One Lap of America CLASS WINNERS!

The car with SSGT2 SB First in Class trophy.

So here is our little ol' One Lap of America page. Big thanks to Bill Stuart for hosting this and giving us access to post stuff as we go on our journey to conquer the contest made famous by its infamous predecessor the Cannonball Run. More updates to follow.

Daily Updates for car #56

Click here for pictures - Newest at the end. More pics on Rich's site

Contact Info for car #56

Dave and Chris can be reached via e-mail to OneLapRX7@gmail.com

Gas consumption breakdown

NOTE This table has been moved. It was created using Microsoft's crappy HTML translation of an Xcel spreadsheet. Mozilla displays it correctly but Internet Explorer (Microsoft's crappy browser) stopped showing any information after the table. Can I just say one more time, Microsoft SUCKS!
According to the GPS, we traveled a little over 4900 miles getting to the Tire Rack, between tracks, and back to Maryland. I'll have to check the route book for details on the milage for each track. I think we averaged about 16 mpg for the trip and that includes the hard miles on track.
05.09.05 - Competition Points Breakdown compiled by Dave:

Total points scored in class by Nuke 'Em From High Orbit: 735

Points scored by Chris: 360 in 9 events for an average of 40/event which translates to 2nd each time behind the wheel!

Points scored by Dave: 375 in 11 events for an average of 34/event or not quite 3rd every time behind the wheel.

Total Overall points: 5610

Scored by Chris: 2805 in 9 events for an average of 311.67/event or just over 32nd each time out.

Scored by Dave: 2805 in 11 events for an average of 255/event or 43rd each time out.

Way to go Chris!
May 7th 2005. Final day of the One Lap.

With the first full night of sleep in a week we got up at our regular time of 7:30 AM. I’ve heard from other Lap Dogs that keeping a regular schedule is very important to maintaining sanity during the One Lap. The schedule for today is a little relaxed which helps as well. We have some breakfast at the hotel and then head over to a local carwash to get the car ready for pictures. Chris mentions that he had a nightmare about the Daytona showing up and wrecking our chances somehow. We arrive at the Tire Rack just in time for the group shot but the car ends up in the back. Who knows how well it will turn out.

I go to buy some souvenirs and I’m talking to Brock Yates when Chris comes up to tell me the Daytona really did show up! My response is not something for reprinting on a family website. Suffice to say I was in disbelief. I quickly ran the calculations in my head and reassured him that even if they place well it doesn’t hurt our chances because of the way the point structure works.

The event is run in reverse order based on current point standings. Most of our class runs before me and does well. I run and get an 0.92 something. The Miata also ran close to that and we start to wonder about points again. As it turns out the Miata pulled 0.001 better and got ahead of me. Damn, I don’t know what else I could have done since it is pretty much just run in a circle with the tires howling. The Ultralite takes high in class with a 1.03. The Lotus Elise, allowed to run R compound tires because that is the stock tire for the car, runs 1.01! The red Dodge runs a .98 or so and does mess with the points we score. However, since I was able to beat out the BMW and Rice University Isuzu we hang on to a 10 point lead for the final standings.

Some other notes of interest from the day:

The final day also has a crowd pleasing favorite, the burnout show. The top 10 competitors (and others of note) are allowed to use the skidpad area for doing impressive drifting and burnout runs. The Chrysler 300 had a noticeable difference in the size of the rear tires afterward and had the biggest amount of smoke from any of them. I restrained myself from doing a burnout just because we still need the tires to get home and it would damage the rear-end more than it was worth.

I got to talk to Dan Corcoran. He is friends with Rick Potter (Rick ran a CYM RX-7 a few years back and scored as high as 4th overall!) and was happy to see the 7 doing well. He’s a really great guy to talk to and even invited the One Lappers to a party at his house in Canada in the summer.

The Pirelli Tire girls were there again today. Too bad it we had to get pictures taken with them as they were going around to every car. Check back for the pictures once we’ve returned from South Bend.

First year participants are known as Lap Puppies. Probably because we don’t know how to pace our selves and instead run around so much and tire ourselves out. Neil Simon of the red M Coupe congratulated me after my run on the pad was complete. He welcomed me as now being a “Lap Dog” with the rest of them. It is a very gratifying feeling to know we’d made it and were now truly one of them. The One Lap isn’t about the competition and winning (although some participants try to make it this way). The One Lap is about the people, camaraderie, and fun of running around the country like maniacs while getting to run some really cool courses. We’re just fortunate to have had the opportunity to win.

The coolant issue might be due to a hose located under the vacuum tank which feeds coolant to the UIM. We’ll have time to troubleshoot this once we’re home. Thankfully we were able to run the event with zero serious problems. In fact, when I was lined up for running the pad they asked me if we’d had any tickets, animal hits, or repairs. I said no to all 3. They replied that it was a boring year but in this sense it was a good thing. Later, they presented the statistics of the questions. Only a handful of tickets were received, 14 animals met their death at the bumper of various cars, and $31,000 of repairs were performed on the field. This doesn’t count some of the other costs and is significantly lower than last years numbers which included 38 animals and $59,000 in repairs!

The awards banquet was nice. They gave out some fun awards to people who had been extra helpful to fellow competitors or to the folks who competed in every event but still ended up dead last. The top 10 finishers got trophies and then they called us up for the class trophies. I got an opportunity to thank Chris for driving so well in front of everyone. Chris later admitted to being too embarrassed to say anything. Both Brock and Brocker (Brock Yates Jr., the guy who actually runs the event) shook our hands and congratulated us.

We can’t wait to get back and see our families and friends. For now, we’re going to get some rest and fill more of the story as we remember it. Thanks again to all of our friends who helped us out. Thanks too go to PBC for getting the car set up.

05.07.05 - It's Official Now: Team Nuke 'Em From High Orbit WINS FIRST IN CLASS by a ten-point margin!

Dave and Chris deserve tremendous credit for pulling together their campaign on short notice, competing in a beautiful 13-year-old mostly stock Competition Yellow Mica Mazda RX-7 R1, and finishing first in class in their first One Lap ever. I would expect no less from these two, and they've shown they have the talent and fortitude to win. Congratulations!

