Infineon October 7-8th 2006                                                                                                            Home

The weather this fall weekend would be perfect for racing at Infineon Raceway...sunny and low 80's for both Saturday and Sunday.  This weekend had a five GTI contingent of racers....Ron Swett and Tom Aiken of Shed Racing,  Scott Neville , Carlos Suarez , Joe Craven and Dan Pina of DP Racing.   Don Bailey had hoped to get his new GTI finished for the race weekend couldn't get it done in time...we hope to see the debut of his new car at Thunderhill next month.  Tom Chandler would be setting aside his GTI and racing his Porsche 911 (PRC-GTS) this weekend with the Porsche Racing Club.  This was another good turnout for NASA as the paddock was full but thanks to Shed Racing, who arrived Friday afternoon, we got (what's becoming) our usual spot behind the main grandstands.  As always the GTIs would be racing in Race Group A along with the Pro7s, Spec Miatas, Performance Touring, Honda Challenge, Spec 944s and Super Unlimited cars.


Howdy stranger!  Dan Pina and the #19 DP Racing GTI in his first race of 2006,
Dan's been drifting his Drift Patrol supercharged mustang this year instead of road racing
 


Steve Fuss (National 2nd-Place TTF driver) and Joe Craven share some fries
 


Shed Racing and Scott Neville share a crowded Infineon paddock
(photo courtesy of Seth Neville)
 


Shed Racing at it again...working on the mysterious vibration before Saturday's race

Saturday:  Saturday's race was scheduled for 3:05 PM and we would be running "long 7" course configuration.  The Long 7 takes the wide entrance to Turn 7 which effectively adds a couple of extra seconds to lap times (and a LOT of understeer!).  Carlos took the pole with a qualifying lap of 2:04.68,  Scott was in second position with a 2:05.89,  Ron qualified third with a 2:06.52 and Dan Pina qualified 4th with a 207.54.  Joe Craven missed qualifying and would be gridded in the 5th spot.  We would be behind the Spec 944s for a flying start at the back of Group A.
 
 


Scott holds a slim lead in Turn 6 (but not for long!)
(photo courtesy of Seth Neville)


Scott and Carlos in Turn 6 just before contact
(photo courtesy of Seth Neville)
At the drop of the green flag Scott managed to squeeze by Carlos going up the hill to Turn 2.  The pack of GTIs was running pretty tight by the time they all hit Turn 6 with Scott in front, followed by Carlos, Ron with Dan and Joe neck in neck for 4th position.   As Scott dived for the apex of Turn 6 he clipped in the left front nose of Carlos' GTI causing him to spin towards the inside apex of Turn 6.  He barely missed the K-wall and ended up trimming some bushes (see video clip below).  First to fifth in a matter of seconds.  On this same lap the Shed Racing GTI pulled into the pits with a significant front vibration.  This left Carlos in first, Joe in second, Dan in third and Scott a far back forth.  On about lap 5 Joe pulled off near Turn 4 with shifter linkage problems leaving only three GTIs running.  On about lap 8 Scott found himself gaining on Dan and by lap 9 had caught up with him for what would be an awesome last two laps.  Scott passed Dan on Turn 1 which begun their battle for 2nd place.  They exchanged position a total of 6 times during their duel.  On the last lap Scott got a free lesson on "drifting" in Turn 2 as he got an inadvertent tap from Dan as they were entering Turn 2...he managed to keep his car pointed in the right direction (keeping the throttle mashed during his drift) which kept him still in the hunt for 2nd place.  Coming out of Turn 6 he was able to draft pass Dan only to get re-passed in Turn 7.  He followed Dan all the way to Turn 11.  Exiting Turn 11 Scott was about a car length behind Dan.....it was now a drag race to the checkered flag.....to Scott's astonishment Dan's car fell back (Dan missed an upshift to 4th!) and Scott squeaked by Dan to take second place...0.2 seconds ahead of Dan and 10.8 seconds behind first place Carlos.  Click here to view Scott's and Dan's battle from Scott's in-car video (big file warning 26MB).    Race fast lap times were: Carlos 2:05.40 Scott 2:05.52, Dan 2:06.76, Joe 2:05.16 and Ron (one lap limping into pits) 3:25.39.


Hmmm...this doesn't look good....the tire barrier and K-Wall on the inside of Turn 6.
 Click on photo (or here) to watch video clip (7MB file)
 

Saturday's race winners: L to R ,  Scott Neville, NASA friend, Carlos Suarez ,  NASA friend and Dan Pina  (photo courtesy of NASA NorCal)


Sunday:  Race time would again be mid-afternoon at 3:00 PM.   Qualifying saw Scott taking the pole position with a 2:05.00.  Carlos grabbed the #2 spot with a very close 2:05.05 followed by Tom A. with a 2:06.05 and Dan with a 2:06.28.  Joe didn't make qualifying as he was still making repairs to his car.  Unfortunately, the Shed Racing GTI was backfiring at the end of qualifying.  Back in the paddock, checking the spark plugs, they found a bent electrode in one of the plugs...hmmm this doesn't bode well....after fixing the spark plug electrode and re-firing the engine an ugly knocking noise was heard coming from the bottom end of the the engine (most likely a broken wrist pin).  This meant that Shed Racing would be out of the race and loading up their car.  Too bad...Tom had made a decent qual time and was looking forward to the race.  Poor old #43...this car has had a rough 2006 season...it looks like it will be going to GTI heaven this year.  With Shed Racing out we would have only 4 GTIs for the race.  Like Saturday, our start would be a flying start with our GTIs behind the Spec 944s at the end of Group A!   Scott from his pole spot,  grabbed the early lead up the hill heading to Turn 2....but Carlos, with a bold inside move in Turn 2 took the lead.    Scott was in second at this point with Dan and Joe battling for third spot.  Scott couldn't catch Carlos who by lap two had passed two Spec 944s and was distancing himself from Scott with the slower traffic.  Joe had gotten by Dan and was hunting down Scott.  On about lap 7 Joe managed to pass Scott in Turn 7 and slowly pulled away.  Final positions were Carlos  1st, Joe  2nd,  Scott 3rd and Dan 4th.  Joe finished 4.2 seconds behind Carlos and Scott 12.8 seconds behind Carlos.     Fast race laps were as follows: Carlos 2:04.70,  Joe 2:03.84 , Scott 2:05.38,   and Dan 2:06.62.
 
 

Ron and Tom load up ol' #43 after it's engine developed a nasty internal knock following Sunday's qualifying session
This will be the last we see of #43 as a new car is in the works for Shed Racing
 

Sunday's race winners: L to R ,  Joe Craven, NASA friend, Carlos Suarez ,  NASA friend and Scott Neville (photo courtesy of NASA NorCal)

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