Results from LRP

[BruceG]

LOL is right

Bruce alone is worth the price of admission to skippy! He is so known for his way with words they even made a T-shirt "25 years of Bruceisms" In my two years working at skip and driving the cars I got to hear many of them first hand, lol.

BruceM ran 1/2 of our 3 day racing school at Skippy LRP and did a great, safe job. I wish a few of our competitors in ITA had taken the course,too. Just spent $100 plus dollars for a pair of tailights(to replace the right one smashed on Sat) off of Ebay. Guess it's getting hard to find taillights for 30 year old RX7's!!
20+ people bid the price up.

I found out from Flagging, who hit me on Sat. They recorded the incident at station 11. I was at trackout on the left after hitting my apex in West bend. Could have driven a Sherman tank past me to the right but the driver used my rear bumper and taillight as his braking point. And the winner is...The #3 silver Z3 Bimmer from Darien, CT. I could see it happening in a corner fighting for racing room but not where I was. No biggy but the driver never came over to expain...Live and learn and I guess payback can be a bitch

[gran racing]

Bruce, you're making a lot of assumptions (true or untrue). One never knows until a discussion is held. Maybe something broke on his car or there's another reason. Sometimes finding another driver isn't all that easy or other circumstances lead to not being able to locate you. Who knows right now.

[Doc Bro]

BruceM ran 1/2 of our 3 day racing school at Skippy LRP and did a great, safe job. I wish a few of our competitors in ITA had taken the course,too. Just spent $100 plus dollars for a pair of tailights(to replace the right one smashed on Sat) off of Ebay. Guess it's getting hard to find taillights for 30 year old RX7's!!
20+ people bid the price up.

I found out from Flagging, who hit me on Sat. They recorded the incident at station 11. I was at trackout on the left after hitting my apex in West bend. Could have driven a Sherman tank past me to the right but the driver used my rear bumper and taillight as his braking point. And the winner is...The #3 silver Z3 Bimmer from Darien, CT. I could see it happening in a corner fighting for racing room but not where I was. No biggy but the driver never came over to expain...Live and learn and I guess payback can be a bitch

I agree with Dave. After racing a Z3 for years I can tell you no one who races one ever wants contact. It is probably the most expensive car to repair in ITA. The hood is about 1200 new if you can find one, headlights about 300ea. Welcome to racing Bruce. It's my contention your 100 taillights will be a fraction of your racing budget.

R

[BruceG]

Bruce, you're making a lot of assumptions (true or untrue). One never knows until a discussion is held. Maybe something broke on his car or there's another reason. Sometimes finding another driver isn't all that easy or other circumstances lead to not being able to locate you. Who knows right now.

Hi Dave

The only assumption I'm making is that my car was hit and that I'm replacing the damaged part. I was hit from behind(not the other way around) and that Flagging recorded the incident. Since no one has come to me any said otherwise, the only thing I can make is an assumption!

[BruceG]

Hi Rob

I agree that no one wants to hit anyone else. The shoe could have been on hte other foot abd I would just have found the other driver and explained what happened. I was the only bright yellow RX7 out of 2 RX'7s on the track.Live and learn!!...LOL

[gran racing]

the only thing I can make is an assumption!

That's where you're wrong. The next race you attend you can walk up to him/her, nicely introduce yourself, and politely ask what happened. Yeah, it's a PITA you needed to make those repairs and too bad the driver didn't appologize. (I have no idea who it is so it's not like I'm trying to defend anyone.) It's also a mater of circumstances and perspective. Maybe the driver didn't even think any damage was done to your car. The way things are for me now at many races, I'd try to find the driver but also know that depending on things I may have my wife and 18 month old son anxious to get going. The point is you just don't know right now.

[mossaidis]

I believe the driver's name is Gary Hutchinson - an nice english fellow I met at WGI the prior weekend. I know Gary was having some tire issues (mainly too many heat cycles if I recall correctly on both sets of his R6's). Again, he may have NOT even known that he made contact or just been too embarassed to approach you. either way, one should be looking for the other - no two ways about it.

