5 Tracks in 5 Days to determine who really is the fastest driver/car/team
Willow Springs
April 19th, 2004
The Fastest Track in the West
5 Tracks in 5 Days to determine who really is the fastest
driver/car/team
Autowave is maintaining and tuning the Flamemobile
This is not the "Official OTC" page. It is my "unbiased" (heh) interpretation of the events prior to the Open Track Challenge, and a diary of what happened during the event.
Monday, 5:50 a.m. - Day 2, Willow Springs
Yesterday at lunch, Lampe and Coffey were seen in deep discussion with Messley at Vegas, discussing tire temps, tire pressures, suspension settings on the Penskes, and getting some recommendations. I didn't think much of it. On the way home from Vegas, I hear that in their 3rd session yesterday, they threw down three 1:56.x laps. Damn! Those guys are gunning for the Flamemobile and Dearing! They might have beat us for 2nd place behind Dearing. I go through our laptimes...hummmm....1:55-1:56-1:56. After talking with them in the morning, I think we barely beat them for second place at Vegas! Right now, Messley prepared cars are running first, second, and third OVERALL. Pretty impressive. He also worked with Terry Rossi's suspension, and Terry is winning Touring 1.
PULP RACING EVOLUTION SCOREBOARD
Vishnu/Gerrard and Robi/Oursborne/Sigal get their Evos working again!
Four are running!
Dearings Viper GTS has the OEM shocks on, with some minor mods by Messley on them. Both my car and Coffey's car run Messley's custom valved Penske triple adjustable shocks, and were setup by him.
The DuBois/Mueller Eclipse
On our test day about 10 days ago, my goal was for me to FINALLY get into the 1:26's. In southern California, racers know everyone by what their laptimes are at Willow Springs, as it is a "reference track". Meaning that in other cities across the US, people might be know for the neighborhood they live in, or the job they have, where they went to college, what clothes they wear, etc. Here in Socal, racers whisper among themselves about other racers, saying stuff like, "That dude there is a 27 guy", meaning he can run a 1:27 in his car at Willow.
Michael Schriber's Pro Chassis Pro Challenge Cup car
So at Willow at our test day 10 days ago, after dialing the suspension in as to where Erik thinks it should be, I hopped in the car, did four laps, and I ran a 1:26.x. Victory! I'm finally a "26" guy. Took me 12 ffing years, and suitcases of cash, but I finally made it there. After I ran the 1:26, I IMMEDIATELY parked the car in the trailer, as I didn't want to take a chance at breaking something or crashing, as the car is ready for the OTC. I lifted for about 1/10th of a second going into 8, so I am sure I can be flat out. Messley heard the lift from the pit wall, and he said, "Don't worry, the aero is working, do not lift in 8 at all. Flat out".
Wilson/Kryder ZR1
Oh, and I am sure you are wondering.....Messley is a "24" guy in my car. He ran a 1:24.03 on the test day. We both figure we are good for another second, so I think today at Willow I will move to yet another monumental moment in my life.....I think I am gonna be a "25" guy today. Messley, he's gonna be a "23" guy in my car today. Messley in a Comp Coupe is a "21" guy, and in his old big boy Viper that he has not run in about 4 years, I think he is a "15" guy......
We sized up the competition that Dearing is usually a "27-28" guy, and maybe a "26" guy with slicks, in his Viper, so we think we got him beat at Willow, hence we didn't trash the NSX yesterday at Vegas. We need to beat him at 3 out of 4 of the next tracks to be the OTC Overall Champ, and we think today will be a slam dunk for us. My prediction is that none of the souped up EVOs/ make it to the "31" range(the street tire guys).
Wayne is forced to get a tow back to Huntington Beach - Picture by Chris
We pull the Evo out of the trailer, and Wayne calls for a tow truck driver to come and tow it to Huntington Beach.
Mike Schriber has his daily diary going at: http://hotchip.com/otc2004. Check it out!
