Learning at the 2004 VIR "Gold Cup Historic Races"
- Charles Christ
- Steve Church
- Stefan Vapaa
- Mary Anne Fieux
- Randy Cook
- Ed Diehl
- George Vapaa
- Jon Ewing
- William Harding
- Chris Moberg
- 1960 93F
- 1973 97 Sonett III
- 1968 97 Sonett V4
- 1964 Quantum Formula SAAB
- 1967 Brand'X' Sports Racer
- Racecar Group Photos
Crews
- Tom Cox
- Chip Lamb
- Sune Nilsson
- Laura Briggs
- Don Wollum
Last Updated: Mar 26, 2006
11/8/2004
The Letters "VIR" mean FUN!
Virginia International Raceway's 2004 "Gold Cup Historic Races" was the occasion of my first ever competitive drive on the newly refurbished track. I had driven on it in 2002, slowly and haltingly, during a lunch hour "spectator drive" session of an SCCA race weekend. Two laps were not enough track time to learn even a portion of the track. But I would learn more about the track, and more about my car, during this exciting weekend.
I've raced or hot-lapped on several east coast tracks; New Hampshire, Lime Rock, Summit Point, Pocono, Roebling Road, and Road Atlanta. Of those tracks, only Road Atlanta comes close to providing the track quality, technical challenge, off-track amenities, and professional atmosphere of VIR. This is a beautiful track, and its only two hours away from my home!
A great racing weekend was coming up!
Everything Seemed to be Going Well ...
The entire weekend looked to be really good weather-wise, save for the minor risk of rain showers during my tow Friday morning. So I tarped the car on the open trailer before heading out at 7:00 AM. As you might have guessed, it didn't rain during the tow, but it looked like it would several times. Sune Nilsson was my towing buddy and weekend crew member, and he patiently waited while I repeatedly stopped and checked the condition of my tarp while en route. Properly fastened from the start, it was no trouble on the road.
My late morning practice session gave us time to unpack and ready the car. The engine had been run successfully only a month earlier, and the new tire tubes continued to hold air for the notoriously leaky Jackman wheels. My main challenge was to learn the intracacies of the new track.
I had done a smart thing weeks before I arrived at the track -- I had printed a descriptive 'Tour of the Track' from the track's website. Like memorizing a new autocross course from the event course map, I set about learning VIR as best I could from the 'Tour' text and pictures. This pre-event research was a tremendous help to me, and I felt that I had the majority of the track understood by the end of the first practice session.
The heavy braking just completed, I enter the treacherous Turn 4. (Shoottothrillphoto.com photo)
After a hard turn-in, the power is steadily applied ... (Shoottothrillphoto.com photo)
To exit nicely without spinning out. The rear-wheel drive cars are often in the grass here. (Shoottothrillphoto.com photo)
Sune was very nice to me and offered to let me sleep in a motel room he had reserved Friday night. It was a great help to get a good night's sleep after experiencing the 'rush' of driving VIR for the first time.
Never a Dull Moment
All systems were 'Go' entering Saturday's track sessions. A minor problem -- the power relay for the starter circuit failed -- was quickly fixed with a (my one-and-only) replacement relay.
However, things were starting to get dicey out on track. I wasn't comfortable with the performance of my brakes going into corners, and things were getting worse by the lap. I nearly got rear-ended by an Aston Martin DB4 Lightweight going into Oaktree Turn. I mean, his windshield filled my rearview mirror! And I nearly shot straight off at Turn 1 for lack of braking grip. Either I was doing something wrong or the car was doing something wrong. It turned out to be the latter.
Down into the Rollercoaster with company -- an Aston Martin DB4 Lightweight, Triumph and Lancia Fulvo Sport 1.3. The Aston Martin was aggressive, but I have a better line here. (Shoottothrillphoto.com photo)
But before I explain, I'll tell you about some other excitement. Tires tubes were helping me get past the nagging problem of my 2-piece Jackman wheels always leaking, but they can .. blow out! My right rear tire tube split open as I was accelerating down the back straight. It went completely flat within about 4 seconds. At first I thought that part of my rear suspension had failed as I exited Oaktree Turn, but a few seconds later I knew what the problem was.
