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NJMP Thunderbolt VRG Historic races recap and vids


d15b7

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whew! where to start? well, here goes:

 

arrive friday at 1pm right after a microburst had decimated the paddock at NJMP. (it turned out fortunate that I wasn't able to race friday due to commitments after all haha). unloaded the Lotus and teched it and then locked safely back in the trailer. hung out with Greg Amy and Ed (great to see you guys !!! that 914 of Greg's looks fantastic and was running well too). time to go now and off to Philly. returned back at 1am and found out there had been a second microburst and the paddock got wrecked AGAIN. yikes!

 

sat dawned cloudy but then sunny and HOT and humid! steamy, really. the track had drained somewhat but it was very sketchy in multiple places (esp entering T1 and before T3 and exiting Octopus and exiting T12). the Lotus has a welded diff (NOT friendly in the rain or damp!). it's diabolical if you don't stay on top of it and know the conditions. I went out at 9am to qualify for Group 1 (mid bore class) and did about 8 laps (last 3 or 4 white knuckling around with understeer transitioning to snap oversteer entering/exiting the dry-then-wet spots at speed. I came back into the pits figuring 'i hope I'm somewhere in the middle of the pack and not too far back'. I was bummed enough I didn't even go up to look at the grid sheet. went up to meet Bob and Kyle and Dick et al (Triumph TR4 built and raced by Dick Stockton (driven by Kyle Disque this weekend) and I believe Bob Tullius drove it back in the day too), and first thing i hear is 'great job you're on pole by 0.6 sec!'. i was stunned. I guess the Seven and I did ok in those dicey conditions after all! :)

 

race was at 1:30 pm. bright sunny very very hot. get gridded up and I set the pace at about 55-60 mph in 3rd gear. green flag drops and both the TR4 (Kyle) and I were right on the flag. and then vroooooooom! bye bye there goes Kyle to the first turn and puts about 5-6 lengths on me! now the chase was ON brother! track was dry and fast except for wet entering T1, wet just before T3, and damp coming out of Octopus.

our cars are fast on Thunderbolt in different places thats for sure! I got up to his rear bumper and lap after lap trying to find a way around (man this guy Kyle is GOOD! he won't crack and I was trying my best to pressure/distract him every chance I got). pretty soon we are into backmarkers and Kyle is slicing and dicing them lol. I'm staying with him pretty much lock-step, but now I'm watching the water temp gauge climb past 230 and oil is 250 and climbing. not good. (don't look at the gauge Todd lol!). another swarm of laps goes by and there's maybe 5-6 mins to go and I'm still in the same scenario (I can get up to his bumper but can't make anything happen and stick!). traffic is wild by now (watch the vid; we were splitting them everywhere and some of them weren't paying very good attention; I know I was trying to be careful but trying to get through them too to stay with the TR4). water temp gauge went past 240 (YIKES) (oil gauge pretty stablized at 260 which was borderline still OK); I decide that I don't want to pop it and start short shifting at 5500 and drop off Kyle's tail. a couple of laps later it's over and Kyle wins and I'm second. back to paddock to try to cool down me (and the car!). from memory I think I turned a 1:35.6 and Kyle a 1:36.5. here's the vid from sat's race:

 

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AmUHWCpbUJmAq2zpqrxjostLd5Op

 

go hang out with Kyle and Bob and Dick and slaps on the back and riding the after-race high for a while! it was all good man! :) then back to my trailer and take off the nose cone and bonnet and look around; everything looks ok. it's only down about 8 oz of water. and then I see that a piece of the lower rad shrouding (home brew foam tubing that is duct taped on for the last 5 yrs or so lol) is missing. must have ripped off/blown off during the race. make another piece, tape it on, top off with water, add 1/4 qt oil, close it up. Visit with my friend Bob Ball (BMW 2002 driver who is a REAL wheelman) til about 11pm and then hit the sack!

