NEWS!!!....NEWS!!!...NEWS!!!
Well...the Henderson Speed Weeks came to an end
with a snap and a whimper instead of a thunderous roar. Last week was the
official Henderson Speed Weeks that started out with Wes buying his first
car with his own hard earned money. The little Neon (street) was sending
every signal it possibly could that, yes. it was a hundred dollar car, and
yes I certainly over paid. That it was terribly abused and neglected in it's
previous life and even with the steps we took with it, it was not going to
deliver the Autocross championship that Wes and I was looking to get out of
it AND be a daily driver. After the alternator failure, then the brake
failure, then the alternator/ECM/regulation failure...Wes decided that he
wants something more reliable. So after a few weeks of false hopes he
located a car that he decided he wanted...a Ford Contour SE. So we drove
into the Bronx and picked it up on Monday after doing the dance of deception
with the insurance company and brought it home. That's when we discovered
that we couldn't get gas into the car due to a huge hole in the tank filler
neck! The seller neglected to mention this prior to sale. Caveat Emptor. A
search of local Ford dealerships yielded asking prices of $400 dollars and a
week shipping time. No joy there. But the owner of the shop where I get some
things done, Gary at 'God's Way', located 3 Contours in a junk yard on the
island and got one good pipe out of it.
So Wes and I left for Pocono and a two day advanced racing school 0:dark:30
Thursday morning and Eve dropped off the Ford at the shop. Wes had a great
two days, blowing perfectly through the advanced course and setting the bar
for the other students, and went on to win the doubleheader races on Friday,
qualifying on the pole
and going flag to flag.
We hit the road for home with the plan to get home early enough to pick up
the Contour, pack the tools and hit the road for the Performance Driver
Experience at Lime Rock on Saturday. The torrential rains made the trip home
way long and we got here just before Gary locked the door. But all was fine
in Fordville and the car came home happy.
Overslept by a hour the next morning and pulled out closer to six than five.
It rained all the way up to the Connecticut boarder. At this time I guess I
should mention that I, for reasons that will only be known to me, decided
that I would drive the Neon up to Lime Rock, instead of the Durango, with
the intent that Wes and I would play together on track in the time trials.
The re-evaluation of that idea started when we were 3/4 of
the way there and the Neon died. No electric. Coast over to the side of the
road, Wes zaps me with the booster cables, the car fires up just fine. Off
we go. When we get there the weather is off and on and the track is going
from wet to drying to dry to "SURF'S UP!!" in literally minutes. We're late
and have missed driver's meeting and the organizers are making noises like
they don't want to let us play...but, because of my past involvement with
the club, decide to only give us a hard time. I send Wes out in the first
session with an instructor (just to placate the officials) and decide to
leave the Neon in the paddock. Wes' session is uneventful and slow. The
instructor didn't understand why he even went along and he bumps Wes up into
the advanced group. I ask if I can just tack on at the back of the advanced
group and the officials, reluctantly
agree. Wes motions me over the pit wall and I climb behind the wheel of the
Contour.
First blush...this is one torquey lil car! I ease out onto the straight and
kick it into the first series of corners. The suspension holds but I can
tell Wes hasn't set the tire pressures. We howl around the corner and shoot
up the back straight. The tires are not fully up to temperature yet and we
hunt for traction as we slide up the hill. Snatch third real quick and find
the apex at West Bend, then hard on the gas and snatch 4th down
the hill onto the front straight. Okay let's take it for a ride. Hard
braking at the end of the front straight into Big Bend, snap down into 3rd,
and the dang thing takes a set and HOLDS IT! We sail around out to the wide
drift point and right back down to the apex at 3 then into the braking zone
for the left hander. Motor pulls real strong all the way through and we
carry enough speed down No Name straight that I have to catch 4th gear. Not
confident in my ability just yet I go down a gear quickly to third, pull
that all the way through West Bend and snatch 4th just under the bridge
before sailing down the hill. On the straight we fly past a BMW M3 Coupe
that we caught and I look at Wes. His look back said, "Oh yeah...I own a
hotrod."
Repeat the lap catching a new Mini entering West Bend and after dispatching
him we enter the front straight. Into the braking zone and at the 4
marker...I've got great brakes. At the 3 marker...I've got alright
brakes...at the 2 marker I've got no brakes...I'VE GOT NO BRAKES!!! A quick
correction, a slight left flick and we bail from the circuit proper and sail
down the escape road. I get it all whoa'd down and make the flip at the end
and wait to re-enter. The smoke exploding off the wheels left no doubt in my
mind that those brakes were on fire. I get moving again as quickly as I can,
pointing traffic around us and blew cooler, damp air over the cooked
calipers. I'll be danged if the brakes didn't come back up and I had a pedal
before the straight! But I pulled into the pits to see what we would have to
repair to get Wes out. Answer...nothing. The fluid was black, the pads were
cooked but it stopped fine. So out went Wes. And he had a ball. And I must
admit...so did I. That car made me feel like a kid again. God! How I miss my
Shelby.
