(This posting has British content, general autocross content, and even some
British autocross content.)
The 22nd-23rd of May was quite a weekend in the Twin Cities, both for British
cars and autocross action. Separately for me, worse luck. I will get them
both together again when the Lotus is together again.
I started the weekend off Friday night by breaking a 23-year streak of good
luck. I was in the Mighty K-wagon, returning from taking my younger daughter.
Beth, to a play practice, when I picked up my first traffic ticket since 1970.
I was proceeding at a safe, sane and illegal speed. Damn.
First, the British bit. Terry Pitts, LOON President and fellow Europa owner,
picked me up early Saturday morning in his son's Spridget. Supposedly a 1970,
but the round-arch body belies that. Terry has been told the body is 1974, but
it lacks the reinforcing box sections in the trunk that my round-arch tub had.
Anybody know when these large diagonal box sections were put in? The did not
appear needed for the little chrome bumpers the round-arch had. They looked
like something to support the porno-bumpers, but the rubber bumper cars all had
square arches. Weird.
We motored top-down to breakfast with some of our Lotus Owners Of the North
members. The weather was mostly cloudy, but we believed the rain would hold
off. Temps were moderate and the drive pleasant.
After breakfast, we walked next door to join the assembly for the Jaguar club's
All-British drive and picnic. There was nice variety of Britcars: Several
Jags including E-types, some later sedans, and a reproduction C-Jag driven by
the fellow who brought the neat prewar Midget last year. A couple of big
Healeys, one of them with triple SUs and chromed wire wheels. A bright yellow
Mini sported Cosmic wheels. LOON member Tommy Schramm had his Mini Traveler
complete with Colin, the Saint Bernard. Yes, he IS named after the founder of
Lotus Cars. One lone Morgan upheld the banner of Malvern Link. There were
Triumphs covering a wide spectrum. I remember a TR-2, a TR-3, a TR-250, a
couple of TR-6 models and one TR-8 convertible. The MG contingent consisted of
a TC, a TF and Terry's modern Midget. LOON had three Esprits there, two turbos
and an S2. I have to say I prefer the S2. Since the ALFA Romeo club heavily
supports vintage rallying here, the welcome extended to an ALFA 2600 and a
GTV-6.
We were supposed to motor to the Minnesota zoo in Apple Valley. The
organization and planning for the drive was unfortunately not up to the
previous year's standard. We had to go across the Minnesota River at Shakopee.
There is always a major traffic jam there when ValleyFair (kind of a "Six
Flags" outfit) is in session. It is even worse due to the Bloomington Ferry
Bridge being closed (the approach roads are under water, which gives you a hell
of a shortcut if you have an Amphicar). One of the Turbo Esprits ducked out
and went home to Wisconsin, as the temperature gauge was getting unfriendly in
the long wait. We reformed on the other side of town after all the traffic
lights and set out again. When we came to a road closing, they could not
figure out what to do. Instead of following the posted detour onto
sparsely-traveled country roads, they elected to backtrack to a crowded state
highway. Maybe they knew there was gravel or something on the detour. When we
returned to the planned route, much of it ran through a shopping-mall area
littered with traffic and traffic lights. There was a disappointing dearth of
curvy and scenic country roads.
When we got to the Zoo's picnic area, we found the car park was sand and
gravel, which was picked up by the wind and blown on the cars. The lucky and
smart grabbed parking spots on the windward edge of the lot. There were a few
cars there that had arrived directly, an MGB-GT and a TD among them.
Terry and I had to leave before the picnic got started, as the drive had sucked
all our available time. I hate to flame the Jaguar club, as past events have
been so enjoyable, but this one one demonstrates that you can't lay out an
event like this by looking at a road map. You have to get out and drive it the
same time of day a week before and see what is what.
I drove the Midget on the way back. The driver's seat was lower than the
early-model on Bridget, but otherwise the car still had the familiar Midget
feel. The 3.90 gears contributed to a more relaxed cruise. The ridiculously
skinny tires and vintage stock suspension allow you to have lots of fun at
lower speeds than the serious autocross stuff that Bridget had when I sold her.
I had just enough time to cut the grass before the rains came. The rest of the
day and night was taken up with (my older daughter) Amy's 17th birthday party
and autocross preparation.
I guess this is where I shift into autocross mode, but there were British cars
there, too! :-)
My teenage buddy Brian Haglund was pumped for his debut of the E Stock Renault
GTA he bought last winter. It came with two sets of stock 15x6 Ronal alloys,
one set wearing 195-50-15 Yoko A008RS tires with some life left in them. Brian
was wondering about driving them in the rain. I told him that as long as you
were not driving through standing water, they would still stick better than the
street tires. We put the stickies on and checked the car over. The CV joints
are getting really iffy, otherwise it is in fine shape.
