The Fall Classic this September had a little bit of everything, great weather fortunately, big field for the vintage class, 32 cars started and by Sunday’s afternoon race there were still 27 on the grid. The Weekend started on Friday with two practice sessions, which went well, nothing out of the ordinary. Saturday morning was qualifying and under a perfect fall sky we set a new personal best of 2.07 and qualified 6th in the small-bore class. Saturday’s afternoon race was a bit of another story as we developed an electrical problem that forced us to push start the 212. We tried to sort out the problem with some advice from fellow racers Phil Cooper and Jason and Dan Di Cesar. We at that time thought the problem was a faulty starter. We finished 4th in class and chopped another second off the clock, things were looking pretty good for Sunday’s two races, but what about that electrical problem? Sunday morning, I decide to borrow a spare starter from Phil Cooper who also races an MGB and that is where our troubles begin. To change an MGB starter is fairly straight forward and is a relatively simple task, we got it done in about 30 mins. The only thing is we still did not have a functioning starter and as it turns out we have a bad electrical short. This is where the essence of vintage racing kicks into high gear. Dan Di Cesar’s nephew Jason (a fellow racer but only helping with Dan for this weekend) stepped up and spent at least 90 mins helping us find out where the electrical short might be coming from. Even as far as raising a few hairs on his head when connecting the battery. Sadly, after all that effort on Sunday morning we ran out of time and did not make the morning race, our electrical problem was getting the better of us. It is no fun to watch I can tell you!! We continued searching and finally found our short. We still do not have a starter that will turn the motor but decide that we will push start it for the afternoon race. Little did I know that the essence of vintage racing weekend was not over yet. About 90 mins before the afternoon race another fellow racer’s mechanic comes by our paddock and determines that our problems are related to our kill switch. We source out a spare switch from a fellow racer (Chris Rupnik) and again Jason Di Cesar is the man of the moment. The new switch is installed and vroom, she starts up right away. We start second to last but pass several cars and finish 5 th in class and set another personal best 2.05.21. What a weekend and big shout out to my crew Bryan Vajda and Karl Marcuse for all their effort. The Essence of Vintage Racing was on full display that weekend and I couldn’t have been more thankful!! Till next season Jody Safety Fast
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