Singing in the Rain (1/21/2003)

The Snowbird double National at Phoenix International Raceway was a four day struggle that finished on a high note as Carl Scott motored from 11th on the grid to fourth place in the second national race of the weekend. This result was particularly satisfying as the race started on a damp track requiring significant concentration and driving skill to keep the car pointed straight, yet alone passing most of the field. Early laps were run faster than the leader and eventual winner as the setup of the Tiger Karts Vandiemen suited the damp and slippery conditions. Carl worked his way to third place and was closing on the two leaders by mid race when the warm day started to dry the track and the car setup held him to 1:02 while the leaders could run 1:01s. Never the less, an outstanding performance that included a few hairy moments dodging spinning Formula Fords while never laying a wheel off line.

It was a long weekend for the ScottRacing team. We had to prepare a Go Kart for showing at the World of wheels Car show as well as reassembling and prepping the RF96 for the race. All this while Carl was contesting two out of town wrestling meets. Practice on Friday was devoted to sorting out minor ills from the rebuilding of the car over the past two months. Engine cut outs were diagnosed with the help of our engine builder Jay Ivey and our new shift linkage jammed one lap into a session. Then a brake problem caused a four wheel slide at the end of the straight shortening the last session. Jenz Ploughman happened by and got us out of our brake predicament. Saturday continued problems with qualifying being less than satisfactory due to significant handling problems due in part to our first use of Goodyear's 160 compound. Chris Harrison helped us get that right and then during the Sunday National race we were down on power due to what we discovered to be a disconnected exhaust collector. We also couldn't get the data acquisition software to cooperate, but Carl's feed back led to a gear change that helped a lot.

During Sunday qualifying, we ran old hard compound tires and had a plug wire come loose, leaving us 11th on the grid again. Monday dawned with rain in the forecast and on the ground. We arrived at the track prepared to change out the rear springs with a set freshly borrowed only to discover that we already had significantly stiffer springs than we thought - so we left them on the car. We also had downloaded new analysis software and it worked perfectly, letting us see why we had made the previous days gear change. In the mean time, there was a big shower that shortened the SRF race and wet down the track prior to o9ur main. So for the main, we put on a soft setup and cranked a lot of rear down force to keep the car pointing straight ahead. Starting from 11th, Carl drove a smooth and intelligent race turning laps quicker than the leaders while the track was damp. By lap 20, he was in third and closing when the sun came out and dried up the track. The effect was to make everybody else faster and the rear wing act as a parachute, moving Carl back to fourth where he finished. Not the result we expected, but the competition was very tough. We should be heading into Willow Springs in Second place and looking to take advantage of what we learned during this weekend to move up.