#5 Lime Rock Club Race - May 2000 - Race Day

 Race Day

Number 88 takes the checker

Saturday morning, I pull back the curtains in the motel and look out at the parking lot. Hey, its not raining! The lot is still damp and its pretty gloomy, but it looks like some asphalt is actually drying. The Weather Channel is calling for cloudy but dry, with a chance of showers later in the afternoon. So things are looking up. A leisurely breakfast next door and it's time to go to the track.

Pulled into our spot in the soggy paddock, at least that hasn't changed. Look at the track over the fence. Starting to dry up out there. Today's schedule is a practice session at 9; qualifying at 10:15, lunch, drivers meeting at 1:30, and racing at 2. First order of business for me is to change from my rain tires to my race tires, the newly heat-cycled Kumhos. Midway through the process I get called away to the drivers meeting. Nothing new here: a review of today's schedule and prayer to the gods for continuing dry weather.

Back to my paddock space and finish putting on my tires. Hang out until my race group is called for practice. Take my time and head out to the grid. As I pull in I was told that I missed the 5 min mark so I can't go to my #11 spot, but must start at the back. Didn't really bother me, as this was just a practice. But I learned that when it is important, make sure that I show in plenty of time.

Looks like the non-rookies finally showed up to play, now that there is a dry track. Yesterday our race group was averaging about 15 cars, but today there is 26 for this session. I prepare myself to be passed a lot more aggressively than yesterday.

Out on the track and into the session. Track is pretty good, just damp in a few sessions. I start bring down my lap times. My hot-lap is acting erratic, so I'm not sure of my times. I think I'm doing 1:08's and maybe getting into the 1:07's. Usually I'm not at my best the first time out, but do well in the second sessions. Since the next session is qualifying, I concentrate on being smooth and working the line, hoping to peak the next session. There's a bunch of fast cars out there today as compared to yesterday in the rain. But I point them by and I'm feeling comfortable.

Toward the end of the session I'm noticing a lot of activity at the black flag station just before the downhill. Every time I go by there is a pit-board with a car number, either being put up or put down. I see the checker and take my cool down lap. Entering the hot pits, one of the pit workers points at me and pulls me out of line. I'm immediately on the defensive. I think "What! What did I do? I ran a clean session. Why do they want to talk to me?" The worker comes over to me and tells me I've just been black flagged by Lime Rock noise control. My car dB level is from 90 to 96 dB, over the 89 dB level allowed at Lime Rock. The pit worker is apologetic, "It's not us, it's the track. Park the car and go talk to the Scrutineer in the tower."

Panic sets in. What am I going to do? I have a muffler already on the car. I was totally un-prepared for this. I've run Lime Rock in the past with this car and didn't have any problem with the sound level. I park the car and hurry back to the tower. I find the Chief Scrutineer and ask him what I can do. Unfortunately he had little advice. "The track is really cracking down. They flagged lots of cars in the last session. Must be the weather." There was a ceiling of low clouds probably under 500 feet. That could be not allowing the sound to escape. "Try putting downspouts on your exhaust tips, pointing the exhaust to the ground. One more violation and you have to put the car on the trailer."

Drive back to my paddock spot. Panic continues to increase. What am I going to do? I don't have any downspouts. My car's muffler can be detached to allow megaphone straight exhaust tips and make it really loud, but nothing to reduce the noise. That's what the muffler is for. I talk to Dan and Tom about it. Maybe we can find some exhaust piping, they'll check the paddock while I check the Lime Rock store. No luck. The store has plenty of t-shirts and duct tape, but nothing like any exhaust piping. Running back through the paddock I notice most of the teams are prepared for this. They just went back into the trailer, pulled out the curved downspouts, bolted them on their cars and now are standing around laughing about it. There was no laughter from this racer though.

Back in the paddock, the cooler heads of Dan and Scott come up with an idea. "What if we build a downspout?" What? Sure, whatever. Another run through the paddock finds us a sheet of aluminum and some tin-snips. I'm dispatched to find large hose clamps and leave Scott and Dave banging on my car.

After trolling through the paddock, I score some hose clamps from a couple of nice racers. Hurry back to the impromptu metal workshop and help finish attaching the makeshift downspouts. Just in time. Qualification time is right up. Looks waaaaay uggggly, but it might do the job.

Time to head for the grid. Looks like a sound control station at the bottom of the downhill leading to the pits. Tell myself to short-shift when hammering past. Out on the track with the other cars. Do a couple of warm-up laps to get settled. Looks like a another sound station at the end of the back straight leading into the uphill. That's not good. My car usually backfires and shoots a ball of fire as I up-shift into fourth. Have to feather the throttle there too.

And so it goes. Around the track, shifting at 5000 to 5500 instead of running it up to red-line. Plus dodging traffic. Trying to go fast while not using much of my engine's power. I know my lap times are suffering, but I can't do anything about it. Don't even know if the downspouts are working. If they're not, one reading over and I'm done. Better to start last and race than not.

