WDCR members have again volunteered their cars to be on display in the region’s exhibit at the Washington Auto Show, which lasts until Sunday.  They are on the large (main) exhibit hall on the lower level.  Just follow the thumpity-thumpity music!

About 20 vehicles are on display representing Solo, Club Racing, RallyCross, Time Trials and Emergency Services.  Here is information about some of those vehicles:

Karen Kraus, 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX, Solo – E Street Prepared (ESP)
I mostly run National ProSolo and Tour events with it. In ESP, it mostly runs against Camaros and Mustangs, with the occasional Talon TSi/Eclipse GSX thrown in.  I won the 2008 ProSolo L1 Championship (in stock form), then I did the modifications for ESP, and took the 2009 National ESPL Championship.

Mike Snyder, Ford Mustang Shelby GT, Solo – F Stock (FS)
I purchased this car new in February of 2007, and the dash plaque authenticates this car as #450 in the Shelby GT registry. It was built to compete in SCCA Solo II and Pro Solo
competition in the F Stock Class. It competes against Camaros, Mustangs, and other Shelby GTs.

Modifications include AST Shocks, crash bolt kit, competition alignment, adjustable sway bar end links, lightweight Volk wheels and Hoosier race tires. Driven by Sam Strano at National level events, this Shelby GT always finishes in front or near the front of the pack. No other Shelby GT has won an F Stock SCCA National Championship or F Stock Pro Solo Championship title.

Eric Kriemelmeyer, Pontiac Solstice GXP with ZOK package, Solo – B Stock (BS)
The Solstice GXP competes in SCCA Stock Class B, against S2000 Club Racer, STi, C4 Corvette primarily.  It’s a 2.0L turbo four-cylinder engine provides excellent acceleration as well as above average fuel economy. With the addition of the factory ZOK suspension option, the car is lowered as well as having increased cornering ability above the base Solstice GXP. Using stock-size 18X8 wheels, the car can use enormous 295 width racing tires (stock is 245) providing a much larger contact patch for competition. Pontiac: They Built Excitement!

Alan Claffie, 1990 Mazda Miata, Solo – Street Touring S (STS)
Competes against the Honda CRX, Honda del sol, Mazda RX7 and Toyota MR2 in STS

SCCA’s Street Touring Solo category lets drivers compete in popular cars with popular modifications (aftermarket suspension, intake, exhaust, etc). Expensive and fragile racing tires aren’t allowed in this class, so it’s ideal for those who just want to show up and drive without having to bring a second set of wheels and tires to the event site.

Larry Spector , 1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo, PDX/Time Trials/Solo – Street Modified 2 (SM2)
The car is used primarily for PDX events, with occasional Solo competition as well. It’s been run at Summit Point, WV; Watkins Glen, NY; Virginia International Raceway and New Jersey Motorsports Park.

The MR2 Turbo is a mid-engined (engine behind the driver) rear wheel drive car.
It has two seats, and two trunks (one in front, and another in back) and was made in Japan and sold in the United States between 1991 and 1995.  This car has a turbocharged and intercooled 4 cylinder engine, with a 5 speed manual transmission, and as delivered, it had 200hp and a 0-60 of under six seconds, and a top speed of over 140 mph.

This car is now 20 years old, and is driven to and from the track. It’s also used for commuting in good weather!

Tristan Herbert, 2008 Volskwagen GTI, Pro Racing – World Challenge Touring
Competes nationally in World Challenge against Mazda RX-8, Honda civic si, Scion tc, Mazda 3, Acura tsx, Mazda speed 3 and Acura RSX racecars.  It’s modified with JRZ Three-Way Adjustable Suspension, Piper Motorsports Custom Exhaust, AIM Data System, 17X8 BBS RGR Wheels, Racetech Seat, (Gripper) Limited Slip Differential Transmission, Ground Control Camber Plates, Power Flex Suspension Bushings, Stop-Tech Big Brake Kit, BSH Motor and Trans Mounts and an APR chip.

