This weekend was our last race of the season. It was a double regional at Portland, and the weather was projected to be wet.

This was the first time I've driven since the ITR Expo and the first time in ages that I had any concern about being or getting up to speed. We talk about burning laps into our brains, and Portlands burned into mine Really Good, but what about that last 5% or less?

I'm pretty sure fully wet isn't the way to break back in, but that was the case that they gave me. My 8th lap was my fastest, though I can't say my driving was fully up to speed. I can definitely say that my visual skills weren't up to speed. I passed under yellow, the penalty for which was going to the back of the grid - for both races. I was joined there by the only car faster in qualifying - Christina in a WRX (she managed to pass twice under yellow). The WRX was on Hoosier DOT Rains, and left me standing on the straights - must have been a fun ride.

Cramer seems to have something new every time I see him. This time it was a K20 under the hood of his GSR. It's just a stock JDM Type-R motor as yet unimproved, but that was enough to transform the car he said. He's going to build it over the winter, and I can't imagine what a gas it will be to drive then. I asked him a bunch of questions. Yup - it evened up his left/right to within 4 lbs. But, the one thing that I had to check was ground clearance at the pan. It was 2.75 inches on a pretty typical DC2 ride height (23 inches to the fender lip, 4.5 inches to the jackpad, 4.0 inches to the splitter). For comparison my car at a quarter inch lower measured 4.0 inches to the pan. Ron's header was lower than the pan, and my Comptech higher. He ate the curb in the chicane and escaped damage, but the possibility occured to him. He's planning a skid plate.

** The track was drying out pretty good, so I swapped on RA1's at the last minute for Saturdays race **

I didn't really care about starting at the back, but I did consider the increased odds of contact as I worked thru the pack. It turned out to be worth the risk. I've not spent so much time in so dense traffic in cars, and I didn't play it safe on the passing - I took the earliest opportunity for most every move. The Miata guys wouldn't give an inch and if I took them entering the tight stuff they'd stay side by side till we cleared and I could motor. It all went pretty good. For me.

One of my Porsche friends wasn't so lucky. He was running his first race since the early spring when he was taken out pretty hard by a notorious crasher. Guess who punched him in a rear quarter yesterday. Same fuggin guy. They booted him for Sunday. Mike was able to keep going, and run today, so at least he got that.

Anyway, I worked my way up till I got stuck behind the Westfield 7. And stuck is where I stayed. He almost seemed to be pushing me back toward Sutherlands Miata. It was driving me crazy. He'd hold me up in the turns and pull away on the straights. It was wrong. Later I discovered how wrong. His fast lap was 2-3 seconds faster than mine. I think he was finding his racing behind him. I started getting wild in my attempts to get past him, but getting out of the groove was disastrous. One attempt led me thru the chicane curbing, and that set me back pretty good.

My next event was passing Jay in Scott's T2 350Z, which I tried on the outside exiting old T3. I wound up eating the gators in a big way, riding them all the way back on track. It was brutal and the sound of the hammering masked the sound of being full throttle on the fuel cutoff - the vibration knocked me out of gear. I was a bit rattled too, but I got Jay half a lap later entering the chicane. And I think I made that move squirelly too. I think I was about crazed by then. But it was a good time. I'd swear the car was driving funny after all the beating, but it all checked out fine later.

BTW - I turned a best of 1:30.567 on some SM RA1 takeoff's I bought cheap. Cramer turned a best of 1:26.671 on new Hoosiers. For reference the WC guys ran about 1:24.

Going back to the stock ITR diff from the Mugen clutchpack wasn't easy to evaluate fairly since so much time has passed and any valid scientific method wasn't employed. But I didn't experience any gross spinning of the inside wheel that I could detect easily, and it reaffirmed to me that the ITR diff is a decent enough piece.

Sunday's race was projected to be dry, so I carefully rotated my Toyo's and mentally prepared to run the gauntlet again. And it went about the same for a while. And then about halfway up the back straight there was a car off to the outside and a flag station that I've never really noticed before, and I was in the middle of passing Sutherland. And in that instant I remember thinking that I'd done the same damn thing the lap before. I became livid and considered just driving into the pits and trying to reboot my ******* brain. I didn't, but I lost several seconds berating myself. For the next several laps I waved to that station and pounded on my helmet theatrically. In impound the Steward told me that I hadn't been reported. Whether they let me off for remorse I don't know. But I know that I won't miss that station again.

I kept working ahead, and was slowly catching Jay in the 350Z again, but I had another problem. Since it was the last race of the season, I went a little light on the fuel load. Then it turned out to be a longer race. Yep - it started to starve on the exit of T9. One lap as I followed Steve's 944 past an SM thru T9 I starved enough that the SM ran into me pretty hard. I felt pretty bad. He was like WTF!

I finally got close enough to Jay that one more lap and I'd get him, and another couple and I'd get Jakotich's Porsche. But there weren't any more.

My best lap was better at 1:29.006, and Cramer was up a touch at 1:27.076. So maybe that shows how slowly I was getting back into the groove. Man it was great slinging the car thru the circus - GREAT! Drove the tires off the thing. Drove some reasonable fast laps, drove quite a few spastic laps. Excellent refresher. Too bad my next race isn't till spring.