Their worst nightmare came true when they showed up at the track this morning to see the Dodge Daytona that took first overall in the wet skidpad back in the competition. Chris even had a nightmare last night that just such an event would occur and screw up their strategy. Fortunately, they did well enough, despite finishing behind even the Miata, to take first in the class.

They didn't relay the overall results yet, but I'm sure they finished in the mid-thirties. Right now they are eating lunch and waiting for the awards to be handed out. They had the misfortune of having to pose with the Pirelli girls shortly after it was all over. I feel for them.

They should have some pictures for us this evening.

05-06-05 Nelson Ledges Track Notes – Dave

This morning I sarcastically said to Chris something to the effect of my great idea “Hey Chris, let’s go do the One Lap!” I officially take it back. Not only did I enjoy driving today but also just had fun talking to the new friends we’ve made and other sillyness. The Carolina Rod Shop had asked us to give a piece of paper to Glenn Dodd which said “revenge” and had a picture of Wile E. Coyote on it. Glenn claims to have hit a coyote but everyone else claims it was a Chihuahua. We were stopped at a light on the way to the track today and the Rod Shop “woody” was 2 cars behind us. Chris jumped out of the car to hand them the paper and the light turned green. I pull through to let the BMW behind us get through and the light quickly goes red, stranding the woody. Chris runs back to the car and off we go, laughing at the reaction from the Rod Shop guys.

With Chris’ performance in the rain yesterday we only needed to place 4th over these next 3 events (2 runs at Nelson Ledges and the Dry Skidpad) to lock our SSGT2 SB win. This certainly took some pressure off of me. Unfortunately, we got trapped in a bad traffic jam on I-77 after leaving Roebling Road and didn’t make it into the hotel until after 3AM. With 4 hours sleep I was awakened and we started the process for the last day of competition, shower, drive to track, unload car, and try to learn the track as best I can before running it. I talked to as many people as possible and it certainly helped.

Nelson Ledges got famous years ago for running a 24 hour race. Seeing the facilities (the men’s toilets are still just holes over a latrine) I was amazed at the idea of running through the night there. The track itself had a reputation for being bumpy. Based on what other One Lappers were saying I was expecting another pot-hole ridden hell-hole like Lancaster. To my great surprise the track has been fixed up quite well and was reasonably smooth to run. I highly recommend this track as a great place to learn high speed sweeping turns. It has enough run off room in most places to be safe and will challenge drivers to carry speed through turns. It was an absolute blast to drive.

My first session out I get into the usual pack of suspects including the Swain ‘Vette and the Dubler’s Chocolates cars. I end up first in line and when sent for my recon lap I decide to take it very aggressively. I get to the start/finish line and then have to wait. They re-order the pack behind me and then send me on my way. The car launches well by revving to about 4k and then easing the clutch out while adjusting gas as required. I’m fully hooked up at 5000rpm with both turbos doing their job to rocket me away.

Nelson Ledges is a very fast track. Lots of big sweeping corners with clear line of sight and no blind drop-offs and only 2 hidden apexes. Over my 3 laps I am getting some good tire howl and not over-cooking into the corners. That is until the 3rd lap. Into the 7-8-9 complex, a series of right handers with 9 being a particularly late apex that pinches down, I carry a little too much speed. As I try to scrub it without lifting the back end starts to slide up the banked curve. Too much correction and the car is swinging hard back the other way. Correct again, nope STILL too much. Finally after swinging the tail both ways twice I get under control and continue on. My hands were flying on the wheel in my successful attempt to save it and I can’t wait to check out the video. I check my mirrors to see if anyone has caught me since the entire thing seemed an eternity and then back on the gas and into 3rd to salvage what I can of the run. I’m completely wired during my cool-down lap and decide to try taking 7-8-9 at 80% to regain a little confidence. It turns out that the track surface changes and combined with my less than stellar entry left me in a bad place trying to make the turn-in for 9. I only hope this doesn’t cost us dearly in the points chase after Chris worked so hard to get us a little extra.

Back in the pits Chris does his best to calm me down and explains I had some very good times, only 2-3 seconds per lap off Woody Hair in the modified M Coupe. Woody was my best source of information on how to drive the track in the first place so I feel pretty good. However, both the Miata driver and the Lotus have hours of experience here and have cars that can take this track much more flat out than I’m comfortable with. After timing them unofficially it is clear the Lotus is being driven well and will easily take me. However, the Miata is too close to call. We’ll have to wait for the final results.

HOT DAMN!!! I edged the Miata by 0.09s! This takes the pressure off me for my second run since beating him at least once gives us a crucial 5 point advantage in the race for class. I run around the paddock searching for Chris to give him the news.

My second run was not as good as we’d hoped. Being tired and too wound up about nearly looping it in the morning session I am far too tentative around the critical 7-8-9 complex. I also try shifting down into 2nd before the main straight instead of leaving it in 3rd as I had in the AM. This costs me about 3s per lap and I’m slow. In fact, I know on my 3rd lap just how slow I am as I check my mirror leaving 9. Lo and behold, the Red Viper in this run group was on my tail, followed by the C6 who started behind me. The Viper driver had mentioned he was going to let it all out on the last run and he wasn’t kidding! I signal right as though I’m driving the Nurburgring and move over to let him by. The C6 is too far back but the fact he’s there means I’m at least 10s slow. I return to the pit to find out I’ve run a 4:28 clean vs. my morning run of 4:22 with tail-wagging. Damn, I’m sure the Miata will take me and this will also drag us down in the over-all standings from our high of 31st. At least the car lives to run to South Bend.

After a quick check of the points by calling Alice later in the day, we find out we are 30 points ahead of the WCM Ultralite going into the skidpad. Even a 1st place of 45 points will be mitigated by our gaining 20 if we show up. We should beat them out by a minimum of 5 points and clinch the win for SSGT2 SB.

Other anecdotes from One Lap. The white 80’s Camaro replaced their transmission last night and got zero sleep. They’ve run nearly every One Lap ever and it is interesting to see the dedication. Chris spoke to the owner of the Ultima. He also owns the Radical and the supercharged PT with colorific paint. It turns out the Ultima was the test mule for development of the McLaren F1. The guy bought it out of the back of Autoweek and is keeping it original to hold the historic value. It leaks like a sieve in the rain.