Bob Crawford, 1982 Dodge Colt, Club Racing – Improved Touring C (ITC)
Races at Summit Point, Watkins Glen and other tracks.  Races in Improved Touring “C”

Jack Burrows, 1984 Mazda RX7, Club Racing – Spec RX-7 (SRX7)
The Spec RX7 is based on and races against first-generation (1981-85) Mazda RX7s.  Tightly limited drive train preparation but competition suspension – shocks, struts, springs, sway bars etc. – open exhaust, spec tires, and gutted interior.  Safety equipment includes roll cage, five-point driver harness, on-board fire suppression system, fuel cell, and electrical system kill switch. Minimum race weight (including driver) is 2,530 lbs.

It has been driven to four victories at Watkins Glen International

Matt Hayes, 2010 Womer EV-3, Club Racing – FormulaVee (FV)
The car competes in the WDCR region MARRS series with other FVs primarily at Summit Point.  The class often has 15 cars entered and the low-power, high-grip cars make for close and exciting racing with a lot of drafting.

The car was designed and produced by Womer Race Cars located inside the DC beltway.  It uses primarily vintage Volkswagen parts in a custom frame and body, as stipulated by the class rules.  The car has a top speed of about 120mph and is capable of about 2Gs of lateral acceleration.  While the car only has about 60hp, the weight of 1025lbs, which includes the driver, make for a exciting machine.

Shawn Roberts, 1988 Mazda RX-7, RallyCross – Modified Two-Wheel Drive (M2)
This is the class for the most modified 2 wheel drive cars in RallyX.  Locally the competition is mostly older Sentra’s and a Ford Focus.

Ben Lambioette, FFR Type 65 Coupe, Solo/Time Trials — X Prepared (XP)
The “Bottom Dollar” Coupe is built on a Factory Five Racing Type 65 Coupe chassis and body. It is not a “donor” kit car.  All mechanical components are new and were carefully selected to suit the uses for which the car was built.  Considerable additional work was done to the chassis and body.

It is powered by a 347 ci small block Ford V-8 built on a new Ford Racing Boss block.  Top end, recently rebuilt by Maryland Performance, sports Canfield 195 cc CNC heads, Race Tec flattop pistons, cut to match the offset of the valves, Manley H-beam rods, and Jesel “mohawk beam” shaft rockers.  It has a custom solid roller cam by Jay Allen at Camshaft Innovations.  Fuel is delivered by mechanical pump to Pro Systems Holley 4-barrel double pumper with no choke, feeding an Edelbrock RPM Airgap dual plane intake manifold.  It has a 22 gallon Fuel Safe fuel cell.  Built to rev to 7,000 rpm+, it pulled 485 peak hp and 480 peak torque at the rear wheels on a chassis dyno last year.  

It runs an Astro Performance “built” (heavy duty alloy gearset) T-5 5-speed transmission, mated to a dual disk Spec Super Twin clutch and lightweight aluminium flywheel.  Damping is by double adjustable Koni’s at all four corners and Eibach springs.  Rear is IRS, built on a 1997 T-Bird, with oversized heavy duty half shafts, and a Torsen T-2 helical gear type limited slip diff.   Brakes are six piston Willwoods up front and four pot Willwoods in the rear.  Front-rear brake bias is adjustable via dial on the lower console.  Steering is via a Fast Freddie’s Fabrication electro-hydraulic power steering set up.  Cog and tooth accessory drive and self-exciting alternator are from Jones Racing.

The car weighs 2515 pounds without driver, and a half a tank of gas.  It is not a show car or concourse replica, but was built to compete in a variety of motorsports.  A frequent competitor in Solo, in XP class, it runs autocrosses (cone-dodging) nearly every weekend with SCCA WDCR, Capital Driving Club, and at Cumberland and other airport long-circuit events.  It also saw action in last year’s SCCA Divisionals and a Pro Solo event at FedEx Field.   It is also used on road racing tracks for Time Trials and Club Trials (where four cars are released on the track, laps are timed, and the fastest lap wins) , and non-competitive track days.  We will probably do at least one hillclimb (closed public road circuit, usually up a mountain, with runs timed) with it in 2011.

The car was built by Fred Kelley of Fast Freddie’s Fabrication.  Body and paint by Chris’ Customs. Custom dash, wiring, tire trailer hitch and other details by Larry Casey of Casey Design.  It was completed in June 2009, and just completed its first full season of competition.  It is street legal, and driven to and from events, towing a small trailer on which race tires and tools are hauled.

