NARRC runoffs

[Roux]

Any updates? Any one have results to share?

Did the CF race run in the rain?

Did Mike Rand have a Ford powered Crossle in the CF race and a Honda powered one in the FF race?

I had to work and missed the NARCOFFs for the first time in many years. Would love to know what happened

Steve

[jpmacnicholl]

Friday-Qaulify

I, Glen Taylor 55.5
2, Mike Rand 56.7
3. Jim MacNicholl 57.6
4. Joe Marcinski 58.2
5. William Velkoff 59.2
6. Alan VanDeWeghe 59.6

Saturday-Race

Wet track/not raining/1-5 on rains/Alan on slicks.
Mike drives off in the new honda CF, I lose Glen
after a few laps in traffic. A couple laps later Joe
goes by in traffic. I have Will behind me and spin
coming out of big ben, he spins avoiding me. I get
going and pass Joe on the down hill on the last lap,
he's out of gas. Glen caught Mike in lap 16, Mike had
cooked the front tires, then Glen drives off !!!!!

!. Glen Taylor
2. Mike Rand
3. Jim MacNicholl
4. William Velkofj Jr
5. Joe Marcinski
6. Alan VanDeWeghe
AND
2. F500
12. FV

[Nick77]

What happened to Alex Mayer wasn't he leading the FF's on the last lap

[Will Velkoff]

We missed ya out there Steve, was an interesting race, track conditions were changing every lap it seemed.

Was wild driving into the river down No Name Straight with 5-6 cars at once, hadda wipe the visor before heading into the uphill many times! Also the HUGE oil down coming off the downhill onto the front straight from the Miata in group 1 was treacherous at the start.

For the first 10 laps or so four of us had a nice string of laps together. Then Jim spun and I got into the wet grass when avoiding him and did a few spins then ended up on the outside of the track in the left hander. Glad no damage was done and we both got fired back up and continued along

My first NARRC Runoffs was awesome, can't wait for next year!

I heard the announcer say that Rand went down the downhill on the grass in his last lap in the FF race (group 6), that must have been hairy if it was true!

[Michael Rand]

