Audi presence at TWS (or I'm still digging out of my car!)

[Jason Palmer <palmerj@earthlink.net>]

Thanks to Rick and Oscar (and the others behind the scenes) for the
great event. I cannot think of a better and safer way to learn high
performance driving.

I couldn't let Luis and Eric rattle on without crowing myself!

Like Eric said, Saturday got a bad start when a '98 Vette bumped a rail
and sustained minor damage. Most everyone took that as a warning to keep
things sane. Come Sunday-- several (including myself :/ ) took things
beyond the limits of the cars.

Then I spent the next several hours vacuuming dirt out of my car.

I got fussed at for the spin. Actually, the track official wanted to
know if I was OK mentally, what happened and do I feel comfortable
remaining solo. The mental part was questionable, but the rest was
easy.  Then the realization that there was about 3 wheelbarrows full of
dirt in my car--  crap.

I had it easy compared to Team Fluhr. There it sat on the workbench: a
GT tranny. Eric and his brother got it back together and were just an
hour or so late for dinner.

Driving impression of my 97 1.8Tq on track:
Since the last event, I had added an mtm chip from Jo Hoppen
(190-200hp), antiswaybars from LLTek (adjustable rear) and R1 race
tires.

This car ate the track up. I could go too deep into a corner and just
turn a little more-- the car wouldn't push at all! I felt a little
unstable in turn 2 at 80mph (4 wheel drift- full throttle). I got REALLY
unstable on 8 to 9 once.

In corners, I could apply full throttle at the apex (or sooner) and
power right through. My swaybars are stiffer than I thought to get 2
wheels in the air!!
Man, that would have made a good shot! Maybe next October.

The A4 had way more than I had heart (guts) to push it. A more skilled
driver could probably wring more out of the car. My car was so
forgiving, I got sloppy and ended up backwards.

I ran in a class with some experienced drivers and some novices. The
experienced drivers (mostly Audi drivers with older cars) held their
own. I would have loved to have a stock E36 M3 with a similarly
experienced driver run with me on the track. I'm sure I would have held
my own, if not pulled away.

(I did pull away from a modified M3, but the driver was less experienced
than me.)

I think I speak for all Audi drivers that it was VERY SATISFYING to
catch a 911 turbo or C4 or 944 or M3 or etc in the roadcourse and hang
like being tied to the car's bumper. I even was able to lodge a
complaint that 2 911 twin turbos
were holding me up!

On Sunday, the conversations went from 'I'm too tired to make another
run' to 'You said the next PAS event was October?'

The event has given me enough anti-bmw-porsche material for several
months-- such as being given a pass signal from an M3 AND a 911 turbo on
the same lap!!

I'll have the pics I have developed and scanned for public view. Several
others had cameras and they will likely have images to browse as well.

Rick-- My check for October is in the mail!!

Jason Palmer
97 A41.8Tq bicycler