Other displays include:

Chris Windsor, Triumph and Morgan, Historic
Gene,  427 Cobra, Time Trials — XP
Steve Huemmer, Rescue 1 
Mike Collins, Mazda Miata, Club Racing — Spec Miata (SM) and Showroom Spec Miata (SSM)
Bill Mercurio, Club Racing — Spec Racer Ford (SRF)
Justin Huffman, Club Racing — Formula Enterprises (FE)
Steve Hyatt, 1991 Golf GTI, RallyCross — PF

Tickets are on sale for the annual WDCR banquet Jan. 29 at the Washington Convention Center through DLB Racing.  Cost is $50 for adults, $30 for children ages 3 to 12, and children under 3 are free.  Ticket sales end Jan. 23.

People don’t have to purchase tickets for the auto show, which is being held at the convention center, unless they plan on touring the show floor.

Awards — Club Racing and Solo – will be presented from 3 to 5 p.m. followed by an hors d’oeuvres reception at 5:30 p.m. Winners who would like to just pick up their award may do so without purchasing a banquet ticket if they will not be attending the banquet – just be sure to check with your race chair to confirm the time of your program’s award ceremony.

A buffet dinner will begin at 6:30, and Region awards will begin at 7:30 during dessert. A cash bar will be available throughout.  

There will be plenty of open seating, but arrangements can be made in advance for groups of four or eight only. If you would like to reserve a table for a party of four or eight, please send the details (names of each person to sit together) to Eric Kriemelmeyer.

A discounted group rate has been made available for attendees at four nearby hotels. 

For parking, directions and other information, see the convention center Web site.

Autocrossers, Inc., will have six events at Blue Crabs Stadium in Waldorf, Md., in 2011.  Additionally, the club will host the Evolution Performance Driving School for a weekend in April.

April 16 to 17 Evo Schools
April 23 (Saturday)
May 14 (Saturday, lunch in stadium, eight-run format)
July 10
Sept. 18
Oct. 9 (Saturday, lunch in stadium, eight-run format)
Oct. 23

School information will be released shortly.

The math has been done, and the following are class champions for the 2010 Autocrossers, Inc., season:

Stock classes
SS – Howard Leikin
BS – Katie Kriemelmeyer
CS – Les Banyas
DS – Steve Mitchell

Street Touring
ST – Jason Hubbard
STS – Alan Claffie
STR – Joe Brannon
STU – Shane Chinonn-Rhoden

Street Prepared
ASP – Jim Harris
BSP – Jennifer and Eric Eskandari (co-champions)
CSP – Franklin Dam
FSP – Philip Emad

Street Modified
SM  - Aaron Lee
SSM – David Lane

Prepared
XP  - Fred Kelley
CP  - Dave Mapes

Karts
F125 – Justin Neal

Pro
Pro – Brian Karwan

The trophies will be given out at the WDCR Solo Awards presentation before the region banquet on Jan. 29 at the Washington Convention Center.

Thanks to WDCR member Fil Sibley for sharing this tribute video about Sam Strano, one of the most successful autocrossers in the SCCA and a WDCR member.

See the full HD version here

Sam Strano – Solo driver from DIGIFIL on Vimeo.

By Pat Griffith

By my count, there will be 33 WDCR members competing next week in the SCCA Solo Nationals in Lincoln, Neb.  Because of the power of the internet, it should be easy to keep track of everything from the comfort of your computer (tell the boss you are researching social relationships or something).

The very unofficial WDCR Solo Nats Blog.  Danny Kao, Clyde Kaplan and I (and maybe a guest or two) will be posting our daily musings.

SCCA Sololive. Based on what I saw during the year, the SCCA should have near real-time results posted online.

Main link to the SCCA’s Solo Nationals page.

Main link the SCCA’s Pro Solo Finale page.

