Re: Brainerd QCUSA Event - LONG

[Phil Ethier <ethier@freenet.msp.mn.us>]

On Wed, 11 Oct 1995 PDQSHIP@aol.com wrote:

> The Track itself, for those of you who
> haven't been, is affectionately referred to as Brainless, cuz there really is
> no elevation changes and the bank on turn one is NASCAR like, 

But a right-hand turn.  Two is similar, but not as forgiving.  I could 
cruise through them both in my Europa at the redline of 115 MPH.  Cars 
with more gears should be careful in Two at speeds of 120 to 140 or so, 
depending on the chassis and tires.  I buddy of mine got loose in Two 
with a 944 Turbo.  He elected to try to catch the fish-tail on the 
straight instead of locking them up and letting it spin down the track.  
Wrong choice.  He got it under control, but by that time he was at Three 
still going too fast to make it.  He stayed on the brakes until he ran 
out of road, then got off the brakes and drove straight off Three.  So 
far, so good.  Then he got sideways on the grass and before he could 
correct, a dip in the grass tripped the car.  One totaled 944 Turbo.  I 
think he was about 135 MPH in Two, in a stock car with sticky tires.  
Another buddy takes Two at 138, but the car is an IT spec-944, so the 
suspension is better.

> as well as ten,

Ten is considerably tighter, and more than 90 degrees.  Those who forget 
this, and apex it as if it were only 90 degrees, do so at their peril.

> coming into the 3/4 mile straight.....  I saw 134 on the straight before I
> blew the caps off my IC (not once, but three times needing a tow), and
> managed to give a sport q a run for his money from 10 thru 5 before I popped
> the can again......  The look on the guys face as he just edged past me on
> the straight was incredulous........   

Bring brakes.  The shut-down from the fast part of the track to the more 
ordinary road-course is at Three.  You must shed a lot of speed here.  In 
racing, it is a favorite place for those with superior brakes and courage 
to overtake.  There is lots of runoff for those who miscalculate either.

> The straight is a NHRA 1/4 mile set up
> too, quite the versatility for Northern MN.......

Yeah, the dragstrip is what makes money for them now, but it is a shame 
what it has done to the road circuit.  The wet traction on the early part 
of the strip can only be described as ice-like.  The large building they 
put in for drag-racing VIPs took away all the run-off on the exit of 
Ten.  At an open track event there I saw a guy early-apex Ten and slide 
broadside into the concrete wall at the building's base.  The hay-bales 
helped a bit.  The car used to be an RX7 Twin Turbo...  Driver survived, 
but it was pretty scary.

There is no dragstrip in the Twin Cities any more, so BIR draws a crowd 
for NHRA events.  

> DEER!!!!!!   What?  Yep, seems in the woods there be deer, 

Welcome to Minnesota.  I sometimes see deer in Saint Paul.  BIR is in the 
middle of a vacation, hunting and fishing paradise of lakes and forests.  
There are plenty of white-tails about.  You seldom see the bears, but 
they are there, too.

> One of my students really
> didn't care for the line at 7, and while I coached him well on the turn, his
> all season tires didn't follow the x-cution, 5 cones down, two to go, and he
> got them on the next lap......  I said to him that when my brake pedal does't
> work on the passengers side, he needs to slow down......  But he finished
> looking really good, and cones are just suggestions meant to be hit........

Generally, they put up the cones at Seven to keep you on the left 
(inside) of the track.  If you go wide in Seven, you will early-apex 
Eight and say hello to Mr. Armco in a rather sudden manner.  There is no 
run-off in Eight and Nine due to the bridge.

SIFO.  The only way to go.   You want to plan back from Nine through 
Eight and Seven to get a good late apex jump out of Nine onto the Kennard 
straight to Ten.  It looks short compared to the Greg Young (named 
after the first driver to clock 200 MPH there back in 1969)  straight, 
but it is long enough to require significant braking at Ten.

I know the place has been called BIR for a quarter-century, but I will 
always think of it as Donnybrooke.  It was named after two LOL/SCCA 
drives who died at Road America:  Donny Skogmo and Brooke Kennard.  That 
is why it has the "e" on the end when the section of Dublin immortalized 
for its political discussions does not.

Phil Ethier