Buttonwillow Raceway, Track Configuration #14
May 17, 2002
"The Counter Clockwise Kings of Buttonwillow"

7 Tracks in 7 Days to determine who really is the fastest driver/car combo

I wake up at 5:15 a.m.  Take a shower.  Wake the crew up.  We leave hotel at 6:00 a.m.  We get to Buttonwillow, and Larry and Reuben start to work on the car.  Larry throws on new injectors, new plugs, new alternator, etc. and since the other race exhaust with straight pipes is so loud that we cannot think, we put the Comptech Borla exhaust on the car.  Our ears are thankful, along with the ears of our competitors.  They claim they can't hear their engine when I am within 200 feet of them on the track.    We check the scoreboard, and we are 5th overall, way back from Mumford/Provost and the 914-6.  Not too bad for sucking at Thunderhill, thanks to us kicking ass at the previous tracks.

Three fast red cars ready to duke it out

Of course the exhaust doesn't fit with the diffuser, so now we are thrashing on the diffuser, loosening it up to get the other muffler in.  We have to cut the pipes on the new Comptech exhaust, as they point straight down on the diffuser, which would make it catch fire.  So we pull out the Sawzall, and cut the tips.  Comptech is gonna kick my ass, because I think they wanted this muffler back, and it is the only one they have with these tips.  Oh well......they are full on racers, I think they will understand.

 
The crew thrashing around

After much thrashing around, Erik and I decide that he will drive session 1, I do session 2, he does session 3, and I do session 4, providing we can get the car working.  Erik is concerned that with the added weight of Florin's glass hatch, along with the Comptech muffler, we are adding another 60+ lbs to the rear of the car, which will throw off the suspension he so painstakingly tuned over the past three days.  I start to understand why mufflers have to be as light as possible, because you have this slug of metal at the back of the car, which acts like a pendulum.  The more the exhaust weighs, the more of a pendulum effect you have in back when making turns, and you have to adjust the suspension accordingly.  Duh....took me 10 years to understand that.  

Ryan/JWL crushed everyone at Buttonwillow.  Then their motor blew up.

We are running counter clockwise this time, (Opposite of two days ago), with no Bus Stop, so it is more of a horsepower track.

We don't have enough time to put on Florin's rear window hatch, as it now time for our first run group to go out, and our group only gets four 20 minutes runs each day.  We send Erik out, and he runs some 1:59's or so.  He comes in, and says we gotta get the hatch window back on, as he can feel the "dirty air" making the car real darty, and we have to get more downforce in back.  In our haste to get the car out, we uh...forget to retighten the rear diffuser, so that almost fell off on the track, and the track marshals are yelling at us to make sure that we tighten the "rear bumper" which is just about dragging on the track.  Almost had to add that to the list of shit that we left on the track.   But the good news is that the motor is running on all six cylinders again, so now we can try to get back in the game.  Sure would be nice if we could have dynoed the motor, to make sure everything was working okay.

Erik uh......goes off the track in my car
(action sequence filmed by Head On Photos)
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My car sorta......disappears...
Photo by Head On Photos
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Dude, where's my car????
Photo by Head On Photos
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Notice the helmet of the driver is not white.  Mine is white.  Erik's is not white...
Photo by Head On Photos
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Rear window is now on, diffuser tightened up.  Erik and I conference, and we decide to have him go out in session 2, and see where we stand suspension wise after putting the hatch and diffuser back on.  Trying to be professional for the first time in 6 events, we hook up radios so we can communicate from the pit back to the driver.  He goes out and run a 1:56, but we shred a supercharger belt, which takes out the fuel pressure gauge.  Either that or the fuel pressure gauge got in the way of the supercharger belt, and shredded it.  He comes back in, and says suspension feels better now that we have diffuser on properly, hatch on, etc.  I take the car out in run group 3, and I run 1:57's, catching and passing Rupert's Z06 on the track.  And I always suck my first session on the track, so I know I can run at least 1:53's with more time on the track.  And Erik is faster than me. 

Wonder why Erik's face is so dirty.....

Strategy time.  Top Time of the day so far is to Ryan/Lindsey in the Mustang, with 1:52's, but they blew up their motor right after the first run group.  Damn, that sucks for them, as they were making a strong push for OTC King with their results from the last four tracks.   Continuing our friendly rivalry, Mumford/Provost have a string of 1:53's.  The 914-6 Porsche, Ondrack/Salter, that is currently winning Overall is running 1:55/1:56, and they are packing it in for the day, probably figuring we can't beat them, as we didn't improve much over the last three sessions from the start of the day.  But we have big surprise......

Blue smoke bad.  Ryan and JWL detonating
(photo by Head-On  Photos)

We throw new tires on the car, and have Erik go out in Session 4.  If I went out in session 4, I probably couldn't beat Mumford in just my 2nd session on the track.  But we figure Erik can clean house on everyone since we got power again, and suspension is getting re-dialed in.   Erik pulls out a file, and starts filing away at the bolt holes on the rear wing, in an effort to get us more downforce to stabilize the rear. 