Here is a guide to who’s who from the region and when they will be running:

Tuesday-Wednesday
First heat (9 a.m. EST first car off)
STS – Ian Baker, John Vitamvas
F125 – Danny Kao, Edwin Liu, Mike Kline, Justin Neal, Brian Garfield

Second heat (around 11 a.m. EST)
BS – Your’s truly, Clyde Caplan, Eric Kriemelmeyer, Brendan Bengermino
GS – Andrew Baker, Kenny Sorensen

Third heat (around 1 p.m. EST)
STX – David Ogburn
F125L – Lisa Garfield
FJA – Julian Garfield
FJB – Carson Garfield

Fifth heat (around 5 p.m. EST)
STU – Rod McGeorge, Shane Chinonn-Rhoden, Josh Luster

Thursday-Friday
Second heat (around 11 a.m. EST)
FSAE – Mike Cook, Mike Stanley

Third heat (around 1 p.m. EST)
ASP – Courtney Cormier
SSM – Jason Becker
SMF – Brian Karwan, Little Mike Snyder
FSL – Holly Schwedler
CSL – Learic Cramer

Fifth heat (around 5 p.m. EST)
CS – Andy Thomas, Robert Robeson
FS – Big Mike Snyder, Sam Strano, Terry Baker, Lee Piccione

Complete run order can be found here.

Solo Week actually begins this weekend with the Pro Solo Finale, and many people will be heading out tomorrow for the roughly 20-hour trek to Nebraska.  Competition begins at 10 a.m. EST on Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday.

Competitors include:

FS – Mike Snyder, Sam Strano, Lee Piccione
GS – Andrew Baker, Kenny Sorensen
STS – John Vitamvas, Ian Baker
ASP – Courtney Cormier
SSM – Jason Becker
SMF – Brian Karwan
F125 – Danny Kao, Lisa Garfield, Mike Kline, Justin Neal, Brian Garfield
FJA – Julian Garfield
FJB – Carson Garfield
L1 – Holly Schwedler, Learic Cramer

By Danny Kao

Pre-event Chatter

Coming into this event, I have received numerous complaints (numerous complaints from one person) about not covering Mr. Bob Hausmann’s dominating win in XP’s six-cylinder class.  I decided to give Bob special coverage for this event, but he was a no- show.  I am wondering with just one eye, Bob might have had trouble finding the way to Fedex Field in the rainy day.

What about Bob?

Early Morning News

Ms. Karen Kraus woke up early in the morning and announced on Facebook that she “will not be flaking out of autocross today.”  That is almost like Babe Ruth calling the homerun before the pitch. 

The new course configuration threw everybody into a loop.  But folks didn’t realize mother nature was about to put everybody into many loops.  The registration at the timing trailer was located right next to the stadium, and the competitors could park all the way up next to the course, but had to walk a half mile to registration.  You should see the joy faces of Rob Kiernan and Franklin Dam when I told them they could park right next to the course; but they quickly turned sour faced when they had to walk to registration.  Franklin needs some exercise anyway – he needs to lose weight for karting.

All day, the novice competitors were treated and taught by the best novice coordinator ever.  The tips given by the novice coordinator were so good, that every novice ran the faster than the coordinator.  That’s some serious novice coordinating.

Morning Competition

First heat started out a little damp, but quickly dried up.  By the third run the course was completely dry and people were putting down their fastest times of the day.  Pat “Nice Tan” Griffith set the tone in the morning with the fastest run of the morning at 60.907, just edging out Eric Kriemelmeyer with Eric’s car.  It’s still kind of premature, but I think we are approach caution territory of calling the black Solstice “Nice Tan’s car.”

Steve Mitchell and Rob Kiernan both drove their lights out to edge fast young Tommy Radford in D-Stock.  It’s nice to see Steve representing us old dudes.  Stu “Paula Abdul” Fain finally got revenge on Jim Harris’s in ASP action.  I think Jim already held too many trophies this past weekend and decided to be charitable.  Jason Zapol, my hero and my best buddy, won in dominating fashion in CSP.  (Oh Jason, I still have your trailer tire, I can just keep it?  Buddy?)  Mr. Thomas Bleh walked away with the DSP win.  I think Mr. Bleh is so fast, he scared Kevin Henry to beat up on a couple old dudes in D-Mod instead.  (The other two old dudes crushed Kevin in D-Mod, but that’s a later story.) 

Well, Pat’s FTM (Fastest Time of the Morning) was short lived when Ms. Karen “Babe Ruth” Kraus swung for the fences (or slap shot a puck into the net for you hockey freaks).  Karen destroyed Brian “Big Enos” Burdette with the FTM of 60.555 and took the ESP win.  In STR action, Brian Hair edged crazy fast Eric Simmons for the win.  You STR guys should be ecstatic because you just did something I haven’t done before – out run reigning F-Mod National Champ Sal DiPompo at an autocross, but I am sure that’s a freak occurrence so enjoy it while you can.

