[200q20v] STEAMBOAT 2002 REPORT

[QSHIPQ at aol.com]

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Yes a year has passed, and yes the new tracks (yup... two) are awesome, and
finally the urq's outnumbered any single model at a qclub event in at least 6
years.  Here's the skinny, some the "best of", some "awards", some just great
stories.

THURS JAN 31 and FRI FEB1
BEST TEST OF QUATTRO:  The nasty drive from Chicago me (83 urq) with fellow
listers Ingo R (83 urq), Dave H (90cq20v), and Bob D (84urq).  WITH brand new
Haka Q's it was an ice rink from Chicago to Lincoln NE.  All diffs locked
still limited us to ~50mph or so for almost 2/3 the trip.  Which immediately
leads us to....

BEST INFLIGHT OPERATIONS CK:  Ingo R got air punted (no contact) by a fast
moving truck, into the ditch he went, full on throttle, and out he came after
some 200yards of rally driving, narrowly missing Bob D's pristine 84 left
fender.  A scarey incident we were lucky to be able to laugh at.  I lost
count after 120 or so of the not so luckies.    The best decription of what
we saw littering the road:  Vehicle Carnage (officer Bob Speed indicated most
was just vehicle too)

BEST INFLIGHT MALFUNCTION:  You know there is going to be trouble when both
diffs are locked, doing 50 max, when up in the mirror comes the Ford F150 mit
4X4 sticker aplenty, fogs ablazing at something like 70 or so.  As soon as I
saw him try to change back over to my lane, things didn't go as planned.   He
just kept going another 200feet or so into the ditch.  A much safer place for
him.

BEST INFLIGHT QUOTE OF THE DAY:   Asking officer Bob Speed (Iowa State
Trooper) the chances of shutting down I-80.  "Not a chance in Hell, it upsets
the truckers, we let Nebraska do that"

BEST INFLIGHT AFTERTHOUGHT:  At hour 16, "We should have ordered those speedo
cables to fix our cruise control" - Right Bob?

BEST DOUBLE TAKES:  After hooking up with Dave L (83 urq) and Brandon H
(83urq), we had a total of 5 urq's rolling thru Fort Collins CO.  It's
obvious from a few traffic backups, that town knows what these cars are.  One
college grunge set in a neon went unbashedly up and down our line pointing.

BEST PLAY BY PLAY:  Carving the Fort Collins to Kearney canyons 6 deep in
quattros.  Taking the lead with the radio, I pace noted the rest of the pack.


BEST CUMMINS UPPENCE:  The Dodge TD pickup that tried to hose us down with
black smoke, and when that didn't work, stop mid road for a turbo race.  Took
a long time for him to get over 3 of us passing him on just the first try.

BEST EATS:  The bowling alley in the middle of Walden, CO, the middle of
nowhere.  Great sandwiches and cream soda.

SAT FEB 2 and SUN FEB 3
8:30am we tried our first mass start of 6 quattros to set out towards the
Qclub event; standing temp:  Balmy -18F....

NERVOUS BRAG AWARD:  Ingo and Scott J the only 2 starts of 6 on the first
try.  Lawsons 20-50 piston grease relented after 1 hour.  Bob and Brandon to
refire their jammed guns successfully in the afternoon

BEST Q on Q 3 ticket ride:  Ingo R towing Brandon around the parking lot
trying to jumpstart.  Brandons prorally under tow between the busses, just
added to the comedy.  Ingo needed a Red Baron scarf to make the scene
complete.
   BEST QUOTE OF THE DAY:  "Ingo is a rough pull" - Brandon

BEST Q CARGO AWARD:  Two completely different ordinances:  3500miles with all
3 toolboxes for David H >  3 babes empty from Chads tinted window S car.
Well....  Assuming no problems, we'd have a winner....

BEST UFO AWARD:  (er, that's Unidentified Fluid Objects)  Tie:  Both Blue.
Our fearless leader Don G lends his car to a fellow q owner, who promptly
stuffs the car and cracks the windshield washer line (Blue).  Hard to tell
the difference from Scott J and the rusted right front brake line leak at the
stage area - oh, ATE super blue.  Which leads to....

BEST TRACKSIDE REPAIR:  Damn...  Me.  Down the hill to NAPA to get the only
metric brake line they had, a full 5 feet long.  My master cylinder to right
side line now looks like the gin mill from M*A*S*H.  Nary a drop of the nasty
Blue hit the parking lot either.  Did I say it was cold?
  - OPERATION DELTEC:  250lb test zip tie, 2 of them in fact, in place of the
broken hood release cable.  Still works like a charm that mod.

BEST SET CONE:  Don Gruenler.  Sporting his Walter Rohrl signed red hat, Bob
D comes over the crest to do the slolom.  That cone kinda looks like Don...

