NJMP Club Race

[jgiannone]

A spectacular weekend of results for all racers. Wins in class and great overall finishes for all our friends.  Great job Dan Yonker! The way you hunted, stalked, and passed that GTC2 was classic. Ken Neilsen, always brutally fast and consistent. Ed Kovalachi...faster than ever and a real benchmark in "H" class. Our two NASA friends, Darren and Bob, also really fast and giving many supposedly faster cars in PCA a run for their life.  And Carl, one of the two fastest 5-S drivers on the east coast.

From what I could tell, there were no incidents, everyone put their cars on the trailer in one piece (Darrens has never been in one piece). Great job guys. 

[Darren]

It was a very fun race weekend at Thunderbolt.  It was great to see so many of our RTR friends there.  My car was running great and I had a chance to work on some further tuning.  Despite John G's memory, this car has been very reliable for me since the race car conversion.

Here's a video from my Sunday race. I qualified 15th overall which was somewhat poor -- I should have been around 11-12th. During the start Ed K got around me on the outside somehow and I backed off a little waiting to see if the combination of Carl/Ed/Yonker/Ken were going to wipe each other out - like it seemed like they may have! I picked up quite a few positions before the end of the race -- I must have finished 11th or 12th, where I should have been.

It was super difficult to see at the start because during the Grand Am race someone dropped oil around half the track and so there was kitty litter all over the place!

Not a real exciting video I admit -- about 5 laps from the end I get into a great battle with Hoyt -- I try to pass him unsuccessfully 4 times in the braking zone of T1. Several times I think we had about 2" between us. I finally got around him but then he managed a great re-pass going into T2.

About 1 lap from the end of the race, with me continuously dogging him, he goes into the last part of the right-hander of the Octopus and hits some fresh oil that was laid down and loops it in front of me. I'm looking forward to seeing the results because my AIM dash said I did a 1:31.8 but I'm not sure if I believe it.

http://www.vimeo.com/13460976

[Larry Herman]

Darren wrote:

I'm looking forward to seeing the results because my AIM dash said I did a 1:31.8 but I'm not sure if I believe it.

Don't forget how you car got "fast enough" to run a 1:31.

[Darren]

Larry I'll tell them when you find me 2 more seconds.

Here's a few pics of our guys -- many Grand Am fans were walking past our paddock and checking out our cars and taking pictures with them.  It seemed like everyone liked seeing older style Porsches, even the Grand Am teams!

Turgeon's seemed to be a fan favorite, followed closely by Yonker's car:





My car was sporting new PCA Club Race stickers -- 8 am runs were a pain in the neck trying to keep the dew off the windows.



Kenny was beside himself having to work on his own car before his pit crew and crew chief showed up.  Here's a rare pic of him working on his own car.  In retrospect I should have taken the offered $20 to wash it.



Ed K was running very strongly and as usual his car looked impeccably clean at all times.



My son Jacob was upset that I took him away from playing Forza 3 on the Xbox (where he was racing an LMP car) so that I could get his picture taken by the #59 DP car.  These kids these days!!!

[bobt993]

Here is Saturdays sprint race on a completely trashed race track.  Grand Am did not clean it before we went out following a 2.5 hour Continental Challenge race.  Offline passing was interesting to say the least.  John G,  I think having a PCA license  means we are also PCA club racers who also race other venues.   All RTR guys did very well and were at the front of their prospective classes.
 
I did Saturdays sprint, but went home early on Sunday after qualifying.  Too much work and personal life to catch up on .  It was a great time and Darren.  This clip loads slow and gets interesting towards the middle when we catch up to the tail of the field.   I think Dan and I passed 20 cars while battling for the lead.

http://bobt993.mediashare.com?selectedalbum=bobt993470289

[Jimbeau]

Had a great time watching you guys from the stands!  Don't know if you guys knew how many folks from RTR were in the crowd watching or not, but you definitely had your own cheering section for sure.

Darren, we were seriously wondering how you got around Hoyt and were discussing in the T1 stands whether you would trade a 13-13 to get around him.  When you came by the last time without him.........

 

[Dan Yonker]

It was great to see so many people this weekend.  A little less heat and a tad more track time would have been desirable, but beggars can't be choosers, especially when racing Porsches!

Thanks to Bob T. and Darren for the track support and all around help, advice, etc.  I learned a ton this weekend. 

More groovy video of Saturday's race.  The camera position was a tad high, hence the mirror is in the way (somewhat).  This was changed by the following race on Sunday.  Interesting to note: my rear sway bar drop links broke and one actually fell off the car, so for some of Saturday's race and all of Sunday's race I ran without rear sway - made for interesting conditions. 

http://vimeo.com/13423738

[ninjabones]

Darren and Bob, seeing as you two had such a blast this weekend, are you guys thinking about participating in the Schattenbaum PCA club race at NJMP-T at the end of August????

[Darren]

Thinking about it....then again I need to work at least 1 Friday this summer...

[Lainey]

I have to echo all the posts - it was an amazing weekend all around - I know Ara said I broke a few ear drums cheering, but hey I love you guys! Watching at Turn One from the stands it was really cool to see the battles for position after the straight. Seeing the videos, I remember the passes (Like Darren, your battle with Hoyt was fun to watch)

A special thanks to Kenny and Nick for their hospitality (and Sheri as always for the prep/set up) - that AC saved us and I know Dave Donohue's family appreciated it. Tough to watch how he was jacked by Scott Pruitt the last couple laps of the DP race.