Spiel

SEPTEMBER 2017 52 Inability to improve on later runs was a recurrent theme for many experienced PNWR autocrossers. Problems were reported in three course areas: understeer exiting the 180 o left before the optional three cone slalom; slippery west end of the course; and unsettled car behavior in the south side six cone slalom. In retrospect, there are two factors that likely caused these problems. The first is the painted parking stall lines on the site. I personally noted a skip- skip on my right and then left front tires rounding the exit cone on that 180 o left. There was a painted line at that point on course. The understeer greatly impeded my ability to enter the optional slalom on the left. Similarly, along the west end of the course the path crosses the continuous center line for a row of stalls four times and surely disrupted ability to set the car up for the final left before the 6 cone slalom. This 90 o left had my 944 almost directly southbound with the nose of the car still compressed under braking. The plan, not executed, was to have the car at 45 o at the cone, beginning to apply throttle and car level. That failure resulted from inability to adequately steer the car. The second factor was asymmetric tire temperatures. The east facing grid meant the right side tires faced the sun and got significantly warmer while waiting to run. I noticed my left side tires were probably 30 degrees cooler than the right side. The car reacted better turning left than right when driving the slalom where you alternate left and right turns at about on second intervals. The paint lines may also have had an effect here. Unfortunately, I couldn't diagnose the problems in real-time and suffered as a result. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. P12L proved to be a knock out battle of two very quick ladies in 2016 Cayman GT4s, Kristi Brown in the sapphire blue car versus Maverick region Wendy Shoffit in a Carrera White Metallic car. First runs saw Kristi lead with a 38.439 compared to Wendy's 38.561. Second runs saw Kristi turn 37.960, while Wendy double coned a 37.844, net 41.844. Kristi coned a 37.648 third run, while Wendy slowed to 38.355. Kristi coned her final 37.859, while Wendy Shoffit ran 37.995. Kristi's winning margin, 0.035 was the second smallest for the event. Well done Kristi! P16 was an all PNWR affair. Four men engaged in a very tight battle. Mike Leuty led after first runs with a very quick 38.775 in his 2013 agate grey metallic Boxster S when Doug Powell hit a cone on his 38.761 run in his 2006 speed yellow Cayman S. Mike couldn't improve, while Doug got a clean 39.0 on his second run, 38.759 on his third, and a quicker 37.713 on his fourth for a winning margin of 0.062 seconds! Rawlee Ridgeway improved continuously and dropped 1.6 seconds on his fourth run to 38.978, 0.203 seconds behind Mike. Scott West ran 40.598 on his first run, which was his quickest. Carol Leuty, alone in P16L, ran 41.426 on her second run, but coned a quicker 40 second time on her third. After lunch Group 7 runs for Improved and Modified category cars completed the day while setting fast times for the event. The father/son duo of Eric and Jarod Fry emerged 1-2 in the 1976 silver 914-6, but not without drama in I04M. Eric set the immediate pace with a 37.710 first run progressing to a class winning 36.762 third run. Jarod missed a gate on his first run, a nice 38.182 time, 48.182 net and trailed Bill Thorp from Orange Coast region in his 2000 silver Boxster who ran 39.181. Jarod ran a clean 39.106 second run, but Thorp had a 38.244 to increase the pressure. Jarod responded with a 37.669 on his third run while Thorp coned a 37.944. Jarod slowed on his fourth run but secured second in class when Thorp was only able to run 37.973 on his fourth run. Winning margin for Jarod was 0.304 seconds. Great Show! I05M found Geoff Newman in his 1993 White 911 RS America in the middle of the top time of day battle between Steve Lau driving a 2011 911GT3RS and Monty Pack in a 2014 GT3. The other TTOD contender was Ed Hunter driving his Jägermeister- themed orange 1973 914-6 sporting a 3.8 liter cup car engine in M05M. So, the TTOD contest was between the newer "digital" technology of Lau and Pack 911s versus the ancient "analog" solution of Ed Hunter, the classic big power (plus big race slicks) in a light 914-6 chassis, which has won many TTOD trophies Parades past. Geoff, grossly out powered by all these three, drove with consistent time improvement, setting a 36.200 on his third run to take third in class and fourth fastest time overall, but double coned a 35.902 on his fourth run. In M05M Jim Corenman took second to Ed Hunter in his 1990 Grand Prix White 928 GT while wife Sue won M05L. The couple entered the car in concours class PP07T and secured second in class. This car was the subject of a March 2017 feature article in Panorama magazine. The TTOD chase was led by Steve Lau after first runs with a 35.039. Pack coned a 35.021, while Hunter ran a 36.068. Second runs saw Lau turn 34.882, Pack ran a clean 35.201, and Hunter turns in 35.189 to run second at that point. Third runs saw Lau improve to 34.653, while Pack and Hunter slowed and coned their runs. Fourth

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