So Wes finishes out the day with a few more sessions (he could smell the
brakes at the end of every session so he knew to take it easy) and I spent
the day B/S'ing with officials and friends. At the end of the day I picked
up the workers from the corner stations, said our good-byes, and we hit the
road for home. We got 4 miles before the Neon dies again. No electrics. A
boost this time barely got it started and I limped into town running on
maybe two cylinders. I coasted into a Sears parking lot at 5:00 on a
Saturday and the guy proceeded to sell us a $100 battery. Just so we could
get home.
At home I figured that this was pretty much the final hurrah for the lil
Neon. But for some inexplicable reason I found myself getting up at 6:30
Sunday morning and setting out for the Nassau Coliseum to run the Neon in
the Autocross that Wes and I had done with the car earlier in the season. We
had points and were trying for a championship. Wes had gone out Saturday
night with his buds (youth is wasted on the young) and wouldn't get up
Sunday morning so I was flying solo (no pun intended). At the site I stood
in line, paid my entry, then went back, jacked up the car and changed 3 of
the 4 wheels to the autocross wheels and tires. The 4th wheel never got
changed because when I tried to remove the first lug nut...it neatly snapped
the stud clean off. Done. No tech for you "Mr. I Don't Know When To Quit
While I'm Ahead". So I took off all the Autocross stuff and put the street
stuff back on, reloaded the car, got my money back and left for home.
I've decided that no matter how bad the Bailey Honda is I am going to
replace the Neon with it. I stripped it down today, seats, carpets, any
thing cloth that held the odor and son of a gun I could actually sit in it
without retching this afternoon. And then, when Wes got home, we found out
that the bolt pattern was the same as the Neon! So all the autocross stuff
is a bolt on! Home run.
So, with a snap of the wheel stud the Henderson Speed Weeks moaned to an
end. But it may be the start of a beautiful new friendship. Stay tuned.
TCM Debuts Mopar Neon at 2008 Vanderbilt
Celebration at Roosevelt Field
Team Cobra Motorsports unwrapped
their Dodge Neon to public view at the 2008 Vanderbilt Cup Races Celebration
held at the Roosevelt Field Mall managed by Simon Properties on a sunny
Sunday along with a number of other Classic and Vintage automobiles with a
racing and sporting heritage. The recreation, the fourth year running, is a
celebration of the international auto race created and hosted on Long Island
by William K. Vanderbilt in 1904 that ran along the road from New York City
to the middle of Nassau County that later took on the name of it's founder,
the Vanderbilt Parkway.
The livery of the TCM Neon is a
tribute to the AAR Team cars of Dan Gurney and specifically to the Mopar
that he and his team mate, the late Swede Savage, both drove during the SCCA
Trans Am championship of the 1970's. Dan Gurney and his parents lived on
Long Island in Port Washington before moving to the west coast and the rest
as they say is history!
TCM plans to compete the car in the
SCCA Northeast division Improved Touring A category sprint series races, the
NARRC (North American Road Racing Championship)
series, and select NESCCA (North East SCCA) Enduro Championship races at
racetracks across the northeast.
Winter preparations include upgraded
components to the driveline and an extensive weight reduction program to the
entire interior for the upcoming season as well as changes to increase
reliability for the long enduro runs.
Watch for the TCM Neon to post big
numbers next season.
2nd Outing With Margay Brings No Joy
After having a troubled 1st attempt with the new Margay
Brava 1 TaG last year, the team ordered all of the parts and rebuilt the chassis and
electronics that was destroyed over the ridiculously bumpy surface of the Nassau Veterans
Memorial Coliseum in their first outing. The course was modified for 2006 and it appeared
that most of the severe bumps had been avoided. The course was lengthened so the karts
with bigger power could stretch their legs a bit so TCM was optimistic about a good
showing.
First practice was primarily a shake down cruise just to
make sure everything would stay tight and attached and try to get a read on carb
settings. Also to figure out which way the course went. Just a 4 minute session and
everything looked to be A-OK. Just before the start of the second session we lubed the
chain. Some how the excess lube managed to run off of the built in chain guard on the
engine and get into the clutch bell. The resultant chattering and vibration caused us to
dnf that session as we hunted down the problem. We managed to retrue the pitted and burned
clutch, clean the bell, and verify that the bearings were good to go, and scaled the kart
in preparation for the next session.
The warm up laps went fine and the green flew and the
Margay was running a solid 2nd when at the completion of 3 laps Wes had the chain come off
exiting a fast hairpin. He coasted to a stop off the course and we took him back to the
trailer to see what happened. The chain was still intact but the sprocket showed some
gouging on a few teeth. We replaced the gear, checked the alignment, did tire pressures
and waited for qualifying.
