Saturday August 24 at Willow Springs Raceway. My buddy James McNiff and I drive to Willow to help Justin who's already there with Sean and Justin's girlfriend Amanda. Justin's ASC car is running well, turning a 1:28:03 in the morning practice and appearing to own the race group despite complaining about severe "push". We drop a pound of air from the front tires and hope for the best before the next session. Our goal is to reach a consistent 1:27 on the old tires that he has (The ASC cars turn about 1:25 at Willow in this kind of heat). For the second practice session, the plan is to run a few laps to see if this helps, then drop a couple more mid session if needed. Traffic is heavy so he can't turn very fast lap times but he does come in mid session complaining that it's still pushing, though slightly less than before. Sean and I drop another two pounds of pressure in the front tires and send him back out.
This time, he seems to own the session, passing cars at will, until suddenly, the drive shaft snaps in half, spitting out the back. "One of those moments where you're staring down at the transmission tunnel and praying that the pieces don't shoot back up through the thin gauge firewall" Justin says. Unfortunately, this happens right after he passes a Sports Renault Spec Racer who's driver see's a piece of the drive shaft shooting directly towards him like a missile! Fortunately, the Spec Racer pilot is a very seasoned driver and swerves to his right as the driveshaft flies past his left ear. He pulls into the pits looking like he just cheated death and is understandably freaked out.
After climbing under the car, we discover that the U-Joint bolts had worked themselves loose after our last time out in the car and eventually sheared off the bolts, setting the entire driveshaft loose and through the transmission cooler. We immediately call around to see if any local driveshaft shops are still open, with no luck. The race shops at the track aren't able to help us either (though Sean and I get to check out some beautifully prepared vintage race cars, Mustangs, Cobras, Camaros at Dralle Racing). While at lunch, I try all the driveshaft shops in Los Angeles (which is about 85 miles away) but nobody is open. By 1pm, we've decided that it's a lost cause and we're done for the weekend.

Meanwhile, I've walked around the pits to visit friends. Some of whom I haven't seen in months or years. Doug and Wayne of Pulp Racing (http://www.nsxfiles.com) are there, but since Doug blew another engine in his NSX-SC (How many is that now Doug?) he's running the race in his daily driver, a Honda S2000 with rollbar, Hoosier DOT's and coilovers. Wayne is there in his Porsche 944 Turbo lightweight race car, but complaining that the overflow tank pukes after coming off the track.
James Sofronas and Fabryce Kutyba are parked across the way with their World Challenge GT BMW. James is trying to sell this beautiful car so contact him if you know anybody who wants one. It's Jeff McMillen's Championship car from 2001 and is flawlessly done, asking price is $63,000. James and I became fri ends after he expressed interest in co-driving with me at the POC's Tribute To LeMans enduro back in 2000. He stands over 6 feet tall and no matter what we tried, he just couldn't clear under the rollcage. A year later, Fabryce would get to co-drive with Joe Anselmo in his monster Porsche 968 Turbo. One of the big surprises is an old POC buddy, Mitch Stahl. With his familiar lightweight Porsche 944 (powered by a Stock 968 motor), Mitch was always a regular at POC races. The last time that we spoke, Mitch had broken his arm while pushing his car into the trailer. After concentrating on his business for several years, he's finally back with this event being his first in 18 months.

The GT Class race begins right after lunch and it's filled with some exotic machinery. This qualifying race determines the starting grid for tomorrow's feature race. On the pole is John Grieco's Dodge Viper GTS race car. John has been psyching himself all day by playing CD's with race car engines all day. His car is rumoured to be over 600hp and judging by it's flashy graphics and wings, it's a very fast car. Next to him is Wayne's Porsche 944 Turbo running high boost but the aforementioned water puking problem, followed by Mitch. James qualifies mid pack due to a bad differential which has now been replaced. At the drop of the green, the pack charges down the front straightaway with the horsepower of the Viper taking a clear advantage. Behind John, are Wayne and Mitch battling for second. Both Porsches are having a terrific battle, many times going into the corners side by side, neither giving up. Finally, Mitch outbrakes Wayne into Turn 1 and holds him off for the rest of the race. Meanwhile, James is moving up the field very quickly. The Viper gains a huge lead, then loses it quickly in the turns, whether it's because he's purposely slowing down so he has "dance partners" or because the car isn't hooking up in the corners is a mystery. But closely behind is Mitch's 944, followed by Wayne and the fast moving James. By mid race, James has managed to pass both Porsches! With a lap to go, James makes the move of the race, diving under the Viper under braking and taking the lead. Through the twistier parts of the track, the BMW manages to hold off the Viper, which is remarkable considering the 7.5" Street tires that is required for World Challenge. As they enter the final high speed sections of the track (Turns 7, 8 & 9), the Viper quickly catches up. The BMW exits the final corner in the lead but it's now a drag race to the finish line. In the end, Horsepower wins out with the Viper taking the win by a fender length!

The 2.2L Challenge follows. Front row is dominated by Integras with Glenn Kawano's ex-Taz Harvey World Challenge car starting 2nd. RealRide Racing's own Don Mock qualifies mid pack, running on year old race tires. But Don states that he's out having fun with this TCRA event as his focus is on the NASA ProSedan Championship. 2.2L Challenge races use standing starts and this one doesn't fail to impress. The entire pack makes a clean start and charges into Turn 1 without incident (take that Formula One!). The front cars remain pretty much as they qualify with the Integras taking charge and the field strings out with an incident free race. Glenn manages to pass the pole sitter, a silver Integra, and takes it home for the win. Kiwi Jeff Owens tears off his front splitter (again) but finishes in the front despite having the splitter flapping in the wind. Andy Hope's B16 powered CRX combination appears to be working well as he finishes in the front. Doug Hayashi sits in a solid 6th place, ironically in the only car in this race that is street driven!

RealRide/Pennyweb