Here's a report I wrote shortly after the September COMSCC event at Loudon:
I have to admit that I am rather down right now. The events of September 11, followed by Zanardi's accident, all at the same time that I was ill, had some effect on my spirits.
Also I was disappointed by my performance this weekend, even though I managed a 5th place trophy (out of 16 in class) and Nate got 6th.
I'd been really looking forward to this weekend because it would be the first time with the full Arnao package on the Cobra at Loudon. The car handled great at Mont Tremblant and I was expecting great things at Loudon with it.
However, we found the car had a scary instability on transitions, particularly turning in to the oval and also exiting it. I think this is due to the rubber bushings that are still in the rear uprights (the only planned suspension change we haven't completed).
Also the left rear caliper seems to be giving up the ghost, so the car tries to turn right when you brake. Plus the steering shaft has developed some play, apparently in the u-joints we got from Flaming River. [This later turned out to be due to inproper tightening after we removed the shaft when relocating the steering rack while dialing in the bump steer.]
These things - and the memory of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin - made it very difficult for me to commit to the oval properly. Late Sunday morning, before my last practice run, we disconnected the rear bar for more understeer. This helped a lot, but I think I was still losing nearly 2 seconds to other cars during the first half of the oval (NASCAR turn 1). As a result, I was only able to do a 1:17.5, equaling the best time I'd turned on that configuration last April, before all the suspension changes. I expected to be about 2 seconds quicker than that.
I managed a 1:17.8 in the time trial. The 4th place time, 1:17.3, was by another FFR Cobra - with a much less experienced driver, stock FFR suspension and live axle, but better brakes and a 351 Windsor with at least 100 hp more than us. The top three were in the 1:12 to 1:15 range.
Nate was nearly as quick as me, with a 1:17.7 in practice and 1:18.2 in the time trial. It's very encouraging that both of us are getting very close to our best practice times in the timed runs.
Anyway, we've got three weeks before the next event, also at Loudon - but thankfully not on the oval! The next one will be the chicane-chicane configuration, which I love.