Wes had noted that the kart wasn't coming of the corners as
hard as he thought it would so we made a carb adjustment and went to watch from the
troubled corner. At the start of the heat the cylinder loaded up and he bogged on the grid
before readjusting for the start. The team could still see that he wasn't happy with the
way the exit speed was but he did the best he could setting second fastest time before on
lap 3...the chain comes off again!! Same spot. This time the sprocket and the pinion both
showed some damage. But all the teeth remained and they were straight. For the final we
made sure that the drive and sprocket gears were aligned, checked that there was proper
chain tension, checked to see that the motor mounts were solid and secure. I made a final
carb adjustment and we went to the grid.
In the warm up the Margay came alive! The exit speed was
there and Wes gave a big thumbs up as he went by the pits on the formation lap. When the
green came out he moved into the lead onto the long straight but left his braking a little
to late and spun off. In chasing the leaders he lowered his lap time by 1 1/2 seconds and
caught all except 1st and 2nd place, whom he was closing on until, on lap 3, the chain
comes off again!!!
"I was confident that I could have caught 1st and 2nd
in the remaining laps." said Henderson, "The kart was just a missile...better
than it ever felt. But I guess not today. When we find out why it throws the chain every
3rd lap we'll really start to kick it. I'm positive."
So it's back to the shop and a complete investigation of
the problem with the team's sights set on the next event in 3 weeks. We're
disappointed
but optimistic toward the next meeting.
Wes Henderson Completes Bertil Roos 3 Day Competition School
This summer team driver Wes Henderson successfully
completed all of the requirements and received his certificate from the Bertil Roos Indy
Style Racing School held at the Pocono Speedway in Pennsylvania. The course, held over 3
days, teaches the finesse of Grand Prix style racecraft that many of today's
successful
competition drivers use in organizations such as ChampCar, SCCA, ALMS, Grand-Am and
NASCAR.
18 students were put to the test on the demanding 1.3 mile
Pocono North Course and came under the intense scrutiny of the Bertil Roos instructors.
Henderson showed marked improvement and continued to get faster, smoother, and more
confident as the course progressed and comfortably took nearly 20 seconds off of his lap
times, all the while coming to grips with his first ever experience in using a clutch and
gear shift!
Says Wes, "The instructors were great, forcing me to
stay within the parameters of the school and learning the right way to do things. I was
continually counseled on not trying to go too fast too soon and to reduce the drama. In
the end I was faster overall and ready to learn more! I wish we had the funds to just
continue into the 2 Day Advanced Course but that'll have to wait until the next
school."
Now Henderson is re-doing his team sponsor package and
putting together a program that will give potential sponsors the best
exposure in both
the TaGUSA Karting championship and full sized cars.
Wes Henderson Wins Red Bull Invitational Mount Vernon Interdepartmental
Grand Prix in the Streets of Mount Vernon, NY
TCM lead driver Wes Henderson made the trip to Mount Vernon, NY with the
express purpose of redemption. Just 2 weeks earlier he was nipped for the final qualifying
spot in the 2005 Red Bull Driver Search by just 3/1000ths of a second. The team gave him
great support to let him know that while qualifying is one thing, racing is a totally
different animal and the race is what it is about. With that firmly in mind Henderson went
with a mission.
Originally scheduled to compete in the Red Bull Youth race, the event
organizers quickly moved Henderson out of the group of similarly aged drivers and plopped
him squarely in the middle of the adult racers chosen to contest the championship between
the Department of Public works, the Fire Department, the Town Planning Board, and the
Police Department. Negotiations were entered into to have Henderson possibly drive for the
highest bidder of the departmental group. But try as hard as they could TCM couldn't
convince the unknowing racers what they stood to loose. Everyone decided to hold the hands
dealt to them.
In qualifying in blistering 98 degree heat Henderson saved his tires
over the bumpy, tight street circuit and placed the CRG Honda PRO Kart of Island Go-Karts
squarely on the front row in preparation of the 14 lap feature. This will prove to be a
smart move due to later events. When the green flag flew for the start Henderson wisely
surrendered the first turn to the more aggressive pole sitter then shrewdly worked the
tight, twisty, early sections of the circuit and exiting the first of the 2 hairpins
managed an over taking move that gave him better exit speed and the lead onto the long
front straight, much to the delight of the huge crowd that had gathered around the course
for the feature. Then it was a matter of settling into a rhythm and systematically picking
off kart after kart to lap all except second place. With 4 laps to go there was a major
incident exiting the Start/Finish chicane that caused on competitor to end up on his head
but, thankfully, all were alright! On the re-start Henderson had a clear track ahead of
him and again pulled away to a commanding victory of over 14 seconds to the rest of the
field.
A few of the drivers took it all in good fun and actually came down to
the victory celebration. But some just couldn't take the "agony of defeat" and
chose to miss the festivities.
All in all, it was a self redeeming effort and a good show for all who
attended.
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