NJMP PCA - Race Recap

The Summit Point PCA race is looming like a locomotive in the night only 2 days away, so I'd better write up the NJMP weekend before I forget.

On second thought, maybe I should wait until I forget. Then I can write a better story as I won't be unencumbered by the facts.

Nahh, warts and all is the Alpine Garage way.

I'm a bit late with this report, as my Siberian Husky alpha male Coyote got really sick just before the weekend and passed away less than 2 weeks later. So I've been a bit preoccupied.

Overall, the weekend started strong, had a bit of dip in the middle, but finished on an upbeat note.

For a New Jersey August weekend, you couldn't beat the weather. Mostly sunny skies with a few clouds, highs in the upper 70's, low 80's, with nights down in the 50's. It got cool enough that Saturday night I flipped on the heater in the trailer in the middle of the night. Quite a change from the usual brutal 90+ temps and humidity. Much appreciated Weather Gods!

This was a typical PCA 3 day weekend, Practices and fun races on Friday, 2 sprint races on Saturday, and a sprint and enduro race on Sunday. You definitely get a lot of track time with PCA.

I started the weekend with tires with 5 heat cycles, and they worked well enough that I kept them on all the way through. Not a single tire change. But I didn't get totally free from any work on the car as you'll will see.

I ran good times in the practice sessions, steadily dropping my times. By the 3rd session I had my best time ever, doing a mid 1:36. On the next lap I had over a 1/2 second in hand when I got clogged up in the Octopus behind a couple of other racers, killing my lap. So 1:35's are in my future with a little work.

Of course, Robbie Provost, bless his little black heart, did a mid 1:34 during the weekend (bastard!) due to him practically living at the track this year. This was my first visit to the Thunderbolt circuit since last November. Congrats to Robbie, he went on to win all 3 sprints.

After the 3 practice sessions came the fun races. While I wasn't planning on the fun races - no upside for me - my front brake pads were pretty much toast, and I planned to use the session to bed new pads in for tomorrow. I lined up at the back of the grid and was the last to go out. It was pretty funny as I circled the track hundreds of yards from the last batch of cars watching the corner workers frantically waving at me to "hurry up!". While the front of the pack took the green flag, I leisurely rolled back into the pits and off to my trailer, trailing the sharp odour of freshly toasted brake pads.

Still looking pretty, but that will change soon.

Saturday dawned with a bright blue sky and moderate temps. There was short practice session early on which I blew off. Lining up for Sprint 1 I was in the middle of the pack based upon my Practice 3 times. We were having split starts for the races all weekend. All the non-SP* cars (non-944's) got the first green flag, while us 944's lagged behind about 100 yards behind the 1st group. Out onto the course, and around the track, and we all took the 2nd green flag. I had a decent start, grabbing a couple of spots and made it safely through turn 1, the point of maximum danger. Downshifting for turn 5, my clutch pedal went to the floor and didn't come back. Uh-oh....

Reaching down with my left foot I popped it back up. A couple more corners it worked fine, and then it didn't come back up again and needed to be "helped". By the end of the first lap it wasn't coming back on it's own accord any more. Now while all this in-car drama was taking place, I still was in close battle with several cars. For the next 5 laps I managed the clutch pedal and also made some more passes. Soon it became the new "normal".

Coming under the bridge, hot on the tail of David Mann, thinking I had a good run on him and should be able to stick a pass on him down in turn one, I shifted up into 5th and not only did the pedal not come back up, it disappeared!

Keith Code - author Twist of the Wrist

Keith Code, the great motorcycle racer and coach, has a theory that at any given moment you have $1.00 worth of attention to apply to any situation.That's what makes racing so challenging. There's a plethora of shiny objects to spend on that dollar. Brake markers, grip levels of your tires, which way the track goes, where is my competitor, "is that a rod knocking?" and many more.  If you spend it all focused on your reference marks to doing the perfect line, you're out of money when it comes to see that waving yellow flag off to the left of the turn.

So there I was, a poster child attention deficit racer maxed out at the attention ATM. I've had originally spent a quarter on the clutch pedal issue but now clutch management was only allocated about a nickle. and only had about 2 cents left to think about the new issue since I was a bit busy at the moment. I issued some commands to the left leg to go find that pedal but it reported back that it couldn't find it. "Ok" said the brain with it's 2 cents of attention. "I heard a clunk a second ago. Could that be the clutch falling out of the car onto the track?" A second or two pause. "Can a clutch pedal even fall out of a car?".

