RelentlessPursuitRacing
06-29-2007, 12:11 PM
My first race, driving! The VORRA 300. Great time! OMG! Even in a little class 11 BUG! Friggin awesome!!!!! We completed (3) 57 mile laps.
We started out by pulling the POLE position in the drawing! Jeff, smartly declined and opted for a rear start. Being the only class 11 and the slowest class racing, it would have been a very ugly first lap with the whole field trying to get past us! John, the engine mechanic and friend drove the first lap with Kirk as co-dog They rolled it on its side around Race Mile 30 or 35. No injuries, they got out and righted it themselves. Damage to both left fenders and rear tail light and a little on the left door. Somewhere, not sure if it was before or after that, they got nerfed by a buggy and pushed off the course. (THOSE HORNS ARE NOT LOAD ENOUGH!) Minor damage to the rear engine lid and the rear bumper. They came in about 2 hours 10. I got in and drove the second lap and John moved over to the co-dog seat for me. Got used to the car after about 5 miles, only went off the course once, silt corner on about the 3rd left turn.....started to figure it out after that. We made at least four stops prior to check point 1 trying to find which car needed the gallon of oil we were trying to bring to them. Not to bad a course. Some tight stuff, some rough stuff, some silt and some ruts. A few small hill climbs ( moderate for the little bug though). A couple of LONG....8 mile plus stretches of fast gravel roads with some ups and downs. FUN! I had the bug pegged in 3rd and 4th gear for a long time, several times! WooHoo! Relatively dust free due to a decent wind and only 27 cars in the field. Saw lots of broken down cars, got passed by a few trucks and a buggy. Getting passed on a dusty road with no cross wind sucks!!!!! BLINDING! OMG! That is scary! I saw where John rolled it, it was an off camber down hill right, just beyond a hump..... short down and right back up all silted up. John was my co-dog and even then it snuck up on us and he couldn't even tell me until we were in it. After coming over the hump and getting into it, I felt it leaning over the left, and turned into it and was able to pull out of it without incident. Four wheeling experience paid off there. There were some rough sections, but nothing compared to what I saw pre-running the Baja 1000. Not really any big sections of whoops. The last 10 miles was pretty fast, back down the mountain side with a long hard packed gravel road with some more rolling ups and downs that we really only had to slow down a hair on approach. At the end of the lap, we came though and drove part of a Motocross course. Thick silt in there. From there, into the pits for a driver change to put Jeff (car owner) into the driver seat for what would be the final lap with Bill as his co-driver. Five minute driver change/vehicle check/added fuel/tighten lug nuts/look at big dent I put in drivers front rim, and they were off. My 57 mile lap was 1hr 38 minutes, minus the 5 minute pit= 1hr 33 minutes for my lap. Jeff and Bill pulled out of our pit and headed toward the start finish line to continue on in the race. About thirty seconds later we heard him calling on the radio that he is broken at the start/finish line. We ran over there to find that the throttle cable pulled out of the carburetor linkage. We idled him over to the pit, where we had easier access to the tools and got him fixed and back out on the course in about 10 minutes. He drove without incident. Knowing that we weren't going to make the time limit to start the 4th and final lap, Jeff pulled over about half way through his lap and traded places with Bill, putting him in the drivers seat for the remainder of their lap. (VORRA wouldn't let anyone start a new lap after 3:30.) I know they gave me some details on their lap, but I am not recalling them right now. I know there were no big incidents, just a lot of fun. Bill brought it home for the finish at about 2 hours for their lap, minus the 10 or 15 minute repair and 5 minute pit stop to put them at about 1hr 40 minutes for their lap.
All I know is that I was smiling all the way home.....And I got a call from Jeff about three hours into my drive, with him telling me how he can't stop smiling! What a blast! My friend, Tes came out to spectate and helped out around the pits and had a blast! Ken Moss and family came out as well to spectate and helped out in the pits as well. Everyone had a GREAT time! The car ran great and just powered through it all. The radio and intercom system worked well. The car handled great and surprisingly was not as harsh a ride as we expected, only having about 5" of suspension travel on a bug. Successful race! Tons of fun! Great experience! Great intro to desert off road race driving! I can't wait to get my Class 3 Bronco done and race it! WOW!
After the race I asked Jeff, "If you couldn't race another single race, was all the time, labor, and money worth it for what you did just today?" Jeff replied with, "YES! Even if I gave the car away right now and didn't get a dime back out of it. YES!". "That" is desert racing! Give it a try. :)
Jerry
PICS to follow.
