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[924RACR]

Race 7 results are already up!
http://www.waterfordhills.com/results/r7gr1y01.htm

You can see we've got our best time yet of a 1:24:440! Also best finish
in
class of 6th...

Many thanks to all of those who came out this weekend in support of the
last Waterford event of the season, especially Merritt and Angie for
braving the (at times) miserable weather on Sunday. This was a very
exciting weekend, with a mixture of frenetic activity in the paddock, on
the grid, on the track, and in the sky!

The excitement started before the racing got going, with frantic
activity Friday afternoon to get the car running. After much cursing and
a bath, the car finally started. OK, so we had to get the firing order
right too, bt that's just details. Great, it's running, get it on
the trailer and get it to the track!

Saturday opened on a beautiful, if cool, morning, and the crew assembled
and set about buttoning up the details to get the car on track.
Everything was dealt with in time, and we rolled out to grid and
proceeded to make some laps. As we had had some overheating problems
when out at Gingerman last two months ago, the first few laps were
making sure the car ran OK, and didn't overheat, and getting a sense of
the car on track - some suspension tweaks had taken place, and we were
trying to see how they'd hold up.

All was well; the coolant temps and oil temps were all great. The car
was handling very nicely and predictably, no problems driving it at the
limit. However, bad news when we got back to the paddock, as we got
called to the top of the tower. Turns out we were just (2dB) over the
sound limit. Driver's pissed, has a feeling he knows why... sure enough,
a quick check under the car reveals that the tailpipe used was not the
quiet pipe that should be used at Waterford - the exhaust constructor
that put the exhaust back together used the same loud pipe he took off!

Even worse, we left the quiet pipe home in the last-minute flurry of
activity to load the car. What would we do? A few quick phone calls
confirmed that we couldn't arrange to have the quiet pipe retreived in
time to make the first race, 2 hours later, so we decided to short-shift
down the back straight at the sound meter to reduce our output, allowing
us to stay on track.

Any concern about lost lap time was lost, however, when the car would
not re-start on the grid before the race. Panic ensued as the cars
started the pace lap without #77. A shot of WD40 failed to ignite,
leading us to suspect spark... sure enough, when the coil wire was
pulled, the spark looked "real weak, man!" Driver pops the belts, hops
out, and yanks the wires off the ballast resistor to the coil - "Hold
these together while I crank it!" Vroom!!! "OK, tie those together while
I belt in!!!" As the field rounds the last turn and takes the green, the
driver hops back in and tries to get everything put back straight and
tight while the crew frantically snugs everything up and tries to get it
good enough to last 8 laps... "OK, hit it!" 77 roars to life, the driver
pulls on the gloves, and roars off towards the pit lane... amazingly,
he's getting the wave to enter the pit straight... all is clear, and
he's astonished to see a green flag waving at him... aren't they coming
around on the first lap yet? He punches it and takes off down the pit
lane, and enters turn one... sure enough, it's clear...

The remainder of the race was much less eventful; we managed to turn
some good laps, but, due to the 1/2 lap deficit, ended up getting lapped
by about 5-7 cars. No big surprise, we're happy to still be running.

The car was re-wired to bypass the ballast resistor, which was
determined to be unnecessary, and the tires were rotated. The car was
left in the air with the tailpipe removed, and we retreived the "quiet"
pipe from home after leaving the track.

Sunday morning was even less busy than Saturday; we swapped in the
tailpipe, set the tire pressures, and were ready to go. The car started
beautifully, and was on the grid, then off for the first race of the day
before we knew it! Due to starting at the back (yesterday's finishing
order), we knew we had our work cut out for us; there were known slower
cars in front of us, and we'd have to bust through them quickly in order
to run the pace we felt we were capable of and stay in touch with the
faster cars we wanted to run with us. Sure enough, we passed the first
two cars, the blue Fiero of the Wheelers and the 00 silver RX7 on the
first lap or two. Then it was a matter of keeping up the pace with the
two Mazdas in front... one RX7, one Miata, who were dicing it up pretty
good themselves.

