Lisa Devlin's Racing Diary

Enduro at Laguna Seca

by Lisa Devlin

Well, I finally made it. The RDC Enduro... and it was even at Laguna Seca (my favorite track). I've been planning this for two years and I finally did it!

My goal when I started racing was to compete in the RDC Enduro and be running when they threw the checkered flag. Sounds easy enough...

First get the Mazda out of the body shop. Al at Al's Auto Body did a great job on my car. He got it straightened out and put back together and I picked it up on October 19. A full three weeks before the Enduro!

I managed to get replacement body panels from the same car, so when it was put together I had blue panels in the front and white in the back. It looked acceptable, so I decided to forego paint for the time being and make sure the car was mechanically ready to go. Since the Shelby Club was having a one day open track on November 2, I decided to test the car there and make sure everything was working before taking it out for four hours.

At the open track everything was working fine. No problems with turning or braking and the car was running great. One week to do the final prep.

Tires were ordered from Jeff Jio at Mountain View Firestone, new brake pads and wheel bearings from Mazda comp, steal the wheels and brake rotors off of my other Mazda and I'm set for parts. The parts went on, everything was checked, and the car was ready and loaded up on Wednesday! A friend had volunteered his enclosed car trailer for the event, so we were stylin'.

(By the way, I need one of those... and my birthday's coming up... hint...hint...)

Saturday we had decided that my co-driver, Pat Landrum, would drive the practice, I would qualify and then during Sunday practice we would switch, which would enable both of us to get warmed up and practice a quick driver change. Since I had never driven much longer than a 30 minute race, I felt more comfortable taking hour shifts. Pat would drive the start, and I would finish. We were required to take two five minute pit stops, so we wanted to make the extra one as quick as possible. Everything was going too smoothly...

Pat went out for practice and was looking pretty good. So when he came in one lap before the checkered, I kept walking back to the trailer saying things like "he was just done," and "he must have seen that it was the checkered," but I knew I was wrong. Sure enough, he had lost the clutch on the last lap.

Ted and Mark (our crew) and Pat went to work pulling the tranny while I went in search of a disk and pressure plate. Now you can't cross over the '82 clutch parts with the '83 clutch parts and I had the only '83 engine at the track!

Now, with Mazda's, you can't use anything other than a factory (or factory approved) clutch assembly, so I just couldn't run to Kragen and buy something close, I had to find a Mazda. In desperation (the only Mazda dealer open on Saturday had just closed), I called my friend Rick at PR Motorsports to see if he had anything.

Now Rick is in Hayward and I was completely prepared to drive from Monterey to Hayward to pick up the parts, but he didn't have them in stock. He reassured me that I could use the '82 clutch disk and that the pressure plate and flywheel weren't as bad as they looked (except the springs on the pressure plate were nearly flat), and it was a Mazda so it would hold together.

So the four of us got to work to put it back together with the old pressure plate and the '82 clutch disk and kept our fingers crossed that it would hold for the whole race.

Sunday, I drove the practice to break in the tires and brake pads (we'd broken in the rotors on Saturday with some old, stock brake pads). I came in after 15 minutes to save the car. It wasn't perfect, but it felt like it would work if we took it easy on the shifting.

Our full crew was Ted and Mark doing refueling, mechanical and pit board. And Sandi and my mom doing the timing. Really a group effort. Pat started the race. It's really difficult to watch someone else drive your car!

After the first hour he came in and picked up a time slip for our first five. He told me that there were problems with the downshifting at turn 11, and I would need to take it almost to a stop to shift without grinding.

OK.

Fuel, everything checks OK, lost a dust cap on the right, slap some tape on it and I'm outta there. I quickly settled into a driving groove... then about 20 minutes into my hour, I realized that I probably should have hit the outhouse before I jumped in the car. Ooops. Don't think about it, concentrate on driving. Watch the pit board. Feel the shifts.

Turn 11 is a pain. I'm just feeling metal coming off in big chunks every time I downshift. Oh well, I wanted to practice rebuilding a tranny. By the time the guys gave me the halfway mark I was glad... halfway there. By then I had really settled down, and by the time I got the sign to come in, I didn't want to. I felt I could have just stayed out there driving.

This time was a gas and go. Pat's turn to drive. Going into the last hour, we had moved up from a starting position of 46/60 to an overall position of 32/60 and 9/18 in the over 1700cc class.

By the third hour the car was starting to get tired. It was now grinding gears downshifting into turn 2 and turn 5 as well as turn 11. With about a half hour to go, I started just not downshifting at 5 (I had to at 2 and 11). I figured the engine could take the abuse of 8000+ rpm better than the transmission and clutch could take the abuse of shifting. I knew I had a limited amount of shifts left and I wasn't about to use them up before the end of the race!

Ted and Mark counted down the last laps for me... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... then about 6 checkered flags flying at the end of the race. Yelling and screaming in the helmet. Pat the car on the dashboard.

So the racing season is officially over for me. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me for next year.

The plan for next season is to go for points. The car is becoming more competitive and so am I, so I'm hoping for a decent showing. The season starts in March and I always could use crew. If you're going to be in the neighborhood, give me a call.

To send a letter to Lisa, email to devlin@thunval.com

Check out the Distant Thunder archives for previous entries from Lisa Devlin's racing diary