4M/Munk's/PUB Racing finishes the ARRC!
11-11-2008, 11:03 AM
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4M/Munk's/PUB Racing finishes the ARRC!
Sorry I didn't have time to catch up w/ anyone while there... got busy and got my head in the race... anyway, here's a couple quick pics to keep you entertained while I write up the race report... that's me on the left...
Leaving Victory Circle, off to impound...
Long story short, I got t-boned by a Volvo exiting turn 7 on about lap 4... 20 lap race... ran as high as 2nd after that...
Pics courtesy of Johnston Images.
Leaving Victory Circle, off to impound...
Long story short, I got t-boned by a Volvo exiting turn 7 on about lap 4... 20 lap race... ran as high as 2nd after that...
Pics courtesy of Johnston Images.
Last edited by 924RACR; 11-11-2008 at 11:44 AM.
11-11-2008, 12:15 PM
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Naw - beside, they'd never have let that car back on track anyway. Did have an offer to co-pilot an ITS RX7, we coulda done well, but I passed - too tired. He ended up finishing 3rd in ITS...
11-11-2008, 04:27 PM
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A yellow one w/ white slash - Kris Smith's old car...
Yeah, no podium for the Pro-IT race either, sounded like...
Yeah, no podium for the Pro-IT race either, sounded like...
11-12-2008, 08:45 AM
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Video time... here's the highlight reel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJI1peBHUgE
Ah, what coulda been if I'd played it just a little more conservative...
Pics and full report coming soon...
CJ - I think I remember your car now... you were paddocked not far from the main bathrooms, right, big rig with Mazdas of all sorts laying around? Do I remember seeing your car come by tech on a flatbed?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJI1peBHUgE
Ah, what coulda been if I'd played it just a little more conservative...
Pics and full report coming soon...
CJ - I think I remember your car now... you were paddocked not far from the main bathrooms, right, big rig with Mazdas of all sorts laying around? Do I remember seeing your car come by tech on a flatbed?
11-12-2008, 10:41 AM
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Thanks to our sponsors, 4M Industries and Munk's Motors, and our crew - Gregg Grooters, Crew Chief, Greg Luckinbill, and Merritt Collins - for an excellent race weekend at the 2008 American Road Race of Champions (ARRC) at Road Atlanta!
The 4M/Munk's/PUB Racing team headed down on Wednesday, the 5th, to run the test day on Thursday; after a signficant delay in Kentucky due to a fatal accident closing I75 for a few hours, we arrived just before midnight at the hotel, with no time to set up, and barely enough time to sleep. However, we were well-prepared, and had little to do in the morning after arriving at the track other than to set tire pressures and run. The practice day went well, with us eventually finding our speed, getting close to our best time from last year's ARRC race.
The first qualifying session, Q1, went quite well, with us first on grid looking into the morning sun, getting plenty of good clean track, and setting a good time - only .058s off the pole time of 1:47.9 set by Chris Schaafsma in his VW Golf. Q2, in the afternoon, didn't go quite as well, with us failing to get clear track, too much racing going on, so we failed to improve our time. However, only one driver, a local in a BMW who didn't do well in Q1, managed to beat Chris and us, taking pole by a few tenths. We weren't all that concerned, however, as he was not good in the cold conditions at 8AM for Q1, same as we'd be racing in on Saturday - so we expected we should have no trouble getting by him and contending for the lead.
Friday night, the rain moved in! We got a good soaking of the track while at dinner, adding to the expected cold morning conditions. Fortunately, most of the track had dried by race time, but the sun was still low, the track was still cold, and there were still damp spots, including some standing water at the bottom of the Esses.
The start went well, everyone was on the ball up front, with Deuce Keane starting outside of us, and Peter Keane and Sam Moore behind. The Keane brothers were both driving Honda Accords, and Sam was driving a Volvo. Peter tried to look to the inside down the front straight, but we were expecting the move and covered the spot, so he moved back to the center position to go into 1. This worked out better for him than us, as it turned out, when the polesitter BMW broke early for Turn 1, clearly scared of the cold track (not as common an occurence down in GA as it is up north for the rest of us!). This allowed Chris and the Keanes all to run around the outside of the BMW, while we were bottled up behind him trying not to cause an incident.
