Portland Report

["PAT MARTIN" <MARDKINS@msn.com>]

Just thought I would share my PIR experience. Sorry if some of this is 
disjointed I am trying not to spend all night on it.

My first problem was getting from North Seattle to Portland in 3hrs in traffic 
for the classroom instruction the night before.  Didn't happen.  So I caught 
the last half.  Was some pretty good general info.  

Went to the place I was staying and got a decent night sleep.  I showed up at 
the track at about 8:15 where I got teched.  If you call checking the blinkers 
and hoses tech.
Many more cars than expected showed up so they were shorthanded on tech 
inspectors.  This was the 1st time they let other makes into the event and it 
was very interesting.  About 40-50 cars.  Someone please correct me if I am 
wrong.  3 BMW's, 1 viper coupe, 1 nsx,1 eclipse, 1 mr2, 1 camaro, 1 mg killer 
b (forget name), 1 race prepped 510, 3 Porsche(1 race prepped 911) and the 
usual Audis.  2-s4-s6, 1 v-8?,  ~10 4kq's including 1 20v turbo, and 10v 
turbo, only 2 or 3 80/90 variants, 3 or 4 coupes including 1 turbo non q, and 
many more that I just cant remember.   After several meetings and various 
stuff we got onto the track at about 11:00 :-(.  They let me out 1st so I got 
to run trapped between 2 of the Porsches.  I did the best I could but these 
cars are FAST.  I at least kept in front of 1 for the 1st 2 laps and the race 
prepped one took a whole 10 laps or so to lap me.  YIKES did I mention these 
are FAST.  Other than the Porsches I held my own against most of them.  Only 
in the corners though cause on the straights I didn't have a prayer unless I 
really got a good run off the last corner.  I did turn a 1:28 but most runs 
were around 1:32.   The car really handled well all day.  Last time I ran in 
the dry,  my tires were still pretty new so I got a little squirmy after a few 
laps.  This time no squirm.  Later I got to run with a very quick mr2 which 
just screamed in the corners and if I really worked I could catch up with him 
(slowly). My brakes also did very well as I experienced no fade even after 5 
or six laps and Metalmasters but new fluid.  By lunchtime a Testarossa and 
another nsx  showed up not to run but to watch.  At lunch we watched the 
instructors run their cars.  The viper and the mg were spectacular.  They both 
gave people rides and peeling people out of the cars with s*&$ eating grins 
seemed to be the activity of the hour.   After lunch we started to get some 
laps in, but there were still some problems with organization.  It took way 
too long between sessions to get corner workers out.  The 20v 4kq was very 
fast for 1 session but ended up blowing oil somewhere where it shouldn't be in 
the 3rd session.  Only 3 incidents that I know of 1 BMW went off twice and the 
eclipse went off right in front of me while working a corner.  That thing 
almost flipped.  The 96 camaro looked way out of place and very slow.  Some of 
it was driver but that car really didn't handle that well it seemed to be very 
twitchy.  Some of the turbo cars were blowing by it on the straights to.  
The day ended at about 6:00 and we lined up 4 red 4kqs for a group photo that 
should turn out great.  During this time we talked about the full throttle 
switch problem which no one seems to want to answer:-) .   The night ended up 
at a pizza joint to talk about what a great time we had.  Ned told us of his 
travels to South America and Germany.  Very interesting info.  After this we 
had an impromptu meeting regarding club issues and left from there.  
The next day a friend and I partaked on a Malibu ride.  We had a blast and it 
was the perfect capper to a great weekend.
Pat Martin
864000csq  2 1/2 cat back, H&R-Boge,advanced and loving it.  Drilled and 
stopping it.  Koenig Cobra 16x7 with AVS Intermediates, K&N. 
95 subaru legacy 
Bothell, Wa.