ARRC updates....

[Bildon]

I put a LONG ITS race video up on our site for everyone's enjoyment. Here's a link to the VW forum thread.

http://itforum.improvedtouring.com/forums/...indpost&p=95895

[R2 Racing]

Now Ruck - how about you and I team up to organize an "IT Festival" at Mid Ohio to compliment this race?
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I think I just pee'd a little.

[lateapex911]

I think I just pee'd a little.
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Ummm Kevin??? I think THAT needs a little explanation, right??

[mattbatson]

great video.
Look smooth and with very few mistakes.

Some of the vettes needed driving lessons

[charrbq]

Come on guys. Just like a bad smell, if you ignore this "RickyBobby" clown, he'll go away. Insults are his only means of offense and defense. Reminds me of another clown from down his way that's starting his latest session of insults and inuendos.

[Eagle7]

Now Ruck - how about you and I team up to organize an "IT Festival" at Mid Ohio to compliment this race?
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I'm in!

[greendot]

The Pro IT race was a bit of a fiasco, however, for the record, I dont deny hitting the IT7 that was in front of me after T1.

As you know, we were all REALLY close after T1 and I was close enough to the IT7 that when he lifted and let off, I ran into the back of him. There was a car on my left and my right and on my bumper. Not like I had anywhere to go.... At about the same moment that we connected, I saw the BMW turned 90 degrees sideways through the windows in the IT7. Miraculously I went left and probably avoided the whole thing my inches. It was the closest call I have had in a long time.

I'd challenge anyone in a pack that tight running wide open going up a hill NOT to bump the guy in front when he lifts!

I had also heard Marshalls car had a bent tie rod, but I am not sure F to B contact caused that...
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OK, as I said, it was second hand info about the contact/no contact between you and Russ. Thanks for clearing it up.

To clarify my statement about Russ's tie rod, I'm sure that was caused by hs LF wheel into my RR wheel. Pretty easy to diagnose from the rubber marks on both cars.

Regarding a hit because the car in front of you lifted. That is a discussion in and of itself. Racing room? And as hard as he got into me, it seems that it was more than a bump due to a lift. Just my perspective.

So are you saying that Potts (yellow BMW) was sideways at that time? I wonder if I got pushed into him? No marks on my car to say so. The spin was so fast that I can't recall seeing anything between the time I got hit and when I was again pointed in the right direction at the right side of the track and moving very slowly.

[gpbmw]

OK, as I said, it was second hand info about the contact/no contact between you and Russ. Thanks for clearing it up.

To clarify my statement about Russ's tie rod, I'm sure that was caused by hs LF wheel into my RR wheel. Pretty easy to diagnose from the rubber marks on both cars.

Regarding a hit because the car in front of you lifted. That is a discussion in and of itself. Racing room? And as hard as he got into me, it seems that it was more than a bump due to a lift. Just my perspective.

So are you saying that Potts (yellow BMW) was sideways at that time? I wonder if I got pushed into him? No marks on my car to say so. The spin was so fast that I can't recall seeing anything between the time I got hit and when I was again pointed in the right direction at the right side of the track and moving very slowly.
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Going into turn 1 I was wide and and had two wheels on the gators going up the hill. The report that I was sideways is inaccurate. My car was not touched by any other car after I went wide. I held my lane even if it was wide.

Gerald Potts
ITS BMW E36 #51

[R2 Racing]

Ummm Kevin??? I think THAT needs a little explanation, right??
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Jake, if I have to explain every little joke, than it just isn't funny anymore. Try and keep up. :P

[paulydee]

Bill that was some fatastic footage. That was more interesting that any NASCRAP I have managed to have been subjected to. Very clean racing though the yellow incident was strange. Glad to see the RX-7's are being well represented again. Kudos to everyone that made it to the ARRC and participated. I am jealous.


Bill that was some fatastic footage. That was more interesting that any NASCRAP I have managed to have been subjected to. Very clean racing though the yellow incident was strange. Glad to see the RX-7's are being well represented again. Kudos to everyone that made it to the ARRC and participated. I am jealous.

[emwavey]

Congrats to the yankee, "egg-boy".



I sat out this year, what was originally going to be my first full season. However I'm happy to report that mom and son are doing very well. (daddy now x2)

Hope to get back out in the next year or two and meet some more of you IT folks.

[Joe Moser]

For anybody who is interested (Greg?), I've posted the first few laps of the ITA Sprint Race (In-Car #63 ITA). Unfortunately, I had another car failure this year! I broke the RF Steering Knuckle in the best possible place at Road Atlanta (Between 10a and 10b) and glided into the gravel trap

2006 ARRC - ITA Sprint Race (ITA #63)

Youtube.com makes you limit video to 10 minutes, so I'll have to extract Greg's near spin @ 10a and my suspension failure "off"... Not done with all that yet.

Congrats to Greg Amy, Kevin Ruck, and my Dad (Not bad for an old man!)! We'll be back next year hopefully to give it another run!

Joe Moser
#63 ITA Honda CRX

[philstireservice]

OMG !!!! Does that lil egg pull ............sheesshh !!!

[Bill Miller]

OMG !!!! Does that lil egg pull ............sheesshh !!!
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You're not kidding Phil!! Thanks Joe, that was some nice footage to watch!

[RSTPerformance]

the egg doesn't draft well... or should I say provide a draft well... dam...

Raymond

[Rich Walke]

A belated thank you for everyone involved in putting on this year’s ARRC. What an event! Thank you Atlanta Region, Road Atlanta, the various event sponsors and my fellow ITS competitors. Also, congratulations to Rob Huffmaster for a great win and Kip Van Steenburg for his second place finish!

