Wow, what a weekend. I've never been a part of anything like this in my life and it was an absolute friggin blast. For those of you who haven't been paying attention to what's going on the Winged Warrior II was a charity competition for the children of Riley Children's Hospital in Indinapolis, IN. Through two teams of sports cars we put on a race and donated some of the entry fees and other donations to the Riley Cheer Guild as well as giving rides to some of the children who were able to actually make it out to the event.
The weekend started with a drag racing competition to be held at Muncie Dragway. The 60' times and 1/4 mile trap speed would be recorded and scored as events. The following day would have an autocross competition put on by the Fort Wayne Region SCCA, a high speed slalom that would be timed on it's own, and a skidpad event to determine maximum handling g's. The cars in the event would consist of two teams of around 40-50 cars making up both Team USA and Team Import.
Friday drag racing
My weekend started by meeting up with a couple of the other Fort Wayne guys who'd been selected to be on Team USA (somehow my car's a domestic because Eagle is a domestic brand, whatever) at the south end of Fort Wayne. We proceded to caravan down to our hotel in Anderson where we secured a room for $37 a night. Not too shabby considering the price, but not the greatest place I've ever stayed either. After unloading our luggage we headed up to the dragstrip in Muncie which is about 45 minutes when stuck behind semi's the whole way. Man I hate two lane roads.
After getting the car ready to run by adjusting the rear shocks to maxt stiff and lowering the front tire pressure I headed up to the line to get my first pass in. Already some of the heavy hitters were laying down passes in the low 12 to high 11 second range with some trapping higher than 120mph. So much for winning this event, but to be honest I know better than to think my car really had a shot in this area. Without racegas and risking a blown headgasket I just plain wasn't going to make the kind of power these other guys were. I decided to play it safe and see what I could do on the tune and boost I normally run on. We'd been told that the track would be prepped for us and for once it was actually a little grippy given my street tires.
Off the line on the first run I spun first a bit at the top of the gear, grabbed second which hooked perfectly thanks to my new boost controller, and then slipped her into third and fourth as I walked away from the turbo mr2 in the next lane. First pass of the day clocked in at a 13.4 @ 111. 60' time was a 2.3 and I knew she had some more in her. This was good as the 13.4 was almost a personal best already. I resolved to head out on the next pass and really try and get her out of the hole smoother to drop that 60' time and hopefully increase my trap speed a little while I was at it.
This time around I was lined up with a silver BMW M3 which looked like it could give me a good race. I brought the revs to 4000rpm and slipped the clutch nice and soft out of the hole, boost started building and she spun the tires a little around 5000 rpm and I short shifted her into second and put my foot to the floor. She hooked perfectly again and I immediately began walking the M3. The switch to third brought on all 21psi and the car lept down the track with the BMW shrinking in my rear view mirror. Into 4th and another surge of power to carry me through the finish line. I knew this run was a good one and as I got back to the timeslip booth I looked down to see a new best of 13.1 @ 112.4 with a 2.1 60 foot time.
I thought the car might have a little more in it and I didn't want to let the track go to waste so I headed right back in line and ended up lined up against the same BMW. This time though I let the car build too much boost while letting the clutch out in first which brought on wheelhop, I quickly shifted to second, but too quickly causing second to spin as well a little bit. By this time I knew the e.t. was shot on this pass so I figured I'd just stick her in third and see if I could at least re-gain the ground I'd lost on the BMW. Sure enough 21psi in this little thing is a rocket and I quickly reeled in the BMW and passed him before shifting to 4th gear and crossing the line with a 13.5 @ 111mph.
Having a personal best already in the bag I thought I might try a couple more psi and see what I could do mph wise on the top end of things for my last run. I pulled to the line against another decent car who's description evades me now. After leaving the line with the usual wheel spin she hooked second again and I thought I was on a good run. Shifted her into third and glanced over to see 22-23psi rocking through the Forced Performance 18g, but then I felt it. A hickup, then another, and another. Into 4th gear and all is clear, but its obvious she didn't like that extra boost and was blowing the spark out, had I gapped the plugs down she might have held, but in the end it was a decent 13.2 @ 112 mph again. At this point I was done making passes for the night so we packed up and headed back to the hotel, unfortunately I'd forgotten to lower the rear shock setting so I rode down country roads at 65 with the rear AGX's set on 8 and the car's ass literally hopping over some of the bigger bumps. Gotta remember not to do that again.
Back at the hotel we met up with Todd James and Tom Miller, two of the leading forces behind the Fort Wayne region SCCA club. We headed out to dinner to discuss the particulars of the event and how they came to be in control of it after the leading insurance underwriter backed out with only two weeks before event day. Luckily there are few out there with the drive and devotion of these two guys and they were able to pull together and get the event ready and approved in two days (it usually takes 4 days to get an event of this nature approved through SCCA).