And start last I did. Or as close as possible. I qualified 24th out of 27 with a best time of 1:07.6. At least I'm in front of Ernie, the 944 turbo that went flying into the bushes yesterday. Okay, time for lunch.

I'm hanging in the paddock, feeling pretty pleased. I might be starting at the back of the pack, but I'm excited. I'm going racing!

After lunch, Group 5 was called to the grid for their race. And then Group 4. And soon it was time for mine. However sometime in this progression, the skies turned black and (again) it started pouring. By this time I was thinking of attaching water skis to the back of my car.

Oops! My dry tires are on the car. I need to change back to the rain tires. Park the car back out in the street, jack it up and do the tire change game again. Cool, I'm ready. Time to focus, chill out and get into the race mind-set. First let's move the car out of the way and put my gear in the car so all I have to do is hop in and go.

Back the car into the paddock space. Oh shit! The left front tire is binding in the wheel well. What the hell is going on? I can't fully turn the car. I get out and stare mystified at my car. Wait a minute … my (dry) race tires have different diameters front and back. I run 15 inch diameters in the front and 16's in the rear. Very easy to see the difference. However the rain/street tires are both 15 inches in diameter. However, the width is different. 225 cm in the front, 245 in the rear. Easy to see when you have both together, not so easy when standalone. And on the Yokohamas, the size is in very, very, tiny letters. I must have misread the size - I don't understand how, it was only pouring rain and dark - and put one of the rear tires up front and vice versa.

Okay, now's the time to be cool right? Hell no, time to panic. Nobody's around, almost time to grid for my first race, I've got the stupid tires on the wrong end of the car, it pouring rain. Maggie looks over at me and see me starting to freak. "What's wrong?". "I'm f*cked! I'm f*cked!" is all I can repeat and start working on jacking up the car. Luckily, Tom, Scott, Dan and Fran are up in the stands watching the group 4 race. Fran looks back to the paddock and notices the burst of activity where there should be none. She dispatches the crew to the rescue and we put the correct tires in the correct places this time with 5 minutes to spare. Now I'm ready!

Time to go. Grid up way, way in the back - remember those crappy qualification times?. Out onto the track and start the slow drive around. Down the downhill and I certainly can't see the starter stand from here, it must be a mile away. Doesn't matter, I hear the roar and like a good racer the sound impulse travels directly from my ears to my right foot which gets planted to the floor. Can't see where I'm going in all the spray, but I'm going to make sure I get there fast!

Down into turn one, lots of water, spray and terrible visibility. Wait until you see some red lights in front of you, and then wait some more before hitting my brakes. I'm on the outside again and once again pick someone off going for the inside on the 2nd apex. Through the esses and onto No-name straight, hot on the tail of another 911. Through the uphill, still dogging that 911. Coming into West Bend, my favorite turn in the wet with that surprisingly grippy concrete patch. Keep pushing the 911 ahead of me and whoa!! they get way loose in front of me and barely gather it up. They immediately head for the inside of the downhill and signal their intention to pit. No more racing in the rain for them. Another position gained for me. I'm not proud, I'll take it.

After a couple of laps I had passed the rest of the back of the field and found myself in the middle of the pack with no one around me. For 7 or so laps it was like a ghost town. Even looked like the corner workers were asleep as I came around. While I was working on the back of the pack, the front pack had zoomed off. This was tough mentally. I had to keep telling myself to "Keep racing. work those corners, be smooth, go fast!" Hard to do all that when there was nobody to chase.

Eventually I caught up with some others and made a couple more passes at the end. I ended up 5th in class out of 6 (class D) and 12th out of 21 cars in the race group (Classes C, D, and E). For me the race was a great success despite the weather. Had a lot of fun, met some great racers and new friends, my car went on the trailer in the same shape it came in, and had some good dicing on the track.

I'm hooked on this racing stuff. Next up for me is the first Watkins Glen Porsche club race in August. Hope to see you there.

#4 Lime Rock Club Race - May 2000 - Racing into Hypothermia

  Racing into Hypothermia

The theme for the race, as designated by the event organizers, is "CVR- Racing Into Spring". Located in the Northwest corner of Connecticut, in the middle of the Berkshire mountains, Lime Rock Park is subject to the randomness of New England spring weather. The typical local saying is: "Don't like the weather? Just wait a minute." Last year, I was told, the weather was sunny and over 90 degrees for the CVR race. That was not the case this year. Friday morning we woke up to a gray morning, with light but persistent rain. The drivers meeting for 8:00 had been cancelled the previous afternoon, so we didn't have to be to the track until almost 9 am. The day's schedule called for 2 practice sessions in the morning, lunch, another practice session, and then a session that had three practice race starts, with the last start continuing into a 3 to 5 lap fun race.

I wasn't sure just how all this would actually work. My copy of the schedule read: Practice One 9:00 to 10:50 am. Can you go out whenever you want? Or is it by group? How do I know a session is starting and/or ending? Lots of questions.