The "Babe" is FTM.

The rain came before the end of the first heat, and paused for about 20 minutes at the beginning of the second heat. Mr. John Nicolaysen took the E-Stock win while Justin Neal watched nervously at his MR2 spun piloted by DJ Sneeringer and Laura Buch. Mark Liller once again won the F-Stock/Other-Than-Mustang class. The normal F-Stock class was again taken by Mr. Sam Strano. I think Sam was missing a couple of hood stripes though.

In STS, two of the top STS drivers in the country were duking it out in the rain; but none of us care — we were all wondering how to steal John Vitamvas’ nine-pound rims. I wonder how many shirtless autographed pictures John had to sell to afford those puppies.

Dave Edsinger mastered the rain with a big win in CP. I think it must have been all that off-season indoor karting that Dave was doing. In Street Touring, AJ Aviles, made famous by Lady Gaga, refused the help graciously offered by the novice coordinator and still took the win somehow. Steven Brown just edged Patrick Olsen in Street Mod, while Scott Blair blamed his third-place finish on the paint job of his front bumper. In Street Mod Female, Brian Karwan easily won the class because David Rittenhouse could not decide whether to look through the windshield, or look through the sunroof during his runs.

Over or under?

The rain really came during the later half of the second heat, and the condition got really sloppy. Everybody was getting a soaking. Mr. Larry Olsen, our master safety steward, was constantly monitoring the weather station for thunderstorm warnings; and here is a conversation between Mr. Olsen and your’s truly:

LO: Danny, any beeping on the weather monitor?
ME: Yes, and it says “Warning, Asian approaching!”
LO: * Speechless *

Beautiful Yenko whachumacallit getting a car wash

Lunch

Lunch was Italian sausage with pepper and onions, plus a Diet Pepsi.

I also discovered during lunch it was impossible to have a normal conversation with David Sann. It was only possible if we are both on walkie-talkie channel 1.

FJ Heat

The FJ heat went by so fast, I didn’t even know what happened. I heard it was a Klosky sweep; and I overheard Josh Luster say: “Man, this is the easiest work assignment ever! I am going to celebrate it by drifting the entire top section and sideways across the finish line.”

Afternoon Competition

The rain really separated “Real Men” from Wusses. Since no one in the ladies class changed classes, the ladies are considered Real Men today. The battle of the Real Men class showed Holly Schwedler out-duel Katie Orgler. Learic Cramer, who is really a man and not a “Real Men,” took C-Stock by over a half second.

Bunch of F125 wusses wimped out of the class at the last moment. Some went to the Geritol class, some decided to work only, some decided to bail, and some decided to run later. After the smoke settled, Vic Buenconsejo Madrid dominated the field with a 2.437-second win, with Josh “the Hurricane” West finishing second, his career best.

Buenconsejo two wheeling

In D-Mod (Geritol class), young Scott Lentz showed absolutely no respect to his elders (If my mom found out about this, she would spank Scott until he apologized; a good Chinese boy will never do that) and won even with a cone penalty. In FSP, after trying out tire combinations 16 times, Darren Mass won by three seconds in “Darren’s” Civic. In XP, Larry Casey, after beating up on some poor dude in Friday’s Cumberland shootout, continued his domination on Sunday. Poor Fast Freddy Kelly once again finished second again this weekend. In SM2, my other Chinese brother Jason Becker won, but what else is new?

Geritol class participants

The sun came out in the beginning of the last heat, which made everybody that ran earlier very upset. Since I am one of the people that ran earlier, I decided not to give the last heat any press. All I can say is Ayodeji Oshinnaiye won Super Stock, James Sheridan won A-Stock, Ron Shurie won G-Stock, Justin Neal won STX — so now the entire STX class wants to shoot Justin now — GREAT!

There are a couple of exception that I would like to report: Peter Appell was so fast in H-Stock, my camera couldn’t even pick up the car under daylight. There is no way Marshall Cone can beat Peter; but since Marshall works as the timing chief, I can understand.

