Took me awhile to wrap this up, then waited for low tide in the list
volume to send it off....
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ROCKY MOUNTAIN VINTAGE RACING
DRIVER'S SCHOOL REPORT - DENVER, COLORADO
Kirk Buecher
Intro -
Hello again race/British Car fans,
For those of you who may not recall, this summer I will finally achieve a
taste of my long held dream of vintage road racing. The car that is
helping the dream come true is a bright *red* '63 Spitfire with a '67 Spit
1296cc motor, side draft Weber, header, Mallory dual point ignition with
an adjustable rev limiter, Minilite style mags, rollbar, 5pt belts, oil
cooler, Koni's at all four corners, lowered front springs, a de-arch'ed
and stiffer transverse leaf springs in the back, Moon style gas tank in
trunk with a AirTex fuel pump. The motor is stock with the addition of
double valve springs and runs strong all the way to redline. The
windshield has been removed, the interior striped to the bare essentials,
and the doors welded shut.
Since I picked up the car in Dec., I've done a little minor body work,
touch up painting, some minor floor pan rust repair, and a trans swap.
Previous owner destroyed 3rd gear, (every tooth was gone), last race of
the last season. Then (of course) checked, tightened, and greased
everything.
For those of you not up on Vintage racing....
"The primary objective of the sport of vintage historic automobile racing
is to promote the preservation of these cars in racing format which
emphasizes driver safety and etiquette. The sport is intended to provide a
format for friendly wheel to wheel competition with vehicles prepared
faithfully to their era. (pre 1968)" - RMVR Members Handbook
To me, vintage racing is 9/10ths racing where overly aggressive driving or
intentional bumping/pushing/blocking will get you kicked out in a hurry.
It is the type of racing where people want to win but won't risk their car
or the safety of others to do so. There are no awards or trophies for the
top finisher's nor is there any shame in finishing last. Good racing can
be found both at the front of the pack as well as the back. The point of
it all is to have as much fun as possible while enjoying some of the best
cars ever made in a safety first format.
The School -
We started Friday night with a "chalk talk" session. This was held in the
back of factory that builds car wash equipment. As I walked in my jaw
dropped to the floor, it was a huge very well equipped auto shop, with ten
beautifully prepared Vintage Racer's all lined up. A Lotus 7, a Bug-eye
Sprite, a standard Sprite, two Elan's, '65 Vette, Lotus 51 racer, a
Chevron Formula something, and two Formula Fords. All of the cars belong
to one family, a father, two sons, a daughter, and son-inlaw, all race,
and all help run the family factory as well. After everyone had a chance
to look the cars over, the meeting got under way and we reviewed what was
the required safety equipment, the role of the corner worker, what all the
flags mean, what things the Tech inspectors really look for, and the
correct philosophy of Vintage Racing. This was then followed by the
showing of segments of the Skip Barber video on understeer, oversteer, and
finding the correct apex. Between each segment, the Chief driving
instructor discussed the finer points of the tape. After this, we all head
for home. About 60 people were in attendance.
Saturday morning came in cool with a heavy overcast, but was supposed to
warm up to about 60 degrees. The slightly over an hour tow to the track
from my house was uneventful but I was running a bit late. Once there,
just had time to unload the Spitfire and run to the drivers meeting. This
meeting was a half hour review of the chalk talk the night before. We
then broke into smaller groups of three or four students to an instructor.
My instructor, George, had raced in SCCA somewhere back east for about ten
years, moved to Colo., took a couple year break from racing, then started
again with RMVR four years ago driving a Ford 289ci powered '65 TVR
Griffith. The other two students that I had been grouped with were
Richard, owner of a very nice and rare '67 Alfa, who had a couple of
Vintage races under his belt from Arizona, one just a few weeks before the
school and Rob, owner of a '67 911, but who brought his turbo Merkur to
school, he had been racing in Porsche Club events for years. I was the
only one who had no track time.
Next was the track walk. Second Creek Raceway, the home of many SCCA
events, is a 1.8 mile, 9 major turn track, with two clean straights of
2200 and 2100 feet and a elevation change of about 75 feet from highest
point to lowest. We walked the track for over an hour with the instructors
pointing out and placing cones at the apex's of most the turns as well as
showing us the correct line and braking points.
