Charity Challenge and PCA Race Weekend

[turbot]

Anybody....?

T

[ccarver]

I was there.

[turbot]

Apr 19, 2010 6:57:28 GMT -6 ccarver said:

I was there.

Uhm yeah, roger that.....I think I saw you there...

T

[redheadinavette]

I want to put a "shout out" to the organizers of the Charity Challenge.

Chris & Lois Wilken, Johnny & Mary Pat Walter, Bob & Rachael Hecker do more than anyone knows to make this event a success.

I can't say enough about Patty, an "ever-ready bunny" that just don't quit.

To all the people that help the event operate, without you we could not do it. Thank you is not enough to say.

To all the entrants and people who attended, thank you.
We hope you had a good time helping a good cause.

It was a great event.

Mike Poupart

[nine44s]

Anybody what?

[turbot]

Apr 19, 2010 9:07:35 GMT -6 nine44s said:

Anybody what?

Leave a wallet with $10,000 and no identification card.....

T

[lane]

Alright, give those of us who could not make it a race report please

[4master]

For those of us who were unable to attend, would anybody be willing to post a short recap of the weekend's event? What was the PCA turnout like? How was the GBRS contingent represented? Was there much of a spectator turnout? I saw that Eon won one of the SP2 races (WTG!) and my dad said that Gary Small had a good race on Sunday but that's about all I got. Any updates would be appreciated by this former racer who wishes he was still racing...

4master
#909

[4master]

Damn. Lane posted his question just .2 second ahead of me. Just like old times...

4master
#909

[harrisracing]

I showed up around 4 pm Saturday for the BBQ and awards...at which time I commenced the drinking of the beer - which didn't end until VERY late that night. Therefore I had a bit of a tough day Sunday with the heat and hangover. That said, then the oil pressure sending fitting cracked in practice and I spewed oil all over the engine bay. I managed to get the broken nipple out (Thanks to Mark Sommers for the easy out) and got it back together JUST in time for GT feature race 2. Started in the back of the pack and had fun charging through traffic, but then the rear tires found their limit and I was done running anywhere near a quick lap. Think I ended up 4th that race. Got replenished and hydrated and got ready for race 3. Same story except the car was running BAD do to the fuel vapor lock (happened last year when it was hot). SO, I was out from stalling etc and bad tires (corded one actually) and couldn't get the car to start again. Let it sit for 10 mins and its fine again...oh well I will get some cooling for the fuel soon.

So I guess I'm overdue for a bad day at the track...and it was still a TON better than a good day at work.

But, it was a great event, I wish I could have been there Saturday and I wish I would have bought more rear tires !

Patrick

[turbot]

Lane and Scott - Well, you know, nobody can tell a story with vivid detail like Gary or Phil and Phil never showed..... ;D

Anyways, I guess the G-Man is gonna chime in eventually but as far as the PCA end went from my perspective, so,

In General -

We had 5 people doing the license application thing, Eon, Ron Gaubert, Marc LaBorde, the infamous David "the kid" Cannon and myself.

Everyone except LaBorde was applying under the "previous race experience" avenue.

Marc ran Ken's 944T in E, me, Eon and DC ran SP2 and Gaubert ran SP1.

I think there were 21 participants in the PCA segments.

Bruce Busby, Robert Hale and Jay Culbertson all from other regions.

Gary Small , Julius Ridgeway and DC crossed over and did both events.

Dennis Paul raced both series but he only showed on Sunday after flagging at the Long Beach race that was held on Saturday.

The track was VERY slow.

Personally,

I was cr@p all weekend.....had some Ra1s that I had raced all year and thought I had one more weekend left.

First warm up practice and qualy, I never got out of the gutter but like my com-padre and partner in crime ;D Phil, I don't usually practice or qualify too well so I wasn't really worried about it.

There was more of a gap between me and Eon to be explained off just by the fact that he had new tires so I knew I had some work to do in Race 1 on Saturday evening.

Me and Eon had talked about it before hand and he knew that if I could hold Gary up for a few laps, he'd have a good chance at the SP2 win for that race and as luck would have it, Gary was saving his good tires for Sunday. I think Gary had to start at the rear for that race but I can't remember why but being as the SP2s are the slowest group anyway, he was either right alongside or right behind me at the start. Up until then, I was pretty close to Bob Hale's 911in practice and qualy.

