Grattan Labor Day Weekend

[DUNCAN]

I have attended the Labor Day Weekend at Grattan for the past two years. It has always been a great event with many participants.

This years schedule includes some ProRacing events which has reduced the regional race groups to three.

Group 1: GT1,GT2,GT3,ITE,ITS,ITA,ITB,SP,AS,T1 AND SRX7

That is just group 1. if there are as many registered participants as last year, group one will have A LOT of cars on the track.

Is anyone planning on going to Grattan this year?

Duncan

[tschwenke]

This change in events made me have some sacrifices and I will be going to Road America instead. This is not a championship race now and being in ITB I really don't want something that has twice the potential energy (in the HP*Mass) sense than I on the track at the same time. Not to mention this would have me looking at my mirror more than the track.

[Eagle7]

I'll be there.

------------------
Marty Doane
ITS RX7 #13
CenDiv WMR

[DUNCAN]

TSCHWENKE, I believe this is a CenDiv Points race.

I agree that most of my time will be spent looking in mirrors, ITA.

My concern is that this is a Pro Race weekend for Mazda and Formula which will certainly take priority over us. (whine, whine, whine). Although it would be fun to see those races.

I still question whether to go or not.

Maybe for the Saturday night feast.

Duncan

[ddewhurst]

DUNCAN, I e-mailed a couple people about the nucked up race groups for that event & stated that someone maybe should look at the race groups. As in my case SRX7 with GT1, no thank you. Told them I was going to send in my event fee based on SRX7 being classed with the slowest race group where SRX7 belongs & expect 100% fee returned if SRX7 is not in the slowest race group. Suggested that neither I nor the GT1 drivers would be happy with the slowest class SCCA car grouped with the fastest race group.

Have Fun
David

My first time at Grattan to race & I will presume Friday test day will be something else with many Pro drivers being there for their first time.

[This message has been edited by ddewhurst (edited August 13, 2003).]

[Greg Gauper]

I ran two laps of emergency practice at Road America a few weeks ago. Two groups, open and closed wheel.

Needless to say having a national GT1 GROW in your mirrors is:

a) really cool looking, kinda like a start wars warp shift!

scarey as hell!

I could handle 1 or 2 laps since I had one eye glued to the mirror, one eye glued to the blue flaggers. No way I would want to be in a race with them....unless it was a regional and there was only one GT1 car.

A few years ago at Gratten, myself and the nly other ITC car petitioned to move into the GT/AS group since there were only 3 cars and we wanted to have a clean door-to-door race without the SS/Prod/ cars getting in the way. The lone GT1 car stated he only had 1st and 5th gears, and was going to run half distance for a finish and park it...and if it rained, he wasn't going to play.

Needless to say it rained and we had a blast.

[Marc Henry]

I plan to be there for the sat race only as I am driving in the 10 hour at Gingerman on sun. This is a points race as per the sups. Marty, I plan to paddock in the same area as Memorial weekend.

[ITA_CRX]

The Cen Div website no longer lists this as a points event.

However I emailed several people in the Cen Div and have been re-assured that this is a Cen Div Championship event.

As far as the National guys going, I think this is really only a national for the open wheel cars and don't expect many of the properly prepared GT1 etc cars to show up.

And who knows, I might even run that weekend.

Jamie

[tschwenke]

If they have made it a points race again, I still don't like the company I will be sharing the track with. (nothing personal, just don't like the color of there cars, or maybe those 2 or 3 letters on them).

The form said Champ on the back, but the CenDiv site said it wasn't. Oh, well at this point I am doing Road America and really excited about it.

After all the 'fun' I had a Grattan last time I could use some different karma.

[Eagle7]

Originally posted by Marc Henry:
Marty, I plan to paddock in the same area as Memorial weekend.

I'll take that as in invite - thanks . I'll probably beat you there, unless you get there Friday morning. You going to Gingerman next week (19-21)? I need to test a new cooling setup (if I get it finished).



