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#1
04-06-2007, 11:43 AM
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PCA Club Race at Road Atlanta
OK, I know this is not a Ferrari event, but I thought a few of you might be interested in hearing about the PCA Club Race that happened this past weekend at Road Atlanta.
This was my second club race weekend, and first time at RA, so it was quite an interesting weekend.... I finished 2nd in class (GT5R) for the sprint, and 3rd in class for the enduro. I should have finished 2nd in class for the enduro, and top 15 overall (out of 57), but we took a little long on the pit stop due to lack of experience. You'd think a pit stop would be easy.....it's not. Now, the stressful part. Practice started Friday morning. Having never really driven Road Atlanta, I figured I had 3 practices to learn it before the practice starts/fun race. So, first practice, second lap, I smell gas really strong. I look over into the passenger compartment floor boards and see gas pouring into the car!! So I pull into the paddock and find that my gas cap was off. OK, no big deal, but I pretty much missed the entire session. Second practice, 1st lap, turn 5, I break a CV joint and have to get towed back to the paddock (very embarrassing). Lewis Broyles (Peachstate Chief Instructor) had one....at home an hour away. So we run out to his house and back. Bill Dunster installed the CV joint pretty quickly.....just in time for me to miss all my practices and start my practice starts and fun race. So, I go out learning the track in a race. nice..... After that, everything went smooth and I ran pretty good laps, getting better every session/race. Got down to a 1:47 lap. Which was exceptionally slow compared to Leh Keen's Club Racing track record of 1:21!!! He was absolutely flying. 5 seconds a lap faster than his next closest competition.... Luckily, our enduro was over before the rain came. There were a ton of wrecks, almost half of our enduro was under full course yellow. there were some very bad administrative issues (i.e. the stewards did a lousy job running the event.....full course yellows were too long, they couldn't "find" the lead car, they got flustered when things were happening, no black flags for passing under yellow...stuff like that), and there were a lot of people that should not have been out there racing...very bad drivers. Papa Smurf performed great. Faster than most in my enduro class. Got the speedo up to 140, which is flying for that little car. All in all, I learned a lot, had a blast....and am no longer a Rookie! I'll be running Watkins Glen in June after our Carolinas Region DE in May. I love the Glen and should do OK there. Here is a quick video of highlights I put together from the 60 minutes of tape. Resolution is iffy so I could get it all on the website... http://www.exclusive-motors.com/vide...uro07small.wmv I don't have any good pictures of the car in it's new paint scheme (Papa Smurf) on the track yet, but here it is in the back of our builiding: 
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#3
04-06-2007, 02:27 PM
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The wheels are Lite Speed, which I can't find anymore. I have 2 sets with different offsets so it's kind of a pain.
Rear wheels in the picture are 16x12, front are 10x12. Stock 914 wheels are 15x6.....
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#4
04-06-2007, 06:21 PM
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Nice video, Bob. I see exactly what you mean about there being a lot of bad drivers out there. Seems many were entering turns WAY too hot. Congrats on not getting clipped by any of the off-roaders!
It was good talking with you today. Thanks for the shop tour!
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#5
04-06-2007, 06:42 PM
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Nice Job!
RA looks like so much fun now! Last time I was there it was still the old pavement, and from what I can tell, the track was narrower as well. Wish I could make it down there more often.
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#7
04-06-2007, 11:25 PM
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Quote:
 . My car came with 19"s that I think are 9.5" wide, I could easily get 295/275s on them but they are still running 285/265 now. 
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#8
04-07-2007, 10:26 AM
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Quote:
Being first time at RA, I was very tentative, to say the least. Also had a new brake system, so I really didn't know what my limits were. At CMP, I push it WAY harder.... Watkins Glen should be interesting in June, I know that track very well - still my favorite.
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#9
04-08-2007, 02:27 AM
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Great looking car.
After watching that video I'm thankful for the wide open space afforded us at VIR. The walls at Atlanta look like they are everywhere and way too close to the track.
