ARRC results

[csrazzle]

Just arrived home from what was the sunny and warm (until Saturday) ARRC event. Great track, event and people. Tough clean racing, a real thrill and treat. Just what those of us from the north need before resigning ourselves to accompaning our spouse's on the holiday regime. I need to thank Steve (the sandbagger) Robertson for his hospitality and help. Someone help me fill in the results and correct if needed. CF 12 entrants. P1 - Steve Brooks, P2 - Steve Robertson, P3 - Frank Hammette. Need some more Northern guys next year, Joe Marcinski and Michael Baden represented their areas well but reinforcements are needed as these guys are tough competitors. Thanks to all.

[EYERACE]

passed on the ARRC this year...someday,someday....but watched my kid break 100 yards pass receiving for the first time this weekend...got to keep those priorities in order you know. Congrats to all those that ran in the ARRC!

[Steve Robertson]

This is an IOU for a full report of the ARRC weekend, hopefully by tonight (Wednesday 11/12). I haven't checked but I'm sure the Frog already has a full report of the ARRC from a CFC perspective on f2000. My goal is to be like the Frog someday.

[John Robinson]

Steve, you really want to color what hair you will have remaining to match your car? And I just cant see your pit area decorated with those jalapeno lights...lol

I look forward to your report as the few tid bits I have heard so far have been interesting.

John

[rickjohnson356]

Steve:

well, your car is already purple.... so what will you use for a moniker??

how about calling you the purple dinosaur???

racer barney??

just kidding....
congrats for a well run race! (not kidding on this)

[Steve Robertson]

This year’s ARRC had a number of firsts. It was the first time (that I remember) that twelve CF’s started the race and for five of the entries it was their first time at the ARRC. It was also the first time that all the CF’s had paddocked together (in EWC fashion) and that will be the norm for future ARRC’s. In the end though, the “first” that everyone would like is first place in the race and that honor belongs to Steve Brooks, who I believe is a first time winner. More on that later.

Once again the weather gods smiled on us and provided us a pleasant weekend. There were some cloudy times when we doubted the gods but it was a great weekend. For Thursday’s practice and Friday’s qualifying, the weather was cloudy in the morning, but both days ended in blue skies and temperatures in the high 70’s or maybe even low 80’s. On race day, it was cooler with highs in the low 60’s and overcast skies. It was actually perfect race conditions. The overcast skies kept the sun out of our eyes in turn five and the cool temperature kept it pleasant in the car.

Unfortunately, the weekend did have its share of mechanical drama. Michael Baden was victim number one. On the second lap of the Thursday’s first test session, second gear in Michael’s Z10 broke. (This also was Michael’s second lap ever at Road Atlanta.) I believe all but one tooth on the drive gear had broken off at the root and several of the teeth on the driven gear were missing. Michael and crew (Chuck, Sandy, James and Vince) spent the rest of that test session and the next cleaning shrapnel out of the back end of the gearbox. Michael did get some laps in the third test session but an inspection of the gearbox showed more metal in the differential side. The rest of the day and early evening, the crew field stripped their Mk 9 to clean out all the metal. Unless you know the trials and tribulations of removing the rear calipers and brake rotors on a Z10, you can’t fully appreciate what they did. They were ready to go by the first qualifying session on Friday.

Victim number two in the mechanical wars was Marc Stern. In the second qualifying session which was around 4:00 PM on Friday, the crankshaft fell out of Marc’s engine. Marc a long time racer (Alpha Sypder and ’94 VD FC), had recently purchased the Crossle 40F and the engine is of unknown origin. His plan was to sort out the car and then get the motor rebuilt. He accompolished all of that on Friday. It just so happens that Sam Nelson, Steve Brook’s engine builder, and an Atlanta resident, had a 1600 on the shelf at his shop. By 2:00 AM Saturday morning, Marc and longtime friend Lee had installed the new motor.

At one point both Michael’s and Marc’s paddock area looked like the set of a “Junkyard Wars” episode. And just as on TV, both triumphed over adversity to start and finish the race.

At the end of qualifying on Friday afternoon, the spread on the first four places on the grid was one and a half seconds. On the pole was Steve Brooks followed by Steve Robertson, Dennis Hoinig, and Frank Hammette. Fifth and sixth were Marc and Michael and they were only another second behind. Since the CF’s draft well and Road Atlanta has a long straight, that kind of separation is almost meaningless.

Before the race, it seemed that with the possible exception of first place, you could have drawn numbers from a hat for the first six finishing positions. Steve Brooks was dominate again this year and unless he had some misfortune like he had last year, he had the best chance for first place. But for the next five positions, everyone appeared to have an equal chance. Dennis Hoinig was a past winner of the ARRC and has been racing FF’s on and off since the 70’s. He was racing FF’s when Michael Andretti and John Paul, Jr., were racing FF’s. This is his first year back racing his Crossle after seven or eight years on the sidelines. Frank Hammette has a lot of experience at Road Atlanta and is always quick there. He missed practice day due to a business obligation and would surely be quick in the race. Marc Stern has a lot of experience at Road Atlanta but just not in a CF. Michael Baden was a quick study on learning the track despite the limited track time. Everyone knows that when the race starts, you learn real fast. From a personal perspective, my qualifying times were quite surprising. The car has been an evil handling beast for a while. With some setup changes before this event, the car’s handling progressed from being evil, to just being insincere. It was a welcome change.

