What happened at WS??

[Tom #16]

Who won on Sunday?

[PeanutinCA]

Tonight, race reports. Busy busy busy.

 

Well just quickly;

 

Sat;

1) Wilberding

2) Benbow

3) Scott

4) Foley

5) Spargo

 

Sun;

1) Wilberding

2) Scott

3) Benbow

4) Foley

 

Later.

[Tom #16]

Congrats Jason! Times two!

[uberklasse]

Thanks, Just jumped back on. First of all, thanks to Tom for giving Saturday a run. You made for 5 on the grid and helped us to another strong showing of 944's. We outnumbered the Spec Miata's and SE-R's for the first time since I started. It sucked to see that you drove all the way out and couldn't get any good runs in. Don't know much about the axle or other mechanicals, just hope you get it fixed soon.

 

I was the recipient of traffic and being in the right place at the right time to make some passes (on both days).

 

Dylan will do a better report than I could dream of doing, but personally I am glad that my consistency was there when it counted (during the race)

 

I had a "moment" during Saturday's qualifying. The track was getting really greasy and hot and I wasn't adjusting accordingly. You can see all of our times were pretty low in the morning and that was just the warm up session.

 

I think it will be tough to crack the 1:38 barrier with the hot track conditions (and the wind). We had a really strong cross wind blowing into us on Sunday. Coming out of 9 and onto the front straight it seemed to slow everyone a little and it was even blowing hard going into 7/8. It broke my awning in 3 places(thanks to Chris, Mark and Dylan for helping with it). Thanks to these guys also for pushing my car b4 every session Sunday and the race on Saturday. Damn electrical problems are still haunting me.

 

 

We really need to do a track day or race with all of the 944 guys we can find so we can just battle it out together. It would be fun to dice it out with just guys in our class. I also suggest we take some controlled laps in each others cars (I promise to be good) to feel what different set-ups are like.

 

Maybe in between the end of NASA season and the December POC event? We could get a Friday, Monday or even buy a run group from one of the other clubs? A couple of my buddies have done this b4 and it's not unreasonable $$ wise.

[944-Spec#94]

Jason,

I'd love to get a massive field together. Tough part is picking a date and getting commitments.

 

Good to see a new guy get a win!

 

Hey sometimes it is better to be lucky than good!

[PeanutinCA]

OK, I'm still mentally and physically beat so this will be a brief run down and we can get into it a bit more later. It was a hot weekend, thus being physically beat. Well, the neck thing doesn't help much either!

 

Sat Practice and we ran into the 1:38's again, but it got hot quick and those times were hard to repeat as the weekend rolled on. Qualifying and the 944 portion of the grid looked like this;

 

1 08 Dylan Scott 1:38.688

2 31 Wilberding/ Uberklasse 1:38.864

3 56 Christopher Benbow 1:39.887

4 39 Mark Foley 1:40.551

5 16 Thomas Spargo --:--:--.---

 

To be continued........

[Tim Comeau]

Sounds good so far guys.........Any videos?

As you know, I stayed in SD to work the local PCA stadium events. It was hot as hell, and humid. Miserable, really. I entered the red # 24 car and started adjusting it for AX. Made it work, just in time for timed runs and started pushing it hard. I should have been in the top 10 again, but hit some cones. Dang, I never hit cones during timed runs!

Sean Steele (AUTOBAHN PARTS.COM) and I had a great time working together during the Sat. AX. He was in the # 22 car for the day. He did great, seriously. He'll be up front in the racing very soon. Great sense of balance. I didn't go to the DE on Sunday, But I heard Jeff Grow and Bill Addy did.

Let's hear the details about Willow Springs.

[PeanutinCA]

Sorry guys, busy with some legal stuff and work. They fired over 15 people and now everyone else is twice as busy!

 

Not avoiding the report, just many personal items need to be dealt with, not avoided. Like selling the street car! DOH.

 

Tim, I got video. Too bad my computer crashes every time I try to generate an edited version!

 

Well, basically, Jason played very smart racing. Got out fast, got out hard and stayed ahead of the traffic. Worked perfectly for him. Benbow and Foley were fast and smooth, as expected. Poor Spargo had a minor mechanical issue. I still think he's sand bagging!

 

P.Dilly.

[Tim Comeau]

That sneaky bastige...........

[Steve Rea]

Well, I can give a bit of a report on the Sunday race, as I watched the whole thing as part of my School.

 

Dylan had the pole and after a couple laps he had pulled to a good 6-9 car length lead. I thought it was going to be all over then, but gradually Jason began to reel him in. Traffic was clearly a significant factor in the race, with a specific 1st generation rx-7 playing into Jason and Dylan's duel in a big way. I didn't see Jason's pass, as I believe it was in turn 2 or 3, after which Dylan stayed real close for a time, while this red rx-7 was mixing it up with both of them.

