News:

The current V8RRS points standings are posted.

Race report

Started by vern smith, April 22, 2017, 07:18:24 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

vern smith

Yesterday was a test day with most of the V8RRS contestants on hand and taking advantage of it. The weather has been hot and beautiful both Friday and Saturday. Butch Kummer the V8RRS official scribe will be adding his usual illustrative and voluminous comments in short order. Since I was on the track I asked Jim Creighton to handle the post race photography work which went fine once he figured out the camera. Here is what we got;



You always want to park close to Randy Walker. He brings everything, and I mean everything to the track, including his charming wife Judy. They fed and pampered me for two days because they think I'm too old to race which is probably true  :)  As you can see above, all you see parked in this picture came out of Randys trailer. He also hosted thge Saturday night bull session.



Here is Randy in podium winning GTA with ease.



We signed a couple new members this weekend, one of then being Chip Bozeman, pictured here next to his fast T1 Mustang Cobra. Jack Dunn also joined campaigning a lovely ASR pure race machines. I'll get a picture of Jack and his car tomorrow.



V8RRS member Dayton Brooks above was 4th overall and first in AS.



Jay Gomer and his brother were on hand with their GTA entry. Unfortunately, they has terminal engine issues in the Saturday qualifying race. Here is Jay and Erin on the right, his brother Chris and girl friend Sabrina on  the left.



Allan Koloski got his license this year and is sharing Butch Kummer's car. Allan is doing a great job. He started the test day sessions turning 1:28's and today turned a 1:20 during the race. Looks like he has it figured out.



Here is Butch Kummer wrenching for Allan Koloski today, tomorrow they reverse roles. More coming tomorrow night from somewhere on Interstate 95 heading south,  back to the Everglades   :)

The difference between theory and practice is that, in theory, there is no difference but in practice there is.

Butch Kummer

Since Vern has shamed me into it I'll add my comments after MULTIPLE beers and a couple of Woodford bourbons with Allan.

We signed up three new members this weekend:
. Chip Bozeman, T1 Mustang Cobra
. Jack Dunn, ASR Shelby CanAm (he has a V8-powered version for sale)
. Jim Smith, GTSC Monte Carlo (he had planned to be here but broke a rear axle when testing)

Jay & Chris Gomer had also planned to sign up this weekend, but decided to defer after the #6 rod departed the premises during qualifying.

The results of the 20-minute Saturday morning qualifying session:
. 1st GTA (1st OA) - Randy Walker, Camaro, 1:15.139
. 2nd GTA (3rd OA) - Vern Smith, Impala, 1:16.639
. 1st T1 (5th OA) - Chip Bozeman, Mustang, 1:20.719
. 3rd GTA (7th OA) - Allan Kozloski, Monte Cuervo, 1:22.350
. 1st ASR (8th OA) - Jack Dunn, Shelby CanAm, 1:22.598
. 1st AS, (9th OA) - Dainton Brooks, Mustang, 1:23.206

At the green Randy led the field into Turn 1 and never looked back, Allan got a good jump to slot into sixth overall, then moved up to fifth overall when Mark Davis dropped out around lap #3. In the meantime Vern had moved past the GTA car of Mickey Carter and the two were having a tremendous battle for second overall. On lap nine Allan drafted past Chip for fourth overall behind Randy, Vern, and Mickey, then on the same lap moved up to third overall when Vern decided to do some agricultural racing in Turn Four!  ;D

Vern quickly recovered and repassed Allan on lap 12, then things pretty much settled down from there. Chip's tires were toast so he was unable to hold back Dainton and Jack, but he soldiered on for the T1 win. At the checkers Randy had lapped all the way up to the fourth place car and while the margin of victory was only 0.529 seconds he was never really threatened. The final V8 positions were:

. 1st GTA (1st OA) - Randy Walker, 1:16.215
. 2nd GTA (3rd OA) - Vern Smith, 1:18.337
. 3rd GTA (4th OA) - Allan Kosloski, 1:20.304
. 1st AS (5th OA) - Dainton Brooks, 1:21.979
. 1st ASR (6th OA) - Jack Dunn, 1:21.104
. 1st T1 (7th OA) - Chip Bozeman, 1:21.999

Overall it was a good day with good racing throughout the field. Tomorrow's weather forecast calls for rain in the afternoon, but hopefully it will hold off long enough to get our race in.

