriting and editing, and trying to get on with another company as one of their freelance writers. I'm sure hoping that comes together, as will allow me to continue with this blog thing, keeping up with yardwork on two houses, as well as a book that's only about half done. 39,000 words and counting. More on that later.

All best,

Cameron