Mr Brain finally recognizing that it needed to spend more money here or a lot of bad things could happen, made the executive decision to dive into the pits at the last moment, hard on the brakes with still no gears engaged and no clutch.  About halfway down the pit lane I found 2nd gear and pulled the clutch pedal up but headed in for my paddock spot. Not an auspicious start to the race weekend, a DNF for Race 1.

So while I didn't get dirty changing tires that weekend, a hour later found me under the jacked up car, bleeding the clutch pedal which is a real PITA on a 944. An hour after that, I finally had a good clutch pedal and was ready for Race 2 in the afternoon.

 Due to me making it only halfway the race distance, I was starting from the back for Race 2. No big deal, that just means I'll have a good crack at the "Hard Charger Award" for the most passes. I make a great start making it halfway through the field, moving right and then when it starting stacking up for turn 1, moved left. I picked up a couple more spots on the outside when Bam! I'm nailed from the right side by Steve Randolph. Steve went around in a spin, and a couple more cars touched as the incident unfolded. Other than body damage, my car felt unhurt and I could have kept on going. If this was a NASA or SCCA race, I would have, but this was PCA. Their rule is any contact, any contact, means everybody's race is done and you all have to come in, even if you're not at fault.

So I made my way around the track and into the pits. I stopped at the Black Flag station where the scruiteers provided me with paperwork and directed me off to Medical. Surprisingly even though there were 4 cars involved, I was the only driver who came in. All the others pretended it didn't happened and didn't come in until they were black flagged. In my incident report, it asks if there were any witnesses. I filled out: the entire green sprint group, turn 1 corner workers and everybody on top of the tower. I mean, come on, turn 1 lap 1, everybody was watching!

That poor side gets no respect ...

Back in the paddock I examined the damage. A caved in passenger side door and  mangled front fender. A large sledge hammer 'adjusted' the door. A few passes of my Krylon "Body Shop in a Can!" flat black paint added the final touches. Ready for Race 3 tomorrow. We all retired to the rear patio at the Old Oar House Irish Pub in downtown for some good beer and food.

Sunday morning and it was time to grid up. Since grid position was based upon lap times in Sprint 2, I was at the back of the field. Just like the start of Sprint 1, oh well.  Unlike Sprint 2 I survived turn one and carried on. I had a good start eventually making it up to mid-pack where I encountered Jim Rothenberg and David Mann. Jim couldn't keep me behind him and I got through after a few laps and camped on the tail of David. I kept on getting a run on him and he let me on by, hoping I'd make a mistake being in the lead and not being the attacker. We ran into the backmarkers, several D & E class cars. They were slow in the corners but fast to put their foot down. I was able to pass several of them and put them between me and David and Jim, just where I wanted them.

Then I ran into 'The Wall', a pair D & E cars that were determined to keep us behind them at all costs, even though we weren't racing them, they were out of class. I would be right on their bumper through a corner, only to watch them floor it coming out onto the straight. Only to brake very early where I catch them again entering the corner. Rinse and Repeat. My gap back to David and Jim rapidly dwindled as these guys blocked me. And I mean "blocked me" as in deliberately blocked. On several corners I pulled out to pass under braking on inside and car #2 would pull out in front of me and brake, go side by side with car #1 through the corner at a reduced speed, only to fall back into line and race to the next corner. This, to put it mildly, was a bit frustrating. Eventually the two out of class cars successfully pinned me into a corner, and since David and Jim had caught up by that point, David slipped by while they were concentrating on me. Once free of them, David started running away. In my case they continued blocking me until the end and we finished the race with David in front of me and Jim behind. Other than the dunderheads blocking me, it was a fun battle with both Jim and David.

Denny Wasser (112) one of the faster E class drivers, another E driver in
the 911 and I going 3 wide into turn 5.

