Road America 2013 ALMS: Prototypes In The Paddock

The Muscle Milk HPD-Honda in tech inspection.  It was two seconds per lap faster than its competition.  A dominant
performance.  At Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta last October, "not so much."  The Rebellion Racing Lola came over
from Europe's WEC series to hand Muscle Milk its head there.

Der front und zee back (Muscle Milk aero, spare body parts).

The Delta Wing (mostly) unstripped.  Katherine Legge put in a very creditable hot lap in this car in qualifying, but did
not have enough for Muscle Milk.  The Delta Wing was very unstable over the rumble strips at the exit of Canada
Corner, where the left rear lost grip but the front and right rear still had it.  This, plus Legge's terrifying crash in the
Kink in 2006, made her performance all the more impressive. 

In Legge's CART crash, the rear wing element failed.  She was stunned and transported to the infield care center.  Amazingly, she was unhurt and gave an interview within a half-hour.  Here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h2iqmliVMk

The Delta Wing stripped down.  Apparently the engineering theory is less drag through the use of side-pod tunnels,
dispensing with wings, which gives better fuel economy, so the car wins by making fewer pit stops.  But it is off the
pace.  So the theory hasn't worked out...yet?  The engine is a small, light, 4-cylinder turbo Nissan.

Pushrod front suspension of the Patron Vodka-sponsored HPD ARX 03b-Honda P-2 car.  I don't understand the point of
the brake "drums."  Do you?

Although I'm not a fan of them, I got a couple of interesting shots of Grand-Am Daytona Prototypes:

Stripping down the Ganassi DP on Sunday morning.  It raced Saturday.  But instead of loading up Saturday night, the
team did the post-race tear-down/routine maintenance at Road America on Sunday.

Fresh Chevy engine for the Gainsco/Stallings "Corvette" DP car.  They followed the same procedure that Ganassi did.

Der front und zee back (Gainsco/Stallings DP aero, spare body parts).  That's my son, taking the obligatory picture of
me taking a picture.

Road America 2013 ALMS: The Track Post

Flying Lizard (Porsche), Corvette, and Risi Competizione (Ferrari) exit Thunder Valley past the no-longer existing
Billy Mitchell Bridge.  It has been replaced with a tunnel closer to Turn 14.

There have been some changes at Road America since I was last there 14 years ago.  Some for the worse, some for the better.  I guess this is a highly personal and idiosyncratic post from that perspective: mixing the significant with the trivial.  Later posts will focus on the racing cars.

In the trivial category, I was disappointed that the concession stand in the Paddock operated by St. John the Baptist now offers pre-cooked brats and bottled iced tea.  We used to get fresh-cooked brats and 32 oz. cups filled with ice and unsweetened, brewed tea.  "SJB Racing" used to be the best concession stand at Road America, by a wide margin.  (You can still get fresh-cooked brats at the stand at Canada Corner, although their tea is bottled too.)  In the non-trivial category, the Tech Barn has been moved into the Paddock, where it always belonged.  This is much more convenient for the competitors and interesting for spectators.

I was amused to be denied entry to a paddock lane by a high school student.  He was not sure what kind of pass I needed, but was pretty sure I didn't have it.  I didn't know: the Super Ticket used to allow you to roam the Paddock anywhere.  What amused me was his explanation that "It's a 'hot lane.'" With access to the False Grid being from the north end of the Paddock, and access to the Paddock from Pit Lane being at the south end, and the Tech Barn in the Paddock, the entire Paddock is hot, all the time.  You must keep your wits about you, as in the old, old days.  (CART mechanics pushed the cars if they needed to be moved.  The sporty-car drivers drive them, just as in they always have.)

A line of GT 3 Cup Porsches ready to exit the Tech Barn having been through inspection.

I was extremely annoyed that we could no longer "walk the course backwards" from Thunder Valley to the exit of the Kink.  Where access is not completely denied by undergrowth, the same undergrowth obstructs even glimpses of the cars hammering down the back straight.  Offsetting this disappointment is the new-ish pedestrian bridge at the exit of the Carousel.  It allows you to get well to the outside of the course with a view into the Kink.  This will be a prime viewing area for me if and when I return to Road America.  The cars are going like the proverbial hammers of hell here, and watching the various lines and who's lifting for the Kink (or braking) and who's not makes for some fascinating spectating.

With an expanded and expansive go-kart track adjacent to Turns 7 and 8, and a lot of marques having their own Affinity Group Parking, we were no longer free to roam where we would by car.  You must park your car (in one of several areas sprinkled around the course) and walk.  Which actually is not that much of an imposition.  (There are also a lot more golf carts and bicycles than in days of yore.)  On the other hand, parking discipline seems better and people take pains to leave lanes open.  On the other other hand, the paid admission for this race was a lot smaller than the 60,000-80,000 I was used to for CART events in the 1990's.  A "big gate" would challenge Road America's current parking arrangements.