BEST QUESTION AFTER YOU BOUGHT THE TICKET:  A newbie in my back seat, white
knuckled, but enjoying a wild Scandanavian Flick:  "... And how many cars
*do* you go thru in a year?"

BEST PHILOSOPY FROM OUR LEADER:  Don G, with newbies aplenty, had a great
spin on the offcamber roundabout, prolly figured the rest of us needed to see
how to go against traffic.  We all waved back.

BEST GROUND RULES NOT SO SET IN STONE:  Don G again:  "Rooster tails,
absolutely not, there will be none of that...  I can't even do that".   A few
of us tried hard to demonstrate to Don the technique.

SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW:  With Chad keeping a lower profile, Will M
stepped up to the challenge (2001 MTM chipped S4 mit relays and fuses removed
for more driving pleasure) of the Blue Streak (SJ's 83 Amazon Urq mit k24 and
17psi).  Even with Will loading the deck with Blizzacks vs Hokka Q-non ice,
lockers ruled.  Not without a great show of banned roosters...

BEST BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS:  Bob D's "Red Tomato" vs SJ's "Blue
Streak".  2 urq's, the young Jedi making the elder sweat.  Reminder to Self:
Teach Bob less.  Only by TOTAL commitment of off camber turn 10, did cunning
prevail....  But not without...

BEST DOCUMENTED STUFF:  Doing the outside line for the camera's on our
private track time, SJ finally succumbed to the Syrens of Steamboat for the
second time after a 6year clean record.  Last year, now this year.  I haven't
seen the footage, but Bob *assures* me he has it all.  Instructor comment:
"No one goes off here, you can't get that kind of speed."  Hehe, and what a
line I found!

HIGHEST ELEVATION CHANGE AWARD:  Ingo Stuck Rautenburg (of the Flying
sirname) out on turn 8, front bumper a full six feet towards takeoff
position.  Co-pilot Brandon made the difficult call "I think we're gonna need
a tow on this one".

BEST PLAY BY PLAY:  After not quite figuring us out last year, track
instructor princess Lea (her real name - and can make her own 1.8t wagon
dance), from the birds nest view, radioing the action to Chad of Bob and I
dancing our q's at the end of the day.  It would appear we put on a decent
program.  Chad?

BEST SOLVE FOR THE BITE OF THE SPIDERMAN:  David Hackl in the torsen equipped
90cq (blizzacks) taking a very conservative line around the track.  Two
wagging urq's behind him couldn't unnerve the boy.  We'll have to work on
that Dave.  Great job.

BEST OFFER IN TURN 4:  "The creeper", you could walk faster.  I decided it
was a great opportunity to be a good host to Chad's sisters during the pause
in action:  Mid turn reached to the console:  "Mint?"  ;)

BEST SANDWICH:  Bob and SJ either side of Lawson, coming out of turn 10.  Er,
Dave didn't like that from the "wave" we got.  Ok Bob, let's move on....

BEST RELEVENT SHOT:  Looking at the back of the F250TD tow vehicle, you see
the tow strap carnage in the lower part of the tailgate.  Given the weight of
that beast, that had to be a BIG off.

BEST NOT ASK:  On our track day I took the tow/instructor for a few laps.  A
very slick line between 4 and 3 (full on to almost full stop), "Great
recovery on that".  The question burning in my mind "If I do that ten times
the same way, would I be a 'recovering addict'?"

Ok, I'm stopping, too much fun to put it all down without being there.  A big
thanks to both Don G and Scotty Davis for a great passing of the baton from
Deb and Bob Polich.  Thanks to S car lister Jim (whom I don't know if he
wanted to remain anonymous), who drove all the way from California to attend
this event after reading my posts from last year (he's hooked, he'll be back
next year).  Great to see some of the old crowd, as well as a half dozen
newbies join the addiction.  To Mark and Jerry, for finding an even better
venue.  To Ingo's ascribed girlfriend Lea, for dozens of tows (some names
will come out later, I'm sure), and really getting into the spirit of the
event, lots of nods and jumping in the seat, glad we could entertain.  To
Andrew Finney, Bob Dupree, Ingo Rautenburg, Dave Lawson, Brandon Hull for
helping us achieve a high urq showing.  Touch and go for all of us until the
last minute for all of us.  To my bros Bob, Ingo and Davex2, thanks for the
adventures we'll all share with a twinkle in the eye forever.    Too, Lawson
and myself have great wives that smile and shake their heads, but help us
family boys realize this adventure every year - thanks Cindy and Carole.
Chad, our 8 year addiction needs no justification, our laughs just get better
every year.

End of Report

Scott Justusson
Blue Streak - Amazon 83 tqc

P.S.  Brett:  You did good, Haka Q's ruled this roost.