Cat National

[Marshall Mauney]

I owe all the FF and FE drivers an apology for wrecking their race.

Group 2 - FE/FF - was shortened to 7 laps, due to oil at Turn 5. I still don't know exactly what let loose, but my car developed a massive oil leak somewhere in the left sidepod (oil sump and cooler) on the straight going down from 4 into 5. I saw the cloud as I turned in at T5 and pulled off-line before T6, but the damage was already done. The good news is that the engine was still running smoothly when I killed the power - the oil light came on right as I was hitting the switch. The bad news is that it dumped enough oil in T5 to end the race early and tear up at least one other car that I know of.

Again, I'm sorry for all the trouble this caused everyone in our race group.

[Marshall Mauney]

Update: It turns out that the cause of the oil leak was a snapped fitting at the oil filter adapter plate. I had my oil pressure sender attached with a right-angle fitting, which apparently fatigued and snapped off right inside the pressure sender port on the plate. This adapter had been in place for years with no sign of problem (longer than I have owned the car), but now looking at the design it makes sense that vibration would weaken it over time. (Good old 20/20 hindsight.)

I would strongly suggest that everyone take a quick look at your sensor fittings if they are "hard" lines, and make sure that they aren't subject to vibration that could cause them to weaken and fail.

[Drew 13]

I had an oil fitting come loose at the VIR pro race. Put me into the tire wall coming down the roller coaster.

[frenchys]

I'm still wiping oil off my car...............your going to have to wash it for me next time......LOL and there is no billing for rustproofing every piece of steel on my car either.. By the way, how does that work out that you get to place ahead of me??? I know, I know, thats the way it goes. Fittings on the FE's are always better on the end of a hose instead of solid. Look at all the fuel sensors that broke this year.

[Marshall Mauney]

I'm still wiping oil off my car...............your going to have to wash it for me next time......LOL and there is no billing for rustproofing every piece of steel on my car either..

That's what you get for driving so close behind me. Back off a few car lengths next race so you don't have to risk getting sprayed!

By the way, how does that work out that you get to place ahead of me??? I know, I know, thats the way it goes.

That's not very fair - I agree. I think Denny is pretty happy with the outcome, though. Seriously, I don't know what other system would work for determining finishing order for a shortened race, but I've seen this before and it doesn't seem right. I was rather surprised that nobody tried to come up with a way to protest and push me to the back of the results.

quote]Fittings on the FE's are always better on the end of a hose instead of solid. Look at all the fuel sensors that broke this year.[/quote]
Lesson learned....