VIR Report

["Bill Bain" <bill_bain@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

It looks like this got lost with the Digest's recent hiccups -- my apologies 
if this gets sent twice:


I won't bore the List with the details of my tribulations in getting to VIR, 
just let's say that a Ryder truck lost its driveshaft on I-285 and I found 
the pieces for it in my suspension.  Many thanx to Hans Milo for getting me 
back on the road in time to make the event, albeit late. I thought I had 
skirted disaster. T'was not to be.

The VIR North course is a wonderful course! 2.26 miles, 17 turns, most of 
them blind and elevation changes to boot. Very challenging course that 
really rewarded precise driving (not that I cold do that most of the time!) 
Dana Loomis, Steve Margolis, and Peter Krause (and, I'm sure other MAARC 
memebers) did their usual wonderful job of organizing everything.  If you 
ever get a chance to attend a MAARC driving school, do it.  This event was 
shared with the Vintage SCCA and the featured marque was Bentley -- seeing 
those pre-war behemoths (and there were a bunch of them) at full chat was a 
sight!  Interspersing the two events was a nice change of pace since there 
was time to socialize while the VSCCA had the track.  The downside is that 
there was no room for the MAARC Touring Lights group in the schedule. The 
Saturday night dinner was excellent and served in the banquet facility at 
VIR -- a setting that was definitely upscale from most tracks. The cash bar 
didn't hurt either. :-) Plus, we had MAARC's traditional Saturday rain, but 
only a light sprinkle during the track time to keep another MAARC tradition 
alive.

Sunday started off with a wet track from the overnight rain that the 
students were only too glad to left the VSCCA and the Instructors dry out 
for us. :-)  On the first session I was just starting to feel comfortable in 
racheting it up when I lost all power exiting turn 14 --the engine just 
quit.  Fortunately, it wasn't turn 17 where an abrupt power loss could have 
been "interesting" and I was able to coast downhill to the entrance of the 
pit lane.  Great, now what?  Several folks came to my rescue with tools and 
advice and the folks from AutoDelta, a shop in Atlanta, were able to 
diagnose the problem as a faulty main relay and they were able to "field 
engineer" the relay so it would stay closed and the car was driveable, but I 
was done for the day and given the electrical problem, it was time to 
hightail it for Atlanta with as much daylight as possible. Dave Martin of 
the Atlanta chapter was kind enough to carry my bolt-in roll bar in his 
truck so if I had to be towed, the bar and its rack on my bumper wouldn't 
pose problems, but the Spider covered the 410 miles home in 6.5 hours 
without missing a beat, even though I was taking it easy so another engine 
shutdown wouldn't turn me into a push toy for an 18-wheeler. I hope the 
Sunday afternoon sessions were equally smooth and fun as the Saturday ones.

A special word here -- the Bentleys had their feature race as I was 
considering how to get home with a non-running car.  In spite of that, Peter 
Krause's call of the race was so engrossing that for a few minutes, I 
stopped worrying about getting home and simply enjoyed the excitement - 
Peter, you should be working as an announcer for Speedvision (or whatever 
they call it now!).  Well done.

Folks who eschew the driving events for static ones missed a great one. 
Seeing those Bentleys dice it up with an "honorary" Bentley -- a Stutz 
Bearcat -- was an unforgetable sight.

It escapes me why more folks don't participate in events like these -- I 
can't think of a better way to spend a weekend, even with all the trials and 
tribulations -- great people, great cars, great track and a well organized 
event.  I can hardly wait for the next one.

Bill Bain
AROC Atlanta
'83 Spider (got a kiss on the nose when I rolled into my driveway safe and 
sound)
'87 Milano (more than happy to take me to work tomorrow!)



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