Contining to polish - more racing in the Mk3

Photo credit: Mark Kissel

After a decidedly slow start to 2012, I managed to hit the final three Chesapeake chapter PCA events this year. It was a blast to finally get the Golf out there, and with the laid back and friendly vibe of the PCA run races, it was without any real drama or stress. Just a great group of people enjoying their cars and pushing some limits.

Photo credit: Mark Kissel

After getting lucky back in August, I had to work a little more in September and October. Higher temps in September and colder temps in October meant balance was a lot more tricky to find. I've already started planning on some changes over the winter to help with consistency and grip in 2013. (most of that has to do with me by the way, rather than the car) I'm determined to knock on the door of the 'fast' guys that are running in the series.



The course in September was fast and smooth, not all that technical, and a lot of fun. Aside from the tighter turns, the main straights and chicanes were all able to be taken flat in the Golf. This doesn't make it all that suited to a lower horsepower car on the one hand, but I managed to get within five seconds the fast time of the day.

For 2013 I may make a few nods to better functionality with the Mk3 too. Maybe even raise the ride height. Sadly all that talk about level control arms, suspension travel and geometry becomes all too real if you're really pushing it. You can still have fun, but when you're trying to hit a target time or just continue to improve, and know that there is time on the table in the set up, well. Sometimes you just have to cave. Maybe.

The final PCA Autocross of 2012, round seven, was a lot tighter and more technical. And while this should have suited the Golf I struggled with rear grip and overall grip. Partially down to set up, but a lot was thanks to the cold temps and older rear tires. They're pretty hard at this point and where I could have picked up time on the two skid pads, I was barely hanging on at pedestrian speeds. Indeed, my first run out I spun as soon as I turned into the first left hander. Things got better, but I was leaving a lot of time on the table with a few of my lines and never could crack the 60-second barrier. I defintiely have a lot I want to work on for next year.



Special thanks to Mark Kissel for the pictures. With the long winter ahead hopefully we'll also get some real progress going with the Caravan GTi. I'll have some info up soon, but it's back on the ground and ready for the fun stuff.

_WRS

Pic Post: Baltimore Grand Prix 2012

Another year, another Falken victory in GT, another great weekend for Baltimore City. 

_WRS

Pic post: ESM / Patron Ferrari 458 in Little Italy

The Grand Prix of Baltimore is almost here. Qualifying tomorrow, ALMS on Saturday.



It's going to be a Falken and ESM weekend. Mark my words.

_WRS

Video post: PCA Autocross, getting the rust out

After a year's worth of events had nearly passed by in 2012, the planets aligned and the impossible happened: I had off from the shop, there were no car shows to work, and I didn't already have 10 different things scheduled the day of an autocross I could actually attend. Finally, I could have a little fun.



It's a little intimidating to have your first event back be a Porsche Club event, after all, it's a little like bringing a knife to a gunfight. But there is shared DNA between the Porsches and VWs, so why not? Never mind that most of the cars there would have two to three times the power, let's see what we can do!



 Turning in times in the 59 and 58 second range (the very fastest entries were down in the 52-54 range), I managed to push the little 8v and land solidly mid-pack with a best time of 58.3, finishing 31st out of 52 entered.


Given a few more RPM and some more tidy lines I think I could have easily been down into the mid 57s, maybe even better, but as is I had a blast, everyone was very friendly and with a little luck, I'll be able to get out at least one more time this year. Planets allowing of course.

_WRS

APR displays at Waterfest 2012: R8 Grand Am

This year there were an unprecedented number of real deal race cars on display at Waterfest. Yeah there was the typical show stuff too, but from R8s to ah, R8s, it was great to see them out and in front of the public. More soon,

_WRS

Pic post: 2003 Porsche GT3 RS

Back in May I made the trek down to Georgia for Southern Worthersee, a VW / Audi car show held in the picturesque mountains north of Atlanta. It was a decent show, but like most car shows a little dull as far as cars sitting in a field not providing much in the way of a visceral experience. Yeah there were lots of nice cars, but nice cars alone do not make for much excitement if they're not doing anything.



On the way south we managed to pop through the shop at Lufteknic and see what was new, as always, there was a lot to ponder, but what caught my eye was one of my own personal favorite race cars of all time, a 996 GT3 RS. For the uninitiated, Lufteknic is a Porsche specialist located in Richmond Virginia, handling any and all things Porsche, from service to race, restoration and more.



Robert and Lufteknic have had a significant impact on this car's life thus far, having run the car with Hazardous Sports in the American Le Mans series, before arranging it's sale to one of his own customers once it was officially retired from competition. 



The bright-orange pumpkin-colored GT3 RS looks more or less exactly as it did when it was campaigned, with one rather significant exception. Rather than the old sponsorship stickers or some completely new, dubious color combo that people seem to throw on race cars with reckless abandon, the owner saw fit to bestow a proper old-school art-car livery by Brazilian artist Patricia Secco.



The effect is significant and perfect. Flowing with the lines of the 996 while having something to say on their own as well, the color pallet both compliments and uses the base bright orange paint as a key component. And if it happens to piss off the purists, all the better.



Unfortunately we had to hit the road all-too-soon and didn't get a chance to talk shop or take in any of the other sights while we were there, but with any luck I'll be back down soon to continue documenting the wild array of cars that roll through the doors there each day. 

_WRS

VW Sport Caravan GTI (part 6.5, chassis work continues)

Optimism can be a cruel thing to possess. I've never been some chipper, happy-go-lucky go-getter can-do maniac, but at the same time I've never been one to think I can't do (or learn) something better than before if I apply myself. Seeing the potential in what others do not. Maybe I'm crazy? Or maybe they're lazy, either way I'm sick of cleaning and painting old metal.