Maggie and I pulled into the paddock around 9. There we found Tom and Dan working feverishly on Tom's 911. Fran and Tom were able to get to the Automotive Associates shop before 5 and purchase a new master cylinder. However, they got caught in the nasty rainstorm on the way back, and didn't make it back to the Lime Rock area until almost 8. At this point they decided to just go back to the hotel and relax. Lime Rock's gates opened an hour earlier this morning, and 6am found Tom and Dan waiting at the front gate. Since it was raining pretty hard at that point, they had pulled the car in under my canopy to get out of the weather and had been hard at work since that time. I gave what limited mechanical assistance I could. My chief role being to hold the flashlight steady while the others worked.

Luckily for me, my street tires were still on my car from the yesterday Driver's Ed sessions, and I didn't have to jack my car up in the sodden paddock and switch to my race tires. 9 o'clock came and the announcer called for the Group 5 cars to the grid. These were the H and I class cars, mostly 944's and 914's. I didn't really pay a lot of attention, as it was still raining pretty steady, and my attention was on helping Tom and Dan. Around 9:15 the Group 4 cars were called to grid, while the Group 5 were still out on the track. Group 4 were the F and G class cars. G class cars were mostly late 70's 911's, while the F class were a mix of 944 turbos and mid 80's 911's. These two classes are very competitive on the east coast and usually have a good turnout of cars. Dan is in F class, but he was doing most of the work on Tom's car and Tom, well, his car was still in pieces.

Finally about 9:25 Group 3, my group, was called to grid. Rain still pouring. I roll down both my windows and prepare to get wet. Into the car, belts on, helmet on, start the car and let it idle a minute. Out onto the paddock road, through the puddles and down past the Michelin tower. This is new: normally I turn sharp right just after the tower and get onto the false grid to line up. However this time I go all the way down past the track side pit entrance, almost into the B paddock, before turning right. Get in line just like a normal drivers ed and wait. I'm about in the middle of the group. Rain still coming down. I tighten my harness, turn on the defroster and look around. I'd thought I'd be nervous, but I'm pretty relaxed. Here I am, about ready to go out onto a track that I don't have wired, in conditions that magnify any mistake, where I expect to be dive-bombed in corners by people who know what they're doing, and also by those like me who don't know what they're doing, and I'm pretty calm. Alert yes, interested yes, but nervous no. Go figure.

Whistles blow, and pit workers give us the 5 minute signal. Me, I'm wondering if I can reach the radio while tied in. Maybe I can get a weather report. Group 4 comes off the track. 2 minutes, 1 and then we're out onto the track. First lap is under full course yellow, no passing allowed. Even though some drivers like to come out hot on the first lap, I've always used the first lap as a reconnaissance; let my tires and brakes come up to temp, let my brain warm up. I take it easy on the first lap even on a perfect dry day. Today, this was my first time at the Lime Rock track under rain conditions and I didn't know the wet line. All I was sure, it wasn't the dry line and I needed to learn fast.

Turns out there were puddles at most of the apexes, a trough of water most of the way down the middle of the main straight, water in the braking zone at the end of main straight and just before the uphill. Basically, everywhere. So I follow everybody around on the first lap. On the second and later laps, I start picking up some speed and testing the limits. Big Bend is pretty slippery on the concrete patches; if I go deep and stay off the concrete it's not too bad. Have to go back onto the concrete for the 2nd apex, but its okay, just a little squirely. Have to square off the "esses", lose a little speed, but can really still hammer down the "no-name" back straight. Whoaa! I had stood on the brakes getting ready for the uphill right hand turn and hit a patch of water and it was just like water skiing. I was headed right straight into a tire wall at the end. Jumped off the brakes to get the tires moving again and just turned the wheel. Missed the apex by a country mile. That got my heart pumping, not quite as relaxed now. I don't have ABS on this old car.

So I'm slipping and sliding through the turns. Hey this isn't so bad. Most of my track driving this year has been in monsoon like conditions, so I'm used to having the back end of the car do the wiggle. Settling in, I catch up with a car going through Big Bend. He's just poking around the corner when the moment of illumination, my epiphany struck: This isn't drivers ed, I can pass anytime! I punch the gas and take him on the outside, dive for the inside of the "esses", brake and turn left. Woohoo! My first pass, way cool! This ain't your father's drivers ed baby! Time to go hunting!

In Driver Education track events, my favorite thing to do is to track down and pass people. If they're as skilled or better than me, so much the better. To get somebody better than yourself, you have to drive a perfect line. Nothing like reeling in somebody, putting a little friendly pressure on and then capitalizing on a mistake and making a pass. Of course in drivers ed, you're limited to areas where you can make a pass on someone. Only on certain straights and never in the corners. This leads to my least favorite thing at drivers ed events: following a slow car through a endless series of corners before you can pass them. On some courses you get behind a slower car and you're stuck there forever. But salvation is at hand, here I can pass anywhere. All too soon the checker flag was waving ending the session. All the way back to the paddock, I had a huge grin on my face. Boy I was loving this.