Affinity Group Parking with provision for Slumming Corvettes.  ;-)   I was thrown out of this
empty-but-for-one-Camaro on Friday, even though I explained that I was just there for an
hour or so.  The viewing from most Affinity Lots (from your car or the fence) is not great,
but it's better than the non-existent viewing from General Parking.

The big change is the rumble strips on the track.  They're usable as racing surface (unless its raining).  In a previous post, I mentioned that nobody has come close to Dario Franchitti's absolute lap record of 1:39.9 (144 m.p.h.).  Well, on Saturday Klaus Graff came closer in the Muscle Milk HPD Honda: 1:51.x (130 m.p.h.).  But he had the benefit of the new rumble strips.  I suppose a CART car could do maybe 150 m.p.h. on the current course:

The new rumble strips at the exit of Canada Corner.  Race direction is from right to left.  The rumble strips around the
entire course have been redone in this fashion.

"Rumble Strips Plus" at the exit of Turn 5.  It used to be that, if you got onto the grass where the darker grey patch now
is, you'd likely snap-spin across the course or end your day in the Jersey Barriers to the right.  Now you have a safety
margin when using the new rumble strips for racing, which, of course, all drivers do.  This arrangement also exists at
Turns 1, 12, and a couple of others.

"I'm Off..."

Pilote's personal fan favorite: the Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia.  Racing 458's make a glorious shriek at high revs.

(OK, blog readers, no cracking-wise.)

I'm going back to Elkhart Lake for a pro race, my first since the CART glory days.  Only ALMS GT and Road America could get me to spend the big bucks again.  (Well...I did "bucket list" Petit LeMans last fall with my Cuz.)  It's more fun and a lot less expensive to watch and bench race with club members I'm personally acquainted with.  Another reason I haven't been back to Road America for a long time is because I wanted to avoid over-writing my memories of the awesome speed of CART racers there. Nobody is likely to come close to Dario Franchitti's absolute lap record of 144 m.p.h. any time soon. (Reynard-Honda, 1999.)

Anyway.  The charm of ALMS GT's is that they are authentically production-based and there's an "avoidable contact" rule.  In ALMS, rubbin' ain't racin' (mostly).  It's old-timey sports car racing in a modern, medium-tech, wrapper.  I want to watch the GT's one last time before the NASCAR-dominated merger into the United Sports Car Racing series screws up the rules.  (USCR promises to leave the ALMS GT class alone, so the cars will still be legal at LeMans.  I don't believe them.)

Maybe I shouldn't worship at the altar of Road America so devoutly.  There are several world-class courses in North America.  But R.A. still seems to me to be the pinnacle.  There is something about watching a pro driver brake a pro car from top speed and stuff it into Turn 5 hard, then hare up the hill into the blind entry of Turn 6.  In a fast car, the segment from the Carousel to the front straight is one of the most challenging piece of road in the world.  The club racers I know who've driven Road America get a wistful look in their eyes or a "1000-yard stare," depending on their personal experience of the challenge.  Some of them gulp.  I would.  Back in the '80's, Hotshoe drove a couple of fast-ish "track tour" laps in his street Mustang and completely used up the brakes.

I hope to return home with some pix for the blog and some memories to go with my fine ones of CART.

Road America: "four miles of fun," as the promos used to put it.

Scirocco Update

Scirocco en brochette: not the first time a "minor delay" has been encountered in this resurrection.

Well... here's the thing... the rear brake lines were leaking fluid not from cracked flex hoses but from the unions that joined them to the fixed lines.  And because the fuel system parts are already out of the way, and because the car can't be driven without rear brakes, why not fix that problem first?  To refresh readers' memories, getting the Scirocco running started out as "simply" finding and fixing a valve lash problem with the rebuilt cylinder head.  Start it, tune it, test-drive it, sell it.  We have instead a series of sagas of broken Russian Nesting Dolls.  Something like that--a good metaphor escapes me.  But somebody is going to get a classic Scirocco that has been thoroughly "gone through."

"Uh, oh..."  Driver's side rear brake line (flex line at left).

The fix involves new flex lines and U-clips that affix one end of same to the suspension arms.  And flaring the ends of
the hard lines to mate with the fixtures at each end of the flex lines.

Pretty good workmanship, wouldn't you say?  Including a fix for the end of the hard line that was damaged in removal.
 Hotshoe made a"jig" of cement blocks, 4 X 6's, and 4 X 4's to support the (heavy) flaring tool and give him the
leverage and purchase needed to execute the flares with the fixed lines still in the chassis.  Creative guy!  He
went from "I need two guys and six hands" to finishing the job himself in a morning.

  The new clamp that fastens the fixed line that runs along the rear suspension arm out to the caliper (left).  This shot is
of the driver's side of the car, looking forward.  Hotshoe learned a lot doing the driver's side, so the passenger's side
should go quickly.  Then it's back to cleaning out the fuel tank and lines.