We started out by pulling the POLE position in the drawing! Jeff, smartly declined and opted for a rear start. Being the only class 11 and the slowest class racing, it would have been a very ugly first lap with the whole field trying to get past us! John, the engine mechanic and friend drove the first lap with Kirk as co-dog They rolled it on its side around Race Mile 30 or 35. No injuries, they got out and righted it themselves. Damage to both left fenders and rear tail light and a little on the left door. Somewhere, not sure if it was before or after that, they got nerfed by a buggy and pushed off the course. (THOSE HORNS ARE NOT LOAD ENOUGH!) Minor damage to the rear engine lid and the rear bumper. They came in about 2 hours 10. I got in and drove the second lap and John moved over to the co-dog seat for me. Got used to the car after about 5 miles, only went off the course once, silt corner on about the 3rd left turn.....started to figure it out after that. We made at least four stops prior to check point 1 trying to find which car needed the gallon of oil we were trying to bring to them. Not to bad a course. Some tight stuff, some rough stuff, some silt and some ruts. A few small hill climbs ( moderate for the little bug though). A couple of LONG....8 mile plus stretches of fast gravel roads with some ups and downs. FUN! I had the bug pegged in 3rd and 4th gear for a long time, several times! WooHoo! Relatively dust free due to a decent wind and only 27 cars in the field. Saw lots of broken down cars, got passed by a few trucks and a buggy. Getting passed on a dusty road with no cross wind sucks!!!!! BLINDING! OMG! That is scary! I saw where John rolled it, it was an off camber down hill right, just beyond a hump..... short down and right back up all silted up. John was my co-dog and even then it snuck up on us and he couldn't even tell me until we were in it. After coming over the hump and getting into it, I felt it leaning over the left, and turned into it and was able to pull out of it without incident. Four wheeling experience paid off there. There were some rough sections, but nothing compared to what I saw pre-running the Baja 1000. Not really any big sections of whoops. The last 10 miles was pretty fast, back down the mountain side with a long hard packed gravel road with some more rolling ups and downs that we really only had to slow down a hair on approach. At the end of the lap, we came though and drove part of a Motocross course. Thick silt in there. From there, into the pits for a driver change to put Jeff (car owner) into the driver seat for what would be the final lap with Bill as his co-driver. Five minute driver change/vehicle check/added fuel/tighten lug nuts/look at big dent I put in drivers front rim, and they were off. My 57 mile lap was 1hr 38 minutes, minus the 5 minute pit= 1hr 33 minutes for my lap. Jeff and Bill pulled out of our pit and headed toward the start finish line to continue on in the race. About thirty seconds later we heard him calling on the radio that he is broken at the start/finish line. We ran over there to find that the throttle cable pulled out of the carburetor linkage. We idled him over to the pit, where we had easier access to the tools and got him fixed and back out on the course in about 10 minutes. He drove without incident. Knowing that we weren't going to make the time limit to start the 4th and final lap, Jeff pulled over about half way through his lap and traded places with Bill, putting him in the drivers seat for the remainder of their lap. (VORRA wouldn't let anyone start a new lap after 3:30.) I know they gave me some details on their lap, but I am not recalling them right now. I know there were no big incidents, just a lot of fun. Bill brought it home for the finish at about 2 hours for their lap, minus the 10 or 15 minute repair and 5 minute pit stop to put them at about 1hr 40 minutes for their lap.
All I know is that I was smiling all the way home.....And I got a call from Jeff about three hours into my drive, with him telling me how he can't stop smiling! What a blast! My friend, Tes came out to spectate and helped out around the pits and had a blast! Ken Moss and family came out as well to spectate and helped out in the pits as well. Everyone had a GREAT time! The car ran great and just powered through it all. The radio and intercom system worked well. The car handled great and surprisingly was not as harsh a ride as we expected, only having about 5" of suspension travel on a bug. Successful race! Tons of fun! Great experience! Great intro to desert off road race driving! I can't wait to get my Class 3 Bronco done and race it! WOW!
After the race I asked Jeff, "If you couldn't race another single race, was all the time, labor, and money worth it for what you did just today?" Jeff replied with, "YES! Even if I gave the car away right now and didn't get a dime back out of it. YES!". "That" is desert racing! Give it a try. :)
Jerry
PICS to follow.