Coffey and Robi(Evo guy) were talking some friendly smack on the www.opentrackchallenge.com board. Coffey bet Robi that Coffey's rusty old Datsun would beat Robi's tricked up Evo by a cumulative of 9 seconds (OTC uses your three fastest laps of the day for scoring). The bet was placed. Coffey/Lampe end up beating them in Vegas by uh.....20 seconds or so! Ya gotta watch out for those experienced road racers......they'll sandbag and set ya up everytime for an ass whupping!
Ryan's Vette after the stickers are applied. Looking tough! -
photo by Ryan
At Willow, we throw Messley in the car for session 1, and I will run session 2. Messley runs a couple of laps, and then uh.....the car appears to be on fire again coming down the top of turn 4. Shit! I radio to him, saying to pull in the car is on fire. The radios are not working correctly, he can only hear static with the occasional "fire" in it. Kinda like "buzzkithcrufdafadf FIRE kitchaffeadxt". He buzzes into turn 8, and we uh...see flames from the rear.
The hot dog is now well done after the 2nd fire
We radio again to coming, as it looks like the bumper is on fire again, and we don't want the entire car to burn up, but again all he hears is the word "FIRE". Finally, he hears us, pulls in, and we check the car in the hot pit, and the fire is out, but we decide to park it in the garage and check it out. We don't see anything leaking, but now we are suspecting that the fuel cell venting hose is venting gas unto the exhaust, which burst into flames, which then lit up the bumper, and is now cooking the hotdog that is tie wrapped to the fender to well done.
It makes the flames look more realistic
We throw him back out, and he goes 1:24-1:24.8-1:25. Nice job! Dearing runs 1:26-1:27-1:27. After the session, Erik checks the FLAMEmobile, and says we need 6 feet of fuel hose, and a checkball valve at the end of the hose. The checkball is so that if we turn upside down, the little ball will seal off the hose so gas doesn't pour on the driver. We run over to Stewart Racing, and get a checkball valve, and then to the auto parts store for the hose.
Brent and Erik throw the hose mods on, and then I am ready to go. He wraps the venting hose up high on the roll cage above the engine, and then brings it back down. In my session, I start out following Dearing, but he lets me by, as his new tires are already blistering. He is running in the 1:29's this session, as the track seems to be a little slippery (or else we are overdriving our tires, and it is real windy) I run into traffic going into turn 9 multiple times, thus screwing up my laps. I run 1:27-1:28-1:28, not bad, but I was hoping to become a "25 guy" today. Oh well, next time. Damn, I owe Dearing another 10 bucks for not beating him in my own car. I'm 0-2 against Dearing so far this week.
Rossi has the fastest 2004 OTC Touring lap (street tires) at Willow, with a
1:30.148!
(photo by Ryan)
We think we won the event today with Erik's times, so now we are tied with Dearing for first place overall, as we head out to Thunderhill. We decide not to run the two afternoon sessions, and get our ass moving to Thunderhill.
Wayne throws the EVO on a tow truck, and it is getting towed home. Jason (Trumps) is giving Wayne a ride back to Huntington Beach, as Wayne says he might as well go back to work and get the Phoneguys running again, instead of watching people have fun on the track.
Sleeper car of the day as we were leaving was the Derek Wang Evo. With John Mueller driving, he threw down a 1:32, which is pretty damn fast.
The Wang/Elliot/Mueller surprised people by taking over 1st place in Touring 3
(photo by Chris)
Monday, 2:15 p.m. - On our way to Thunderhill.
Sorry I don't have more pictures of the various entries, or more stories about how other people are doing. We are scrambling to put out fires, and get out of Willow and then tow 440 miles to Thunderhill as quickly as possible, so we can get some sleep for tomorrow. At the next three tracks, our plan is for each of us to drive two sessions in the Flamemobile.
So now it is down to us and Dearing/Haney, best 2 out of 3, at the next three tracks to see who could be King fo the OTC. Providing, of course, that we don't break, crash, or uhh....catch fire....
10:11 p.m.
We make the 440 mile drive to Thunderhill. Time for a quick shower, and
then perhaps a trip to the Indian casino...cause we are on a roll!
The T2 Willow Springs record is now 1:30.918, set by Olsen/Schmidt on street
tires!
(photo ripped off from Jack's diary)
Performance Parts by Comptech USA