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[924RACR]

OK, so the race season finally arrived in Michigan! We had plenty of action at the track this weekend, here's a run-down...

Friday was open practice sessions... I took to the track first, in the #77 car. Goal was to shake down the car, make sure it was decent enough to drive at Road America at the end of the month, and see about some tuning tweaks. Unfortunately, it was quite cold and starting to rain, so my tire pressures were too low - leading to a fairly loose car - and it was difficult to push the whole way up to speed. However, the car ran well enough to make me happy, so I parked it early (after passing everything in sight, including nearly rear-ending one unlucky Vette - C4 ITE spec with a rusty driver) before getting myself into trouble. Seems like I'm a little out of shape and practice!

Then the rain arrived. Merritt rolled up around this time, ready to go out, but we benched her, as there was no need to go out in the rain - we were looking for dry conditions. Chris went out on what was a damp track, and scrubbed in a new set of R6 dry Hoosiers. Traffic was now picking up, with the rest of the closed-wheel field waking up and getting their cars ready to go.

Third session was dry, and both Merritt and Chris went out; Merritt was getting used to her first outing on Hoosiers, and Chris was just trying to get back up to speed. Traffic was now quite heavy, and both suffered, really only getting in one good lap each. Merritt had a couple of off-road events, spinning once to the inside of 5/Big Bend, without any problems... but then after returning to the track, she ran wide over Hilltop letting a faster car by, got off the track and sucked into a tire wall. Thankfully the damage was minor, and pretty much just a wrinkled fender. Chris, however, came in early with a different problem; his throttle cable was badly frayed and sticking open! Something to fix before tomorrow's race, but better to find it during a practice session...

Merritt went back out for the last session, 4 of 4, fairly uneventful but a whole lot of traffic now, very hard to get clear track and focus on driving the car. Still better than no track time; she was unable to race the car this weekend as she had to work Saturday.

Saturday dawned, and Chris had caught up with Dan Beckett the night before to scrounge a replacement throttle cable. However the spare turned out to be about an inch short! With some effort working over the cable bracket, we were able to get it to reach and work OK... but in the process broke the already fragile linkage for the secondary throttle cable. With some scavenged JB Weld, some zipties, and electrical connector insulation, we were able to rig a replacement to get us through the day.

However, all this late engineering left us behind schedule for getting the car to grid for qualifying; indeed, we still needed to get the car and driver's gear teched with an annual inspection! As a result, while the field was lined up on grid getting the 5-min warning, we were still finishing up in the tech shed!

Of course, just to add insult to injury - it started raining! Well, since we were already behind schedule, we decided to take a little gamble and put Chris on rains! After all, the whole field was already on grid and very few had crew enough to be able to switch to rains.

This turned out to be an excellent choice - with the added grip and confidence in the tires, Chris was able to take ITB pole! Good job! He cleared the second place Mustang of Dave Cordier, an experienced driver out on dry tires, by over a second.

Things finally dried out for the race, but were still cold and breezy. Despite having the position, Chris had no motor to keep with Cordier on the start, and was likewise passed by the 3rd place VW of Al Stephenson down the back straight. However, he kept his head down and worked hard, maintaining 3rd place for the race - a solid effort.

Sunday's Class Race, in the AM, was more of the same; despite being right with Cordier and Stephenson, Chris wasn't able to hold their place. He was, however, able to hold off a late-race charge by the rookie, Alex Piku, who eventually spun himself off and nearly into the wall at Turn 3, leaving Chris with another solid 3rd place.

Sunday's Feature Race, after the break, went well; we'd made some improvements to the car's tuning - both motor and suspension - and Chris had picked up the pace nicely, running consistently faster. However Bob Hagemann Jr., pulling his way out of poor results on Saturday, had found a little more pace and closed up close enough to Chris to threaten for 3rd. However, with the pace, and 4 laps to go, there was little expectation that he'd be able to do much to Chris, who was driving very smoothly.

But just then, the ITS 944 of Greg Steen caught up to the two of them, after an earlier off. Forcing his way through with plenty more motor left the door open to Bob Hagemann to claim the inside of 3. Despite a great effort by Chris to hold him off, going side-by-side up the hill, Bob was able to pull clear down the hill and take the position.

Chris was looking in great position to attack and retake the position down the back straight on the following lap, with much better speed through Big Bend, but then a rookie being lapped (in Todd Lincoln's old black Capri - and my student!) spun and parked his car on the curb in Turn 6, eliminating the only good passing zone for Chris! This pretty much doomed Chris's chances of getting back by Hagemann, and Chris finished in 4th.

So, a solid start to the season, a first pole for Chris and two great podiums - good job to both driver and crew! Thanks also, big time, to Dan Beckett for providing both an alternator and throttle cable at last minute to keep the #55 car on-track!

What's up next:

For the #55 car - we expect to have a new, full-build race motor in for Race 2 (June 5-6th)! Mazuro Motors are putting the final touches on it this week, and we expect to pick it up shortly and install either this weekend or next. A little run-in and debug time on the dyno, and you should be hearing no more reports of getting motored by other ITB cars! Time for Chris to do the motoring!

Other work to do, we have some weight reductions scheduled for the #55 car; might be able to shave 40lbs or so, and get it closer to 50# over its spec weight. We also have to re-cornerbalance the car, as we've found (this weekend) that it has a substantial cross-weight, which isn't helping Chris to go fast! We also started using a data acquisition system in the car, however it wasn't working fully, limiting our ability to draw conclusions... that said, we did manage to find Chris some time on track even so, and with a better set-up of the suspension, he should be able to really pull ahead through the corners, like a 924's supposed to!

As for Merritt - we expect Race 2 to mark her debut in competition! We're sure her fan-base will be there to support, based on the email traffic so far! She's already showed some impressive speed, for a rookie, in this last Friday practice, so we're sure she'll take well to it come Race 2 and start working her way through traffic...

Next race is actually May 30-31st at Road America; I will be back in the saddle in #77 as we learn a new track! Note also that this will be my only scheduled appearance in the car this year - though we won't rule out a possible co-drive in one of the cars at Waterford later on. We are also hoping, if I can learn the track quickly enough, that we might have a shot at a new lap record! The current lap record there is held by Aaron Stehly, who we played with last fall at the ARRC - and we have reason to believe that, with the car straight and a clear-headed driver, we are faster than him. We in fact have run the track and car through simulation tools and they show a clear 1s or more advantage on Aaron. This should come as no surprise, given how well the 924 does at the faster tracks (and Road America is just over 4 miles long - lap record is 2 minutes 51sec!). It's also said to be a fairly easy track to learn, adding hope that we can pick it up quickly and set a great pace.

Then we'll be back at Waterford the following weekend for Race 2 with Chris and Merritt.
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[Fifty50Plus]

Vaughan,
Great write up. I told you that you are going to have to watch your wife. No fear in the rain, no fear in the dry. Once she figures out the limits and apexes, she'll work on raccraft - then your records will be in jeopardy.
I watched your posting on the ARRC and the 924 definitely has brakes. You ought to be able to set the lap record at RA when you go there at the end of the month. Aero won't hurt either.
I did a vintage race last week in my 911 to try and sell it. No takers but I could outbrake everything except a 944. His car was faster but I'm more experienced in the turns. I'm looking forward to having a great braking 924 in IT-B.
Chuck

[924RACR]

LOL!

Well, that ARRC video was a bit skewed, in that the guy who I was chasing was braking absurdly early... even the other VW drivers commented about it! LOL
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype