March 3 Track Day at Willow Springs

[Jack Olsen]

Well, it was the best of track days, and it was the worst of track days. About 15 Pelican-affiliated people came out for Open Track Racing’s track day at Willow Springs.

We laughed. We cried. We ate a free barbecue lunch.

The day began beautifully. Pelicanite Chris Streit (cstreit) and his wife Esther had flown in from Illinois, and Chris had managed to borrow a 6-cylinder Mustang from a friend of mine (note: Chris also rented a Mustang for a visit, but he would never track a rental car. This one was ‘my friend’s.’) We also had a cast of California regulars: Mike Marshall (mmarsh) in his Volvo wagon (since the race car is still under the knife), Hans Stoehr in his lightweight, backdated SC, Ryan Williams (surflvrsc) in his 3.6-liter SC, Brad Brown in his 1980 SC, Tyson Schmidt with the infamous ‘Scruffy,’ Milt (zeke) in his 914, Chris Campbell (cambellcj) in his 914-6, Jim (lowyder993s) in his awesome-sounding 993-meets-Wonderbread 76 911S track car, Noel (the chef) in his yellow GT3, SprintStar (I’m spacing on the first name) and his wife, in from Singapore, Ingo, who’s still finishing up his 3.6 liter 74, Joseph Herreros, who (along with Tyson) brought two track hotties since his car is still under construction, Denis Hartigan (speeder) in his blue SC, and Scottb, who made it for dinner, but not the track.

It had rained the previous two days, and the track was still wet when we showed up. But the desert sun dried that off in a hurry, as this in-the-process-of-sunburning self-portrait demonstrates:



(That's Tyson, Joe and Ryan in the background.)

So it was going to be 60 degrees and dry all day. A perfect track day.

Except that right from the beginning, there were some signs of trouble. During the ducks-in-a-row session for the guys who were less familiar with the track, there were something like five offs. How do you skid off the track while you’re going around in a row at about half speed? You got me. But it happened repeatedly during the session. Importantly, it didn’t happen to any of the p-car crowd. We did our laps without incident.

Then the fun began. With the gamut covered between seasoned track veterans and relative newcomers, the Pelican crowd chewed up the track. I watched some great battles involving Tyson, Hans and Jim in their (mostly) track cars, as well as a long bout between Ryan and Dan in the yellow group.

Visitor Chris Streit pushed the automatic Mustang to a pretty-blistering 1:45 on its lousy street tires, and Mike Marshall made his Volvo’s wheels sing as he treated it like a full track car. Its transmission waved the white flag early in the day, although after a cool-down period, it seemed to have re-sealed itself and returned to normal.

Tyson, Mike, Hans and Chris rode along with some of the newer drivers. I’m really impressed by how quickly guys from this board are taking to Willow. It’s a fast, and potentially dangerous track – but the Pelican crowd kept all four wheels on the pavement (well, almost all the time), and avoided the rookie mistakes of some of the other drivers in the event. The Z cars were doing a lot of agricultural work, and one Japanese car rolled a couple of times in the infield.

The day’s first p-car Casualty was Milt, who blew a valve cover gasket and left some oil on the track. Milt’s in the process of restoring an early 911S, and the problems this four-cylinder motor has been giving him lately is moving him firmly into the 911 camp. I believe he’s selling the 914, and is going to concentrate on the (in my opinion, cooler) car.

For my own part, I was having a good time giving rides to people in BB2, which is all the more fun right now because I’m running on a set of thoroughly-toasted BFGoodrich street tires. When I get some sticky rubber again, I’m going to have to re-learn a lot of the track. But the car-control fun of drifting all over the place on the slippery tires is a lot of fun in the mean time. When I drove Scruffy for a handful of laps, I was reminded of how fantastic a set of new Victoracers can feel.

But more about Scruffy later.

In addition to the rides in BB2, people got to go out in a really impressive variety of 911s. Dan Byers’ ‘stay-puff’ early Targa still has no swaybars, I’m pretty sure. But it goes like the blazes, proving the virtues of the lightweight early cars. Then again, Ryan’s SC-with-a-3.6 shows you what a lot of raw muscle can add to the 911 equation. Watching it go down the straights made me want to go back to a narrow body and skinnier tires.

Brad Brown showed that a fairly stock SC is still no slouch in the corners. And Hans Stoehr's carbed SC motor pushes his 2100-pound lightweight around very impressively. Hans is one of the most fearless drivers I’ve ever seen at Willow.

Jim’s (lowyder993s) 76 track car proves that you don’t need a whole lot of displacement if you get the rest of the car set up for full-on track duty. In its Wonderbread paint scheme, his V3 car screamed around the track with either 3 or 3.2 liters. It’s a really awesome car and the sound it makes when it dowshifts will give you goosebumps.

