Just got this uploaded... reset the ITB lap record on Sunday at Mid-Ohio, here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC7Cv-vM484

Old lap record was 1:47.471; we logged a 1:46.912 on lap 5 of the race!!!

The car in front (yellow Golf) logged a 1:47.2, and the white Golf logged a 1:47.1.

Even more telling, excluding going side-by-side on 3 laps (twice challenging for the lead, once for an incident, bunch of ITS guys tangling in China Beach), all laps from lap 4 to lap 20 (end of race) were all in the 1:47's, averaging at 1:47.54, just above the old lap record!!!

Oh, yeah - and we won the race too. Passed in the Keyhole on or around lap 17, as the leader's tire's faded away.

FWD is the devil's work!!!

 

Nice lap Vaughn. Looks just like the line that I was running in the spring, only with a little less acceleration.

 

Very nice job! I especially liked your line into & thru all of Madness. You did well pushing the Golf wide of many apexes there & in the last corner.

 

Thanks, guys!

Yeah, now if I can just get that pesky acceleration problem sorted... LOL

Actually, that yellow Goof took the checker at the ARRC last fall, leading a pack of very fast VW's in front of us. To come in just a few HP shy of him, with my home-built motor, not so bad in my book! You can see the big HP advantage I have on the white car, pulling him down the back straight.

Where I really seem to struggle right now is low-end torque; can't so much see it in this vid, but the VW's, which are geared virtually identically to my car, really get going in the lower revs a lot better. It was particularly noticeable at the starts. But I do have a big advantage at the top end, once my aero package comes in (around the kink on the backstraight at Mid-O) - I can really close the gap, even before we get to the braking zone... which is where the superior weight distribution of the 924 (48/52!) really takes over.

 

Here's the full race report:

Executive Summary:
The 4M Industries/PUB Racing team had a fantastic weekend at Mid-Ohio, with great weather, great fun, fantastic racing, excellent food, and some wonderful memories. We brought both cars down, Chris's #55 and my #77, joined by other Waterford friends Todd Lincoln (a fellow ITB competitor) and Doug Spencer (former ITB Champ and now ITA sompetitor). It was the first time at the track for both Chris and Todd, and they both acquitted themselves well, learning the track and getting plenty of speed out. I'm sure they're both looking forward to a return trip - though I think Chris will be making sure he's finally got his race motor in place before he returns! His old motor, while serviceable, is horribly down on power, and did him no favors at such a big track.

Overall results, we qualified 2nd on Saturday, finished second in both the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning qualifier races, but stepped up to take a decisive win and reset the course ITB lap record in the Sunday afternoon race! This also earned us a 2nd place overall for the weekend, which comes with not only a trophy, but also a pair of new Hoosier race tires - worth nearly $500! The Saturday and Sunday afternoon races also earned us medals, and we had another Mid-Ohio first (to go along with our first win and first-ever lap record anywhere) of our first pole, for Sunday morning's race.

It's also worth pointing out that the competition was strong; in addition to a very experienced local VW racer, Chris Schaafsma, we also were racing against one of the top ITB cars/racers in the country, Beran Peter, who with his VW Golf took the checker at the '07 ARRC (American Road Race of Champions - our equivalent of a National Championship - though he was demoted one spot after the race ended). So to be able to run with, put pressure on, pass and be faster than such a caliber of car and driver, is excellent!

A huge note of thanks to our sponsor, Chris Marsh and 4M Industries - in particular, for providing provisions over the weekend, including some most truly excellent feasting Friday night - so much crab as to keep us going all weekend! We ate like barbarians all weekend long!

And thanks to all the crew who came down and made this all possible: Team Chef Merritt, Crew Chiefs Gregg and Angie and the boys, and Todd (Chief Fixer of Driver Mistakes) and Erik (RF tire changer . We couldn't have done it without you, you guys made the weekend run perfectly smoothly - I'm just sad there wasn't a victory lap for you to share in!

Vids and Pics:
The only video posted so far is the record lap:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC7Cv-vM484

Pics are still yet to come, likely this weekend; I'll be posting back as those and more video are available. There will be a lot of good stuff in the video highlights!

Saturday Qualifying:
Qualifying went well; track was clear and dry, car felt great, nothing to change, and just spent most of the time getting used to the track again, getting the driver dialed-in to the latest car setup. Car was missing a bit, we spent a good bit of time over the course of the weekend chasing this, gradually got better as we richened the mixture up to compensate for the more open tailpipe we put on the car (for more power). End result, we were qualified 0.5s off the lead VW Golf of Beran Peter, in second place for ITB with a time of about 1:48.3. 3rd in ITB was the VW Golf of Chris Schaafsma.

Saturday Race:
The grid for the Saturday afternoon race was split between ITS/ITB; a vast improvement (after request) from last year, where the ITB leaders were mixed in with the slowest of the ITS cars, leading to a muddled start and rather poor opening laps. So we started on the outside pole of the second grid. Race start was very fast, and we barely held on to second place through Turn 1. Coming out of Madness Chris got loose, and by the end of the first lap had dropped back substantially, allowing Beran and I to pull clear and run our race. Strategy at this point was just to hang on, maintain pace with Beran, and try to be around for the end of the race in hopes of his making a mistake.

