The 2003 Recap
With the world whirring around in circles and starting a new job in
Feb 2003 after a short layoff, racing wasnt exactly the highest
priority (yes, I know that I need to get my priorities in order
racing FIRST, everything else second). While I ran every race, the
race reports ended up on the back burner due to other issues.
However, after some cajoling from some folks in the VW community (you
know who you are!!) Ive decided to begin spinning my tales of racing
yet again.
The 2003 race season was relatively uneventful except for a fateful
incident in July at Summit Point. Until MARRS 5, the finishes
werent spectacular 9th, 10th, 11th were the norm and my final
standing, also unspectacular, was 11th. The big changes to the car,
courtesy of Piper Motorsports in Manassas, VA were the complete
removal of the sunroof mechanism and the addition of a front upper
stress bar the Neuspeed upper stress bar that Id used before was
removed when I installed camber plates. Id actually written about
the incident but never published it for public consumption here
is for your amusement.
Thu, Jul 24
After nearly a one month hiatus, we were back to Summit Point for yet
another MARRS race. With the new job, I no longer arrive at the
track at 4 pm and wait for the great land grab for paddock space so I
was rather surprised to find myself at the end of a rather long queue
for paddock space when I arrived around 7 pm. Fortunately the wait
didn't last too long and we collectively snaked our way into the
track so as to secure a paddock spot.
Fri, Jul 25
Since the weather was nice and I was tired, I decided to camp for the
2nd time in my racing history. When I arrived, I found Jim had
joined our fray with his ITB Golf - yes, VWs tend to herd together
b/c they break down so frequently that we can steal parts from each
other. After pitching my tent, I proceeded to make my rounds and
visit folks that I normally don't see when I head off to a hotel.
Sat, Jul 26
First Qualifying Session
After warming the tires, the car started to understeer a bit more
than usual. At first I attributed this to the new stress bar but
thought that even this was extreme behavior considering that I'd just
added a small front stress bar. After the session, I discussed the
track conditions with my fellow competitors and we all agreed that
the track was slippery so I attributed my understeer to that.
Since the car wasn't staying on the track, I found myself well down
on the grid for the 2nd Qualifying session but I figured that I could
redeem myself in the afternoon.
Second Qualifying Session
After warming the tires, the car simply wouldn't turn - understeer
would have been an understatement - I found myself turning
significantly more than I did before the bar. Hhmm - could a simple
stress bar make that much difference? During one lap, entering turn
1, I tried to cut inside a slower car but found the front wheels
locked up immediately and I rocketed across the track and thru the
gravel trap. Hhmm - maybe it's a tire problem? Nah, it MUST be that
stress bar.
During the remaining laps, the car felt progressively worse - brakes
locking frequently and the car had a violent shudder at any speeds
over 90 mph. Between the brake issues, the understeer issue and the
speed issues, I ended up WAY BACK on the grid in 22nd.
Back in the paddock, I pulled the front tires to bleed the brakes and
found my culprit. The RF tire was completely corded over 1/3 of the
entire surface including a nice little bubble that was an inch tall
and about 8 inches long - as Richard put it, the tire was about 1 lap
away from failing - doh!! Maybe that's why the car didn't feel
good...after a quick tire change, I was ready for the race on Sunday.
Sun, Jul 25
Now that I was on fresh tires, I felt more confident in the car as we
pulled out for the pace lap. Even at slower speeds the car felt
better - whew, I didn't have to completely re-learn the car.
Entering turn 1 for the first time, Owen went off to drivers' left
and stayed off until turn 2 which gave off a fair amount of dust that
helped to obscure our vision. I found myself in a pack of cars that
were fairly equally matched and we blasted our way into the chute.
Exiting the chute, Kurt's 2002tii broke and I had to take quick
action to avoid becoming one with the rear of his car - good thing no
one was to my right. Exiting turn 2 for the 2nd time, I found myself
the centre of a 3-car sandwich - 3 wide on a racetrack is always
exciting and even more so when you're the middleman!! I opted for
the safer route and backed off to let Bill and David go ahead.
As we entered turn 4 going into the chute, Bryon turned in and John's
LF fender tapped the RR of Bryons CRX. I noted this and slowed
slightly as David did the same thing in his MR2 which was in front of
me. Figuring that Byron was off on drivers' right and would stay
there, I moved to David's left as he braked - then it happened...I
had a beautiful view of the entire side of Bryon's gorgeous CRX as he
backed across the track then I stuffed the LF of my car into his
passenger door since I had no where to go - whoops. The impact was
at about 70 mph but surprisingly the General Li took it with aplomb -
instead of stopping, I downshifted and continued, all the while
trying to assess any damages and trying to regain some lost
positions.
Back on track, I found myself back a few positions specifically I was
now behind a painfully slow SSC Neon. Rather than wait behind the
rolling red roadblock, I forced my way past in turn 6B my feeling
was that she couldnt do any more damage to the LF of my car and I
certainly didnt want to wait for her to practically pedal the Neon
into turn 9. Exiting turn 9, I realized that I didnt smell anything
unusual (coolant, oil, burning rubber) nor did I see anything unusual
like smoke so I decided to continue racing since the SCCA workers are
more than competent enough to alert a driver is their equipment is
unsafe.
After a few laps, I encountered an odd problem in turn 9 mid-apex,
the engine practically cut off and then regained power as I
straightened out. Hhmm couldnt be that the car was almost OUT OF
FUEL!! DOH!! I must have forgotten to add fuel beforehand!! Rather
than quit the race early, I decided to tough it out and finish so I
prepared myself to have no power mid-turn and just puttered around
the track to the finish.
After the race, I had an opportunity to asses the damage to both my
car and to Bryons CRX. The CRX took the brunt of the impact caving
in the passenger door over the rocker panel by at least an inch and
twisting the A-pillar inwards and downwards (shattering the
windshield at the same time). When I spoke with Bryon later, the
impact actually tore his cage from the floor which is more than a bit
scary. The damage to my car wasn't as devastating but it was just as
bad - hood, LF fender, bumper, headlight and the core support were
write-offs but the car still ran and the frame rails looked more or
less straight.
Later the following week, I pulled the damaged parts from the car and
had the car ready for reassembly in about 2 hours!! While the left
frame rail was tweaked slightly, the damage wasn't severe enough to
warrant a frame pull so I commenced the reassembly process - having a
mini-junkyard in my parents' backyard does come in handy from time to
time. Steve, a buddy that sells parts at Olympic Imported Parts in
Gaithersburg MD offered to help out and I arrived at his house the
following Saturday to paint the replacement hood and fender. The
only problem was that Steve didn't quite use enough drying agent to
the fresh orange paint didn't exactly dry. Fortunately Steve did
have a spare hood from his old street car which I promptly stole for
the General Li.
The good news is that I brought the General Li back for the next
MARRS race, 2 weeks after the "incident". Bryon didn't reappear for
2 months since his car required significantly more work to repair.
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