Next up was the enduro. This time it was a 60 minute battle from start to finish with Alan Cohen. Al started in front of me but I was able to get in front and we traded back and forth, or ran nose to tail until little more than halfway when we both hit the pits for our mandatory 5 minute pit stop. I managed to get out in front of Al due to better time management, but my tires were gone. At this point in the weekend, they were on their 13th or 14th heat cycle and had the grip of a wet teflon dish sponge. My lap times were 4 seconds slower in the 2nd half of the enduro than the first stint. While I worked hard, I couldn't get the car anywhere near the correct line through the Octopus section. Sooner than later, Al was able to get past me and by the end of race had a good lead on me. Al took 2nd and me 3rd. It was an exciting battle, close but respectful with another great racer. The battle had me loading the car into the trailer with a wide smile to finish the weekend.

Getting ready for the Summit Point race

A familiar sight in 2013. Sledge hammers, sanders and bondo
were the most used tools to work on my car.

So while I have work ahead of me before Summit Point, the weekend ended on a high note with the 2 excellent races on Sunday that were close and competitive. Totally worth it.

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.

Summit Point PCA race - part 2

So where were we? Ah yes, strapped into the car, rain pouring down and ready to start another race at Summit Point. The skies teased us with some lightening of the deluge, but no love for race 2. 10 miles away in Winchester it was dark and gloomy, but not raining. Looking at the radar, Summit Point seems to be stuck in a Groundhog Day loop, a giant rotating green splash that seems stuck on us. All totally irrelevant of course, 944 Cup racers are made of stern stuff, we race in the snow after all (February @ VIR). While I wasn't on pole, I was on the outside of pole but with a transparent windshield this time. A tradeoff I would glady do again.

Bob Page (blue 76) and Chris Derecola (yellow 24) at Nationals 2010

Bob Page in the blue #76 was lined up next to me on the inside on pole. Right behind me is Steve Randolph (#3). We're in about row 4 or 5 of the race group. We round turn 10, eyes straining for the green flag. Revs build and hearts are beating 180 bpm and then Green Flag!

Bob and I pedal neck and neck down the straightaway. I decide to stick with the outside lane and not do anything stupid since it was still pouring. I tuck behind another car and follow them in the braking zone. Now I'm usually a good latebraker. I'm even better in the rain since my car has ABS ... As I'm diving on the brakes, I'm watching some cars skid off in front of me into the gravel trap or run off road. I'm also thinking. Man, Bob's waiting awfully late to brake ... I bet he's going to not going to make the corner, I better do something about this.  I check up and go wide in the corner figuring he would go flying past the front of me. And here's come a flying splash of blue 944 on my right side. Unfortunately Bob didn't miss me, but nailed me pretty good in the wheel and front fender. Just like a banked pool shot he goes flying off at an angle and into the outside gravel trap.

Other than a slight deviation in my course, it didn't do a whole lot to me. I continued on at full tilt and into the class lead.

Bob Page's car at Nationals 2010

Now Bob is breathing down my neck in the championship. With his win in race 1, he's only 2 points behind. With him in the gravel, now's my time to make some points. With cars spinning off everywhere at the start I guess the corner workers were busy. I watch the black flag stations (I could see them this race!) as I go by but don't see any call to come in. A couple of laps later they close the pits as Bob was able to make it to pit lane but broke down and blocked it. He needed to be towed in to clear it.

Eventually Steve Randolph (#3) is parked on my bumper. This should be a fun race, we should be evenly matched in the rain. Entering the carousel (turn 6) my car just doesn't have any power. Normally, I downshift into 3rd gear at the bottom of the Chute (turn 5), accelerate on the short straight, a light left foot brake, turn in and back on the gas. This time nothing much happens. WTF? I glance at the Data System and it says I'm in 3rd gear. I don't believe it, it feels like I'm in 5th. I reshift and back into 3rd. Still no power. Steve just dives into the inside and motors on past.

The car feels slow. I'm keeping my foot to the floor through the rest of the carousel - normal proceedure for a 944 anyway - but not much drama. Rolling through turn 9, it's like my turbo spooled up and came on boost as the power came back online. The middle of turn 9 was not an auspicious location for this to happen and the rear stepped out on me. Some quick hands and we were back on course. With Steve disappearing in front of me of course.

Halfway down the straight, the power goes away again, then reappears halfway around turn 10. And so it goes the rest of the race, power, no power, power - holy shit not here! - no power ... I'm in 2nd but not destined to stay there long. Dave Gibson comes rolling up and after some token resistance by me, goes on by. Into 3rd now. Crap.

And now here come Robert Provost in his SP1 car filling my mirrors.  Here's a couple of laps from his viewpoint.

