A Successful Test

(Note: during the next several days, my posts will recap the season so far.)

After the 3-cylinder run at Blackhawk on April 10, I had some work to do. Fortunately, I had recently purchased a fresh cylinder head from fellow Tiga racer Rick Roellig. The day after the race, I got to work bolting on the new cylinder head and making the necessary adjustments to make everything match up. But I needed to get some seat time in the car with the fresh cylinder head, preferably at the same track. The next race at Blackhawk was an SCCA National race.

A bit of explanation on the different types of races: Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs is a regional group of clubs that banded together almost 60 years ago. It's a very family-friendly, low-pressure group. Most of us regard each other as family, so we're very nice to each other on and off the track. Many drivers aim to win, but many simply enjoy racing, no matter how they finish.
SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) also has a Regional series, and those races are also pretty low-pressure and friendly, but winning is much more important to most of these drivers. There is still a lot of respect and camaraderie, but the atmosphere is a bit more charged.
SCCA's National series is much more competitive. The focus here is on earning an invitation to the Runoffs, the championship-deciding race at the end of the year. Each race during the season is an opportunity to gather points towards an invitation to the Runoffs. It doesn't matter if you won every National event you entered if you didn't qualify for the Runoffs. The atmosphere at National events is downright tense.

On a technical note, Formula Fords have changed a lot since 1979. Back then, the Tiga had a great balance of simplicity, reliability, and current technology. In the early 1980s, radical new suspension design concepts and more streamlined cars threatened to make existing Formula Ford cars obsolete. Club Formula Ford was created in response to the new technology, to give the older cars a place to compete. Club Formula Fords are required to have the shock absorbers and suspension springs mounted outside the body, which hurts aerodynamics but makes for a more conventional appearance. Club Formula Fords are also required to run a hard-compound racing tire (Hoosier R60), where Formula Fords are allowed to use any brand of racing tires. Only MC races and Regional races recognize CFF as a separate class. If a Club Ford runs a National race, it will be classed with the current Formula Fords.

All that explanation is really just offered as an excuse for the fact that I finished sixth. But I was not there to get points. I was primarily using the track time as a test to make sure the car was prepared and tuned correctly for the upcoming MC race at the Milwaukee Mile.

Okay, that's not entirely true. I was thrilled that I was listed in the top 10 in National Formula Ford points for Central Division. I was bumped the very next race, and five races later, I'm tied for 17th... but it was still a fun bragging point.

Next chapter: Back to the Milwaukee Mile for the first time!