The car/tires/track were pretty interesting. I tried 3rd all the way thru the chicane - not enough revs, and unless I was putting down more power the front chattered and skated out badly. I struggled very unusually with T4 - the rear would not come around early and it was too easy to turn gas straight into push. It was really funny that some of my problems were exactly the same ones that Brewer was having in his Sports 2000. Cramer reported the same chattering/skating exiting the chicane - which is interesting considering his more conventional spring rates and my ridiculous ones. I feel like an idiot, but the new chicane is taking me some time to figure out.

Next year. Next Year!

Scott, who was so happy just to drive again...




Modified by RR98ITR at 10:56 AM 10/31/2005

 

good to hear your back on the track

 

I was there both days, Ron Cramer's Integra has definately stepped up. It was nice to see him right up with that Porsche in corner exit on Saturday. However, what happened to him on saturday toward the end of the race? It was nice to see you and your Integra R out there as well, Sunday looked good for you. Too bad on the yellow penalties.

Francisco

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Frito &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...what happened to him on saturday toward the end of the race?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The pickup hose fitting in his fuel cell came undone.

Yeah, too bad for me...but still way better than getting creamed. The blue WRX had a for sale sign on it and at the end of the weekend it was worth a bit less - it got into one of the big scrapes and was rippled along the left side.

Were you running autocross over in the south paddock?

Scott, who heard lots of tires screeching...

 

What? But.... Dude...

I think you're missing the point here. If your car works, who will teach us all the things about racing that can only be learned while not in the process of actually racing? To what web forum will we go to read threads so confusing that few ever understand what's going on?

What will become of the Moton jokes?

 

I never stopped to consider the damage that actually racing could do to my reputation.

What have I done?!!!!

Scott, who's pretty sure his reputation will survive this scandal...why even now I'm entertaining Ridiculous Ideas!

 

scott.....why is it you find it so hard to get on track to race???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RR98ITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BTW - I turned a best of 1:30.567 on some SM RA1 takeoff's I bought cheap. Cramer turned a best of 1:26.671 on new Hoosiers. </TD></TR></TABLE>

In the wet??!! With the chicane??!!
I can't help but think there was at least a dry line.

 

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">scott.....why is it you find it so hard to get on track to race???</TD></TR></TABLE>

Looking at this year I can tell you that it was money plain and simple.

And I heard from my local buddies that I'm not the only one with that problem.

The unexpected or merely extraordinary aspects of life can easily eat up a years racing budget.

That, and sometimes when I can't do what I want to do exactly the way I want to do it I just pull over till I can. Or till I change my mind.

Scott, who is really trying hard to ensure that next year really is a behind the wheel year...I'm even willing to sacrifice greater speed just to attain any speed at all.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by johng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

In the wet??!! With the chicane??!!
</TD></TR></TABLE>

NOOOOOOO! Only qualified in the wet at 1:42.7.

Both races were dry - Saturday more or less, and Sunday completely.

If I were THAT fast I'd be telling my people to tell Roger Penske's people to tell Roger that his first offer was insulting and that he'd better get serious and quit wasting my time!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RR98ITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Looking at this year I can tell you that it was money plain and simple.

And I heard from my local buddies that I'm not the only one with that problem.

The unexpected or merely extraordinary aspects of life can easily eat up a years racing budget.

That, and sometimes when I can't do what I want to do exactly the way I want to do it I just pull over till I can. Or till I change my mind.

Scott, who is really trying hard to ensure that next year really is a behind the wheel year...I'm even willing to sacrifice greater speed just to attain any speed at all.</TD></TR></TABLE>


yeah life is gone bite me next year....getting hitched....so i don't know if my planned 20 weekends on track will be a go....

 

When you promise God and Everybody that you'll take good care of your One and Only, it's gonna entail some compromise. And that means willing compromise, and not grudging compromise.

2005 was strange. Bought a tow rig and a trailer, spent more than I'd planned on to go to the Expo, and then broke the car and got bogged down, during which I noticed that I really didn't have enough money any given month for an entry fee anyway.

When I did get it back together and yet unfinished as regards development I didn't want to waste my ever aging brand new tires, so I bought some junk to burn up. I'm sure my "good tires" that I've been saving aren't gonna be so great at two years old.

But even on crap tires I had such a good time, that I realize I don't really care about every little detail like that.

The height to which a spirit rises really isn't measured in fractions of a second anyway you know.

Scott, who is so looking forward to driving again in the spring in the best Rrrrrrrr he's ever driven.

 

Scott went to the track. Sniff its the end of the world, no more deeply philosophical discussions from the great one about the greater meaning of installing a sway bar on your car. Now all we'll see is posts like "Anyone going to Lime Rock" or "New video from Portland".

Sean who is glad he didn't bet on whether Scott would actually get on track.

 

chad

i got the ok from the boss on the 18th, but i have a couple of concerns,
if you could get in touch on here that would be great.

wes, who hate to hijack but hasn't been on track in years and is
foaming at the mouth.

 

scott, no i wasn't at the autocross. i was there watching and lookin around the pits. being 25, married, and with a 13month old has left me with no money (did I also mention going to school and looking for a house?) my k powered hatch will probably only be seeing track time in 06 as hpde's. can't afford to actually go racing or get the car up to those standards yet.

Francisco