We got free lunch today from some engineering firm. It was supposed to be a Hoagie but looked like an elongated burger patty. Even so, I’ll take it gladly!

A new Ford GT 40 showed up today. The dealer was keeping the factory plastic on everything and trying to drum up business from prospective collectors. He claims to have turned down offers for $235k from a broker. He said he had already laminated all the press materials about the car and had ordered it with specific options to ensure it would be a future collector’s item. Personally, cars are meant to be driven and not left sitting. I’d rather spend the money on a stable full of Nobles than this thing.

The GT 40 kit car had an off during his recon lap. He looped it in turn 5 at Nelson. Later, he was off again in 1 during his hot laps. The thing is just a beast to drive. Chris and I have a new admiration for the wrenching abilities of the drivers since they rebuilt the head in the parking lot of Beaver Run.

A 911 being driven by a husband and wife team wrecked just before my second run at Nelson. When I mentioned it would buff out they said I was the 4th person to make that claim. The fact they were able to laugh about it is a good thing. If you can’t stand losing it you probably shouldn’t take it out in the first place. My concern today with looping it had more to do with not DNFing than damaging the car.

Turns out the Silver Evo overboosted to 40psi at IRP. This lifted the head and blew freeze plugs out of block. Every session they are adding water since it blows by the gasket and burns off each run. I wonder how much they stop at gas stations along the way to do this between events. Due to this they are running at about ½ the power it should be capable of.

The NSX teams have been caught cheating. In an event with a handful of rules, they broke one of the worst. Turns out they have had support vehicles with crews of 10 helping keep them going each step of the way. Funny how with all that money and effort they still can’t compete with a guy who runs a John Deere dealership in Connecticut. One of the NSXs didn’t run today at Nelson because the rear tires are corded. The other was allowed to run by Brocker but because photo evidence of their support was given to Brocker he said they would not get points today.

The WCM lost a fender without realizing it (did 100+ hauling trailer to Nelson last night). I’m not sure how you can miss something like your front right fender tearing off in the breeze but they don’t know.

For the first time the weather was awesome. We had decent days at NHIS, Summit Point, and VIR but this was great. Warm with a cool breeze and sunny. Funny how we had to drive 800 miles north of Savannah for it.

The Red Daytona makes 688hp NA and ran 11.4 in the quarter mile the other night. Awesome for a street vehicle.

Chris talked to Dan Corcoran (twin turbo 612hp at wheels Lingenfelter ‘Vette). Dan is friends with Rick Potter who was 4th overall a few years back running a single turbo CYM RX-7.

The number one Porsche was running 1:13 laps compared to my 1:24! That is smoking!

May 5 Crispy’s Notes: Thursday morning and we awake thoroughly refreshed after arriving at the D’Hotel Econo Lodge at 11:30pm the night before. It was so “early” Dave and I literally didn’t know what to do with ourselves. So we watched Bill Mahr on HBO for 30 minutes before crashing for the night. 6:45am and the red Daytona starts up with it’s open exhaust firing directly at our ground floor window. They try to be quiet but in that car….impossible. I think it was one of the cars that ran an 11sec ¼ mile on street tires and is in the top 5 overall. They leave and I fall back asleep. 7:30 am and as the wake up call rouses me I hear IT. IT being the pitter patter of RAIN! Oh NO! Sure enough I peek through the curtains and it is not just raining it is coming down in buckets. Great…just great. And I’m set to drive both sessions at Roebling Road today. Track driving in the rain is not one of my most favorite things to do. We pack up our gear and head over to the track filling up the car with gas on the way. Today is also going to be our longest day because not only will we be driving 2 sessions at Roebling Road but as soon as we finish we are going to be facing a 12 hour drive from essentially Savannah, Georgia, to the Great Lakes! It will be grueling and we both know it.

Back to the competition. Days like today where it is raining cats and dogs is really going to shuffle up the competition and back markers can score very high. Not necessarily relegating the front runners to the back of the pack but certainly equalizing the power disparity among quite a few of the cars. We also found it irritating all the four wheel drive owners wearing ear to ear grins knowing that they will have the upper hand today. Today will also be a test to see who has made the better tire choice for the wet conditions. Those who chose the BFG K/Ds and who have great grip in the dry are going to be hating life. Similarly the Lotus Elise on Yokohama A048’s. Those of us on full tread depth Bridgestone S03’s or Michelin PS2’s should do much better.

We unload our gear in the rain trying to keep as dry as we possibly can. Why do my driving shoes seems to soak up every last bit of moisture? I hate driving with sopping wet feet. The session starts late as usual with the first guys on track at around 10am. I watch them go down the front straight in the pouring rain with huge rooster tails of spray trailing behind them. The #1 Porsche seems so smooth and effortless, the Dodge truck is working it for everything it’s got. Every throttle modulation can be heard from the paddock as he circles the track. Driving in the rain is certainly a challenge but what I think concerns me the most is that it’s not my car. The last thing I’d like to do is hurt the car yet on the other hand I don’t want to disappoint Dave. I’ll do the best I can.

I grid up the car. Typical! Dang windows keep fogging up and the only way to keep them clear is with the AC on. Well I’m certainly not going to run with the AC on! I move forward in the queue as I approach my turn. Thank goodness I slathered all the glass with RainX before we left MD because at 100+mph the wipers ain’t gonna do squat. The standing water in the hot pit is so deep in places it swallows the low profile tires on some of the cars. In short….it’s a little wet.

Now before I get into my run a few tidbits about RR. I was lucky enough to drive the track about 4 years ago but in the dry. It has been a while. RR is pretty much dead flat. It is primarily made up of long fast sweepers. Turn 1 is a decreasing radius and is going to be a real “treat” in the rain as one is approaching it at very high speeds. Turn 3 is a long fast sweeper followed by a short braking zone which is kinda bumpy. This is followed by turn 4 which is slightly off camber and choppy, brush of the brakes and late apex into turn 5…again very bumpy. And then into the “toilet bowl.” A long right hander leading to a short straight with a very high speed right hander onto the main straight. Exiting the “bowl” will have a big impact on how well one can carry speed onto the main straight especially in a “lower” hp car. Why am I telling you all this…so you will know what I’m talking about when I talk about all the freakin’ standing water on the track!