On a similar yet lesser note, I was quite eager to talk to the owner of the gold ITS Porsche 944 at the WGI. I am NOT sure if just didn't know how to make room for overtaking cars or was just simply blocking. Either way, I approached him after the race, we chatted and he played it like he didn't realize it, which I gave him the benfit of the doubt - the sad part was that his car had made contact with a barrier later in the race. The impact wrecked at least 50% of his body panels - he *thought* a yellow car hit him from behind. If I were him, I would go looking for the driver of the *yellow* mystery car to get their presecptive.

[BruceG]

I believe the driver's name is Gary Hutchinson - an nice english fellow I met at WGI the prior weekend. I know Gary was having some tire issues (mainly too many heat cycles if I recall correctly on both sets of his R6's). Again, he may have NOT even known that he made contact or just been too embarassed to approach you. either way, one should be looking for the other - no two ways about it.

On a similar yet lesser note, I was quite eager to talk to the owner of the gold ITS Porsche 944 at the WGI. I am NOT sure if just didn't know how to make room for overtaking cars or was just simply blocking. Either way, I approached him after the race, we chatted and he played it like he didn't realize it, which I gave him the benfit of the doubt - the sad part was that his car had made contact with a barrier later in the race. The impact wrecked at least 50% of his body panels - he *thought* a yellow car hit him from behind. If I were him, I would go looking for the driver of the *yellow* mystery car to get their presecptive.

Thanks for that info and your perspective. I'm not upset, just perplexed as a new racer thinking that I was doing everything I could do to give racing room to others. Perhaps he was unaware of the hit and old tires would certainly explain late braking.

On another note, I was on brand new Hoosier R6's for the first time(had Toyo RA1's last month at LRP) and was really impressed with my new found grip. Even though they are only 205/60/13's they went really well

[BruceG]

Thanks for that info and your perspective. I'm not upset, just perplexed as a new racer thinking that I was doing everything I could do to give racing room to others. Perhaps he was unaware of the hit and old tires would certainly explain late braking.

On another note, I was on brand new Hoosier R6's for the first time(had Toyo RA1's last month at LRP) and was really impressed with my new found grip. Even though they are only 205/60/13's they went really well

Luckily for him(gold 944), I was way too slow to hit anyone from behind...LOL

[Andy Bettencourt]

Luckily for him(gold 944), I was way too slow to hit anyone from behind...LOL

Not the same one that oiled the track at WGI?

[mossaidis]

Not the same one that oiled the track at WGI?

I don't think so... I think "Steve Mancini (Victor, NY)" was the driver I was speaking about.

[StephenB]

FYI,

I had a metal to metal contact with another vehicle on track during the LRP event. I was quite upset and extremely frustrated with the situation. I actually stopped in pit lane and asked the driver to come find me after the event. The driver never found me. (He had others things going on that I didn't know about that prevented him from searching for me) I went all over the paddock asking others if they knew him or where he could be. In the end I didn't find him but I posted here if anyone had his info because I still wanted to talk about it. someone sent me his e-mail... I e-mailed him and he called me back. I was very impressed that he called instead of e-mailing me back. We played phone tag and finally talked today. In the end we went three wide under the bridge in the downhill and this was probably a racing incident with simply not enough room. He assureed me it was unintential and he even thinks that I may have squeezed him out a bit. To keep it short we talked about a variety of things and in the end we are on great terms and I think we may be able to be drafting buddies on track!

The point of sharing this experience is that their is always multiple sides to a story on track. A video, a corner worker, a driver, and the other driver all have a story or view of what happened. Talk and learn from it.

Bruce, Maybe just maybe the Z3 expected you to brake less, or excelerate more. Plenty of times I have had close calls lapping cars that braked way more than I needed or lifted at exit when I wasn't expecting it. The other driver may be frustrated with you as you are with him. I have no idea... just playing devils advocate!

Have Fun and see you in Jersey!
Stephen

[JohnRW]

Stephen -
You did exactly the right thing...you made contact, connected on a personal level, and resolved it. You are an example of what Club Racing should be.

There are always many sides to the story. That you took the time to root it out, rather than just rant, is a testament to the sportsmanship that we all should be displaying.

We're not doing this professionally. We're just schmoes, trying to have fun in our cars. Sometimes, $#!+ happens.

I've raced with Andrej, sometimes closer than a coat-of-paint, and know him to be a clean competitor (in multiple sanctioning bodies....more than just SCCA). I'm still amazed that he didn't drill me, when I got stupid at Summit Point (I still have the photo sequence, taped to the wall of my shop).