------------------
Marty Doane
ITS RX7 #13
CenDiv WMR

[Marc Henry]

Marty. Big change of plans as of about 2 hours ago. I went to G-Man for a test session today and the car in as unhealthy as it has been all year. I may show up to watch sat, but am not going to race my car at all that weekend. We are going to be at G-Man next tue afternoon (5:30 - 6:00 ) to test the enduro car.

[Eagle7]

Originally posted by Marc Henry:
I went to G-Man for a test session today and the car in as unhealthy as it has been all year.

I feel so bad for you - you've been snake-bit all year.

<font face=\"Verdana, Arial\" size=\"2\">We are going to be at G-Man next tue afternoon (5:30 - 6:00 ) to test the enduro car. </font>

I'll try to make it.

------------------
Marty Doane
ITS RX7 #13
CenDiv WMR

[C. Ludwig]

I feel bad for ya too Marc but I'm in the same boat. Remember all my smoke at Gingerman? That motor blew an oil seal (well, no kidding right! ). And then my spare junk motor decided to not be as good as I thought it was so I'm thinking I'm done for the year. It's just been a terrible year for every racer I know. Lots of people have had problems this year.

------------------
Chris Ludwig
08 ITS RX7 CenDiv

[Eagle7]

Originally posted by C. Ludwig:
And then my spare junk motor decided to not be as good as I thought it was so I'm thinking I'm done for the year.

Ouch
I was really looking forward to trying to keep up with you (in my dreams). Hope things turn around and you can make it.

On the other hand, if everyone else breaks, I win my first race, right?

------------------
Marty Doane
ITS RX7 #13
CenDiv WMR

[This message has been edited by Eagle7 (edited August 15, 2003).]

[ITA_CRX]

Duncan,

Did you ever decide if you are going to Grattan this weekend?

You are third in points in the Cen Div right now and this is a points event.

Beyersdorf isn't going. He was involved in an incident at Waterford last weekend and is fixing his car.

Colin Botha isn't going. He cracked a rib last weekend when he tripped and fell into a trailer.

Jamie

[DUNCAN]

Jamie,

Sorry to hear about David and Colin. Would have been a great opportunity to gain ground on the championship...but...I bailed out for a family picinic. Unfortunately my season is probably over unless I can swing ARRC. That would be huge.

Good luck
Duncan

PS what do you win in Cendiv?

[Eagle7]

The field is really small.
2 in ITE
4 in ITS
3 in ITA
5 in ITB
2 in ITC
1 in SRX7 (David)
1 in IT7

They rearranged the run groups so ITB, IT7 and SRX7 are in a slower group, but my ITS group (and ITA) includes ITE, AS, and T1. Glad it's only 15 cars.

Had my first metal to metal incident today during test/tune. One of the pro Miatas snuck inside me on the hairpin and I didn't see him. Mine's just door/qpanel damage - he's replacing a hub, tie rods, etc.

------------------
Marty Doane
ITS RX7 #13
CenDiv WMR

[ddewhurst]

Marty, it was good to see you at Grattan & nice meeting your family.

That TRACK does get your attention & KEEP IT.
Fun place, good people & the food was second only to Gingerman. Very gentle with the kraut please. Sausage, meat balls & pig were great.

Got my lap times to the point where with the L/S opening 6 times per lap they were not going to get any quicker. One race more to finish the season & it's disc & extra shim time. Any other cure suggestions on the L/S opening.

Have Fun
David
SRX7 # 14

[Greg Gauper]

Any Results?

Marty, are you off your logbook yet?

David, was that you first time there? That track is a b*tch as far as inside wheel spin. I wouldn't necessarily blame your LSD for opening on that track since you spend a lot of time with the inside wheel virtually unloaded. I suspect you had most problems with the uphill right before the banked 'bowl' and probably with the tight hairpin coming on the straight. Both of these are off camber. Unles you are running a locked diff, you'll have problems.

P.S. I love that track!

[ddewhurst]

Greg, the right hander heading to the toilet bowl was the worst, then came the hair pin. Throw in 1 if taken not correct, 2, 4, the shift to 4th after the bowl over the second little hill.

Fun Place but ya can't be spinning the rearend (& I don't have enough HP to spin the rear tires) all the time. With a locked diff at least you can control the over steer.

Have Fun
David