Hi guys, not really sure where to post this as it invloves Formula F, NARRC Formula F, Crossle, Fit, etc etc, but figure hrere is as good a place as any....
So, NARRC Runoffs weekend, get comfortable, grab a beverage, this is going to be a substantial post.
Thursday September 29. Eric Langbein delivers the latest Fit conversion to Lime Rock for the NARRC Runoffs weekend. He had a thrash as several items presented issues but with good engineering and his usual resourcefullness he prevailed and unloaded an immaculate [yeah yeah I know, I'll Randize it soon enough but it is a stunning example of Erics work] 36 year old Crossle 30F all fitted out with it's new Honda Fit motor.
Very cool looking with the intake and plenum sticking out of the motor cover like a street rod or something, just needs a few zoomies to complete the look !
The arrival creates a steady stream of curious folks who may in fact not seen any Fit converted cars much less a Club Ford version, which this example is the worlds first and to any of our knowledge the only in existence.
The comments are gratifying for Erics efforts, the installation looks like factory work and nothing is out of place, just spectacular, a 36 year old car with a modern up to date motor. What a concept.
Eris is far to gracious to say anything but mumbled thanks but his work is beyond first class......
So with great anticipation Eric stays with Tracy and I that night, Tracy prepares her usual fine dinner after a few Dark n' Stormys a good nights sleep in preperation for the big day Friday. Much like a kid at Christmas, up at the crack of dawn.......
Friday September 30.
I have coughed up the double entry fee to run in region seperated NCF and FF run groups, always interesting to to go from the fastest on the track to the slowest as FF runs with FA- Track record holder Paul LeCain and John Dole, out for his first run in his lately acquired Swift 016, which looks as big as an IndyCar, joined by Lime Rock regular Shelton Lindsay, 3 FA at a Regional, not bad, a full field of FC [12 cars total]including numerous F2000 regulars playing in Chris Fahans sandbox, a few very fast C and D Sportsracers as well as a painfully slow CSR that should not have been allowed to run under any circumstances as he qualified over 10 seconds slower than his class pole, enough soapbox Rand, sprinkle in a few FE's, one slow FB who barely outqualified the FF guys being ahead of Doug Hobbys FF pole by less than a tenth.
I think that sentence may set a record even for me !
Anyway, NCF runs with FV and F500, the F5 field featuring Road America Runoffs pole sitter Mike Brent and NYR operative and Runoffs competitor Dave Lapham, they had not the results expected at Elkhart so licked their wounds at the Regional NARRC Runoffs......
back to the FF field, there were 7 entered, but Eddie Callo managed to swipe his right front corner off in a single car incident hitting the wall between the runoff at Big Bend luckily with no personal injury but the unique Bowman will need a few hours work before F1600 finale at the Glen in under 2 weeks.
So, the very first session for the Crossle Fit, no issues beyond the expected regearing, I had decided rather than guessing and then needing to go do it again to simply run my usual Kent gears and then change, which worked out ok as all 4 ratios needed adjustment. Even 1st as I drive LRP as a 4 speed, many run as a 3 speed.
The 2nd session is with the fast cars and aside from staring in the mirrors and trying to stay out of the way I find the gearing is fine but late in the session, what is that odd noise suddenly ? Vaguely tranny sounding but all gears work and drive is ok, stop in the pitlane and Eric instantly sees the O2 sensor Bung completely blown out of the exhaust pipe ! He made a work of art in thinwall stainless but the prescribed distance for location of the O2 placed it right on the outside of a bend and it broke the weld all the way around as it cracked the pipe as well.
So, off to Doug Hobbys Autosport in Sharon and Eric affects a repair with their MIG welder.
Unfortunately for me Eric really needs to get back on his way home, a 7 hour drive, so with great trepidation he leaves me on my own.
Both afternoon sessions go by problem free beyond my newest set of tires deciding they are tired of playing and give up. I qualify 2nd to Glenn Taylor in NCF but behind both Brent and Lapham and 4th in FF behind Hobby, Taylor and Callo with young Alex Mayer close behind along with Alan Walker and Don Veith returning after a few years off with a DB-1 purcheased from Hobby.
So motor issues fixed and faultless but now tires an issue......
But the weather forecast is for an almost all day soaking on Saturday, fine with me as I have a set of sticker Goodyear rains ready to go !
This is going on and on so I am going to pick it up on Saturday am in a following post....

[Michael Rand]