My group is next and I am waved out onto my recon lap. Rain is pelting the car, it’s nasty with the drivers side window wide open. I’ve had the AC on up until now but out on the track I turn it off and the windows immediately begin to fog up. Thankfully at speed there is enough airflow to keep the windows relatively fog free, at least enough for 5 laps (I recon, 3 hot, and 1 cooldown). In this kind of event there is no real warmup lap, on your recon lap you really need to step on it and find the limits early. Really attack the track so that when you are on your hot laps you feel more comfortable with the level of grip available. Even more so in the rain where grip is everything.

Ok, the recon lap. Like I was saying, it was nasty out there. Turn one is bumpy and has lots of patches. In the dry I remember approaching this corner trail braking all the way into the quick stab at the brakes for turn two. I try the same thing and immediately the rear end starts to go. Ok, don’t do that again! I found my self using ALL the track. Getting around quickly was all about throttle control or at least my attempts at throttle control. Seems like whenever I so much as breathed on the gas it was “hello oversteer!” The standing water in turn 4 jerks the car hard to the left. Puddles, puddles, everywhere…stay off the curbing in turn 5 but don’t run wide at the exit either! Water there too. And then the lovely off camber “toilet bowl.” With a virtual river running through it “just” off the line. To screw up the entry and it would drag you right off the outside of the corner. Finally through the long LONG sweeper and I go to apply the gas and…nope gotta wait…you guessed it more standing water to plow through. Get the car straight and ok now apply the gas. Long right hander onto the main straight hanging on for dear life hoping there isn’t a slick patch mid corner. Recon lap over I pull up to the starting line. I am behind the 20 year veteran 80’s Camaro with a race motor. Some kind of signature big block V8 thing under the hood. From the outside it’s doesn’t look like much besides all the One Lap stickers but under the hood…all business. In front of him the Radical.

Green flag and go. Same as the rcon lap except now we step things up a notch. Oversteer, understeer, oversteer…throttle….repeat….every 2 to 3 seconds. Fun in a sadistic sort of way, trying to exploit every last bit of grip available. I do my lap dodging the puddles as best I can. At last one lap nearly complete as I get back onto the main straight where I can get onto the throttle 90…100…110...wipers not working very well anymore…. 115….pass the start finish line…120…front end getting really light now…130…oops was that then #6 braking marker? Just kidding. The 130 part is true, scary in the rain though. One lap down 2 to go. The next two go pretty much as the first two do, just slippin’ and slidin’ around the track. Turns out I must have been doing something right because out of the corner of my eye rounding turn 3 on my last lap what do I see but the veteran Camaro. And low and behold the Camaro has even caught the Radical…which must have been absolutely crawling. By the start/finish line we pretty much are three abreast and the session is over, thank goodness. Yup still in one piece.

Roebling Road has a covered lunch area and there seems to be the entire One Lap field trying to stay dry during the lunch hour. Much chatter about the track conditions. Someone motions midway through lunch that the preliminary results from the morning have been posted. Thankfully my time was pretty decent and I have placed 18th overall. My best finish to date. And even better I hear that the WCM S2K spun in turn 1 and placed 42nd so we widen the gap in the class standings by another 5 points. Now if I can only repeat the effort in the afternoon session. During lunch the rain has been getting steadily heavier. Ugh!

1:30 pm Time to grid up again. Same as in the morning, fogged up windows, wet shoes, rain pouring in the open window, fear of balling up Daves car, and words from Brock Jr: “Don’t spin in the water in turn 8. And if you go off there, stay there.” Thanks Brock! This time, in order to get us out earlier and get a head start on our LOOONNNNG drive to Nelson Ledges, Ohio, I grid up earlier and since I finished 18th in the morning no one argues  Some big machinery in front of me: WRX Scooby, 4wd 911, and a couple of the nasty C5 Z06’s. I’m last in the lineup for that group. My only fear is I don’t get caught by the first car out like what happened to me at Summit Point when me as the first car out caught the last car out. Because of the heavy rain during lunch there is even more standing water on the track but I drove it like I did in the morning and things went well, read: I brought the car home in one piece. No one caught me and I believe I actually caught up to one of the Z06’s. I’ll admit that he must have been going rather slow.

The days events are over and we pack up all our gear, some dry, some sopping wet. I find it amazing that although I’ve heard of several cars spinning on the track there are no serious offtracks and no one has hit anything. I think at this point in the week most are already looking towards finishing the event . Anyway, a phone call from home indicates that I drove even faster in the afternoon session and managed to place 20th overall. And beating the WCM again. In the rain I know those WCM guys must be hating life.

On the road by 2:30 we make decent time until…OH NO…major accident has shut down all lanes of Interstate 77 north near Huntersville North Carolina. Crap. It’s 5:50pm. Traffic crawls to a halt 5 miles from where the accident is located. We attempt to detour but this proves to be a bad idea as everyone else is thinking the same thing. We move from one gridlock to another. After sitting in traffic for 45 minutes in our detour watching the grass grow we end up giving up an taking a wide loop almost 7 miles out from I77, heading north past the accident , before making our way back to I77. This takes us an hour and 15 minutes to cover the 5 miles of I77. By the time we get back to I77 apparently traffic is flowing again and as we see a few other One Lappers who typically run at the back of the field and an hour behind us we know we have lost about an hour of drivetime . AH NUTS! Our frustration shows as both Dave and I, ok well mostly me, no wait, all me, snap and pick on each other. Dave’s driving. I count 12 gear selections in 30 seconds while we inch forward in traffic and it’s driving me nuts. Sorry Dave. As I type this the time now is 1:30am it has started raining again and we are still about an hour and half from our hotel in Kent Ohio. This sucks and we are both tired,

May 4th, 2005 Crispys notes: I believe our standard arrival time is 1:30am as that is when we always seem to arrive at the hotel. The drive down from Summit Point was fine. The batteries in the GPS go dead and we miss a turn that costs us about 15 minutes but we use the opportunity to put gas in the car so it’s not a total waste. The deer on the side of the road on Route 29 scare us to death but thankfully none of them decide to take a kamakazi dive bomb into the side of the car as we pass. And driving through VA without the Valentine 1 really sucks. As targets for the police we feel limited to running only about 5 over the limit making the drive longer than what we would have liked . We take the 6 hours of sleep and head over to Virginia International Raceway.