 

As the laps went on, Dylan seemed to have to put a lot of energy holding off the pass of this rx-7, who liked to go for it in turn 9. Ahh yes, now I remember, as it was then that Jason caught Dylan. Dylan had a good lead, with the rx-7 pushing him through the end of 8 into 9. Jason had a great run at 9 and his closing speed was pretty impressive. Later he told me that he was really on the edge as the car was skidding a good bit through 9.

 

Well, I believe he had enough exit speed to get past P Dilly on the front straight following that. Dylan tried to catch up, but Jason had more open space, while Dylan was hampered by the rx-7.

 

Hey Dylan, do you have problems with your eyes as well as your neck?? in america we don't usually drive during the day with our lights on. .

 

Well, Jason did run a very solid race, so congrats to him.

 

Fun weekend!

 

(my observer's synopsis)

 

Steve

[PeanutinCA]

Hey Dylan, do you have problems with your eyes as well as your neck?? in america we don't usually drive during the day with our lights on.

 

I thought someone may have got the picture that they were in the middle of a class battle? Don't get me wrong, racing with that person would have been fun as a race in itself. But not with a class car coming on strong. You can't defend and be on pace also. Then at the back, it's hard to attack and be on pace also. I need to be a little more aggressive in my passing moves (shut up Eric, you know we were not battling ), I'm not in the racing/battling mood these days. Thus I'm taking the rest of the year off, bar some TT events or if I find myself int he mood later? We are racing and I think you need to be on your game, I don't think I am right now? Too much else going on, damn State Farm!

 

But all in all, it was a fun weekend. Win or lose, we all had fun.

 

P.Dilly.

[uberklasse]

Sunday's RACE

 

Reason why Dylan was driving with lights on was to get the girl to move over.

 

I actually was hung up by an SE-R at the start and watched Chris's video to see where some of the passing took place.

 

The start was a major cluster of 7 cars cramming into turn 1 where there should have only been 3! I passed the SE-R on the first lap in turn 3, he caught me after my exit out of 5 was hampered by the rx-7. Benbow was on my back and I was fortunate enough to set up the SE-R for a turn 3 pass again after a couple laps.

 

As Steve said, the rx-7 and Dylan battle gave me something to shoot for and I pulled of a couple of good laps to catch them. I actually surprised Dylan a little by tucking in behind him on the front straight and passing in turn 1. As he said to me later, he didn't think I would make the pass because of an earlier conversation we had....

 

I picked off the RX-7 in 3 another lap later and then ran into a honda a few laps later where my scariest pass was...on the inside of 2. The honda screwed up Dylan and the Rx-7 and they couldn't pass until 5. I had pulled a decent gap and then was able to back off a little for the last 2 laps to bring it home.

 

For BOTH races the traffic really was my friend....I made more passes in 2 days than I have made in all of my races combined. Seat time, seat time, seat time....... with 3 weekends at WSIR under my belt I feel like I know the track pretty well.

[Spec-944#70]

Now now Dilly! You can pass me anytime you want. (If you can catch me now!!) Besides my car needs some more body work!! Take a mydol, put a nasty letter in the mail to the ins co., fix your car and go play. I'll be in PIR this weekend then my next event is in Nov with POC. Let the spanking begin!!

[mfoley]

I had a great time too but we need more cars out there. I couldn't catch Jason, Dylan or Chris but I beat all the Miatas .

[PeanutinCA]

Today it's the Miata's, tomorrow it's the Masters!!! You'll beat em.

[Tim Comeau]

Sounds like you guys had a great time, except for poor Tom Spargo, that sandbagger...........

I want to see the video.

I was afraid Dylan's headlights were on because he was trying to tell another driver to butt out for a second.........Oh, well. You know they mention staying out of other people's class battles at every NASA driver's meeting! Black flag?

I'm extremely pleased that the pack is running good lap times and having some great dicing.

It's only going to get better gentlemen.

[Tim Comeau]

Congrats to all podium finishers! Get those TOYO TIRES bucks forms to me to sign.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[NASA Jim]

You know they mention staying out of other people's class battles at every NASA driver's meeting! Black flag?

 

While throwing the black flag is possible, as Race Director for a day, I know it is very difficult to judge racing out of class *during the race* from the sidelines. It is a lot easier to see from behind the wheel, which is why we want all incidents reported to the Race Director right after the race.

[Tim Comeau]

Makes sense......

[NASA Jim]

And actually I had a conversation with that RX-7 driver because I received an RFA from a racer. If more people spoke up, it would have been a sterner talking to/warning.

[PeanutinCA]

Speak to JL, post Sunday's race.

[NASA Jim]

I should have mentioned I was RD on Sat only. I'm not sure what happened Sun, but Ryan, John and I discussed compliance with driver's meeting rules on Sat.

[Tom #16]

Sounds like you guys had a great time, except for poor Tom Spargo, that sandbagger...........

 

That's right. Now I've got you all right where I want you.

[Tim Comeau]

I KNEW it!!!!