Jerseybean

Here's Rich in his 944






GTA & GTC4 car.


GTC-3 car that had accident damage but was back on the track later that day.


Looks like Mike Ps old car.

Larry Herman

I have special dispensation from the Grand Turtle himself. Check out my HWFMR sig..."Do as I say, not as I do".

Larry Herman

Here's what happens when you see this and decide not to pit! It gets real interesting around the 3 minute mark. It's a big file - 121megs.

richard glickel.

Todd,

Too funny to not be true. But, this ought to make you feel better.

Twice (once would be bad enough) my car entered the track dead last. For the start of the first sprint I was held on the false grid because the kid helping me couldn't get the radio working. So I'm sitting there watching 25 or so cars enter the track ahead of me - kind of like the infamous "I was 7th" video -but I have no video of me screaming at the grid worker to share with you here because, in addition to not hooking up the radio, he couldn't get my camera started either!

For the enduro we made a last minute decision to share my car with my friend and fellow SP3 competitor Steve Katz as the alignment on Steve's car got totally messed up during the 2nd sprint on saturday. Steve is very detailed oriented and always punctual, but we somehow got screwed-up on the start time and as Steve is backing out of the garage, I look up and see that the race has actually started (the cars are rounding turn 11 for the front straight!).

After starting a lap down, and after driving for 15-20 minutes, Steve is black flagged because the window net is down. As I'm walking to our slot in the hot pits Steve has been black flagged again, this time it's a "stop-and-go" for having entered the pit lane too fast during the preceding black flag stop! (sound familiar?). At the halfway mark, Steve pits for our driver change and to take on fuel (last year I did not need to refuel, but this year the engine isn't getting gas in the sharper (left) turns and is sputtering on the uphill at no. 7, so we decide to top off the tank). I hold the fire extinguisher and funnel while Steve pours the gas. There's a slight over-pour. We mop that up and I get into the car.

I'm belted in and hooked-up and as I start to leave the pits I check my mirrors and notice that the fuel door isn't properly closed, so I stop (envisioning yet another black flag) and the door gets closed. While heading up the esses, I notice that the hazards are flashing, I can't drive and find the hazard switch at the same time (have no idea where the damn switch is) and, while I'm told that it's permitted to drive with the hazards blinking, being considerate of my fellow competitiors, (I felt that it wasn't safe or fair for the other racers to think they're approaching a "broken" or slowed vehicle when there was nothing actually wrong with my car), I pit again to turn off the freakin' blinkers.

Flashers off, I re-enter the race. After a couple of laps we have a double-yellow and I would like to seize the opportunity to re-adjust my shoulder harnesses which are off my HANS yolk ON BOTH SIDES - (yes, the same young man who hadn't properly put up the window net for my co-driver, didn't close the fuel filler door, pushed in the hazard lights button while hooking up my radio and tightened my belts, hadn't positioned or tightened the belts over my HANS device) - but, our friend & fellow 'lister Comat is really charging hard as he (understandably) wants to use the D/Y to close up with the leaders in his group (SP1?). After the pace car picks up the field I get a chance to adjust the harness, find a car that I had been "dicing" with during practice on friday and saturday, and we drive as hard as we both can swapping places 2 or 3 times through the checker.

As of today, I still have not seen the enduro results, but was told that we may have finished 2nd in class, which - if true - would be thanks to Steve's great driving over the 1st half of the race.

Now, I experienced none of these problems during my own rookie race at WGI when I was basically on my own (I did have a friend in the pits to give me a water bottle and check tire pressures for my single 5-minute pit stop). I was on time to the grid, didn't miss a start, had no black flags, etc., etc. . . . however, my clutch did break with about 20 minutes left in the enduro.

Are we having fun yet? Hell yes!! See you at Hyperfest?

TD in DC

Absolutely!

The second sprint race on Saturday was the highlight of the weekend fo rme.

This was the most fun I have had at a race yet. The Glen is awesome, and I had plenty of cars to race. This video is the start of the second sprint. I was racing very closely with cars for the entire duration of the race, but my camera shut down about 10 minutes into the race, so, unfortunately, I don't even have some of the best footage.

I was running 2:27s-2:28s for much of the race, and Cris Brady, who took first in class had a fast lap of 2:25.

The new camera setup is pretty cool. You can see out the front and out the back. When you cannot see the car, it means it is right next to me.

I was fighting some demons at the Glen and trying to shake off memories of my wreck, as is painfully obvious when you watch the video. I am turning in too late in several places, and I am backing off the throttle too much. I watched that stupid wreck video too often and it imprinted the wreck on my brain.

The good news is that I did not wreck. In fact, my car once went into the exact type of drift it did when I wrecked last year, but this time I knew exactly what to do: I breathed off the throttle a bit and opened the wheel immediately, which made the whole thing a non-event.

My car felt unstable through the busstop later in the race. It wasn't my imagination because late in the race I had the worst tankslapper I have ever had in my life. Upon exiting the busstop at a very good clip (well into 4th gear), the rear end popped out to the left, which I caught, and then it swung violently back to the right. At this point I am facing walls and I thought to myself that there is no freakin' way I will allow myself to wreck here, so I caught the car again and it then swung back to the left. Now I am facing the right direction so I nailed the gas and took off down the turn to the right as if nothing happened. wheewww.

My start sucked. The green flag had apparently been out for long before I really got on the gas. Radio would really help here.

I obviously have much to learn, but this was incredible fun, and I each race I learn more and more. Nothing like going through T1, the climbing esses and the busstop three wide to get the heart pumping.

Constructive comments welcome, but be nice because I am still very much a rookie!

Enjoy.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...42095302097428

P.S. Special thanks to Chris M. for helping me trouble shoot a problem Friday morning. He is always helping me out one way or another. Also, special thanks to Cris Brady for looking over my shoulder.

forklift

Whoa! I couldn't see anything towards the end.

forklift

richard glickel.

Larry,

Couldn't read your vid.

dave morris

Neither could I ... it just keeps sputtering going into the toe.

Gary R.

Are the race results posted yet?

Phokaioglaukos

Does the track go green all at once so that those in the front who see the green know to get on the gas and those near the rear who cannot see the green either risk a false start by guessing it's green, have a radio and hear that it's green and get on the gas or get passed by those guessing or with radios?

Larry Herman

Guys it plays on Windows Media Player 11 and on my iMAC with quicktime. Try either one of those.

Brian P

It goes green at the same time. You can do one of the following:

1) Be close enough to the front that you can see it go green
2) Get a radio and be told that it goes green
3) Look at another flag station and watch them pull down the double yellow
4) Guess

From what I saw, if you are far enough away that you can't see it go green, the flaggers really don't care too much about it if you jump the start.

Sean F

The field was so large that Todd and I were not even to T11 when it went green. I couldn't see the flag.

TD in DC

Yes, and during that sprint, the line up kept surging and slowing from around T8 all the way up through T11, which is why I didn't immediately realize everyone was really taking off. That start was definitely one in which a radio would be a HUGE advantage. In fact, that is the sole reason I did not win my class