Roebling Woerheide Update
 

THOSE OF YOU WHO WERE NOT ABLE TO MAKE THE JULY 3RD ROEBLING EVENT PUT ON BY OUR GRACIOUS HOST, JOHAN, REALLY MISSED A TREAT! THE DAY WAS SUNNY!!!!!! AND HOT WITH A VARIED BUNCH OF CARS INCLUDING JOHN PAUL'S EX LEMANS PORSCHE, JOHANS WINSTON CUP CAR, GT-40 AND THE LOUDEST CAR AT THE TRACK, HIS LOLA. IN ADDITION, JERRY ROWLEY BROUGHT HIS COBRA AS DID DAVE--CHIP WAS ALSO THERE--OTHER PORSCHE'S , MUSTANGS MG'S AND ASSORTED RACERS ALSO MADE IT.

I WAS PLEASED, BUT NOT SURPRISED TO FIND THAT MY 158 HORSE, 2830 POUND 944 PORSCHE COULD GO AROUND THE TRACK IN ABOUT 1:28 WHILE COBRAS RAN WELL SLOWER I THINK JERRY WAS RUNNING 1:38'S AND DAVE 1:32'S. COBRAS ARE GREAT FUN, BUT THEY DO HAVE THEIR LIMITATIONS ON A ROAD COURSE.--THE PLUS OF ALL THIS IS THAT DAVE IS BUYING A PORSCHE!! HE WILL HAVE THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS, THE COBRA FOR THE ADRENILINE RUSH AND SOUND AND THE PORSCHE FOR THE GRACE AND SPEED. THE CAR HE IS GETTING IS A BEAUTY AND I'M JEALOUS THAT HE BEAT ME TO IT.

AS ALWAYS, THERE WERE A FEW CASUALTIES, WITH JERRY GOING OUT ON A POSSIBLY BLOWN MOTOR, BUT NO PERSONAL INJURIES.

ALL AND ALL, A GREAT DAY AND A REMINDER TO ME THAT I NEED TO BUILD ANOTHER COBRA SOON--NOT FOR RACING, JUST FOR THE NOISE AND THE RUSH. HOPEFULLY, MORE OF THE DSSC WILL MAKE IT NEXT YEAR, ITS A GREAT WAY TO SPEND A DAY.

RICK BROWNYARD

What a blast I had driving my car around that track! In all fairness I think my ERA FIA Cobra did great. A more experienced driver could have shaved a bunch of seconds off my times though. At one point we had John's GT-40, followed by me in the FIA, and Jerry in a 427, all blue with white lemans stripes. I hope someone got a picture.

I also got to ride several hot laps as passenger in Johans GT-40. That was worth the trip alone. Rick, you forgot to mention Spyderman and the yellow pinto. Man that guy can drive, and his all girl pit crew made the day. I hope someone got a picture of that too.

Thanks to John for hosting a great event, Rick Brownyard for helping a rookie around the track, Chip Berring for acting as crew, and all the other racers who didn't blow me off the track. Also thanks to Willis for being born on the 3rd to start this whole thing. Looking forward to next year. Oh yeah, and I came home with a 911 SC too!

Dave-

It was great getting a chance to spend some time with you and your beautiful ErA FIA- always my favorite body style. No doubt there was some time to be shaved with a bit of lapping under your belt, and very few cars sound or look as sweet as a Cobra (especially an FIA) at speed. Roebling will hook you pretty quickly since its fast and safe. Hope to see you at Road Atlanta next month with your new toy--

Rick

**)

Spyderman had a great time at track too, but felt that accomodations left a little bit to be desired. I thought the invitation was for the one week, and was basically "kicked out" of house after 5 days by the wife of this person Johan complaining of pit crew activity not in keeping with family atmosphere whatever that meant. Therre was certainly room for better organization for next year. We will see.... Driving home Sunday night was a total traffic/weather/hungover nightmare.
Rick Brownyard does make a point about horsepower and laptimes not going hand in hand, but everybody did better at the end of the day than at the start. I was particularly impressed by the Mr. Dave Crace and his Cobra. He did better than most for a newcomer to the track, and would see much improved lap times with nothing more than practice.I feel confidant that if he saw the Porsche that is in the woods behind my house, he would buy it, hint hint.
Rick Brownyard would easily shave 2 seconds in the heat of wheel to wheel driving, and is lucky to have a car made for the race track with other similar cars to race against ( I am sort of a "loner" in the Pinto ). My crew and I work together in this shaving area all the time and it works.
Jerry Rowley had an oiling problem and never could show us what he had, which is unfortunate considering how much effort he put into attending ( the guy drove the equivalent of a cross country trip in order to attend), but there is always next time. Diesel fuel eats oil pump drives ? That's news to moi.
I don't know who in the heck that "Apache indian" dude was in the Porsche, but that thing was like a vaccume cleaner every time he came by me. I was waving "Kimosabe" by with my middle finger but I doubt he could see anything but a yellow blur.
Next year a longer event would be nice, as I was really sorry when it was over, sort of depressing to have to wait until August 24th and 25th to do it all over again, per J.W.'s Kitchen calender, which I keeped for a momento.
I enjoyed running with you guys ,
Spyderman