Saturday October 1
A very fall like cool rain is falling as 100 Racing, being me, the Crossle is 36 years old and I am 64, get it ?, heads to the track all of 5 miles from the house.
Stupidly I had neglected to get a new battery for my SnapOn impact wrench so back to the drudgery of 16 wheel nuts off and 16 on. And a fresh set of pads all around as the reason for the long brake pedal became painfully obvious when changing the front wheels and tires. All 4 pads had just enough material left to catch a fingernail at the very least so caught before rotor damage but come on Rand, pay a little attention please.
Warmups over, group 1 race, the rain has stopped but lots of spray, plenty wet, standing water, lots of relatively heavy cars, but committed to rains we all head to the grid.
Brent for some reason doesn't run, so Taylor, Lapham make up the front row with me and Jimmy MacNicholl next followed by Joe Marcinski with his beautiful Tiga, the improving Will Velkoff in the 30F I sold him over the winter and Alan Van De Weghe then the Vees, all 14 of them, but I must admit it seemed like there were twice as many !
Sitting on the grid as Race 1 ends, what the hell ? Sunshine ? Blue sky ? Oh crap.....
Rains were without question right for a 15 or 20 lapper, definately not so much as the NARRC Runoffs runs a longer than National 32 lap race !
Fresh sticker Goodyears are magic, I mean, unreal, passed Glenn and Dave at West Bend [we'll revist West Bend later.....] and disappear, literally, by seconds per lap.
Taylor started on a 5-6 year old set of well run Avons rains and was no match, at least for a while !
Sunshine, go away today, that damn song in my head, the line drying quickly, desperately running anywhere there was water, to no avail.
Those manificent sticky soft fresh tires began throwing ever increasing amounts of tire worms at me, even as I tried to not lean on the fronts to hard, all but impossible at the right handed ovall that LRP is.
No stopping, or even fighting , Lapham as he comes up and goes on by. Not my class, not that much concern, but who/what is that gaining every lap ? Damn, it's Taylor in the PRS.
Nothing to do as the tires are junk already so just get to the checker. Marcinski gets close but I step it up as this is going to be a very expensive 2nd place.
So, the first start for a Crossle Fit started out spectacular with marching off to a good lead but ends in second place, but the motor and car seem fine.
Post race inspoection reveals the exhaust pipe cracking more around the O2 bung so whip it off and more welding to get another 30 laps hopefully.
Now remember I mentioned the used up tires in Fridays qualifying ? With the sun out and a dry track and no rain on the radar for hours, what do I do for my second race with the fast group ?
Well Glenn Taylor had bought the only set of Hoosier 60's, the required NCF tires, from the Hoosier dealer attending, but he was running the F1600 Pro Series 45's in the FF race so with little discussion he agreed to let me use his 2 session old 60's.
Our FF race had Doug Hobby on pole, then Glenn Taylor, Callo who did not start, me, Mayer, Walker and Veith all grouped at the back of the grid.
Sitting on the grid is was obvious there was immense potential for double yellows.
And so it proved, beginning lap 2 a 4-5-6 car spin involving mostly [all ?] FC cars in Big Bend and we gathered behind the pace car. 2 laps and only one car remained, Alex Tollefsen [son of past FA competitor Kjell [sp ?]] up alongside the tire wall drivers right after the 2nd apex.
Lap after lap we drone around, and lap after lap there seems to be more track equipment and personell in attendance, but Alex is standing around watching and is obviously unhurt, what's going on ?
Only one possible answer, confirmed after the fact, the first tow truck got itself stuck in the wet grass and mud and they called for another tow truck to pull the tow truck out !
Must have been 6-7-8 very slow laps behind the safety car before we got the green but as is said, cautuons breed cautions, and maybe 2 laps later another full course, then we race a bit, than another caution, get the idea ?
Anyway, when we could actually race we had an entertaining little race with Taylor, Hobby, Mayer and myself. Hobby had a float go bad or something and dropped out. Alex Mayer, a very fast young driver, looks like he's all of 16, Glenn and I trading places and generally having a good FF battle.
The time and laps running down, Glenn takes Alex at the uphill surprising Alex and giving me a momentum run on Alex into West Bend.
Good deal, pass accomplished, now Taylor, but at the apex I feel a hit and I am airborn my left rear riding up and over Alex's right front, what he was thinking I don't know, but it breaks his right front suspension, I spin to a stop, pop the belts and sit up but notice nothing looks bent [Crossles are STRONG], slide back in, the Fit refires instantly, I run through the grass drivers right from the bridge onto the front straight and someone is waving me on as the checker is out and the car is driving ok and why not take the checker on track rather than pit lane ?
Oh yeah, no belts, that could be one reason....
So, in all this I drop to 3rd on FF behind Alan Wallker while Glenn wins his second race of the day.
Great to have him back, we have raced each other hard for years, maybe decades.

