Paul Dortkamp

Extract from the PP website:
"Division: Pikes Peak Open
Driver Name Number Vehicle Halfway Picnic Ground Glen Cove
Carl Fausett/Guido Hamacher 928 1978 Porsche 928 02:25.875 DNF

Note: Carl Fausett/Guido Hamacher - Run 1
Parked and clear at 11 mile."

Great to see they are safe. Best wishes from the Aussie fans and customers

MGW-Fla

Wow, what a 928 adventure! Sorry to hear of Carl's troubles, but glad he's safe!

AO

Waiting for the full report.

Carl Fausett

Morning, all. Sorry I have not posted yet after the race. I just got home - its a 20-hour tow from Colorado Springs to my doorstep in Horicon. I just dropped off my last crewmnan and I'm going to bed.

While others drove, I typed up a good summary on my laptop, and when I wake up i plan to post it with some photos.

You seem to have a sense of the general carnage at this years Pikes Peak, it was aweful. Some years, they go the whole race/event without a single red flag being thrown. A Red flag at PPeak means that all cars are supposed to stop where they are, the course is CLOSED. There is an accident or a brekdown and there are tow trucks or ambulances or helicopter (Flight for Life) on the course. This year, there were 14 red flags - more than anyone can ever remember.

Suffice it to say we feel pretty damn lucky to be back home with a complete, undamaged race car and ourr health.

I have a lot to add - will tell you all about it when I post soon.

Thanks so much for your support and best wishes - going to bed now.

BTW: the culprit was the fuse for the electric fuel pump. That 25 amp fuse has been in that circuit for a year and never given us a hint of trouble. Many races, many events, and even a full week of practice at Pikes Peak - never a problem. It chose this moment half way up the mountain to blow. There's no explaining it. I'm going to frame that f*^#!@g fuse and put it on the wall.

Later we will check the pumps and see if one of them is drawing heavy amperage. One must be failing we figure.

MGW-Fla

We're all still proud of ya Carl, & appreciate the way you represent the 928 brethren. Shame the race had disappointment for you, but it sounds like you did a wealth of good for general 928 PR with those attending & participating. Look forward to reading your full report.

AO

Get some rest Carl. Glad to hear nothing BAD happened to you or your crew (relatively speaking of course).

DonS

Welcome home! Get some rest and when you're ready go get a beer and grab the rocking chair. We're all ears.

Mako 928

Glad to hear you are all right! It was great to listen to the race live on the internet. they had great coverage, especially of the course conditions and driver interviews.
From the sound of it maybe that fuse wasnt such a bad thing after all.
Great job Carl you are an inspiration to us all.

Black Sea RD

Welcome home and very glad to hear you, your co-pilot and car all escaped any carnage! This type of event always gives me a sense of foreboding for those that participate for some reason.

Like Mel already said, you waved the 928 banner very high!

Thank you,
Constantine

Carl Fausett

Race day at Pikes Peak (July 20th) was hot and dry and lacked the rain that is normal in this area each evening that makes the dirt substrate cling and clump. When the dirt and gravel were damp during the week for practice, we had good traction and we could hold a pretty good corner. But now, with no rain for the last two days and higher-than-average 95-degree temps, what was clay-like dirt was just loose dust and the gravel behaved liked little ball bearings.

The Open Division (my division) was 5th on the list to race, behind the Exhibition Division, Vintage, Time Attack and Open Wheel. It seemed like we would be called to queue up at about 11 AM, so we settled into our pits to wait our turn.

While waiting, we tuned the radio in the truck to the official broadcast of the PPIHC and listened to the goings on. It was apparent early on that there was something odd in the air. The amount of DNF’s and accidents was very high. The officials were throwing red flags almost every third run it seemed. A red flag on course meant all cars were supposed to stop where they were at the moment because an ambulance or a tow truck had been sent out. By the end of the day, they had thrown red flags and stopped the race 14 times - more than any official could ever remember.

So Guido and I knew something was up even before we got in line for our run. The number of spins and offs reported on the radio in the dirt sections told us the conditions were poor for everyone, and the cement curbs they had recently poured at the top for groundwater control had claimed another couple cars just like we thought they would.

I smiled to think that just the night before Guido and I were on the hill with a shovel.... we were removing stones on the inside line of two corners that we wanted to hook in the 928. Here we were, just before the park closes at 9 PM, prying out rocks with a folding shovel I had in the truck and filling the holes in with dirt. The we would drive Guido’s rental car over the fill to pack it down, go about 50 feet past the corner, pull an e-brake assisted 180 and come back down to roll over our work and pack it down again. Guido and I did this for an hour, taking turns driving and digging as we ran out of breath at 14,000 feet.

