MARRS5 recap

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- Epic weekend.
- >200 entries.
- Fun times with people. Had a blast.
- Steaming hot. 4 gallons liquid in 2 days and still thirsty.
- Good tires. Personal best time.
- Intense racing in the >30 cars ITB/C/S group.
- No flash flood this time. Tent good.
- Turn 10 can still take more speed, but take small steps. The gravel tastes awful (Dave, any in-car video of my sandbox excursion?)
- MR2s are best driven upright.
- Anyone out there, please watch for emergency vehicles.

Will have some in car vid up eventually.

I always remember strong IT fields from my days growing up at "the point".

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- MR2s are best driven upright.

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did someone roll an MR2? who? everyone OK?

results?

Crazy fun weekend! Didn't see what happened during the SM race, but our intrepid P/A announcer Dave Parker called it as it happened so I guess he had a view.. Dave, what the heck happened??

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Originally Posted by Chip42

did someone roll an MR2? who? everyone OK?

results?

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Bill Griffith's MR2 ended up on his driver side door outside the entry to T4. He was fine apparently, they were all hanging out wrenching on the car later that day.

Not sure if results are up yet.

Early in the group nine race (lap 6?) there was a emergency declared in T8. Sebastian Landy (#49) slid off track drivers left and rolled but landed on his wheels. Mr. Landy is ok.
Rescue 1 was dispatched to the incident from pit out. Rescue 1 took the first crossover road and cut over to T3. When Rescue 1 entered the track at T3 it was struck on the left rear bumper by Jay Marlar (#22) executing a perfect pit maneuver. Rescue 1 rotated 90 degrees left shot through the grass and hit the tire wall, bounced up and came down high centered on the concrete wall dividing separating the Summit Circuit from the Jefferson Circuit. T3 flag station called this into control and the session was stopped.
All four EV personnel in Rescue 1 had bumps and bruises but no serious injuries. Mr. Marlar was unhurt but his car is pretty banged up. Rescue 1 is pretty f'ed up.
The session did not resume.
I am unable to state definitively whom was at fault so I will not speculate publicly.
I do not believe that there was any paper thrown.

I am very glad that everyone is ok. Which is probably the best that can be hoped for in this scenario.

I have been watching races at Summit Point for fifteen years and have seen some pretty wild stuff. This incident is currently at the top of the list for the wildest thing I have seen.

cheers
dave parker

Al
You had quite the race with Rob Powell on Sunday. But suddenly you dropped way back, still having transmission issues?

cheers
dave parker

Trans was better, but something caused it to start sputtering again and I dropped back.. Too bad, we were racing pretty hard.. Would have loved to have kept going!

I also learned about successful business models from our very own Mr Parker.

1) Bring giant cooler to the track
2) offer people to keep their beers cool for them
3) make 5/6 beers magically disappear

I am down to owing you 999,995 beers now :D

And hey, thanks for AC'ed shelter / lending me your big floor jack / fun prod racing :)!

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Originally Posted by dave parker

early in the group nine race (lap 6?) there was a emergency declared in t8. Sebastian landy (#49) slid off track drivers left and rolled but landed on his wheels. Mr. Landy is ok.
Rescue 1 was dispatched to the incident from pit out. Rescue 1 took the first crossover road and cut over to t3. When rescue 1 entered the track at t3 it was struck on the left rear bumper by jay marlar (#22) executing a perfect pit maneuver. Rescue 1 rotated 90 degrees left shot through the grass and hit the tire wall, bounced up and came down high centered on the concrete wall dividing separating the summit circuit from the jefferson circuit. T3 flag station called this into control and the session was stopped.
All four ev personnel in rescue 1 had bumps and bruises but no serious injuries. Mr. Marlar was unhurt but his car is pretty banged up. Rescue 1 is pretty f'ed up.
The session did not resume.
I am unable to state definitively whom was at fault so i will not speculate publicly.
I do not believe that there was any paper thrown.

I am very glad that everyone is ok. Which is probably the best that can be hoped for in this scenario.

I have been watching races at summit point for fifteen years and have seen some pretty wild stuff. This incident is currently at the top of the list for the wildest thing i have seen.

Cheers
dave parker

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qft...

Al
Ok, I am glad you had a good time. I am sure that you will figure it out.

Kai,
Excellent, my sinister plan worked! I will use the rest of the season to collect those beers.
You can use the jack and tools anytime.
I too, had a great time in the Small Bore prod race. It was very close hard racing, but no one touched and everyone left just enough room.
As I said on Sunday, hell I like you, you can come over to my house and fuck my sister. Although I don't know how she will feel about that. :D

cheers
dave parker

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Originally Posted by dave parker

Al
hell I like you, you can come over to my house and ...
dave parker

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Just when I thought Dave was growing up :shrug:

Chuck
That is one of my favorite movie lines from Full Metal Jacket.

