VIR Gold Cup

[John Cody Forbes]

Oh and I forgot to mention.... in our final race of the weekend my fatther 
was involved in a battle with one of the Lotus Elan coupes that was 
discussed on the list earlier this week.

Unfortunately this is the only picture I got of it, but thats not to say one 
of the other people I was there with didn't snap a good one. I'll look into 
it.
http://jcforbes.com/jcfpics/virGoldCup/P1010129

I also forgot to mention the Shelby GT350 that ran 4 seconds a lap faster 
then the real Shelby Cobra 427 (side oiler still in place), which ran 6 
seconds a lap faster then a Porsche 911RSR. That Mustang had a 289 V-8 in 
it, and pulled the Cobra down the straights even....I smell something 
fishy!! Pictures of that are on page 4 of the gallery.

Mark Besso wrote:
>Your pictures reminded me of just how small the 908 is.  I forget that 
>until
>I see them with people standing next to them.  It looks like (3) of the
>908/03's and (1) 908/02.  How did they sound?  Were you on the track at the
s>ame time as the 908's?

The 908's sounded just outstanding, the /3 cars with the 8cyl were simply 
stunning. They were definately 2 908/3's, the 6cyl 908 could have been a /2 
as Mark corrected, but the long tail car is a 6cyl 907LH for sure.

As how our 914-6 ran, well it was mixed. I'll start with this is a heavy -6. 
My fatther bought it in the 80's in close to the exact form as it is now and 
used it as a street car. The bodywork (extra wide flares, 916 style front 
end, and custom everything else) is done mostly with bondo, including all of 
the seam fills. At one point the car was involved in a parking lot fender 
bender to the rear bumper, and when some of the bondo flaked off we realised 
the factory chrome steel 914-6 bumper was still there, even the rubber trim 
was forever entombed behind the bondo. Because it was a street car and it 
looked very nice like that we repaired it just the same way as it had been 
done by the first owner of the car (my father is the 2nd owner). When my 
fathers 914-6GT was wrecked at Road Atlanta by his best friend the -6 street 
car became the backup replacement and the interior was stripped out, oles 
drilled in the bumpers for tow hooks, and a mostly stock (until money alows 
a race prep rebuild) 3.0l engine. That said, it's not incredibly fast. It 
weighs in at roughly 2500lbs with fuel, the cage, and driver, which is 
700lbs heavier then the old GT, and the 3.0 makes about 50hp less then the 
GTs 2.5l (which was a 906 engine with some tricks and dyno'd in at 307hp).

On Saturday as I said in the first message the front rotors cracked pretty 
badly and only 1 qualifying lap was run, good enough for 6th behind the 
GT350, the 427 Cobra, the 911RSR and two very very fast Bimmer 2002s. Sunday 
morning the first race was the all-German race, where we got to run on track 
with the 3 908s, the 907, the RSR, some 2002s, and a Benz of unknown type. 
On the first lap the throttle stock, which was caused by a frayed throttle 
cable. Now I'm willing to bet you guys dont know that a 914 trottle cable 
and a 914-6 cable aren't even remotely the same, and therefore -6 cables are 
EXTREMELY hard to come by. Some ingenuity saw a trackside fix done with a 
universal hood release cable from AutoZone (the only parts store within 40 
miles), and just in time for the last race of the weekend. By just in time I 
mean my father in the car with his helmet on while I'm adjusting the cable, 
and the engine running when I take the jack stands out, followed by the 
obligitory pit stop style burnout that starts before the jack is even all 
the way down. Very fun. In that last race he ran 6th the whole time, until 
the last lap when he caught the pair of 2002s and was held up behind them 
for just enough for the better handling Lotus to slip by. Our other car, a 
'69 911S, driven for only the second time came in two places back from 
there, behind a 426 powered Vette.

-Cody Forbes
http://www.5000tq.com
'86 5k noT noQ
'86 5k noT noQ - Parting Out
'87 5ktq
'87 5ktq - Fast. Really Fast.