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#10
04-08-2007, 07:31 AM
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Quote:
Ah, but the idea is to stay ON the track, isn't it? and it's actually not that bad really when you're driving. I never really noticed them....again, I was focused on going fast and getting by the guy in front of me, which meant staying on the track anyway... We've developed a term for tracks like Road Atlanta and Watkins Glen (where the guard rails feel like they are on the track itself). These are "Big Boy Tracks" No messing around, you either learn how to drive, or stay off the track. I learned to drive on the track at Watkins Glen, so I never really knew anything else but guardrails and walls until I moved down here with CMP and VIR...
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#11
04-08-2007, 09:29 AM
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Quote:
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#12
04-08-2007, 09:53 AM
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My tape ran out before the black 911 that I passed at the end spun off in front of me at turn one 2 laps later, then there was the 944 that hit the wall going onto the front straight, the 993 Carrera RS that hit after turn 7, 3 or 4 more in turn 1, etc, etc, etc...we ran pretty much most of the race under full course yellows.....
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#13
04-11-2007, 05:28 PM
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I was there last week as well, wish I had known you were there. I work with Kelly Moss in PCA, IMSA, and HSR. We ran 5 cars there at that event. Wish we could've met... Congrats on your finish, all our guys left after the sprint on Saturday...
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#14
04-11-2007, 11:10 PM
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You PCA guys really get after it, when the first car went off, I thought just before he crashed, man Bob is slow like me, he flew by Bob! LOL!! and right off the track! Really though, I had no idea a 944 could be faster than your car, as it looked like some would pull away.
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#15
04-12-2007, 08:43 AM
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You'll notice on the straights, I could catch and pass all of them. My camera was a bit off to the right, so in a few of them, you couldn't see the 911's that were right with me on the left that kept me from moving over to pass the cars in front. Keep in mind too, I only have a little 2.2 liter engine in the car. Many of those cars were 944S2's with 3.0 liter engines. My biggest problem was it being my first time on the track - every. I had no practice laps due to my mechanical issues, so I was learning it in race conditions. They were as quick or quicker than me in the turns, which is a driver issue (me) not a car issue. My car should easily outhandle any of them....the driver was a bit tentative.
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#16
04-12-2007, 02:31 PM
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nice video bob. i'm glad you are getting a chance to run road a...it is indeed a big boy track. i have many miles on 2 and 4 wheels on that track on the old course. the "dip" or "gravity cavity" may have been one of the greatest pieces of track in the country when approached w/ a scca gt-2 or faster car.
great days indeed! did you get a fastest lap? i do understand that you were not able to get in any good clean laps as from the look of the tape, you were being held up quite alot. best, peter
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#17
04-12-2007, 03:25 PM
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Peter,
Actually yes, I got lots and lots of clean laps in the 90 minutes of enduro. I just put the 4 minutes of highlights that made it onto the 60 minute tape.... Best lap was only 1:47 or so. I know I have a lot of time left out there, but I was a bit tentative through some of the turns. First timers jitters I would say. Plus I learned that the short gear set is not well suited for RA. I run out of top gear halfway down the back straight, and turn 7 is in between 3rd and 4th gears for me.....too slow for 4th, but I have to slow down too much to go down to 3rd. One of my other gear boxes would be better. -Bob
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#18
04-12-2007, 06:15 PM
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Road Atlanta was my first track day ever, and with my Michelotto drop gears (that I eventually blew up), I ran out as well.
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#19
04-12-2007, 07:10 PM
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road a has always been a hp course unlike the glen, the fastest portion of the track is not up hill. road a has three sections where in a fast car, you will far surpass 130 mph...so hp always wins there!
bob, i understand your gearing issue...turn 1 is rocketship fast, turn 5 can be a tough corner to carry speed through w/ a hard drive off as it can be tough to gear for, turn 6 is rocketship fast, and then 7...it all hinges on getting off 7 w/ your hair on fire!! a challenging track for sure. it is my favorite along w/ the glen...two legendary tracks!!
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#20
04-13-2007, 11:35 AM
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the Glen is my absolute favorite..that's why i'm running it in the Club race in June. We go up every year anyway in August to run with Northern NJ PCA. I can see RA getting to be a favorite the more I drive it. Love VIR too. And with this little go kart of a car, I really like CMP. Hate Roebling, too boring in my opinion....and not a fan of Limerock either.
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