Ah, yes. VIR. My home away from home. Both Dave and I are really excited to be here. We are not at all stressed and don’t have to worry about studying the maps or combing the pits for tips from anyone who has driven the course before. I am anxious to see how we fare now that *we* again have the home field advantage. First up is Dave driving on the south course. We will run the south course first and then immediately roll off the track and grid up to run the north course. Meaning the front runners will be running the north course while the back markers are finishing up on the south course. Dave feels he has a decent run and it looks fine from the pits from where I watch. Now it’s my turn to run the north course.

I grid up with a Viper, a Firebird, our friend Dan Swain in his Vette, a Porsche, and an flame job E46 M3. We over hear the guy in the Viper talking some smack. Engine has been bored and stroked, suspension, and wider tires. Hmmm. I ask the Firebird driver if I can go ahead of him and he hesitates, scowls, and grudgingly ushers me ahead. We shall see. I’m behind the Viper. Same old same old. We get sent out on the recon lap. Daves car feels pretty good and the transition up the hill after the bridge straight is much softer with Daves near OEM suspension even with the Konis set pretty hard for VIR’s smooth surface. I approach the start finish line and am waved ahead of the Viper by the starter. (SEG) I am now behind the Porsche. Green flag and off I go from the standing start. A good launch and it’s business as usual. Tires howling at each corner, ABS working hard into each braking zone. It’s amazing how much more steering input the street tires require than the R-compounds. Either that or I’m a lot closer to the limits and am having to correct more with the steering than I am accustomed to. First lap feels good but there is a tad more to be had…the tires are too quiet. ;-) I push a bit harder on the second lap and it definitely feels faster. My shift point from 3rd to 4th is well before the exit of the lower esses onto the bridge straight and before the exit cone out of hog pen. This is a good sign to me that I’ve carried enough speed through those corners. I zip past the start finish line on my last lap and low and behold what do I see but the Black Porsche which has started 15 seconds ahead of me. I end up catching him by turn 4a. I keep my fingers crossed that he sees me and will let me by. Sure enough just onto the bridge straight he lifts and I sail by with minimal hinderence. Excellent. I finish out the session and am very pleased with the run.

As I pull into the pits one of our southern contingent is there to greet me – Ashraf Farrag. It’s really nice to see him and he has brought us some spares just in case. Quite the parts monger is our Ashraf. As a preventative measure in our quest to track down the source of the coolant smell, we believe to be a weeping lower radiator hose or radiator end tank, Ashraf has brought us not one but three replacement radiators to choose from and a couple of lower radiator hoses. Just in case. We take one of the radiators and strap it to the trailer along with a spare lower hose. Cool. Now that we have the parts, replacing the radiator, if need be, shouldn’t be an issue. The weather at VIR was wonderful. Temps in the low 60’s, clear and sunny. We have lunch with Ashraf and give him “the tour.” Lots of anecdotal information is gathered. The 600hp Supra has suffered some engine failure at the drags last night. Something about a front engine seal. He was not there today. As we finish our lunch the first run group is preparing for the afternoon session on the full course. Out they go and immediately one of the front runner Grand Am Cup Acura NSX’s blows up about 100 yards off the start finish line. I’d talked to one of the co-drivers while Dave was running the South course and he had told me they were up to 4am replacing the main crankshaft pulley. Apparently the supercharger belt had bent the pulley!… or something like that. I wonder if this failure had something to do with the breakdown. Still it’s amazing what these guys can fix in 12 hours. In fact by the time we are getting ready to leave, over the PA they are calling for a Viper who has a FEDEX package from Hennessey waiting for them. Before Dave runs the afternoon session the results from the morning sessions are posted. I am VERY pleased as I have managed to beat the WCM Ultralight and placed 20th overall and first in class on the north course! Cool. This will also help our standings relative to the Lotus Elise by maintaining the points buffer between us in first and the Elise in second. No sign of the Dodge Daytona. Apparently part of what gave the engine that extra oomph was a 4 valve head from some kind of Maserati. Maybe it was that expensive Italian piece that let them down? I had a chance to quickly time one of my north course laps off the camcorder before concentrating on getting the camera ready for Daves run and I timed the second lap at a 1:49. I was shooting for a 1:50 which on an essentially bone stock RX-7 on street tires isn’t too shabby. Score one for the Rotary! Woody Hair driving the BMW MCoupe from the DC area, places an incredible 13th on the North course, 17th on South, and 15th on Full! In the company he was driving in this is a fantastic finish. We both agree the homefield certainly has it’s advantages.

Dave runs his session and feels pretty good about the run on the full course. We pack up with our new parts inventory, say goodbye to Ashraf, and head out. The time is 3:30pm Next stop, the Carolina Rod Shop 252 miles to the south. This will be our only checkpoint on the trip but at least they will be providing dinner for us. After that it’s another 262 miles to Roebling Road.

A moment of excitement at around 5:30pm. We pass a North Carolina state trooper has a car pulled over. What was the trooper driving? An unmarked black Chevy Camaro Z28. Yikes!

Daves Notes: I started the day the same as I have since the start of the trip. I wake up a good 1-1 ½ hours before the scheduled 7:30 wake up call after getting to bed at 2AM. I feel sick to my stomach and wound up. This pace is tough but I can’t imagine some of the previous One Laps where they had to cover much more ground in a much tighter schedule. The head of the SVRA, who goes by Kermit, had told us there would be a fatigue hump around Monday and after that things get better. I’m not as tired as I was on Monday but it will be nice to have a normal appetite and wake up routine again. I saw Kermit again today and thanked him for this advice because knowing that everyone goes through the same thing makes it easier to suck it up and bear it.

