TCC willow

December 14/15 Touring Car Club Event at Willow Springs

"Starting from the Back of the Pack"

I got busted for no front license plate. Car looks real stupid with the plate on.

XXXXX NSX-FILES EXCLUSIVE XXXXX MONDAY DECEMBER 16 13:50:01 PT XXXXX

Around December 1^st or so, it was raining. I was leaving Wayne’s, and I could not resist lighting up the tires on the wet road pulling out of his driveway(since it is a four lane road and no one was on it), trying to do one of those wild, tire-spinning, fish-tailing exits like you see out of the pits in F1 and Indy. I hit the gas, but nothing really happened. I suddenly have no boost on the boost gauge. Damn….Supercharger belt musta broke. I am picking up the race car trailer at the trailer shop. The mechanic there looks at it, and says the belt just slipped off, and he can put it back on. He looks at the belt for about 20 minutes before figuring out how it gets on there. He tightens it to make sure it won’t slip off in the rain(Mistake #1). I drive off, and the car is running fine again.

Emil's nice looking 911

Four days later, the belt seems to be squeaking. I take the car to Larry late one night so he can take a look at it. He says the belt is way too tight, and loosens it, so now the squeak stops. However, when driving home that night, I notice that if I floor it, the boost never goes about 3 lbs or so. So now the belt is too loose. I turn around, go back, and tell him I ain’t getting boost, which would really suck this weekend. He looks at it, and reluctantly agrees to tighten it. (Mistake #2). I drive it home. No squeaking, and I am getting full boost! Alright, now we are ready for the track! Or so we think.....

. tcc willow dec98 ota.jpg (35749 bytes)
Doug Ota's BMW M3 with the appropriate slogan

Fastforward to December 14^th:

Okay, so the TCC has their final event of the year at Willow Springs. It is shaping up to be a good event, except for the fact that is about 20 degrees outside at 7:00 a.m. Doug Ota in his M3, Wayne in his 944 Turbo, James Sonfronas(a neighbor of mine, also an occasional World Challenge driver, and his brother Brad is on the NSX Internet list who recently bought an NSX.) is driving a BMW M3 Lightweight, Bob in his ZR-1, sean in his ZR-1, Mike in his Vette with rebuilt engine, Jovo in his Supra(yes, a Supra), are all planning on going.

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The BMW M3 Lightweight that James is driving this weekend

Figuring that all of us have a decent shot at first place(depending on whether or not the Porsche guys show up in force), it seems like it will be a great weekend. James has never driven at Willow Springs, but recently won two NASA races over at Buttonwillow a couple of weekends ago using the same M3 Lightweight. Wayne and I pack everything up on the trailer, and now we are taking 13 additional tires up to the track. Five for me, four for him, two for Doug Ota, and two for James.

Jovo's Supra. He is the guy who created the G-Tech devices

We get there Saturday and find out that Jovo(Creator of the G-Tech device that everyone keeps saying good things about) was there testing the day before(getting some additional practice in). He’s a cheating bastard. But I guess I have to admit that Wayne and I were there four days earlier with the track day that Rick Wynne setup. On that day, I learned that with re-installed Ground Control suspension, I am hitting the driver side front tire on the dips in turns 1, 2, 5, and 9. So I took it back my local suspension guy who raised the front suspension Ľ inch, which should take care of it. So I guess you can call Wayne and I cheating bastards also…

So our first session out is pretty fun, we are all pretty close, but the update to the Comptech Supercharger on my car is making a big difference. I feel that the car is definitely a contender, now it is just a matter if the driver is up to it…….

Before the next session, I go to get some gas. After filling up, I start up the car and a horrible racket is coming from the engine compartment. Apparently the supercharger belt slipped off the pulley. I get out the allen wrenches and put it back on. But it slips right off after starting the car. I put it on. It slips off. I put in on again. It slips off. Okay, so obviously it ain’t just the belt slipping off. I start the car and look at the engine, and one of the pulleys is waving about ˝ inch back and forth, off axis. Uh oh…..I blew out the pulley. Probably because we tightened the belt too much earlier in the month. DAMN! The pulley is WAY down by the engine, and can’t be easily replaced. Looks like I have to put my car on the trailer, instead of trailering Wayne’s 944 Turbo back home. Luckily, he has dealer plates on the 944.

Don't ask where he got the dealer plates.....

