Steven,

I wish you the best, but have not had an entirely dry weekend there yet. Pick your paddock spot well, as there are some spots that the water runs through like a river. Read the contours of the paddock. If it is wet out your first time on the track, run a car width off of the line and go easy. Look for the spots where the water puddles, the course does not drain well in all corners. Also, if wet be careful getting back to throttle after getting back on the front straight until after you cross the painted start/finish line as it is slick when wet and your rear tires will break loose in a hurry.

Have fun and post some video.

Jim

Pictures guys, we are all missing the normal life we had. This is a temporary norm and I for one miss the old.

Where's the Gentry?

No Gentry around me. A low budget racer competing against people with much deeper pockets than me.

Thanks for the heads up on Mid-Ohio Jim, the forecast calls for showers on Friday (practice/qualifying) in the pm. The revised schedule shows Group 6 has a 8am practice session with a early pm qualifying session. Unfortunately they are lumping Group 6 with Groups 10 & 12a so it will be a large field of cars.

Steve,

Tony has been placing more effort on the Trans Am and IMSA cars than group 6 cars and for that matter the small bore cars as well. Therefore, the number of cars entering races has decreased. Group 6 has been merged with 12b at prior Mid Ohio races due to low numbers, and this past fall for the first time ever Group 6 was merged with 12b at the Vintage Grand Prix. Gone are the days of 30+ group 6 cars at an event. Some of the drivers needed to go, their egos were way too big and they drove very aggressively, but a lot of good drivers were lost along the way as well.

Be careful and watch your mirrors. Those group 10 and 12a cars are fast and many of them are running aeros. They will buzz you in the corners. I have checked my mirror there (its twisty so sometimes you do not have a long sight distance) before turn in and all of a sudden I hear a loud noise and there is one of those cars under cutting me at the apex. Given that you have not run there before the speed differential between them and you, as you are trying to get to know the track, will be significant.

Drive safe and have fun.

Jim

Jim have you run any HSR events? Their fields have tended to be more exclusively Group 6 solely, although they threw in former NASCAR stock cars one time and they made fools of themselves running over there fellow competitors.
I've found the HSR and VDSCA events a little "lower key", again thanks for the info. Dennis Olthoff and his crew is helping crew my car at Mid-Ohio, I know he did some prep work for you on your car. This will be my first time using them, so far I've been impressed with his professionalism and thoroughness.

Steven,

You are in good hands with Dennis. He has been a good support and friend over the past few years. I will be seeing Dennis at the HSR race at the Glen in a few weeks. That will be my first HSR event, would love to do the 24 hours at Daytona some day with them. Dennis knows his stuff about cars and racing and his crews are top notch. He does not mince words when in competition mode. He will praise you when you do well and let you know when you screw up. He helped me knock 3 seconds off my best lap time. I feel a lot better knowing that he will be supporting you.

Again, good luck.

Jim

Lime Rock Park
 

Well it looks like I will finally get to race! Heading to Lime Rock Park in CT Thursday morning. Looks like I will be setting up my tent in the rain Thursday afternoon, but Friday and Saturday, the two race days (no Sunday racing in CT) look to be dry. Everything is loaded except the car on the trailer. There is a light rain right now here. Going to try a new recording system, Road Keeper. It uses GPS to provide speed data, it's not as sophisticated as their Race Keeper system, but is less expensive and Race Keeper is more setup for modern day cars with computers, as opposed to vintage cars. It should help me see how I am actually performing and should assist in my development. Not sure what kind of service I will have at the track, so may not be able to post until late Sunday to Monday.

Jim

Have a good one Jim.

Mark.

Lime Rock Park
 

Well, finally got a video to upload to youtube. I think that I have to move the camera as my rear view mirror blocks some of the action in front of me. First time at Lime Rock Park, it is one of the older road courses and is one of the tracks you have to do at least once. It is a fast track, and also one that you can easily get in trouble at. I had many people tell me to be cautious with the uphill and the downhill sections. Most accidents happen there. I could have taken both sections faster than I did, but being the first time out this year and a new track, decided to just stretch my legs a little. It was awful hot and muggy too. By the end of the weekend I was getting pretty tired. I had no track support, it was just me. Probably could have run my tires a little softer, as it felt like they were not getting good grip, but without a crew was unable to check the tire temps and pressures, too late to get accurate results by the time you get back to the paddock and out of the car.

Overall, a successful time. Dropped my time from 1:13 to 1:08. Thought that I could get to 1:05 but the last day as just too hot and I was too tired. Had some fun and met some new racers. I have a link to a video of me dueling with an E Type Jag. It was a tough session as there were 35 cars on a 1.5 mile track with some disparate times. The leaders were running around 59-60 second laps and the slowest cars were in the 1:20 range. Hope that you enjoy the video:

https://youtu.be/GqfnxRYvt_Y

By the way, the cobra was the hit of the show and my paddock mates told me that it was the most photographed car there. Hopefully I will get another chance to race this year. I definitely could have run a lot faster than I did, late on the acceleration at times and could have run the uphill and downhill faster. You do get light on the uphill and have to make sure that your steering wheel is straight before cresting the peak, or else you are off track when the front wheels get grip. Could feel the rear get awful light.

Jim

US Vintage Grand Prix video 2020
 

Well, the US Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen has been cancelled. This race season has been quite disheartening, hopefully my last race of the season at Watkins Glen in October will occur.

Due to my heavy heart and lamenting my woes, my wife agreed with me that I needed something to soothe my soul. Been driving nothing but the F150 that I use to tow the race car and mis driving a car. Sooo, I started looking around and found a couple of GT350's at a local dealer. One was a used 2019 with 4,000 miles on it that pan close inspection had been tracked hard. In those 4,000 miles the Brembo brake pads had lost half their thickness and the tires were almost bald. Later found out from the salesperson that the prior owner was a young guy who had inherited some money and that they took the car in on trade for a new GT500 that they sold him at $8,000 over sticker. The inside of he car and the engine compartment were dirty. I would not have given them $40,000 for it, let alone the $58,000 they were asking. That car looks like a dozen problems waiting to happen, I doubt he broke the engine in at all before driving it hard. Certainly did not look like maintenance was high on his list of preferred activities.

So, I took a look at the 2020 and they did not want to move at all on the sticker. The manager said that he was selling other GT350's for $2,000 over ticker earlier in the summer and the most he would move was $500 below sticker. After the manager left the next person dropped it to $1,000 below sticker and said that the car was going to one of their other dealerships tomorrow for a mostly certain sale and that the person was trading in a 2017 GT350 on it. I walked from the dealer, did not like the numbers and said that I would take a look at the 2017 when it came in. Heard back from the salesperson two days later saying that another used 2019 GT350 that was on their site and I had asked about was sold and that for some reason the 2020 was still on the lot and was I still interested in making a deal. So, we dickered a little more and they came down to $2,000 below sticker and it's mine. Picking it up Monday.

http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/pict...=19126&thumb=1

At least I can have some fun while waiting to race.

Jim

Congrats on the new toy, for me, I'm finally starting to look at trailers again, start with that, then buy a car to fit on the trailer :D .

Have, or had a deal on a used Trailex, verbal commitment, ready to put cash down via payPal and pick up on Tuesday. Seller calls back three hours later, he has an offer (trailer has been listed for a month, a Trailex listed for a month!!!! why, because he is so far out in the boonies it will take 5.5 hours to get there using back roads) higher than what we agreed on with someone who "wants to come look at it", I'll stick to our original deal I tell him, either you are a man of your word or not. Ball is in his court, I gave him till 6pm today to make up his mind as to whether he wants a guaranteed sale, or a possible sale higher with someone who would not commit over the phone but was willing to offer him more. I hate playing such games........

Bill S.

1795 (Jim)
Nice pickup on the GT ! Are you going to VIR next month, it will happen I'm pretty sure!
I was registered for Watkins Glen which really sucks, but following VIR is Road Atlanta. Both great venues.

Bill,

Thanks for the comment and boy does that suck when someone does not hold true to their word. All we have is our word. It seems that gone are the days that your word or your word and a handshake were a binding contract. I see too many people who brag about how great they are, but their word is meaningless. Good luck with finding a trailer from a reputable person.

Jim

Steven,

Not going to be traveling for a little bit. Have an accepted offer on my old home, hence the money for the GT350, and have to finish emptying out the barns and getting it ready for closing. Hoping to race at the Glen in October. Maybe next year I will do some more traveling. Have fun at VIR and Road Atlanta. I want to see some video.

Jim

Congratulations on the sale, unless someone else shoots video there won't be any, I'm running without a camera system. Might be something to splurge on for next year. Who's putting on the Oct race at the Glen? I've thought of doing Lime Rock, but again I'd be dealing with travel/testing to get through NY to get to CT.

You lucky bloke.....and.....you lucky bloke!

Well done on both counts Jim :3DSMILE:


Cheers,
Glen

Steven,

VRG is putting on the race. You can go to Motorsportreg.com to register. The nice thing about VRG is that you do not have to pay at the conclusion of the registration, they prefer cash at the track so that they do not have to pay credit card fees. In addition, if you do not put a wheel on the track you get a full refund, not a credit towards a future race like SVRA. They tend to be a little more cautious and picky about aggressive driving and there are no trophies or podiums.

Jim

Jim,
Haha! Yea my initial SVRA entry fee in January has rolled forward three times till Mid-Ohio. I even have a credit with HSR which (hopefully) gets used at VIR. I may check into VRG's Watkins Glen race, hopefully the out of state restrictions are lifted soon.