We get to the track, unload the car and make our way to the VIR south course. I’ve only run the full course in the past but about ½ the south course is on the full course as well. I make my way to line up the car and hit the track first in our group. I run my single recon lap and feel pretty good about where I’m going and what I’ll do. Three laps later, the checkered is flying and another event is complete. I thought I did well. I had the tires howling in the sweeping corners and was braking where some of the front runners had going into the 1st turn, affectionately known as “bitch”. My worst moments came during lap 2 when I missed 3rd twice and ground gears. We are now experiencing the dreaded 5th gear synchro problem and my transmission will need a rebuild this fall.

We head on over to the north course where Chris looked very good, especially catching a Porche 911 driven by an instructor from California. Thankfully, the guy has instructor experience and was checking his mirrors. This meant a very small delay for Chris. He ended up 20th overall! Pretty damned good for a basically stock 7 with the level of driving talent out there. It really goes to show how much seat time at a track makes you able to attack a course with confidence. This is very different from auto-x where you also have only 3 passes to pick up the course but the speed differential on a full track raises the stakes when taking risks with the car. Also with auto-x the fastest lap is all that counts. Here, ALL the laps count.

We have lunch with Ashraf and check the results. Turns out I ran much slower on the south course than I anticipated. Even the Lotus Elise beat me. Admittedly it should be a fast car but to this point it had not been driven that well. Thankfully with Chris beating the Ultralite we are able to gain an important 5 points on the Elise.

After the lunch break, I opted for a salad to go easy on my stomach, it is time to line up and wait to run the full course. This is what I’ve been waiting for since the beginning. After the morning results I’m much more determined to attack this course and do well. I listen to some of Chris’ tips to other drivers and decide on a couple of areas I will concentrate on, getting through “Snake” to carry speed under the bridge and getting speed out of “Hog’s Pen”. Chris also reminds me that if I’m not using the ABS I’m not trying hard enough. Just before I leave he reminds me that we also need to keep the car going for the rest of the trip. Worst of all, I’m feeling sleepy from lunch and travel fatigue and I’m supposed to go drive 140+ mph in about 10 minutes!

I’m waved onto the track and decide to work the car hard during the recon lap instead of just put around trying to learn anything about it. Having done over 100 laps on this course gives me that luxury. This heats up the tires and gets me pumped up. As I wait for the starter the other cars in my group line up behind me. I’m first to be out again. I decide not to think too much about how being first this morning didn’t work out so good. Two vipers, the red one that Chris mentioned talking smak, 2 ‘Vettes (our friends the Swains C5 and a C6, both yellow), and the flaming BMW and a silver BMW 3 series as well. The red viper is right behind me but the starter waives the C6 behind me. I didn’t think about it at the time but now realize that a car likely to be 10+ mph faster than me is lined up behind me. I chuckle a little knowing the red viper will be unhappy to be moved backward in the pack. I get the green flag and catch a really nice launch. This car feels awesome when you catch one right! I work my way through the track and get to Oak Tree corner. Out of the corner of my eye I see the C6 coming down the hill. Damn, I think he’s catching me. I’ll have to see where we’re at in a few corners. On the 2nd lap at turn 2 I see the ‘Vette still coming down the main straight. Good, he hasn’t gained much if anything. Next time around Oak Tree and I notice he’s not coming down the hill but is at the top of the hill. Great! I’m leaving a C6 behind! This is a car with 400hp, monster torque, and a suspension to rival my own. Next lap and I have again gained ground on the C6. The back straight wind buffeting at 140 is so bad the track looks blurry. I keep telling my right foot to stay where it is, don’t lift, don’t lift, don’t lift! I get on the gas earlier than usual in Hog Pen. Still not quite as early as Chris mentioned but I am shifting to 4th only a little after the exit cone. Similarly with Snake, I’m on the gas better and into 4th early enough to enter the up hill S turns at 120mph. I actually back off to about 110mph with a confidence brake and slow on the way up to around 90mph. Wow, all this on street tires! I’m able to carry a lot of speed around 10 and down the hill. I think I beat the C6 by about 1s per lap. In fact, I carry so much speed onto the main straight that I’m not confident at the start/finish line around 120 and lift a little before getting back into it before the braking zone.

On the way to Savannah for Roebling Road we are required to stop by the Carolina Rod Shop. This place has way cool cars being worked on and provides us with some good food and good cheer. Maybe the sandwiches will have some magic for my stomach come tomorrow AM. Immediately upon arrival a couple of very young smokers come up to me and beg to see the engine. I happily oblige and do my best to answer a few questions before trying to get a little time to myself to get the food. I feel bad I didn’t have more time for them but told them the name of our website hoping they will get a chance to read it and get more pictures since their camera had only one shot left. I have to remember to create a dedicated e-mail address and post it so I can answer questions later. Unfortunately with the damage to our 5th gear we can’t oblige with a burnout as we leave CRS which is a tradition most of the big boys follow.

While at CRS we learn I placed 31st overall on the full course and have redeemed myself against the competition, especially the Elise. I ran a 7:24 combined time which is an average of 2:28 per lap. I have made my goal of breaking a 2:30 lap which is very good, especially on street tires. I’ll find out individual lap times once we get to watch the tape. I know now that breaking 2:20 is achievable and will be a future goal of mine at the Mazda Driver’s events.

We got to call in to the MSCW meeting tonight. It was great to hear lots of people clapping and cheering for us and wishing us well. Unfortunately I made the mistake of forgetting two very important people to thank. First I want to re-iterate my thanks to John Duff for his support and excitement. I really apologize for not listing him with our other friends who have helped us out. Second, I want to say thanks again to Peter Zazanis of Performance Buyers Club. His help with getting the car prepped has allowed us to be very competitive.

5/6/05 - 7:30PM - Still in First, and almost done!

Bill here. Dave called just as the Nuke 'Em From High Orbit team was getting to the hotel in South Bend, Indiana, completing the last transit between events in the 2005 One Lap of America. All they have to do tomorrow to clinch FIRST PLACE in the SSGT2 Small Bore class is show up and complete the dry skid pad event. I asked Dave to be DAMN SURE he sets the alarm tonight!

Dave said he really likes Nelson Ledges, and wants to go back there and drive it again. It a speed track with long sweepers and good runoff room. He said the key is to kep your speed in the turns. He had one tank-slapper, but recovered without incident and did well enough to keep them in first place. They have Internet access at their hotel, so expect an update from Dave this evening.