Either due to the superior Porsche speed or the fun they were having
with eachother, we caught up to them over Hilltop with a few laps to go,
running within a foot of the rear bumper of the Miata through Big Bend.
The RX7 that was leading waved the Miata by on the back straight, and we
decided to go while the going was good and make it a two-fer! We skated
through the inside on Turn 6, and skipped through Paddock Turn and the
Esses again within a foot of the bumper of the Miata. He could see the
writing on the wall, and wanted his security deposit for the car (a
rental) back, and waved us by! Cool! That's 4 cars in one race! Came
around Swamp Turn to the front straight, a couple of laps to go with a
couple of Mazdas hot on our heels, anxious to learn from what we've
done, and watch our mistakes... Then, with only one lap to go, we find a
white flag out at Big Bend heading onto the back straight... that means
there's a slow-moving car somewhere up ahead, and we can't see very far,
since there's a crest in the back straight... as we're hauling the mail
down the back straight, with the RX7 looking once again to get by the
Miata, and both of them looking to put one over on me - Team Mazda! - we
see the silver CRX of none other than Dave Byersdorf virtually parked at
the apex of 6! The Mazdas pop back in line behind #77 and we scream by
Byersdorf's #55, and proceed on our merry way to take the checker! What
a race!

One more race to come - and what is the weather going to hit us with?
It's been dry so far, but threatening, and we've seen the radar, we know
there's a nasty line of thunderstorms moving our way. Sure enough, it
hits, and hits hard, like it only does at Mid-Ohio. Fortunately we have
a canopy set up and well tied down, but even so only about 4 square feet
remains dry for the remaining crew and mascot (Babylon) to crowd into
and stay dry... it's a low point of the weekend as we struggle to avoid
being blown away...

Things slowly fade away, and racing resumes... however, it's still
pretty bad-looking, and knowing what lies ahead, we switch over to the
rain setup... tires and chassis settings. Then, against all hope and
expectations, things continue to improve!!! Sure enough, by the time
Group 6 is out there, decision time comes, and we have to switch back!
Doh! Crew's pissed, but getting more experience by the minute, as we
change back to the dry setup... still, we're hopeful that we might be
able to dry out our shoes and enjoy this race. Sure enough, grid opens
and it's still dry, the track's completely dry!

We grid up... more pressure now, with a bunch of car behind us... we've
got some position to lose this time, not like the last race! Still press
on regardless... We move well in the first lap, but by the end of the
first lap or two, the 00 RX7 is pressing us hard, looking for the
opening... we take a defensive line into 1, and sure enough he slides up
the outside... we hit the dropoff together, and #77 drifts into the RX7,
folding his right side mirror in - now he can't see where we are! We
carry on side-by-side through 2 and 3, where he has the line and carries
the corner. We drop down a gear and let him have it, knowing we'll have
another chance. As we chase him, though, we realize it's not gonna be
easy - he must have found a spare case of Whoop-Ass, because we're
fighting hard to keep up with him now! What did he do to that car?!?

Still we can see the chink in his armor, as we consistently close up
through turns 3-4-5... he's got the motor to stay in front of us down
the back straight, but with a good run over Hilltop and through Big
Bend, we might have something for him! Sure enough, we've got the run to
hold tight and draft him down the back straight... we stick the nose in
going into 6, but have to really run it hard, and throw the car sideways
through the apex to make it stick... with the loss of momentum, it's
hard, and he slides up the inside going through Paddock. We're not
giving up though, and slide into the Esses side-by-side... he eases off,
and we see him drop back in the rearview and slide across to take the
second apex... and he runs right up and taps us! Alright, we're going at
it now! Give him a big thumbs-up, and rewarded with another smack in the
rear!!! This is great! Sure enough, though we lost enough speed sliding
around in front of him that he slides by again, and we're once again
looking at his rear bumper. Coming around for another lap, and the
starter gives us the finger, one lap to go... now's the time to do it...
set him up again over hilltop, carry the speed through Big Bend, and
look down the inside for Turn 6... we've got the inside line, but can we
do it? No! We over-do it, slide out half-into the dirt, and he slips up
the inside. That's OK, he's earned it, and we chase him around to the
finish line, make him work for it...

A great weekend, with great racing, lots of fun on and off the track,
and thoroughly exhausted!

Thanks again to all who came out! Remember, Waterford's season is over,
but there's still one weekend left - WOR Games at Mid-Ohio! We'll be
there, and expect to have a great time! We might even have some good
video!

Till next time...

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