924Board.org

[924RACR]

Just the quick "pit notes" version of the weekend - this being May 4th-5th, the season opener at Waterford Hills (www.waterfordhills.com).

No changes were made to the car from the end of last season, except for adding much-needed cross-bracing and reinforcement to the rollcage. No money left for anything else! The spare was removed from the rear to compensate for the approx weight added in the cage, but the car was not re-weighed or realigned. We just put in some gas and fresh oil and went out!

The race groups were reordered this year, putting ITA with ITS, so that we were no longer running with the ITR (IT Rotary - ITA-prepped RX2's, 3's, and 7's) guys we played with for the last two years. Since we had not been very competitive in the ITA field last year, we were quite discouraged, since we expected to have no-one to play with, as slow as we were. This fear was further reinforced as we reviewed the entry list for the weekend - we were the only non-Honda signed up for ITA! It was gonna be just us and 7 CRX's!

OK, oh, well, nothing for it but to just hit the track and use it all as a practice session, just go and try and turn laps drive well. Sure enough, come practice session, there were enough cars falling off or hitting things to ensure that we out-qualified a few ITA and ITS cars. Not bad, all things considered. The race ended well, with us moving up 2 spots in class, from 8th to 6th, and up to 13th overall (from 17th, up 4 spots). Even more rewarding was, again, finishing in front of a number of faster cars, only some of which had dropped out.

The next race was more challenging, as a number of ITS cars that had not completed the previous race were in back, waiting to get by, and 3 hungry Hondas in our class. Sure enough, this happened on the first lap as they motored by us. We then proceeded to work hard to keep the 3 Hondas, with whom we were fighting for class position, behind us, having started 6th in class.

A few laps in, we went agricultural, pushing out on turn 3, the tightest turn on track, and let one by before getting back on. It was us in a Honda sandwich for the rest of the race, till the 1-lap signal was given by the starter... now or never, we got a great run coming off of Hilltop and onto the back straight. Looking in the rearview, it was obvious that the Honda behind had also got the run, and was looking to make a move going into 6 off the back straight. So, though we weren't pulling the CRX in front, we pulled out to get "in line" for the inside of Turn 6 - all race long, following this CRX in front, he'd been consistently braking at about 300 feet. Our little 924 can consistently go in at 180 feet! No question we could do him here, and waiting a short breath after he hits his braking marker, then squeeze the brakes and hang on like hell to try to make the corner!!!

Apparently it didn't look that dramatic outside the car, just slight puffs of smoke from the tires as we pushed them to the ragged edge and beyond, then we were around the corner and in front of the Honda! And around the remaining two corners to take the checker, retaining our 6th place in class. Very cool finish to a nail-biter of a race.

The last race of the weekend was the best of all. All the previous results were thrown away, as cars were again gridded by best lap time, unlike the previous race which was based on finishing order in the first race. Our slow lap times, however, meant that we were punted all the way to the back. Of course, this meant that we had nothing to lose, and could afford to take more chances in passing and working our way forward during the race.

Of course, all this got shelved once the race started; one of the two cars we started behind turned out to be driven rather out of control, as the driver of the Cougar, who had previously been fairly decent and predictable, started to lose his control or concentration, and drove erratically. This made it difficult and dangerous for both us and the Honda in front of us to safely get past him. He therefore held us up pretty hard for a couple of laps.

A few laps in, late-apexing Turn 6 we were able to carry more speed again than the CRX, and passed him going through the right-hand sweeper of Paddock immediately following Turn 6 (also a righ-hander). He chose to concede the position rather than run the risk of going through the Esses 2-wide, a very tricky proposition. This put us right behind the dangerous Cougar.

The next lap proved that the identical move would work on the Cougar - only rather than conceding the position, he dropped 2 wheels off and lost a lot of speed in the dirt as he lost control. This move us up to deal with an ITS Datsun 240Z and more CRX's. The Datsun proved an easy early mark, as a better line through turn 3 allowed us to carry more speed and motor him up the hill to Hilltop, at which point he also let us by (rather than fighting 2-wide over hilltop, also very tricky as it's an off-camber turn). The remaining Hondas were easily picked off, as 2 had some mechanical failures, and the third was outmaneuvered on track as he was stuck behind his teammate who was pulling off as I tried to pass, making it a 2-fer.

