Arizona Vette's run WSIR
07-03-2006, 09:15 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Arizona Vette's run WSIR
Team Arizona Corvette Racers (the snakes) went to Willow Springs International Raceway this past week end represented by Pete Creek and Shirl Dickey sharing driving in the C5 (Black Mamba) and Ken Gerhart driving his Rippie 427 C6 (Viper eater)... The event was conducted by Speedventures.
Saturday did not go well with the Mamba team as the car was hampered by oil blowing overboard onto the left rear tire and it began blowing the fuel pump fuse... This was Pete's day to drive and he was only able to get in a few laps at a time before some strange malady would strike... We struggled most of the day with oil issues and chasing electrical gremlins... This was Pete's first time on this track and with all the car problems he never got a chance to lay down any maximum effort hot laps... He was able to run a respectable 1:37 under these conditions. Near the end of the day we figured out the fuel pump problem but with oil on the tires we decided the car was not safe to drive...
In the meantime, I volunteered to instruct and was assigned a new driver named 'Jackson'. He also had a Z06. So I ran three beginner sessions in the shotgun seat with Jackson and this gave me a good opportunity to refresh my memory of this track while instructing.
Ken's day was better but not without problems. He suffered a failed alternator and was left with a dying battery since no replacement alternator was available within 100 miles. In order to keep Ken in the action I agreed to swap my alternator into his car so he could run on Sunday since I had decided not to run the Mamba. He was able to run 3 full sessions on Saturday and started getting a good handle on the track ending with a 1:39 lap near the end of the day.
That evening I started formulating a plan that might get the Mamba safely back on the track on Sunday. Next morning I had narrowed down the problem and had a plan to fix it... We worked on the oil dump problem implementing a 'jerry rig' solution involving a set of vice grips to shut off the reverse oil flow going back into my catch can from the pan... In order to test the fix, we bolted Ken's dead alternator in the car and I went out late in the first session for a few warm up laps running on battery power only. The fix worked like a charm with no oil being dumped. To my surprise I ran a couple of laps in the 1:34 range. Things were looking up for team Mamba. Ken was also able to improve his times down to the 1:35 range.
The second session Ken and I had planned to run together for a bit but this plan went out the window when I found a Porsche on my tail... This was not just your garden variety Porsche, it was a full race GT2 Porsche 993 RSR running on new slicks driven by a guy named Alex... I immediately elevated my game and we ran full tilt for 6 laps with him catching me a bit in the corners and I would stretch out a few car lengths in the straights... On the 6th lap I slowed and gave him a 'point by' on the back straight. It was then nose to tail for another 3 laps with him not able to pull away from me... The fun was suddenly ended with another blown fuel pump fuse on the Mamba which ended my session...
Now comes the part I hate. My transponder quit after the third lap and I had no official times for all the dicing with the Porsche... I had a talk with the timing guys and we went over Alex's times... We were able to identify the critical laps including the 'point by' lap and they have agreed to give me the same times that Alex had up to lap 10. The early laps were 1:31, then 1:30 with a 1:32 point by lap and the last laps were 1:29's... The timers agreed to give me a best of 1:29.7. Without me on his tail, Alex went on to do a 1:29.2 at the end of this session. From this data I am happy to lay claim to second fastest time of the day. Not bad for a budget racer on old tires and a dead alternator... I salute Alex for his top time performance and excellent driving in the Porsche...
Shirl Dickey
Saturday did not go well with the Mamba team as the car was hampered by oil blowing overboard onto the left rear tire and it began blowing the fuel pump fuse... This was Pete's day to drive and he was only able to get in a few laps at a time before some strange malady would strike... We struggled most of the day with oil issues and chasing electrical gremlins... This was Pete's first time on this track and with all the car problems he never got a chance to lay down any maximum effort hot laps... He was able to run a respectable 1:37 under these conditions. Near the end of the day we figured out the fuel pump problem but with oil on the tires we decided the car was not safe to drive...
In the meantime, I volunteered to instruct and was assigned a new driver named 'Jackson'. He also had a Z06. So I ran three beginner sessions in the shotgun seat with Jackson and this gave me a good opportunity to refresh my memory of this track while instructing.
Ken's day was better but not without problems. He suffered a failed alternator and was left with a dying battery since no replacement alternator was available within 100 miles. In order to keep Ken in the action I agreed to swap my alternator into his car so he could run on Sunday since I had decided not to run the Mamba. He was able to run 3 full sessions on Saturday and started getting a good handle on the track ending with a 1:39 lap near the end of the day.
That evening I started formulating a plan that might get the Mamba safely back on the track on Sunday. Next morning I had narrowed down the problem and had a plan to fix it... We worked on the oil dump problem implementing a 'jerry rig' solution involving a set of vice grips to shut off the reverse oil flow going back into my catch can from the pan... In order to test the fix, we bolted Ken's dead alternator in the car and I went out late in the first session for a few warm up laps running on battery power only. The fix worked like a charm with no oil being dumped. To my surprise I ran a couple of laps in the 1:34 range. Things were looking up for team Mamba. Ken was also able to improve his times down to the 1:35 range.
The second session Ken and I had planned to run together for a bit but this plan went out the window when I found a Porsche on my tail... This was not just your garden variety Porsche, it was a full race GT2 Porsche 993 RSR running on new slicks driven by a guy named Alex... I immediately elevated my game and we ran full tilt for 6 laps with him catching me a bit in the corners and I would stretch out a few car lengths in the straights... On the 6th lap I slowed and gave him a 'point by' on the back straight. It was then nose to tail for another 3 laps with him not able to pull away from me... The fun was suddenly ended with another blown fuel pump fuse on the Mamba which ended my session...
Now comes the part I hate. My transponder quit after the third lap and I had no official times for all the dicing with the Porsche... I had a talk with the timing guys and we went over Alex's times... We were able to identify the critical laps including the 'point by' lap and they have agreed to give me the same times that Alex had up to lap 10. The early laps were 1:31, then 1:30 with a 1:32 point by lap and the last laps were 1:29's... The timers agreed to give me a best of 1:29.7. Without me on his tail, Alex went on to do a 1:29.2 at the end of this session. From this data I am happy to lay claim to second fastest time of the day. Not bad for a budget racer on old tires and a dead alternator... I salute Alex for his top time performance and excellent driving in the Porsche...
Shirl Dickey
07-03-2006, 10:46 PM
#3
Melting Slicks
You guys should come back in the fall/winter when the temps are lower and the track has better grip. Great times though, 1:30 = 100MPH avg. speed.
BTW, previous T1 track record for a vette - 1:28.6 Scotty B White
Current T1 record - 1.27.49, SBW in his Viper
BTW, previous T1 track record for a vette - 1:28.6 Scotty B White
Current T1 record - 1.27.49, SBW in his Viper