Thanks to all that made ECHC possible It was a great weekend overall. The car is in one big piece, and not a lot of little ones. I did have some car issues, and chewed through 2 almost new Hoosiers My Skunk2 camber kit slipped, and it went full negative, and toed-in. It was HARD to turn the car. I'm mean, ridiculously hard. I had to do stupid crazy things to stay anywhere near a decent line. People must have thought I was a dumbass on saturday

Phat-S and I had a fabulous start on Saturday. It was a rolling start, and we both gained 8 positions on the start. Hehe. I tucked right in behind his little CRX and there was no room for anyone on the outside.

Anyhow, it was rather obvious that my tire(s) were corded somewhere in the middle of the race, right Adam About 4-5 laps in, I had to start slowing down like mad. I just started staying off line and pointing people by. Finally after even Bookler managed catch up to me, and my wheels felt like they were about to rip off, I decided to call it quits.

Err... I asked someone how the tire looked, and he came back all bug eyed with, "Yeah! That tire is FUCKED UP!" Hmm... Okay... Not good...

I went through 4 layers of a Hoosier. There are only 6. I found the camber problem, and set them to where they originally were. You could see where they slipped from. The alignment was still screwed, but the car was fabulous compared to how it was on saturday.

Qualified 2nd overall on Sunday, next to Yackster on the front row. Thank god, cuz it must be chaos in the middle of a standing start Jack got a bad launch, and I didn't want to be in front of him since I knew he was gonna outrun me anyways. I waited for him to turn in, and I was right behind him, only now there was a big red Prelude behind me by turn 2. Grr! He was like 3 positions behind on the start. I was hoping he would be held up for a little bit by the CRX's in front of him

Anyhow, I think it was lap 2 when I started to see a black flag fully displayed well before I passed the flag station. There was another somewhere in the back section of the course. I couldn't tell who it was for, so I went one more lap, and still couldn't tell. We were very close to each other. I thought my exhaust had fallen down again. Ugg. Risk penalty/DQ, or give up first? I came in and came to a complete stop in front of Grumpy, and almost immediately got the wave off. <Insert lots of bad words here>

I was down 8 spots now, and Alex Ratcliffe was long gone I came back out of the pits in 13th overall. Gotta say this, I have never chucked my car around harder, more abusive, and tried to stuff it in small spaces than those remaining laps of the race. I don't even remember passing all the cars I passed, but I made it back up to 5th overall. Alex was 8 seconds ahead at the end, but it was misleading since he was just cruising til the end.

I hope NASA will have numbers or a chalkboard or something for ALL races here on out. Frustrated doesn't begin to explain how I felt.

Anyhow, we all survived our inaugural event, and it must have been one hell of an event to watch.

See you all out at Carlilse or Summit Point

Warren

 

 

Warren, there was a video somewhere on here with that start, I pulled it down and have watched it probably 10 times so far - it probably means more to you and I than anyone else considering we were what? 12 and 14 respectively? Now that was freeking awesome. Let me know if you can't find it (think Jack posted it in a thread with "MPG" in the title) and I'll email it to you.

That was the biggest get the **** out of Dodge run I saw all weekend when you came out of the pits nextish to me - holy cow! Got that on tape, I'll see if I can rip it somehow - it'll be a very small clip as you were flat out GONE in about a lap.

Great time man! I genuinely enjoyed it and am super glad for how everything turned out Saturday ;-)

 

If it makes you feel any better, all of us uttered a big "Oh No!" when you mistakenly came in, and we all cheered when you gained positions back during the race! You instantly had a 20 person fan club

When I saw that black flag come out, I knew how hard of a job the flagger had to only point it at Corey, who was about 1.5" off of your rear bumper.

Sorry for your misfortune! It was definitely a successful shakedown weekend for the series, and it's only gonna get better!

 

Wow, i had no idea it was that bad... I thought maybe your tires gave out or were old tires... Yuck.. Does the skunk 2 kit need to be re-torqued after every track session? Looks kinda crappy to me.

We were throwing black flags at the start, and at T10, and pointing it right at Corey on his way by, but it was impossible to wait until you were past to throw the flag, as corey looked like he was bumpdrafting you around the course... We tried though. A board would have helped immensely in this situation.

However, great job by both you and corey to make up positions and time once you got out of the pits, it was awesome to watch.

 

Oh, believe me, IT WAS THAT BAD!

 

When control called to me at Turn 10 to wave the black flag at Corey I briefly considered playing dumb and not putting it out because the two of you guys were running very hard and very close and I thought it'd be a shame to ruin someone's day over some gloves. Unfortunately it was not my call and rules are rules...

I must say that on Sunday you ran an awesome race. I don't think I've ever been that excited at the track before. I cannot say how glad I am that Honda-Challenge has become a reality. I am also very glad that we took the 6+ hour trek to SC to come work this event. I hope that some more of the MM crew can make it for the next event.