A few drivers that were taking one last look at the course drove by while we were busy digging and sweating doing our impersonation of a highway road crew with really bad equipment. They smiled and nodded. They knew exactly what we were up to and we saw them write it down on their notes, they were going to trim this corner too now that the stones had been removed from the inside line. Among these was Marty Roestenburg from New Zealand. His shaved head, native tattoos, and big white smile flashed out at us from his rental car when he stopped to chat. “Gday Mate! Cleaning the line, what eh?” The Kiwi was as full of expression as he was full of life. Marty had brought a 1 Million dollar 750 HP purpose-built Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 to the race and had been scorching the course all week with it. He was going to be the winner in the Open Division hands-down we were all sure. Guido and I chatted with him in that great international common language of the racer. Marty’s’ New Zealand accent and Guido’s high German and the Midwestern Wisconsin boy’s dialect did not matter – the three of us knew exactly what each was saying and meant.

Now I brought my thoughts back into the car for the task at hand. Our start was just minutes away.

I had a good start and weaved through the bottom section very well. We had learned in practice that, for us anyway, it was actually faster to leave the 928 in 3rd and roll through this section instead of up and downshifting form 3rd-to-2nd-to-3rd on each corner. That technique was a lot more work and exciting so one would assume "we gotta be going fast" but the stopwatch had showed us it was slower. So when I got the 928 up into 3rd, I left her there and we just drove the course from our rally notes, trimmed and setup corners, late-apexed where we should and hit our lines. The bottom end torque of the 928 was taking care of corner exits at these speeds, and 2nd gear was not needed.

Now, sharing the same race course with Pro Trucks and dirt racers is a challenge you need to appreciate. They love to trim a corner, leave the asphalt and hook the edge as they rocket around the apex. This technique is very fast, but very dirty. It throws sand and dirt across the pavement for the next guy. In fact, just in this mornings driver’s meeting the Race Steward had asked them "PLEASE think about the racers that come behind you" and requested they not clip corners and throw dirt onto the track like that - but whattya gonna do. This is Pikes Peak on Race Day. Every man for himself.

So I’m weaving through the first 6 miles of course, and come into a “right 5 opens” a near-full-throttle right-hander than opens after the apex. We were just past the apex and starting to exit the corner when we both see the spray of sand and dirt across the asphalt left there by a previous racer. The car pitches left and I caught it with a counter-steer. The rear comes back around to the right and just keeps going…. we did a complete 360 right down the roadway while I worked the steering wheel from lock-to-lock to keep the tires pointed into our direction of travel. We never stopped, ending the spin pointing the right way and in first gear with throttle on as if nothing happened. Guido calmly said “good save” through the in-helmet intercom.

I raced the next set of corners, and when there was a straight section in about another ¼ mile I had time to look at my gauges. I scanned them all for any indication that would suggest I was dropping fluids onto the roadway (I had no rear view mirror or I would have just looked). Seeing none, it was back-to-business, and full speed ahead.

Shortly after our “Hollywood Spin” (you should see the video, its awesome) the road changed from tarmac to dirt. One, two, three corners went by and I was starting to settle in comfortably to the new material and our pace. In the midst of our 4th corner, under full throttle and climbing uphill, the engine quit like it was shut off with a switch. It was so sudden; I thought it WAS the Master Switch… I had knuckled it once before in a previous race into the off position, so that was my first thought.

While still rolling I was cycling the master switch on and off and I popped the clutch to try to refire the motor. Nothing. We came to a stop dead mid-course. I cranked the starter a bit again – not even a glimmer of life came from the motor. Yelling at the spectators and waving my arms, I beckoned those lining the course to come and push us to the side before the next car arrived. A small flood of men answered the call, and they worked hard to get the 928 to the side. They parked me right next to a Nissan 350Z who had rolled their right rear tire off the rim, ending the race for them.

A quick check under the hood revealed nothing. I really felt – as suddenly as the engine had shut off – that it was an ignition problem and I would find a grounded out “green wire” or primary wire fallen off the coil or something like that. But everything was connected and right where it belonged – no problem.

The spectators absorbed us, politely crowding around and asking questions. Soon we had a cold beer in our hands and barbequed chicken – whatever we wanted – in return for an autograph or a photo opportunity. So Guido and I spent the rest of the day at “Eleven Mile” as its called, listening to the race radio broadcast and watching the race.

Of course we were upset and disappointed, we had NAILED the first section, and both of us felt we were better prepared than ever before (Guido had calculated section times for us to win, and our target time for the lower section we had just completed was 2 minutes 30 seconds. We had just done it in 2:25 with a spin.

But, as the two of us sat in the shade of a tree watching the race go by and listening to the radio broadcast over the loudspeakers, our attitude changed. Cars were going off and crashing everywhere it seemed! The ambulance came out, then flight-for-life not once but twice, then they would restart the race. Then another red flag and the wrecker would come by. Then a fire truck. Then a re-start, followed after a few more racers by another red flag. We started to feel grateful that we were spectators this time. It was the weirdest thing and quite a change of attitude.

After an hour or two of this, I started toying with the car again. I found the culprit, the 25-amp blade fuse for the fuel pumps had blown. That fuse had been in there for a year… through Pikes Peak last year and all of our practice runs (10 of them) this year plus a number of other Road America events and more, but chose this moment to drop out. I transferred a fuse from another circuit into it, and started up the car.

At about 4 in the afternoon, we were able to come down off the mountain and return to our family and friends in the pits. The race had been full of great gains and losses.

For example, here are two stories just from the teams to the immediate left and right of where we were pitted. On the right side of us, the Salta Motorsports team had come with three cars. An Audi S4, a Mitsubishi Evolution 8, and a Subaru WRX Sti, all very well race prepared. Their Evo 8 won first place in the Time Attack, and set a new record for lowest ET for that Division. The Audi had a good start, but a WRX in front of it spun and smacked the wall (right where I spun last year) so they brought the Audi back to the start for a re-run. On his second run, one of the diodes backed out of his alternator and grounded out on the frame, killing his fans and his electric fuel pump circuit. Day Over.

Their Subaru WRX was chewing up the hill pretty well under a full head of steam when they went off hard. They literally chopped down a 40-foot tree with their car! The race was stopped as Flight for Life was flown in to take them to the hospitals, both occupants are reported to have broken backs. But it gets worse - they are the husband/driver and wife/co-driver team of Conley/Conley that have been married for a little more than 1 year. And there was a spectator sitting in that tree when it was hit by the WRX. What are the odds? He's in a hospital too.

Can you imagine the mix of emotions at the Salta Motorsports race team? My crew and I tried to do all we could for them, which wasn’t much.

On the other side of us was the DCO Motorsports team, who brought a beautiful tube-framed purpose-built AWD truck with a 500 HP small-block engine wrapped in a Chevy S-10 body. The workmanship on this car was amazing. Their racer had gone off Engineer's Corner and was quite literally stuck in a tree. Five hours later, while we were packing up our rig to go home, there they sat still waiting for permission from the National Forest Service to cut down the tree so they could get their truck back.

Marty Roestenburg, whom we had met while digging rocks out of the inside line of the road the night before, would never get the chance to use that line. Something happened to his steering linkage at the turn called “bottomless pit” and spectators say he could not turn the corner. Marty flipped over end-to-end into the rocks. His vector carried his tumbling racer to land in about the only place on Bottomless Pit corner where a car could land and not go over the edge. Marty was conscious when they put him in the ambulance for his trip to the hospital, and we hear doing well. The car is a total loss.

Todd Moberly was here for what I think is his 11 eleventh year. His blue Subaru WRX Sti has only made it to the summit 3 times in the last 10 attempts - and this year was no better. His car started on fire just a little past where we were parked, and the on-board fire suppression system was enough to put it out.

For us, the irony of the .10 cent part stopping a ten thousand dollar effort was not lost. We have not had the opportunity to test the draw of our Bosch 044 pump yet, but we guess that when we do we may find it failing slowly and drawing high amps.

Pikes Peak is ranked as the world’s #1 hill-climb event, and is also revered as an endurance event and one of the world’s toughest road races. It is all three. And this year it certainly showed it.

Fabio421

Great write up Carl. I'm glad you guys made it back in one piece.

Richard S

Wow! Awesome story Carl....Glad you and Guido are safe, as well as the car. Kinda amazing that the race continues even with all the red flags and emergency evacuations, hope everyone is OK.

Rich

the flyin' scotsman

This race reminds me of the motorcycle IOM............great book from last year Carl, glad to here your save and sound.

AO

Great write-up Carl. BTW, you say you had the 044 pump installed. Did you by chance wire it up using the existing wiring? I was advised to use a direct wiring kit as teh 044 can draw too much and use the existing wiring to trip the relay. If you want more info on this, just let me know.

Skiviking

Thanks for filling us in on the race Carl. Glad your team and the car are back safe and getting ready for "NEXT" years Race. Now I must see the Video!!!