 
Brown is back - with friends

We send him out on the track, and he blasts a 1:52 on his first flying lap, and a 1:53 on the next one.  He gets four wheels off on the next lap, so that lap is ruined.  He says that engine light came on, and when that happened in my session, he said just turn off the car while going down the straight and fire it up again.   I tell him to do the same, and radio to him that if he can do another flyer lap, the "Pulp Racing/1-800-Phoneguys" car powered by a five year old Comptech Supercharger can be the fastest team at the track for today.  He winds up his flyer lap, but going down the back straight by Magic Mountain, a big cloud of blue smoke comes out.  Ooops....we blew the motor.   Damn....I shoulda told him to bring the car in after the engine light came on........we figure we are third fastest team of the day, and the car was back to being a winning car if we didn't blow the motor up.   Many thanks to Comptech for hooking us up with the parts to make the car kick ass again.  Too bad we really didn't get a chance to dial in the motor, we just threw pieces into to make sure it was running again.  Damn.

Bluish white smoke very bad........
(photo by Head-On  Photos)
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We conference, and Larry proposes that they drive the trailer back to his shop, drop motor, fix it, and return to Vegas in the morning.  He calls one of his customers, who has a motor out of their car at his shop, and they agree to let us use it for the Vegas race.  Ryan/Lindsey are a DNF, so they will drop out of top 5.  Rupert is in 4th, and we think we are tied for points with him.  I was faster than Rupert at Buttonwillow, so as long as we can get a car back in the  morning, we can take 3rd overall in the First Annual Open Track Challenge.  We are too far back to take down the 914 or Mumford/Provost, unless they break tomorrow before cranking out some good laps.  3rd ain't bad, but we wanted the whole enchilada.  If the stupid RC injectors would not have died on us at Thunderhill and BW on Day 4, we would be leading this event.......

Towed in after blowing up the motor

We helped Mumford/Provost a lot by beating the 914 today, as we think that Mumford/Provost are now tied with the 914 for overall OTC champ.  Shit.....I bet those guys 4-1 odds that they would not win Overall using street tires, and they have a chance to do it against a 914-6, turbo charged, with big slicks.  Let's root for them.....I guess I will have to win some cash at the tables tonight to pay them off.  We can't have a Porsche guy from Arizona and his co-driver all the way from Canada beat us on our home tracks! <grin>

The Pulp Racing Team

On the way to Vegas, Amir calls us and says that the other NSX Team of Hardee/Allen appears to have crashed their truck and transporter somewhere on the 58 Highway.  Rumor has it that they are all okay, but their trailer was on its side.  Their Suburban is totaled, their trailer is totaled, but somehow their race car is still alive.  Dagmar and I were sleeping in the RV, and Wayne was driving while talking on the phone to Amy.  We calculate where they crashed, based on where Amir said the crash was, and we realize that we drove right by them.  Dagmar and I call Wayne a moron for not seeing the crash on the side of the road, but Wayne says that he was watching the road, and not the side of the road.  Mumford was driving his rig, with Provost driving the Viper (they are in the Touring Class, so they have to drive their OTC car between tracks), and saw the crash and emergency vehicles.  Mumford helps them out by putting their NSX in his trailer, and taking the car to Vegas.

The wind grabbed the Hardee/Allan trailer and threw it off the road
Photo by Head On Photos

I know what is going on in their minds right now, because they are clearly on the Go-Fast Crack Pipe, along with the rest of us OTC competitors.  I'll give you my version of what they are thinking:

"Shit.  Just barrel rolledo down a 40 foot embankmant.  Crashed the truck.  Crashed the trailer.  Both those are totaled.  My body hurts from the wreck.  But the NSX Racecar is still alive.  Hummmmm.......Mello DNF'ed.  Ryan/Lindsey blew up.  Hayashi blew his motor also.  If we can just get our NSX to the track tomorrow, even if it has three wheels and we have to push it around the the track, we can score enough points to move up three places in the Overall Quest for OTC King, and maybe make it to the top 10, or even top 5 with all the front runners falling out.  Now if we can only get the race car to the track........where's the damn Advil."  I know this is what they are thinking.....because I am thinking the same damn thing.  If I can get the car back in my hands, even if it is down on power, we can use the EMI suspension on the car to rip through turns at the Las Vegas track, and take down Rupert, and get by Ryan/Lindsey, and take 3rd.  If Mumford or the 914 blows up, we move up yet another spot.  Las Vegas wouldn't let us run the ALMS course because supposedly Richard Petty School as it rented, so we are on the short infield course.  We kicked ass at the Streets of Willow, the other short course.  Meanwhile, somewhere around 10:30 p.m Friday night, Larry says that he has the motor out of the NSX at his shop, is throwing in another motor, and he, Erik, and Reuben are gonna be at the track tomorrow morning, cause they want to be make it into the Top 3 Overall for OTC King.

Holy shits.  The car is strapped down, and still okay!  Trailer and tow vehicle are totaled.
Photo by Head On Photos

Tomorrow is the last day, and there are some epic battles going on in each of the classes.  Mark O'Dell in the Mini Cooper is duking it out with Nitzan's RX-7 for their division championship, and it comes down to tomorrow's event for them.  I didn't get a chance to check other's people's lap times in the other classes, but it is safe to say that as soon as the results are posted after each session, people are running over to see what the other guys in their class ran, and are doing the calculations to see what they need to do in their next run group...

Wayne, Dagmar, and I make it to Vegas okay.  I call Erik at 10:30 p.m. and they are already in Huntington Beach, trying to do a motor swap.  I got to bed early tonight, at 1:30 a.m.

more tomorrow...

We were doing real good......until the motor blew....
Photo by Head On Photos
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