first aspire autocross (failure)

[codex]

So I decided to try the Aspire at autocross after a couple of years of racing the Miata. I've spent the last few days fixing a few things up on it to make it all the better. Apparently the car was not up to the challange. This is not the first time I've driven the car hard but it seems everything has come together to spell .. FAILURE. It would seem the head gasket is blown from the second run. After the first run I noticed some smoke, but it went away. As for the time, it wasn't bad at all considering the motor being down on power. 45.640 was my fastest time, no where near the slowest. Anyways check out some videos from my first and second run (after the 3rd run I parked the car and had it towed home).

Run #1

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1917314923734192348

Run #2

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6349817658334999849

[packrat427]

Green guy .. you are blowin smoke ..I think you broke something ..

Who was that ?? G/F ..

That is too bad , but you and the car looked great out there !!

Looked like you did pretty good , even with a failure .

[codex]

Green guy .. you are blowin smoke ..I think you broke something ..

Who was that ?? G/F ..

That is too bad , but you and the car looked great out there !!

Looked like you did pretty good , even with a failure .

Yes that was my girlfriend who came for support. Luckily she was there, it was her AAA that got me home.
Does anyone have any idea why it would blow out so much right after a fast tight turn like that? According to my g-tech I was sustaining over 1 lateral G and spiked to 1.2 G's.


I think it may be time for a b6 or bp.

[packrat427]

I could not really see the actual color of the smoke ,
It is possible that is sucked some engine oil and not the gasket itself .

Did it keep doing it or did it finally quit smoking ?

It was not gradual at all , like they normally do , It looked all at once .

[codex]

I could not really see the actual color of the smoke ,
It is possible that is sucked some engine oil and not the gasket itself .

Did it keep doing it or did it finally quit smoking ?

It was not gradual at all , like they normally do , It looked all at once .

Just sitting there idling it wasnt really smoking but revving it up would cause it to smoke a little, the smoke seems white and doesnt have much of a smell, other than normal exhaust. Yesterday I did a coolant flush, but I doubt that has anything to do with it. Im hoping maybes its just that the head bolts came loose and need to be torqued back down. Only time will tell.

[25Horseplay]

Where was that at? It looked like you had fun anyway!

[codex]

Where was that at? It looked like you had fun anyway!

It was the nora autocross in eastlake. http://www.noraracing.net

[25Horseplay]

I will have to check that out! Its only 1/2 hour away!

[GenevaDirt]

^^same here...about 45 minutes for me...will have to check it out

[codex]

^^same here...about 45 minutes for me...will have to check it out

That would be awesome if we could organize a bunch of festivas/aspires to gather at an autocross. The people there seemed pretty ignorant when it comes to these great cars.
As for green guy, I seem to have found the problem to be a faulty PCV valve combined with being overfull of oil. I think what happened is in the hard turn the oil was sucked into the intake through the PCV valve and began to burn off, everything seems to point to this and the car is driving fine now after cleaning the spark plugs and intake tract.

[festymick]

Cool video!

[quaddawg]

^^same here...about 45 minutes for me...will have to check it out

That would be awesome if we could organize a bunch of festivas/aspires to gather at an autocross. The people there seemed pretty ignorant when it comes to these great cars. .

NOW we are talking..

A Festy meet at an AutoCross would be flipping awesome.

If not this season, then next. I could be talked into a road trip for something like that!!

[25Horseplay]

That does sound like fun!

[EVOGUN]

Seems your girlfriend is a half naked guy kinda girl, instead of a half clothed guy kinda girl. :lol:

I think the smoke added to the I can't believe I did slower than that economy car!

Thanks :wink:

[Silv3rBull3t]

Run #1 looked like a good run, minus the fact that you looked like you ripped the E-brake going into the first right 90. Hopefully you will have better luck next time!!! How did you do overall? And in your class? -Kyle