This was another successful race weekend for Cates Engineering Racing with a 1st place win both days and a track record.  Saturday's race was a day of good clean racing, however Sundays Race is where all the excitement happened. 

I started on the pole in front of what should be a faster AI car and pulled out about a 2 second lead the first lap. At the beginning of the second lap I hit the brakes at the end of the front straight only to have my brake pedal go to the floor. The pedal came back the next pump but I knew something was wrong with the brakes.

Every time I hit the brakes it took more pumps to get a pedal. Every time I made a left hand turn the tail end was all over the place. I could not keep the back end behind me and the brake pedal was getting worse every time I used it. Then I started seeing white smoke around the right rear wheel.

"Then I started seeing white smoke around the right rear wheel."

It turns out the pad material of the right outer side brake came unglued from the backing plate and the piston over extended and started pumping out brake fluid all over the wheel and tire. (Thus the reason I had to pump the brakes and why the car was squirly on left hand turns!)

The AI Mustang and Elam started closing the gap lap after lap as I had to brake way early and couldn't get through the left hand turns. The AI Mustang finally was able to get past me just as the last drop of my brake fluid went out the wheel cylinder and onto my right rear tire. He makes the next sharp turn and I almost hit him as I could not stop the car. (Note to self: Time to switch to dual master cylinders) Elam pases me a few corners later and the race is now half over and I have "ZERO" brakes. I continue to motor around and I have to start using first gear and 7000 rpm downshifts to slow the car. Times drop way down but I manage to hold on and only let 3 cars past before the end of the race. (Valve springs probably toasted now)

So with Pauls car having problems again and Elam self destructing his race win, I end up with the win. Not bad for a car with no brakes. (Plus a little luck my car was not black flaged)

The track was a lot of fun and we hope to go back soon. The new tires are a little faster but not much. (We used them for qualifying and the race on Sunday) But they seem to drop off faster in the race than the Victoracers. Will need more data to play with tire pressures and see how fast they are after a few more heat cycles.

If Paul can get his car to make it through a race and Dan has his new car sorted, I expect both to be battling for the lead at CMP.

Brian Cates