We were very successful with this strategy, always staying in touch despite lap traffic from the ITS and ITB backmarkers, until Lap 10 of the race. At this point, Beran entered the Carousel on the outside of an ITS Miata, who saw him only at the last minute, overreacted, and spun his car. Since he was beside Beran, and right in front of me, this nearly took us both out! Beran was able to pull clear, but I nearly had to come to a stop to avoid hitting him, resulting in large gap to Beran. While I seemed to close the gap maybe a little to the end of the race, the distance was too far to close, and I finished in a very respectable 2nd place.

Sunday Qualifying Race:
Due to some good driving earlier in Saturday's race, I had turned a lap 2/10ths of a second faster than Beran, earning me the pole for Sunday morning's qualifier race. But conditions were poor; not only was it 8AM in the morning, but we had a heavy rain the night before, and the track was still partly damp, with heavy overcast, no sun to dry it off or warm things up. In fact, it was also still quite cool, only about 55-60 degrees.

So the race start was quite exciting, but after running 2-wide through Turn 1 to the Keyhole, we were able to pull ahead of Beran for the back straight. Though both Beran and Chris (in 3rd) put the pressure on, we were able to maintain the lead for a couple of laps. However, entering Madness on the 3rd lap, Chris lost control on the brakes while trying to duck inside in a damp spot, so slid into us. Chris pushed wide, and we slid wide, so Beran ducked down the inside (left side), and we left Madness and entered the Esses 3-wide!!!

But we had the inside line, so the slowest line, and so got hung out to dry, left to watch the other two pull ahead through the Esses. However, as they were still running 2-wide, Chris on the right, this left Beran on the outside of the RH turn to enter Thunder Valley. This opened up a lane, so we ducked down that inside and ran him through Thunder Valley. However, Thunder Valley ends with a fast LH turn, putting us on the outside, damp line, so we lost ground and ended up in 3rd.

A bit frustrating, but still plenty of time left in the race, so we put our heads down and went to work. Beran managed to get by Chris after a couple of laps, motoring him down the back straight, and we chased down Chris after a bunch more. After working him over in a few spots - he was a little down on power compared to us, but was very strong through the corners - we were able to get in position to put our power/aero advantage to work and pass him down the back straight for 2nd place. Kept working hard, but while we were able to open up the gap to Chris, we again were unable to close with Beran and challenge again for the lead, finishing the race a few seconds behind. Still, again to finish second under the conditions was well worth it!

Sunday Race:
Once again we were on the outside pole of the split grid. The start was fast again, and though we did a better job, the timing was still poor and we once again lost ground into Turn 1. Chris once again messed up on Lap 1, this time getting loose through the Bus Stop entering the Keyhole, leaving Beran and I a bit of clear track to run. Despite having some speed on Beran at this point - presumably due to slightly better engine tune, as it was finally running its best by now, and slight tire pressure adjustments to dial in the chassis - we made the decision to back off and just run in sequence with him, to try to build the gap to the rest of the pack, allowing us more space in which to race (and making it even harder for them to catch us).

After a few laps, we were really feeling held up by Beran, so we started a move in Madness, ending up running side-by-side from the Esses through Thunder Valley before losing ground and falling back into 2nd by the Carousel. Surprisingly enough, this cost both of us enough time that Chris caught right back up to us! This led to a long, 3-way battle for 1st and second that lasted many laps; during this period, all 3 of us blew away the old lap record (only updated that morning by Beran at 1:47.41). Beran logged a 1:47.2, Chris logged a 1:47.1, and #77 logged a new course record of 1:46.912 - a whole half-second faster than the old record!!!

Now THAT'S something special to take home!

But the race wasn't over yet; continued hard work and consistent lapping in the mid-1:47's, right at the old lap record, saw us closing the gap again to Beran, when, with 5 laps to go, his tires gave out. His mistakes became bigger, starting with an off in Thunder Valley, and many missed apexes in Keyhole and Carousel, until we closed right up onto his bumper entering the Keyhole with 3 laps to go. He pushed out once again, unable to get the front tires to turn any more, and ended up pushing through the marbles on the outside of the turn; we saw the opportunity and ducked down the inside to take the normal apex, gaining a significant speed margin to exit the corner onto the back straight. He jumped right over to try to lock in on the draft, but was unable to stay in touch due to the exit speed difference, and had dropped back considerably by the braking zone.

He then made things worse in Madness, as he was also now under pressure from Chris, who had never fallen far back anyway; he charged hard into the corner, but then lost front-end grip, pushed wide, and barely retained 2nd place in front of Chris. Meanwhile we kept charging ahead. After the Esses, entering Thunder Valley is another strong corner for us, and we had pulled ahead by nearly 20 carlengths! We finished the race in this order, with Beran between 3-5 seconds back and under pressure from Chris, #77 cruising around up front without pressure - still turning laps right on top of the old record!!

 

That's smoking! What's the hp and weight of the car?

The audio was messed up for me. Anyone else?

 

Weight is 2540# post-race... hp maybe 130hp crank - haven't had it on a dyno recently. IT prep means we get basically to change springs, t-bars, swaybars, shocks, and suspension bushings (mine are all spherical, with a custom-valved Bilstein setup). It's a handling class.

The audio is messed up; the mike saturates all the time the engine's running, pretty much. The car is VERY loud, recorded a 95Db on a pass-by in Thunder Valley. Pretty large, open 2.5" exhaust.

 

Very Nice !!!!! Congratulations.

I'm headed back to the track on Monday and Tuesday and will be instructing. It was a nice refresher for the line.

Best regards,

Ken