Luckily, I don't have a sister so the whole process could be rather difficult.

Sometimes half the fun of interacting with people is the reactions that you can get from saying off the wall things.

cheers
dave parker

OK. Let's just say that there was some Evil
Vortex lurking around S Pt striking its many victims without warning.
I believe Tristan Edmondson, Dick Hummel & Robert Crawford were the only guys we know in the No Class Paddock and beyond who escaped unscathed. From what I witnessed, heard and read of several other mishaps, we are fortunate to have gotten thru the event without injury. And God knows what happened during Miatas Cucarachas with Rescue One. :shrug:
After changing the 2nd LF hub in 6 months, I did manage to win both of the ITB MR2 races within the races, 5 MR2s in all, partly due to attrition and a fierce but clean battle with Carlos Schooler on Sunday. Still midpack, though. :(

^^^ Yes, the amount of incidents cast some shadow on an otherwise great event with an awesome atmosphere. No idea why that was - did not sense any unusual aggression on track - did the heat get to people? I know I felt baked after 6 sessions in 2 days and the involved car maintenance in the glaring sun.

Re. Spec MR2, guilty of throwing my blue SSC Honda ass in between all the time, simply because we are all running 1:35+-1 times and I figured that away from the top of the field, inter-class racing provides everyone with more fun as long as it's done with the right amount of cut-each-other-slack-it's-for-fun :shrug: .

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Originally Posted by ajmr2

5 MR2s in all

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Awesome, I'd love to see that. I'd ask for in car but I want to see 5, not just your dashboard ;). soon the sediv will have 4, it seems. with any luck we can get some to a level that convinves the PTB to drop some lead fro mthe things.

Oh, believe me, my video shows all 5 at one point or the other good, bad and ugly. And 4 of us ran camcorders, so we'll post links on MR2OC forum. :024:

AJ, I saw mention on FB of a MR2 coming into the pits on fire? Please tell me that wasn't a certain red MR2 we all know and love????

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Originally Posted by erlrich

AJ, I saw mention on FB of a MR2 coming into the pits on fire? Please tell me that wasn't a certain red MR2 we all know and love????

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The car on fire in the pits was a dark green (?) ITA car - was that a 2nd gen MR2?

Edit: Yes, I think it was the #59 2nd gen MR2 :( ...

Hey Earl. No it wasn't Smoke, in fact we were joking that he ran so well this year without a serious issue that we were going to pass on the nickname to Peter Doane (remember the psychedelic MR2? He raced it for several years and sold it to Steve Beckley). The engine detonated coming up the hill and he was wisely able to roll into the pits and was swarmed by fire extinguishers as well as the fire truck. Peter also had the presence of mind to calmly get out of the car, pull his extinguisher knob (which he had found malfunctioning earlier in the day), then went to the back of the car, removed the engine cover latches and opened the hood just as the fire truck arrived. The car was a mess, his wife was understanably hysterical, but no one was injured.
So when will we see your smiling race face again? And you should see all the new volunteers who are helping out in the pits these days!

Peter's car had something wrong with it for a few laps. The engine sounded off but I can't point out what it was. Then a few laps after I noticed that I saw something flapping up in the front of the car underneath where the trunk would be I guess. After that he came in on fire I yelled at the worker that he was on fire but he took a little too long b/c the fire pin was still in his extinguisher so the workers down further got to the car first while Peter did an awesome job getting out.He was so relaxed it was kind of cool to watch how he just methodically got out and pulled the pin. It sure was a harsh weekend for us in the woods, I'm not sure it's safe to paddock back there anymore...

Steven

The flapping was just a piece of plastic undertray that came loose. I watched the first few laps of ITA after driving the pace car for them, then I wandered back to get my car ready. That's when the proverbial S hit the Fan as Peter rolled in. It was too bad you had issues with your exhaust system. Did the car run OK other than that? Maybe a more heavy duty coat hanger would help. :D

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Originally Posted by ajmr2

Hey Earl. No it wasn't Smoke, in fact we were joking that he ran so well this year without a serious issue that we were going to pass on the nickname to Peter Doane (remember the psychedelic MR2? He raced it for several years and sold it to Steve Beckley). The engine detonated coming up the hill and he was wisely able to roll into the pits and was swarmed by fire extinguishers as well as the fire truck. Peter also had the presence of mind to calmly get out of the car, pull his extinguisher knob (which he had found malfunctioning earlier in the day), then went to the back of the car, removed the engine cover latches and opened the hood just as the fire truck arrived. The car was a mess, his wife was understanably hysterical, but no one was injured.