Stay tuned...
Butch Kummer
V8RRS Director of Competition, 2016-2021
Associate Pastor, First Church of GTA

vern smith

#2
Sunday dawned sunny and beautiful, ended with a rain storm that started with the checkard flag for our group. I never got to the checkeded flag, I tore the heim out of the upper link on the watts ink a hundred feet past the start finish on the first lap. This was immediately followed with the drive shafe sawing itself in two. Butch Kummer had it worse, going so far into the woods his car was not visible from the track, a local tracker was brought on the scene to find it. I'll let him entertain you with the gory details. Jim Creighton was at the impound after the race to take pictures but all this was cancelled due to the tropical downpour underway. The upshot is we have one picture from today which is immediately below.



This is the line up for qualification this morning (Sunday)



Here is Chip Bozeman on the podium for his win in T1 with his Mustang Cobra on Saturday



Danton Brooks accepting his trophy for winning AS on Saturday



Saturdays top three in GTA, Center and first was Randy Walker, on the left is Mickey Carter second and on the right is someone who looks better suited for a retirement community, third.

The difference between theory and practice is that, in theory, there is no difference but in practice there is.

Butch Kummer

Sunday qualifying:
. 1st GTA (2nd OA) - Randy Walker, 1:14.598
. 1st GT2 (3rd OA) - Butch Kummer, 1:17.382
. 1st ASR (4th OA) - Jack Dunn, 1:17.676
. 1st T1 (5th OA) - Skip Bozeman, 1:18.365
. 1st AS (9th OA) - Dainton Brooks, 1:22.985
. 2nd GTA (11th OA) - Vern Smith, no time

My clutch was starting to slip so I told both Randy and Mickey Carter (pole-sitter, also in a GTA car) that even if I COULD beat them to Turn 1 I wasn't going to interfere with their race. Sure enough Randy got to Turn 1 first and I slotted into third to watch what must have been a helluva race. As I was heading into Turn 6 on the third lap, however, the throttle again stuck and I launched over the tires into the woods behind. Skip was just behind me and said the Duke boys would have been proud of the air I got on the jump - the nose was 15 feet in the air and gaining altitude when he went by!  :) I was so far off the track (see picture below of the guide party clearing a path after the race) they only had two laps of FCY while I got picked up by the ambulance before going back green.

Because I was other occupied I missed both Vern's drama at the start and a great race between Randy & Mickey. At the checkers, however, the order was:
. 1st GTA (2nd OA) - Randy Walker, 1:16.167
. 1st ASR (3rd OA) - Jack Dunn, 1:18.034
. 1st T1 (4th OA) - Skip Bozeman, 1:19.133
. 1st AS (6th OA) - Dainton Brooks, 1:22.422
. 1st GT2 (12th OA) - Butch Kummer, 1:18.330
. 2nd GTA (13th OA) - Vern Smith, no time


Butch Kummer
V8RRS Director of Competition, 2016-2021
Associate Pastor, First Church of GTA

vern smith

Tearing up ones race car is never a rewarding experience but if it has to happen I think you have done the ignoble event proud  :)   So far into the woods as to be out of sight !!  That simply has to be admired for it's sheer audaciousness, as the lost generation likes to say,  you are d'man man Butch.

I must admit to a verbal preview, although I did not realize at the time you were the d'man. I was sitting in the turn two flag station waiting for the race to end because my trusty mount had torn it's drive shaft in two very early on. The corner worker at the station turned to me with a big grin on his face and announced with enthusiasm, " ONE WENT OFF AT TURN # INTO THE WOODS AND DISAPPEARED". 