My car is at least consistent. Power, no power, power, no power. But as the race winds down the on power cycle is getting longer. I figure something got wet (duh!) and is finally drying out a bit. I manage to keep Robert behind me and bring the car home in 3rd. Another podium finish and some breathing room from Bob. With the finish I now need to just finish 14th or higher to get a lock on 2nd in the championship.

The turn 1 hit resulted in a dented fender, easily fixed at home with a mallet and some krylon paint, and a cut tire. It was time to get another set of wets anyway.

Tomorrow is another sprint and a 60 minute enduro, both non-point races. Still more challenges ahead, the weekend is definitely not over. However, it was time to head off for beer and the bar-b-que track dinner.

Delaware PCA DE @ NJMP

After the Summit Point club race - which I'll get back to shortly - I had to quickly fix up the car for the annual Delaware PCA region DE event, which is held at Thunderbolt the next weekend. This is our 4th year doing this, and for the past several years I've been the registrar. We only do one DE a year, but we try to make it one of the best for everybody.

First item to address was to replace the radiator fan that was given me so much problems. Pulling it out I was surprised to see that it wasn't a thrown balance weight, but that a whole fan blade had broken off.

Well, in my defense, it was pouring rain, wet, dark and gloomy at the race, and the fans black, so hard to see. I had my choice of fan assemblies from my pile of parts and bolted another one right in. A quick wash of the car outside, when it finally stopped raining for a bit, and it was off to the track.

Friday was our "open track" day where we run alternating 30 min sessions and in theory, get 4 hours of track time. I had a blast, running on my Toyo RA1's that look like Hoosiers now, with god knows how many heat cycle on them. On Saturday my on-track time came to an end during the 2nd session in the morning when I blew a hole in my headers. Not wanting to risk a burnt valve, I parked the car. After all, all I have to do is one more race where I finish better than 14th and I grab 2nd in the 944 Cup North Region championship. I finished out the weekend doing my registrar duties and the occasional instructing stints.

Back home I pulled the header and unwrapped the heat tape and found the damage was greater than I though.

The top area is the one I was able to see at the track. The bottom crack was invisible.

 Even worse, the crack went all the way around the pipe. This header is done. I'll keep it around and try my modest welding skills on it. If it survives I'll keep it as a backup. But for now, I went and ordered a new MSDS Header that was ceramic coated from Lindsey Racing.

Looking Sweet!

The car was running warm at the DE and using water somewhere, so I'll also take the opportunity to tear down the top end to see if I can find out what's up with that. Most of its already off the car and I'll finish up this weekend.

Summit Point PCA race - part 1

For the twitter nation, here's the short version of the weekend: dry, warm, beer, cold, rain, fogged up, 2nd, more rain, bang, miss, 3rd, beer, ribs, trophies,tires, more beer, dry, cold, still missing, 2nd, cup car, mud, 1st, pit, cup car, spin, overheat, dnf, home, beer.

You can leave now, the grownups will stay.....

Friday was dry and warm. With my old 12 heat cycle tires I was able to get down into the 1:27's. Which was nice as I haven't been to Summit Point in years after the thousands of laps I've done there. The track felt good and I remembered where all the turns where. We had 3 practice sessions and then the rookies had their practice starts and fun races and it was time for some beer. We ended up at Winchester Thai (recommended) for dinner in the pedestrian mall in Old Winchester.

944 Cup Head Honcho Dave Derecola has moved to South Carolina from the Maryland area, and so has joined the ranks of the Gentlemen racers, doing arrive and drive, letting his crew, in this case, Gerald from John Behe's shop, drive the truck and trailer and wrench on the car.

Gerald working on DD's car

David Mann and Dave Derecola.Steve's Randolph's car in the background.

By Saturday morning, the clouds had moved in and it was threatening rain. Soon it was time for qualifying and the track was damp enough the decision was made to go to Hoosier Wet tires. And they stayed on the car for the rest of the day. Our group was a mix of 944 Cup cars, Spec Boxsters and misc 911's. It was a bit crowded and I never got a clean lap and qualified 4th, within a second of the rest of guys on a wet track.

Steve Randolph #3 - North Region Champion 2011 -
I was mathematically eliminated over the weekend. when Steve finished
only 1 position behind me. Still in the hunt for 2nd.