Now, and I will post something similar elsewhere, a huge heartfelt thanks to Marc Sours, Tom Grosart and all at HPD and Honda, especially Eric Langbein for the superb installation, I figure I'll be dead before the Fit is !
If anyone has a CF or older FF that they intend to race for years and are about to spend $5-10K for a Kent, think about converting, Eric and HPD are coming up with an installation kit for older cars with Mk8/9 Hewland, yes it is a financial hit at the start but will pay for itself in a few years of no expensive rebuilds or rods out the side, Kautz had that happen at the LRP Pro weeknd and that started his Runoffs hell week.
Now if Club will take our experience in the Pro Series with Restrictor size and equalize, Mayer has a killer Kent for instance and could drive by barely with a draft, and 5-6-7 races per year is your schedule then maybe 10 years worth of motorsport is not unreasonable to expect.

Again, thanks to HPD and Honda and Eric Langbein Racing.

[EACIII]

I only have one word for the NARRC Runoffs - OUCH

I had the car all back together on Saturday morning but without a lower A-arm, so it was a no go for the race. But I just got back from the Bowman store and they had the part in stock so it should be no problem getting the car together for the Glen.

Will be painting my pretty new A-arm tonight.

Ed Callo

[AJWALKER]

I will work on posting video from my in-car, minus the painful cycling under double yellow and my turn 1-2 spin on the 2nd to last lap.

[Will Velkoff]

Anyone have any photos from the weekend? I noticed a ton of cameras around different spots of the track, anyone know who the photographers are?

[racer27]

Mike Rand - Thanks for the race report. Was planning on being there myself to suppot some fellow FF & FC drivers but had to bail at last minute.

[R.DeVoe]

Any in-car videos? Pictures??

[Michael Rand]

Soon Ross, Roz has his usual on track stuff as well as numerous of Eric in the paddock with the car naked, at least the motor is naked....

[Roux]

Mike, great posts. Thanks! You clearly had fun racing for a change.

Will and Alan, nice to see you guys in the 59's! in qualifying. Now you have to find consistent 58's somewhere! That little track is so tough to come to grips with. It takes years to build the confidence.

Question; how on earth does Glenn do it!? He sits out for years and then rips off great laptimes. Brilliant.

The FIT Crossle CF is going to create some debate among the purists, but anything that increases participation should be taken seriously.

thanks again for the posts. Looking forward to vids.

Steve

[AlanVDW]

I started the race on slicks. The Vees behind me were a mix of slicks, intermediates, and full wets. Weather radar on DA's phone showed no more rain so I went out on slicks. First 8-10 laps were tricky and I fell back to mid Vee territory, but then the line started to dry and I was getting faster each lap. The big problem with my plan was the stream of water running across the track mid No-Name Straight. Made the uphill turn tricky. Somebody kept runnin thru the puddle at the apex (at flag station three) of Big Bend. That may have caused Jim's spin. The esses and the downhill were just about regular speed for the second half. I kept it on the black part the whole race. Best race lap was 1:03.5. Avoided Jim's spin and a nose to nose with Will.

[John Merriman]

Club Ford?

[Will Velkoff]

Thanks Steve, I'm getting there! I know where I need to kick it up a notch, a fresh set of R60's will be on order for the beginning of next season, so hoping that fresh tires and some more courage on my part will get me down into the 58's and eventually 57's!

Alan, the river flowing down no name straight was pretty substantial, must have been a wild ride through there on the slicks! Was also happy to see that I had the fastest CF lap of the race with a 1:03.4, I was hustling hard to catch back up to Jim after the spin!

That blue F500 that ran 54's in qualifying got dusted by all of us at the start, then picked his way through us to my surprise after ten laps or so, that thing was pretty quick I gotta say.

