RJRacing

SANTA ANA, CA — There’s just something about Auto Club Speedway that guarantees the weekend will be eventful. This being RJ Racing’s home track, the team can always expect the most fans to attend…and the most drama to occur. Ironic considering that the speedway features RJR’s shortest races of the season.

Last time it was an engine leaking oil, necessitating dropping the subframe, resealing the oil pan and pulling the transmission for a clutch change. And before that, a freak hood pin failure causing the hood to fly up and smash the front and rear windshields.

This time around, the team left nothing to chance – the #23 Weekend-Racer.com Mazda MX-5 was prepared meticulously, checked and rechecked – it was gone over as though we were entering the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. About the only thing the team did not undertake was tearing apart the engine and putting it back together.

The Test Day on Friday began uneventfully – heat cycling new Hoosier R6 tires in preparation for NASA Nationals in September. Halfway through the session, the car was brought in to install scrubbed tires to collect necessary tire data for race setup changes. During the brief pit stop the engine stalled. The team immediately suspected a problem with the ECU but the car fired up again, maintained idle, and was sent back out.

Before the next session, the team swapped out the ECU as a precautionary measure. As Rob was getting the car up to speed and tracking down a fellow Miata the engine suddenly lost power. Rob notified the team and was told to pit immediately. However, only two corners later in the braking zone for a hairpin turn, the engine completely died, causing a loss of vacuum pressure to the braking system. The engine refused to refire.

After a tow into the garage, the car started, but did not sound healthy. Initially fueling issues were suspected since the spark plugs were verified to be firing and there were no air blockages to the intake. Fuel pressure was verified, so the gas tank was drained, hoping that the car had just gotten a batch of bad fuel.

After refilling the car with fresh fuel the car again refired, but still did not sound healthy. On the way back to the garage the rear tires locked up and the car came to an abrupt halt. The car not only would not restart, the crankshaft would not even turn. The engine had completely seized and fused itself into one solid piece of metal. After 110,000 miles of hard driving, the last 20,0000 of which were raced flat out, the engine had finally died. All good things must come to an end.

With the enduring “never say die attitude” the team, once again, sprang into action at Auto Club Speedway. A brand new crate motor was quickly ordered from Mazda Competition parts. John and Sean Trabue traveled back to the shop for the few needed tools and pieces of equipment for the engine change while Rob, Sean Ryan and Craig Tsurumoto began the process of uncoupling the engine from the car. By 6 p.m., the new crate motor had arrived and the ancillary parts were being installed. The new engine was fully installed by 9 p.m.

The key was turned, and RJR Engine Mark II roared to life. It sounded good and ran smooth, with not a trace of any fluid leaks. The first session of Saturday was spent seating in the piston rings. After that, the car was raring to go.

For this weekend, the team installed a passenger seat and harness to give fan rides during the Time Trial sessions. Everyone had a great time, and the RJR team thoroughly enjoyed giving its fans a glimpse of what it is like to hurtle around the track at racing speeds.

After winning the Time Trial event for the day (and setting a new Time Trial track record), John started the PTE race from pole position. He held off the field nicely for the first half of the race and began creating a nice cushion until a mysterious black flag was thrown for the entire field. For the next 10 minutes, all cars were stopped in pit lane. Apparently an ambulance was not available on standby (as is required) and racing could not resume until an ambulance arrived. Although John’s gap to the rest of the field had evaporated with the black flag, once the race resumed, John got a great restart and cruised to victory.

The next day, the team once again won Time Trials. For the PTE race, it was Rob’s turn to take pole. After a good start, he gradually and consistently pulled away from the field and won the race with a 45 second margin over second place.

The team ended up with a perfect weekend: two pole positions, two race wins, fastest laps in both races, two time trial wins, and a lap record. The results speak for themselves. But the story this weekend was about the journey, not the destination.

The team now heads back to the shop to prep the car for NASA Nationals at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, hoping to improve on its second place finish last year.