Bernie, Steve Randolph's crew and mechanic

Sitting on the grid for race #1, the rain was coming down pretty good. I was feeling pretty good myself, I enjoy rain races. It seems though, that is a minority opinion, as the run group size was only 50% or less from the day before. The call comes, and we head out for the pace lap, taking my position on the outside (left). Just them my windshield starts fogging up. WTF? I use shaving cream on the inside to defog since I don't have any defrosters. The qualifying session was just as wet and visibility was great.

That wasn't the case now, it was seriously fogging up. I could wipe about a 1 foot square circle just in front of me, I couldn't reach any more. We come onto the front straight and there must have been a green flag, not that I could see it, but we all went. Huge waves of spray coming off the cars in front of me. I assume it was coming off the cars, as even if they were 5 feet in front of me, I couldn't see them.

'Well this sucks' I'm thinking. I head to the inside hoping to get out of the spray so I can maybe see turn one and brake for it. The spray lessens and I run down the inside with all the other 944's stacked behind a slow Boxster and take the class lead.

Some of the SuperCups - Noel Hall's turbo

Meanwhile in the car, the fogging is getting worse. Pretty soon my windshield is solidly opaque with just the little porthole in front that I can reach with my glove. The rear hatch was mostly fogged up also, so visibility to the rear was mostly from my left side drivers mirror. Anything out the right side of my windshield is just not there. Since there is only 3 left hand turns with all the rest right-handers, that made driving a bit challenging. I started playing the game "Guess where the ... (brake marker/apex/track-out) ... is". I started taking mental snapshots of the turns ahead and when I thought I was in the vicinity, I would turn in.

Overall, I sucked at this new game. I think I may have hit 3 apexes and maybe a couple of braking points in the entire race. I would brake way too late, get all crossed up and squirelly - remember it's a wet track and slippery. But I was still in the lead!

About lap 7 I caught a 911 that was getting stacked up in turn one behind a Spec Boxster, slowing us both down. Bob Page, who I had been keeping a consistent gap behind me even with my driving by braile style, was able to catch up and parked himself on my bumper.

Heading into Wagon Bend (turn 3) I totally missed the braking point (my marker is on the right side ...) and got the car very much out of shape. With arms windmilling, I gather it back up, but Bob got by. With Bob actually able to see out his windshield, I was never able to get past him and brought the car home in 2nd place. With Bob taking the win, he was now only 2 points behind me. I must finish in front of him in the next race. Steve Randolph rounded out the top 3. Since he finished only 1 position behind me, I was told that mathematically eliminates me from the championship - ala  Formula One! But I still have a good shot at 2nd as long as I can keep Bob behind me.

More SuperCups - Steve Wilson's turbo

Check out that wing on Wilson's 951

944 Cup dinning at Joe's aka The Racing Chef'
(from left) Bob Page, Steve Randolph, DD

After a nice lunch prepared by our own 'Racing Chef', Joe Boschulte, it was time to strap back into the car for Race #2. Still raining, but  I had redone the shaving gel treatment to my windshield and I was expecting to at least see this time. And that was the result, good visibility throughout the race. With that problem solved, Mr Murphy wasn't done with me yet. More drama was in store.

Stealth Car Recognition

Interesting weekend at the Summit Point PCA race. Drama, rain, contact, flat tows and podiums all mixed together. Race report to follow.

But first, at the Saturday dinner, my car was voted by the corner workers to be the most colorful, or unique, or "interesting" design. I'm still not quite sure exactly what the criteria was, but I ended up with the "Andy Warhol Paint" award. And the trophy was much bigger than the podium awards. I'm surprised they were actually able to see in the car in the pouring rain. It's flat black with no lights after all. Anyway, pretty cool indeed.

Glen 2011

So, the Glen weekend is over and I had a coach. What did I learn?

Well, I learned that 1) as a driver, I don't suck   2) as an engine builder, the jury is still out.

After an uneventful tow to Watkins Glen, I showed up at the track bright and early Thursday morning, got registered and teched, and met Dave Scott of Racecoach.net. Dave would be coaching me and Tyler Comat, another 944 Cup driver. Dave would be riding in car with Tyler and I on Thursday in the Metro NY Drivers Education, and then do data analysis on Friday when the race weekend starts.

