Good fun On June 11 at Riverside AX

[MikeD]

Mick Rosen and I recently did a TT event with the Alfa Romeo club, and it was eye opening to be on the track with other types of cars. We were out with 5.0 Mustangs, a Camaro, Mitsubishi Evo, a Wrx and an e36 M3.

Which track was this?

[Curt]

It could be partly age, of course. But our cars are not exactly the way they left the factory in 1973 and the tubs and suspension design didn't change until 1989 on these cars. So we basically have very lightweight, updated suspensions and more power '89 911's. And we were 500 lbs lighter than the BMW and we had more rubber on the ground.

The Porsche factory 993 race cars had plenty of problems with the BMW factory e36 M3 race cars. They were pretty even in the standings, with BMW taking the majority of the shorter races and Porsche taking the endurance races.

Once the 996 GT3-R came out, it rendered the e36 M3 and the 993 obsolete. I am going by my memories of the late 90's ALMS series and I seem to remember getting mad almost every race that the thirty Porsche 993's in the races had trouble with the three or four M3's.

Here's the real thing though.... I'm know that the M3 is way easier to drive than these early cars and when you are challenged in that area like me, easier is good.

[Curt]

Mick Rosen and I recently did a TT event with the Alfa Romeo club, and it was eye opening to be on the track with other types of cars. We were out with 5.0 Mustangs, a Camaro, Mitsubishi Evo, a Wrx and an e36 M3.

Which track was this?

It was a TT at California Speedway...........coughintheparkinglotcough cough

It was pretty equivalent to one of our west lot autocross tracks.

That was the weekend that the men in the club were inside racing on the real track and Mick and I were outside with the Alfa club due to my extreme aversion to high speeds and cement walls.

[Michael Dolphin]

[At the risk of sounding SDR biased he didn't run against our fast guys... Thats excluding me of coarse...
Or our TTOD king Steve "don't call me oil slick" Grosekemper...]

Assumptions, assumptions....

When I speak of "our fast guys...", I include the PCA club that is inclusive of and beyond SDR. There are a number of fast guys from other parts of the Zone that travel to other events outside their back yard, you know...

[/quote]

[Steve Grosekemper]

Michael Dolphin Wrote-
Assumptions, assumptions....

When I speak of "our fast guys...", I include the PCA club that is inclusive of and beyond SDR. There are a number of fast guys from other parts of the Zone that travel to other events outside their back yard, you know...

Michael is correct, there are some wickedly fast AX cars in other regions of the zone. The one that comes to mind that I have personal experience with is Bob Bertrand in his ultra light 914. The last SDR event he showed up at was no picnic for me. I had to pull out all the stops and probably would have lost on a SE lot venue.

I have been thinking of running the Zone circuit for awhile... Maybe we should get a group of SDR cars and run the circuit? Tom Tweed, Team Ibbetson, Group KP, SDR-OC boys... Oooo, well call int the SDR AX tour.... We could even get some T-shirts made up??

[gulf911]

I have a better idea, just send the Black wide body 3.6 car thats in AM....

Michael, my statements were meant to be tongue in cheek.. you know, like my dad can beat up your dad?.

When is your next streets event?

SDR-OC boy.

[Curt]

Hey Dan...... I think our old Orange Coast Region is having a saturday morning breakfast today at Mimi's Cafe..... you could go to that.

[Red Rooster]

Nope.......

They had a "tour to Ojai" today.

I don't think Dan would drive that far if there was no track at the end !!!

[ttweed]

When is your next streets event?

Dan-
The DAFW autox at Streets is on Monday, Oct. 3rd, the day after the SDR time trial at Spring Mountain on Oct. 1-2. You can drive over to Rosamond from Pahrump after doing the TT and have a third day on the track on your way home. I did it a couple years ago and it was a little tiring, but fun.

This year, the GER "California Challenge" Zone 8 autox is also happening in Shafter on Sunday, Oct. 2nd, conflicting with the TT at Spring Mountain. Since I have committed myself to the Zone 8 autox series this year rather than the TT series, I will be going to Shafter and then Willow instead of Pahrump.

TT

[ttweed]

Michael is correct, there are some wickedly fast AX cars in other regions of the zone. The one that comes to mind that I have personal experience with is Bob Bertrand in his ultra light 914.

There are some fast cars and drivers in other regions, but this example isn't one of them, Steve, since Bob is still an SDR member, even though he recently moved to AZ from El Cajon.

I think there is no doubt that the level of competition in SDR is much higher than anywhere else in the Zone, as Alan said, but to some degree, this is just due to the sheer number of track enthusiasts in SDR with extensive experience and fast, well-developed cars. The same guys who place in the top-ten here would also dominate in the Zone, but there would be a local driver or two in each event who would be able to sneak in and place there, too. I have never won TTOD in SDR, even in my AM car, I think 3rd is the highest I have ever been overall, but I have done it once in the Zone 8 event at Streets of Willow the year before last (mandatory annual dig at Michael Dolphin- "Where's my trophy, dude?" )

This year, in my GS car, I have never even placed in the top-10 in SDR, but I have placed 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th overall in the Zone events I have run so far, in a car with much less speed potential than my AM car. I think it is safe to say that both Alan and Michael are right--the overall competition level in the Zone is less than in SDR, due in some part to the sheer numbers involved, but there are some fast drivers and cars in every other region.