I was at the track. Now I have to get back home to watch the recording. Your view at the track is limited. Even with listening to the scanner, I missed a lot.
Morgan was at the track? Now theres something I really missed. I did get to meet Swoope.

 

Hahaha. I thought I was the only RX8 fan on there at 4am.

I recorded the last two hours but it went over, (should've known it would) and it cut off the last hour or so.

If you could get some of that up it would be awesome. If I had enough memory on my DVR I would've recorded the whole thing. Damn you *** cable.

Morgan looks even cuter on HD.

 

They broke a tension bolt. There are 16 of them that hold the engine together. Depending on which one breaks, you'll get a coolant leak. Unfortunatly since it probably broke right near the thread, it would mean a complete engine teardown to get to it as they thread into the front housing.

A tension bolt is something that should never break in a race engine. You get harmonic vibration in them as they don't fit tight against the housings and merely hold the engine together front to rear. They resonate. Mazda made some better ones for race engines that had a small rubber part on them that allowed them to contact the intermediate housing to hold down this resonance. An easier thing is to just coat them in gasket sealer before installing them which is what I do on all of my engines. If I were building a race engine though I'd use stronger studs rather than bolts. You'd never break one again. In this case, that simple issue that could have been prevented cost them an entire race.

 

Is that true with the 3-Rotor engines used by Speedsource for the Grand AM Grand Touring? Or are you referring to 2-rotor engines used in other competitions? Just curious. Great information.

 

Well fred we don't know why it broke. maybe it had some defect from manufacturing that wasn't caught in QC.

 

alnielsen, any pics to share

 

omg morgan! that is you at 2:02!!

im so jealous!

and you look way cute in the video.

 

I want to find out what happened to the #69 too.
________
Park Royal 2 Condo Prathumnak

 

Congrats to Speedsource. I got to hang with them last year at a show, and ask lots of questions. There a great bunch of guys. Long live the rotary!!! =]

 

I took pictures with my cheap camera. However, they are all washed out, not worth posting or keeping.
I thought you were going to be there. I didn't see you around the Mazda camping area.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bv37pJFmDc

Short clip:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuSz2...layer_embedded

 

Morgan was the SS pit fluffer. Officially.

 

that was a good race wish i was there to watch it but watching it on tv is almost as fun!

 

I talked to Nick Ham in the pits on Friday and asked him about the rest of the season and if he would drive the Rolex 2011. He said Rolex 2011 is open and he might come back for the 24 hour race. Nice guy. Also talked to David Hobbs and Bob Varsha from SPEED.

I also asked Nick what advantage Tem SpeedSource had over the other Mazda teams. One word: experience.
By the way, they moved the exhaust from the right side to the rear of the car.
Will post some detail shots of the inner working of the SpeedSource cars.

 

I was there. You see more on TV. I'm watching it now off the DVR.
It was in the 40's and windy. It wasn't a pleasant time. If you want to go south to a race, go to the Sebring 12 hr. It isn't GrandAm but the weather is nicer.