I doubt if the Buckaneer Region will ever forget this  ;)
The difference between theory and practice is that, in theory, there is no difference but in practice there is.

millstreet

Quote from: vern smith on April 24, 2017, 10:48:35 PM
Tearing up ones race car is never a rewarding experience but if it has to happen I think you have done the ignoble event proud  :)   So far into the woods as to be out of sight !!  That simply has to be admired for it's sheer audaciousness, as the lost generation likes to say,  you are d'man man Butch.

I must admit to a verbal preview, although I did not realize at the time you were the d'man. I was sitting in the turn two flag station waiting for the race to end because my trusty mount had torn it's drive shaft in two very early on. The corner worker at the station turned to me with a big grin on his face and announced with enthusiasm, " ONE WENT OFF AT TURN # INTO THE WOODS AND DISAPPEARED". 

I doubt if the Buckaneer Region will ever forget this  ;)

We need video   8)

Andy
04 GT2

Butch Kummer

Allan has the GoPro and is in Jacksonville until Thursday, but once he gets back I'll post it on YouTube and include it in my longer report. He did say it was pretty spectacular!   ::)

He also caught the last of the extraction process on his iPhone so I'll see if I can add that as well.

More details later...
Butch Kummer
V8RRS Director of Competition, 2016-2021
Associate Pastor, First Church of GTA

Butch Kummer

Executive Summary:

Allan Kosloski and I shared the O'Brien Express Monte Cuervo at Buccaneer Region SCCA's annual Jim Stark Memorial weekend at Roebling Road (near Savannah, GA) the weekend of April 21-23. This was Allan's first "real" race weekend since he completed his SCCA drivers' school at the same venue back in February, so I ran a couple of sessions during Friday's test day while he drove the rest of that day and all day Saturday. After a rather disappointing day on Friday "the lightbulb came on" that evening when Randy Walker explained to him that he needed pretend he was driving in snow, so on Saturday Allan got faster all day, raced well, ended up fourth overall (of 15) in the run group, and got signed off on his Full Competition license. Needless to say, he was pretty pumped up that evening.

My race Sunday, on the other hand, was not so good, but "that's racing" - as my buddy and track announcer Scott Conway said, "That's the first time I've ever heard a corner worker ask for a chain saw to get a car out of the woods". Sometimes you're the windshield and other times you're the bug.

Longer Version:

Longtime readers (i.e. - last month's Update) may recall that Allan did the combined SCCA/SVRA school at Roebling back in February in one of OPM Autosports' Spec Miatas. While he successfully completed the school and was approved for wheel-to-wheel racing, we were surprised when he turned his fastest laps of the weekend during his very first session on the track. Because no one else was driving the car we didn't know if the car was getting tired or he just wasn't pushing hard enough, so we decided sharing Cuervo with me would provide a benchmark against which to measure his progress. In my first session Friday morning I ran back-to-back 1:19.0's to verify the car was working okay, but we didn't get the in-car camera working so Allan had nothing to compare his driving to. In session #2 Allan ran four laps with a best of 1:23.05, then in the last session of the morning he ran nine laps mostly in the 24's and 25's with a best of 1:23.30. In that third session he also found out how deep "too deep" was in Turn 1 when he spun before continuing at a reduced pace.  :)

During lunch we discussed what he was doing and looked at his in-car video, then we made sure the camera was on when I took Cuervo back out for the first afternoon session. This time I ran six laps ranging from a 1:19.32 to a 1:20.69, and afterwards while viewing the video Allan remarked that my hands were moving around a lot more than his were. I explained that you drive Cuervo with two steering wheels (one in your hands and the other one under your right foot), but in his last session Allan ran nine laps with a best of 1:26.87. That evening he went down to see Randy Walker who mentioned, "you need to feel like you're driving on snow" - a comment that resonated with Allan since he grew up in New Jersey. As I wrote above, a lightbulb went off in Allan's head.