Go Guys, GO!

5/6/05 - 9:00PM - From Rich M.: We're Number One! And It's A Real Nail-Biter...

Scores were just posted for Roebling Road. Chris placed 18th (!!!) overall during the first run and 20th (!!!) during the second with an even better time, beating the Ultralite both times. Amazingly, the Ultralite was able to take second place in class during the first session even after going off track.

This places Nuke 'Em From High Orbit in 32nd place overall, one place ahead of the Ultralite by more than 100 overall points.

In the SSGT2-SB class, our #56 car has stretched their lead to 55 points. They just need to hold on for the remaining 3 events and we could see a #1 finish.

I don't know about you, but my fingernails are completely chewed off at this point. Stay tuned for an exciting finish.

New Pictures have been posted from the Summit event, courtesy of Jonas

5/5/04 - 8:00 PM - From Rich M.: Roebling Road, GA

Just spoke with Chris and Dave. At 6:30 PM, they were stuck in a 15 mile traffic jam in Georgia after some hellatious accident shut down all three lanes ahead of them. They had just been passed by the Ultima GTR who was doing a whopping 9 mph in the "fast" lane.

Chris whooped some serious track ass again today. They woke up in pouring rain and everyone got to spend the entire day driving the wet track in torrential downpour. Chris was able to combine his previous experience at the track with a puddle-spotting recon lap to turn some very good times in the morning, beating all the cars in his class. Supposedly the Ultralite spun in the first turn, giving Chris and Dave a lucky break. Apparently, the people on S-03 tires (like NEFHO) benefited from the tires superior wet traction. Dave said they were leading their class with 600 pts after the first session, 50 pts ahead of the Ultralite and Elise who were tied for second with 550. The afternoon sessions also went well and they feel they made a strong showing again. Official results have not been posted yet, so we'll have to wait and see.

Tomorrow's event at Nelson Ledges is going to be tricky. Nelson is a home track for both the Elise and the Miata (normally aspirated, by the way). Dave says he's been memorizing his video of the track and can pretty much describe it with his eyes closed now. He'll have to do some fancy driving to try and hold off the other guys.

They've got 4 sessions (Roebling #2, Nelson #1 and #2, and dry skid pad) of un-posted point events to hold onto their 50 pt lead. It's gonna be neck and neck all the way to the finish. Let's hope there's enough good luck and good driving left in the team to pull it out. No pressure, guys! :-)

5.4.05 - From Rich M.: After 3 events at VIR

Talked to Chris and Dave this evening. They had finished with VIR and were enroute to the Carolina Rod Shop, their only official "checkpoint" of the trip. After that, it's off to GA and Roebling Road for tomorrow's event.

VIR went well today. Dave felt he did o.k.on VIR South, but was only able to put up a 45th position (3rd behind the Ultralite and Elise). Chris smoked it up on the North Course, placing 20th and *beating the Ultralite* by 2 seconds. He was able to come within 3 seconds of his usual times driving his Hoosier shod princess. Dave took over for the full course and felt much more agressive driving a course he knew well. Results have just been posted and he took 31st, 2nd in class, and only a few spots back from the Ultralite.

This places them in 35th position overall and only a couple points behind a Viper R/T 10. They are still first in SSGT2-SB, 40 points ahead of the Elise and 45 points ahead of the Ultralite. That's down from yesterday's gap of 70 points, meaning they seem to be gaining about 8 points per event. With 5 remaining events at the current pace, it might be neck and neck for the 1st place position..

Chris and Dave called into our MSCW meeting this evening and talked to the group via crappy cellular speakerphone. Lots of good things to say and I think it really gathered the interest of the crowd.

5.3.05 - From Rich M.: Summit Point Raceway, Shenendoah Circuit,

I spent the day out at Summit yesterday with our boys Chris and Dave. They definitely used home track advantage to their benefit. Chris was able to put down some great times in the first session, delivering a 25th best time to knock team Nuke Em From High Orbit up 3 spots to 37th place. Unfortunately, he was held up by a late-launched car for an entire lap (1 of his 3) during the second session, so wasn't able to turn quite the times. By the end of the day, they were still in 38th place overall, holding onto 1st in class for SSGT2-SB.

So far, the guys are doing a good job at holding off the blindingly quick Ultralite that is rapidly gaining positions afer a misfortunate DNF from running out of gas early in the first event. If the guys can continue to take 2nd place in class behind the ultralite in most of the remaining events, they *might* just be able to stay in front of him in points.

The day was mostly mishap-free until the afternoon sessions. Unfortunately, the Shenendoah ate one of the cars. A combination of a bad line and way too much speed over the hump launched a pumped up Subaru STi into the dirt off to the side of the track. In an attempt to save it, the driver brought the car back on track, but that aimed him into the banked carousel where his car launched sideways up out of the bowl, 4-5 ft into the air, and nosed it into the tire wall. The good news: by the time I left the track, the guys had the car mostly re-assembled and hopefully will re-enter the competition at VIR.

According to the results, Dave piloted the car well at the drag strip and turned a 13.6 ET and holding an 8 way tie for 7th. On to VIR for Wednesday.

5/3/05 - Crispy SPR - Shenandoah:

We arrived in Winchester VA at 1:30am and get a decent nights sleep before heading over to Summit Point Raceway. At Summit point we are running the new Shenandoah Circuit. This is a very technical and dangerous track. There is virtually no run off area and most if not all the corners are designed to be challenging. Today is also the day we expect to see some local support show up and sure enough they are there. Fellow DCRX7 friends Jonas Robinson and Rich Mills, some of the negative camber crew, Joe McGroarty, Tom Philip, and Julie Bradfield, and of course our wives, Alice and Melissa. And Melissa brings my 3 year old daughter Caroline to see “daddy go racing.” It’s nice to see familiar faces. John Duff sent some stickers via Woody’s son Brian, the main one being a Mazda Drivers sticker. Rich brought us some "track" stickers as well. Dave is now the only person to have the "track" stickers on his car without actually being on the e-mail list.