So we are eating lunch, and Doug Ota, Wayne and I talking. We decided that if we can take off the alternator, alternator bracket, and all of the associated supercharger brackets, belt, pulleys, etc, to be able to get to the broken pulley, we can see if we can fix it. If we can’t, I guess I will have to tow the car home late Saturday afternoon and start begging Larry to leave his wife than evening and fix my car so I can race tomorrow. I start unscrewing parts(scary in itself), and after about an hour I get the alternator out, as well as all the very difficult to get to screws that hold the bracket that the broken pulley is on. We look at the broken pulley, and I guess the bearings blew up on it. It is a black plastic idler pulley. Humm….I wonder if the local podunk parts shop here in Rosamond has one of these. We take it off, and Wayne and I go to the parts store. We say, "ya got one of these?". The woman says, "what’s it from?". I tell her is the idler pulley from a Comptech Supercharger for an Acura NSX. She says, "well, we ain’t got one of those, but let me see how close I can get." She goes back to her parts room, and comes back with a Ford Escort idler pulley that looks almost exact in width, size, screw hole, etc. AMAZING! And only $15!

We go back, and now we just have to put it back together, right? Unfortunately, we are having problems manuvering around the existing supercharger belt, so Wayne gets impatient and says, "just cut that damn thing off, and throw on your spare belt." I tell him it is a bitch to get the belt in, and he says, "Naw, don’t worry about it. Where are the cutters?". We cut the belt…….

Sean's Red ZR-1

So now Doug Ota and I are looking at the belt, and it is like a puzzle. Six pulleys, four with grooves, and two that are smooth. Which way does the belt go? We struggle and struggle, and then we get it on. It looks okay. I have already missed the qualifying session and race, but there is one more run group that I can hop into so I can test out our repair job. I take my car to the hot pit, and just as I am about to take off, the starter says, "Hey, smoke is coming from your engine compartment". Uh oh….I open the cover, and apparently the belt isn’t quite in right. Part of the belt going downward is hitting part of the belt going upward, so there is rubber shrapnel and smoke flying all over the engine compartment. Back to the drawing board…… Luckily, I brought four supercharger belts with me…….

Another BMW ready to go Racing

So now it is getting dark. And freezing cold. Alex V., Wayne, and I are trying to solve the damn puzzle with the belt. We screw around with the belt(belt #3) for at least 90 minutes, most of that when it is dark and rapidly approaching freezing. About every 30 seconds someone comes by and says, do you need help? There is nothing more irritating than someone asking you if you need help when you are frustrated, cold, and trying to figure out the puzzle. We keep shouting, "NO WE ALMOST GOT IT" to anyone asking us the question. Daniel S. is there holding the spotlight from his German Tank so we aren’t just working with flashlights. Two hours later, with Alex and Wayne working from the top of the engine compartment, and me on the bottom of the engine compartment, we are finally done, we solve the puzzle. I make a note to draw a diagram, so we don’t have to go through this fiasco again. It is too cold to test the car, and we don’t want it to break down on the highway, so we just leave the car at the track and test it in the morning.

Next morning, Sunday.

I get there first thing in the morning. I take the car out on the local street, and rip up and down the street. No smoke from engine compartment, and I am getting full boost. Looking good……

I go into the practice sessions, and get my rhythm going again. After a couple of sessions, I feel like I am dialed in. For the qualifying race, Mike in his Vette with the rebuilt engine is in first, followed by I think a guy in a 944 Turbo, then James in the lightweight M3, then Sean in the red ZR-1, and Jovo in the Supra, and then Ota and two other guys with older style M3s are bunched together. I am gridded in the eleventh row(the last row since I did not qualify the day before), and Wayne is gridded in the 10^th row, as his turbo hose blew off during the qualifying race and he was a DNF. Bob thinks he blew up his ZR-1 motor, and was trailered home. Bummer. Mike’s having suspension problems, so he can’t run his car, but he borrowed someone else’s Vette with a 392 engine in it that was at the track, so he is sitting on the pole with a faster straight line car, but it doesn’t handle as good as his white vette before it broke.

Mike's Vette that won the pole position for the Sunday Sprint Race

Anyways, it is a rolling start, and when the flag drops, I blow by about 5 cars(Civics, Celicas, 240z’s, BMWs, etc. in the first turn, as done Wayne. Two more turns I blow by another BMW and a 2^nd gen RX-7, and I am right on Wayne’s butt. Going into turn 8, Wayne lets me go by him, and I am side by side with Emil in his white 911. He is running on crummy tires, so he waves me by. Getting back to the start/finish line, I have blown by 9 cars, so now I am 12^th out of 22, instead of being at the back of the pack. I pass Doug Ota in the M3 as we zip by the start finish line, but he dives in on me into turn 1(goes to show that driving experience is better than HP), so I end up behind him. Exiting from turns 8 and 9 (the sweeping turns), I blow by Ota, the M3, Sean’s Red ZR1 and Mike in the borrowed Vette, an and older M3. Apparently the Sean starting having bushing/suspension problems in the race, and could not hold any speed in the turn, so he waved me by. Mike wasn’t comfortable with the borrowed Vette, so he also waved me by. But the red flag is throw due to a car breaking down, so we have a restart. Which is good for me, as I got straight line power now!

