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924RACR

Another great weekend for 4M/PUB Racing this weekend at Waterford!!

Pre-race prep - the #77 car got some major surgery immediately after the last race weekend, with the "X"-style door bars being replaced with larger, wider, safer "NASCAR"-style door bars - protruding all the way into the doors to the outer door skin, and necessitating removal of the door windows. This was both a safety improvement and a weight reduction measure, taking out approximately 25lbs and putting us only 30lbs over our spec min weight of 2495lbs (w/ driver) - our target will be 20 lbs over. So we're very close!

There were no significant other changes to the 77, except a new set of sparkplug wires to replace the old ones (that were dying and caused us to lose a race last race weekend). Likewise, the 55 car got an oil change and a brake bleed, that's about it.

Weather for qualifying was threatening to rain, but it held off long enough for us to run and get some decent, if not fantastic, times; thanks to some new qualifying strategy Chris was able to move his 55 car up to qualify 5th in class (out of 11 cars), and moving towards the front of the grid! Likewise, we were able to get the 77 car out front as expected, nearly a second and a half clear of the next car, the #18 Capri of Todd Lincoln.

Sure enough, immediately after our qualifying session, the rain did come, right in the midst of Group 6 - the Ground-Pounders! That's all the V8 Camaros, Corvettes, and Mustangs - and as they were out on dry tires, it made for quite a mess!

Then the weather broke, things dried out, and we had a dry if green track for our afternoon race. We had no issues with the 77 car, as it was on fresh sticky tires and really happy to buzz around, chasing the 2nd and 3rd place RX7's, just having a fun time watching them attack each other repeatedly! Meantime Chris was soldiering along despite a rough start which cost him a number of positions, due to some erratic driving by other cars just in front - but better safe than sorry! Still, he hung on and closed the distance to Kim Cordier in the #73 Mustang - eventually pressuring her into a mistake, moving him back up to 5th in class.

Then, at just about the same time, the 3rd and 4th place cars - #88 Mustang of Bob Hagemann and the #11 MGB of Jim Bundshuh - did a synchronized spin off the track, with some light contact, allowing Chris to slot up to 3rd place!

Final bit of excitement - the 2nd place #76 Mustang of John Ahoe failed to report to post-race impound, resulting in his disqualification! After much confusion about whether or not Chris needed to report to impound (as he did not), it was agreed that (per the rules) only 1st and 2nd place cars are required at impound, and so he retained 2nd place - his highest finish yet, and making for a Porsche 1-2 sweep!!!

Added bonus... we all went home and watch the Wings come from behind and take the 4th game of the Stanley Cup playoffs from the Penguins on their home ice, putting the series at 3-1 and only one game away from yet another Stanley for the Wings! GO WINGS!!!

Sunday dawned quite cold and breezy, though at least dry - but few were dressed for the temps, and we were all happy when the sun finally came out!

Thanks to Saturday's excellent showing, the team cars started in line, 77 leading the 55, and proceeded apace; Chris held his ground well, and only lost one spot when the very powerful Capri of Todd Lincoln - starting from the back after a DNS Saturday due to a failed ignition module - finally caught him with just a couple of laps to go and was able to simply motor on by without trouble. We really need to get a motor built for Chris soon!!!

Still, Chris held on tight and stayed in 3rd for the finish, earning him another podium and another nice shiny trophy! In the 77 car, the pace dropped off a little as we chose to use up last years' old tires, given the lack of competition - save the new expensive rubber for later. So it was a little harder to hang onto the same RX7's, but there was also no need to, and we safely brought 'er home for another checker without drama.

Drama, however, was exactly what showed up for the final race, the Feature! Chris started 6th (based on lap times from the preceding two races), and had a good start, finishing 5th, losing no ground, and turning his best time yet in that car at a 1:22.8!

Things were not so rosy in the 77 car. While we started on pole and pulled a healthy lead quickly on the next car - the same #11 MGB, this time driven by Doug Spencer, last year's champion - during the 4th lap the bearings in the steering column gave out, leaving the steering very unpredictable and loose - every time I hit the brake, the steering wheel went forward 4 inches into the dash, as far as it could go, and every time we turned right (all but 3 corners on this track), it took nearly twice as much steering input to get the job done, since the whole steering gear was flopping around!!

So Doug quickly closed the gap, we let him by, and soon after John Ahoe in 3rd was able to sneak by (without much contest, admittedly). However, with more time, despite some unbearable physical efforts, we found a way to keep going and hold some pace; final finish was 3rd, though under heavy attack from Bob Hagemann again - who would have probably found a way past in another lap or two.

Still, it was a good weekend, great weather, good fun, some great results, and still more to look forward to in upcoming weekends!!

Next race weekend for both cars will be Waterford Race 3, which is June 28-29th.
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Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

ideola · Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 15550 Location: Spring Lake MI

Congrats guys! Sorry I couldn't make it out this weekend, but I'll put the 28th on my calendar.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

924RACR · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:29 am Post subject: Update - diagnosis

While replacing the steering column bearing Sunday, finally figured out what went wrong on the car. I was tugging the bottom u-joint onto the spline on the rack, and noticed the rack itself was moving. Hey, I never took that off the crossmember! Why's that moving? Maybe the bolts are loose? Nope!

The mounting point for the cross-member, a box section welded to the bottom of the frame rail, had torn completely loose of the frame rail on the driver's side. On further inspection, it had also nearly torn free of the frame rail on the passenger's side too!

In other words, I had nearly had the entire front suspension fall out of the car while at speed!!!

So we'll be dragging her in for some remedial welding and bodging this week, then back onto the alignment rack for final straightening next week.

When did this happen? Most likely last season, when we spun out and went sideways into the armco, destroying (bending) the rack. Clearly this was more subtle long-term damage that took some time to show up!!

Always pays to carefully inspect those track cars, especially after an off!!!
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

Chrenan · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 3903 Location: Canada

Wow, you dodged a bullet there!
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1987 951 - M193 Version for Japan

PORSCHEV · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject:

Sounds like my latest problem! Hey Vaughn..how did you go about fixing yours? Did you add reinforcements? I could easily just reweld but i would like to have some extra strength..... I don't want to be thinking about my welds going into a corner doing 100 km
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1976 924
5 lug conversion, 17'C2 wheels,custom body work,327 vette engine.

1978-#53 "D" track racer.

924RACR · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:22 pm Post subject:

We did not reinforce, as we're not allowed to, just stitched it back up.

I have a very good welder.

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

PORSCHEV · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:49 am Post subject: Re: Update - diagnosis

Smoothie · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 3:43 am Post subject:

So this is the spot to check? -

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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

PORSCHEV · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 4:14 am Post subject:

Thats the spot!
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1976 924
5 lug conversion, 17'C2 wheels,custom body work,327 vette engine.

1978-#53 "D" track racer.

!tom · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:08 am Post subject:

Smoothie · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:51 am Post subject:

No, that's an aftermarket Weltmeister bar and mounting hardware for the later 944 and 924S. I had to fabricate a few pieces to make it work. Originally, my car came with the late '82 924-early 944 bar shown in the second pic of my second post here - http://www.924board.org/viewtopic.php?t=14010
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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

924RACR · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 11:26 pm Post subject:

Yeah, that's where I had separation/tearing...
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype