2024 Bristol Pro S1 196 Eric 27.366L/30.362R

2024 Bristol Summer Nationals included both the Prosolo and National Tour July 3-7 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The car is Eric Anderson's supercharged Miata.
The Pro was again fraught with mechanical challenges. The head gasket blew again during Deana's second session. There were also clutch throw-out bearing alignment issues, as well as a failing clutch slave cylinder. The head gasket was replaced the morning of day 2, causing Deana to miss that session but allowing Eric and I to test it our in 3rd session. With more torque on the headbolts on the freshly o-ringed head, the new setup held up. Unfortunately, the clutch issues had not been resolved yet, so a inconsistent clutch made staging and launching challenging with the light tree. Even with the mechanical distractions, our results were surprisingly good. Deana took 2nd in Ladies 1 with standing on 28.074 (left)/30.833 (right) runs, just 0.332 short of the win. Eric and I took 4th (27.366L/30.362R) and 3rd places (27.806L/29.762R), respectively. I coned, red lit, and stalled away the win....argh.
After the Pro Eric replaced the throwout bearing again as well as clutch slave cylinder. That seems to have resolved the clutch issues that have plagued us much of the year. Deana and Layne ran in the Ladies Race Tire index class for the Tour. Cones were a big factor for the Tour courses. Deana ran a 47.222 day one, and a 46.391 day 2 to take 3rd, while Layne ran a 49.323+1 day one and 47.338+1 day 2 to land in 5th. Eric and I joined a cobbled together XP class that included XP, SSM, and FP cars. While the drivetrain was solid, there were line lock/ABS/TC wiring issues. We ended up running without ABS and TC by the end of the session. Day one, Eric DNFed all 3 runs (2 runs off course, 1 line lock wiring issue), while I was able to hold a slim .350 second lead with a 44.844. For day 2 Eric was able to reinstate ABS/TC and use it to run a 44.752. I was able to be more aggressive with TC and ABS and a solid banker second run, ending up with a class leading 43.007 and extending my overall lead to almost 2 seconds.