Going up the hill after Turn 1, we were able to move to the left of the BMW, finally, and get around on the outside of Turn 3. Our lead group of 4, with Sam trailing slightly, now pulled ahead as the remainder got bottled up behind the BMW through the Esses.
Coming into 10a at the end of the first lap, Deuce made a nice move under braking to get inside of Chris and pull ahead for the lead. Chris tried to defend, but ended up losing more time onto the front straight, and Peter was able to sneak inside into Turn 1 for 2nd place. We tried to carry through right behind Peter, but didn't quite have enough pull up the hill to finish the job, and ended up back behind Chris in 4th by Turn 3.
Exiting onto the back straight on the 2nd lap, both Peter and Chris ran wide through the mud, hurting their acceleration, and allowing us to motor by Chris down the straight for 3rd place before 10a. We were able to catch up to Peter under braking, but were too far back to do anything with it. However, next lap, we were right in position to make a move coming onto the back straight... we pulled a great draft off of Peter's Honda, but he carried us to the left, too far to the inside to make a good pass attempt... so instead we crossed over to the right, and motored up the outside into the braking zone! Peter and his Accord were no slouch on the brakes, though, and so we bailed out of the pass a little early - this being only the 3rd lap of 20!
We started the 4th lap, then, in 3rd, behind Deuce and Peter, with Chris and Sam following. Coming into Turn 7, leading to the back straight, Chris made a good move to the inside under braking to take the line. However he failed to pull clear through the turn, and tracked out into the front of the #77, pushing us wide and into the wet Georgia clay. A minor mistake, but it was then compounded as the #77 turned hard on re-entering the track for some reason - sending us hard towards the inside wall! However Sam Moore was too close behind to avoid, and plowed hard into the right-hand side of our car, just behind the front right wheel. This turned out to be a bit of a blessing, as though the car sustained significant damage, it didn't make it to the wall, and despite beind thrown into a 270-degree spin, was still fairly close to straight. Sam's car didn't fare so well, however; he was thrown hard into the wall we were about to hit, and was forced to park the car right then and there.
We estimate the Volvo was going 60-65mph at impact, where we were doing only about 20mph down the track. Thank goodness we have ALL the safety gear we can cram into the car, including a stout rollcage and an ISAAC head and heck restraint. No whiplash or other injuries sustained, despite a massive clout.
Rolling now backwards after the 2nd impact, we reversed the steering to throw a quick Rockford turn (think Hawaii Five-O!) to get the car pointed the right way (good thing we practice these at work!), find a gear, and resume forward progress. By the time we get to the end of the back straight again, we're back up to 105mph, and we can see that the car's still tracking pretty straight, so we have no trouble taking the turn at speed, and back down onto the front straight full-tilt. Even more amazingly, despite the crash and lost time (about 12 seconds), our lead pack has pulled such a lead on the rest of the field, we haven't lost a single position! We're still running in 4th!
We holler on the radio for a damage reports from the pits - but no word back! Well, since all the damage is on the right side, and the pits are on the left side of the front straight, the crew can't see a thing. No-one other than the corner workers is even aware of the extent of the damage until the race is over!
So we chug on, and the car seems to be only slightly off in handling from the impact - not really all that bad - and we're still able to turn competitive laps, though a little less consistently than before.In fact, we start making progress on Peter, in 2nd place - Chris having put himself into the wall two laps after the incident, bending his car and moving back to 5th place (though able to continue).
Then we hit lap traffic with about 5 laps to go. The whole time, the chasing VW Golf of Aaron Stehly has been trying to chase us down, and closing very slowly, maybe a half a second a lap - manageable, we should be coming to grips on or about the last lap. We can probably hold him off that long. But the lap traffic fails to yield, and holds us up badly in 10a/b, allowing Aaron to close right up to our bumper by Turn 3.