Was that a car just went by?

For you fifth heaters who are complaining about being called off course erroneously, here are a few pieces of hard evidence:

Not Sam's car

Rubber ducky, you're the one

Days after the competition, Josh Luster was petitioning to have the autocross scoring system to include “artistic impression” as a part of total scoring. Last news I heard: Shane Chinnon-Rhoden still won STU, and Josh is starring in the new movie “Blades of Glory II” with Will Ferrell.

Final Tally

Top PAX of the event was Mr. Pat Griffith. Unfortunately by winning top PAX, Pat will be punished by sleeping on the sofa for the rest of the seven weeks until the next event.

Pat "Nice Tan" Griffith, driving Eric's car by night, sleep on the sofa by night

Our BD Craig Garfield is the best course safety steward in the business. He personally tried to make the biggest spin so he could to see how close to get to the poles. No one else will do that in his own car.

And this:

Tells you that 118 of the of us have done all we can accomplished in our autocross career. It’s our best autocross showing ever! Enjoy and see you after the Nationals.

By Danny Kao

(Editor’s note: Thanks to Google translate, we are able to provide Danny’s recap of Sunday’s WDCR autocross.)

Pre-Event Hype

Coming into the WDCR Championship Event No. 5, the biggest buzz was the weather.  People jockeyed for heat positions to avoid forecast thunderstorms and went though the extreme to change from open-wheel stuff to roofed cars, and/or getting unprepared Civics running in Street Touring Unlimited (STU).  All that effort just to avoid a grand total of four rain drops at precisely 2:22 p.m.

The second biggest buzz was everybody tried to run “flat out” and bragged about their Koenigsegg and their GT2s; and there were also a few attempts made on driving a Caterham at 200 mph in the dark and rain.  Those Caterham did go about 65 mph, but it was overcast and dry.  We also found out Jim Harris is the Miata instructor, and the “Exterminator’s” real name is Richard Alistair.

The least buzzed is someone (who will remain nameless to protect the innocent) knocked over the port-a-john the day before the event. 

Morning News

Apparently everybody had a rough night on Saturday.  Over 95 percent of people who came through the gate looked sleepy; even the normal hyperactive Shane Chinnon-Rhoden was in sleep walking mode.  However Shane quickly recovered when the ladies arrived, and once again took the STU title.  If this continues through the end of the year, I will officially name 83 STU “Shane’s car” to follow the tradition of 64 STU as “Neary’s car”.

With that said, Darren Mass continued to lead FSP in “Darren’s car”.

All that talk of the rain really made me want to take my newly acquired 2002 Focus SVT a shot at H-Stock; but I saw Jason Burns, the lovely Heather Burns, and Marshall Cone all registered, so I gave up.

In G-Stock, Kenny Sorensen must have thought he had mastered the wheelie on Eric Kriemelmeyer’s SE-R and took the win by 0.4 seconds.  But the true story is Ron Shurie was having problems fixing the timing computer, and his final fix backfired on him.

Ron’s computer fix also messed up A Stock:  The normal two-car field went to six cars for some strange reason, but  James Sheridan’s domination continues.

There were a bunch of cars in C Stock (CS), Street Touring Xtreme (STX) and X Prepared (XP), and that’s all I am going to say about that.  There is no news coverage in CS because Andy Thomas told me if he didn’t win, he doesn’t want hear anything from me.  No news in STX because John “Buttdyno” Wilemin refused to give me free Phillies tickets; and nothing for me to say about XP because little Mike Synder didn’t win, so now he is going to charge me double on wrapping my trailer – thanks a lot Brian Karwan!  (And you too, Larry Casey!)

In B Street Prepared, aka “Battle of the Sexes,” Eric Eskandari edged Jennifer Eskandari to take the win.  This is particularly upsetting to me because Jennifer was doing just fine until I gave her some driving advice.

In the lawn mower class, Formula 125, Brian Garfield took one run and left to feed some hungry kids. Mike Kelly Kline and Don Miller’s karts were sabotaged by themselves.  So this gave a rare opportunity for old geezers like me (King Yang) and Vic Buenconsejo Madrid to move up.  Unfortunately Justin “The Natural” Neal ruined the AARP sponsored party, and took the class win and FTD.  The punishment for Justin’s win is you won’t hear from him again until he is in his mid-40s. 

