Here are some pictures from Group A on Sunday.









HPDE
Big Wing!!!!



Salvage yard...

 

pictures from the paddock..
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=515984

 

So was the race today? Who won?

 

Thanks for the pics guys!

 

Turn out for this round of the NorCal WCHC was pretty light. Neil Vanni had his #49 H1 Civic out. H1 points leader Tom Leper showed up in his #8 Accord. H5 had three cars. ITACivic has his blue #85 5th gen 'hatch out. The 4th gen 'hatch (black #70, driven by Albert Butterfield came back out. Series rookie Chris Lock ran his #64 CRX. I was the lone entry in H4 with my 5th gen ex coupe, #11. Some racers who commited to racing didn't make it. *Note that we didn't combine the NorCal & SoCal events because their votes - the combined fields would have been fairly large. Had we known that they would be no shows, NorCal would have traveled down to Willow.*

The track configuration would be new for everyone. We would be running the NASCAR chute. This was also the first time for most of us to be @ Sears (Infineon) since last year.

Practice & qualifying were pretty uneventful. That is except for some idiot hitting a cone, off track, getting back on & proceding to dump his radiator on line thru T10. BTW, the same uninformed individual also had antifreeze in his cooling system. Vanni & I both spun right after the exit of T10. Not too much fun when the car is instantly sideways when you are flat in 4th gear! Luckily, there wasn't any damage to either car. Lepper seems to have a miss in the Accord but they think they have it fixed.

The starting grid had the classes mixed. Lepper was the polesitter. Vanni 4th. Civcrr (me) 10th. Butterfield 15th. Lock 17th. ITACivic didn't get a qualifying time because of a mechanical.

The race. We turn a fairly brisk pace lap. The pack is formed up in two rows right after T10. We go green down the front straight. Two wide racing thru T3! I get dive bombed by a Miata into T3a (right hander before the 'chute) & lose a place. Pack is strung out now. I blow T11 by staying outside & lose two, maybe three, spots to cars braking on the inside line. note to self - don't drive the HPDE line in a race! Cars drag race down the front straight. A little two wide action into T1. @ this point, Lepper & Vanni are out of site. Damn! H1 power baby! I do a rookie mirror check right before T3a & miss my brake & turn down point. Two wheels off drivers left...sliding...in control...spin. Damn! Now I am stuck here as the rest of the pack flys by. FYI, T3a is a blind turn. I am depending on the flagger to get me back out so as not to get T-boned. Now I am dead last. Next time around, I get passed by Lepper between T3a & T4. Right after the pass, he pulls off course. Vanni, hot on his heels, passes me between T4 & the buttonhook (end of chute). I do pass a few RX-7s & both Lock (CRX) & ITACivic ('hatch). I am actually not sure how many places that I get back.

H1 results = Vanni then Lepper, H5 = Butterfield, Lock then ITACivic, H4 = spin boy

I came off track feeling pretty disgusted with myself. I learned some more important info. Tell you what, sprint racing is way more hectic & intense than enduros. I know that I am improving but the learning curve is much steeper.

Thanks for the pics. Sorry I didn't get to meet you guys.

 

I qualified first. And I do mean first that was in class and group A. Snookered at the start and Vanni got around me. We raced like that for a couple of laps. I got a good run on Vanni coming down on the outside of hiom in turn nine, and completed the pass on the inside of ten, WHEW. Pulled away running qualifying laps to stay in front of Vanni. Going into the interloop the car just shut off and would not restart. I sat there for a minute reset the computer and it started. By this time Vanni had a half lap lead on me and there was only a couple of laps left. So I had to settle for second.

Mike Quan won H4 in the yellow civic

There was a good race in H5 but not sure who won.

The would have been 3 H1 cars but Pete Bovenburg was in a huge crash and they had to cut him out of his car (bye bye civic). I think he is OK. I am sure some people here have some pics of his car.

 

From the back of the pack... Since I failed to qualify I was dead last in the small bore group. Chris Lock, my H5 competitor was to my front. The back half of the pack failed to form up, before turn 11. That gave Albert, my other H5 competition a huge class lead. I tried to pass Chris right away at turn 2, but could not get it done. I tried a dive bomb at 4a, but backed off. I eventually got by Chris into the bottleneck. I worked my way through 3 more "back of the pack" cars. Coming up hill into turn 3, I saw these really neat yellow flashing strobes and the flager waving a yellow. When I crested the hill, I saw civicrr's yellow Civic sitting off to driver's right, ready to reenter the track. I went by and worked on catching the H5 leader. I kept gaining, but could not catch Albert. Civicrr, caught up to me and then passed me, he also helped set me up for a pass on an RX-7.
I had Tom Lepper on my tail at the end of the race. He was about to lap me. I went through the chute with him on my rear bumper. I did a mirror check before entering the bottleneck and there was nothing in my mirrors. I was waiting to be abused by Tom Lepper. I caught a glimpse of him parked between the chute and the bottleneck.
Great race for me.