Indeed, he makes a good move to get by heading into 6, but we're able to close back up a lap later, on the back straight under braking into 10a, regaining 2nd - because right after he passes us, Peter Keane spins himself into the wall (same one we were headed for) in Turn 7, moving Aaron up to 2nd, and us to 3rd.
Aaron gives chase for a couple of laps, helping push us down the back straight, but it's clear that the aero advantage of the 924 has been thrown away by the damage, and possibly also the engine is suffering a bit too, as he clearly has motor on us now. Sure enough, on the last lap, he motors by on the straight into turn 6 - a place we've been weak on the track all weekend - to take 2nd. We're right behind through turn 7, but he pulls enough of a lead down the back straight that all our braking performance only serves to catch us right back up to his bumper, set to follow him down the hill to the checker in third.
A bit disappointing, given that we went down expecting we had a chance to win, and knowing that we were the car to beat this weekend - but considering the level of damage on the car, it's still impressive that we were able to make the podium! The champagne still tasted good!
Then we had a long stay in tech, where we (top 3) were all torn down and our engines inspected to ensure they were legal. Sometime after lunch (our race was over by 9AM, mind you) we were finally let loose to go put our cars back together and load our gear. The beer was good and cold that night, the party enjoyable, and we got a lovely little trophy and medal! Aaron Stehly, who beat us, also won the IT Triple Crown (ITTC) - a combination of points earned from the ARRC, the Mid-O race in August, and the local Divisional SCCA Championship (which he also won). We would've finished 3rd in the ITTC (behind Chris Schaafsma, except that we did not run a Divisional Championship.
Thanks again to our sponsors, 4M Industries and Munk's Motors, and our crew, not only for the ARRC, but the whole season!
Gregg Grooters - crew chief, #77
Angela Grooters - crew chief, #55
Merritt Collins - team chef
Erik Orhnberger
Todd Quenneville
A re-cap, here's a summary of the 4M/Munk's/PUB Racing Team accomplishments for 2008:
Waterford Hills ITB Championship Winner - #77 Vaughan Scott
Waterford Hills ITB Championship 3rd Place - #55 Chris Marsh
Waterford Hills Driver's Championship 2nd Place - Vaughan Scott
Gary Taylor Memorial Award - Vaughan Scott
2008 SCCA IT-Spectacular, 2nd Place - #77 Vaughan Scott
2008 SCCA ARRC ITB Championship, 3rd Place - #77 Vaughan Scott
New Mid-Ohio ITB Lap Record - 1:46.912 - #77 Vaughan Scott
Thanks, and see ya next season!
(pics will be included here once they're re-sized - too big to view right now)
On grid before the race:
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5460.JPG
At Victory Circle:
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5464.JPG
No explanation needed!
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5469.JPG
Tear-down in Impound:
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5484.JPG
The Angry Sheep is VERY Angry!
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5493.JPG
Very dedicated crew!
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5503.JPG
The 4M/Munk's/PUB Racing team headed down on Wednesday, the 5th, to run the test day on Thursday; after a signficant delay in Kentucky due to a fatal accident closing I75 for a few hours, we arrived just before midnight at the hotel, with no time to set up, and barely enough time to sleep. However, we were well-prepared, and had little to do in the morning after arriving at the track other than to set tire pressures and run. The practice day went well, with us eventually finding our speed, getting close to our best time from last year's ARRC race.
The first qualifying session, Q1, went quite well, with us first on grid looking into the morning sun, getting plenty of good clean track, and setting a good time - only .058s off the pole time of 1:47.9 set by Chris Schaafsma in his VW Golf. Q2, in the afternoon, didn't go quite as well, with us failing to get clear track, too much racing going on, so we failed to improve our time. However, only one driver, a local in a BMW who didn't do well in Q1, managed to beat Chris and us, taking pole by a few tenths. We weren't all that concerned, however, as he was not good in the cold conditions at 8AM for Q1, same as we'd be racing in on Saturday - so we expected we should have no trouble getting by him and contending for the lead.