Meanwhile, back at the paddock, work is continuing on Tom's car. Dan's friend Scott had flown into LaGuardia last night and was helping. Scott's flight was delayed getting in due to the storm the night before. By the time Scott's flight arrived, well after midnight, all the rental cars were gone. Not having the $150 to hire a taxi, Scott applied a little entrepreneurial bartering, trading $80 in cash plus a new Water Pik still in the package for his ride. He finally arrives at Dan's door about 4:30am. Everybody's fingers are getting numb in the cold and wet, but the work goes on.

Soon enough its time for my second session. Still pouring, temps in the 50's, lousy day for racing, but I'm still psyched. As I turn into the false grid, I'm stopped by a pit working with a clipboard. Number 88? You're in spot #11. Okay, sure, no problem. I wondered how they figured that out. I pull up and back into the 11th spot and wait for the grid to fill up. Time counts down and we're back out on the track. Same as before, I'm catching and passing a lot of folks out here, mostly other rookies like me. Car is slipping and sliding all over the place but I'm having a lot of fun. Occasionally a faster car will come up and pass me in a corner. I give them a wave to let them know I see them and what side I would like them to pass me on. I give some room and whoosh, right past me. I find that for some reason the concrete patch in West Bend is very grippy, much more so than the asphalt around it. Of course everybody is staying off all the concrete patches around the track because the traction is diminished. So nobody tries the patch in West Bend. I start to get good jumps off that corner on people. I run up on the inside, ease on the brakes and start sliding along the asphalt and wham! into the concrete, the car hooks up and turns in and goes. I surprise a few and leave more than a few behind at that corner.

As I pull in from my second session, they had just gotten the master cylinder bolted in. Now we need to bleed the brakes, and Tom should be ready to go. Bleed the rears, next the fronts. Not getting any firm pedal. Lets try 3 fast strokes and hold. Ready, go. Again. Starting to get some pedal. "Hold it!" says Scott, "where's that flashlight?". Springing into action, I deftly wield the requested instrument. Shining the light on the master cylinder body we notice a small bubble of brake fluid forming whenever pedal pressure is applied. Uh-oh. There's a crack in the casting of the new master cylinder. This is like a body blow to Tom. Like me, Tom had some unexpected last minute preparations for the race. The stress of getting ready; the night drive through the storm; the work of the whole morning gone for naught; being cold, wet and miserable; Tom was ready to pack it in.

However the team of Dan & Scott weren't ready to give up yet. How about if we take the guts of the new master cylinder and put them in the old, but non-cracked housing? Tom was dubious, but lunch and the enthusiasm of Dan and Scott won him over. Work was started immediately. Since the parts had just gone in, they came out much easier and faster.

My 3rd practice session was a repeat of the first two. More rain, more puddles, the occasional locked-up tires braking at the end of the main straight, more passing, less being passed (probably because only us idiot rookies were out in these conditions).

3 o'clock and time for a driver's meeting. Wandering up to the Michelin tower, I duck under the eves to get out of the rain. Just wandering around, waiting for the meeting to start, I come across some activity in one of the alcoves. A bunch of papers are stapled to the wall. What's this? I edge closer and realize that they are time sheets. I forgot to check whether or not my transponder was working. I grab a sheet for race group 3 / 3rd practice and scan it. There I am. Position 11 out of 18. Cool, that's why they kept gridding me there. I can't believe I didn't even think about the transponder and my times. They said in the Orientation meeting that the position for the practice starts and fun race and qualifying would be based upon your times in the 3rd practice session. I'm solidly mid pack So I'm happy with 11th.

Time for the practice starts. This ought to be awesome. I've watched it many times on TV, but there's nothing like the real thing. I'm early to the grid, back into the 11th spot up against the fence. Of course it's still pouring rain, still cold. Actually I'm not cold. The only time I'm warm is when I'm strapped down in the car. I've finally remembered to fix my face shield on my helmet so that it doesn't randomly snap shut in the middle of racing. Which is a good thing since every time it does, it starts to fog up. A pit worker comes up to the window and tells me that I can roll up the passenger window until we go out onto the track. I smile and thank her and think: What's the point? I'm soaked, the car is soaked. Can't reach the window anyway. Probably just fog up the windshield.

Get the signal and pull out onto the front straight. Just on the main straight is a guy standing out there, the "splitter". Every car that comes out gets directed to one side, the next car to the other. I get directed to the outside. Off we go around the track two abreast, speeding up and slowing down. The pace car is only running about 25 mph and the group keeps bunching up. It seems like forever to get around the track. Finally through West Bend the pack starts to speed up. Down the Diving Turn and onto the main straight.

Engines are starting to buzz. I'm straining, trying to see the starters stand down the straight, but its raining pretty hard. Finally a flash of green, the engines next to me start howling and I hit the gas. All around me the roar of motors, water is rooster-tailing off all the cars. I can't see anything, I can barely see the taillights of the car in front of me. Somebody comes flying down the middle into the pack toward the end of the straight. I'm thinking that's some crazy SOB, the middle of the track is just one big puddle, so easy to spin and then you're toast. Likely to take out a bunch of cars right in turn one.