Panzerwagens And The King Of Cool Invade France

Panzerwagens in the village square of La Chartre sur-le-Loir, but not to worry: it's only the movie cars from LeMans.
And it's 1970, not 1940.  I wonder of Steve McQueen and one of his world-class "stunt drivers" took the 917's down to
La Charte to sample the food and wine at the Hotel de France recommended by John Wyer?  If so, it must have been
one of the ultimate drives to dinner after a workday: about 20 miles on curvy 2-lanes.

McQueen directing a scene in LeMans.  Aviator sunglasses cannot make you cool (Pilote being Exhibit A), but if you
are already the Essence Of Cool, they complete the picture.  Obviously, green lenses are strongly preferred; red lenses
are barely acceptable.  Mirrored lenses might as well have a different shape and fluorescent plastic frames.  ;-)

Late To The Party

XK-E Lightweight "Tribute:" not as nice as Leno's, but nice.

Fifty-odd years late, Jay Leno's vidoes are turning me into a Jaguar fan:

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/cars/jaguar/1964-jaguar-xke/index.shtml

As a youth in the '60's, I didn't see the XK-E's value for money: slower and more costly than a Corvette Stingray.  In those days I believed that road racing established a sports car's bona fides.  Jaguar's iron block, long stroke, straight six had about reached the end of its development rope.  The 3.8 and 4.2 liter XK-E's, even the Lightweights, were not competitive with 3-liter Ferraris and 5.4 liter Corvettes.

In the '70's I had a couple of rides in a Series II roadster owned by a friend, and was not impressed.  It had a lot of weight on the front of a longish wheelbase.  It was unwieldy in rush hour traffic.  (I now realize that the Ferrari 250 GT was just as unwieldy and twice as costly.)

But I can now also see how much fun the XK-E and even the XK-120 are.  Fast, competent, enjoyable road cars.  That's one of the good things about Leno's videos: they give you a feel for the car on real roads (although Jason Len doesn't let Jay take this one out).  And nobody has beat the looks of the
XK-E.  Nor will they in the modern era of crashworthy cars.

Incidentally, I was reassured by Len's comment that he breaks 'em in on organic motor oil, then changes to synthetic.  That's my rule too; its nice to see my instinct confirmed by a pro.

Henry N. Manney III

Henry getting some help finding the footwell (or maybe levering himself out) of an early 1960's Formula car.  

Jay Leno has mentioned once or twice how, as youngsters, we waited with baited breath for the next issue of a car mag to show up.  He does not exaggerate.  It was our lifeline--our only one--to what was going on.  Everything we were anxious to know about was there: timely and thorough road tests, coverage of new models introduced at the motor shows, race reports.  Road & Track even covered SCCA Nationals (which were really regional) before there was such a thing as SCCA pro racing.

Times change.  The internet out-competes car mags for timeliness and breadth of coverage.  The printed page no longer engages many people like video does.  About a year ago, I blogged that I might let my never-lapsed subscription (1959!) to Road & Track expire.  Its technically-oriented, long form journalism has long since gone out of style and out the magazine.  Some recent editorial changes have improved it,  but not enough for this dinosaur's tastes--even though it still has Peter Egan, who's columns and reporting remain the best in the biz.

My regrets over Road & Track's "passing" remind me of its best and funniest writer: Henry N. Manney III.  That was his byline, not "Henry Manney" or "Hank."  He succeeded Bernard Cahier as the magazine's European Editor and race reporter in 1961.  He stopped writing for Road & Track in the late 1960's and no one, before or since, has been as entertaining.  (It's a stellar list, too: Cahier, Rob Walker, and Paul Frere, among others.)  Manney wrote a column, "At Large," which he signed as "Yr. Faithful Svnt."  His writing was prolix and convoluted; his Edwardian Gentleman persona was a hilarious, intentionally anachronistic, put-on.

His most famous line, long-since in the public domain, was that the Jaguar XK-E was "the greatest crumpet-catcher known to man."  (This was in those Boys' Club times when it was presumed that women wouldn't read or care about insulting language in publications like Road & Track.)  My own favorite line was from his report on the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix.  Dan Gurney's silver Porsche eventually finished 5th.  But for much of the race he ran 3rd, punching above his weight, between the Ferraris of Phil Hill and Wolfgang Von Trips.  "Like an anchovy embedded in a pizza," Manney wrote.  A favorite re-usable line was "Practice was the usual shambles," after which Manney would explain the slings and arrows suffered by drivers and teams in setting the starting grid.  (Race car reliability was nowhere near then what it is now.)  His imagery put you as close to an event as you could be without being there.

For those interested in more Manneyisms, here's a link.  (Disclaimer: I share almost no views on matters social, political, and automotive with those expressed in Joe Sherlock's blog aside from his admiration for Manney).

http://www.joesherlock.com/Henry-Manney.html 

Manney in the early 1960's: the Inspector Clouseau Look before Peter Sellers made it iconic.  He walked the walk as
well as talking it: in the late 1960's, he owned a Ferrari GTO after they had become obsolete race cars, when you
could still buy one for the price of a small house.