Friday night, the rain moved in! We got a good soaking of the track while at dinner, adding to the expected cold morning conditions. Fortunately, most of the track had dried by race time, but the sun was still low, the track was still cold, and there were still damp spots, including some standing water at the bottom of the Esses.
The start went well, everyone was on the ball up front, with Deuce Keane starting outside of us, and Peter Keane and Sam Moore behind. The Keane brothers were both driving Honda Accords, and Sam was driving a Volvo. Peter tried to look to the inside down the front straight, but we were expecting the move and covered the spot, so he moved back to the center position to go into 1. This worked out better for him than us, as it turned out, when the polesitter BMW broke early for Turn 1, clearly scared of the cold track (not as common an occurence down in GA as it is up north for the rest of us!). This allowed Chris and the Keanes all to run around the outside of the BMW, while we were bottled up behind him trying not to cause an incident.
Going up the hill after Turn 1, we were able to move to the left of the BMW, finally, and get around on the outside of Turn 3. Our lead group of 4, with Sam trailing slightly, now pulled ahead as the remainder got bottled up behind the BMW through the Esses.
Coming into 10a at the end of the first lap, Deuce made a nice move under braking to get inside of Chris and pull ahead for the lead. Chris tried to defend, but ended up losing more time onto the front straight, and Peter was able to sneak inside into Turn 1 for 2nd place. We tried to carry through right behind Peter, but didn't quite have enough pull up the hill to finish the job, and ended up back behind Chris in 4th by Turn 3.
Exiting onto the back straight on the 2nd lap, both Peter and Chris ran wide through the mud, hurting their acceleration, and allowing us to motor by Chris down the straight for 3rd place before 10a. We were able to catch up to Peter under braking, but were too far back to do anything with it. However, next lap, we were right in position to make a move coming onto the back straight... we pulled a great draft off of Peter's Honda, but he carried us to the left, too far to the inside to make a good pass attempt... so instead we crossed over to the right, and motored up the outside into the braking zone! Peter and his Accord were no slouch on the brakes, though, and so we bailed out of the pass a little early - this being only the 3rd lap of 20!
We started the 4th lap, then, in 3rd, behind Deuce and Peter, with Chris and Sam following. Coming into Turn 7, leading to the back straight, Chris made a good move to the inside under braking to take the line. However he failed to pull clear through the turn, and tracked out into the front of the #77, pushing us wide and into the wet Georgia clay. A minor mistake, but it was then compounded as the #77 turned hard on re-entering the track for some reason - sending us hard towards the inside wall! However Sam Moore was too close behind to avoid, and plowed hard into the right-hand side of our car, just behind the front right wheel. This turned out to be a bit of a blessing, as though the car sustained significant damage, it didn't make it to the wall, and despite beind thrown into a 270-degree spin, was still fairly close to straight. Sam's car didn't fare so well, however; he was thrown hard into the wall we were about to hit, and was forced to park the car right then and there.
We estimate the Volvo was going 60-65mph at impact, where we were doing only about 20mph down the track. Thank goodness we have ALL the safety gear we can cram into the car, including a stout rollcage and an ISAAC head and heck restraint. No whiplash or other injuries sustained, despite a massive clout.
Rolling now backwards after the 2nd impact, we reversed the steering to throw a quick Rockford turn (think Hawaii Five-O!) to get the car pointed the right way (good thing we practice these at work!), find a gear, and resume forward progress. By the time we get to the end of the back straight again, we're back up to 105mph, and we can see that the car's still tracking pretty straight, so we have no trouble taking the turn at speed, and back down onto the front straight full-tilt. Even more amazingly, despite the crash and lost time (about 12 seconds), our lead pack has pulled such a lead on the rest of the field, we haven't lost a single position! We're still running in 4th!
