924Board.org

[924RACR]

OK, I think we missed a weekend in the summer here, didn't in fact get any photos from Race 4 posted, though we were there and did well!

So this weekend we were back out at Waterford Hills for Race 5 weekend; second-to-last of the season, and rookie Merritt's 4th race weekend (as she missed Race 1). Situation coming into the weekend - Chris lead the ITB Championship by 16 points over the two Mustangs of John Ahoe and Dave Cordier (Ahoe having the tie-breaker with 4 class wins), with the GTI of Al Stephenson 28 points back for a distant 4th, despite some strong finishes. Meanwhile Merritt was continuing to make progress, having gotten her lap time down to a 1:26.5 and slowly getting closer to the next pack of ITB cars for a race.

Qualifying went well for both cars; Chris once again took pole by a slim margin, with 0.2s over the next ITB car, while Merritt had her best qualifying performance yet, turning a 1:27.7, closest yet to her race pace. Merritt's struggled to date with qualifying, having a hard time getting the car going right at speed so early in the weekend; this shows excellent progress, and that she's really starting to get comfortable with the pace of the car.

The Saturday afternoon race, however, was a different story. Chris had a bit of a poor start, quickly losing two spots to Cordier and Stephenson; even worse luck awaited him going up the hill on the first lap, however, when his fire extinguisher came loose inside the cockpit and discharging all over the inside of the car! Seeing the cloud, he thought the engine had popped, so parked it from the lead in turn 4/Hilltop; after stopping and discovering what the problem was, he was ready to return to the track, but was not allowed to by Race Control since his fire bottle was no longer operational. Moral of the story? Don't ask, don't tell, right?

Meanwhile Merritt once again struggled with gear selection, taking the green in 4th gear instead of 2nd and falling back instantly as the field took off. She quickly realized her mistake and got back up to speed, but had already lost substantial ground, and was unable to find the pace to close the gap and regain contact with the back of the pack. The race finished with her cranking out the remaining laps without much joy, just to get it over with.

At the close of Saturday, the team was a bit disheartened, but resolute to do better Sunday! Chris cleaned all the dry-chem out of his car (use a vacuum, don't get it wet, or it's a helluva mess!) and installed a new bottle with better bracketry. Meanwhile we sat Merritt in the #77 and looked at the shifter and throttle. We found the root of her problem with grabbing 4th, in that the whole shifter is leaned over to the left a bit, putting the 3-4 gate where 1-2 is in most cars. We also realized that often she was hitting a "catch" in the throttle at about 85-90% of full throttle, and stopping there; with a little experimentation, she learned what full-throttle really felt like, and promised to use that last 10% for Sunday!

Sunday morning opened with very cool temps, but clear weather, and lots on the agenda. Chris was starting the #55 car from the back of the pack, behind Merritt's #77. As he'd lost substantial ground in the championship - though he still retained the lead - he had the task of charging through the whole field and getting to the front to challenge for the lead. Merritt meanwhile was tasked with getting a good start, hanging onto the field, and maintaining that pace for the duration of the race.

At the start, Chris got right on the move, passing nearly half the ITB field in the first lap! Merritt also had a solid start, and stayed in touch with the group of cars right in front - two Mustangs and a Fiero. She continued to chase them gamely while the Mustangs duked it out, putting on quite a show with lots of two-wide racing, finishing much in that order.

Meanwhile Chris, after a couple more laps, had caught the tail end of the lead ITB group, slotting up into 5th place behind John Ahoe. Running order was Al Stephenson (GTI), Dave Cordier (Mustang), Chris Tumpkin (black Mercury Capri - yes, that one), and John Ahoe (Mustang). Chris was working hard to find an opening on John, but John was driving his mirrors and covering all open spots, denying Chris any chance at him. John also has a very healthy motor, ensuring Chris wouldn't have much chance to attack him on the straights.

With all the pressure, John drove fast enough to catch up to Chris Tumpkin, who he was able to pressure into a mistake; charging hard into Turn 6 (end of the back straight), Tumpkin went too deep trying to keep Ahoe behind and ran wide. John was able to make the pass, and Chris Marsh was able to sneak the #55 up next to Tumpkin, who was unable to maintain the pace, allowing Chris to pull clear through the Esses!

Back up front, Dave Cordier had an exciting moment exiting Swamp turn onto the front straight; looping the car and running off, he lost many spots as Chris's group motored on by - making the running order Stephenson, Ahoe, Marsh, and Tumpkin, 1st-4th with only a couple of laps to go.

But the excitement wasn't over yet; at the end of the back straight on the last lap, the cornerworkers noticed flames under the #5 GTI of Stephenson! By the time he came out of Swamp turn onto the front straight, he was off the pace and heavily on fire, with a massive fuel fire!!!

