Saturday at Willow Springs with NASA

[Jack Olsen]

There are few things in life more fun than being out on the track with a handful of friends -- especially if all of you are driving 911's and the track is Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California. This past Saturday, Pelicanites Tyson Schmidt, Hans Stoehr and I booked a day with NASA, a local race and DE sanctioning group, and were pleased to run into a friend named Mike (crap -- I can't remember his last name ), whom we've driven with a handful of times in the past.


That's Tyson and Mike, standing underneath another perfect sky out in the high deserts above Los Angeles.

It was an interesting group of 911's, because there should have been a much clearer hierarchy than there was, if you just went by stock model numbers. Tyson was in Scruffy, a 1972 911T cabriolet with a recently-rebuilt motor and a number of subtle suspension tweaks. Hans drives a beautiful backdated 911 SC, which has been lightened considerably, and has a rebuilt (and improved) 3.0 liter motor in it (it's probably a comparable car to Chris Streit's white RS clone). Mike has a 3.2 liter '85 Carrera which I'm pretty sure is all stock except for improved brakes and a second oil cooler. I'm in BB2, a 1972T with a stock 964 motor, but with a number of suspension improvements.


That's Hans, Mike and Tyson, standing in between Scruffy and BB2.

There were some other cars in our run group, I'm sure there were. There was a Corvette, a couple of Miatas, some hot-rodded Japanese cars, and a couple of Porsche 996's.

But none of them were able to keep up with the four older 911's. (The reason for that is primarily track time, though.)

Final times for the four cars don't follow displacement or driving experience, though. Mike's 3.2 has all of its weight intact, but he's still able to knock off 1:38's and 1:39's at Willow, which is very respectable -- especially in the heat we were running in on Saturday. He's running Yoko A032R's, so a set of Hoosiers would likely knock that figure down by a couple of seconds.

Tyson's 2.4 should be a lot slower than any of these cars, but he cranked off a 1:37 on a set of crumbling Kumhos. Scruffy is really a joy to drive. It's very well-balanced, both in terms of weight distrubution and suspension. On a cooler day, I'd guess he could get below 1:35's pretty easily.

Hans has a lot of experience, and his car has a really strong power-to-weight ratio. He was running 1:36's on Saturday, which would be great for any SC, much less one in 96-degree heat. His car also has megaphones on it, which makes it sound as great as it looks.

I've run 1:32's at Willow in the past. But it's a track where conditions can limit you pretty severely. In this heat, I wasn't able to get down into the 1:34's, even -- running faitly consitent 1:35's all day. You'd think I'd be further out ahead of this guys, with my fat wheels and suspension refinements. But I'm still on so-so tires (hard-compound Yoko A032R's), and, well, I still have a lot to learn.

But there's no better school than four fast Porsches and an uncrowded track. If you've got a fast internet connection, check out these two videos, which show a continuous succession of laps from the day's last session, where I do my best to catch up with the rest of the guys (after running a few ducks-in-a-row laps with the guy in a 996 C4S, who wanted to get a better handle on the line).

CLIP ONE (18 megs, MP4 format)

In the first clip, I go after Mike, who's able to keep me at bay for far longer than I'd like to admit. You'll see some debris get thrown up at the apex of Turn 9, which is probably the most dangerous corner on the track. We're still not sure what the stuff was that some car dropped in our path.

After I get by Mike, I get Hans and Tyson in my sights. Tyson was having his best session of the day, having tweaked his swaybar settings and tire pressures to work better with his new limited slip. Hans was doing his best to catch up to Scruffy, and I was having a tough time catching up to Hans. I'm never above using a little traffic for my own gain, but the first car that Tyson comes up on was incredibly polite, letting all three of us pass without any of us having to slow down.

On the big straights at Willow, I tried to use my big horsepower numbers to thunder past Hans, but it just wasn't happening. His motor is peppier than a stock SC, and his car is stripped down to a very low fighting weight. But beyond simple power-to-weight numbers, he's got significantly less frontal area and also less drag than my RSR flares, fat wheels, and big tail produce. Near the end of the clip, you'll see him moving over so that we can drag race down the front straight, and it's really a dead even race. He might even have an edge on me.

CLIP TWO (26 megs, MP4 format)

In the second clip, you'll see me up on Hans' tail, trying to find a point on the track where I could force a pass. It turned out that it was only in the really high speed turns that I was able to pull him in, and then only gradually. Since passing wasn't allowed in the turns, I'd need some help to make this work.

