race+report...

Wet Win, Dry Win, any Wins a Win Win.

Turner leads TVR Dad and Saabina spectate, different focuses FFords Dad leads in the Formula S

Vapaa Vintage Racing was down to just two cars and drivers this year.

Dad brought his 1964 Quantum Formula S and I brought his 1968 SAAB Sonett.

To begin, the evil handling that I experienced at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix back in July was still there. That caused Dad to spin on the wet straight when he stood on it for the first time at the start. In post-spin inspection, we found that the tie-rod that locks out the rear-steer was loose. This caused the toe to change depending on what the driver was doing. No wonder I had so much trouble driving it at Pittsburgh!

We fixed that and then it went much better. Sunday morning we had difficulty getting the car started and Dad was late to the grid. He hit the track with the group already entering the main straight. He made a run from almost a lap down... All the way into the lead! He finished second to an AH Sprite after the Sprite driver picked up the pace and powerd by on the straight.

Sprite leads Formula SWhen he started the Sunday afternoon race it coughed and was only running on two-cylinders. Finally it fell out due to fantastically fouled plugs... All three. Looking at them it was a wonder it ran at all. So we parked it for the remainder.

The Sonett ran perfectly all weekend.

Apart from a persistent oil leak that I cannot locate and a soft initial brake pedal, I really have nothing to complain about.

Saturday morning's race was in the slippy-slidey-wet, with Summit Point being the bizzarely slimy track that it is. A lot of folks were really stuggling. I admit, it was quite exciting even though I am mostly comfortable running in the rain.

I couldn't get to the grid on time and so had to start the race in 13th place (out of 14 cars). I had a big 'ol Pontiac GTO in front of me that was all over the road so I gave him room for a lap to get it settled down... Then decided to run away when he went 90 degrees to the roadway right in front of me. After that, I just started picking off cars. It was a 25 minute session and it was amazingly tricky conditions. It was raining steady to begin, then harder, then tapered off and the track might have even started drying towards the end. I located a few decent rain lines and used them as best I could. I did have one high speed butt-pucker around Big Bend when I got WAY out of shape... I'd wager 45 degrees to the roadway at about 75mph. But I gathered it up with a healthy dose of opposite lock mixed with mashed throttle and kept on trucking. Sometimes, fairly often actually, I would catch up to someone and they'd look in their mirrors and spin off the road. In the end, I passed everyone. This included a new "first" for me when I passed Tivvy (who did not spin off the road) and grabbed the lead with about 2 laps to go. Win, yay!

Pace lapside by side in the corkscrew V4 power!I was dissapointed when Saturday afternoon was completely dry. I was worried my advantage had been washed away, or dried up, depending on what metaphor you are following. On the start I got by one car on the first turn (GTO again) and two more before the second ('69 Corvette and '72 Datsun 510). But exiting that turn the freewheel popped out and left me coasting. It came back shortly thereafter, just in time for the Corvette to careen across the track in front of me with a broken rear suspension. At that point, I had only Tivvy to catch (and find a way by). A lap and a half later I snuck underneath him and pushed him wide in the corkscrew. That got me alongside entering the last turn, sorta ruining his entry onto front straight. He still pulled about 4 car lengths under power but I was still close enough to outbrake him for T1. I was able to pull out about a 15 second lead where I could easily gauge my distance to the second place car. I relaxed a little and concentrated on being smooth. Win, TWO!

On Sunday, they combined ALL the groups into one big group and again, I couldn't get to the grid on-time. Sheesh, I need a pit-crew! If you are energetic, competent, and like doing all kinds of stuff for others and working for food... I'm accepting applications. I had to start the Formula S for my Dad (it is a two person procedure) and then hop in the Sonett to get buckled in by myself. The cars were already out on the pace lap when I left the pits... Flying, I caught the tail of the group in the corkscrew. I passed a bunch of cars and only got passed by one of the Formula Fords.

Dad in the Sonett and Christian in the Lotus 18In the afternoon I gave the Sonett to Dad since the Formula S was kaput for the day. It was another "all-comers" race, but there weren't many people with car or energy left, so the group was down to 7 cars. A Triumph TR4 and the Porsche 911S ran away off the front and Dad was left to tour around by himself. Eventually, a Lotus 18, who was behind the Sonett, backed off until Dad came around again and they raced each other for the last 5 or 6 laps and had a good ol' time.

Unfortunately, I have no video from my wet running. I am kicking myself for that because it would have been very entertaining. My only excuse is that as you can imagine from my tardiness on the grid... I was too busy to put the camera in the car. I do have video from the dry races though, so I'll get that posted eventually.

It was a VERY fun weekend! I LOVE that track.

-STEFAN

VRG competition #97
VSCCA competition #374

Back to the top

- - - menu

If you like the pictures on my website, you are welcome to copy them for your personal use. I don't want to see my work used to make anyone (besides me, of course) any money, but I would very much like to see my visitors enjoy something I've done.

If you do enjoy my work and you think it is deserving, I would really appreciate it if you would make a donation to help offset the costs of maintaining this website and the photography equipment. Donate whatever you think the picture and my effort is worth. $5, $10, $15, whatever. Maybe you want to donate just because you enjoyed my efforts or think I'm doing a good thing? That's great too, every little bit helps.