Preparing for the Trip

As I began the COMSCC Time Trial season for 2007, I was eager to get track time. The very first event at NHIS was canceled due to snow! In preparation for Watkins Glen, I brought the Alfa to Mike Wrigley, who now works at Scuderia Donati, for a pre-season race-prep check. Glad I did! I knew I had to change a cracked exhaust pipe, flush the brake fluids, and install a roll cage (from Autopower). What I did not know is that I had a broken transmission bell housing, bad trunnion bushings, and loose motor mounts. I had also invested in new Nitto NT-01 competition tires. The Alfa came out of the shop in great shape and race-ready. Thank you, Mike!

As I am still looking for a trailer to haul the car, I had no choice but to drive to the Glen. I managed to wriggle a couple of my racing tires thru the roll cage into the back seat, and packed as light as I could. During the drive down, I remembered when I was there last: in 2000, as a rookie at COM, together with Eliot Shanabrook, where we met up with Bob Brady and Bill Shields to form the Alfa compound just below the garages. I was now coming back with a lot more credentials since six years ago: Class Champion and COM Instructor.

The First Day

During the drivers meeting, we were told that the track had a brand new surface with some modified run-off areas and that we were the first club on the new track. My stock Alfa had moved from SSB to SSC (Showroom Stock) class, since many new cars have a higher displacement (e.g. new Mazdas, VWs, Fords, Nissans, etc.). Needless to say, new track records were bound to be established, given the right conditions.

As an instructor, I spent the first day with a student, in addition to my own track sessions. My student was driving a bored-out BMW. She was the wife of its owner, so she was a little careful with the equipment but was a very good driver and listener. On my sessions, I was learning the nuances of the track, increasing speed and perfecting "the line" as the day progressed. I found the new tires to be squealing a little, but I was not the only one, so I concluded that it was track surface causing this.

Watkins Glen is one of those majestic tracks—blindingly fast (if you get the line right), with ample time between one curve and the next, and a lot of fun to drive. Some other tracks with this kind of feeling are Mont Tremblant (been there), Mosport (so I am told), Summit Point (so I am told), and the new Calabogie track (near Ottawa; my next event on May 28-29).

When I learned the braking and exit of Turn 1 the right way, I was amazed to find that I had to shift into 5th gear, picking up a lot of speed at the Esses. This meant that I was at full bore from the middle of the Esses until braking for the "bus stop" chicane—incredible! The little Alfa was doing about 117 MPH before the braking for the "bus stop".

At the end of the day, I logged about 4 1/2 hours of track time between my sessions and student sessions. Other instructors were commenting about a motion sickness-like feeling … I just had a great day: the Alfa worked great, I did great … even my student did great.

Second Day – Race Time!

This day totally consisted of focusing on your lines and times in the morning sessions in preparation for the afternoon Time Trial race. Again, the Alfa (and driver) was consistent with times and speed. On one of the runs, I noticed an exhaust sound a little louder than normal (felt great, but wasn’t what I was used to hearing). I got under the car and noticed that one of the pipes flowing into the first muffler was cracked. Having experienced this before at last year’s race at Lime Rock, I wasted no time in getting out the muffler repair tape and a couple of clamps to keep in the pressure, at least for the laps I needed to make to the race. I was intrigued—brand new muffler—how could this happen?

Race time! I got the Alfa lined up in the pit lane, and after a few minutes I was given the "go" sign to begin my three fast laps.

1st lap: I had done everything right but I felt I was over-driving the car. On Turn 8, I got in too hot and had to make a few "corrections". I decided to make up the lost time by going flat-out on Turn 10, and wound up sideways after I ran over the painted surface by the curbs, and nearly lost it while getting set up for Turn 11. Time: 2:38.662.

2nd lap: Now I was angry at myself, but determined to focus on getting it right. Turn 1 was great, and as usual I managed to get up a lot of speed and shift into 5th gear for the Esses. Then full-out until braking for "bus stop" (a hard "tap"), down to 4th, and full-out going through. Did nearly perfectly in Turns 6 through 11. Time: 2:37.629, almost one full second faster than the previous lap, a clear indication of the mistakes I’d made.

3rd lap: Normally, if you are consistent, the last lap sort of "secures" what you have done before. So I focused on getting this lap as good as I did on the 2nd. And consistency it was, with a time of 2:37.783. This was good enough for a new track record!

The previous track record in SSC class was 2:42 with a Miata. This one was a lot faster due to the new classification, new surface, and new tires. As for the cracked pipe, experts concluded that it was weld and craftsmanship failure, so it’s being addressed.

My competition consisted of two drivers in BMW 318s (fierce competition with one of them) and a Miata. The faster of the BMW drivers went off (4 wheels) and this caused him to be DSQ (disqualified). During practice, he was doing times faster than the Alfa, but rules are rules.