I just got back from a real fun weekend at Laguna Seca. The SF Region
of the SCCA manages to put on only one full vintage event a year now,
and this was it. Towing to the track on Friday was a royal mess due to
monsoon-like weather. (Note: a monsoon in California would be
described as "light showers" elsewhere.) Upon arriving at the track, I
pulled into the paddock to be confronted by a wall of trailers. "What
the f...?" We had to stand around all afternoon watching Skip Barber
students frighten rubber cones. When we finally got the go ahead it was
like the California gold rush as everything from minitrucks to massive
transporters rushed for space all at once. Scary! It also reminded me
of that scene from "Independance Day, the 4th of July" when the armada
of motor homes dashed across the desert. The SCCA tech people were good
enough to do trailer tech on Friday, which saved some time the following
AM. The only problem I had was a main power switch that didn't want to
provide juice first thing Saturday, but it finally cooperated before the
first session. Other than that, the car ran fine all weekend.
The weather Saturday and Sunday was absolutely wonderful. The air was
cool, the sun was shining, there was a light breeze, and there was no
fog or clouds at all. Once things got rolling, the event was well run,
with no major delays. The only real hangup was the sound regs. The
atmospheric conditions apparently contributed to excessive sound levels.
The big bore Formula/Can-Am cars were in real trouble. Their entire
group got black-flagged on Saturday, even with a 103dB limit. You never
saw such a Rube Goldberg assortment of mufflers, baffles, things to
direct the sound away from the microphone, etc. They managed to keep it
down enough to race on Sunday. The small bore production group also had
trouble with a 90dB limit, requiring a pace car at one point. I got by
with a small Supertrapp tacked on the end of my pipe, same as last year.
I was running the Bourgeault Formula Junior. I knew I had a lock on
last place, but I don't care. Between the Steve Earle tires, and a
primitive suspension design, the car is safe and fun, but not very
competitive. Most of the cars in the small bore formula group were 10
years newer than mine. Laguna is such a wonderful track to drive on, it
was worth it. They even swept the entire track with a Zamboni-like
machine several times. The fee was reasonable, and there was adequate
track time. There were 58 cars registered in my group!! Even with
normal attrition, there were 42 starters for the feature race on Sunday.
I tried to have a friendly dice with one of the FVees, but he didn't get
the idea. I found out later it was only his second race. I would pass
him on the long straight, and then point him by in the slow corners only
to try to pass him again later. He was confused. Incidentally, it was
Jerry Burr's old car! I knew Jerry was better than this guy at passing
me and making it stick. I can outdrag any FVee on the straight, but
they just drive right around me in the corners. We did have to keep our
mirrors polished for these flying packs of FFords coming thru, tho.
There were definitely some oddball cars there. There was an ersatz GTO
Ferrari there, a Jag XK120 that was giving the Vettes and GT350s a good
run, a 1984 Vette (huh?) and a Spec Racer Renault (double huh?). My
Junior was the oldest car in the open wheel group, the only one on wire
wheels, and the only one with a motor not traceable to a Ford or VW
product. ;=) There was also an Indycar, a few F5000s and some original
USRRC cars in the big bore formula/Sports Racer group. All in all a fun
weekend. Most people managed to keep it clean and bring 'em back alive.
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