(Irwindale, CA) – I witnessed something really cool at the Falken Tires paddock on the first day at the 2011 Formula D Rounds 7. Gittin blew his motor on, yet still went back out and qualified on 6 cylinders. Vaughn Gittin Jr’s team had already removed valve covers and everything on top of the motor to examine it.
His crew wouldn’t say what the problem was but that they had to pull the motor. It was a cool site when they brought out that Ford Racing motor! What a V8 monster! I didn’t see any unusual leaking and the white engine bay was still exceptionally clean. This getting towards the end of the event and the venue was getting ready to close it’s gates.
I returned on the second day to see what progress they had made. The motor was back in, but I wasn’t sure if it was a new motor or if they had fixed the problem with the original; they did have an extra motor on hand inside the trailer to slam in. They were tuning the motor and revving it a few times and it sounded healthy and strong and Vaughn was able to return back to the track for qualifying.