[Will Velkoff]

A few pictures from Saturday mornings race, Group 2-NCF,F500,FV

[Michael Rand]

John Merriman, glad you continue to lurk and observe, better if you were back in a car though.
Not surprised you commeneted but in my defense, the class is no longer called Formula Ford, rather it is Formula F.
So NCF is NARRC Club Formula F.
I understand your thought process completely as there is no stronger advocate of the Kent, witness Johns website named "The Kent Lives", but until the NARRC Committee declares NCF as NARRC Club Ford and not NARRC Club F the Fit is legal, as the chassis certainly is a CF car.
Anything that adds to the fields and is an option, that's the key, it is not required, but an option, can't be bad.
I am every bit as much a dinosaur as any of us grey haired lifers, and in one way this move to the modern motor will hurt me as I won't be able to run any historic stuff, but neither will I need to exercise my engine hoist several times each season !
One last advantage, at least for me, the built in electronic rev limiter, as I have always abused my Kents in the RPM department !
Where are you located these days anyway ?
Mike

[flat broke]

Mike,
I was about to email you with an offer to run Rod's Crossle if you fancy a vintage event. However, your comment about abusing your Kents finished that idea.

Tony

[Will Velkoff]

Certainly legal, but NARRC needs to update their website from saying Formula Ford to Formula F per the GCR


[FONT=Arial]NARRC CLUB FORDS (Class Designation = NCF)[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT][FONT=Arial]Note: Only Formula Fords (FF) and NARRC Club Fords (NCF) are eligible for NARRC points and NARRC trophies.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Compliance is the responsibility of the class competitors.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Cars must conform to all specifications and rules applicable to regular Formula Fords per the current SCCA GCR. Also, the Northeast Division Club Ford rules apply - with these exceptions.[/FONT]

1. [FONT=Arial]While there is no model year cutoff, Club Ford is restricted to those older makes and/or models of Formula Ford that were originally offered with outboard shocks and springs on at least one end of the vehicle. (Referred to as the 50% Rule.)[/FONT]
2. [FONT=Arial] An ineligible Formula Ford model may not be updated or backdated to conform to Club Ford rules (i.e. Swift with outboard shocks and springs.) Participants are responsible for proving the eligibility of their car.[/FONT]
3. [FONT=Arial] A Club Ford chassis may be updated or backdated within eligible models. (i.e. Crossle 40F to 45F or PRS RH01 to RH02, etc.)[/FONT]
4. [FONT=Arial]ClubFords shall adhere to all Formula Ford class rules (engine, driveline, etc.) as well as all safety regulations within the current SCCA GCR for Formula Ford.[/FONT]
5. [FONT=Arial]Bodywork and heat exchanger location is free, provided it complies with all applicable GCR specifications for Formula Ford cars[/FONT]
6. [FONT=Arial]Club Ford cars shall display the "NCF" class designation, as well as display the appropriate NERRC and/or NARRC series decals.[/FONT]
7. [FONT=Arial]Racing slick options are: Goodyear 600; Hoosier 60. Dunlop treaded tires may also be used. [Front - 135/545-13, Rear - 165/580-13, both CR tread, 434 Compound]. Rain tires are free; there are no[/FONT][FONT=Arial] spec rain tires. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Note: for NARRC points purposes, Club Fords without spec tires should be classed and scored as Formula Fords (FF).[/FONT]

[Roland V. Johnson]

Rand, If you're having to use your engine hoist several times a year, you should have changed builders or race prep!

[John Merriman]

Mike, oh, I do more than lurk! I follow your lap times and victories as well as Walker's and Roux's. (And then who dusts off an ancient, classic PRS and flies to the front but Taylor!) Hey, thanks for the 'explanation' which is, of course, completely understandable and entirely logical. (Okay, too logical) No need to defend it at all. Time - and technology - does march on, I know. But somehow I thought Club Ford would remain itself....maybe like in the UK where they have the "Kent Class"? I'm down here in North Haven now but spend a hell of a lot of time in Greenwich on a big project. I'll catch up with you at LRP sometime. Do you keep any cold brew in that cooler? By the way, I wrote to Sam to encourage him to write another book.....about racing, not trains...but no dice. Can't you use your influence on one of the best motorsports writers in the entire US? Cheers, John

[AJWALKER]

First effort at creating a editted video for posting.

The 15 minute mp4 video is the latter part of the race after all the double yellow laps
and ends a couple laps before the checker because I lost track of the F1600 leaders due to a mishap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMJngwH7iUM