During Saturday morning's 20-minute qualifying session Allan spent a few laps warming up and finding a gap in traffic, then reeled off laps of 1:23.698 and 1:26.282 (while finding a way around a Porsche driver who appeared to be driving on a different track than everyone else) before finishing up with a 1:22.350! That put him sixth of the fifteen cars on the grid, and also on the more favorable inside of the track. To say he was pretty pumped while we discussed race strategy during lunch is an understatement.

Allan got a good start at the green and slotted into sixth overall, then moved up another spot when Mark Davis came down pit road and retired to the paddock at the end of lap four. On lap nine he came on the radio saying the T1 Mustang just in front of him (Skip Bozeman) looked to be running out of tires (both Skip's rears and the LF were showing cords at the end), then Allan got a good run out of Turn Nine and passed Skip under braking into Turn One. On that same lap the third place driver (Vern Smith) overcooked the braking zone at Turn Four and was just coming back on the track when Allan came by, so we had gone from fifth to third in half a lap! Allan turned his best lap of the race on the next lap but was unable to keep Vern behind him, so at the checkers he was fourth overall less than five seconds behind Vern (and the last car on the lead lap). Out of 17 race laps Allan turned six laps faster than he'd qualified with a best of 1:20.304 and only one lap slower than a 1:24 (and that was when he was dealing with traffic). On the cool-off lap I reminded him to wave to the corner workers and told him he'd done a GREAT job, particularly for his first-ever real racing experience. He didn't need to drive the next day, so MUCH frivolity ensued that evening.  :P

In one of his more lucid moments Allan remembered the engine was "buzzing" a couple of times each lap, then in Sunday morning's qualifying session I experienced the same thing so we determined the clutch was wearing out. I did run two hot laps with a best of 1:17.382 (good for third overall) and since I was the only car in GT2 (event #2 towards earning a Runoffs invitation) we thought it would be okay for the race as long as I didn't abuse it. At the green I slotted into third place going into Turn 1 behind Randy Walker and Mickey Carter, then slowly pulled away from Skip in fourth while running laps of 1:19.7 and 1:18.3. With the bad clutch I harbored no illusions of having anything for Randy and Mickey, but as I was settling down to run consistent laps I once again experienced a "stuck throttle" as I entered Turn Six at the back of the course. I had just about enough time to think "Oh Sheep!" (or maybe it was "Oh Flock!") and lock up the brakes as I tried to cut the ignition, but I'm guessing I was still running about 80 MPH (5000 RPM in second gear) when I hit the tire barrier around the outside of the turn. The stacked tires launched me into a jump that would have made the Dukes of Hazzard proud, and Skip later said the front of the car was about 15 feet in the air and still climbing when he went by. When things settled down I got on the radio to let Allan know I had wrecked but was okay, cut the master switch, and dropped the window net to let the corner workers know I was okay before realizing THEY COULDN'T SEE ME!!! I had disappeared from their sight so I scrambled out, fought my way through the briars and branches surrounding the car, and then crawled on top of the tire wall about the time the ambulance and safety crews arrived. It was obvious we/they wouldn't be able to get Cuervo out quickly and he was WELL off the track, so I agreed with their decision to leave the car until after the day's event was done (we were Group 6 of 7 for the weekend). I got checked out by medical and released with the only injury being to my wallet, so the safety equipment certainly did it's job. I quickly called Harriett to let her know what had happened (and that I was okay) and she calmly talked me off the ledge of quitting entirely - "You don't need to make a decision today or anytime soon, we've got plenty of time".

Sunday race (and wreck) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ICodRYxBuk

After the day's racing was done, the first step of the extraction process was moving tires and cutting limbs to clear a path, but here's when Cuervo finally emerged from the woods - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7Q0om4seU0

The entire extraction effort took almost an hour, and I have to thank the track crew, Allan, Skip Bozeman, John Black, Jeff Ashley, and many others for their help in that effort plus loading Cuervo into the trailer. As of this writing I haven't even unloaded yet much less done a close inspection, but initial reports from those who looked at things at the track is the frame does not appear to be bent so the damage is bodywork, ductwork, and maybe some bent suspension components. Cuervo's body was getting pretty long in tooth anyway, so maybe this is the racing gods telling me I need to upgrade his appearance?

