Virginia Beach,
VA Here is a report on the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association's
"Race at the Base" which took place at Naval Air Station Oceana
in Virginia Beach, Virginia on April 23-25, 1999.
The car was unloaded Thursday night at the track and one of the first
things we discovered was that the nifty M3 wheels with new Yoko's mounted
would not work on the front. Luckily I had another pair of wheels and
tires left over from a drivers school in Charlotte. When we test fit
the wheels they worked fine, apparently there is not much size uniformity
between different makes of tires. Friday brought the first practice
sessions, I took the car through tech and was assigned to the fastest
production group, i.e. Shelby GT350 Mustangs, Greenwood Corvettes, Trans-Am
Camaros. I pleaded my case that I had a fairly stock 4 door sedan, not
a full race CSL.
I ran two sessions with the ground pounders, even passing a couple of
vettes, but the car was running poorly. All the experts at the track
were brought together and their theories tested, though nothing worked.
Saturday brought qualifying and an afternoon race. The car was still
running poorly and I qualified 32 out of 34. We changed fuel cell pickups,
pumps, etc., but the car was still running lean. During the afternoon
race I was able to pick off a couple of wounded but it was not very
satisfying. Afterward I changed fuel pressure regulator, main jets distributor,
ripped out the XR700 and rigged a T into the cell pick up.
Sunday morning brought one warm-up and then the feature race. In warm
up the car finally ran well, at least until a hose came lose, my first
tow-in in 10 years. I ended up gridded 25th out of 32 for the feature.
This race I was assigned to Group C which was mostly sedans and middle
displacement sports racers, i.e., Lotus 23.
At the start, I was able to pass three cars and was passing a couple
every lap. I then got stuck behind a Cooper/Climax who was making it
very difficult for me to pass. He was in his own battle with a Lotus
but I figured he would give me a wide berth. After two laps of staying
on his tail he locked it up at the end of the 3/4 mile straight, I in
turn locked it up to avoid him and snapped a pretty hair raising 80
mph spin. I lost 10 seconds and one place. The place I lost happened
to be a 2002. In the last laps pushing hard to catch him I went wide
and demolished a large cone marker, denting my lower valance and damaging
an oil line. I believe I ended up 15th at the checker, with the damaged
oil line I would not have made another lap. A fun weekend and I met
many former Bavaria owners and fans.
Some things I learned:
Yokohama AO32R tires are the worst I have ever experienced, I would
have finished in the top ten if I had different tires, even starting
25th;
If you run a front airdam in a race, plan on replacing it every weekend,
luckily I left it off;
- Al Taylor
Be sure to check out Al's report on the Pittsburgh
Vintage race; the racing shots at left are from there (sans 2002 getting
smoked)
Look for Al and his full race Bavaria at the Brumos Savannah Historic
Races at Roebling Road, Savannah Georgia on October 22-24, 1999.
NOTE: This article originally appeared in Vol. VII, #28 of
"It's Not a Series," the Senior
Six Registry newsletter published
quarterly for SSR members. For membership info contact William
Gau or Jim Bartridge
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