Tim Comeau Posted November 18, 2006 Posted November 18, 2006 We were all so pleased to have 8 944's representing 3 groups join us at Buttonwillow. Ken and Greg came down from the NorCal 944 spec Group, bearing really cool door prizes from PIXAR and others ( I won a plain paper fax!). They had great attitudes about learning as much as possible at one of SoCal's home tracks. Jim Fox also joined us for the weekend. Though he lives in the Palm Springs area, he races mostly with the AZ SCCA group of 944's. Jim was having a great time with us and blended right in with the rest of the light-hearted crazies we have. Further evidence that 944 racers are 944 racers where ever they are. We seemed to share the vision of someday having all the 944's running together. He even brought his 944 to the fray shod in TOYO TIRES! The stinker outqual'd me on Sunday by a tenth, to claim the #2 spot on the starting grid! Taylor Price from Pasadena also joined us for the first time in the Red Bull car. He ran in the HPDE program, but still parked right with us. He soiled the car on his first track session? LOL! For this event, NASA added in a "bonus" second morning session, which we all thought was fantastic! The qual results are on my laps.com. I know Mikael was on pole, I was second. Saturday was raining on and off. We got in about 3 laps before it started to rain enough to make a difference in grip. Drivers just didn't adjust fast enough and they were going off everywhere! Some dragged dirt back onto the track making for some very low grip sections. It would rain, then someone would kick dust up, then rain and start to clean off the windshield, then more dust. Ever try to race with a muddy windshield? I got sideways a number of times at a decreased speed, but kept it on the black stuff. The race went to full course yellow and drivers were still spinning off. They marshaled us around long enough to make the race official, then called for "BLACK- ALL." But instead of driving single file to the hot pits, they decided to park us. So the race positions were locked in at the yellows. Had a big-ass dinner on Sat night with the drivers and some newbies. Sunday morning, with the championship pretty well locked up by Weitze, we decided to shift priorities and help build the class. Mikael took Greg's car out for the first session, and Greg drove my car. He really dug the difference in set up and we made some trackside adjustments to his car. Second session, Ken Huey drove my car and I drove his. This car swapping proved very fruitful and it's something very cool about our class! Mikael again qual'd on pole, with Jim Fox about 2 seconds back, then me. At 150 lbs heavy, (2769) I was able to carry speed through the turns around the track and set some decent lap times. But on the start, I got slaughtered! I think it was Memo and Jim Richmond who bitch slapped me to the left and just ran away before the first turn. And I had good rev's in 2nd gear when the green dropped! Spargo (Sat or Sun?) went into the dirt to almost get by me too. Then, more bad stuff started happening.....a Mazda RX-7 got between me and the front runners. Then a Mi-az-dah decided to have a lengthy dice with me. I didn't know who it was at the time, but when I confronted him in his car after the race, I realized it was a new guy who I was introduced to just the night before, and he was a really nice guy. I couldn't be mad at him....I just asked that he try to stay out of class battles and he apologized. Done. Anyway, (Oh, I also had a nasty cold the whole weekend!) I just tried too hard to catch up and ended up putting the car 2 or 4 off a couple times. Caught up with Spargo twice, I believe?, only to give it away with a driving mistake. I had slight contact from one of the H4 cars at the entrance to the star mazda turn. One car was inside me and another went inside of him! No problem, I saw the first car, then the second making a move, so I just cut a really fat line and drove right out to the marbles. Well, those 2 had contact forcing the middle guy over in my direction. I moved left quickly, but not quite quck enough, and received a small prang to the front right fender. Both Honda drivers sought me out and were very apologetic about the minor incident. So while the weekend was one of my poorest performances ever, I was content to not work hard on the car, and just hang out with racing buddies. During the weekend, everybody got much quicker and I think this is because we were sharing track driving info freely. It was great to see 2 new faces on the podium! Jim Richmond and "Memo." We have some pics on the website with the umbrella girls. Very nice, NASA! Other drivers please post your side of the story. Quote
Packfill Posted November 19, 2006 Posted November 19, 2006 Cold, traffic, weight... DId I leave anything out?? TC, Are you ever gonna come out with out some excuse?? Quote
Capt Squid Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 It was great to have 8 cars racing in our class. Ken, Greg, and Jim F. were all welcome additions. Memo was in his first race after driving school but sure did not drive like a rookie. Taylor, Robert and Raffi are attending driving school and we can look forward to having them join the race group in the next year or so. Saturdays race started in a light mist. I qualified in the back of the pack. Tom tried to sneak by Tim on the start and Tim slammed the door on him. Tom lost his momentum which let me slide by. I then turned under Jim F. and Memo in the confusion in turn one. Just like the SoCal freeway drivers not many slowed down as the rain picked up and there were offs galore. Someone went off and plowed an inch of silt onto the track. Every time we came through it there was a dust cloud that coated your windshield. Visibility was reduced until the mist/rain cleaned the mud off and then you went through the dust cloud again. Memo caught up to me and made a number of runs to pass. He out braked me on the inside going into the turn onto the front straight. We went side by side and I got him by half a car on the exit. It started to rain harder during the next lap and I took the inside line going into the turn before the straight and got on the brakes early. Memo came in too hot and went off in a huge cloud of dust. Wish I could of had a video of that. I tried to close on Tim but it was too slippery to make any progress. They black flagged the race shortly there after. Sunday was dry and Sunny. I qualified 4th and was on the outside of Tim on the start. I got a good start and managed to beat Tim and his porkmobile to turn one. I will lay odds Tim will have that thing down to 2600 lbs by the next race. I had my nose under Jim F. in turn one but did not have enough to get along side of him. Going into Star Mazda I tried to out brake Jim F. and locked my brakes. Memo dove under me and made a great pass. I made a couple of runs at Memo but could not get him to make a mistake. Jim F. went off in Star Mazda and Memo went by him. Jim F. did a great job of keeping his speed up and drove back on. We met at the first turn of the S's and both went up on the rumble strips. Nearly traded paint but I had the momentum and got by him. Jim then came in too hot trying to catch me after the S's and went off in a giant dust cloud. The rest of the race consisted of chasing Memo and watching Mikael crusing in front of us. Several of the 944 jockeys were seen shoveling BW silt out of their cars after the races. I was lucky and did not fill my car full of dirt for a change. As usual, fun racing and a great bunch of guys. Quote
techkermit Posted November 20, 2006 Posted November 20, 2006 In my defense: new car, new track, no wipers, and non-tread ra1s (excuses, excuses ). After the rain dried up I had no offs for the rest of the weekend and got progressively better. It was great fun to come out and hang out and get advice from you guys. I am looking forward to more HPDEs and fun next year while I work on my license. Thanks for all the help and encouragement Quote
Tim Comeau Posted November 21, 2006 Author Posted November 21, 2006 Taylor, It was great having you with us and we're all happy that the car is back in action, where it belongs! Quote
Tim Comeau Posted November 21, 2006 Author Posted November 21, 2006 Jim, But, but, but.......my excuses are all true! People saw the scales....the tech guy fainted when he saw how heavy the car was! Ask anybody who I tried to talk with over the weekend. It took me forever to finish a sentence between the coughing... ....and the traffic......my god, the traffic! Yes, my car will be down to weight for the Dec POC event. Rick Yap is driving it and he weighs a good 20 lbs less than me. Quote
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