VIR Revisited

False Grid at Dusk

Virginia International Raceway is one of the East Coast's best road courses. Located just off the North Carolina state line in middle Virginia, it's a 3.2 mile long track with huge elevation changes over the circuit. The pro's race here, including NASCAR folks who use it for testing as it's not too far from their Charlotte base.

I've been racing there since it reopened in 2000 and it's been a couple of years since I've been back. The last time was the 2009 944Cup Nationals. It's always been one of my favorite tracks. This time it was round 3 for the North region of 944 Cup. 2 sprint races for points and a 90 minute enduro were on tap.

A boring  - the best kind  - 6 1/2 hour tow brought me to the paddock. As much as I love the track, I hate the paddock. A giant sand box that becomes the gift that keeps on giving. I'll be sweeping out the sand from the trailer, the race car, my suit, my truck for the next several weeks. I made the best of it, setting in with some SmuttyNose Porters to be shared with my paddock mates, Sharon and Dennis Wasser and Mark Weining.

It was a hot weekend. Canopies, fans and cool suits required!

Being a PCA race event, the days followed the typical PCA schedule. Friday was 3 practice sessions followed by the fun race and practice starts for the rookies. Saturday brought qualifying and 2 sprint races. Sunday was the 90 minute enduro.

Compared to my last visit, the paddock seemed barely populated. Unlike the Glen event, the VIR race only had about 100 racers. A BMW race group of about 20 cars plus an advanced drivers education group rounded out the attendees. Outside of the big races like Sebring and Watkins Glen, event organizers need to be creative to break even these days.


I've done a couple of changes to the car following the Glen weekend. I replaced the stock rubber transmission mount with a Lindsey Racing solid mount to address the balky 5th gear issue. I'm running stock motor mounts up front, so the solid rear shouldn't vibrate my fillings out. I added the oil cooler back in since I knew it was going to be hot and didn't want to stress the motor. 

LR solid tranny mount in the carrier

 Using a tranny jack, a floor jack, and my lift, I was able to replace it without dropping the tranny. 

snug and at home. a nice bit of saturday afternoon work.

Practice 1 (P1) was fine, doing a 2:26 lap with my old 15 heat cycled Hoosiers. I ran without my cool suit for the session, but that was the last time for the weekend. By 10 am it was hot, in the 90's and muggy.


P2. Well,you remember that stumbling issue I had at the Glen? Well, its back! I had replaced all the ignition wires, checked all the grounds and connections and it all seemed fine. But late in the session the car would stumble while exiting a turn. Best time was a 2:25, so I dropped a second.


P3 more of the same. Toward the end, on the last lap I barely made it around the track, the best time was a 2:31. Arghh, this was frustrating. Meanwhile, other members of the 944 tribe were experiencing issues also. Dave Gibson was having tranny issues, missing 5th gear, and then more. Eventually he was able get back all but 1st, so he could race.

Dave Gibson's #52

Meanwhile, back in Virginia, Steve Randolph and others were in the middle of one of those crazy racer trashes trying to get his car to the track. Steve had a ball joint break at the Glen race in the middle of the esses - one of those life experiences that I would rather hear about than experience. The resulting crash trashed the whole left side of the car, very close to just totalling it. On the Wednesday evening before the race weekend, thinking he had things well in hand, he got a call from the shop that was finishing the race prep: The frame is cracked, we need to either find another car or replace the front clip. Steve went with plan B. The front clip was removed and a new one welded back on. I'll leave it to the reader to imagine how much work that entailed. Steve and Bernie finally made it to the track Saturday morning. Heading out for qualifying, the rear axle broke. So much for that session. A dead fuel pump killed race 1. Starting at the back for race 2, Steve made it up to 2nd. Go Steve!

Steve Randolph's #3. Crew chief Bernie in the background.

For me, while it was bright, sunny and hot, the prognosis was fading. I replaced the distributor cap as there were some slight grooves in the contacts. But I was just grasping at straws. In the warm-up session, I had trouble making the first lap. The car wouldn't go over 4000 rpm. I brought it back to my paddock spot dejected. There was no point in racing the car, I would just be a hazard out there. 


I had received plenty of opinions and advice from other racers but a lot of it was contradictory or didn't really help. As I was chatting with another racer John Behe turned up and asked what was going on. After explaining the symptoms, he thought for minute - I can almost see the decision tree in his head - and he said: That's got to be the Air Flow Meter. I said I had a mechanic look at it and it looked fine. He said, he didn't care, that was probably it. We went back to my pit and John fiddled with car for a minute. When's your next session? Qualifying in 10 minutes. Lets replace it if you have a spare, it will only take 2 minutes. Go get dressed and I'll change it out. And so I did.


And lo and behold, the car ran great!

John Torgersen's work in progress SP3 car

Sprint race 1, the car ran great. I started 4th and had a fun race. John Beasley, Al Cohen, Bob Page and I all left the rest of the pack behind and battled nose to tail for most of the race. I gained some and lost some. Toward the end of the race we had a full course yellow. I was running 3rd behind Bob. We were the last cars on track as the leaders had lapped the rest of the 44 group. The green flag came out as we were bombing down the Hog Pen, the VIR equivalent of the Laguna Seca's Corkscrew. I had a jump on Al behind me and was looking to hunt down Bob. Going though the tricky turn 17 I left foot braked and rotated the car, but this time the rear kept on going and tossed me off the track into the weeds. By the time I made it back to the racing surface, Al was long gone. For the last 2 laps I caught a glimpse of him occasionally, but that was it. I brought the car home in 4th. That was at least the 3rd time at VIR I had gifted a competitor by going off in turn 17 over the years.

Since my fast lap was a tick faster than Bob in Race 1, this is how he
prepares for Race 2. It worked.

Several hours later it was time for sprint 2. Grid position was based upon fast lap in race 1, so I started 3rd. At the start, it was a repeat of race 1. Fred, Bob, Al, myself, David Mann, and Dave Gibson stayed tight. Fred disappeared into the distance. I stayed tucked to the tail of Bob and Al, but soon they started gapping me. They had more motor and kept adding a couple more car lengths at the end of each straight. Next thing I know, David Mann who was behind me a bit is filling my mirrors. He sticks a pass on me at the top of the back straight,but I get it back going into turn 1. Steve Randolph who started at the back appears and motors past me and David like he's in another class. Later in the race I check my mirror and see David go flying off at turn 3 and that's it for the remaining laps of the race. I come across Al who had gone off and damaged the bottom of his car, parked in the grass and pick up another spot. The race ends with me in 4th, just where I started. Fred took 1st, Steve 2nd, and Bob 3rd.

It even looks like a beach. At home in the paddock, where
shade was at a premium this weekend.

With the small car count compared to the Glen, I was worried that with the normal attrition over the weekend, the 2 enduros would be combined into one. It would make sense for the organizers. I thought it was a very good possibility and I've made a vow not to run one of those again. Combing 944's with Cup cars is just not a good idea. The speed differentials are large and while most Cup car drivers are good, talented and courteous racers, my experience is that there are a few who are just douchebags. And it only takes one or two to make your day miserable. So no combined, all classes enduros for me.

After the event dinner I retired to the trailer where the A/C was blasting away for a good nights sleep and headed back to Pennsylvania the next morning. While the race weekend looked like it might be a disaster, in the end it was fun, exciting racing with friends. Just the way it should be.

Our paddock mates were Speedwerks from NY, supporting
their fleet of 944 and Spec Boxster drivers.