Following close behind were Richard Martin who has a lot of experience racing IT cars but this was his first race in his new Crossle. Joe Marcinski was next and by far the most dedicated racer in the group. Once again he had brought his beautiful ADF to Atlanta from Connecticut the weekend before the ARRC and then went to Las Vegas for work. He returned Friday morning on the red-eye and proceeded to qualify. Bob McKeown in his Crossle 35 followed Joe. Bob had the misfortune of having his race car trailer stolen earlier this year but fortunately his race car was in the garage at the time. Mitch Wilkins brought his completely restored Crossle (for the second time) out for it’s first race. Mitch is afflicted with engineer’s disease and just can’t help but make the car perfect. Dave Klutsenbaker has raced a wide variety of sports racers over the years, but he has been struggling with the handling on his Crossle. Steve Taft rounds out the field with his ’81 Van Diemen. Steve is a long time Porsche racer but this was first race in a “real” race car.

Since we had twelve cars this year, we did get a split grid which was welcomed by all the CF’s. At the green, Steve Brooks got a good jump and was off. By the time he got to turn seven he had a slight lead, but thanks to the draft, by turn ten we were all in line and in the same order as we qualified. Unfortunately a FS that was having trouble caused the first break in the line. It was a good break for Steve B and that gave him about a two second lead over Steve R at the end of the first lap. Over the next several laps Steve B was increasing his lead over Steve R but both were getting a slight lead over the rest of the field. The gap between the two varied from a low of just over a second to as much as five seconds, but Steve B drove a great race and Steve R was happy to finish second, about three seconds behind. Meanwhile, Dennis H and Frank H decided that they were going to battle for third and they swapped positions twice a lap for several laps. Unfortunately, under heaving braking in turn 10, Dennis had a snap oversteer and found the outside wall. He had a brake problem on Friday but wasn’t sure what caused his spin. That left Frank with a solid podium finish. Behind Frank, Marc Stern and Michael Baden had been having their own battle. They also swapped positions at least once a lap for several laps. In the end though, Michael’s motor began losing power and on the last lap he couldn’t hold off Marc. With the exception of Dave Klutsenbaker who moved up one position, the rest of the field finished in qualifying order.

This was certainly one of the better ARRC races in recent years. It’s still sad that twelve cars is a “good” field at the ARRC. Hopefully, more of you can join us next year.

Also, the entire field agreed to race on the Hoosier R60. The ambient temperature at race time was probably in the low 60’s and the tire worked fine. We are going to start the process of getting a spec-tire rule approved for next year’s ARRC. It would include the Hoosier R60, the Goodyear 600 and the American Racer. If anyone has an objection please let me know.

[csrazzle]

Steve, you are too modest. Steve not only had a great drive, he stood out in the rain and organized the CF paddock in the middle of what seemed like an old west land rush. Steve also provided (1. adivce and coaching on lapping (2. Advice and parts for gearboxes and (3. Offered to pick up and deliver fuel. In short he was the first one at the track and the last one to leave. Then I asked him to share the ARRC story with the F1600 group. I don't know, the 2000's have the frog (whom I also met at the race) but I think we have the beginnings of our own 1600 Barney. Thanks again Steve. To all who missed this event, it was a lot of fun and some serious competition. Next year being the 35th anniversery and all it would be neat to have a field of 20 or more in CF. Hope to talk some of you cen div guys into considering this event next year.

[Michael Rand]

To Steve Robertson et al, but for David Dexters illness there may have been another 6 or so of us New Englanders this year, but we are all determined to invade Road Atlanta next year. Dexter is the instigator and with his illness it just sort of petered out this year. He says, NO EXCUSES next year, so the 35th at the ARRC is on. I'd say it would be possible for us Yankees to round up a real 8-10 cars to add to the mix. But please Steve, let the 600 be used, it is the NARRC Club Ford spec tire and we all have and use them. If it requires buying another set of [different-Hoosiers] tires then that would definately cut the interest.John Merriman, you read all ths, so lets make the ARRC the 35th celebration we've been talking about.

[John Merriman]

Mike, I love the idea, I really do. Now how to get the "family" to buy into this six day adventure down south?! Well, maybe that can be done. Let's see. Nevertheless, I still hope we can have 35th Anniversary Event in the Northeast and I hope others will organize similar events in the Med-west and out west too! This coming season is going to be a big one - I can see it now.....
John Merriman - 21st Year in SCCA Club Ford

[Steve Taft]

I'll add my thanks to Steve Robertson and the rest of the Club Ford entourage as well. This was my first outing with Frank Chambers’ old RF81. The support and assistance provided by the group made it a pleasure. I look forward to many more events in the 2004 season.

Steve Taft (first time in a Club Ford)

[Frank C]

I hope all of you in the Southeast share some of your knowledge with Steve. His RF81 really has had a homecoming. I bought it from Guy Hagan of suburban Atlanta in 1987 while I was living in Marietta and now it has actually returned to Marietta. I sort of wished I had kept it for this season, for the DB1 that replaced it (I hope I like it as much) has been undergoing a bigger rebuild than anticipated.
Best wishes - Frank Chambers