Tyler Comat (left) and Dave Scott

As a old guy I know I won't be fast right out of the gate, I need to sneak up on my speed. Plus I haven't been to the Glen since last year, so I left my 14 heat cycle Hoosiers on the car, planning to swap them out for good rubber the next session. Dave was charitable on my driving: "I can tell you were just knocking off the rust" ...  but he had some good observations and a plan for the next session.

The plan was based around two action points: a) smooth the transitions from brake to throttle and vice versa; less porpoising of the car and more a gentle squatting and having it take a set - not that my car is pogo'ing up & down like a lowrider, we're talking refinements here.   b) adjusting the attitude of the car entering turns by a few degrees and trail braking to the apex. I already trail brake on some corners of some tracks, but not really much at the Glen. Starting with session 2 that was going to change.

The pedal transitions I picked up fairly quickly, as I was already smooth, and once I had my attention directed to it I was able to make changes. Now the trail braking part was a bit challenging. I had no problems jumping right in and trying but it totally screwed up my timing for the corners, usually resulting in arriving early. Which stands to reason, since I'm carrying more braking into the corner, I need to brake later than I normally would. Occasionally I got it right, and Dave seemed happy with the improvement in the car's altitude in the corners.

Since this was a Drivers Education day, I was running in the Black run group where the region dumped all the club racers. So it was plenty busy with tons of 911 Cup cars blowing by me everywhere. So with lots of traffic, Dave yammering in my headset, trying new techniques, trying to critically analyze my driving and, oh yeah, manage the task of driving a race car at 100 mph around a track with blue armco just off the track surface, it was a busy time in the car. As Keith Code would put it, I was spending my full budget of $1 worth of my attention.

Coming into the Toe of the Boot (turn 7), in the back of my mind I could hear an unusual noise in the car. At the same time I had 3 very fast Cup cars on my tail and I was busy letting them by as I pushed off the apex. They put the hammer down and blew past me. They were LOUD! and the last car was really loud. I remember thinking that car definitely has an off note on his exhaust. Dave asks me "you hear that rattling?" and as he does, I realize it's not the cup car but me! I vary the throttle and the noise varies, just then Dave shouts "oil pressure" I scan my gauges and see my giant ! light all lit up and my oil pressure is zero. I kill the motor and steer to the side of the track next to the armco.

It's quiet in the country, just crickets and the occasional 911 GT3 Cup car passing by.

Finally the tow truck arrives. My tow hook is attached to my lightened bumper that had the heavy shock mounts removed and replace with some lightweight steel tubing. The bumper is solid in the horizontal plane, but the mounts are a little smaller than the original so there is some play in the vertical. The tow truck guys are concerned that my bumper is going to come flying off when they pull. I reassure them but they don't look convinced. The tow strap tightens as it loads up, everybody is staring intently at my bumper when suddenly the strap goes flying! Everybody ducks. But its not my bumper, it was the part attached to the tow truck. The guys forgot to tie off the tow truck...  After some sheepish grins, they reattach the strap and tow me back to the paddock where my weekend was done before it got started.

944 Cup paddock at the Glen

Glen PCA race - May/June (continued)

1st practice session was uneventful. This was the first time the car has gone faster than 25 mph since the engine blew up in April. The lap times seemed pretty slow, but I chalked that up to lack of grip on the early damp track and my general rustiness.

2nd and 3rd practice sessions didn't see much improvement, my laptimes were still pretty slow. The car felt kidda gutless. Granted I was running a 2.5L motor instead of the 2.7 I was used to. And I was running at my 2.7 weight - 2750 lbs - which is 150 over what the 2.5 guys are running. That's the equivalent of having a passenger. So I didn't expect to running up front this weekend, but still, 4 seconds off the pace?

Sitting on the grid to take part in the fun race, I idlely played with my quick-release steering wheel. I like to check and double-check that it's locked in place. I remember an incident at Lime Rock years ago when a racer coming thru the downhill turn onto the front straight turned right, but the wheel came off instead and he augered into the wall.

Hmmm, feels like more that the normal play. There's usually a bit of slop but this feels weird. Since having the wheel come off could make a bad day worse, I bailed off the grid and headed back to the paddock. Some mechanical sleuthing revealed the bolts that connected to the quick-release to the hub were too short, only gripping by several threads. And the several years of wear had stripped one of them to the point where it was barely gripping. So a good catch, always listen to that voice in your head: "Check out that loose fit ... Drink more beer ... Kill them all "   Well, maybe don't listen always ...