Spyderman--

How could I have failed to give you credit for the great showing? Nothing but a yellow blur indeed! It is commitment to the sport of road racing that is the true test and you pass with flaming colors (that is a pinto isn't it).

Jerry didn't mention an oiling problem to me, I thought that the residual diesel would act like surrogate Mobil 1.

Its true that I have about 2 more seconds stashed away in my car when racing, rather than street tires are strapped on, and wait, there's more--bowing to the horsepower gods, I plan to install headers and a straight exhaust which experts tell me should yield a whopping 11 horsepower; now were talking serious top-end grunt.

Rick:3DSMILE:

Dave, Congrats on the new toy and welcome to the Porsche family. If I can help you out and give you local Porsche advice, please do not be shy.

Spyderman, We should talk about what is in your woods ?!? If its a Spyder, then we really should talk.

JW, sorry bud, but my PCA club license is A#1 on my mind, and the PCA event at RA conflicted with this. To make matters worse, the next PCA event is on the same weekend as the WorldCarz event in August on the 24th (that I prepaid for--need to talk to Sheila at Carz).

Road Atlanta is when?

There is a PCA DE same weekend as mentioned above 8/24.

Go to www.platz.com/pca/peachstate and hurry to send in your app

I sent my check in monday for road Atlanta--if you want to attend, you better hurry with your application, they fill up fast!

Rick

Wow, Bob ( that guy with the yellow 930 race car that said "TURBO" on the side ) is a PCA group 5 instructer. He signed the guy in the silver 911sc from group 1 to 2 at the Willis. Rex (red 911) is also a group 5 dude in PCA. The next time CARS has a date at Road Atlanta is Nov29-30 Dec. 1 . That would be a "don't miss" for sure. So Toy collecter, do you have any lap times yet at Road Atlanta ? The Pinto can not seem to get below 1:39. I'm gonna try different gears. In the woods are a few 911 non-sunroof coupes with roll cages that need to be built up into racers. The cost of building a 911 racer is a bit high. Also have a 1999 Taurus (SP?) Winston cup car driven by Morgan Shepard that has no engine trans. The pinto is the only one that moves under it's own power. Keep after that PCA thing as long as it takes, you go boy ! I will help you as much as I can, just please be respectful of my time. Let's split expenses ?

Spyderman,

1:39 is pretty darn good. The group 5 guys are running around 1:43s in the big iron (Carrera RSAs, Turbos). My car (with an expert driver) I believe has done 1:42s. I did around 1:56s last time in traffic so I have a ways to go!!

My plan is to build or more likely buy a 73 or so 911 for PCA and HSR vintage racing, but that is probably a ways off in my racing career.

Yes, Spiderman's a great driver, just ask him and he'll tell you all about it. 911's are great but really not "better than" 944's . porsche parts prices are the trouble with all Porsches. 911's go better in the straights and 944's in the corners.

There is a "race built" cobra for sale that I know of for 30,000. built strictly for racing, cage and all, big brakes, slicks etc.

It's really all about weight. I know that sounds obvious, but less weight = better cornering and more horsepower per pound. Spidermans pinto only weighs 1100 lbs. that is how it does so well. ....my grandmaw could do a 1:35 in it.
Mike, see you at the Atlanta Historics.

Mike thanks, I will be getting with you soon as you are going the route I hope to follow with the PCA. I want to get signed off with HSR also. First thing I gotta do is get my own trailer. Not sure how many times I am going to be able to borrow one. If I can find one like Rick Brownyard's I am there.

Spyderman, you can thank me later for helping to clean out your back yard so you can make room for more stuff :D

DC