So when a white Honda moved over to let Tyson by, and Hans moved in behind so that he could get around Tyson on the left, I saw an opening, and took it. I put myself on the right (the inside approach to Turn 8), and managed to just squeeze past Hans in his 3-liter rocketship.

I didn't have enough space to get by Tyson, though, so you'll see a cool point in the second clip where Tyson is charging along in his normally-aspirated T, giving my big-displacement engine a run for its money through a very fast (and scary) section of the track. By the time we were out of Turn 9, I think Tyson had maybe gotten bored from only seeing other cars in his rear-view mirror, and he let me pass. His car is so light and well balanced, that it's only at the top of his rev range where his motor gives up anything to mine. It's a pretty amazing car.

In fact, all four of them are pretty great cars. And you could see it in the way the rest of the run group treated us at the debriefing sessions following each track session. At the drivers' meeting, no one gave any notice to the old Porsches. After the first session, though, they couldn't stop talking about how fast the 911's were.

If only they knew how little horsepower was under the hoods of some of the 911's that were beating them.


Now, no day would be complete without a scary incident, right?

THE OFF TRACK WILD RIDE (7.5 megs, MP4 format)

I had one in the first afternoon session in Turn 8, which is a very fast right hander at the end of the back straight. I was running a stock 3.8RS wing, without the extensions, to see if I could improve my straight line speed by reducing drag. It worked pretty well, other than this lap, where I put in just a little too much steering at the fast portion of the turn. 130 mph is a fast speed to get loose at, and you'll see me save it, then lose it, then save it again, and then reach a point where -- even if I could keep it on the track -- it wouldn't stop me from carrying too much speed into the braking zone for 9, which is an even more dangerous place to go off.

I keep the car straight, and take a high-speed off-roading expedition that resulted in a broken splitter piece and a slightly bent skid bar. All in all, I got off pretty easy.

In any case, it was a great day out on the track, with three other fast drivers in some very capable cars.


The car just wants to go fast!

[J P Stein]

Great stuff, Jack. I think I'll stick to autocrossing. Doing a 130 mph tankslapper would prolly stop my heart.

[GrindingGears]

holy poop, that looks like fun!

edit:

what's your daily driver jack?

[Stanley]

Great write up Jack, sounds like you guys had a good time too! I'll have to wait till tomorrow when I am on my T1 connection to see the videos though.

[surflvr911sc]

That's awesome! I want to play too!

I look forward to hearing Tyson's impressions of his engine compared to before. It didn't look like was able to keep it at WOT almost the whole track like before.

BTW Tyson, "new limited slip"? Anything you want to tell me?

[k9handler]

very good stuff, man you guys are so lucky to have the tracks and great weather...although the tracks here are pretty good.

The oops video made me think how lucky we all can be sometimes, as there could have been a very sad ending to that video but instead you made it through and only minor damage.



Thanks for the videos and great write up.

[cstreit]

Good writeup Jack. Glad to see you guys were representing the Marque well.

In your opinion do you think it was mainly the 911's cornering speed or power-to-weight ratio's that really gave you guys the edge?

[italcarguy]

Jack,
Mike's last name is Barring. I have known him for a few years...great guy. It's because of his car and Hans' car that I really want a 911, just waiting for the right one.

I have driven Hans' car on numerous occasions, it's a lot faster than most SC's out there. Of course the motor work helps but that car is so damn light! I keep telling him that soon he will need a tow rig and trailer because the car is headed to being a full blown race car. He swears it's not gonna happen...Is it Hans?

Those are really good lap times considering how hot it was over the weekend.

Great on track footage.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Originally posted by surflvr911sc
That's awesome! I want to play too!

I look forward to hearing Tyson's impressions of his engine compared to before. It didn't look like was able to keep it at WOT almost the whole track like before.

BTW Tyson, "new limited slip"? Anything you want to tell me?

No, I wasn't able to hold it to the floor through 9 or 1. I was flat through 2 though, with the tail threatening to swap ends the whole time, but it felt great. The new motor is a huge improvement, but still runs out of steam at 6000rpm. A sport muffler and MFI will help there.

Oh and about the LSD Ryan. Well you wouldn't want me rebuilding your gearbox without testing it out at the track first, right?

[Jack Olsen]

That's awesome! I want to play too!

As soon as you've got that 3.6 in there, you'll have to come on down, Ryan. With that kind of power comes a responsibility -- to drive like a bat out of hell on a track!