 

sun dawns dry and clear and cooler (maybe 80ish). our race is on at 10:30. since I still have fastest lap, i'm on pole again. but I have a plan this time; I'm gonna pace it slower like 40 mph in 2nd gear. hopefully I can accelerate better and lose less ground to T1, outbrake Kyle and if I can hold the lead for one lap maybe very gently start gapping out..... (nice plan eh? LOL!). green flag flies; the little Lotus pulls strong in second and third and it's working! Kyle is ahead but by like 2 lengths not 6! and then ZOOOOOOOOOOM a Datsun 510 from hell at about 9k rpm blazes by on the far far inside and jams in between Kyle and me and instead of being able to brake super late and inside (what the Seven is bred to do!) I have to brake early and wait for the Datsun. which then parks it and proceeds to hold me up every corner for a full lap and blaze away in the straights (this bad bitch was even faster than the TR4 in the straights! but zero rear suspension (it was bouncing and jinking everywhere like a low rider haha)). I finally got a huge run on him and put him away going into T4 (and never saw him again. he was like 3+ sec slower than us) and now the chase is on again and I have to make distance to catch Kyle. I finally get back to his rear bumper and it's sat all over again; I can't figure a way around this Iceman driver. a few more laps goes by and there is a local yellow at T6 due to a broken Pinto; Kyle gets by a 240Z lapper and I allllmost can get it done before breaking the plane of the yellow but not quite so I slide back and wait behind the 240z. and wait and wait (he was crawling!) til the next clear corner station and I pass but by then Kyle is about 30 lengths ahead. I give chase and close some distance but then there is ANOTHER local yellow at T2 and I get held up waiting there too; it's too late now to make up all those lengths and the race ends. Kyle in 1st and me in 2nd. but I did have a small consolation; I turned a 1:34.1 (was pumped I was that close to a 1:33 in a vintage car!!!!!!). Kyle at a 1:34.3 (smoking fast too!). Turns out that my 1:34.1 was the fastest laptime of the weekend that wasn't a Formula or S2 car (take that Big Bore! Kyle and I would have been 1-2 in Big Bore haha) oh and the hottest the car got was 210 water 230 oil :) here's the link to sun's race (that damn Datsun 510 man!!!)

 

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AmUHWCpbUJmAq22d7LBxsgZDnoFw

 

had an awesome time hanging out and running so hard and clean; that's what racing (vintage in particular) is all about!

 

Can't wait for a rematch with the TR4 at Watkins Glen in a few months!

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thanks guys! on sun i'm positive that there was a high 1:33.x in the car if I hadn't been fighting with the TR4 and lapped traffic and yellow flags etc. the Seven with it's little xflow was running it's heart out for me! :) really had a good time hanging out with you fellas at NJMP a few weeks ago (damn wish I'd been able to have the Seven running that weekend!). next event looks like it will be the Coatesville Vintage Grand Prix in Sept and then Watkins Glen rematch of the TR4 in Oct. I might have to ditch these 3 yr old used tires and buy some for WGI

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Great Vids! Really enjoy watching you outpace the rest of the field. And pretty obvious your car was the 'king' in the corners. :cheers:

Edited by xcarguy
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thanks! ya the two of us were quite a bit faster than the other 33 cars (I think 3rd place was about 3-1/2 secs slower and then there were a bunch of cars in the 1:39 to 1:42 range and then a bunch a few secs slower than that. after the first few laps it was traffic like rush hour on the beltway for us haha!

 

I think I had the TR4 covered in the corners (especially the faster ones) and had him in the brake zones but I just couldn't figure a way around him to make it stick (safely)

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The write up was frenetic as the actual pace on the video - that was really exciting to watch.

 

Speaking of BDR....why is it not installed yet? :toetap05:

 

thanks guys - glad you enjoyed my writing (believe me I'm no writer; I'm an engineer! lol). the main reason that the BDR is still sitting in my den (yes! my den! not even in the basement haha. it lives a life of air conditioned luxury) is that I asked around and if I put in the BDR, I'll be relegated to Big Bore pretty much exclusively, because that engine never really 'belonged' in the early Sevens; I like the idea of being able to run in the 'proper' group for me (mid bore) if there is competition there (such as was this weekend with the TR4). if there isn't, then I can choose to go to Big Bore. I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with the BDR yet (I still might someday put it into the Seven!) or maybe I've been looking for a Cortina / Capri / Escort to put it in too....

 

one sorta top secret that I have been holding in is that I have a full race crossflow being built at my engine builder for the last year or so (all steel, high compression, race cam, dry sump, DCOE 45s etc) and that should be done and in by next year. with that motor I'll be able to run in Mid Bore if I want to, and the additional power should even the playing field substantially (should be in the neighborhood of 190-195 hp or so) :)

Edited by d15b7
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