Bill Kempe arrived in his 1986 (second-generation) RX-7. We replaced the
transmission fluid with the trick RedLine stuff. The synchros had not been
very cooperative, and Bill was told this would help. We put on Bill's new
alloys and fresh 205-50-15 Yoko stickies. Last week I helped him replace the
absolutely shot programmable rear shocks with Konis. You have to take the
stereo speakers out to reach the adjusters :-(.
Bill went home in Amy's 1982 626. I told him the alternator was inop, but not
to worry, I had just put a full charge on the DieHard Gold in it. Bill is the
paid music director for a church. He was to take the 626 to his gig whilst I
registered the RX-7 and took my first runs. With the approval of the C Stock
drivers, Bill could catch up on his runs later.
I dinged with Bill's car for a while. I discovered the battery hold-downs were
falling off. I remembered some stuff that came on the Lotus, and was able to
build a more secure setup.
The rain let up. The party goers all got home safely, and we crashed late.
Sunday AM, Brian and I convoyed to Canterbury Downs in a heavy mist/light
sprinkle. This was to set the tone for the day. We never got a pounding rain,
but it never quite stopped, either, just vacillated between a sprinkle and a
medium rain all day.
I had never driven an RX-7 before that morning. The drive from home didn't
teach me what to expect. I was less worried about the power and handling than
I was about figuring out how close I was to the pylons, especially on the
right.
The course was typical Randy Williams. Easy to follow, hard to master. On
Randy's courses, the corners can often be taken much faster than they first
appear. He often gives you a little extra space where you can really use it,
that is not noticeable by a novice. The white lines are for course following
only, and are not to be respected. So the course was a challenge to drive
really fast, but novices would not get lost or unduly surprised by anything.
It was the perfect example of why you should walk the course, and why you
should get out, shag pylons, and see what lines the fast guys use.
There was one section that looked like two square 90-degree corners, lined with
cones, separated by a short straight. Ah, but the white line on the outside of
this short straight had no pylons in the center section. This combo was really
just a sweeping 180 with two places to apex. Real fun in the RX-7 on the wet
pave.
There was only one place where the water pooled up on the track. You could hit
it going straight with a little planning, and as long as it did not off your
ignition, really did not slow you down. By later in the day, the cars were
making quite a splash through there, but I didn't see any ignitions drowned
out.
I reverted to my job as posting czar, as my feet seem to have recovered to
the point where I can stay on them without losing the ability to walk. I kept
very busy. The separate start-stop theory keeps two cars on the track
virtually all the time, and we really run them through. We got in 5 runs for
the 76 cars.
I drove two runs which seemed OK, but lackluster, at 62.805 and 62.257. The
third run I really hosed the entry to the straight. I took too early an apex,
understeered like crazy, and had to drop to first gear to exit the corner. I
figured the rest of this run was practice, so I really turned up the flame. It
was great fun, a-slippin' and a-slidin' Entering the first of the
aforementioned two square 90-degree corners, I lost the rear a little. I added
a quick steering correction but I had come in on my line and smacked two of the
cones in the cluster of three marking the first apex. I continued to press,
and made the rest of the run clean, if a little shaky. 62.543. Considering
the time lost on the first screwup, this made me think I could go quite a bit
faster. The rain had picked up for the next one. I tried to put together all
I had learned, and it felt faster. 62.842. Huh? My slowest time yet? I was
pretty confused now. No matter what I did, my times were all pretty much the
same. I could not figure out why my times were not dropping as I got used to
the car. My last run, I went for broke, figuring it did not matter now if I
blew a run, as I was not showing improvement anyway. I said as I came off the
course that if that was not faster, I had completely lost my ability to judge.
Well, I haven't. 61.059.
Meanwhile, Bill had arrived as second runs were in session. Our CS competitors
had granted Bill the right to catch up. He started out slower than I, but
quickly passed me up like a dirty shirt. 63.422, 65.109, 60.572, 60.559,
60.719. He had me by exactly .500 seconds. Not too bad, considering that I
had never driven an RX-7 in an autocross before. This is Bill's third time out
in the car, and he thinks it needs a front bar. I think he just needs to know
it better.
The good news is that as the day went on, the synchros seemed to work better
and better. Maybe these RedLine guys know what they are talking about, eh?
Larry Felsing, in his first-gen RX-7, was determined to beat the hot new guy
that has been giving him fits in an MR-2. He did so convincingly, winding up
7th overall of the 76 entrants. CS results:
1 LARRY FELSING RX-7 57.215
2 DAVE BAHL MR2 58.856
3 BILL KEMPE RX-7 60.559
4 PHIL ETHIER RX-7 61.059
5 RISE CIEGLER MR2 66.401
6 GERI KASAL MIATA 68.144
7 TERRY PITTS MIDGET 68.165
8 BONNIE HOLGER MIATA 68.387
Terry just ran the Midget in CS to collect series points for future runs in his
MR-2, which was being used elsewhere. His Europa is not quite decanted for the
season yet. Next I suppose he will be bringing out his V-12 Jag sedan, which
is nearing completion.
BRITISH HONOUR was upheld by LOONy Glenn Ciegler in his Europa S2. He splashed
to victory in the combined AP, BP, EP, FP class and 4th overall with a 56.964.
Brian Martens babied the newly-rebuilt engine in his Dutton (which runs AP here
due to its similarity to a Lotus 7 and the less-structured Prepared rules Met
Council uses) and came in with 61.730, good for fifth of six. Can't wait to see
what happens when it is fully broken-in and he lets 'er rip. Hopefully, I will
be joining that fray soon.
BRITISH HONOUR again: Brian Erickson finessed his MGB to first of seven in
DSP, 6th overall with a 57.053 Mark Fitzpatrick, in his father's absence, came
in third with the family MGB at 60.077.
TEAM.NET HONOR was upheld by Bob Fogt's Renault LeCar (Lotus-engine-donor
marque). Bob had never autocrossed in the rain before, and told me he felt
completely lost in the early runs. He independently figured out what I told
Brian about autocross tires was true and got down to 59.582 to take second
place in DSP. This got him into the top twenty overall.
Sadly, no British story seems complete without electrical problems. Dwight
McCullough and his son Brian brought a rubber-bumper MGB to run in E Stock.
The windshield wipers gave up even before runs started. They wound up bringing
up the rear of the ten-car class with 66.896 and 70.829, respectively.
Interestingly, Dwight told me that Bridget the Spridget was in his shop for
some work. She is still owned by the guy I sold her to. He has sold off all
the spare parts and the round arch tub. He now wants to sell the car. He is
asking too much, as the body has been worked over. I told the guy that the
round-arch tub would make a better car, but he apparently elected to stick with
the pasted-together body. When I told Norm Johnson the news from Dwight about
what the guy was doing with his old wheels, he screamed in agony. How's this
for poor taste: the guy is running the 5.5" alloy wheels *with plastic fake
wire-wheel covers*. Dwight discovered that the owner still has the Winner's
Circle sway bars and Panhard rod. He is hoping to get them as part of his
mechanic's fee, and build one of his Spridgets for DSP.
British enthusiasts were happy to see that we actually got a Mini, which have
become very rare at autocrosses here. The 1275 Cooper S, unfortunately on
dinky all-weather tires, managed a 63.952 to finish 7th in E Stock. The
driver, Raymond Farr, is new to us. Hope he sticks around, finishes his
restoration and educates all these young guys about what a Mini can do.
Brian Haglund faced his first rain event and his first time in his new car. He
posted 72.568, 68.114, 65.560, 65.650, 64.271 to finish behind the Mini. Some
guy was looking at the times after third runs and said that Brian's times
looked like timing problems because they were changing so fast. I told him
that they showed the kid was learning. Brian wound up 52nd overall of the 76
entrants, so I think he is doing OK. He has never put so many behind him
before.
Fastest time of day was Peter Jarosch in his Super Vee (nee' FF) Titan at
53.609, followed by Mike Skillingstad in the Red Devil 440 at 54.371.
Randy Williams took third overall with a 54.610 in his BS MR2 Turbo, winning
the PRO class on PAX. This is the car that took third in BS at the Salina
Nationals last year. Can't wait to see what Randy does with it at Nationals
this year.
After the event, we all went out for dinner at local sports bar and dried out
whilst watching the Bobby Rahal drama on Bubble Day at the Brickyard. Then it
was back to the homestead, where the garage saw continuous action changing the
tires on the RX-7 and the GTA, followed by removal of the 626's
alternator/regulator.
Naturally, by this time there were only a few fluffy little clouds in the sky,
with the stars shining clearly among them.
Phil Ethier, THE RIGHT LINE, 672 Orleans Street, Saint Paul, MN 55107-2676
h (612) 224-3105 w (612) 298-5324 phile@pwcs.stpaul.gov USA
"The workingman's GT-40" - Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman
|