For those of you that did not attend you missed a fun event!
I went down Saturday monring in the Cobra to check out the action. The NASA racing was very good. I watched rounds in the FF5 spec series, vette/viper challenge, spec miata, time trials and more.
There where 11 Cobras racing (my count) in a field of 46 cars including some very serious looking Mustangs and Vettes. The race was unfortuniatly cut short to 10 laps do to an unfortuniate incident with one of the Cobras. The NASA second position in the points lead driver got into the rear of another Cobra. The quick jack punctured his radiator and the nose was torn up. BUT that did not stop him! He kept it out on the track until the notorious turn nine got the best of him. Up against the outside wall, the right front suspension took almost all the force. Driver was fine but the car is going to need some work! Right front suspension torn from its mounts and a nasty little kink in the frame rails. The other Cobra received only minor damage and was able to continue. For those of you in the Richmond Virginia area, the NASA nationals are only two weeks away and I bet he could use some help if he is going to make it!
For those not familiar with turn eight it is a on camber steep uphill left that crests at the apex and then drops suddenly and goes to off camber! With the wall right there waiting for you!
He was probably better off than the BMW that blew his engine at the end of the back straight, dumped
oil all over the place, could not stop and went straight off the end of the back straight off turn 7 into the gravel and rolled the car. The had to diaper the car to get it back to the pits. Driver was just fine!
Another incident involving one of the 'extreme' Mustangs left him on the flat tow. A spin near station 11 left his drivers side facing traffic. He got hit pretty good between the front bumber and suspension on the passenger side. Driver once again was thankfully just fine. Later when looking at the damage on the car in the pits I did not notice any coolant anywhere. The radiator (a Fluiddyne) was smashed up so that the left side was a good four inches higher than the right side........ and it was not leaking! You heard me right, the system was holding pressure!
Lots of cars from Panoz, FF5, msutangs, vettes, BMW, closed cockpit GT type cars etc. Overall some fun racing to watch! Met plenty of Cobra fans and made some new Ohio connnections! Not to mention free Coronas from NASA after the event!
The tuner boys (and girls
) where all there. The had style, sound and performance competitions all weekend. I say one Db reading over 132Db in the sound competition, a 1000HP four banger with NO N.O.S., gullwinged Tiberons (who would of thought) and all kinds of 'bling'. These where NOT the kids with the fart cans and bolt on wings eyeing you at ever stop light. There was some serious coin floating around there and the attention to detail was outstanding.
Of course all the vendors had to show up. GM, G Sport, Jegs, etc, etc, etc. Lots of free stuff and displays.
During all of this there where drifting displays, trick motorcycle riding (those guys are nuts!), and dyno runs.
After the NASA guys where all finished up, the tuners took to the track. But not for open tracking! They had a measured distance to accelorate as hard as they could and then come to a complete stop in a 'box' on the front straight. Unfortuniately they where not giving top speeds but this was the length of the front straight and I was hearing 0-?-0 times in the low 12's! After the 0-?-0 run they would head over to the end of the back striaght for a run at the esses. Starting at about the 200 foot marker they would stand on it and go through turns 7-9 (read turn 8 discription above) and recieve a segment time at the end of the run. Interestingly enough, one of the fastest cars through this segment was an Impala SS!!! I never even thought of this type of car in the tuner crowd but there it was, and it was quick!
Aside from the people I met, one of the things I enjoyed the most was the contrast of 'new and old'. I parked just 'downwind' of the Tuner show at one point to go and check out the cars. While I was taking pictures and looking at their cars, I turn to see groups of them going to do the same with my Cobra! There is and can be a mutual respect, admiration and cooperation between the groups. These guys after all are modern hot rodders running what they can get their hands on.............. just like we used to do.
Pictures will be along after a while. If this event comes back to Mid-Ohio next year, I give it two thumbs up!
Rick
NASA and Tuner Triple Crown at Mid-Ohio
Linear Mode