Saturday main event
Race day, 4am. I awake to the sound of the Dukes of Hazard theme song playing on my cell phone's alarm. I love that song, but not at 4am. I begrudgingly get up and throw some tennis shoes and shorts on. At 5am we meet up with the rest of the crew which now includes Ron Conrad from FW SCCA and Tom, Dave, and Tyler from Team USA to head out and grab a quick bite at the local McDonald's. It must've been a sight that they're not used to. Sitting out front was my talon, Dave's Neon ACR, Tyler's SRT-4, Tom's Turbocharged Ecotec Cavalier, Ron's race painted Civic hatch, Todd's STI adorned with graphics from SCCA racing, and a big yellow Ryder truck with Todd's other toy a 1988 Mustang LX with flared fenders and 12" wheels all the way around that Tom would be driving this weeekend.
By 6am we're already at the airport, but the fog is so thick we can barely see the runway of the airport from in front of the hangers. Regardless we load up the cones and begin heading out onto the course to drop them off on our way around to set up the course. My fiancee volunteers to help with people signing in and entering the event, she's such a trooper sometimes, and ends up spending most of the day later helping the event to run smooth. Slowly the safety stewards show up and begin teching in the cars as the drivers start to file into the event site. After setting up a wicked looking course, timing equipment, and the generator / air compressor Tyler and I begin heading out to chalk off each cone. This is an arduos task and one I'd forgotten about so I'm out walking the entire course outlining each cone and like an idiot I'd already strapped on my driving shoes. These new reebok's are great for driving, crap for walking, within half the course my feet already hurt from these things and my other shoes are 1/4 mile away in my pit area.
Finally we have the driver's meeting and lucky me I get to drive the autox first, then run skidpad, and finally finish the day with a relaxing break. I couldn't have planned that any better. As the first group of cars begins to file out we soon realize we have a problem. Cars are missing, cars are numbered wrong, this is going to take awhile. Unfortunately this number issue arose from adding cars at the last minute and having different lists circling the paddock area. It's been assured to me that this won't happen again and I have no doubt they'll get this squared away after seeing the frustration is cause to those putting on the event.
Saturday Autox
After working things out as goos as possible the first car is sent out on course. Dave Buschur's white evo 8 rs takes off onto the course and looks extremely fast. After assuring that the timing system is working good Jon Krolewicz in the AMS widebody Evo 8 heads out onto course. While watching him I realize something's missing, the Buschur evo hasn't returned yet. A look down to the end of the staging area reveals the cause. The driver is pushing the thing back to the front of the line with the hood up and the hazards on, not a good way to start the day. The diagnosis was a failure of either a valve or valvespring. Meanwhile the imports continue running and then they finally start working their way towards me on the usa side of the cars.
Now the course is a very interesting course and i'm itching at the trigger to get out onto it and see how the car responds to the layout. At the startign line I'm stearing into two successive mandatory direction slaloms. The starter waves me off and with a smooth 4000 rpm slip I head to wards the first cone of the day. 1st gear, 25 mph stay to the right let off long enough to transfer weight and turn to the lef to setup for the next cone. Shift into second and keep her steady as I go left, then right, then back left again around the last cone of this first 4 cone slalom. Now from here I have a gate and another slalom after that starts on the left side. Luckily for my rather narrow car this means I can create a miniature straightaway between the end of the first slalom, the gate, and the start of the second slalom. It's foot to the floor and let her eat until I reach that first cone.
Tap on the brakes to let the front end bite and flick her right then left then right again and now we're finished with the second slalom. At this point I'm at the end of the taxiway and have a 90 degree left hand sweeper that is an offcamber turn. I setup early on the first cone with my foot on the gas and right as I get there give her a quick stab of the brakes to send the rear rotating around and get me rotated through the corner and it's back on the gas to accelerate towards a relatively open chicane. I roar through the chicane with only a lift at the first entrance, a little more gas and it's hard onto the brakes for the keyhole turn. I downshift into first and turn in slightly, then I give her full right lock as this is actually a hairpin 270 degree turn that can suck alot of time out of a good run. As soon as I can see the next short chute I'm back on the gas and back into second gear as I approach the third slalom of the day.
Once to the right, once to the left, once to the right, and back to the left, then a tight narrow left hand 90 degre that makes you pause to turn in without taking out the inner cone. I'm staring at about a 100 foot straight away here so I open her back up in second and she scrabbles for traction down towards a left hand near 180 degree sweeper. Tap on the brakes, late apex it and accelerate up another little 50 foot short straight which is followed by a 90 degree right hand sweeper at about 35mph. Exiting the sweeper I have a quick little open slalom that requires just a little flick of the wheel and I'm heading back towards the taxi way and out onto the main runway. I backtrack through the gates I used when exiting the second slalom on the start and I'm into another 3 cone slalom where I keep her in second gear and work my way out onto the main runway. from here I make a right turn and enter the final stretch and slalom of the course.