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Glad to hear nobody was hurt, and sounds like it was a good fire drill for the newbies (and oldies) on pit lane. So how come we never have a fire drill when I'm working? :D

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Originally Posted by ajmr2

So when will we see your smiling race face again? And you should see all the new volunteers who are helping out in the pits these days!

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I'll see you at the next PDX for sure; I have no idea when/if I'll be back out for a MARRS race. And yeah, I saw some of the names on the worker list for pit - I'm sure Stan had his hands full keeping that crew in line ;)

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Originally Posted by erlrich

And yeah, I saw some of the names on the worker list for pit - I'm sure Stan had his hands full keeping that crew in line ;)

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We've attracted a group of new misfits that keep coming back for more high heat and humidity. It's extraordinary! Lauren will be inviting them to the next PDX for sure. :OLA:

The car was awesome. It had a bad push all weekend, but that was just because I still suck at driving it. I turn in really smooth while letting off the brake. This just makes it push like a school bus so I need to slow down more before the turn and just chuck it in hard and get back on the gas once it turns in. From talking to Gregg it sounds like I was driving too smooth and they won't turn in like that...kinda weird to look at it that way. My mechanics wire was working fantastically, I just didn't have any flex in the exhaust so every time the engine was revved it would shake the whole system. I'm taking the car to a custom performance shop in Pasadena near Chuck and the other AJ to get a good system installed and secured. Guess I'll have to try my new driving style and exhaust next year...stupid school.

Steven

You listen to Gregg???:D

Try to look at it like school will help you afford your hobby and rarely requires you to crawl around on your back in the dirt. Say hi to AJ 2.0 for me.

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Originally Posted by ajmr2

You listen to Gregg???:D

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Look at it this way, if he didn't listen to me he wouldn't have the brakes to slow down for the turn.

No doubt about it! But when was the last time you actually slowed down for a turn??? :024:

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Originally Posted by Gregg

Look at it this way, if he didn't listen to me he wouldn't have the brakes to slow down for the turn.

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True, I don't know why I went through 2 MC's in 3 races, I think the seals were stretching when we would bleed brakes allowing some fluid bypass. I really appreciate you helping out Gregg, pretty much all of the Honda guys have given me tips too and everybody in the woods has helped work on the car. It makes this a lot easier and I think we're at the end of the new car teething issues. Oh I forgot, John Martin and Kendrick almost got speared by the SSM Miata that runs with us entering T1, here's the video [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM_za7mePbY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM_za7mePbY[/ame]

Steven

What was that orange streak near the back of the pack? Was that a "YAHOO!" I heard? :happy204:

The best word to describe this past MARRS 5 was "interesting".
I think that the heat wore everyone out, which led to short tempers and some poor judgement (mostly by me but some others too :rolleyes:). If any of the various incidents had happened on their own no one would have thought anything about it. But, all lumped into one weekend was more than some folks could bear.

Stay the course, keep doing what your doing.

"Stop with the negative waves, Moriarty!" Oddball in "Kelly's Heroes".

cheers
dave parker

Parker summed it up well.

My best race weekends are when the only time I have to move the tilt bed is to drive it back to worker camping.

The thing flapping in the front of my car was just one of the plastic undertrays. I only felt the engine go "off" at Turn1 of that same lap. I was contemplating going into the pits anyway when con rod 1 went thru the block coming up the hill.

The motor was a 130k mile freebie (with no mods other than exhaust and intake) that I was using to sort the chassis. I'm not unhappy about accelerating my plans for a "real" race motor, but cleaning up the mess from the fire bums me out.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1008325...CNf-moLX9oa1KQ#

I could have done w/o all the fire extinguisher powder in the cockpit (as there were no flames there).

I knew it was probably an oil fire in the engine bay and there hadn't been time for anything else to really get going, so I didn't pull my on board extinguisher handle until I was out of the car and could tell the pit workers weren't going to be very fast about getting more than the 1/first bottle on the fire. I also knew they couldn't get anything onto the fire w/o opening the engine cover, and no one else was pulling those pins.

I had sent the AFFF bottle out for its 3 year "whatever" after the first race in April. It wasn't until MARRS 5 (just before the race) that I realized I had clamped the activation handle cable to the wrong bottle handle when I re-isntalled it.

The in-car bottle would not have put out the fire (it is only intended to give the driver time to get out)

Finally got the in-car video downloaded.

http://www.vimeo.com/28247922