Lunch Break

My Italian sausage sandwich was very good, except the bun was too big and the sausage was too small.  It kind of ruined my Adkins diet, which gives me an enormous advantage on my racing ability.

Afternoon News

The Garfield boys got the mowing down pat with their little lawn mowers.  Mommy Lisa Garfield must enjoy her perfectly manicured lawn. 

During the Formula Junior heat, if you happened to see nothing but a helmet driving a little kart, that’s little mean Mac Klosky.  Little Jack Vracar took the FJ title this weekend, but “Mac Attack” will be back in full force at event No. 6.

After using the online PAX calculator, I am pleased to announce that Katie (Shawn’s boss) Orgler just edged out Vanessa Farret Martin by 0.531 second for the Ladies class win.  I am glad I took calculus in college.

The “soft-PAX” Street Touring Sport dominated the afternoon session.  Ian “The Squirrel” Baker took top PAX win for the event with an impressive 46.230.  The smooth sounding Scott Blair was not smooth enough to catch the Squirrel after eight attempts, so he had to settle for second. I think it’s time for Johnny Vitamvas and Greg Olsen (the better looking one) to lose some weight in order to catch the Squirrel, but John and Greg at 85 pounds might ruined their popularity with the ladies as them topless would be unsightly.

In B Stock, it was Eric Kriemelmeyer that spun more than Pat Griffith, which is unusual.  I think Pat has been working on that nice tan of his and is softening him up somewhat.

Folks in E Street Prepared (ESP) rejoice!  There is a serious attempt to steal Brian “Big Enos” Burdette and Sam Vassallo from ESP to the Lawn Mower class; so “Dr. Phil” Knowles, please come back – now you have a chance to win and have your own racing show on TV.

Every time I took pictures for Street Modified, I have this overwhelming urge to cut up Mike Towery’s fender and put Domokun stickers all over his car for some reason.  Mike’s car is missing something and I just can’t figure out what.

If Shelby Mustang wasn’t invented and Mark Valera wasn’t born, Mark Liller would win F-Stock this week. 

For some reason I get Street Touring R (STR) and C Street Prepared all mixed up.  It’s must be because both classes induce big tire smokes under braking, and follow up a big spin.  Since I can’t make out who won in all that smoke, I am going to assume the ragin’  CRX won because it’s the loudest, and all the STR guys pointed at Christopher Lin with a frown face so the answer is clear there.

I am sorry I have nothing to report for the rest of the classing during the afternoon session.  I was busy checking out the paint job on Dave Scheel’s Evo 8 in B Stock, which matches my intimating looking helmet so you know.

Post Race Wrap Up

The rain was over rated.

If you want to move to the advance autocross group, do not have Lee Piccione as
your driving instructor.  

Paging Mr. Steak (Steve Salisbury):  Please make the gates less than five-feet wide so Sammy Strano and Squirrel can’t dominate the next event.

Now “Robert Redford Junior” rules DC with the FTD – Until next time, of course …

Note:  95 percent  of this report is fictional, so please don’t sue me.  If don’t like any of this writing, please blame “The Natural”, he made me do it …

Caterham at 20.0 mph, in a dry and nice day

Kenny got the wheelie bug.

Phillip driving Darren's car.

Richard Alistair and his instructor.

Christopher Lin spins his way to victory.

Dave Scheel's colorful Evo 8.

By Pat Griffith

Should the Shelby Mustang drivers in F Stock start looking for new rides?  Although he has committed to driving his new 5.0-liter 2011 Mustang GT for the rest of the year, Sam Strano thinks the power (advantage: new car) and handling (advantage: old car) differences between the two cars will still make for interesting competition.

Despite the electrical gremlins that have hampered the car early on, Sam thinks those problems are behind them, and he Mike Snyder will compete in the car at the Solo Nationals in Lincoln, Neb. 

“We plan on only bringing one car with us to Lincoln,” Sam said.  “I don’t want to leave the new car home.  Even if it’s the same speed as the Shelbys, I’ll drive it.”

