AE86 Update: D-Day – AE86 at Dover! *Part 1

Did you watch the Rolex 24hrs yesterday? Fortunately, I caught the beginning and portions of the final hour. Thanks to a re-start, we witnessed some real ‘door to door’ racing as the race came to a close. The drivers and their machines were ‘slugging it out’ like warriors at Monday Night Raw! Did you see the incident involving the Ferrari and the Audi R8? Did you agree with the call?

On to more pressing matters! The AE86 build was finally finished. A journey that took approximately three years. Three years which when aptly put could be summarized as the world’s largest roller coaster ride! But, I was thankful that we got to the finish-line. Insert the word – proud – in that sentence!

Jamwest

As stated in an earlier blog, we used the event at Jamwest to fine-tune the Dover effort. With all the incentives the Jamwest team offered there was absolutely no way we would refuse their invite. The package for competitors at the event included – a room for the night, transportation for the machine, to and from the track and a special deal on race-tyres! It was too good to be true! So we went and we learnt a lot. The lessons learnt, assisted to shape our Dover program.

After the Jamwest event I made a list – AE86 needed for Dover- 31/3/2013. The list read – Labels for Dashboard and Switches – Front Windshield Wiper – Letters for Class Bracket – Rims for track-tyres – Air Duct for Brakes – Window Net – Fasteners for Hood Pins – Fire Extinguisher. The days between the Jamwest event and Dover apparently were subjected to intense heat and pressure, they evaporated! And in a blip of the throttle the date read – March 30, 2013.

AE being prepared for the trek to the track – 1

- 2

Almost there – a few km from the track!

Journal – Dover – 30/3/2013

Arrived at the track – Saturday. Teach (Christopher McFarlane) asked if we were there for the training – Oshane , Jamie and myself. Did a brief session (a lecture). It was raining. Tried to ‘rig up’ a wiper – no can do. After consultation, the local remedy was suggested by Patrick Gore and company – ONION!

The day before qualifying – the weather was not cooperating.

Went out on track to get a feel for what was happening. Told the ratios (differential) were too long – 2nd gear would almost complete the start-finish straight! Then grab third, before braking for corner 1 – will not work!

That realization was not comforting, but, at that stage there was nothing I could do. It was my plan from the onset, to carry AE to Dover and hopefully while I drove into the familiarization process, from the experts in the pits – listening, observing, etc., I would be able to get some constructive feed-back which could then be used to improve the machine. I was correct. Thanks to Patrick Gore and other AE86/ ‘Blacktop 20 valve’ enthusiasts, we were struck like a boundary-bound cricket ball exiting the face of Chris Gayle’s bat, with a wealth of information! Like a sponge, we absorbed all that we were given, but guess what, qualifying was a day away!

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer