bobt993

Just back from the carnage at Summit. Boy, did we lose some cars, but Sunday dried out and allowed us to run yet another Sprint and the Enduro. Lost my Trans again at the Enduro, but finished well in the Sprint starting from the back ( I had qualified 15th since we were running with GTC, but had leant my car to another clubber in for the prior race which I jumped into with only 3mins to grid). Saturday was as bad as it gets with more track-offs than track-ons. I think 9 cars went out on rains with the rest of us on slicks and man was it insane. I held onto the back of slower cars on rains and the field split into two sections. I watched car after slide off in front of me with GTC cars going by on the straight then catching them under braking for T1 under full ABS. We had a river across T8-T9 and small lakes at every braking zone. Mark, good to meet you and same to Forklift. Hats off to the corner workers as they showed up. Despite the weather, the event was run extremely well.

smankow

Bob, next time you want a good watering hole in SP, I'd recommend the Cork or Brewbakers

Glad you survived, but not about the trans. How did you boys finish.


Steve

bobt993

RTR did well as a group.

Sprint 1: Carl Tallardy 1st in C, John Phillips 1st in ( I think G ), I survived for 1st D with alot cars going off in the rain fest. I think Tom Dymant took 2nd in GT2s.

Spint 2: Bob DiMarco took in D, Doug Ferro 2nd, I took 3rd from the back. Doug was running an E car in D (but he's a Grand Am Cup driver so WTF), Carl again took C, John Gianone was 3rd in the Sprint.
Carl 1st Enduro C, John Gianone, 2nd in C with great ride from a lower grid. My trans went at the start as 2nd,3rd gear went south, I limped around completing one lap to get credit for my race in my driver log then it locked up. Mike Pechsteins engine went again so he also ran two laps to get credit on 5 cylinders ( still passed 6 cars!)

Mark in Baltimore

Bob,

Nice to meet you and good job in the sprints! I was wondering what happened to you in the enduro and figured it was a major mechanical. In the first sprint, in my Hoosier dry tires, after several sideways incidents in T1, T3, T9 and T10, after more rain and after keeping in mind that I could easily get another 13/13 and be forced to take a break from racing, I elected to pull out of the race and live to fight another day.

Unfortunately, that day sucked. The second sprint on Sunday (in the dry) was wholly unsatisfying, as my front sway bar linkage broke at the hub after maybe eight laps. I couldn't figure out why my car was getting looser and looser until I heard an awful metal-on-metal noise coming from the left front. Later, at a two mph crawl in the pits, it sounded like the car was going to have a spasmodic fit; before I pulled over, it sounded like the suspension was hammering out my tombstone with the linkage end. Not cool.

I later saw that the sway bar bolt had sheared off. I was not a happy camper as my car has been running great and my head was in a pretty good place despite the lack of dry practice time. Congrats to Bob DiMarco for a great start and win. I totally screwed up the start and lost a bunch of places, not that it mattered in the end, anyway.

A huge thanks to all of the corner workers and volunteers for the race! You all did a superb job.

bobt993

Mark, I think all but 6 of the cars were on slicks. I ran the qualifying on really old Hoosier slicks, but switched to a new set for the race , dumb choice! At grid, it started to come down and I ccould see guys getting pissed off with their decision. I could not keep the car straight, even on the the front straight, but found some lines that worked without incident. I got in one battle with another D car that thought it was for position (side by side from T4 to T8) but he was a lap down and thought I had come from a lower grid.
John Phillips ran Hoosier rains for qualifying with a dominant showing, but also left them in the paddock for his sprint. John still managed to win with a great run.

MJR911

Well done RTR boys! We loaded up Sun AM and decided to make some things at home priorities instead of me doing the sprints and enduro without Dad... it was his weekend anyway and winning D would have been hollow without him!

TD in DC

I too became overly optimistic and took of the rains for the group 1 sprint. Bad, bad decision.

I was very happy just to have survived this past weekend unscathed. As a rookie provisional license candidate, I was required to run every session, and there were some real doozies this past weekend. Thanks to Manny Alban, Pete Tremper and Jason Scott for helping me out this past weekend. I really appreciate the advice.

RICHVIZZ951

TD were you in a red 44, with an end spot in the paddock? Think I was talking to you and ate lunch next to you in the classroom prior to enduro meeting. Didnt know that was you.. Congrats on coming out of it unscaved. Tons and tons of carnage, glad I escaped the wrecker as well.

bauerjab

Not only is Summit slippery, it is hell on transmissions. Luckily mine didn't go, but I know two others that did. Going into second gear on a repeated basis is bad enough, but combine that with the terrible bumps and resultant wheel spin on on turn 1 and it makes it just a matter of time. So take your pick - slippery with chances for body damage or dry with chances to transmission damage.
Guess you could say I am not a fan of Summit Point.

TD in DC

Ha, small world. That indeed was me . . . Too bad it rained so much because it really put a damper on meeting new people (pun intended). I felt very happy to have escaped unscathed, and I had a great time as well. Great that you survived as well.

Funny you should mention this but I was having a hell of a time shifting in T1 during the enduro. I have never ever had a problem shifting anywhere before. During DEs, I typically take T1 in third. During the enduro, I ended up needing to use 2nd a lot due to traffic. I must have misshifted 5 or 6 times into fourth rather than second, which is seriously bad news. I am sure a few drivers were cursing this rookie. Once when I went to shift from 2nd to 3rd at about 3/4 of the way around T1, the shifter went between gears. I need to check the linkage to see if something worked lose, but it was pretty frustrating to keep blowing the shift there.

ZBlue996Kam

Are Porsche engine and tran getting worse these days. They keep breaking.

I wonder why? Larry Herman engine at the Glen, Bob's trans, and Mike engine at SP. I better not race.

richard glickel.

Todd,

Congratulations on a super rookie showing! It's no fun doing your rookie "school" in the rain (been there, done that). You probably would have been faster in the enduro if not for that slow red 968 holding you up.

I enjoyed being out there with you and Jason.

Musche

This was my first club race as a volunteer. I worked the grid by the way and we were miserable standing in the cold and rain let alone trying to drive fast in that mess. All I can say is some of you guys must have a tough time pulling that sub strap up, if you know what I mean ;^)

richard glickel.

Musche,

I know I speak for every club racer when I say: "Thank you so very much".

Simply put, there could be no event without the volunteers like yourself working the grid and corners -every driver realizes this and we truly appreciate your time and caring for our well-being.

Thanks, again.

TD in DC

I have some great video of you. I had great time as well . . .

Each time I try this, I realize how much I have to learn. Somebody owns you, and you may not even realize it until a few laps later how they did it. But then, during the next race, you can employ all of the lessons you learned from the last race.

I have to say, though, that I have serious HP envy at this point. I got my nose stuck in to make passes several times (usually at T3, in the middle of the carousel, and at T10), and didn't have enough grunt to make the pass stick. Oh well, that's why a low HP car makes you a better driver. You MUST learn how to drive around your limitations. If and when I let myself out of this self-imposed HP ghetto, I should be decent. I have much to learn before then . . .

TD

P.S. Thanks Musche. I can tell you that I am very, very grateful for you and all of the volunteers. I was literally placing my safety in your hands under those conditions. I appreciate your diligent work (all except for one of my buddies who was volunteering and thought it was funny to show me the blue flag every single frickin lap )