Meanwhile, up ahead out of sight, the remaining CRX not running up front (Moser, Moser, and Byersdorf) had also dropped out with mechanical problems). This, though we did not realize it until after results were posted, put us in 4th in class! However, the race wasn't over yet. Behind us, the 240Z we'd taken care of had finally got by the Cougar, who had doubled up on our pass of the 240 up the hill. The Cougar again put himself in the grass around turn 6, a repeat of what'd happened when we passed him, although the Z-car had outbraked him going into 6. Without the obstruction, and due to a little overdriving on our part, the Z had caught back up to us, and had nearly closed in close enough to pass when the leaders came around to lap us. We'd lost so much time in the first 2 laps behind the Cougar that'd we'd been held up enough to be lapped.

The Z had a rougher time letting by the leaders than we did, losing some of the ground he'd gained, and so we were on the last lap as he closed in. Again thanks to some overdriving, he got a good run down the backstraight and going into Turn 6, but though he had the inside line, he was not about to out-brake the 924, and we held the position by the skin of our teeth. The motor of the 240 was pulling hard, though, as the driver flogged it hard coming through the last turn and onto the front straight, and he pulled up alongside us down the front straight - but didn't get there in time!!! We retained 12th spot overall by only a couple of feet, and held on to 4th in class! A very exciting finish to a very enjoyable weekend!

I will eventually get some footage downloaded, not just from my car but also from the 240Z, and will post here once it's up...


_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[924RACR]

Videos to come soon... captured most, but slow uploads...

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[924RACR]

First crop of videos is up... still need to get the stuff from the other car, the ITS Datsun...
http://vaughanscott.com/videos.htm

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister

RTFAQ!

[ This Message was edited by: 924RACR on 2002-05-23 09:26 ]

[Lizard]

your site has a nice download speed its great

[924RACR]

Glad to hear it, thanks! Webhosting is by pair.net, same as 924.org... though this discussion board is hosted elsewhere.

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[Lizard]

do you have any tips for going and getting a racing licence as i am wanting to do this soon

[924RACR]

Yeah. Start looking right away for someone rich to marry! LOL

I'm not 100% on the sport's structure up in Canada, but there is a similar organization to SCCA (only better, most likely), and you need to find out where they are relative to you and what they're up to. Maybe I can check this weekend - we're back out again this weekend, and being in Detroit, we get a number of racers coming across the river from Ontario. They'll know what the name of the sanctioning body is.

Anyway, the deal w/ SCCA, and most likely up there, is that you need to typically go through one or two schools, at the successful completion of which you receive a novice license, then drive a couple of races. Once you've successfully completed those first couple of races without incident, you receive a full competition license.

I'm assuming you don't yet have a racecar. Before deciding to build your own, consider 2 options. #1, rent. Smallest outlay, and if you decide you don't like it, it's easy to bail. #2, buy used. In my class, IT, which is the most popular in this whole area, used IT cars start at about $3k USD, in complete running form. I'd recommend an ITB Rabbit/Golf, as they're very competitive in their class, and mechanically very similar to the 924. Racing something you're familiar with is always a good thing.

By contrast, I've spent probably about $8k to build my 924, and it's still not that competitive. I doubt I could get more than $5k for it. It's a buyer's market. Furthermore, once you've been on track and racing, you will have a whole lot of ideas about what you would have done differently. Then you can sell the Rabbit or whatever, and build your car of choice properly.


_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[Lizard]

i was sort of thinking about just going into the street legal races and i believe there is a school fairly close to me that does a 4 day training to get my novice, and i will just use my car if someone hits me though i will kill them, literly

[924RACR]

But usually you have to install the required racing safety equipment. For SCCA, that means at bare minimum rollcage, harness, kill switch, window net, fire extinguisher. PCA requires less, perhaps you should check that out, only need a rollbar, not a full cage. Still need the rest, though.

Consider the amount of abuse the car will take on track, even if you don't hit anyone or anything.

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[Lizard]

eh it gets some abuse on the street too and i am going to be looking into that but last time i checked for the street legal races you only had to have a rollcage if it is a convertable, i dont think you have to have the rest regular, but i will see

[Cbass]

Hey Colin, we have a good racing league here in BC, and there are some surprising good tracks nestled in our little province.

Here is the web page for the Sports Car Club of British Columbia.

http://www.sccbc.net/