Under the bridge, I see brake lights ahead through the water spray, I late brake and close up to the car in front of me. We go through Big Bend two aside. The car in front of me takes the normal line, diving to the inside for the 2nd apex. I stay outside and pass him. A quick glance and I notice a hole opens up on the right. I hit the gas and jump into it. Alright! picked up 2 positions. Left turn into the esses coming up. Shit! A car spins out in front of me. I'm way too hot, nowhere to go, I lock up the brakes and spin into the mud on the outside and watch as the rest of the pack passes by. I scramble back out on the track but we were racing only up the next turn so everybody is back in pace car mode. Damn. I was in a decent position, survived the start and picked up a place and then I got greedy. Now I'm DFL (dead f'ing last). Plus I'm (along with all the other rookies) are being graded on my performance. Screw this up and I won't get my license.

Everybody lines up behind the pace car. I hustle up and join again. We crawl over the uphill at 20 mph, thru West Bend, and once again speed picks up. Down the Downhill and onto the front straight and to the green flag. This time I race clean and pick up one position before we stop racing. Now for the last practice start, they are going to let us continue into a 5 lap fun race. No points, doesn't count for anything, just fun.

Back to the main straight, looking for the green flag. And we're off! Down into Big Bend, stay to the outside. Ernie Fink was ahead of me in a gold 944 turbo. I try to go around the outside and he cuts me off. I stick my nose into the 2nd apex and he closes the door on me and I back off. Up to the left hander, I pressure him and stick my nose up on the inside and he closes the door again. We go through the Esses and he gets onto the concrete patches and goes wide for the right hander into No-Name straight. I've been waiting for this and my line is good and I'm going to pass him on the inside. He decides that he isn't going to let me do this and punches the gas. This was a bad move on his part. He didn't have a clean line through the corner so he was sliding a little on the slick track and then … the turbo kicked in. At that point, he was just along for the ride. I had a great front row seat as I watch the back end slowly start to break free and rotate and drift at 60 mph across my nose, to leave the track tail first and up an dirt and mud embankment. Dirt, rocks, mud went flying onto the track as he went flying off it. I remember thinking that I was glad I didn't drive a Turbo anymore. I hoped the car wasn't too badly damaged, and then I was gone. A lap or two later I caught and passed a car by taking advantage of the grippy concrete patches in West Bend. A lap later the checker came out with me in 11th position where I started.

Back at the paddock, the optimistic duo, Dan and Scott, had overcome numerous obstacles and had rebuilt Tom's master cylinder. It was re-installed and the brakes were bled. Only a few parts were left over this time. A few laps around the paddock and it was determined a success. At this point, every body was tired, stressed, cold and wet (it was still raining). We all left in our separate ways, looking for food, drink and shelter.

Maggie and I headed for the CVR Race dinner. Originally scheduled to be held under a huge tent at the top of the hill, they switched it to use the small chalets next to the tent. With the lousy weather, if they hadn't changed location, they might have had a very low attendance. Our dinner companions showed the wide range of people in this sport. One fellow asked what kind of car I had, and when told a 73 RS, responded that he also had one of those. When questioned if that was what he was racing, he told us that no, he had just taken possession of a new 2000 911 GT-3R, just like the ones racing at Daytona and Sebring. A GT-3R, with spare engine, comes in around $180,000 from the factory. He then had it transported from his home area, California, to Lime Rock for his 1st club race complete with a personal mechanic. If that wasn't enough, his next question floored me. He hadn't really read the rule book and wondered if I could explain how PCA Club Racing classified cars.

The gentleman next to me exemplified the other side of club racing. He was a volunteer, working the grid. He took off a day from work, to stand around in the pouring rain all day while us racers got to play. When questioned why, he explained that he wanted to go racing next year and wanted to be involved, to learn about the process and to give something back to the program. This is the true spirit of club racing.

So, my first race. Even though it didn't really count and was only a practice race, the thrill was tremendous. I learned a good lesson about being too greedy. Learned it at a point where it didn't hurt me or the car. Learned to keep my head while pressuring other drivers to lose theirs. Learned what an amazing adrenalin rush it is to be part of a start. Most importantly, I learned that this was fun for me. I was looking forward to the next day and the real racing.

But first, a hot shower.

Next: Race Day

#3 Lime Rock Club Race - May 2000 - Track Time with Schattenbaum

  Track Time with Schattenbaum 

Wednesday morning, time to load the car on the trailer and pack the tow vehicle. At noon, Maggie and I are off to meet Tom Holmes and his wife Fran in Newark, our paddock companions for the weekend. Tom was bringing his 79 911 SC G Class car. Tom is a good driver and his car is nicely sorted. Even though my car is lighter and in theory faster, he posts quicker times than me in his supposedly slower car. A nice uneventful tow up the east coast landed us in the vicinity of Lime Rock after 5 hours; love that EZ-Pass! At our motel, we meet Joe Hrymack, a fellow rookie candidate from New Jersey, with whom I had suffered together in the rain at the last couple of Summit Point track days. Also in the motel's parking lot, we met several other racers and DE participants, including one couple who had brought their two car trailer and dropped it off at the track. In the trailer was their 911 for racing, along with their BMW M3 for just traveling around town. Not a bad way to travel.