Back to the pits, find a Tech and have him go over my car. He's really
checks the car over, examines my safety gear, has me jump into the car,
put helmet on and he declares, "Roll bar too low, must clear the top of
helmet by a minimum of 2 inches" :-( After seeing the worried look on my
face, tells me that he'll OK the car for the school but I need to fix the
rollbar before the first event. Writes same in my car's log book. Whew...
Ladies group is just coming in off the track, Open wheeler's starting
their session, about 17 Formula Fords and Vee's. Get my fire proof gear
on, start the Spit, and head to the grid. They grid me with my instructor,
next to Richard's Alfa and Rob's Merkur. George, my instructor, will ride
with Rob first, the Alfa and I are to follow. They send us out, with about
22 other small bore cars. After the warm up lap, we all start running at
what seems to me to be a fast pace. A couple laps later, I'm really
pushing to keep up, missing my apex's, and feeling very uncomfortable. I
back off some, a couple of faster cars pass, and run with a different
group of about 5 cars. After the session, George asks what happened to me,
I tell him that I just couldn't keep up, he says that's fine, just try to
in the next session.
After lunch, we grid up for our second session. This time, George the
instructor will ride with Richard in the Alfa, I'm to follow with Rob in
the Merkur behind me. Our group goes out and I'm hot on the tail of the
Alfa, after one lap it's clear that the Alfa is much stronger in the
straights and with it's Yoko's, it sticks better in the corners. After
three laps and several cars passing me, the Alfa is well ahead and I'm
feeling stressed and driving poorly trying keep up. Again, I back off
some, then the yellow flags come out, and I find the Alfa again, about
20ft off track, facing backwards in deep soft dirt. Find a hot little
Saab 96 V-4, and we take turns chasing each other till the session is over.
Third session, George rides with me. We start off slow, via hand signals
he is showing me the correct line, speed comes up, then trying to impress
George, I'm pushing hard, too hard, finish too wide in a corner and go two
wheels off, smoothly back on, pushing hard again, another couple of laps,
this time I miss a downshift, brake late, carry too much speed into a flat
90 degree corner and go four wheels off, cocked slightly sideways into
more soft dirt, the car stalls, quickly restart, wait for a signal from
the corner workers, back on, and finish with a couple of slower, sane
laps.
Back in the pits, in a very nice way George tells me, I'm overdriving the
car, not using my brakes enough, not setting up for the corners correctly,
and not staying on line. He then adds that my car is understeering far to
much and that the rear end never felt "very solid". This just confirms
what I felt in the earlier sessions, I wasn't driving worth a darn and the
car wasn't handling right. Low as I may of felt at this point, I was there
to learn.
Side Note : Part of the reason the Spit was handling poorly because of the
rock hard street Goodyears that came with the car. They did not want to
stick at any tire pressure I tried. I may also have a problem with uneven
negitive camber in the rear end.
Next up, the second biggest thrill of the weekend. George rounds up the
chief Instructor and asks him to show me the proper way to enter and exit
corners smoothly. I didn't mind the special treatment to much, he had been
giving rides to other wayward students all day. The chief Instructor's car
is a '67 Morgan Plus 8, right hand drive, 5spd, Yoko's, and warmed over
engine. We join the big bore group out on the track and have no problem
keeping up with the Corvette's and Shelby Mustang's. This Morgan has
*power*, great low end torque, sticks like glue in the corners I was lose
in, and can hit 110mph in the main straight without trying hard. It sounds
and feels like a well built 327ci or 350ci Chevy motor was under the hood.
After I calm my awe of the Morgan, I start to notice how smooth he's
driving it, how much harder he's braking before the corners, how much
quicker he leaves the corners, and what a difference good heel&toe work
makes. After several more laps, we come in and talk about the new things
I've learned and how I'm going to apply them. The day is about over, cover
the Spitfire, put a few things away and head for home.
On the hour drive back to the track Sunday morning, I decide that today I
will focus on being smooth and relaxed. I will brake more going into the
corners and will not allow myself to feel pressured into driving poorly.
We have a quick drivers meeting where they review todays agenda and answer
a few questions. Then it's time to start, first session of the day and my
own pep talk is working, I'm feeling just as fast but much more relaxed,
I'm entering corners slower and coming out faster which is making even the
smaller straights faster. This is beginning to be fun. The session ends
too quickly, George meets me in the pits and tells me that I looked better
out there. He also wants to ride with me again in the next session.