And there was more. Milt and Chris demonstrated the balance and poise of the 914 design. Noel’s GT3 just screamed down the front straight. I got a ride in it at the last event, and it is a really phenomenal car when it opens up.

The day was wrapping up when Tyson and Ingo went out in my car to see what sliding on hard rubber was like. At the same time, Chris Campbell and I went out in Scruffy. For a 2.4-liter-powered cabriolet, Scruffy is a real joy to drive. It’s very forgiving in the corners, and is capable of great lap times (Tyson ran three 1:35’s earlier in the day) if you keep the momentum up and take advantage of its grip and poise.

Chris and I were running some decent laps when there was a loud bang from the engine compartment. The (high mileage) MFI pump had been running lean, earlier in the day. Tyson did a quick fix (he didn’t have his MFI tools with him) and ran some very fast laps. Unfortunately, it looks like the pump was putting gas into the oil, as evidenced by a mysteriously rising oil level. As the oil got less and less slippery, the trouble apparently started in earnest. A rod ended up poking through the case underneath the MFI pump.

It’s a real shame, because Tyson recently got the car all put together, and was knocking down class lap records left and right -- he’d already set new records at Streets of Willow and Las Vegas. His attitude about the setback was pretty great -- Tyson’s not a guy to let himself get put down by adversity. But I have to say I still feel pretty terrible about bringing his car back to the paddock behind a tow truck. It may have happened at any time, but you still feel like a schmuck when it happens during your turn at the wheel.

It’s probably too soon to say what Tyson’s plan is going to be for getting Scruffy back on the road. He’s got to assess the damage later this week. But I know that some members of this board have already made some phenomenally generous offers of help. I hope as we learn what he needs, more of us will step forward in any way we can. Tyson’s been a real asset to this board (and to a lot of us Southern California p-car drivers), and I hope we all can do what we can to help him get his own car back on the track as soon as is humanly possible.

But rough moments aside, it was a day where a lot of Pelican board members got to put faces to screen names, and also allowed some of the more-experienced track drivers to help the ones who are just getting started at it. One nice thing about Open Track Racing is that the Pelican-affiliated participation in it keeps growing, to the point where we’ll be able to have more input into how it’s run, and hopefully make it work even better for p-car drivers who want to see what their cars can do on the track.

Here’s a picture of drivers and cars.



Left to right: Chris Streit and the Mustang, Ryan Williams and his SC, Jack Olsen and his 72T, Tyson Schmidt and the wounded Scruffy, Chris Campbell and his 914-6, Brad Brown and his SC, Dan Byers and his early Targa, Noel and the GT3, Denis Hartigan and his SC.

(Not pictured Milt's 914, Mike Marshall's Volvo or Jim's 76 track car.)

[ischmitz]

that says it all but there was more: I had the rare opportunity to be taken around the big track in a low 1.20. It was essentially a turbocharged Susuki motorcyle engine putting out 320 HP strapped to a lightweight chasis weighting in at around 1100 lbs. The Radical corners at 2.1G thanks to its huge wing and brakes at 1.7G. Thank God I hadn't had lunch before the ride.

Jack's car was scary this time with the street tires. I guess that's what screwed him out of a GT3 Cup car ride later that day. He took the owner out on some laps with BBII and after that the owner of the cup car sort of politely withdrew his offer to let Jack drive it with the comment:" Has anybody ever mentioned that you are nuts"?. Too bad. I really started appreciating Tyson's driving skills when we got sideways in BBII coming out of turn 3.

I also got a ride with Hans chasing Scruffy. It took us two attempts to finally get him. On the first try we almost joined the gravel work party but Hans kept it to a 180 dance. I got to admit: Hans is a fearless driver. After we spun we got back to the pit and went right back out to go after Scruffy.

I felt terrible when we saw Scruffy "parked" in the horseshoe in the last session. I sure hope he'll be better soon.

It was a great day with lots of highs and some lows. But after all no one got hurt. Equipment gave (a couple of motors and then some) but we all got home safe. That's the bottom line for me. I can't wait to be out there again.

Ingo

[Joe Bob]

Looks like I will be picking up Zeke's 914 this Saturday.....sorry I missed the track day. But at least some of my parts and Hot Lap timer made it around with Dan in the Stay Puff Marshmellow machine.

[GrindingGears]

[Jack Olsen]

Well, it says a lot (my fingers are tired, now, from typing).