Up bright and early the next morning for the Schattenbaum Driver's Education day. There were so many club racers registered for the day, they created a new group: Orange. Gates opened at 7am and we wanted to make sure we got a good paddock spot for the weekend, so we arrived at the track before 6:30. It was a good idea. Such a good idea, that about 100 other cars and trailers had it before us. We joined the line all the way out near the road and waited in the gathering gloom.

Ah yes, gloom. Did I mention the most common topic of conversation: the weather? Wednesday night, the Weather Channel was predicting 90% chance of heavy rains Thursday, tapering down to a low of 60% for the race Saturday. Not something that I was thrilled about. I've never driven Lime Rock in the rain. Fact is, I've only driven the track 4 times total. Two years ago, a driver was killed in a club race when he lost control after hitting a puddle of water on the main straight. I was nervous enough about learning to coexist with other cars in the corners on dry surfaces, let alone wet conditions.

Finally after a long wait, we made it into the paddock. Dan Arkins, an 944 turbo F class driver from CVR, Tom Holmes from Delaware, and I set up together in the main paddock between the Main Straight and Big Bend. I had brought a 10x20 canopy which probably was the best decision all weekend. Got the car off the trailer and ready for tech, when I found out that the club racers didn't have to go through the tech line. All we had to do was to show our tech form at registration. Since I had self-tech'd my car and wasn't an instructor, I had figured that I would have gotten grief for that transgression. So cool, the first perk for being a club racer :)

Driver's meeting at 8am, the usual, "this is not a race, this is drivers ed, etc." and then the first raindrops started falling. Not good. I had bought new Kumho race tires for the race. My plan for the day was to heat cycle them by running them hard for the 1st DE session, then pulling them off the car to sit for the next 24 hours. Hard to get heat into tires when it's pouring rain.

Well, no time for worrying, this is a DE day, so I'm first up to flag for the next 2 hours. It started to pour. I was flagging at the end of the front straight, so I got to see a lot of folks skidding through the puddles in the braking zone, and sliding into the escape road, or spinning off out of Big Bend.

However toward the end of my flagging shift, the rain slacked off and the sky started to lighten. By the end of the two hours, it had stopped raining and the driving line was starting to dry. Well that's good news. I still had the new Kumho's already mounted on the car and didn't have to switch to my street tires. I don't have a lot of time at Lime Rock and I've only been there once with my 911. The last time I was running my bald and hard old Kumho's and was doing consistent 1:08's with one 1:07.8. Pretty slow I know, I need to be down in the 1:02's or 03's to be competitive. Today I was running mid 1:07's for the first session which was a good start. I pulled in and put my street tires on, Yokohama AVS1's, for the rest of the day's sessions. By the end of the day my best time was a 1:06.2. I was hoping for a 1:05, but I was pretty happy with that on street tires. I was starting to get a better feel for the track. I felt I was getting a good line through West Bend; carrying more speed through Big Bend and the Downhill turns.

Meanwhile, while I was playing around on the track, Tom Holmes and Dan Arkins had been hard at work on Tom's G class car. While lapping, Tom had experienced severe brake pedal fade. Bringing the car back to the paddock, it was jacked up and the brakes bled. However, steady pressure on the brake pedal would have it slowly sink to the floor. Eventually the determination was made that the master cylinder had gone bad. A search of the paddock didn't turn up any parts. However, Jim Newton of Automobile Associates located one back at his shop. Jim and Fran hustled off to Canton, about an hour away, hoping to get to the shop before 5 pm.

For me, with the track event done, it was time for race business. Found out where Registration was (in the Michelin tower, duh!), signed a bunch of waivers promising the rest of my assets to the CT Valley Region Porsche Club, got a cool (and warm and much needed later) sweatshirt, a poster and bunches and bunches of paper. Walk across the hall to Tech. Was given a logbook for my car and told to report to the Automotive Associates encampment in the paddock. They'll tell me what to do. What they told me to do, was to come back with the logbook AND the car. Sheesh, how was I to know? Back to the paddock, found my car and threw in my bag with the driver's suit and nomex undies, and back to Automotive Associates. They measured the thickness of my cage, tugged and yanked on my seat, looked at my safety gear, and advised me to move the waist belt bolts further back. The tech inspector, Jim Newton, initialed my logbook and sent me back to Tech in the tower. There I collected a sticker for my roll cage, one for my helmet, and one for the windshield of the car. I applied these and instantly the "coolness" factor of my car increased by an order of a magnitude!

By now, the Schattenbaum track event had wound down and as usual, they had provided dinner. Maggie and I wandered up and had some great lasagna and salad. Meanwhile the sky darkened dramatically and a monstrous thunder, wind and rainstorm moved in. We found out the next day, that folks were still without power throughout the region. Leaving the track for the weekend we saw lots of large trees that had been blown down. At Lime Rock, only the paddock road is paved. The rest of the area is either grass or dirt and gravel. Naturally this downpour turned what hadn't been totally soaked into a muddy and soupy mess. This was to remain the way things were for the rest of the race weekend.