After about 45 mins, it's my turn again, and I promise myself that I won't
screw up again with 'ol instructor George with me. We head out on to the
track and spend the first few laps focused on staying on the correct line,
he gives me hand signals when I should be a few feet over one way or the
other. The good feelings I had from the first session are building, I'm
smoother and braking far more that I had been on Saturday. George is now
giving me a few thumbs up and OK signals as I turn what feels like my
fastest laps yet. We come in, George comments on my improvement, and
suggests that I can brake even more going into a couple of the hardest
corners. The sun is smiling down, I'm having a great time now!
After lunch, it's time to practice our starts. They sent us out and we
line up in pairs and head for the start line running at about 20mph, if
we're all lined up good, they wave the green flag, and we all go charging
down what's left of the main straight and dive into the first well banked
corner. After that it's a half a lap race till the instructors who are at
the head of the pack slow us down and line us up again to repeat the
process. We do this about six times, the last time we have a quick two lap
race.
When the other groups are finished with their practice starts, we have
another drivers meeting where they layout the rules of the final sessions.
They will be open Vintage eligible cars and instructors only, the street
cars can go home. Passing anywhere, earlier sessions were passing on the
straights only. Watch your mirrors, be careful.
Our group is called to grid, I place the Spitfire towards the back, behind
several faster cars. On the track, I line up in the second to last pair of
cars. We approach the start line, the flag drops, I'm a second slow
getting on the gas which allows this weird '60 DKW to get in front of me
who then brakes hard and early going into the first corner, which then
allows the Mini and Datsun Roadster that gridded behind me to take an
outside line and pass us both as we go around and through the corner. This
puts me last, I take a couple of deep breaths, tell myself to be smooth
and relaxed and start to catch the DKW. I follow closely for a lap while
watching him lift his inside rear wheel about a foot off the ground in
hard corners! Pass with power to spare in the main straight, next up the
Mini. I've always liked Mini's and would have loved to buy one, but all
the ones I could find when looking for a racer were out of my price range.
Following this cute red Mini reminds me of all of this, especially how
Mini's seem to be able to corner without even getting off the gas. I catch
and pass him in the main straight after about another lap. Now have some
open track ahead, turn another smooth lap and find myself on the tail of
the Datsun. After two laps thinking our cars were evenly matched, he
misses an Apex, gets a bit out of shape, slows, and waves me by. Lots
more open track, two more good feeling quick laps and I find a black TR-3.
I close in and both of us pick up the pace some. Another lap and a half
and I'm thinking that I won't be able to get by him. Then going into the
"boot", (a two part corner before the main straight), I brake harder and
later then I ever had to this point, hit the apex on the button, get on
the power early, pull up next to and then finally pass him at the end of
the straight just as we brake and set up for the #1 corner. That felt
great! The next two laps, try as I may, I can't shake him. He's my shadow.
Now I'm the one pressing hard and feeling on the verge of making a
mistake. Sure enough, after a lap on the edge, we reverse roles in the
"boot" and he pulls a car length in front just as we charge under the
checkered flag. The corner workers all come out of hiding to wave at us on
the cool down lap, as we pull into the exit lane, all the students and the
rest of the instructors are standing, clapping, showing thumbs up. I feel
like I just won the Indy 500, what a high! George finds me in my pit,
pats me on the back, and tells me that I looked good, still missed a few
lines, but he's happy with my progress. This short race was the highlight
of the weekend. I'm hooked now, can't wait for the first real race. Just
two weeks away, same track.
Summary -
Everyone that knows my car, tells me that the Spitfire will handle much
better with different tires. Will have to try this. I'm very happy with
the way the car ran and the way the brakes worked (when I started using
them).
The Morgan Plus 8, moves almost to the top of my car "want list". The
owner says that he's only had to replace parts of his *wood* frame three
times, but the termite jokes are getting old.
Driving a car smoothly and fast on a race course is much harder than I had
thought, and I knew it would be difficult. Normal street driving does
nothing to prepare you for the track. It will take *many* more hours of
track time before the car feels comfortable and my driving skill reaches
that of a beginner. But what the heck, everyone was a beginner once.
Vintage Racing is a great place to meet people who enjoy automobiles and a
great way to see some of the best automobiles ever made. Try to make it to
a Vintage event near you this summer!
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