Sam picked up the car from Apple Ford the weekend of the D.C. Pro Solo, and two weeks later, it was in competition trim at the SCCA National Tour in Peru, Ind., with Konis and Magnaflow mufflers.  During the Friday test day, Sam and Mike did some tweaking, including adding an adjustable front sway bar, and Mike also brought out his Shelby Mustang for comparison testing.  They decided to go with the new Mustang for competition, but a mysterious electrical issue crept up where the car would cut down on power.  They went back to Mike’s Shelby for the second day of competition.

At the Toledo Pro Solo, Sam drove his new Mustang while Mike drove his Shelby.  While Sam ended up losing to Jason Burns in his Mustang Shelby (by less than two tenths of a second), he felt encouraged because a Ford engineer was on hand data logging the car and likely found the source of the power loss – an intake cam sensor issue that wasn’t even triggering a check-engine light.

“I got in contact with a Ford engineer last year who lurks on some message forums and saw me post about the Shelby and my old blue Mustang GT,” Sam said.  “When all this started in Peru, he sent me an e-mail asking if I needed some help.  He contacted another engineer who did a lot of work on the development of the car, and he came out to Toledo to datalog the car under race conditions.”

The fault lasted just 32 milliseconds, but they finally had the problem nailed down.

“The Ford guys were concerned, and they wanted it fixed,” Sam said.  As the engineer said to him, “You can sell more cars than I ever will.”  Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.

The biggest difference between the two cars lies underneath the hood where the new 5.0L has the upper hand over the 4.6L Shelby with 93 more horsepower and 110 more foot-lbs of torque.  However, the car isn’t as stiffly sprung as the Shelby, but Sam did note the rear has bigger sway bar and stiffer springs than the previous generation Mustang GT.

Mike’s initial driving impression:  “The 5.0 has more grunt, but the car is a little softer.  You have to lead it a little more into the turns, but it will point and shoot off its nose better.  It’s a little bit harder to drive, but that doesn’t mean it’s slower.  It’s a little bit less predictable – that’s why you have to lead it more.  But it’s very fast when you hit the right pedal.”

“A lot of people won’t like it,” Sam added.  “It’s not a pseudo-ESP car — it moves around a lot.”

At Toledo, the new Mustang weighed 3,519 with about 1/3 of a tank of gas.  On the scales at the Peru Tour, Mike’s Shelby weighed 3,417.

For the exhaust, Sam went with a Magnaflow system that saves about 16 pounds over the stock exhaust.  It’s possible to save even more weight but he wanted the Magnaflow mufflers for the sake of having a relatively quiet sound while on the road — he still wants to drive his new Mustang on the street (Sam’s ESP Camaro still had air conditioning and a stereo, so he doesn’t mind sacrificing creature comforts for a few pounds of weight).  Also with sound restrictions being implemented at various sites, including Lincoln Airpark, he wanted a quieter exhaust to ensure the noise remained below the limit.

The Konis are off-the-shelf adjustables, but Sam has a set of monotube AST dampers to go on the car.

For wheels, Sam got a custom set of Forgelines that along with the Hoosiers saves about 10 pounds per corner.  Since the car has 19-inch wheels, they don’t have any choice for rain tires except the Pirellis that came on the car, but Sam and Mike said the stock tires are really good in the wet anyway.

The rear differential hasn’t been touched — it can be shimmed tighter (and legally on the Mustangs, even the previous generation, in Stock), and it’s something that Mike and Sam are going to address before Nationals.

As for stock options, Sam chose the Brembo brake package with the 19X9-inch wheels – non-Brembo cars have options for 19X8.5” and 18X8 wheels.  He also got a car with 3.31 gears – other possibilities include 3.55s and 3.73s, but Sam figures with the 6,800 RPM limit (“and it starts to lose steam up high”), the lower gears are better for Stock.  Second gear should be good for about 70mph.

So far, the comparison between the new 5.0L Mustang and the 4.6L Shelby reminds me of when the later third generation F-Bodies were in the class with the fourth generation F-Bodies.  On paper, the LT1 cars and then the LS1 cars looked like they were easily the F-Body to have, but people like Paul and Lynne Kozlak kept showing that their dinosaur IROC Camaro wasn’t extinct yet.  The older car didn’t have the horsepower, but it had plenty of low-end torque, not to mention handling that made it easier to drive fast out of the box.

“I think the car can get it done, but it won’t crush everybody,” Sam said.