I was at the Group 52 event this past week with my wife Irene and had a fantastic time. Big shout out to Mark Taylor and Gary Moore for running such a great show.

I was running our Spec Boxster 3.4 conversion and a Spec Racer Atom. My best laps were 2:10 in both cars. I find it challenging to switch between the power steering/ABS Boxster to the opposite in the Atom. I also really enjoy making this transition between the cars as I think it is serving to improve me as a driver.

While I have had my share of spins over the years, I have never hit anything. That is, until this event (edit: in the Boxster). I very suddenly oversteered going into the laces and a countersteer seemed to do nothing. As I came around in the spin I ended up on the wet grass on the inside of the turn and brushed up against the guardrail. This resulted in 1) blue paint all along the side of the car which was able to be scrubbed off 2) a broken tie rod on the left rear and 3) clipping of my ********* which took a few mph off my corner speed at the laces for the duration of the event.

We had hired Spencer *** of SpeedSport for trackside support. I cannot say enough kind words about Spencer and his crew. They managed to find me a tie rod, install it, align the rear toe, and rub the blue paint off the car in a total of 2 hours. I was seriously impressed.

Turn 11 is currently under construction for the upcoming NASCAR event so the entry for the turn is from track right. This resulted in one gear lower on entry with the Boxster.

One of our members brought his circa 1989 Marlboro F1 car which was insane to look at and really insane to listen to. Group 52 gave him a solo 15 minute session after the lunch hour and we watched it from the grandstand. As a result my wife is insisting that we now go to a F1 race. God I love that woman.

Here are some vids of me in the Boxster and Spec Atom. Feel free to critique but try not to hurt my feelings!!!!!!! I have a lot of room for improvement in the braking with the Atom as I'm still new to a non ABS race car.

 

Dave, the Atom is a very tough car to drive fast... Glad it worked out and was only topical...

That Judd powered F1 car is cool!

Wish the camera caught more of you and the throttle position was overlaid onto the video in Race Technology.

 

I was there in the white Mini (Wednesday only, unfortunately) and yes, it was a great event--glad the rain held off. That tire wall in the middle of the track at pit-in was a real eye-opener the first time around, to say the least! I was on track with the F1 car, and when it went by me the sound was simply indescribable...

Sorry to hear of your misfortune--glad it wasn't that bad and that all hands are OK.

Gary

 

Hi Peter,
Oops, I didn't clarify. My off was in the Boxster.
The Atom gets quicker every time I drive it. I find that I need to work the wheel quite a bit. I'm going to install a cockpit cam and eventually add sensors. I'm not digging the Race Tech software but I understand it's pretty powerful.
Maybe next time I'm at VIR you can data coach me.

 

Be glad to.

 

Totally, I wasnt expecting the 10-11 chute to be quite that narrowed. Nice to see you there.

 

Dave and Gary,

Thanks for the kind words......and thank you both (Irene too, of course) for joining us at Watkins.

Michel's F1 car is a 1991 Dallara-Judd (V10). During his post lunch run, he was having electronics difficulty which compromised his T1 approach and subsequent run through the esses. During the event, he recorded 184 in the back straight and 175 in the front straight....with a bad launch out of T11. He'll be with us again at VIR and (we hope) with some friends at Watkins in October. We think he's got 1:35-ish in the car at Watkins.

-Mark

 

We ran the short course (i.e. NASCAR) for 1.5 hours on the first day. My best laps in the Atom were 1:26 so if I could shave 16 seconds I could qualify for a NASCAR race! Yikes.

 

Those are awesome videos Dave. I'm sorry you folks won't be at NHMS on Mon & Tues. Hopefully we'll see you both at our 2-day event at Limerock on Sept 19-20. I miss seeing you guys.

 

Thanks Brian. We will be there in Sept: it's our wedding anniversary. What better a place to celebrate than at the track!

 

Dave:

Very smooth. I was at NHMS when you were having engine problems in the Boxster. Was it a quick fix? Also, do you have any idea how much HP you are putting out the wheels?

 

Not a quick fix. There was a connecting rod through the top of the case .
The car has the 996 3.4 engine and makes 296 at the crank as a stock Porsche engine. It has headers and no cats (other than paw prints) so a few more HP. It weighs about 2650 I believe. It's a Spec Box on crack.

 

now, that's an interesting proposition!