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924RACR

An awesome weekend, perfect weather. Here's a quick run-down.

Chris was doing well on Saturday, when we ran the Club Course, but got taken out by a rookie lacking skills mid-race. We've had problems with that joker before, so no great surprise, but very disappointing. He got jammed into a tire wall (after Madness, for those who know the track) with a stuck throttle. Car has some frame damage, and he'll be visiting Ideola's Garage for some replacement parts for sure!

I was stuck with some very very old, hard tires on Saturday morning, and had trouble making a decent pace in the #77. I grabbed a pair of Chris's used tires for the afternoon race, and was able to move up to 3rd after qualifying 4th - finally was able to get the car to start to work with some decent rubber up front.

On Sunday, we switched to the Pro Course (without the bus-stop before the keyhole). Chris was gracious enough to offer up his good, fresh set of tires, since his car couldn't be repaired in time (mainly due to crushed radiator). These were exactly what I needed to achieve my #2 goal for being there: setting the lap record on the Pro Course (as I already have held the Club Course record since '08 - not broken on Saturday). #1 goal was simply finishing both races without any damage.

The morning qualifying race went OK, but I only maintained my position in 3rd. However, I was getting more comfortable with the car on fresh rubber again - a lot of time to make up vs. the old hard tires!

The afternoon race was great; all top 3 ITB cars in a row, on the inside for the start. I had, once again, a lousy start, and fell back with a few cars from other classes getting up in the mix. However I knuckled down, worked hard, and was able mid-race to pass both the last interfering car and the 2nd place ITB car down the back straight into China Beach.

That left me with an approx. 3 second gap to the leader to make up. Note that the leader, Kevin Ruck, won his first SCCA National Championship only 2 weeks ago in a different car (F Prod Integra) - no slouch, seasoned driver, and on his game.

So I closed on him steadily.

Then I set a new lap record. First with a 1:45.9 (old record was 1:46.0), then more conclusively with a 1:45.7!

Then I closed up on Ruck entering the Keyhole, on the last lap. Got exactly the run I needed out of the Keyhole down the back straight, where the 924's shine... went for 4th and missed it!!!

Tried for 4th again, and succeeded - and motored on by, to Kevin's disappointment! He took the inside line to China Beach, at the end of the back straight, and I went in deep on the outside. We ran through hard, side-by-side, with Kevin shocked by the ability of the heavy Porsche to out-brake a light little Civic, but as my positioning was poor, I tucked back in behind Ruck and started working him over.

I got another excellent run back up to him through the Esses, another spot where the 924 shines, and lined him up to pass through Thunder Valley. Got up beside him again, but backed out as I was lacking enough confidence in both of us to handle 14 (an off-camber fast corner, maybe 80mph) safely. Besides, having taken the lap record, and being in contention for the win with a clean car was enough for me, I was OK to lose to him.

I braked early, downshifted early, and tried for a cross-over move, but the downshift cost me too much time, and I fell back a bit more. The margin at the line was only 1/2 a second, with Ruck looking in his mirrors across the stripe.

An awesome weekend, and thanks to all the crew and supporters who made it possible - especially Dan Beckett for loaning me his trailer after I found structural cracks/failure in mine!!
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Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

John Brown · Joined: 07 Nov 2002 Posts: 903 Location: Leesburg VA

Congratulations Vaughn.

John

PS: China Beach?
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John
80 931 - #931 44Cup
99 Escalade - tows track cars
gone but not forgotten: original 924.org car - 82

morghen · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 9095 Location: Romania

great writeup ! thanks for sharing !
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https://www.the924.com

924RACR · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 9:32 pm Post subject:

Cheers!

Some pics can be found on Facebook - search for and become a fan of PUB Racing, they're posted there.

China Beach - actually refers to the sandtrap at the end of the back straight, so called due to its immense size (which hasn't stopped numerous pro and amateur drivers clearing it entirely). I use that term to refer to the turn at the end of the back straight, 'cause I don't go there often enough to remember the turn numbers.

Of course before China Beach is the Keyhole, sometimes but not always preceded by the Bus Stop... and right after China Beach is Madness, then the Esses, then Thunder Valley and the Carousel.

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

924RACR · Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:21 pm Post subject:

Here's some in-car from one of the two Civic hatches I was playing with...

http://www.danhardison.com/Mid_O-Oct_2010/10-10-10_qual_ITB.wmv

http://www.danhardison.com/Mid_O-Oct_2010/10-10-10_race_ITB.wmv
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

fiat22turbo · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 4040 Location: Portland, OR

Very cool. Thanks for always sharing your racing experiences so we can live vicariously through your team

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Stefan
1979 924 Carrera GTS (clone-ish)
1988 944 Turbo S (Silver Rose)

Fifty50Plus · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 12:49 am Post subject:

First Vid, I kept thinking ---shut the door on that SOB mini wrecker. You got it on the second one.
Chuck
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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: Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:28 pm Post subject:

Actually - the Mini brought that on himself... failure to leave racing room... and apparently does that every weekend he's out, doesn't know what rearview mirrors are for. He also totally F'ed the start, and me with it; the IT guys down there confirmed that he's a real hazard out on track.

Real stupid way to drive, in such a car...

Believe it or not, despite the spectacular stuff into the tires, the Mini was extracted during the race and finished!!

Thankfully, after that he started in the back and didn't create any more problems for those of us who actually know how to race...

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

Grenadiers · Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 10:40 pm Post subject:

Wow, nice track, great vids! First time to watch any track vids, got rid of 'ancient' 2005 laptop, now have mega-gig RAM!
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'83 944 Track car.
'88 924S Track car.
'89 944 Turbo
2004 Winnebago Vectra monster RV
2012 Jeep Wrangler
2014 Kia Soul
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