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Couture Auto take 4th Irish Time Attack on the International Circuit
Jul 14, 05:58 AM by Nicolas Lim
Round 4…
So many questions needing so many answers…
Will the gearbox hold up? Will we break more Mitsubishi OE parts?
Gearbox was silky smooth after a couple of modifications back in the workshop by James – more like extreme modifications of the Mitsubishi selector mechanism, cables and mount points.
Will the car overheat or withstand the longer track?
It was answered fairly quickly with Joe Foley doing eight laps back to back in the practice session – water temps staying at a comfortable 90-95 degrees celsius, oil temps in the 80 degree range. The Redline range of oils and fluids certainly do what they say on the tin. An oil with no compromise.
The car held up well with a little scare in qualifying round 2 when the cam sensor nearly fell out of the car and the car ground to a halt and had to be brought back into the paddocks by the Mondello Tow / Recovery truck (Thanks guys). A quick fix with a number 10 socket saw the car back on the track in less than a minute.
In the finals, having to clip the chicanes on the S bends, the exhaust got bumped off the rough surface and cracked the exhaust manifold. No boost, no lap record – Oh well…
However, Joe still managed to top the class, setting a time 4 seconds faster than the next place. This was in a field which saw cars falling out from engine trouble and bits falling off them. The international track is not easy on cars.
Cheers… to another 1st place finish and the car arriving home safe and sound. :-D