We headed down to Road Atlanta from the Chicago area cautiously optimistic about a podium finish. We had won ten of eleven races this year in the CENDIV Area 5 and set track records at every track we visited. However, it had been five years since I last drove Road Atlanta, so I knew it would be a steep learning curve.

We were quite disappointed after the Thursday test sessions. There was no money in the budget for new tires for the test day, so we ran very old ones. The times showed it. I was about two second slower than Rob Huffmaster. However, all day long, I was only passed by three ITS cars. As such, we were getting mixed signals as to where we would stand for the race.

Things went better on Friday morning. We put in new tires and the time started coming down. I had the opportunity to follow some of the faster ITS drivers during the two qualifying sessions which helped immensely. In the end, we qualified sixth. We then moved up one position when John Williams did not start.

I was optimistic that we could make up several positions during the race. There were clearly places I could go faster given more track time. My plan was to stay with those in front of me for a few laps, learn from them and hopefully still conserve the tires and brakes. The start of the race was very uneventfully. I tucked into fifth place. I could see a Bill Suldouff's VW Corrado coming up from behind very quickly. I went wide at Turn 7 and he easily motored past on the back straight. Did he ever have the power! I fell in line in sixth at that point. We had a four car ITS draft with John Spillman's Datsun 240Z leading Suldouff, Kent Thompson's Mazda RX-7 and me. Rob Huffmaster’s Mazda RX-7 and Kip Van Steenburg’s Mazda Miata were already starting to pull away at about a second a lap. About a third of the way through, I decided it was time to make my move. I passed Thompson into Turn 10A. I then passed Suldouff into Turn 1. That didn’t last long, as he repassed me going into Turn 7. About two thirds of the way through the race, Spillman, who was still running third just in front of Suldouff, tangled with a TCC Vette at Turn 10A. Very unfortunate for him. Thompson got past me as I went around Spillman’s crippled car at Turn 12. At that point, it was Huffmaster, Van Steenburg, Suldouff, Thompson and me. Suldouff, Thompson and I ran in a tight draft for several more laps. I noticed that Suldouff was braking earlier at Turn 10A than he had in the beginning of the race. I assumed his brakes were going away and planned on using that to my advantage. However, I still had to get in front of Thompson just to get to Suldouff. With just over two laps to go, the three of us ran down the backstraight nose to tail. I pulled out to pass Thompson into Turn 10A. Suldouff broke early as expected. I quickly decided I would try to get both of them in one move. It worked and I had third place! I then pulled out three or four car lengths on Suldouff over the next half lap. Then came the now infamous yellow flag situation. As I approached Turn 6, I saw an oil/debris flag. I can not say whether or not there was also a yellow flag. If there was, I missed it. I decided to overtake a lapped RX-7 as we approached Turn 6. I then backed off a bit going into Turn 6, not knowing what I would find when I went around the turn. I’m glad I did! When I rounded the corner, I found the track littered with Corvette parts! Two Corvettes had come together hard. There was no clean path through. I momentarily thought about going by it in the grass, but decided against it. As such, I had only one choice - to go though the mine field! I knew I didn't want to hit anything with the tires, so I centered on one piece and hit it straight on. I hoped it would just bounce off, but it didn't. It embedded itself in the splitter. It made a tremendous racket when it hit so I kept a close eye on the gauges for the next lap and a half. Fortunately, I did not puncture the oil cooler or radiator. From there, I just kept on it and finished in third place. I later learned from Suldouff’s video that both he and Thompson passed the lapped RX-7 going into Turn 7 and that Thompson had also passed Suldouff going through Turn 7.

All in all, it was a very satisfying weekend. It made the two months of work leading up to the race worthwhile!

I would like to publicly thank those who helped make this possible. That would include Mazda Motorsports, SpeedSource, Hoosier Tire, my wife Karen and daughters Kellie and Jessica who let me do this, and my crew, Dan Glitz, Rich Riedel, Andrew Zizzo, Bob Just, Charlene Just, Robert Walke, Mark Walke, Mike Nuesser and Mike Hart. Without their help, I could not do this. I would also like to thank John Spillman, Kent Thompson and Bill Suldouff for a great race! I look forward to returning in 2007.

[dominojd]

OMG !!!! Does that lil egg pull ............sheesshh !!!
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Yeah but it handles like a bag of crap.

[Greg Amy]

Very cool, Joe; thanks for posting that! I'll point it out again: there were several times that you could have easily used the chrome horn, and you didn't; honestly, I'm not sure that I could have been as disciplined as you! Super job.

I'll be uploading my in-car video soon, too, once I get a chance to download it off the camera and break it up into YouTube-size chunks. Unfortunately I'm in the middle of writing THREE term papers (grad school - MBA) so it's a low priority, but look for it after Thanksgiving...when I've got to sit around for five days entertaining family...right about when I get the time to finish up the web page(s)...sheesh... - GA

[R2 Racing]

OMG !!!! Does that lil egg pull ............sheesshh !!!
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Seriously, it's pretty hard to defend against that! :P

I'm trying like hell to get my in car up online but like usual, my camera is continuing to piss me off. Everything works great if you keep it in it's wierd format and watch it on the crappy software the computer came with. But as soon as you try and put it into a common format for "the people" so they can watch on your average Microsoft Media Player or whatever, it gets all confused. I need to get one of my video editing Mac-nerd friends on it.

[JLawton]

OMG !!!! Does that lil egg pull ............sheesshh !!!
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Three letters: S I R !!!!!!!!!!

You listening Andy??