Here are some of Ingo's pictures:

This Trans Am Mustang was running 1:23-25 laps:



Ingo in a Jack-Olsen-style self-portrait:



This turbo-powered Radical is capable of sub-1:20 laps. Ingo got a ride in it, and he was blown away.



The powerplant (300 hp in an 1100-pound car?)



Scruffy in trouble:

[Jack Olsen]

Brad's SC (note the cool sport muffler):



Jack's BB2:



Ryan's SC 3.6:



And the whole crew:

[Jack Olsen]

Some other pictures I gathered from related threads:

Women and Porsches. Myth?



Not for Tyson:



Tyson's motor is in trouble:



Tyson keeping a good attitude (with SprintStar):



Mike Marshall, Dan Byers, Ingo:



Jim's cool 'Wonderbread' track car:

[ischmitz]

The heart patient. See the rod cap peeking out under the MFI pump?

The picture of rhe Radical is the normally aspirated version. I rode in the turbocharged car. Between the engine reving constantly in it narrow power band of 8 to 10k and the waste gate blowing during braking and shifts (0.1 sekonds per shift) some Formula 1 feeling came to mind.

[Vipergrün]

What a day! Actually it started the night before when Dan Byers called to say his alternator in Stay Puff BBQ'd. Ingo showed up after nabbing a replacement from a 'donor' motor (does the owner know that yet). They worked into the night to get Dan on the road and Dan was able to convince Ingo to go along.

Here is Ingo being crazy at 5:30 am



Here is Stay Puff back on the road. I call this "Dan and Snow"

[img]
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads2/dan & snow1078462002.jpg
[/img]

Ingo was glad he showed up cuz he got to ride in one of these:




Tyson, what are you going to do now that Scruffy is dead? "I'm gonna go drive a GT3" Note the big smile..




And of course, BB2 is, well, BB2




It was a pleasure to meet Chris Streit and let him show me what my SC can really do. Yes, these cars are meant to be driven hard, and drive it hard he did! Thanks for the tips and proving my suspension upgrades are worth the money..

MikeM tore up the track in the Volvo Wagon....until a funny looking liquid started leaking out of the tranny.

Ryans 3.6 SC is sweet...and fast. Man, that is one clean motor!

For those of you considering race seats and harnesses, go for it. It was great to not have a death grip on the steering wheel.

Cannot wait til the next one!

the hans and tyson battle toward the end of the day
scruffy
[[img]http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads2/opentrackchalenge 3-3-04 060==21078462868.jpg
[/img]
super competative hans in his lightweight rs look
[img]http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads2/opentrackchalenge 3-3-04 059==21078462882.jpg[/img]

[Vipergrün]

Let's try that pic of Stay Puff & Snow again...

[Jeremy Cottrell]

Hey wait a tick!! Isn't that Bill Auberlen in a GT3RS, oh no it's Tyson in Noel's GT3 street car, sorry.

heres one of chris streit and his wife ester. great people! hope to see you guys back here again.
joe

[lowyder993s]

Hans is one of the most fearless drivers I’ve ever seen at Willow.

I'll second that...I had my foot planted thru 8 trying to catch him, and he's goin' around on 3 wheels!

now that i figured how to use this program, i can post some pics in color. heres one of tyson and anna:
me, siuhung, tyson, anna
anna about to go out with tyson. man she dosent know what she in for
this is the ok weve had enough and are going to the mall shot
my pic of scuffys hole in the case

thats what i meant. tyson and his hottie honey

[campbellcj]

Thanks for the pics, guys -- I forgot my camera.

Had a really fun day and my car is finally running well, although is still grip-challenged.

I suppose the two memories that still stand out in my mind are (1) the sight of a 240Z sliding perpendicular across the track directly in my path as I approached at 90MPH, and (2) much later in the day, that dreaded -BOOM- and sight of an oil pressure gauge pegged at the wrong end of the scale.

Hopefully Scruffy will be back on the track kicking my butt soon. I'm still unclear how POC lands our two cars in the same class, but it makes for a more entertaining and educational experience when there are faster guys to (try to) chase...

[Hans Stoehr]

Yes, three wheels. You see, it saves on rubber. I had a great time giving rides and hauling -ss. That's what its all about my friends. Joe, great black and white pics...thank you thank you

[Porschekid962]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I am very bummed first off that i missed the track day but last minute homework got the better of me and i was up too late to even attempt to make the drive. Looks like everybody had one heck of a time. Poor Scruffy, poor poor Scruffy. I have the solution for you though. Sell the C2 save for the engine and wiring harness, boom, Scruffy is alive again with much more horsepower. haha, if you need any help tearing her apart i am always willing to lend you a hand, this weekend perhaps?? wait, your gonne be busy with your track hunnies, who am i fooling.