The 2004 season was relatively uneventful from a racing perspective
the car held together without much drama although its definitely
getting slower with age since the motor has been together and
untouched for 4 seasons!! The only big change for the 2004 season
was a set of fresh Bilstein race shocks that replaced the 6 yr old
Koni single-adjustables that were just a bit soft (think negative
pressure
). This single change made a HUGE difference in the car
with approximately a 2 second per lap decrease in times by the end
of 2004, I was FINALLY under 1:32 at Summit Point of course the
fast cars were in the 1:28s but thats another sad story of woe.
The home front was very different however after years of living in
rented domiciles, I finally broke down and purchased a house. Not
just any house but a mundane-looking 3 BR, 2 BA home with a 2 car
garage AND a 3 car shop and enough room to store the 27 enclosed
trailer, the F350 and sundry other precious stuff that others tend to
call junk. The big trick during the off-season was trying to figure
out what stuff I had, what stuff needed to move and what stuff could
wait until I had willing victims to help me move it in one
fell-swoop.
Prep for the 2005 season consisted of a timing belt change (performed
in my own home-shop for once) and on oil change. I had been working
on a fresh engine for 2005 but it still hasnt come to fruition.
With the new house, that wasnt as much of a priority as it once had
been in the past.
Thu, 21 April 2005
As usual, I left work early to make the trek to Summit Point to wait
for the Land Rush to claim my paddock space. The DC Region of SCCA
was busy testing a new Paddock Parking plan that reserved spaces for
specific classes since I dont paddock with just ITA drivers, I
opted against participation and took my chances. Upon arrival, I was
pleasantly surprised to find that no one had taken over my favorite
spot in the woods so I began to set up as usual. As I finished, Jim
showed up with his ITB GTi 8v so I stayed around and we setup his
canopy as well.
Fri, 22 April 2005
Arriving after work in a light but steady rain, I registered for the
event and proudly had the tech inspector sign-off on the last page of
my log book yup, 33 races for the General Li which is a bit of an
accomplishment especially since Im the one that built the motor.
Once I reached my paddock space, I found Larrys car parked under my
canopy, AJs car was covered and waiting for the next days
festivities. All that was left was for Sean and Mo to arrive which
they did in fairly short order. Mo and I setup their canopy while
Sean conveniently went off to run the electrical cord thru the woods
Mo and I contended that this was to avoid setting up the canopy ;)
No sooner had we finished setting up the canopy and the rain started
in earnest. After unloading their stuff under the canopy and moving
Seans car, I made tracks for Timing and Scoring to help setup iCard.
iCard is a real-time timing transmission system that provides data
via a device that fits into a GameBoy fortunately or unfortunately,
I am the administrator of this lovely system that has about as many
holes in its operating system as Swiss Cheese!! The good news was
that for this venue, iCard was fully operational thanks to SCCAs T&S
folks, namely Richie and Carl.
Sat, 23 Apr 2005
One of the beauties of living 10 miles from the race track is that
having to be at the track early is less of an issue. Even better is
being able to sleep in my own bed at night complete with a nice hot
shower that well, feels like home. Arriving at the track, the skies
were cloudy but the track was dry. Following the usual pre-checks
(gasoline, air pressure, wheel torque, oil and water levels), the car
was ready for the first qualifying session.
On track after six months, it didnt take too long to shake out the
cobwebs. The car felt good even with tires that were fresh 7 months
earlier. I found myself back in my old (bad) habits however such as
slowing too much for turns 3 and 4 which was on my agenda to correct
during the session. Unfortunately the session was cut short by a
red-flag which means STOP NOW SOMETHING BAD HAS HAPPENED. After
sitting on-track for a few minutes, we were released back to the pits
under a Black-Flag-All unfortunately as I rounded turn 5, I saw the
remnants of Jims ITB GTi after a series of rather violent rollovers.
Jim was fortunately standing at the corner station and was cognizant
enough to give a wave OK as I passed.
After a fairly lengthy delay to collect Jims car, we were back on
track for about 5 minutes which was enough to work on carrying more
speed thru 3 and 4. However on the second pass thru the Carousel,
Dave Toys 2002 rolled and caused yet another yellow-flag for the
session. Since the session was almost over, I decided to save the
aggravation and pulled into the pits and parked the car no use
driving around only to slow to a crawl in turn 6 when the session is
done anyways.
The day became quite pleasant bright, sunny and almost warm. Larry
had broken a CV joint during the session and worked to get it
repaired for the afternoon session. As we prepared for the second
qualifying session, it was warm enough to wear a t-shirt which
hopefully meant that the track would be warm enough to make the tires
stick better. Ever prepared, AJ changed into his drivers suit in
advance of the prior group heading onto the track. He urged Sean,
Larry and I to get ready but were all procrastinators. As I started
heading for my trailer, I glanced skyward and noticed that the skies
were getting rather ominous hhmm, maybe this session WONT be good
Knowing that he had no qualifying times, Larry prepared to go out
anyways but the rest of us stared skywards and waited anxiously.
With about 5 minutes before our session started, we raindrops began
pelting the canopy and we decided that there wasnt much reason to
drive in the rain since wed all had plenty of practice during the
2004 season.
For the final grid, I found myself smack in the middle of the leading
ITB cars which wasnt the most reassuring feeling knowing that the
leading ITB cars had a habit of crashing each other with alarming
regularity. Oh well, just have to be faster
Sun, 24 Apr 2005
Knowing that our race group wouldnt start before lunch, I made a
leisurely trip to the track and even watched a few races before
heading to the paddock. The weather had changed significantly and
while the skies were sunny, the temperature was rather cool and a
brisk breeze blew across the paddock. Following the usual pre-race
checks, the General Li was ready for battle.
The start of the race was rather poor the ITB cars gained a huge
advantage on me by turn 1. The ITB cars that I was surrounded by
didnt create the hole I was looking for and I found myself stuck
on the outside of turn 1 which left me wanting for a faster car.
Since Im in ITA and didnt want to get in the midst of their race, I
let them go and decided to hang out behind them until I could either
get past them cleanly. Playing follow-the-leader until turn 10, I
found myself behind another ITB GTi and tried desperately to draft
b/c its one of the few cars that I can use due to the size of the
VW. However my additional valves came into play rather quickly and I
found myself all over Gus the Golf and I moved other at start/finish
to leave him behind.
On the third lap with the 3rd and 4th place ITB cars hot on my tail,
Bill slid past me on the inside of turn 1 and Matti followed suit.
As we entered turn 3 with the order Matti, Bill and I, Bill tapped
Matti, sending him spinning. After a few tense moments waiting for
Matti to choose a direction, I passed the melee on drivers left and
continued without slowing too much. This put Bill, the 2nd place ITB
driver in 2004 behind me which was a good thing since I find myself
faster in traffic than alone alone, theres no one to push me
further. For the remainder of the race, Bill hung out behind me and
I knew that at the slightest mistake, Bill would rocket past.
By the checkered flag, Bill was still behind me and I found that I
finished a disappointing 11th in class but with surprisingly good
results my lap times were the fastest Id ever turned 1:31.6.
Not too shabby for a motor that was starting its 5th season and its
33rd SCCA race. Fortunately there wasnt any body damage to repair
and except for organizing the trailer, I was ready for VIR in May
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