924Board.org

924RACR

4M Industries PUB Racing dominated again at Waterford at Race 2 this weekend!

Merritt had a good run in the Class races on Saturday and Sunday, with some close and exciting action fighting with two other women drivers, those driving ITS Spec Miatas, with no-one finding an advantage. Chris meanwhile held off first-lap challenges from the fastest Mustang of Dave Cordier, pulling a clear lead and cruising to an easy victory both times.

Then it RAINED!

Merritt's Rain Dance paid off.

With some excellent forecasting by our crew, we were able to find a clear spot in the weather to swap both cars over to the rain tire of choice - the Hoosier Dirt Stocker - without getting soaked. Chris was now going to get the benefit of his recent purchase of an NOS set of these tires, as they're now out of production.

Sure enough, the second strong cell of rain came in as we were rolling both cars up to the grid, and some had either not anticipated the second bout of rain, or just had no rain tires, as the grid was a bit of a mix.

But PUB Racing was ready, charged hard right from the green, and never let up!

Chris was again able to pull clear of Dave Cordier at the start, despite Dave also being on the same rain tires, and then started working his way up through the ITS field. For the whole second half of the race, he spent his time trying to pass the 2nd place ITS 944 of Christian Cook, but wasn't quite able to complete a pass, remaining 3rd overall at the checker, 1st in ITB.

But the real excitement was Merritt, the Rain Mistress!

Merritt started 16th on the grid, mid-pack in ITB, behind a whole mix of ITS and ITB cars, likewise on a mix on rain and dry tires. She got an excellent start, picked up two spots by the exit of turn 2, and kept on charging. Within a few laps, she was able to motor by the 4th place ITB Mustang of Tom Forst to pick up third place, and then pick off a few of the slower ITS cars as well. But that wasn't enough for her; she kept the hammer down, and within a couple more laps was filling the mirrors of the 2nd place Mustang of Dave Cordier!

Despite equal tires, and all of Dave's experience (including multiple past championship wins!), he was unable to shake her, and she rode his bumper with a determination we've never seen before!

But the same weather that gave, taketh away; despite putting together some excellent runs on Dave down the back straight, a large puddle of water at the apex of Turn 6 (at the end of the back straight) meant that the passing lane there was effectively closed! Every time she tried to gain a nose on him there, and complete the pass, she'd dissappear in a wall of water and lose 10mph.

She kept trying doggedly, looking for an advantage anywhere else, but just wasn't able to pull anything off; with all of a lap to go, she even wobbled in Turn 1, trying to chase Dave... but she collected herself, didn't even lose a spot, and was back on his tail within a few turns. That's how much faster she was going!

Dave's experience and racecraft prevailed, though, and he finished the race in second, with Merritt still glued to his bumper looking for daylight and room to pass!

That gave Merritt her very first podium finish, and a 1-3 finish for PUB Racing!

Additionally, Merritt was awarded the Southern Motors Hard-Charger Award for her relentless charge through the pack in very poor conditions, achieving excellent results! BIG trophy!

Congrats to both Chris and Merritt for an excellent weekend - we're all proud of you!
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

ideola · Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 15550 Location: Spring Lake MI

WOOOOOHOOOOOO! Awesome, congrats Merritt!!!!

Nice writeup, Vaughan, and congrats to Chris as well

_________________
erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

Fifty50Plus · Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 2:07 am Post subject:

Outstanding result for Merritt!!!! Once you get the handle on rain driving you become a holy terror in the dry. Chris will be in trouble and Vaughan...maybe it's a good thing you've changed classes.

Chuck
_________________
1979 924 NA race car H-Prod SCCA
1982 924 NA race car - Sold
1981 924 Turbo sold
1982 924 Turbo sold
1972 911 E race car - traded for Cayenne Diesel
1975 914 1.8 Building for H-Prod SCCA

924RACR · Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 9:51 pm Post subject:

Some excellent shots from the rain race (among others) here:
http://lclutchl.smugmug.com/Motorsports/2010WHRWSeason/WHRW-2010-Race-2/12446839_K9okU#895931590_Q44WP
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

ideola · Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 15550 Location: Spring Lake MI

Illustrates your commentary above:

_________________
erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

Cedric · Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 2816 Location: Sweden

Holy cr**, thats some badly designed drainment, impressive to survive that race

_________________
1980 924 Turbo
www.instagram.com/garagecedric/

924RACR · Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:32 pm Post subject:

Late addition, some more great pics here of both our intrepid drivers doing battle...
http://picasaweb.google.com/whrri.surratta/WHRRI2010Race2#

I'm particularly partial to this sequence...

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype