VIR Report?

svann · Post by **svann** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:48 am

How about a report from VIR, for those of us who could not be there. Did everyone have a good time? If you had never been there, what did you think of the facilities?

RX-Midget · Post by **RX-Midget** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:38 am

I had a great time! The track is fun and interesting with some cool elevation changes - and it is smooth!!!

The VIR complex and the country side is beautiful with the leaves changing. The only downside - those same leaves wound up everywhere when the wind was blowing. In the car, trailer, truck, helmet, across the timing lights....

George Bowland took the FTD.

There was some agricultural driving, but no injuries.

The drive was not bad. It took us 6.5 hrs on I-95 each way.

Steve Tumolo · Post by **Steve Tumolo** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:01 am

Glad to hear it was a safe weekend and that you had fun. How many PHA'ers showed up? Did you run out of gear before turn one?

RX-Midget · Post by **RX-Midget** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 4:19 pm

My memory has 12 PHA regulars present at the event and 10 of them drove.

I was at 7000 in 4th gear at the end of the straight which equates to 120-125 mph with my gears and tires. I still had 1000 rpm left and then 5th gear -if the straight was flat I would have needed it! It was very fast and fun

Some things I found :

picking up rubber "boogers" on the track will make the car shake like crazy at high speed

When you slide off the wet track from the previous nights rain, the wet grass really does make you slide faster and longer than you thought possible

jgrausa · Post by **jgrausa** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 4:43 pm

svann wrote:How about a report from VIR, for those of us who could not be there. Did everyone have a good time? If you had never been there, what did you think of the facilities?

Top notch event. Outstanding facilities. Plenty of seat time. Well organized with a couple timing glitches - blowing leaves - and only one oil spill requiring clean up.

I'm considering moving to NC so I can get closer to the track. The 7 1/2 hr drive is a bit much.

We drove in on friday in the rain and it poured buckets full early sat am. When dawn arrived, the skies began to clear, tempertures got to the 60s and the wind only freshened in the afternoon. Track dried out quickly, thanks group 1 & 2. 20 minute practice sessions with passing, fun when you get pointed by, boring when the slower driver doesn't let you by. Learning a new course takes patience, I ain't got none, I wanna go fast - now.

Saturday night the temps dove into the 30s making camping a winter type experience. Democratic vote to eliminate 20 minute practice sessions, so we started with timed runs 1st thing Sunday. The temps rose quickly and the early cars on track were doing better times than Saturday - nice surprise. Everyones times improved on Sunday. One of the more notable cars was a Mitubishi Evo that drove in from Atlanta. He bested all but two sports racers and George Bowland. Timing said he was doing better than 135 on the front straight - he was COOKING!!!!

A couple of nice nerve testers
doing 115+ down the front straight and knowing there is a 180 just over the hill - you can't see the turn, but you know its there, brake too soon and you lose lots of time - too late and well.........

then there is turn 10 - leave your ego at home and learn to drive this turn a little bit at a time. A fast left-hander - again blind, off camber once over the hill with tire wall to the left. This is an area where you could make up time as you learned the course.

A spring event here would be nice considering they have a jump on weather. Imagine a TT in late April - early May - come'on Mash git 'er done.

A big thanks to Mark Mashburn, Pete and all the workers.
Regards,
Joe Rausa

John Pitman · Post by **John Pitman** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 5:20 pm

You can go into the photo album, under general photos, for a group shot of the "Grand Army of the PHA" that marched into Time Trial battle at VIR for a truly outstanding weekend. Mark, George and Pete ran a great event, and were wonderful hosts! Oh yeah, them rebel competitors sure know how to drive!
I will post additional comments later. See you at the banquet.

Dogpatch · Post by **Dogpatch** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:42 pm

RX-Midget wrote:My memory has 12 PHA regulars present at the event and 10 of them drove.

Hi Brian

The racing ended a little early for me after losing 3,4,5,6 gear early Sunday afternoon. But hey thats the way racing is. Other then that the event was great. Worked out the top speed on the front straight in 6th gear when the rev limiter kicked in at about 143 mph. Wow!

Got home midnight Sunday

Kurt
Prince PR01 DSR #08

jgrausa · Post by **jgrausa** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:10 pm

Dogpatch wrote:
RX-Midget wrote:My memory has 12 PHA regulars present at the event and 10 of them drove.
. Luckily the data acquisition unit wasn't damaged after all but merely unplugged.

Kurt
Prince PR01 DSR #08

Good thing, becaue there is a thing called "assumption of risk" in play here.

Joe

Dogpatch · Post by **Dogpatch** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:29 pm

Hey Joe,

Got some great pictures of your car at VIR. I'll post them on my web site. See you this weekend.

Kurt

Tim Royer · Post by **Tim Royer** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:10 pm

Worked out the top speed on the front straight in 6th gear when the rev limiter kicked in at about 143 mph. Wow!

I know that turn comes up quick at 150mph too. I was geared out halfway up the hill!

I did brake late there once and had to slow down on the straight past that turn

No way I was going to stick, missed braking zone by about 50ft that's all took.

Glad to hear it was a great event sorry I missed it. That was the first one I missed in along time. It was just impossible to make this year.

Dogpatch · Post by **Dogpatch** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:31 pm

Tim

I was on the rev limiter well before the Madison Ave by-pass half way up the hill. God with the right car 170 or 180 looks doable. So where is Darryl and the Indy car when you need them.

Kurt

RX-Midget · Post by **RX-Midget** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:00 pm

Kurt,

Glad you made it home OK and that the damage is not as bad as it looked. It was a long drive home, but I'm sure yours seemed longer. Let me know if you need anything.

Brian

RX-Midget · Post by **RX-Midget** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:02 pm

Almost forgot, here is my little off on the wet course. I was just glad to keep it off the tire wall.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... pr=goog-sl

Dogpatch · Post by **Dogpatch** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:42 pm

Brian

Having seen you spin from our vantage point in the grid seeing it from the car explains a lot. You need to rethink taking that short cut again. Even if it works they won't allow it.

Kurt

Tim Royer · Post by **Tim Royer** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:13 pm

Kurt,

Same here, the F3 I driving was under geared bigtime for the straight. I was going to drive it again this year down there but Rick R. isn't getting back for a couple more weeks. There's always next year!

Dave Cutchins · Post by **Dave Cutchins** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:10 am

Kurt,

I heard you say you lost some gears on your last run, but I did not hear what caused the problem. I hope nothing major????

I am glad all of you who came south to play with us had a good time. I am looking forward to next season already.

Dave Cutchins
FF#94

FV195 · Post by **FV195** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:32 pm

Tim, I took a ride down the run off road @ turn 1, I knew the vee would not stick, so I didn't try. came out of "oak tree with two tires in the dirt, dads got a great picture of it. fastest lap. We came home with about 1/4 gallon of race gas left, not much rubber left on the hoosiers, and BIG smiles, I'll be back. for those that didn't go.
"sorry you wern't there, glad we got more track time"
THOR
fv195

PitCrewLinda · Post by **PitCrewLinda** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:08 pm

Just to let everyone know on this post, I've put photos of the track and of Thor's adventure photo onto the pha website. Look under General Photos.

Smile, Thor!

Tim Royer · Post by **Tim Royer** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:13 pm

Use that dirt!

Dogpatch · Post by **Dogpatch** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:18 pm

Dave Cutchins wrote:Kurt,

I am glad all of you who came south to play with us had a good time. I am looking forward to next season already.

Dave Cutchins
FF#94

Dave

Don't know about the tranny yet but I was left with only 1st and second gear. Car is already at the shop to repair the damage.

The event venue (VIR) is the nicest track I've ever been to, much like Putnam Park near Indy. The facilities were first class, the event well run and the people were friendly and made us all feel at home. However, that being said, I was a little surprised that a 36 year old track event tradition did not offer either plaques or trophies to the participants. Also by the time we arrived for food most was gone and well picked over. We took ourselves out to dinner in Danville. PHA events always offer the players good food. Addressing these complaints in the future would only make a great event more memorable. Of course nothing will keep me from coming back next year. Awesome track.

Kurt
Prince PR01 DSR #08

PA Hillclimb

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