I immediately maneuvered off the track, crossed a grassy area, and parked on the pavement of a cut-through road. I was hoping that I could save the tire if I stopped the car quickly, but, at the same time, I wanted to make the car available for the towing crew to get to me. I twiddled my thumbs during the last several laps of the session, standing next to the car in the hot sun, because rescue crews aren't sent out until after a session. Rika and I had a nice tow with a flatbed crew who were, let's say, from "The South."
More company while exiting the Turns 5B/6 complex. The formula car behind me lost out to my engine power in the next straight. (Shoottothrillphoto.com photo)
Tire repaired, I entered the final session of Saturday (the qualifier for Sunday's race) pondering my track performance. Somehow, I hadn't yet figured out that a mechanical problem was plaguing the car; I thought it was me and my VIR naiveness. I qualified somewhere in the middle of my group, then took the rest of the day to look over the car for Sunday's finishing event.
That's when I discovered that my Hawk "Black" brake pads were suffering from over-heating, and were dry, cracked and nearly breaking off in chunks. Also, the rotors were badly glazed with the remnants of the brake pad material. The situation looked hopeless, this late on Saturday, and I went to sleep in a tent near the car thinking that my weekend was over. I didn't have another set of brake pads, and I didn't have a way to de-glaze the rotors.
Fellow Racers to the Rescue!
Sunday morning came early as I hustled to solve my dilemma. I needed to wait for the track's 'racing boutique' to open on the off chance that they had a set of the Wilwood-matching pads I needed. In the meantime, I borrowed a cordless drill and small sanding wheels from the father/son/friends Boyscout group that was visiting the track for a Pinewood Derby event. The drill held enough battery power to get me through a thorough grinding of the rotor surfaces. Task 1 accomplished!
The boutique opened at about 10:15 (some people said to me "He'll open when he wants to ..") but the answer was "Sorry" when their stock of brake pads were checked. All my effort on de-glazing the rotors seemed wasted, and my weekend looked over.
Fellow racers to the rescue! My paddock was accidentally located in what was predominately a "British zone." Lucky for me, because the team from Sportscar Workshops (Richmond, VA) was nearby, and Rick (Rich?) there said, "Oh, yeah, one of the other teams near us has a set of Hawk "Blue" pads (Blue pads can endure more heat than Black pads) that'll fit your Wilwoods!" That team owner/driver soon produced the pads, and as I reached for my wallet to pay him for the pads, he turned and walked away, saying, "Racer's special!"
Freshly re-surfaced rotors and new pads need to be bed-in before you race on them, but I had missed my morning practice session to repair the brakes. What to do?! Rick from Sportscar Workshops to the rescue, again! He's been building/racing vintage cars a long time, and he knew Peter Krause, the event manager, personally. So, he asked Peter if I could go out with a different (faster!) group as a hardship case, only to bed-in the brakes. Peter said, "OK .. for a few laps," but that had I better watch out for a Porsche 906 coming up fast behind me. Yikes!
I spent two laps bringing the pads up to temperature (and nearly stinking myself out of the car from the smell) while constantly watching my rearview for the faster cars on the track. I have to say that, once my new pads were hot and biting hard, I was able to keep up with the Porsche 906 pretty well for a lap or two (maybe he was driving slowly ..). But then it was time for me to slow down and let the new brakes cool off well before I left the track.
Full acceleration out of Turn 6 into the short straight under the cross-over bridge, the limited slip fighting for grip after I've jumped off the curbing. (Shoottothrillphoto.com photo)
Another Finish .. Is Better than No Finish At All
My mediocre qualifying time, caused in part by my failing brakes, put me in the middle of the pack on the race start, but at least I was starting the race! The new brakes worked much better than what I had arrived with, but I was back to learning new brake points for the corners. I didn't much move up or down the line-up over the course of the race, but that didn't matter .. I was racing, and I was finishing the entire race weekend with the wheels still turning!
Steve