6PM, time for my Club Race Orientation meeting, mandatory for rookie candidates. Despite the cool stickers on my race car, at this stage in my racing career, I was only a "candidate" to become a rookie race driver, not even a lowly rookie yet. On the evolutionary racing scale, at one end there's Aryton Senna and Juan Montoya and at the other, the "amoeba" end, me. At the Orientation meeting about 25 of us crowded into a small room to listen about the purpose, philosophy and goals of Club Racing, along with the rules for passing, and consequences of not completing those passes safely. The structure of the race weekend was explained and expanded upon. We were reminded that the goal of the weekend was to get our licenses and participate in the real race. It wouldn't do us any good if we do something stupid in the practice sessions and get kicked out before the main race. Unfortunately, one of the rookie candidates didn't show for the mandatory meeting, even though she had been at the track that day. As far as I know, this meant she was denied participation in the race and the ability to get her license. That has to be a real shame. Spend all that time, money and energy for nothing.

With the orientation meeting over, Maggie and I went back to the paddock. Tom and Fran hadn't returned with the new brake master cylinder. We lowered the canopy so we wouldn't find it in the next county tomorrow, and headed to the motel in the falling rain.

Next: Racing into Hypothermia

#2 Lime Rock Club Race - May 2000 - Car Prep is Key

 

Car Prep is Key

Here's my plan: Be prepared early, don't want any last minute surprises. I don't want to be worried about the car. I will have enough things to worry about during the race weekend.

I did a 2 day Driver's Ed at Summit Point in April with Schattenbaum region. Once again, like most of this year, it rained during the track event. So much, that they cancelled the event at noon on the second day. Luckily all this rain driving would pay off later. So I knew the car was happy; the only preparation I needed to do to the car was to change my front brake rotors and weigh the car to see if I met the minimum weight.

About 3 weekends before, I set out to change the rotors. It should have been a simple task, about right for my mechanical skills. I've done it on the M3 and the 944 turbo, but never on the 911. It was a good move. The micro-cracks had become big cracks. I put the new rotors on. The first one took me 2 hours, second only 40 minutes. I'm thinking to myself: "you're starting to get this mechanical thing down". I bled the brakes, and off for a test drive.

Oh-oh, the car is diving severely to the right, it won't even track straight. What the heck is going on? Its back to the garage, back up on the blocks and pull the wheels. I can't move the rotor on right side, the pads are solid up against the rotor. Retract the pads, replace and pump the brakes. The caliper pistons are frozen on right side again. A little dark cloud of anxiety starts hovering in the distance. A couple of calls to my more mechanically inclined friends result in indeterminate answers. Maybe it's time to rebuild the calipers, maybe I can buy new. Start checking around with various vendors. New calipers are what? $2500 each! Yikes! That's right, I have the fancy "S" alloy calipers. Ok, how about rebuilding them? Turn around time in 4 to 6 weeks? That's not going to work ..

Off I travel to the local Porsche dealer. Of course, the rebuild kit is not in stock. But they'll be happy to order the kit. They'll even ask for Overnight shipping. But the way it works in (local) Porsche dealer-land, they don't get confirmation of whether it is even in-stock until the next day, when they look into the shipping container and it is either in the box or a piece of paper saying sorry not available, but on back-order. Not my idea of an efficient system.

So for another 24 hours I can't do anything. The car still up on blocks in my garage, mocking my attempts to be prepared early. That dark cloud is starting to look ominous. Finally, the rebuild kit is in. Off to the dealer, and back to garage. The calipers are already out and waiting on the bench. Seems I can't get the pistons out with my air gun. Put the calipers back on car and use brake pedal to force them out along with about a quart of brake fluid all over the garage floor.

Remove calipers and take back to the bench. Hmmm, the pistons on the right caliper don't look too good. In fact they're really pitted. Lets try to clean them up with a little emery cloth polishing. Add new seals from the rebuild kit, put pistons back in, and the calipers back on car (starting to get real good at this). Add the brake pads, pins. springs, bleed the brakes and try the pedal.

Arghh! it still sticks! Okay, it's Wednesday, 2 weeks to go, time for plan B. Gregg Wilson, our club tech advisor and chief mechanic at the local Porsche dealer, says I can replace the S" calipers with cheap late model "A" calipers that came with the 911 SC's. They are heavier, but a lot cheaper and some say that they won't flex as much as the alloy ones. I find out later that the hot setup is to replace with the later Carerra calipers which can run thicker rotors. Not Gregg's fault but mine for not knowing the right questions to ask. Besides, I haven't warped a rotor yet. At this point I'm starting to worry just a little. I call around and find a set of new A calipers from Automotive Atlanta for a reasonable price. It's late Wed afternoon and I have them shipped 2nd day air, meaning I can get them Fri and have the weekend to get my act together. Little did I know, but the parts shop took my order and went home and didn't actually submit it until the next day. So my delivery date became Saturday, but oh yeah, the company didn't bother to check "Sat delivery OK" on the shipping form. So delivery is really Monday. That little cloud of anxiety? getting bigger and darker ...

