Trackside 2002

July, August & motor racing… often a most uncomfortable mix. Heat, heat & more heat are the norm in Eastern North America…but, as fate would have it, the VRS equipe was spared such discomforts save one errant Sunday at Road America.
July rolled in with the VRS crew grafting away to be sure that all 10 cars for the mid-month Brian Redman International Challenge would roll just as they should. Just as the rollers were refined the phone rang. The “Call of the Carrera” ensued with Bill Shanahan’s long and hard rally experience extolling the virtues of being prepared and testing his Volvo P1800 rally car SOON!! It was time to put the ready and reconditioned components back in their shell, add a few new tweaks, and get to a test day at Lime Rock in August. Bill Shanahan’s almost ready Carrera Volvo P-1800.
July also saw a new vehicle “med-a-vac’d” into our Stratford facility. Joe Tierno’s prized & historically significant MGA came to us for some emergency surgery following a few frustrating weekends. Various minor surgeries followed and early August found Joe & the MGA racing and testing at New Hampshire International’s Belknap Cup weekend with considerable success and a much smaller punch list.Volvos & MGs aside, the bulk of our July efforts focused on the Brian Redman’s International Challenge at Road America, July 18-21. Great event, great weather, great group & GREAT FUN! Larry Neviaser was “up to speed,” as were his Lola T-332, F-5000 and Ginetta G-16. Mark Simpson in his Elva MK 7s and Larry Kessler in his beautiful yellow Elva MK8s turned in good performances with Larry garnering a 4th O.A. and 1st in class in Friday’s enduro.

Elva Mk8s and Larry Kessler as one.
Simpson and Elva working the road.
Neviaser’s racous red Lola tearing up the tarmac.
Bob Machinist had a great weekend in his B-21 Chevron, a 2nd in class with his Datsun 240Z in the enduro with plenty to savor then lament when a sway bar mount failed on his DB-4, making Sunday this Aston’s day of rest.Randy Lenz’s Ginetta G-10 had some tuning problems at its first event of the season. Randy and the VRS crew persevered and turned in a good performance. He was very quick and up to speed in his McKee MK7 Can Am car until an errant Lola T-70 ended his race a tad early. My Spitfire and I managed a 1st in class and 10th O.A. on Sunday, followed by one of the weekend’s premier attractions . . . . Our Eastbound return on the inaugural voyage of “Bob Air” and its new acquisition, a new Merlin Turbo prop eight-passenger aircraft. “Bob Air,” you say? The Bob is none other than our own Bob Machinist. Bob has produced an airliner to service many of the major events VRS customers opt to attend. Luxury and convenience, with rates remarkably tolerable! Bob’s slight of hand? Sorcery? Clever, creative financial arrangements? Who knows? Who cares! It’s a beautiful plane, offering superb service & great company. Why look a gift craft in the mouth. “This is the way to go.” (quote Larry Kessler 7/21/02, en route home from Elkhart). It all happens Sunday afternoon. The pilots are ready; the cooler is stocked . . . off the racetrack, and in just 20 minutes we are air borne. With a stop in Rochester to drop off the Kesslers, then Ellen Akin, Bob & myself are all back in the New York area in time for dinner . . . Easy! The VRS crew returned from Road America with plenty to get done. Post race evaluations of all the R.A. cars, completion and testing the Carrera Volvo and preparation of the RR racing TransAm Camaro for Jack Cowell at the Monterey Historics. Coastal rule differences demand a complete drivetrain change and numerous other detail changes. One day, in a race preparer’s dream world, our clients’ aching wallets will surely rejoice when the various vintage sanctioning bodies “think national” and standardize rules. Ah well, it’s all work to us, so out comes the trick stuff and in goes the 1970 Vintage SCCA Trans Am drivetrain and period-correct suspension. Early August sees the car on Pete Racely’s truck headed west.Another July highlight was our 1-day jaunt to Lime Rock for the annual Aston Martin Owners’ Club track day. Bob Machinist tried his DB-4 and Datsun 240, while Jean Goutal enjoyed both his street Elan and Ginetta G-4. Great day, great club, all ran well and safely.
Lenz and the mighty McKee reacquaint themselves after a long hiatus.

Welcome to ‘Bob Air’ from your host, none other than Bob.
Kessler boarding ‘Bob Air’ Easy.

RR Racing Camaro on the Grid @ Laguna Seca.

VRS @ AMOC on a perfect Saturday afternoon.
Mid-August in Monterey . . . what an event! Jack drives the slick and powerful RR Camaro perfectly, but racing gremlins plague the weekend. Practice Thursday unearths a developing vibration. A failed “U” joint is changed with all well at Friday’s practice. Sunday’s warm up ends a lap early with a flat tire.
All is repaired by race time, though we wish the tire guys would stay through Sunday afternoon at the Historics. Great start; 13th to 7th by lap 2, then, on lap 4, we’re out with oil smoke in the cockpit. Gremlins prevail in the form of a debris-damaged oil seal. Richard, Jack and the RR racing contingent overcome disappointment with incredible fortitude. Their margarita machine proved a performance powerhouse at the RR racing turn four tent where all sorrows were well and truly drowned.
RR racing team kingpins Richard and Jack . . . sorrows well and truly drowned!!
Tom surmounts the obstacles of middle age
for another smiling finish.
Late August finds VRS preparing Tom Brown’s Trans Am Datsun and Bob Machinist’s Aston DB4 for the Lime Rock Fall Festival. This is usually our biggest event, but an unneeded and sudden change in the event format has reduced our role to just two cars. We’re not happy and our customers are not happy. In fact, it’s hard to find anyone applauding this overly drastic revision. A new approach may be warranted, and improved event quality is undoubtedly in everyone’s best interest, but the new event format forsakes fall festival tradition. September, or possibly future Septembers, will yield a verdict. At this point it appears that the sanctioning body has violated two of any good mechanic’s primary rules: (1) Fix or re-invent only what’s broken, and (2) Diagnosis and repair is best accomplished by changing only one item at a time. To add insult to injury, one of our two cars gets cancelled the day before the event and the weekend is horribly wet. Monday’s Trans Am Race is moved up in the schedule, such that Tom Brown’s Datsun runs in the dry. Tom goes well, while the 5-liter cars at the front of the race track trade places in a pre-arranged, orchestrated fashion. “Hollywood Vintage” is not for us. Vintage or not, racing is racing, and “fixed” it should not be.On a brighter note, SVRA’s Watkin’s Glen promises to live up to its reputation as a superb venue. VRS’s 10 or so wards are nearly set to go and we look forward to seeing you there. Cindy promises luscious lunches and good weather is “ALL BUT” guaranteed. As usual, we’re doing all we can to eliminate the “ALL BUTS.” See ya at the races!

– Brian, Kent & the VRS Crew

Upcoming VRS Events

  • Thu 8/19/2010: HSR Road Atlanta
  • Fri 9/3/2010: Lime rock Fall Festival
  • Thu 9/9/2010: SVRA US Vintage Grand Prix
  • Sat 9/11/2010: Targa Newfoundland
  • Fri 9/24/2010: VRG New Jersey

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