At any rate, so much of it has been done that it's pretty close to finished underneath. A rear beam was procured and sanded / painted and installed - along with all new bushings, bolts, nuts and polyurethane inserts. There was a natural tendency to just go all-out and press in some spherical bushings, but ultimately we did not for a few reasons. First is cost. It'd be a shame to start blowing out the budget on every trick suspension piece we can find when the car doesn't even run yet. Second is the reality that it'll take some set up and time to get the car (and ourselves) sorted behind the wheel, and quite honestly, they aren't going to be a help to us at this stage of our driving.



We did throw in some coilovers with ride and damper adjustment. Nothing fancy, single rebound adjust, but it should be enough to get us in the ballpark, if not to home plate the first lap out.



The problem with being so clean underneath and at the back end, is that I'm not compelled to be as thorough throughout the rest of the car. 



I know it'll all be worth it in the end, but for right now I'm wishing some Elves would come in and finish up all the tedious work so we can start having fun already!

_WRS

Cars and Coffee Hunt Valley, MD: Porsche 911

They've started up a Cars and Coffee here in the Baltimore area, and so far there have been some really pretty machines turning out. Weather has been crap the two times I've been (gray, cold, overcast) but tomorrow is looking to break the trend. I've been shooting a few pics, but I think from here on out I'll concentrate on a single car from each event which captures my eye.



Last Saturday is was the beautifully turned out 911. Long hood, wide fenders, fat tires and a carb'd flat-six. What's not to love?



With sunny skies promised for tomorrow there should be even more to see. There are a few nutters around here than run around in track-prepped GT3s with slicks, on the street. Rain tends to keep them away from the highways, but if it's clear and the weather holds, we could be in for a treat.



_WRS

Video Post: Trackside at Sebring 2012

Sebring preview 2012

Things have been a bit slow around here lately. Not much about motorsport, or anything else for that matter, but it's not for lack of attention on my part. I'm still very much invested in motorsport this year, more so than any other in fact, but ultimately I just don't have as much spare time to contribute anything of merit into the vast vacuum of noise that is the internet.

So this year we've already seen the 50th running of the Daytona 24, and while it was exciting and while it has heritage, it is really a dim candle in comparison to the 12 Hours of Sebring. Sebring is a tougher track. It's more challenging from both the driver and car perspective, and it's much better for spectators. You can get shockingly close at some points, and there is something for everyone when it comes to the circuit itself.

Like years past we're sending troops down south to Sebring, but rather unfortunately I will not be able to go. Duty calls, so I'll be at a track, just not one in central Florida. I'll be quite a few miles north at West Virginia's famed but certainly less-famous Summit Point for an Audi Club track day. Any other day of the year this would be preferable, but certainly not this weekend.

But I digress, it's going to be a heck of a race, despite Peugeot dropping out of the WEC at the last minute, and allowing Audi a factory-free run in Florida. There will be challengers to be sure, but Dyson, Rebellion and Muscle Milk are small change compared to a factory, despite their millions. Toyota won't be in action until Spa, so unless Audi makes a mockery of themselves - totally possible seeing what they did to themselves last year in the ILMC - it will be tough to beat the diesels.

I personally am an Audi fan (rather obviously looking at the header pic) but I'm more a fan of underdogs, so any petrol car taking the overall win will have made for a great race. Dyson has a brand new Lola, Muscle Milk has their HPD, and either of those taking the win would be the ideal result. An American team winning America's premier endurance event on its 60th birthday. Both Dyson and Pickett are pillars of the sportscar community over here and both deserve a Sebring win - and the ALMS needs to bring a little hardware home as well. I've been pretty silent about it up until now, but the boys in Braselton need to grow a pair and divorce themselves from the ACO if they expect to survive beyond the next year or so.

But I digress; that is something for another time.

In GT the battle is far from predictable and there are no real clear 'sure bets.' Ferrari is due, BMW is last year's hot ticket, Corvette is hungry and Porsche both consistent and sporting new hardware. So it's nearly anyone's game. It'll take luck along with a healthy dose of performance behind the wheel and in the pits. As always we'll be pulling for Team Falken Tire. From the top down, CEO to Bryan and Wolf, they are a class act, and it's great to see them continuing to run at the top level in the best championship in the world.

Josh and Kevin, accomplices in all our previous Sebring trips, will be driving south tomorrow to the sunshine state. So despite my own inability to attend they'll be there for pictures and report.

For more / picture credit: American Le Mans
Coverage: Radio LeMans

_WRS

VW Sport Caravan GTI (Part 6, chassis resto in progress )

It's been a busy past six months. Moving, getting back into the grind of a daily commute and taking on a much larger roll at work has meant very little spare time for much of anything. Whatever there is I've been trying to spend on the Caravan GTI, and little by little, it's getting there. A lot of the tedious and filthy dirty work involving undercoat and paint is 98% there, and so I think we're finally to a point where progress will really start to get to get rolling.



So what have we been up to? Follow and all will be revealed...

VW Sport Caravan GTI (part 5.99, almost there...)

One must be careful what one wishes for. The truth of restoring and rebuilding a car from the ground up while already working 40+ hours a week is tough. That said, we're finally feeling like we're getting somewhere on the Caravan GTI. Perhaps as soon as this weekend we'll be ready to share.




It's not going to be ground-breaking at first, but the parts are piling up hard and fast, and maybe, just maybe, we'll start to see some real progress, especially as the weather turns. It's never pleasant when the garage is the same temperature as the outside...

_WRS