Hey Chris, thanks for keeping an eye on us! As Randy must have told you we had an interesting time. Everything worked out okay in the end but there were some issues along the way.
We added another shock in the front to help prevent some of the damage we experienced on the 1000. The front upper shock mount is located on the removable cross brace. This is also where the PS reservoir and the coils are mounted. The first half of the first day course was very rough, more so than anything we've experienced in several years of the 1000. Even though Randy was really taking it easy it was a pounding. After we did codriver swap and the second half of the course was entered the engine began running rough. Randy pulled over to investigate and they noticed smoke coming from under the hood. Quickly bailing out and investigating they found the fire was on the driver side header where I'd wrapped it with a heat shield. Karl is a retired fire captain so he did what he does best and had it out in an instant. No damage to the rig! Thank you Karl!!!! Further investigation revealed the bolts at the junction of the cross brace and the mount had sheared on both sides. This allowed the shocks to push the brace up and forward smashing the PS reservoir through the hood and popping an ignition lead off. The movement also loosened a connection to the reservoir which allowed the fluid to drip onto the header where it collected and ignited. The serpentine belt also dislodged. Randy and Karl worked up a plan and got the rig back on the road in about 90 minutes. Shocks were removed and the cross brace junctions secured with hose clamps. Belt back on and the lead popped back in place and they were on the road again. Well done guys!
Second day issues were mostly problems with technology. The Stella tracker battery discharged overnight requiring a last minute swap. The new unit failed all functions but the emergency and passing signals. No mileage read out or tracking. So the #66 went dark.
After the hillclimb race to Mike's Skyranch we were cruising back down the transit section when we lost power and that was that. No fuel pressure. Got towed in to town by the sweep team and put her on the trailer. Arriving in Ensanada we tried starting again with a jumper to the batteries and she started and would run in idle, limp home mode. Across the finish line she chugged, avoiding a DNF and garnering a couple of trophies as we were the only one in class.
So the 500 was a great test for the 1000. We'd done a lot of changes including a new motor so a good test run was essential. It'll take some time to get the computer thing figured out. The rest is an easy fix. Get that done, get the shocks tuned correctly and we'll be ready to tackle the 1000 in April 2020. I'm so appreciative of the great team we have, Randy, Randy and Karl. Never say die, always can do.