I've also been in the position of whacking somebody, and upon trying to find him in a crowded paddock, didn't make the connection until he was (literally) loaded up and driving out. Glad I did, since (a decade later) he is one of my most trusted "drafting buddies" in SRF, and a competitor that I will gladly stay within inches of. I celebrate his wins, almost as much as my own.

None of us are in this for the profits. Your friend are closer than you think.

[benspeed]

So I had an awesome time at the LRP TeamDI Pro IT race. I haven't been to LRP in two years but it was like riding a bike - must have 500 laps at the place.

Qualified 3rd and grabbed the lead at turn 1 - Doc Bro missed a shift and made it easy. Had a lot of friends there and they said that Doc was running through the field like a man possesed and if the race was full length they said he would have reached the leaders.

Jeff Henderson gives me a friendly rough up on turn one but he looked more damaged than the hole in my Porsche and gouged wheel so I'm cool with it :-) Shit, he won.

I led until my exhaust fell off - micky mouse POS has been the worst problem so far - this will be completely re-done before the next race. The header is awesome - the rest of it...

Gotta give some major props to the TeamDI folks, Bob, Darrell and Steve - awesome job on the winner circle and recognition to the drivers. Buy all your driving stuff from Driving Impressions - they earn and deserve your business.

Lightweight wheels are in - unsprung weight/rotating mass reduced now by 30 pounds. More development planned :-) I'm going to have an anchor, piano and anvil in my passenger footwell to make weight!

Here's some in car video - sorta boring - I'll get a mirror for the camera. Thanks to all the guys who race and the workers who make it happen!!!!

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5681372/14889953

[JLawton]

Hi Bruce, sorry one of your early races had an incident. But I can assure you, the IT drivers in NE, as a whole are one of the best groups to run with. I've been running IT (ITS, ITB and ITA) for 10 years here in NE and have enjoyed it all the more because of the drivers. You'll discover that too.

Now, the RX7 guys are some of the dirtiest bastards I know!!



Kidding, KIDDING!!!!

(they too are some really good guys!!)


Hang in there, have fun!!


.

[BruceG]

So I had an awesome time at the LRP TeamDI Pro IT race. I haven't been to LRP in two years but it was like riding a bike - must have 500 laps at the place.

Qualified 3rd and grabbed the lead at turn 1 - Doc Bro missed a shift and made it easy. Had a lot of friends there and they said that Doc was running through the field like a man possesed and if the race was full length they said he would have reached the leaders.

Jeff Henderson gives me a friendly rough up on turn one but he looked more damaged than the hole in my Porsche and gouged wheel so I'm cool with it :-) Shit, he won.

I led until my exhaust fell off - micky mouse POS has been the worst problem so far - this will be completely re-done before the next race. The header is awesome - the rest of it...

Gotta give some major props to the TeamDI folks, Bob, Darrell and Steve - awesome job on the winner circle and recognition to the drivers. Buy all your driving stuff from Driving Impressions - they earn and deserve your business.

Lightweight wheels are in - unsprung weight/rotating mass reduced now by 30 pounds. More development planned :-) I'm going to have an anchor, piano and anvil in my passenger footwell to make weight!

Here's some in car video - sorta boring - I'll get a mirror for the camera. Thanks to all the guys who race and the workers who make it happen!!!!

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5681372/14889953

Hi Jeff

Don't get me wrong.....I'm having a blast(literally, when I downshift from 4th to 3rd coming into big bend and flames come out the exhaust!!). I know that these things happen all the time and also that we have a great group of drivers in NER and MOHUD....Color me hooked on racing....LOL

[BruceG]

Definately, I could have contributed to the problem, Stephen....It's a learning process for me, for sure.

[benspeed]

I was looking over the posts and realized that the Gold 944 S2 at Watkins Glen got beat up. Does anybody know what happened and have any info for the owner?

[benspeed]

PS - Bruce G - love the enthusiasm - you work at it - get the right stuff - make those boys chase you!

[BruceG]

PS - Bruce G - love the enthusiasm - you work at it - get the right stuff - make those boys chase you!

Hi Ben...Thanks!!......I love racing, cars, the competiton and the friends. Look forward to meeting you in the future at the track.