I had one heck of a great weekend in Peyote at SOVERN's PNW race at Seattle
International Raceway (SIR) this weekend. Peyote ran great, though my
unfortunate choice of some 60 series tires (I left the damn 70s in the
driveway at home) left me geared much too low and put me into the historic
big bore (over 2 litre) vs. vintage class. But that turned out to be a very
good thing, because Phil Hill was the guest driver and was in my group. Talk
about best seat in the house!
I ran out of RPM before the halfway mark on the front straight, and had time
to macrame' a beverage holder while waiting for turn one with the revs at
6200 (drone). The rest of the track was all 3rd and 4th gear. But I still
set a personal best time of 1:45:22 (previous best was 1:58.40 in the TR3)
while Mr. Hill (we are not worthy, we are not worthy...) did 1:44:92 in
Craig McCaw's Panamerica Ferrari (with the carbs going sour in every turn,
some very spooky body roll, and great big BAGS of horsepower when the gas
drained back down into the carbs). Thankfully I did not turn a better time
than Phil since I would have had it tatooed on my forehead, and that would
have smarted, methinks.
Peyote is an absolute blast to drive. I passed a gaggle of Ferraris,
including 2 Testarossas, some very fast Devlins (corvair and Porsche
powered, a bunch of other good racecars, and everyone else in my class,
giving me two class wins for the weekend and an eight overall. Too much fun.
I've got some great Video of both races that I'll have to show off at the
VTR get together--including great shots of Phill Hill with Peyote's nose
knocking on his door in the long sweeper at PIR they call Big Indy while his
carbs splutter. Of course then the gas drops back into the float bowls, the
tires hook up and he screams away--what fun. And what an elegant driver he
is. Anyone who's coming to VTR that has racing videos should bring them,
I'll set up a projector and we'll show 'em on a fifteen foot screen.
So I had far and away the best racing weekend of my life. Phil signed the
decklid of Peyote (rather blandly before the race, though he was much more
curious about it after--he wanted to know what the heck it was). The little
junkyard dog thoroughly peed all over a host of pedigreed cars, ripping by
them pretty much at will, anywhere but the middle of the straight.
I don't know how many of you have met Phil Hill before, but it was a huge
thrill for me to meet a guy I have idolized since I was ten years old, and
find him to be warm, kind, and genuinely interested and excited to be
playing around in old cars. He's as much of a nut as all the rest of us. It
was an honor to meet him and a thrill to be on a track with him at racing
speed. He started at the back in the first race--I was gridded 21 of 45, and
when he passed me on the seventh lap you can see my arm pumping in the video
camera. I was overjoyed to have him in front of me so I could get him and
that gorgeous big car on video. Not that I slowed to let him get by or
anything--I held him off for two laps.
It was a very messy weekend for some--Ray Marty thoroughly destroyed his
Alpha when he hit a huge oil slick deposited in turn one at the end of the
straight by Old Yeller blowing it's motor to bits (I stuck my right rear
wheel into the same slick, but nothing bad happened--just wobbled a bit).
Vic Edlebrock turned his lovely Lister Corvette into junk, going off in a
very improbable place (turn four, which is hardly more than a kink), plowing
up a lot of agriculture, and winding up back on the track, upside down.
Neither racer was seriously hurt, though their cars were trashed. Both were
in my race group. Vic's mishap ended my second race after the seventh lap.
Monday was a race day too, but it was raining heavily in the morning though
it stopped about 8:00. I like racing in the wet, but I decided if it rained
again after 10:00 AM that I'd call it a day and save the car from any mishap
for next weekend. It did, so I did.
What a weekend. And next weekend is the Portland Historics.
Bill
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