Dad arriveed with his Swift DB1 mid day on Thursday. Fortunately the garages at VIR are more than adequate for two FF cars. In fact we had the scale platform in there as well as a lot of tools and supplies.
Fellow FF racers Mark Walthew (crouched over the cockpit) and Karl Barbru (holding up the wall) came out for the weekend to help out. With 7 Practice sessions, two qualifiers and two races over four days, there help was much needed and appreciated.
Unfortunately my dad's weekend got off to an eventful start. In the first session Friday, he had the lower bolt start to back out of the left front upright. It rubbed his new Panasport rim until it exploded in Turn 5 - sending him spinning off into the weeds.
In the second session, the upper rocker arm suffered a material failure at the outer bearing race. The suspension collapsed with a "Bang!" by his report entering "Oak Tree" - once again sending him spinning off of the track. This time into the tirewall on the outside. It was not looking like a good weekend at this point. Two sessions - two wrecker rides.
But with a little help from our friends (Karl shown here) it came back together. Dad had most of the spare parts needed. A tie rod was borrowed from fellow Swift pilot Russ McBride, and after a late evening Friday, the car was back together in time for Saturday qualifying...
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