Reporting From Daytona (insert teletype sound here)
This weekend Butch Davis and I did our best to represent the FOT at the
SCCA National/CER/Vintage races at the Daytona speedway, with our nearly
twin green TR4s. Throughout the weekend, both cars performed flawlessly,
and we enjoyed chasing each other and the other vintage cars around the
high banking and infield twisties. At one point I passed Butch like he was
standing still, which he was, having just spun to a stop in the middle of
turn 5, causing a Mini and I to take to the grass to keep from making a
lasting impression on his door.
Daytona was really intimidating at first, but the Sunday afternoon race was
a genuine blast. The car seemed quite content at 5500 on the banks and
straights, which I think is just about redline for me, even though I think
the car has more in it. Actually, the scary part of the banking was on the
pace lap when the pace car had us going so slow it felt like we were going
to fall off the track.
The SCCA Florida vintage group is handled as a single class during the
regular race weekend, so we were running with everything from a verrry fast
'66 Mustang to a 2 cylinder Deutsch Beignet (sp?) and everything in
between. It was pretty exciting when just after passing a bugeye Sprite on
the front straight the Mustang and a Porsche came blasting by, followed by
some little open wheeled racer that I couldn't identify.
Anyhow, we had a great time and everyone respected the big white "X"s on
the back of our TR4s. I want to thank Mike Jackson of TR3 fame for pushing
me to come down. The entry fee was only $100 and bought me a truly
memorable weekend. Next up, Sebring in 3 weeks.
Cheers,
Don Marshall
TR4A #11
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