[200q20v] Re: [s-cars] STEAMBOAT 2002 REPORT

[Chad Clark]

Yes, what a great return to Steamboat it was. Having participated two
consecutive weekends, I can only add that the new tracks are incredible and
with just a bit of work, the "smaller" of the two may be even nicer for my
lowered Ur-S next year. Car did very well, no complaints.

Observation: little orange track cones SHATTER on impact at -17F.  So can
one's bumper skins if not kept out of the snow banks in the morning! It was
a balmy +12F by 3pm though:-)

Having been driving on the old track for the last 7 years, the new track(s)
threw us a little curve ball. The larger mimicking the old track and the
smaller took a bit getting used to. As Scott mentioned, there were a lot of
off-camber fall away turns. Ingo, care to comment on turn 4? After exploring
my limits and a few snow banks:-) during weekend 1, it was an absolute blast
to drive the new tracks.

True, after their first awkward year together(Scott and instructor Lea. last
years term was "tow b!@ch", this year she's a princess:-)it seems she was
well entertained relaying via radio a play by play for those of us that
could only see one of 10 turns. It went something like: Now Scott's in the
lead with Bob a close 15 feet behind, full commitment by Scott in turn 2,
car 90 degrees to track line, looking out passenger window, into turn 3 Bob
clipping the apex determined to reel Scott in, Scott asking alot from the
front tires, throws a quick Scandi flick into 8, huge wall of snow as the
rear hooks up on bank exit. It just kept going and going. Quite amusing. I
think she may even get to like us crazy quattro guys!

Listening to comments from other list-members and first timers over the two
weekends, the one I heard most was "I've learned so much!" Never could this
be more truthful. For those of you wishing to explore your limits and the
cars limits, and to see what quattro is all about, this is the place! Even
for us poor souls with Torsen:-) Come get a ride with a crazy ex pro-rally
driver at 11/10ths. Better than any amusement park ride.

Scott, your dedication(and all the Chicago contingent for that matter) to
make this event every year through some of the craziest of weather is quite
admirable. Jim Klein, It was great to meet you and I'm sure you'll make the
trek from CA again next year. Frank, thanks for the keys to your ride during
weekend 1. What does one say when you just side stepped "The Don's" car into
the bank on turn 4? Looking for narrower snow tires with lots of sipes for
next year? :-)
Will, way to throw the new guy around!

Lots of great video footage. Hopefully we can get some clips for the lists.


Chad Clark '92 UrS4



on 2/6/02 9:28 AM, qshipq at aol.com at qshipq at aol.com wrote:

> 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.
>
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