Flaming Wabbit pic:
http://www.waterfordhills.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=7840&g2_serialNumber=2&g2_GALLERYSID=5d1b0b7b08cb370274d87556120df727

This allowed the Ahoe/Marsh/Tumpkin group to scream by, taking the checker in 1/2/3 position, Al finishing 4th on fire and turning immediately into the pits by Fire Rescue, who saved the car by immediately killing the fire!

This recovery of position, from last to 2nd, was an impressive drive by Chris - who had the pace to take the win, but was unable to find clear track to get around Ahoe! It also salvaged his position in the Championship, leaving him with a 7-point lead going into the final race weekend.

However the weekend wasn't over yet; the Feature race was still to run! As usual, Chris, with the fastest ITB car, was gridded on ITB pole. Merritt was mixed in with the tail group; though she'd been the fastest of those 4-5 cars in Sunday's race, they'd gone a little faster on Saturday and thereby outqualified her. However she was sure to have a great race.

Drop the green flag, and Chris had an excellent start, maintaining position and working hard over the next car, and ITS Olds Achieva. After a number of laps, he was able to pressure that rookie driver into the same mistake as Tumpkin, outbraking himself and running wide out of 6, allowing Chris to sneak by. However, John Ahoe, in pursuit, was unable to gain advantage, and despite his motor was unable to get around the Olds. This gave Chris clear track to open up the #55 car and pull a healthy lead, which he rode out to the checker, winning again in a relatively boring race!

Meanwhile Merritt was having the race of her career, back at the rear of the field! Maintaining an even closer contact with the tail ITB group, and helped out by their racing, she was getting a good view of one of the most exciting ITB races out there.

On the 4th lap, a fellow rookie female driver in an SSB Solstice motored by on the back straight and up next to Kim Cordier's Mustang, which was being driven by her father, Dave Cordier, to check out an engine problem. Again making the classic rookie mistake, Laura, the Solstice driver, outbraked herself and nearly took the Cordier Mustang off the track too, barely hanging onto the asphalt! Lurching through the next turn towards the Esses side-by-side with Cordier, right in front of Merritt (and in focus on the video!) Laura put two wheels off in the braking zone for the Esses, instantly looping the car as she hit the brakes. Merritt then also had to slam on the brakes to avoid being collected as the Solstice spun off right in her windshield!

This cost Merritt a substantial amount of time relative to the Cordier Mustang, but she put her head down and drove her hardest yet, turning a new personal best lap time of 1:25.7 as she chased Dave down! The hard work payed off, and she closed up hard over Hilltop two laps later, pushing hard through Big Bend, and got up and passed Dave down the back straight. Next rookie passing into 6, and you can guess what happened to her... yep, out-braked herself also coming into 6, ran wide, and Dave laid off and put the classic cross-over move on her!

This time, however, she only ran a bit wide into the dirt, and pulled right back on behind Dave to resume the chase, not content to let things lie. She charged up hard on him coming out of Swamp and closed the gap into Turn 1 with just a few laps to go. Putting the pedal down hard coming out of Turn 2, she was rewarded with a huge run on Dave, and just as she was catching up to make a move... POOF! Dave's motor finally let go, and Merritt's windscreen and car were filled with his oil smoke as the rods went out the bottom! Despite a complete lack of visibility, Merritt slowed, managed to avoid Dave, and continued on while Dave immediately parked the wounded Mustang. Merritt continued on to complete the race smoothly and at a solid pace, despite having lost contact with the next group due to all the incidents.

Finally - photos! Merritt did things a little differently this weekend, with some special guests... here's the link to the photo album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lorelei4mc/TheBSKGSheepGoRacing#slideshow/5376164889925136114
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[Fifty50Plus]

Vaughan,
Woo Hoo! Great write up and outstanding sheep photo shoot. You guys got a nice fun layout there.
My race weekends usually go more like this;
We arrive at the track....we drink....we do some practice/qualifying....we drink a lot more...we race...we go home.
Fun times and you don't have to keep notes.
Of course, my weekends at home go kinda like this:
Go to the garage...have some beers...work on some cars...have more beers....go to bed....Repeat.
Regards,
Chuck
_________________
1979 924 NA race car H-Prod SCCA
1982 924 NA race car - Sold
1981 924 Turbo sold
1982 924 Turbo sold
1972 911 E race car - traded for Cayenne Diesel
1975 914 1.8 Building for H-Prod SCCA

[924RACR]

LOL... thanks!

No, none of that's from notes, just from memory... plus I have video to remember what happened. Not all weekends are as exciting with firebottles popping, roasted bunnies, and blown Rustangs!
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[924RACR]

Here's the video from the Feature race, the most exciting 3 laps leading to the Mustang going poof!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlLIkvCWZ3k
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype