Thanks, Mr. Rogers and everyone else who wished me luck or physically helped me out. John, we were dying watching you kill that Corvette under braking and into every turn only to have him out drag race you to the next turn. There was a nice cheer when you finally came back towards us and into the tire chicane in front of him. Yes, Ike Bruckmann was there racing. Roland Schmidt showed up to watch. A PCA member named John Lyons(sp?) also came down to spectate. Sean and John from Autobahn Parts came on Sunday. There were always some familiar PCA faces in the crowd.
Yeah, there was some drama alright! During the Sunday driver's meeting, there was some announcements about tech inspection after the races. Some guys were making noise that sounded like it was targeted towards my car, which was declared legal at the last race. Seems my adjustable spring perches, which are neccessary for the legally shorter and heavier springs, were the subject of disagreement as to whether they were legal. Was that the secret to my speed?
I decided to remove all doubt. I didn't want any ill feelings from the other drivers nor did I want to risk losing the class and overall points championship with a nasty DQ.
It was 10:47 am. The race was at 1:30pm. I swapped my straight pipe back to my street muffler, jetted back across the border in my trusty 924S, grabbed a set of stock struts and springs (180lbs) from my 944 parts stash and ran them back down to the track. We removed the adjustable spring perches, swapped out the 8 " tall 400 lb springs for the dead stock 16"? tall 180? lb ones. Quite a change. It added about 6 inches of ride height to the front. I tightened the front sway bar about 1.5 inches (huge change) to try to compensate for the softer springs. I put the straight pipe back on and rolled off for the grid. I got about 100 yards down the paddock and smelled burning rubber! DOH! The springs were rubbing the inside wall of the front tires because the 924S came with 6" wheels, not the 7's I was currently using! *&%$#@. Back to our paddock spot . Discussing options. Adding spacers? Illegal. Camber? I let someone quickly convince me that wouldn't work. I thought I might be screwed. Wait a minute...the strut moves independently of the steering knuckle/spindle/wheel. That might work! We dialed out all the camber and the springs just barely cleared. Sean and John from Autobahn Parts slapped the front wheels back on, while I was changing into my "business suit" and torqued 'em down. I rolled into the hot pits in front of the grand stands and asked where they wanted me to grid. I could hear the fans as the announcer let them know I was back in the fight. I was on pole but was ready to accept starting from the back of the field, which was already assembling on the start line for a standing start. They told me to take my position on pole. Fantastic! So there I was, ready to start in a car set up like crap. I had a 4 inch "off road" gap between the top of my front tires and the fenders, a huge sway bar change, zero to positive camber in the front, but nobody could contest the legality of my car. I didn't even know what the car would do in the very first turn! The only thing I could think of was my indoor karting days when I had to find a way to adapt quickly to each unknown kart that was assigned to us moments before a race. With the class and overall points championship on the line, I had to assess the car quickly and try to play to its strengths and baby it in the weak spots. I came off the line hard with high revs, something I have never learned to do well! I apologized outloud immediately to my clutch. Car oversteered like mad, but after a few turns I got the hang of that. It also got tons of wheel spin out of the turns because of the soft front end causing the opposite rear wheel to lift. Ok, shift apexes and be more gentle on the gas out of the turns. I fell to second quickly with my Mexican archrival, Eduardo Goris gaining from fourth, where he qualified. Yikes. Better get it together quickly, Timmay!
Started adapting and then started pushing. Eduardo was fading back. Caught up with the leader, Johhny Pag, also in a 944 spec car, and started applying some pressure. He cracked right in front of the grand stands and hit the outside curb just hard enough to shatter the pass. side inboard CV bearing cage. Sidelined him quickly. I finished first, broke the points tie between Eduardo and I, and clinched the Category C Championship. We decided to keep running the car as is and got ready for the 1 hour enduro, which would decide the overall Series Points Driver Championship. There were 3 drivers tied for first in overall points! Talk about stress! If Eduardo beat me in the Enduro, we'd be tied again!
Thankfully, the Enduro was shortened to 30 minutes due to a shortage of daylight left. I ran as hard as I dared and finished 1st in class and 3rd overall to win the Drivers Championship. The weekend was really fun, exciting, rewarding, but I swear it took a couple years away from my life expectancy!
A great big heartfelt thanks is in order to some helpful PCA members who wouldn't give up on seeing me make it to the starting grid. THANK YOU PCA San Diego.
The fans.
The food.
The drink.
The culture.
You gotta try road racing in Mexico!
(Beautiful trophies, too!)
