Interesting (at least to me!) stuff from the Pro.
1. We had the answer to what happens when opposing drivers both cone in
the Pro Challenge. They are both disqualified.
2. At this event, the last 4 drivers in the Open Pro Challenge were only
assessed a 2 second penalty if they coned.
3. I knew going in that Toyo tires did not work as well as I would like
for the slippery surface at Norton, but decided to run them anyway. By
the end of Saturday, I was in 4th place, about a 1/2 second out of 2nd
place, but pretty sure I couldn't go that much faster on the Toyos.
Sunday Morning, Andy McKee asked if he could run my car, as his car
ripped the swaybar bracket off the front. I could run my Toyos or I
could use his G-Forces. Well, switching tires means that my previous
runs were disqualified, so it was a hard decision. My Saturday times
were probably good enough to get into the challenge, and it is tough to
do your two runs on each side Sunday morning and know you need good
clean run to qualify.
After the first run with the tires cold, I improved each run and jumped
up to 2nd place in C/S...and it turns out, barely made the challenge. A
gamble that paid off.
Theresa went on to drive the Derek Butts/Charlie Davis MR2 and Andy
drove my car. Both did well considering the difficulty of jumping into a
different car, but both coned themselves out of the challenges.
4. In the National Series Challenge, I was given a "bye" for the first
round, but that meant my tires were cold. My elation went to some
dismay. Oh well, tough to run against a BS car with my index that was
set by Glen Hernandez...and I would have liked a few more runs using the
G-Force tires (note the plethora of excuses). I knew that I was not
driving the G-Forces as well as I would have liked. They ARE different.
5. Glen Hernandez drove like a man possessed. The challenge came down to
Scotty B White and Glen in the finals, with the winner being
Scotty....but wait, it seems the indexes were wrong and they had to
rerun the finals. Glen then came out on top. Must be odd to be the
winner, then have it taken away.
6. Interesting to watch the 4wd ability of the A4 after Anna went into
the grassy ditch. She got the car easily back onto the tarmac.
7. Weather: Saturday was cold and gloomy...Sunday was sunny and warm.
Times improved a lot on Sunday.
8. The event was somewhat sparsely attended with driver numbers under
130 and quite a few discussions about paying for someone to fill a
class, or juggling who was running what. The new format of Pro and
Nationals seems to make this worse as it splits some classes in two.
What seemed missing from this event was local drivers who normally do
not do the Pros...in other words, many classes did not have trophy
fodder.
9. Hotels were in short supply. A number of drivers were scrambling to
find a room since a large soccer tournament had most rooms taken. I
ended up in a most interesting hotel where they hand you the key and tv
remote after you give them a $3 deposit. I missed the Radison.
10. Awards were a medallion and a t-shirt for the National Series
(t-shirt was for 1st place). I missed the functional trophies like the
mugs and umbrellas.
11. I disliked driving up the morning of the Pro instead of staying
there Friday night. Not much time to drive 100+ miles, swap tires, tech,
register, walk the course..specially after only 4 hours of sleep. The
only good news is that I could really fly down the freeways at 5:00am on
Saturday morning. I normally go up and do practice starts, etc..but my
wife's latest surgery was possibly going to be scheduled on Friday or
Saturday, but was bumped to April 2nd.
12. The Porsche 924s in C/S were putting down incredible right side
runs, but both Mike Leuty and Kevin Dietz could not duplicate it on the
left side.
The event went incredibly well, and as usual, the event staff was spot
on and organized. These folks do a great job running the show. Thanks to
Cal Club for hosting the event.
And thanks to the folks in C/S and P5. Greatest bunch you can run with
and against.
Randy Chase
Tired, Sunburnt...gonna have to call Tire Rack
'91 MR2 CS
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