{"id":331,"date":"2014-12-19T16:09:51","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T00:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.msportvintage.com\/?p=331"},"modified":"2014-12-20T10:16:47","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T18:16:47","slug":"monterey-car-week-2014-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.msportvintage.com\/?p=331","title":{"rendered":"Monterey Car Week 2014- Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

What they had discovered was the aluminum calipers were so old and porous they were leaking brake fluid around the seals on the pucks. This was causing the spongey pedal after just a few laps.<\/p>\n

There was nothing that we could do for this race, but Jim was already planning how to permanently fix the problem. His idea was to sleeve the calipers. Certainly a winter project.<\/p>\n

For this weekend they would plan on bleeding the brakes for every session. I would be sensitive to any softness in the pedal and just take it easy.<\/p>\n

One of the highlights of Saturday for Mary and I is having our whole family come out and cheer the car and Grandpa on. We usually get some team shirts and hats made up for everybody. It’s a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

\"Here's<\/a>
Here’s everybody in their Team Luigi regalia. That tall interloper in the back is Adam Carolla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0time came for the qualifying race and I lined up 23rd out of 44 cars. Unfortunately I got stuck behind a turbo Porsche that was quick down the straights, but slower than my CSL through the corners. It was pretty frustrating not to be able to get by him. I\u00a0ended up finishing 19th.<\/p>\n

I got an excellent start in the feature race, which was good because I desperatly wanted to get by the Porsche early in the race. Once by, I found myself racing with Ernie Spada in his IROC 911, and Dennis Singleton in his green RSR Porsche. We ran nose-to-tail for several laps. It was a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

I sneaked by Ernie as he was balked by a slowing Ferrari coming out of Turn 5.<\/p>\n

About this time Adam Carolla came up from behind in his ex-Paul Newman 300 ZX Datsun. He got by me just as we turned up the hill towards the Cork Screw. As we got to the top of the hill the red flag came out so we all pulled over to a stop.<\/p>\n

\"Her<\/a>
Her I am leading Ernie Spada and Dennis Singleton. Adam Carolla is lurking at\u00a0the back. This was the lap before the red flag.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately\u00a0Ken Epsman in his Dekon Monza had a wheel break going through Turn 4. He went off into the tire barrier in a big cloud of dust, and his left rear tire bounced over the fence and into the grandstand. Fortunately no one was struck, but all emergency vehicles were dispatched to the scene.<\/p>\n

After collecting the field with the pace car we had\u00a0one last lap under green. I had a mirror full of yellow and green Porsches, but I was able\u00a0to hold them both off to\u00a0finish 6th. It was a great race, and a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

\"Thanks<\/a>
Thanks to Jim and Terry and their great work on Luigi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the Awards Ceremony we were given\u00a0the Rolex Award of Excellence for Group 5A. \u00a0Certainly this was due to the beautiful restoration work done by Racecraft. Thank you Terry and Jim!<\/p>\n

Adam Carolla does a video podcast called Carcast. He featured his outings in his Datsun, and there are some shots of the Luigi CSL. NOTE: These are rated PG-13 for language.<\/p>\n

First, though, here’s my in-car video:<\/p>\n