Portland, OR Quattro Club event

[Scott=John=Mockry%Mktg%TM@banyan.bv.tek.com]

Dave Lawson:
>I was talking to Kent Anderson, the QC president, the other day and asked 
>how the Portland event was. He said he has never had as much fun at a 
>track 
>event as this one. It was raining and he was driving a 91 200TQ sideways 
>most of the time. He said he was able to hang the rear end out on almost 
>every corner, rally style and then accelerate out of the corner, looking 
>through the side glass, steering the car with the throttle. Sounds fun.
 -
Portland, OR Quattro Driving School Feb. 17,18th.

Kent was having more than his fair share of fun. One of the driving 
instructors at the event loaned Kent his maroon 91 200TQ and Kent has not 
been the same since.

This was the first driving school I have attended and it was a BLAST!

The weather consisted of rain, sun, rain, sun etc. Fri. morning was spent 
doing the braking, emergency lane change, and slalom exercises. This was 
fun but driving on the track in the afternoon was the real treat. There 
were around 20-25 cars in attendance, 5 or 6 Ur Quattros, 3 or 4 91 
200TQ's, a few V8's, a 20V 90 Coupe, Some 4000Q's, 5000Q's, One Turbo 
4000Q and one very nice GREEN SPORT QUATTRO owned by Larry Vollum who was 
one of the volunteer driving instructors. Of course, Ned Ritchie was 
there from Intended Acceleration taking people for a ride in his 350HP 
5000 Q. He also spent a fair amount of time helping people 
trouble-shoot problems in there car. 

The Portland Raceway is around 2 miles long with a 1/2 to 3/4 mile 
straight and 9 turns and also a short back straight section. The cars were 
separated into 4 run groups with equal cars grouped together.

The instructors drove the cars the first two laps of each lap session with 
the owners riding shotgun and then the car owners were allowed to drive 
the rest of the 20 min session. The instruction was great and it was easy 
to wind through the course with their help. My 86 5000CS Turbo FWD (with 
homebrew boost adjustment) was quick down the straight (125MPH) but slow 
in the turns especially in the wet with those Quattros breathing down my 
neck. I have got to get a Quattro!  All the instructors who drove my car 
said "this thing really hauls ass."(one instructor owned the maroon 91 
200TQ and thought it was faster than his car)  The various 91 200TQ's and 
V8's could not gain any ground on me in the straight. It was fun to drive 
full bore for several laps and find the limits of the car. I slowly spun 
out once coming out of the last turn before the straight and played lawn 
mover man. I learned to ease back on the gas when the back end starts 
coming around!

Friday night was a real treat as Larry Vollum had a pizza feed at his 
warehouse full of '80s Group B Rally Cars (Killer B's). He has TWO SPORT 
QUATTRO's (white, green), he had a BMW M1, a Ferrari, a Ford RS200, and 
rally cars from Renault etc. Larry talked about the Group B cars and 
discussed how the different manufacturers were competing with each other 
until Group B was banned in 1986. Also, the owner of an Audi Dealership 
from Bend, OR came and discussed Audi's plans for the future. He talked 
about how prices were lowered and about the availability of the all-wheel 
drive option for $1500 on all Audi's. Audi is apparently trying to woo 
people out of their sport-utility vehicles and into the comfort of an 
Audi.

Saturday had four 20 min driving sessions for each group on the track. 
Most drivers were allowed to go out on their own on Sat. Driving time was 
also available in the Piteressi Toyota Skid Car throughout the day.  The 
Skid car is a toyota Celica mounted on a hydraulically adjustable dolly 
that can lift all 4 wheels off the ground to simulate under-steer or 
over-steer. The car can be set up to simulate glare ice conditions.

The highlight of the weekend came when Larry Vollum started taking people 
out for a ride in his green SPORT QUATTRO. It was raining hard and Larry 
proceeded to take me down the straight-away at 135MPH! The first turn 
found us sliding sideways and I thought for sure we were going off the 
track. NO WAY! Larry just gave the car a little steering correction, 
pushed down on the gas pedal and zoom we went shooting into the next turn. 
More sliding sideways, more acceleration, and more turns! I could not 
believe how easily he controlled this car! This was an EEEEEEEEEE Ticket 
ride! 

Kent Anderson and the rest of the volunteers made this weekend a great 
experience. If you ever get the chance to participate in one of the 
Quattro Club's events, DON"T miss it!

Scott M.