I blow by 3 M3’s, including Ota’s on the restart(we were regridded as to where we were when the other car broke down), but one of the M3’s dives down on me into turn 1(again, racing experience beats HP every time into the turns….) The white M3 is pretty fast(stripped down older gen M3), and he ain’t letting me by easily. I pass him on the straight, but I brake too late into turn 1 and almost fly off the track, and he dives down on the inside to take the spot back from me. It takes me another half a lap to get by him safely(remember I gotta drive me car on the street tomorrow). The Vette guys again graciously wave me by, which would never happen if their cars were working good. So now I have passed 16 cars, and now I am in fourth place. James in the Lightweight M3 is duking it out big time wheel to wheel with the 944 Turbo, and are about 10 seconds ahead of me. I wanted to get behind them, as the video tape would have been awesome with them switching leads back and forth.

944 Turbo that was duking it out with James in the M3 Lightweight

Jovo is holding 3^rd in his Supra, and is about six seconds in front of me. So now I just take my standard time trial line, and start letting the supercharger and the Hoosiers do their work. In three laps, now the Lightweight M3 and the 944 are only about six seconds ahead of me, and the Jovo’s Supra is less than one second in front of me with one lap to go. Except going up through turn 3, I get a little to anxious and I apex a little too early, and get two wheels off the track, so Jovo finishes a comfortable 2-3 seconds ahead of me. James wins it with some very aggressive driving in the M3 Lightweight, the 944 Turbo takes 2^nd, Jovo third, I take fourth, and I think Ota takes 5^th(half a lap behind me…heh heh heh…) in a photo finish with I think one of the Vettes. Wayne was right behind Ota and the Vette, but got all four wheels off the track going into the last lap off of the turn 9 sweeper at 100+ mph and was a DNF. If I would have qualified decently, I could have been duking it out with the leaders for first place(I probably would have lost since they have more wheel-to-wheel experience, but it would have been pretty damn fun!)

Thanks again to Wayne, Doug Ota, Alex and Daniel for helping to get the supercharger pulley and belt back on and working! Otherwise, I would have been a DNS(Did Not Start) for the race!

Two of the three Type-R's that were running in the Time Trial Group

I was running 1:32’s during the race, which is almost FOUR seconds faster(also have Hoosiers+Brembos) than I ever had run with a normally aspirated NSX(with stock brakes+R1s) at this track. Four seconds a lap is an ETERNITY. I think I could possibly drop into the low 1:30's if I improve my driving and get bigger balls. But now I at least have enough power to now have a chance to duke it out with the souped up 944 Turbos, ZR-1s, and stripped down racing M3s. I think my car is pretty much ready for the new season of club racing with the Touring Car Club and the Alfa Romeo Club, I just have to make sure the driver is now up to par with the car. The car has too much power for me to go flat out into the turn 8 sweeper, it is pretty damn scary, so I am slowly building up to it. I used to be able to go flat out prior to the supercharger, but the supercharger is pulling really strong in 5^th gear, so I am slightly lifting a bit going into this turn. As it is really bumpy, and I am probably hitting 130+ through this turn. The Brembos with the Porterfields R4 pads are awesome, and I never worry about the brakes fading. However, I will still get killed in the PRO Racing events against the 911/911TTs/Vipers, but hopefully they won’t kill me as bad as they did last year

Epilogue. Wayne is PISSED that I crushed him during the race, it is now no contest. He is also worried that now that I have the supercharger dialed in, he is going to get his ass kicked at the 1999 Virginia City Hill Climb. A week after the TCC race, he dropped his 944 Turbo off at Emil’s to take the weight reduction course. He is taking out all interior, headliner, most of the dashboard, rear bumpers, air conditioning, power steering, door windows, replacing rear window hatch and quarter panel windows with Lexan. He expects to drop 300 lbs in an effort to catch me. Doug Ota is also pissed that I beat him by ˝ a lap, so he is looking into supercharger options for his M3……so we are all moving up to the next level for the 1999 club racing season!!! But I still hold the trump card.......if they do all those mods and are able to beat me, I can then start throwing all the excess weight out of the car! Heh heh heh.......