I put "stuck throttle" in quotes above because this is the third time this has happened in less than two years. The first was at the Runoffs in Daytona in 2015, then it happened again at Road Atlanta in March 2016. Both times we thought we had found the cause, but obviously I was wrong both times. All three times it was a left-hander followed fairly quickly by a right-hander, so in retrospect I'm thinking my feet are getting tangled up and I'm hitting the left side of my right foot with the right side of my left foot when applying the brakes (I left-foot brake). It had never happened before Daytona in the ten years I had been driving Cuervo, but then my feet have never been as old as they are right now either. Since it's highly unlikely I'll re-engineer my feet (that would be a Porsche engineer's response), I WILL relocate the brake pedal to the left side of the steering shaft before I drive Cuervo again.

Obviously things have taken a hit (pun intended), but we'll see what kind of progress we make over the next couple of months. To that end, here are the (VERY TENTATIVE) plans for the rest of the 2017 BK Racing season:
•   Jun 16-18 - Summit Point (Regional/V8)
•   Jul 6-9 - Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix (V8)
•   Jul 28-30 - Road America (Majors/V8)
•   Aug 11,12 - Charlotte Motor Speedway (Regional/V8)
•   Aug 26,27 - Barber Motorsports Park (Regional/V8)
•   Sep 15-Oct 1 - SCCA Runoffs (also V8)
•   Oct 13-15 - VIRginia International Raceway (Regional/V8 Finale)
•   Nov 3-5 - ARRC (Road Atlanta)

See y'all at the track...
Butch Kummer
V8RRS Director of Competition, 2016-2021
Associate Pastor, First Church of GTA

anyonebutme

I've seen a few brake pedals, mostly in open wheel cars, that have a little "wall" to keep your foot from coming off or protruding to hit the has pedal, might be another thing worth adding.  Guess a small piece of aluminum angle riveted to the right side of the pedal face?
Chris P.
"no turbo, no care"

Butch Kummer

Quote from: anyonebutme on April 27, 2017, 10:11:49 PM
I've seen a few brake pedals, mostly in open wheel cars, that have a little "wall" to keep your foot from coming off or protruding to hit the has pedal, might be another thing worth adding.  Guess a small piece of aluminum angle riveted to the right side of the pedal face?

We thought about something like that after the Daytona "incident", but felt that would also impede movement the few times you might want to right-foot brake with your left foot on the clutch. The first thing is to move the brake/clutch pedal assembly 3-4" to the left (to the other side of the steering column), then we'll see where we are. Last time I didn't do that because (a) it would require modification of the firewall and (b) I figured I could "remember" how to drive it the way it is (I'd done so for ten years without problems). Obviously I was wrong about "(b)"...  :(
Butch Kummer
V8RRS Director of Competition, 2016-2021
Associate Pastor, First Church of GTA

Butch Kummer

#10
Just to keep everyone informed, yesterday (May 8 ) I took Cuervo's remains down to the BJ Holley Racecar Emporium in Jackson GA so he could begin the "freshening" process. It ends up, however, that the RF frame rail is bent and Howe doesn't make that front clip any longer (and has no plans to do a one-off just for me).

Not sure right now what the final outcome will be, but I started drinking early today while I look at the options available. What I do know is it'll be longer than I first suspected before we get back on the track...
Butch Kummer
V8RRS Director of Competition, 2016-2021
Associate Pastor, First Church of GTA

millstreet

I think BJ has a couple cars in stock, time to start dealin'

Andy
04 GT2

anyonebutme

I've been thinking about selling my car.....................

traditional engine, runs on a few less than 8 cylinders now, haven't looked at it yet.
Chris P.
"no turbo, no care"

Foodman30

Hey Butch the Asa Target Car BJ has  is what you need , the LS engine it sports would be perfect ! Wouldn't have to worry with the throttle sticking anymore ! Let BJ set it up and your good to go . That car has some good stuff in it .
Craig