This slalom is timed as part of the course, but also has its own timer on the second cone until the finish to determine the top slalom speed of the day. I accelerate in second towards the first cone, lift, turn, and shift it into third to control wheelspin through here. I flick it back and forth thorugh 4 more cones at around 60-70 mph and then it's hard on the gas to roar through the finish line at around 80mph. First run 59.6
After finishing I return the car to grid and begin talking to some friends where I learn of my time and that I was one of the few on team usa to even break the 1 minute barrier on the opening lap. After checking the scoreboard I find I'm only a tenth behind a 425hp c5 vette. I'm in 2nd place already, this fires me up and I go from "let's have fun today against all these incredibly fast cars and not embarass ourselves" to "let's kick some ass" mode. I immediately head to the hill overlooking the course to observe the lines the other drivers are taking and to plan for my next run.
Run #2 is finally around and I'm lined up again. A little too much wheelspin makes me upset about the launch but I clear it out of my head and continue the attack. Everything feels a little faster, my turn in points are better and the car is responding great to my every move. I fly through the finish slalom and get hard on the brakes to hear 58.3. I know I'm well into first place now and sure enough a check of the time board shows me .2 ahead of the vette who also bettered his opening time.
I can see that the awd cars are whooping on me pretty good with the AMS car turning in 52's and a final run of 51.9 and a good group of other sti's and evo's running in the 55 range. The lack of grip when accelerating and the 205 vs 235 or wider tire issue is rearing it's head but I figure to hell with it. I'll bear down and take team rights at least. Heading out onto the third of four runs I start fantastic but as I try to exit the 180 degree left hand sweeper the car spits, sputters, and nearly dies. I stay on the gas and she recovers and I finish the lap mad as a hatter but with still increasing my time to a 57.99.
Noone else has turned a 57 yet but it may not matter as I'm running out of gas due to the g-loads sloshing the gas away from the pump. A quick holler to one of my DSM teammates turns up a 4 gallon can of 93 octane in his truck and a willing person to run it out to me in grid. I suddenly switch into panic mode as they've already started sending some of the domestics onto the course and with me being #12 it means I'm not too much farther from having to leave. Finally the gas arrives and I throw it into the tank and pull up to the line nearly late. I head out onto course and in the second slalom i hear a familiar "thuck", I resist the urge to look into my rear view mirror and continue down into the keyhole. The car's tires are hot and sticky now and I can get some good power down in second coming out of the tight corner, but it all may be to waste if that was a cone I heard back in the slalom and I've still got the looming issue of gas hanging over my head as I approach the sweeper with some serious apprehension. The car survives the sweeper and I get a clean line out of it and out towards the runway. On the previous three runs this uphill straightaway had given me trouble as the 15-16psi I run in second gear was still spinning the tires, so this time I shortshifted to third to let all 21psi to some talking and then downshifted into second again before entering the final two slaloms. The car moves well and before I know it I'm back into third rolling through the final slalom. I try to keep my times to a minimum here and I hear that familiar "thuck" again and get furious with myself. I've been clean all weekend and now on this pass I potentially collect two cones. I fly through the finish line and in anger mash the brakes which lights the tires and draws some quick head turns from the paddock area. I listen as I'm sitting though waiting for my time. Finally it comes, 57.043 clean run. I'm way ahead in first at this point. At the end of the heat I'm in first place with another car .1 second in back of me who was the last member for team usa to run. Close but I hold on.
Saturday skid pad
From here it's over to the skidpad. Not much to say about this event. We get two timed runs where you pretty much drive in a circle both clockwise and counterclockwise. We head out onto the course to find it's angled and extremely slick, not going to make any big numbers here. At the end of the day Jon in the AMS evo turns in a .80 g average on the tight and slick circle. On a wider, grippier circle, with 240lbs less weight and less sticky tires though the evo turned in a 1.04 in one direction only three weeks ago, proof that all the numbers were realistically down by about .20 g from what you may be able to expect on a real skidpad. Considering that I was pretty happy with my 5th place team finish with a .76g average which corrected could come out to be as high as .96 g. The camber of the course screwed me up bad, not to mention that 1/4 of it was on a grippier surface than elsewhere. This meant that your steering angle was constantly changing just to drive in a circly, not exactly ideal. Clockwise the car wanted to understeer badly, counterclockwise it felt planted and the rear would actually rotate on the offcamber section. This showed in my times which were 18 seconds for two laps clockwise, and 17 seconds for two laps counterclockwise.
Overall results
At the end of the day I managed to finishe 4th in the autox for Team USA (14th overall), 4th in the slalom for Team USA (19th overall), and 5th for Team USA in the skidpad (18th overall). We still haven't seen final placings for the 60' times or 1/4 mile trap speed segments, but I was very happy with my scores considering there were around 84 cars present at the event.
I'll have some pics available later today hopefully once I get back home along with at least 1 short video of the course from the 2nd slalom back to the crossover. I'll also have some pics of my new carbon fiber hood from VIS as well.
Sorry about the Novel, it just kept going on and on
