John Parson's '67 Nova Project - Too Much To Do

Hitting the Track
I arrived a bit early, and nervously looked at the autocross course at the Lake County Correctional Facility. (If you get out of hand, the sheriff can arrest you right there!) We went through the course walk-through, the driver's meeting, and the warm-up.

My first run was laid back, and I concentrated on making sure I did not get lost on the course. The car felt fine, braked well, and did OK with a 45.7 on my first run. The next three runs netted improvements, with a best of 41.2 on the last. I didn't pay much attention, but I actually won the Novice class, which consisted of 12 other cars, two of which were new Corvettes.

My assessment after that was that the Nova had too much body roll-especially in the back-and that I was doing too much trail braking. I was especially unhappy with my brake pedal linkage, because it was binding.

Fast-forward to the Year One Experience at Road Atlanta. I had just spent the week fine tuning the QA1 shocks to offset the body roll, and I also adjusted the linkage on the brake pedal to prevent it from binding at high pressure. After being so early for the autocross the previous week, I was trying not to be nervous this time. When the A group came back in, we (B group) were broken into four groups of five cars, and my subset was routed to the far right, which meant we were the last ones out. No passing was allowed, but we were told if we kept together, we could go as fast as the slowest car. Every two laps, the pace car would signal us to roll the order around. The car behind him would allow the other four cars by, and then drop in at the back. Off we went in pursuit of the other cars.

A Lotus was first, and we increased speed until it seemed to have trouble keeping up. He rolled around to the back and we went a bit faster, passing two of the other groups. When it was my turn, the pace car driver seemed to relish running away from me, but I caught him quickly. It was a blast following his line, working the brakes, finding the apex, turning in, and then allowing the car to drive out to the edge of the corner. We passed the other group ahead of us, and my car was working great. After I rolled to the back of the group, I fell behind on the back straight so that I could push the car nearly full throttle through Third and Fourth gears.

I came in only to be greeted with bad news: I was black-flagged due to exhaust noise. A nearby church had complained, and there is a local noise ordinance on Sunday mornings. My track day was done.

The postmortem assessment: the brakes worked great and the steering was fantastic. The best thing was that the car felt "pushed" down on the track, and there was not a hint of oversteer. A few times I felt the inside front tire lifting slightly, which means I need more rear sway bar or rear spring for next time. My power steering got a bit chunky in the pits at the end, so I also need a more capable power-steering pump, and my brake-pedal linkage still needs tweaking.

It was exhilarating to feel the suspension work as it was designed, with the brakes keeping the car safe. The acceleration of the 427 LS2 was awesome. Seven years of preparation went into that scant 30 minutes on the track, and it was worth it. My plan is to make more adjustments to the car, and give it another go at Sebring. The car is finally done, and now I'm gonna spend some time at the track!