ARRC racing from front row...12 laps worth

[dspillman]

Quick racing update for anyone interested.

Having cooled off for a week, I'll give a quick run down on where my DASH for Tires race went at Road Atlanta. Couple of weeks ago I sold my NOS dash on ebay raising money for "The Race" for me of 06...Course the dash only has 4 more good heat cycles:cry: , but I still feel it was a good deal for me ..qualifing on outside front row.

Wound up in third after turn one at start, battling with a VW corrado for several laps. Our group had been combined with a group of "quicker" corvettes..TCC. Although these vettes "handled" well on the straights, some of these cars struggled in the twisty sections... The vettes were given a split start in front of the ITS group. With the vettes started first.....course some of the handling challenged were quickly over taken by our group....getting by these rolling road blocks was next to impossible. Hold ya up in the twisties, then blast away in the strights....Long story short, 3rd through 8th ITS positions being held up for 5-6 laps, finally I was able to sneak by entering turn one....had pulled out quite a space for myself, feeling good, due to brakes still cool, tires saved by following the slower vette, for so many laps. Ready to make a hard charge. Well, the vette I been following for the last couple laps, was able to erase my gap, by the end of the back straight....and "outbrake" me....sliding by, off edge of track driver right, then back across, I had no where to go...hit the rear corner hard enough to bend my fender, bow hood, and lay the bumper across the right front tire...ending my day. At first I thought the vette had no one around he was racing...But after viewing the VWs video....he was racing...there were 2 other vettes close by, but they were lapping him :mad:

Well, I still had a great weekend, although I was disappointed in end results....Easy for me to blame other driver, But I could have backed off a little, drove off track to avoid contact, just let him go.....hindsight thoughts, but still can't help but wondering if the guy in the vette was having problem with our little Z giving him fits on the track ....

Zs still have it on the race track...

David Spillman

[gogriz91]

Outstanding Dave, wish I could have been on the ride-a-long program on that one!

[Carl Beck]

Damn... I hate it when that happens... Hope enough people raise cane and get the ITS group on the track by themselves...

So who did win in ITS?

Carl B.

[jmark]

Some pics I took of David at the race.

[Ron Carter]

Sorry to hear of your missfortune. With some experience on the track I know it can be tough to choose where to stick in your nose...In this case it did not go well....

Best of luck getting your Z squared away prior to next season.

[BRE-240Z]

Those are some nice shots.

I see that Vee-Dub is lifting its' rear inside wheel in the turns.....quite a bit of body roll in those things, huh?

[Arne]

Those are some nice shots.

I see that Vee-Dub is lifting its' rear inside wheel in the turns.....quite a bit of body roll in those things, huh?

As a long time VW driver, I can confirm that is totally normal. The entire rear suspension on those VWs is a big sway bar. In auto-x it's not unusual to see 4-6" of air under the inside rear of a VW.

No different than seeing a 911 skate through a corner with the inside front tire in the air...