I just got back from a track day (SCCA-PDX) with the Washington DC region of SCCA. The Shenandoah Circuit is a blast! It's about 2.2 miles, and has 17 or so turns as we were running it. I had a real good day. Lots of people stopped by and were flabbergasted by the car, I got signed off to run solo with the advanced group next time, forced point-bys from several Porsches and even a NASA AI Mustang, but then things went south for me. My power steering system has always been a little wonky, with tons of boost even though it was supposed to be a high-effort system, and that was my main issue.
The first 20 minute stint, I was losing boost while on track. My solution for that was to put a wet paper towel on the pump and high pressure elbow, and keep soaking it with cold water between runs. That kept things together for the entire second stint, and most of the third. Most. Coming out of the Carousel, I noted a difference in the noise of the pump, and loss of boost. I immediately got off line, and asked my instructor where the closest exit was. Right when I pulled it into the pits, the pump locked up entirely, and dragged the motor to a halt. We pushed it into my paddock spot and looked it over. The bottom of the cap was melted! I was hoping that cooling it off again would help, but no dice. However, an interesting thing happened. When I started the car, the steering centered itself with nobody in the driver's seat.
This is where the real great part of the day started. Since my power steering belt also drives the water pump, I couldn't just cut the belt and drive home. A bunch of other drivers assisted with the diagnosis of the situation, and I made some calls to friends and family to try to get someone that could bring a trailer and haul me back. I had my brother all ready to come with my dad's Excursion, and I figured we'd try to get a u-haul trailer locally. I asked one of the instructors if he knew of a local u-haul, and he said, "Where do you live? I'll haul you home." I'm like, "Great! How much?" He said, "Fuel." So, we loaded his stuff back up into his box trailer, went to the after-party, took his trailer to his house, got his flat trailer, went back to the track, loaded my car, and brought it home. Not only did my car get a two and a half hour ride home, but there was good conversation for the whole ride, and I made a new friend.
Well, Mark, it looks like Karma has come full circle.
I'll definitely be attending more WDCR PDXs, especially when they're on the Shenandoah Circuit. The track was awesome, the event was well-run, and the people were the best!
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Originally Posted by TooFast98Cobra
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