So after work Monday, rip open that box and admire those clean, bright and brand new calipers. Feeling good baby! Finally, my luck is starting to change. Bolt them on (did I tell you how good I'm getting at this?) and spin the wheel to check clearances. What's that sound???? Sounds like grinding metal and its coming from the wheel bearings. Remove the caliper, the rotor, the bearings, clean them up and grease them liberally and replace. Spin the rotor, still grinding noises. I need to replace the wheel bearings. I'm starting to feel like I'm in a submarine that's been depth charged and water is running into the compartment and rising fast. Time for help!

I drop my rotors off at Dr. Timmins, my mechanic, and then proceeded to call him it seemed like every 1/2 hour to see if he had finished replacing the bearings yet. Thanks to Steve for putting up with my anxiety-driven pestering with good grace and also Lydia Timmins, who found out when she came home Friday evening that her oven had been "volunteered" to heat the bearings.

So it's Saturday afternoon. I leave for Lime Rock the coming Wednesday afternoon. No need to panic yet, still plenty of time. I have all the parts, just need to assemble them.

Back to the garage. Install the rotors, bolt on the new calipers (did I tell you .. never mind), adding new brake lines while I'm at it, pop the brake pads in, and go to install the guide pins and retaining spring from the original calipers. "Uh Houston, there seems to be a problem here".

It doesn't look like the guide pins and spring fit. Looks like the A calipers use the same rotor and pads as the S calipers, but not the same guide pins or springs. I guess I should have thought of that, but I didn't know and just 3 days before leaving wasn't the opportune time to teach me the lesson.

Now it's Sunday morning and time to visit Dr. Timmins again. A little rooting around in the back and we find some old SC calipers and we steal the pins from it. Find some retaining springs in a parts box and it's off back to the garage. Pins fit, springs are just a little too short, stick them in anyway. Re-install the calipers. Re-plum the brake lines. Bleed the brakes (again!). Can't get a firm pedal. Left side clean, what's this? Brake fluid on the right side wheel liner. Arghh!, it's leaking out the right hand brake line fitting. What more can go wrong?

Inspection reveals the right angle line connector is scored and I can't get a good fit. In one of my few intelligent acts I bought extra brake lines from the local auto store. I'll have to really bend the brake line to get it to fit without the 90 degree connector. Carefully bend the line, bleed the brakes again (well into my 3rd can of Super Blue brake fluid) No leaks yeah! but wait, the brake pads aren't moving. Oh no, I put a crimp in the brake line with my bending. Pull the line, throw it deeply into the woods in my back yard and calmly pick the extra brake line, once again bend carefully, install and bleed the brakes (again!) Scrub down the lines and calipers with brake cleaner. Hey I got some brake pedal! Bleed some more... Cool, lets go for a ride.

Around the block a couple of times. Boy this stops like my friend's old Dodge truck. Not real awe inspiring. Well, this could be a couple of things. I'm running race pads which need to be warm to work well, plus these are brand new rotors that need to be seasoned. Okay, after dragging the brakes to get some heat into the pads, I'm starting to get some bite, lets try some back roads.

Up to a blistering 50 MPH! Hit the brakes... and "Ping! Ping! ka-thump! ka-thump!" Whoops, remember those retaining clips that were just a "little bit" short? They just popped, and I ran over them. Wonder if they'll fit better now that they are a "little bit" flatter? I gingerly made it back home, and only lost one of the retaining pins out of the caliper. That's enough for a Sunday, time to go watch the Simpsons.

Bright and early Monday (remember I'm leaving on Wednesday, anybody got an Xanax?), I call our local dealer. Sure he can get the pins and clips. Have them here by Friday. Time for the Internet to the rescue! Find Stoddard Porsche on the web, give them a call, "In stock, will FedEx them to you. You'll have them Tuesday". True to his word, I had the parts in my hands by lunch Tuesday. Jack the car, wheels off and for once didn't have to take off the calipers or bleed the brakes. Pop the new parts in. Off for a spin and "Mon Dieu, the brakes, they work!".

Finally good to go. My car works, and with over 18 hours to go. No sweat, piece of cake, never was worried, just practicing some crisis management skills. Oh yeah, my car was under-weight so I added some ballast weight. Am I legal now? Who knows, the scales are closed and I'm out of time. I'll just leave it in the hands of the gods. Off to Lime Rock. The adventure continues.

Next: Track Time with Schattenbaum

Lime Rock Club Race - May 2000 - 1st Race!

It came to my attention that all my early race reports and stories were gone, missing when the server in the closet died. I found my backup and have reposted them on Blogger.com where they'll stay until Google decides that they're trash and deletes them. 

But I wanted to make sure the internet wasn't deprived of my early verbiage - which continues spewing forth to this day. So here you are, enjoy!