Hope that next race doesn't see any misfortune for you and any of the other drivers (poor Starnes and Todd ). Vive la challenge!

 

That's not an actual picture of your tire is it?

 

We will certainly have a number board for the next event. However, its not "some gloves".

Its "some hands". If there is a fire in the car, the hands are the first to get damaged.

Its not "rules are rules", its about safety and caring enough about the driver to make an unpopular call. I made it and I'll make it again. I also disqualified a driver in another race for not wearing the proper driving suit.

NASA will be a model of safety for other organizations to be judged by.

Safe racing...


Grumpy

 

Yes... Yes it is...

You should have seen it with full air pressure. I let some out when I saw it, cuz I was afraid it was gonna blow.

Warren

 

I think I'll buy an Etch-a-Sketch and keep it in the truck. In the event you guys forget the number board, I will more than happily loan the Etch-a-Sketch out

Warren

 

Was that the Sunday ECHC race? I saw that in both races Ken Buchel was DQ'd. Was he the old man with a mullet? I never thought that guy could get out there and race....

 

Just wanted to chime in and say a couple of things.

1. Warren - you did the right thing coming in, even though the black wasn't for you. I give you a heartfelt for good judgement.

2. Grumpy - I give you several for being willing to call us out on safety stuff. The "driver inspections" at the end of a race - excellent.

--Karl, who says "safe racing is good"

 

Hmm, that tire has seen better days. I was about to get the skunk2 kit but now i don't know. Warren, are you thinking of changing it out?

 

No, I'll leave it, but check that they are tight every time the wheels come off, and use loctite!

Warren

 

glad that didnt happen to your tire when i rode along with you at VIR . nice write up Warren!

Brian

 

My Skunks slipped too. It was my fault though. I have had good luck since then. I made sure they were all tight & used blue loc-tite. Bolt checks have shown that they are staying tight now.

 

I would go so far as to call him an old man, but you are thinking of the correct person. Ken DQed himself because he was running an Si cam in his car. Personally, I wish he had spoken with me first, because I do not think he needed to be disqualified. As it was, he was carrying extra weight in the car to make it up to GP weight for SCCA - I think that more than compensated for the cam. Even without the weight AND the cam, his car still was not competitive in the class. As it was, I found out about his decision after the fact, so it was too late to talk him out of it.


Matt

 

He races regularly. He came to me privately after the race (when Grumpy was teching our socks and stuff) and told me he wanted to waive points due to his Si cam. I said..."OK."

 

Damn Warren, I was wondering what caused your tire to look like that. I thought it was old when you went around our tents showing everyone. I'm just glad you pulled off the track when you did then. It could've been ugly.

P.S. I'm the guy hanging out with Chad and Jack with the Dark Blue Focus. My friend Scott drives the Lexus SC300 that was there.

P.P.S Sorry you mistook the black flag to be for you man. Better luck next time. Kudos on a great race though! :D

 

I agree Grumpy. I felt bad that his day was ruined but at the same time his day really would have sucked if his charred hands could not help him get out of a flaming wreck.

[Edit: addendum]
I also must say that race control and director really handled everything very well over the weekend. The two red flag calls came right on time and the FCY for the SCCS race was more than appropriate (despite the protest of the SCCS guys). I'm glad to say that NASA-VA events are safe and I'm glad our club was able to take a part.

Sorry about the miscues in grid on the numbers. That won't happen again.


[Modified by JMU R1, 6:50 PM 4/23/2002]

 

I have taken it on as my responsibility to carry a big dry-rease board to the next race for this exact purpose, I will even volunteer to stand there and man it at the start finish line, I feel really bad about what happened to Warren, but not as bad as Corey does

there is also gonna be a piece of bright orange tape with "GLOVES" written on it placed in plan view on Coreys dashboard from now on, even coming down pit lane with his bare hands in front of his face he didn't realize what was going on

 

I don't think it'd be a bad idea to tack a checklist onto the dashboard anyways with your pre-race checks on it. Works for pilots, F1 drivers etc... just think more along the lines of F1 driver and not pilot, since Ralf Schumacher got the two confused at Australia.

 

Mr. Ken Buchel is a true gentleman racer!!!!

Ken knew he had issues with his car and DQed himself out of concern to the long term points series. Ken expressed that he may not be at all events, but for the future event at VIR he would be at 100% compliance with the ECHC rules.

Ken is one hell of a good race car driver also. Ken drove clean, smooth and fast lines. I wouldn't say his car was out classed at all, it pulled my car on the long CMP straights. I'm looking forward to seeing him at the next event.

Ken is a total class act.

I hope I'm as fast in 20 years!

John W
RRG.com

 

And John, you are a total class act as well. I was a pleasure getting to know you and I'd hate to see what times you'll be cranking out on tracks you know. Damned fine driving and that splitter on Blake's car looked like a piece of artwork. Do you have any prices out for the 2nd gen CRX piece?