I managed to hold Gary off for 4-5 laps until he got around me but immediately afterward, while getting around Hale's car, Gary spun at T11 and nearly stayed ahead of me while entering back onto the track but i squeezed by and held him off again until a lap or two from the end when I had to move over at T8 to give Ken Laborde's Cup Car room and Gary sneaked in behind him.

Eon took P1 in that race, Gary second, me third and DC fourth as far as SP2.

Sunday was worse that Saturday for me personally because I corded the only real tires I had during the Race 2 and threw on a set of 888s that we keep for rain tires for the last 30 minute race.
They were such cr@p that i pull off after only a few laps because I was really just in the way and with those Cups coming out of no freakin' where when they blast around, i didn't want to be spinning into one of their paths.... ;D

Gary ended up - 2.0 seconds faster on Sunday with the new Hoosiers and ran away from Eon really but Eon gave Mike Hamza and Henry Carter all they could handle on Sunday as the video he has to post will show later.

Lesson of the weekend for me was - don't bring a knife to gun fight.... ;D

I thought I could drive around any lack of grip and stay with the pack that I should have been competitive with but it wasn't the case.

Old ragged tires to old ragged tires, me and Gary did have a good nose/tail race on Saturday though, but next time, I'll have a sticker set to toss on when the going gets rough.... ;D

T

[turbot]

Apr 19, 2010 12:35:29 GMT -6 harrisracing said:

I showed up around 4 pm Saturday for the BBQ and awards...at which time I commenced the drinking of the beer - which didn't end until VERY late that night. Therefore I had a bit of a tough day Sunday with the heat and hangover. That said, then the oil pressure sending fitting cracked in practice and I spewed oil all over the engine bay. I managed to get the broken nipple out (Thanks to Mark Sommers for the easy out) and got it back together JUST in time for GT feature race 2. Started in the back of the pack and had fun charging through traffic, but then the rear tires found their limit and I was done running anywhere near a quick lap. Think I ended up 4th that race. Got replenished and hydrated and got ready for race 3. Same story except the car was running BAD do to the fuel vapor lock (happened last year when it was hot). SO, I was out from stalling etc and bad tires (corded one actually) and couldn't get the car to start again. Let it sit for 10 mins and its fine again...oh well I will get some cooling for the fuel soon.

So I guess I'm overdue for a bad day at the track...and it was still a TON better than a good day at work.

But, it was a great event, I wish I could have been there Saturday and I wish I would have bought more rear tires !

Patrick

I hear ya Patrick, I chalked it up to that too.....just due a bad day.

In the immortal words of Chris Wilken though, i still was having fun.... ;D

The short time i stayed out in Race 3 with the "driving on wet glass" 888s was a blast just sliding around through the peanut section but really.....I just wanna go fast.... ;D and I can't stand being a chicane for too long.

Now, on your end.....the Hoosiers, a brand new set and you corded them in 2 races....?

Hmm, rules them off my list.

Were those the As or Rs....?

T

[fast55]

As far as the racing:
Saturday was great, personal best in qualy (1:20.9), 2nd overall and 1st place GT3 in race #1.
Sunday was, well, a box of neutrals, corded tires, spins, 2-wheeling, overheating, and a hangover (sounds familiar?). But I did get to dice it up with Wedge, Jeff (bug-tooth's bully), and the remains of Patrick, although he beat me again by getting towed in first...damn pdc's

everything else was great... family, friends, fun, food

[nine44s]

Well here are a few pics to hold off the people that didn't make it www.flickr.com/photos/nine44s/sets/72157623892168904/

As usual a video is in the works, I'm just waiting to upload it right now.

The track seemed a little slick to me in a few places but overall its hard to ask for a better weekend than I had. I was able to come away from my first PCA race with a 1st, and two 2nds... yes out of a huge field of 4 cars but still I don't think it was too bad. The first race Gary left his old tires on so I was able to pull out a big enough gap, while he was being held up , to come away with P1. Race 2 and 3 on Sunday was an entirely different story; however, with Gary on his Newer tires I didn't have anything for him after about 6-7 laps. I could hang with him at the beginning and knew my only chance was to try and get around him while he was being held up by the high HP S2s of Mike Hamza, and Henry Carter who were busy having their own hard fought battle. Once Gary got around the S2s he pretty much checked out on us and I just couldn't get around Mike and Henry... Once I would catch up they would just pull the gap back on the straights.

I had fun racing with the PCA crew this weekend especially, Gary, Mike, Henry, we had some close fun racing going on there at times.

[nine44s]

Video is up www.vimeo.com/11061824