S197 3V Fabman's build; How did we get here? Build Thread

[Fabman]

A little damp and light drizzle….thats fast enough for me. All GT1 and GT2 cars ahead of me. Just ride around and stay out of trouble and we should be fine. Stay tuned.

 

[Fabman]

After leading (ITE) from the drop of the green and a long yellow that allowed second place to catch up, a sudden inability to select gears cost me the race. In a near carbon copy of nationals, I literally coasted up the final straight and across the checkers in neutral, first gear only engaging after the finish line where second place finally caught up and edged me out in the last few feet. I am beyond frustrated. I don’t yet know if the shifter, transmission or clutch is at fault because at this moment I have none of those. An easy victory turned into bitter defeat. Such is racing I guess.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

I feel for you Sal, after working on fuel pickup issues when I had my Boss 302S the problem seemed to be solved until the last lap of an event and a clear win became a last place finish. After one more similar situation, another loss from first I got a fuel cell put in by Blevins at Chicane 23. Your loss and similar ones many of us have had are the ones that drive us crazy. I feel your pain and though they is likely to help much we do empathize with you --- racing seems to be an equal opportunity devil in disguise at times. The problem is most of the time there is nothing more " Heaven Sent ," than driving at speed, passing others, or putting down a time no one else in one's Class can match.

Hang in there we know you will come roaring back!

 

[Mad Hatter]

Well that sucks.... Curious to see what failed!

 

[Fabman]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=846818187201959

 

[Fabman]

 

[Mad Hatter]

Boy you could do a lot to our old beasts with 40K.... And they don't use a extension cord.

 

[blacksheep-1]

After leading (ITE) from the drop of the green and a long yellow that allowed second place to catch up, a sudden inability to select gears cost me the race. In a near carbon copy of nationals, I literally coasted up the final straight and across the checkers in neutral, first gear only engaging after the finish line where second place finally caught up and edged me out in the last few feet. I am beyond frustrated. I don’t yet know if the shifter, transmission or clutch is at fault because at this moment I have none of those. An easy victory turned into bitter defeat. Such is racing I guess.

Well, that's BS

 

[CobaltFilly]

Very much BS

 

[Fabman]

Well at least I managed to beat my own personal best time there by a full second…..so there’s that.

 

[Mad Hatter]

A PB is probably the most important in the end. They tend to stick in your mind longer then a win and It will be the number you need to beat!!

 

[Fabman]

Painful as it may be, this is it:
THE LAST LAGUNA

 

[Dave_W]

Well, that's just painful to watch.

Can that course be driven in one gear? Coast into the slow corners and use the 'murican v8 grunt to pull you out? When second place caught up to you, you still managed to pull away pretty easily when you found a gear. As you came up to the last corner, I was yelling at the screen, "Don't shift, don't shift! Just clutch it if you need to, but don't shift!" But heat of battle and all that, I guess.

 

[Fabman]

Well, that's just painful to watch.

Can that course be driven in one gear? Coast into the slow corners and use the 'murican v8 grunt to pull you out? When second place caught up to you, you still managed to pull away pretty easily when you found a gear. As you came up to the last corner, I was yelling at the screen, "Don't shift, don't shift! Just clutch it if you need to, but don't shift!" But heat of battle and all that, I guess.

There were times I held it in 3rd way too long to avoid shifting and times I was in 4th when I needed 3rd and 3rd when I needed 2nd, but it would be damn hard to do it all in one gear.

 

[Ludachris]

That's got to be painful. Knowing the competition is coming up on you, wanting badly to keep running it hard but also trying not to cause more damage.

 

[302BOB]

Them gears are like women....they'll make you or break you if you can't find the right one.....................

 

[Fabman]

That's got to be painful. Knowing the competition is coming up on you, wanting badly to keep running it hard but also trying not to cause more damage.

Same exact scenario at Nationals, the difference was I managed to coast to the checkers before 2nd place caught me at Nationals.

 

[Fabman]

This is a clip of the finish last week.

This is a clip of the finish at Nationals.

 

[dragoon]

Can’t be any better than a champagne soaked race suit !! Congratulations Sal and you team !!

 

[Fabman]

Can’t be any better than a champagne soaked race suit !! Congratulations Sal and you team !!

Nationals was in 2022.....the car has been sitting for 2 years.
This was my first race weekend back and this is what I get.
Of course we did have a practice at Sonoma a couple weeks before when my gear got stolen....