944 Racecar - PCA Summit Point Race 2007
The web server holding my earliest postings into an uncaring universe quietly expired a while ago. Rather than replacing it, I'm posting the content so it will live on forever in the cloud, polluting my little corner of it. Enjoy.
2007 PCA @ Summit Point
So, flush with the success at Mid Ohio, I headed toward Summit Point for the annual Porsche Club (PCA) race. I don't know why, but my class, SP2, just hasn't caught on yet. SP2 is Porsche 944's built to the 944 Cup rules, which are based upon the PCA stock class rules, but without the stupid bullshit. Such as requiring a racecar to have a (flammable) interior in place. Or must have all A/C equipment. Silly crap in my opinion. Come on I and H class 944 racers! You get to lose the interior and the A/C bits and run less weight. No ballast! A lighter car is more fun to drive and you get less wear and tear.
Anyhow, since I didn't have much competition (not to slight Rob P., but he was the only one else in my class) I treated the PCA weekend as a fun social event. Get to hang and re-meet my old PCA buddies who I used to race against. For the first couple of sessions, I left my full tread RA-1 Toyos on the car. I had a great time drifting the car through the Carousel with huge slip angles, tires a'howling away.
And then it came time, for the fun race.
I started at the back. Kinda by accident, since I was wandering around the paddock talking to people when I noticed that it was my group who was lined up and ready to go out. By the time I got suited up and to the grid, the group was already out and working on the practice starts for the rookies. I told the pit out crew to hold me until they came around for the last(real) start.
The field comes around, gets the green and I head out after them. I'm starting dead last, #27 in the field.
I'm having a great time making passes, and moved up to 11th in the field. The above picture is me about to take the 11th spot on the front straight
I'm passing the car on the right, in redline at 4th gear, just coming up on start/finish, when I hear a bang. "Hmmm, sounds like I run over something", but I know I didn't. While I'm pondering this I hear a much larger BANG and immediately the car fills with smoke and I can't see anything at all.
As you see from the pic, it wasn't just the car that filled with smoke. From an outside vantage point, the whole raceway disappeared into a huge cloud of smoke. I continue in the car, keeping the wheel straight and hoping I wouldn't run into anything. Much later down the straightaway, the smoke thins out in the car and I can see to pull off. Luckily the car didn't catch on fire, and neither did the dry grass I was parked on. It did continue to smoke for a long, long time and I kept my hand on the fire system handle.
Of course this happened very publicly, right in front of start/finish and the tower where everybody watches the races. I had several people come up to me later and tell me: "Sorry about your motor, guy. But that was the greatest engine explosion ever! That was awesome!"
Well, if you're gonna go, Go Big!
Eventually EV showed up and we got the car back into the paddock,where we dumped it for the night, letting it think about the bad thing it had done.
Bad Car, Bad! No biscuit for you tonight!
Finally got a chance to look at the car, and I found this sitting on the engine cross-member. I remember from pictures that it's supposed to be "inside" the engine. Not a good sign.
Looking a little further up, at the bottom of the engine block, we can see why.
This confirm my suspicions that engines really run on smoke. And once you let all the smoke out, they stop running.
Well, I did have one more race weekend this season. But I don't think that's going to happen now. I was hoping to spend the winter updating the suspension, so I can hunt down Jersey Joe next year, but looks like something else jumped to the top of the line.
Oh well, that's racin' It's been a good year anyway. Stay tuned for new adventures in the garage. I've never pulled a 944 motor before. I think I'm gonna have that "opportunity" in the future.
2007 PCA @ Summit Point
So, flush with the success at Mid Ohio, I headed toward Summit Point for the annual Porsche Club (PCA) race. I don't know why, but my class, SP2, just hasn't caught on yet. SP2 is Porsche 944's built to the 944 Cup rules, which are based upon the PCA stock class rules, but without the stupid bullshit. Such as requiring a racecar to have a (flammable) interior in place. Or must have all A/C equipment. Silly crap in my opinion. Come on I and H class 944 racers! You get to lose the interior and the A/C bits and run less weight. No ballast! A lighter car is more fun to drive and you get less wear and tear.
Anyhow, since I didn't have much competition (not to slight Rob P., but he was the only one else in my class) I treated the PCA weekend as a fun social event. Get to hang and re-meet my old PCA buddies who I used to race against. For the first couple of sessions, I left my full tread RA-1 Toyos on the car. I had a great time drifting the car through the Carousel with huge slip angles, tires a'howling away.
And then it came time, for the fun race.
I started at the back. Kinda by accident, since I was wandering around the paddock talking to people when I noticed that it was my group who was lined up and ready to go out. By the time I got suited up and to the grid, the group was already out and working on the practice starts for the rookies. I told the pit out crew to hold me until they came around for the last(real) start.
The field comes around, gets the green and I head out after them. I'm starting dead last, #27 in the field.
I'm having a great time making passes, and moved up to 11th in the field. The above picture is me about to take the 11th spot on the front straight
I'm passing the car on the right, in redline at 4th gear, just coming up on start/finish, when I hear a bang. "Hmmm, sounds like I run over something", but I know I didn't. While I'm pondering this I hear a much larger BANG and immediately the car fills with smoke and I can't see anything at all.
 |
| As David Hobbs says: Kerblamb-O |
As you see from the pic, it wasn't just the car that filled with smoke. From an outside vantage point, the whole raceway disappeared into a huge cloud of smoke. I continue in the car, keeping the wheel straight and hoping I wouldn't run into anything. Much later down the straightaway, the smoke thins out in the car and I can see to pull off. Luckily the car didn't catch on fire, and neither did the dry grass I was parked on. It did continue to smoke for a long, long time and I kept my hand on the fire system handle.
Of course this happened very publicly, right in front of start/finish and the tower where everybody watches the races. I had several people come up to me later and tell me: "Sorry about your motor, guy. But that was the greatest engine explosion ever! That was awesome!"
Well, if you're gonna go, Go Big!
Eventually EV showed up and we got the car back into the paddock,where we dumped it for the night, letting it think about the bad thing it had done.
Bad Car, Bad! No biscuit for you tonight!
Finally got a chance to look at the car, and I found this sitting on the engine cross-member. I remember from pictures that it's supposed to be "inside" the engine. Not a good sign.
Looking a little further up, at the bottom of the engine block, we can see why.
This confirm my suspicions that engines really run on smoke. And once you let all the smoke out, they stop running.
Well, I did have one more race weekend this season. But I don't think that's going to happen now. I was hoping to spend the winter updating the suspension, so I can hunt down Jersey Joe next year, but looks like something else jumped to the top of the line.
Oh well, that's racin' It's been a good year anyway. Stay tuned for new adventures in the garage. I've never pulled a 944 motor before. I think I'm gonna have that "opportunity" in the future.
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