We holler on the radio for a damage reports from the pits - but no word back! Well, since all the damage is on the right side, and the pits are on the left side of the front straight, the crew can't see a thing. No-one other than the corner workers is even aware of the extent of the damage until the race is over!
So we chug on, and the car seems to be only slightly off in handling from the impact - not really all that bad - and we're still able to turn competitive laps, though a little less consistently than before.In fact, we start making progress on Peter, in 2nd place - Chris having put himself into the wall two laps after the incident, bending his car and moving back to 5th place (though able to continue).
Then we hit lap traffic with about 5 laps to go. The whole time, the chasing VW Golf of Aaron Stehly has been trying to chase us down, and closing very slowly, maybe a half a second a lap - manageable, we should be coming to grips on or about the last lap. We can probably hold him off that long. But the lap traffic fails to yield, and holds us up badly in 10a/b, allowing Aaron to close right up to our bumper by Turn 3.
Indeed, he makes a good move to get by heading into 6, but we're able to close back up a lap later, on the back straight under braking into 10a, regaining 2nd - because right after he passes us, Peter Keane spins himself into the wall (same one we were headed for) in Turn 7, moving Aaron up to 2nd, and us to 3rd.
Aaron gives chase for a couple of laps, helping push us down the back straight, but it's clear that the aero advantage of the 924 has been thrown away by the damage, and possibly also the engine is suffering a bit too, as he clearly has motor on us now. Sure enough, on the last lap, he motors by on the straight into turn 6 - a place we've been weak on the track all weekend - to take 2nd. We're right behind through turn 7, but he pulls enough of a lead down the back straight that all our braking performance only serves to catch us right back up to his bumper, set to follow him down the hill to the checker in third.
A bit disappointing, given that we went down expecting we had a chance to win, and knowing that we were the car to beat this weekend - but considering the level of damage on the car, it's still impressive that we were able to make the podium! The champagne still tasted good!
Then we had a long stay in tech, where we (top 3) were all torn down and our engines inspected to ensure they were legal. Sometime after lunch (our race was over by 9AM, mind you) we were finally let loose to go put our cars back together and load our gear. The beer was good and cold that night, the party enjoyable, and we got a lovely little trophy and medal! Aaron Stehly, who beat us, also won the IT Triple Crown (ITTC) - a combination of points earned from the ARRC, the Mid-O race in August, and the local Divisional SCCA Championship (which he also won). We would've finished 3rd in the ITTC (behind Chris Schaafsma, except that we did not run a Divisional Championship.
Thanks again to our sponsors, 4M Industries and Munk's Motors, and our crew, not only for the ARRC, but the whole season!
Gregg Grooters - crew chief, #77
Angela Grooters - crew chief, #55
Merritt Collins - team chef
Erik Orhnberger
Todd Quenneville
A re-cap, here's a summary of the 4M/Munk's/PUB Racing Team accomplishments for 2008:
Waterford Hills ITB Championship Winner - #77 Vaughan Scott
Waterford Hills ITB Championship 3rd Place - #55 Chris Marsh
Waterford Hills Driver's Championship 2nd Place - Vaughan Scott
Gary Taylor Memorial Award - Vaughan Scott
2008 SCCA IT-Spectacular, 2nd Place - #77 Vaughan Scott
2008 SCCA ARRC ITB Championship, 3rd Place - #77 Vaughan Scott
New Mid-Ohio ITB Lap Record - 1:46.912 - #77 Vaughan Scott
Thanks, and see ya next season!
(pics will be included here once they're re-sized - too big to view right now)
On grid before the race:
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5460.JPG
At Victory Circle:
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5464.JPG
No explanation needed!
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5469.JPG
Tear-down in Impound:
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5484.JPG
The Angry Sheep is VERY Angry!
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5493.JPG
Very dedicated crew!
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC/DSCN5503.JPG
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11-16-2008, 12:12 PM
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Update: photos are finally uploaded to my website:
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC_08.htm
Still more video to be edited, though...
http://vaughanscott.com/Races/2008/ARRC_08.htm
Still more video to be edited, though...