The nice quys at AtSpeed Motorsports (Thanks Bob!) found me some longer metric screws and I was back in business. I finished in time to head out for dinner and beer with the gang.

Our 3rd practice session served as our qualifying times, so Saturday was 2 sprint races with me starting at the back of the field. In the first race the car was a dog. Absolutely no power. At the starts when everybody was all bunched I moved toward the front, but once the race settled down all that work went down the drain. I could go through the corner with the best of them, but once on the power the hamsters were out to lunch. Everybody would just motor away from me and wave. A couple of laps into the race Tyler Comat and John Bilikas came together in turn 1-2 with John ending up on his roof. Scary stuff. Several laps under yellow kept me in contention but soon it was time for the restart and I assumed my lonely role at the back.

Race 2 was a reply of race 1. One lap of fun at the start, and then a boring drive to the end. I didn't even bother to fight anybody for a position, there was no point. They could just drive by my Yugo with their Cadillac. This royally sucked.  The only exciting part of the race was when I was going up the hill from the toe of the Boot when my right side mount of my Wink mirror broke and swung down and hit me in the helmet. I proceeded to drive up the hill with my right hand supporting the mirror, the left frantically trying to unscrew the left bracket while steering with my knees. That was exciting! Of course I kept my foot to the floor, after all, I drive "Flat Out" :)

Sunday was the 90 minute enduro. 1 minute of exciting start. 5 minutes in the pit. 84 minutes of trying not to be a rolling chicane. I didn't give up trying, I worked my ass off in the car, trying for a perfect lines, but the car gave up trying. I was running 10 seconds off the pace. A consistent 10 seconds off, but even so. Nuff said.

So at the end of the day I rolled the car onto the trailer in one piece. Much better than last year when I got a 13/13. That's the good news. Actually that's not true. There's more. I appreciate how fortunate I am to go racing at all. That's not something available to a lot of folks. I got to hang out with friends and enjoy their company. And not that I mind rain, it was a beautiful weekend at the track. All very good things.

However, I'm just too competitive and if I can't race with a competitive car, there's no point to expending all that time, money and energy. So no more racing until I find out what's wrong with the car. It just wasn't fun.

And for a final perfect touch of the weekend, I had another trailer flat on the way home. This one happend about 5 miles from the flat on the way up. Must be some sort of trailer black hole in Harrisburg.

Time for a nice home brew.  A Tower English Dark Ale is calling my name ...

Glen PCA race - May/June

The deadline for the cancellation of my registration was come and gone. So now I was committed - or as my wife say, I should be, but I digress. I was going to make the race or else. After working all day I'd make it down to the garage around 7pm and work until 11:30 or midnight. The clock was ticking with under a week and many tasks to go. Finally the car was buttoned up and the motor fired on the first crank. Success! Now it's off to my local shop as the front end was off the car, so it needs to be aligned - something I haven't learned to do yet. Plus after all the work that was done under stress, it's nice to have a set of professional eyes to check everything out.

So alignment, and a general look-over. I delivered it to the shop on Monday. Should be plenty of time to leave early Thursday morning right?

Of course not, this is racing and nothing ever goes smoothly. A few last minute panics but finally the car was ready, but not until Thursday at noon. So much for the easy 10 am start and the nice relaxing drive through the New York and Pennsylvania mountains. Registration closes at the Glen at 5pm exactly and if you don't get registered, they won't let you in. Period.  We finally got off around 1pm and headed North. Zipping along Rt 322 outside of Harrisburg and the famous Mr. Murphy shows up: Trailer Flat! Luckily I could be on a NASCAR pit crew and had that bad boy off and a new one mounted and was back on the road in under 15 mins. At exactly 5:05 I pulled up to the - now closed - registration bldg at the Glen. Arghh, thanks Mr. Murphy. So now instead of dropping the trailer, unloading the car, getting my credentials, going thru tech, and kicking back drinking some beer, it's all going to be done in a rush tomorrow morning, as we're the first group on track. Well, maybe I could work on that drinking beer part now...

Morning comes and the tasks are swiftly dispatched. All too soon I'm finally sitting in the car on the false grid, ready to go out. The weekend is about to begin. I'm excited, it's great to be back in a race car again.

And that was the high point of the weekend, so lets end on that note.