The oops video made me think how lucky we all can be sometimes, as there could have been a very sad ending to that video but instead you made it through and only minor damage.

Yeah, controlling the tail is different at 120 than it is at 70 or 80. My thinking, from the point it first broke loose, was: keep it straight. Going off sideways at that angle, into dirt that's that soft, is a recipe for a spectacular (and ugly) roll.

In your opinion do you think it was mainly the 911's cornering speed or power-to-weight ratio's that really gave you guys the edge?

In this case, it was that the other drivers were modification-proud newbies who didn't have enough seat time to move their high-horsepower cars any faster than they would have been able to drive rental Neons. They were all nice guys, but the old truth remains just as true as ever: seat time makes more difference than any upgrade you can think of.

Mike's last name is Barring. I have known him for a few years...great guy. It's because of his car and Hans' car that I really want a 911, just waiting for the right one.

Thanks! He is an exceptionally nice guy. I've driven with him before at big Willow, and also at Laguna and a couple of other times. He's a very strong driver, and a great guy to hang out with.

The new motor is a huge improvement, but still runs out of steam at 6000rpm. A sport muffler and MFI will help there.

I can attest to this. The only place you can take Tyson now is on a long straight. Otherwise, he's not going to give you an inch. The kid just doesn't make any mistakes.

[lateapex911]

Originally posted by JackOlsen
........., but the old truth remains just as true as ever: seat time makes more difference than any upgrade you can think of......

.

Never a truer word spoken...

[Jack Olsen]

Hans Stoehr used his digital camera to get a digital video clip of my car going through Turn 4.

Here is the 1-meg clip.

(I think I'm going to put it into my signature.)

After the incident where I sailed off of Turn 8, I had to take a hose to the car to try and get some of the desert dust off of it. Hans caught it on camera -- a couple of tabloid 'Black Beauty: Behind the Flat 6 Music' shots :

[surflvr911sc]

That little video gave me very big wood (ok, might be exaggerating a little).

Seriously, I love all the in-car video but that little clip brought a huge smile to my face and I played it about four times before I could get away from it.

I think I’ll have it play every time I log in to my computer.

P.S. After the engine is in I’ll try to do my part and be out there w/ you guys as soon a possible.

[}{arlequin]

Nice catch Jack. Great post, too.

[Jack Olsen]

Got some pictures in the mail from the event, today. Click on a thumbnail for a larger version.



Why couldn't my high school guidance counselor have figured out what I would really enjoy doing for a living?



In this shot, you can see the damaged splitter from my high-speed off from turn eight. Amazingly, the underbelly static condenser suffered no damage, in spite of an impact that burped a section of the floorpan up about 3/4 of an inch.



The flexible 964-brake scoops also handled the impact just fine. (Tough car!)



You'd think, with 600# springs in the back, and modified trailing arm mounting points, that I wouldn't be able to get an inside wheel up. Think again.



Traffic was not bad at all, but there are always moments where you want everyone to check their mirrors and move over.



Why waste an inch of track? Use it all!



Nothing is more fun than going fast.

[Brillo]

In car video is very cool!

[lateapex911]

I really like the "commentary" in the videos! is it supposed to freeze for a split secwhen the copy pops up?? Kinda cool...remember the old Road Runner cartoons? "Gemanus Velocitius"! beep beep!

[Jack Olsen]

Yes, the pauses are for when it might not be clear if the motion continued. It ends up feeling like a 70's movie or, like you say, a Road Runner cartoon.

[Nader]

Willow Springs looks fun, I hope to make it down there some day. BTW, if you guys think you're having fun now with the lapping, strap yourselves into a Spec Miata and dice it out wheel to wheel on the cheap. It's insane fun in a relatively disposable race car, without worrying about crunching your pet Porsche. I'm working on a couple other Porsche guys up here to make the switch as well. For reference, one of the better racers down there managed to sling his 2300 lb, 125 hp Spec Miata (on shaved Toyos) around Willow Springs in 1:37.

[Jack Olsen]

Originally posted by Nader
For reference, one of the better racers down there managed to sling his 2300 lb, 125 hp Spec Miata (on shaved Toyos) around Willow Springs in 1:37.

That's actually a good argument for tracking 911's, not Miatas. Tyson's 911T cost less than a spec Miata, and he ran :37's on a very hot day with comparable horsepower and toasted, leftover tires.