[200q20v] Watkins Glen QCUSA Nationals

[Phil Rose]

At 12:56 PM -0700 8/31/01, Pete Kunzler wrote:
>Brandon,
>You forgot to mention that Derek was giving rides in the brand new 2002 A4
>V6 that they drove up there. Sweeeet!
>
>I was able to snag the third ride before I had to leave to catch a plane.
>The only way to describe it is Smooth and precise, which equaled fast. I was
>only sorry that it had to come to an end.
>
>Who won the Concourse?

The grand prize for the Concourse d'Elegance deservedly (IMHO) went 
to Charlie Day's ('84?) urq with transplanted 3B/RS2 engine and 
gleaming black paint. I had the pleasure of driving that car last 
year at the Glen when Charlie, who was my instructor, loaned his car 
to me for one of the track sessions after my '91 200q lost her front 
brakes.  Dean Treadwell's eS2 would've run a close second for overall 
Concourse winner in my estimation, although maybe I just was seduced 
by that gorgeous _new_ coat of Lago paint on Dean's car.

I couldn't take my eyes off the pristine Sport Quattro driven by 
Colin Cohen (he's from So. Africa I learned--after asking him what 
part of England he was from). I wonder how long it will be before he 
strarts to trailer that little gem. Like Brandon, I never managed to 
spot that little green car on the track although I, too, was running 
in the same group.

Come to think of it Brandon, did you and I ever get "up close" on the 
track? I was the guy flogging the Lago '91 200q. I guess I focus so 
intently (too intently?)  on the driving that my dwindling supply of 
braincells seem to have little capacity for recalling "details" like 
identity of other cars encountered on the track. But I do recall Neil 
Swanson's '91 200q once coming up from behind me on the back straight 
(wanting to pass) and the fact that I didn't notice him for a while 
(sorry Neil). He eventually got to pass me near the end of the 
section, after I finally woke up. Actually I wasn't getting passed 
very often--oh yeh, there was Derek Bell in that 2002 A4, although I 
only realized that after my instructor identified him for me after he 
went by. :-)

My son and I shared the car. He was in the green group, so we had no 
scheduling problems, although it got a little hectic at times. As I 
posted earlier, I had some anxiety about brakepad wear, which had 
taken my car (and rotors) out of the running last summer during my 
first WG event. This year I started with almost new rotors and a new 
set of Hawk Blue (9012) pads--an upgrade that Art Mayhew strongly 
recommended to me. It paid off, because even with the extra stress 
from *two* drivers, the brakes slowed the car amazingly well 
and...quite consistently. I kept an eye on pad wear as time went by, 
but I was unprepared for what I saw when I re-installed my street 
pads after the event. Those Hawk Blue pads had lost not more than one 
(1) silly little millimeter of their thickness (and probably less)!!! 
The OEM rotors had a little extra scoring, but still  measured over 
23 mm thick (they were a year old to begin with). All in all, 
contrary to the common wisdom (and to my expectations) the G60s 
delivered decent performance. Now I wish I had driven and braked even 
harder. :)

The car performed impeccably in other respects except for developing 
a small tear in  the outer CV boot, sometime late on Monday. I feared 
that it would be undrivable for the next day. This put quite a damper 
on my spirits during the banquet, although I won a Zymol car-care kit 
in the drawing, which helped a little. Early next morning we cleaned 
up the external (expelled) grease and sought advice on a temporary 
fix. The expert opinion was to apply  electrical tape to the torn 
area. Close inspection after a test drive showed that no more grease 
seemed to be spinning out, so we applied some tape, and after the 
first track session we again found no evidence of any more lubricant 
loss. Thus we managed to finish the event--only slightly the worse 
for wear.

My son, Marc, had a wonderful time and he seems ready for more of 
this sort of thing. I say, "What the heck--there's still a lot left 
in those expensive pads that needs to get used up!" I wasn't 
expecting to enjoy this year's WG more than I did the one last 
summer, but indeed I did. The Mayhews and their NEQ volunteers really 
have the event running so very smoothly.

Phil



-- 

Phil Rose				Rochester, NY
'91 200q				mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net