Re: OOOOwww-D race report

["Graydon D. Stuckey" <graydon@apollo.gmi.edu>]

On Mon, 24 Jun 1996, Steve Verona wrote:

> I only have a minute (at work).  I took third place a the race in Flint. 
>  I was beat by two of the best drivers in the country in an MX3 (Fessler) 
> and a Celica (Burns).  Burns beat me by .005 seconds and Fessler beat me 
> by .210 seconds.  I had the lead for a while.  For the first time, I 

OK, Now I can vouch for Steve's (and the rest of H-stock's) speed 
capability.  It seems like everyone would like to see H-stock(The SLOWEST 
class in all of autocrossing) go away, because they have been embarassing 
alot of faster cars.

	The lot here where I work is sealcoated, so it was alittle 
slippery.   This served to equalize the times a little, because the 
powerful cars coculdn't really put the power down as well as they wanted 
to.  However, I think Steve beat most, if not all of the F-Stock cars 
(the Camaros, Firebirds, adn Mufftangs) and even many of the ESP cars, 
which are the pony cars with modified suspension, intake and exhaust.  
Even the firebreathing brand new Cobra R, in ESP, with huge 315 tires, 
and no cats, could barely keep up to Steve's little 4KQ!

	His 4KQ looked great too, with the silver rings angled down the 
rear flanks, and "quattro" on the windshield.

> would have to say I lost due to a lack of power.  The car is visually 
> slower on the straights than the others in my class.  I hate to use it as 
> an excuse, but I know the car is handling as well if not better then my 
> competitors and my driving was very good this weekend.

	I was standing at the end of the track on a couple of Steve's
runs.  The end had a long sweeper acrosss some pretty nasty bumps.  The
4KQ was smooth as silk through there. Obviously, the Koni shocks, adn the
4KQ's fresh suspension was doing a fantastic job.  Even many of the well
prepped cars couldn't get through there so smoothly.  (The FX-16 that I co
drove had no damping left at all, and was a real mess through much of the
course.  I don't think I'll drive that thing any more unless he gets
shocks.  My driving was off too though.  I would have at least been third 
behind my codriver and a national champ if I had stayed off the cones.)

> great guy.  He had a bad day at the races.  I think it was the Audi Gods 
> seeking revenge on him for running a friends FX16.

	That could be true.  However, even if I had brought my 5KCSTQ's
boost level back to stock, I would have had to run in ESP due to my
suspension mods, and that would have been a joke without race tires.  :-)

> lights in the bumper are really cool.  A few friends asked me about his 
> car at the track.  They also liked the sound of the car, as did I, but 
> Grayden said it was only an exhaust leak;-)

Really, it's just a leak.  Not for long, but for now, it's just a leak.  :-)

Later, ---------------------------------------------------------- 
Graydon D. Stuckey 	'85 Mazda RX7 GS, no toys 
graydon@apollo.gmi.edu 	'86 Audi 5000 CS Turbo Quattro, has toys
Flint, Michigan USA	'89 Thunderbird SC, lotsa toys