By now the preparation is becoming routine. We arrive, unload the trailer, and I prepare to drive. Since I’ve driven the Shanandoah before I’m a little bit more comfortable about the track however there are certain things that I feel some anxiety about. The first is the track configurations we are going to run. The first event uses the circuit I’ve driven before with the big exception being that the karousel has been eliminated and at the top of the hill under the bridge there is a kink that leads to the cross over. It is a fast entry that has no real place to line the car up for some straight line braking. Oh boy this is going to be fun! I grid up with the usual crowd. On the recon lap I note a nasty dip in the x-over road. Ugly ugly ugly! I get a good launch at the start and begin the exercise in tire squealing. Lets just see how loud I can make them scream. As predicted the x-over is tough. Hard braking into the corner trying to get to the apex as late as possible. But just as you are approaching the apex there is the dip and the rear end gets light and then it’s all oversteer management as I try to keep the power down as much as possible. The session goes well but I am still somewhat relieved it is over as the concrete walls do scare me especially in a faster car like Daves – relative to my 160hp 2nd Gen RX7. Some time later we check the standings and wouldn’t ya know it, I finished 25th overall. This helps our overall standings in the points to date as well and we jump forward a few more places. Knowing the home field does have it’s advantages ;-)

After such a successful morning event I’m looking forward to the next session. For the next session they change the track configuration and eliminate the “pistol grip” but introduce the karousel. With the pistol grip gone the entry onto the uphill straight is like a drag strip pulling out of the corner in second gear to power up the hill. The more exciting part however is the fact that now we will be going straight up over the hill (under the bridge) and over the hump down into the karousel. The karousel unto itself is fun but the scary part is that at the speeds we are carrying over the hump cars WILL get airborne. The faster cars have to lift throttle or if they are really fast actually brake before cresting the hump. Now if they don’t “lift” and carry the speed over the hump and get airborne, if the car does not land squarely because the driver has approached the hump incorrectly there will be trouble. Sure enough one of the front runners in a highly modified STI doesn’t lift, carries all the speed over the hump, and doesn’t land squarely, looses control of the car and skids off the track to the right, snaps back across the track to the left slides through the infield, into the banking of the karousel, rides up and jumps out of the karousel and noses the car into the tire wall at the far end of the track. It’s nasty and the car is a mess. This is not a good omen and I make a note NOT to go flat over the hump. We line up and they are letting us go out 6 at a time. This turns out to be a bad thing. I am the first in our group of six to run. We do the recon lap, I roll up to the starting line and wait for the others to roll up behind me, they arrive and I am flagged to start. The first hot lap goes well, same as in the morning until I round the last corner onto the main straight and see much to my horror that they are just releasing from the starting line the last car in our run group. CRAP! I catch him by the third corner. The poor guy has never driven this track before. The excitement doesn’t begin until the uphill straight to the bridge. Now it has been 4 corners since I’ve caught him and I expect that he will let me go by on the straight. I watch as he accelerates up he hill towards the bridge up the left side of the track. I’ve accelerated up the hill right behind him and move to the right to pass him before we get to the nasty hump. The front bumper of my car is next to the rear bumper of his car when….OH MY GOD! He darts over. I nail the brakes and he just misses taking off my front bumper. I now know he obviously has no idea I’m back here. It has been a half a lap. I enter the karousel right on his bumper and give the horn a few honks as we go through the corner. I swear I can see him glance in his side mirror and see me. Guess not as I follow him for at least another half lap before he over cooks a corner and goes straight and I turn the corner and finish up the lap. The last lap of the session. The session is a bust and I’m dreading seeing the time tomorrow when they are posted. Immediately after the session the driver of the other car, Mike, whom we have talked to a lot during the trip, walks over and begins apologizing profusely. Dave and crew have walked quickly down from the bridge and are quite concerned. Seems like, although I know the time is going to suck because I was held up, I’m the one who is least concerned about what just happened. Dave is pissed. As Brock stated last Saturday however, “There are NO reruns!” But you know what, I consider it all part of the race. We pack up our gear and head on over to the Mason Dixon dragway an hour away where Dave is going to tear it up at the strip. It’s 3:30pm as we pull out of the pits with a sympathetic eye towards the STI guys who look like they are attempting to salvage their wrecked car and continue on with the race. Two sidenotes. The Dodge Daytona has not shown up today. The Radical that was wrecked the day before at NHIS is back and in pristine condition, at least from afar. Closer inspection reveals red racer’s tape holding the front together.


Dave – Mason Dixon Dragway:

Having only run this car at the strip twice before, I wasn’t expecting much in the way of low ET. The RX-7 has a terrible suspension for drag racing and I get tons of wheel hop off the line. I planned to use previous experience in bracket racing to do well here.

We had extra time when arriving due to getting out of SPR early and the late schedule time. We decide to go ahead and change the oil since we are almost ½ done with events and want to not worry about it in the morning at VIR. We check the car for any signs of leaking coolant and can’t find any. We have called our friends to bring us a spare radiator just in case one of the end caps is about to let go. It looks like Ashraf will be able to make it to VIR with a choice of parts and supplies.

The fellow who owns the track takes a few minutes to explain how everything works, the staging lights, timing lights, etc. Most of the competitors are blown away at the speed with which a light tree counts down to green. Lucky for them we are using the street and not the pro tree which only shows amber for .4s prior to green. I jokingly say rather loudly “what’s the matter, ain’t none of ya’ll drag raced before?” This is met by some ugly looks, a few comments about preferences for road courses and turns, and excuses that they haven’t done this in 10 years. I decide to go get my knee brace off and into my suit.

The first event is low ET drag racing. We line up the staging lanes and they send us two at a time. I give some advice to the driver of the red Mini about how to launch, etc. He seems most appreciative. When they send me out they also send him although he was behind me in the same lane. They have wet down the box so I have to do a burnout. I hate doing this due to the potential damage to the suspension and drivetrain. I stage the car and look over to realize I should have explained to the Mini how to stage. He is taking longer than I’d like and I’m revving at 4k RPM. I have to back off and wait then rev up again. The lights start to go and I’m a bit startled by it. I see the 2nd amber and launch as I normally would. I’ve run 14.1 in the past with wheel-hop. This time, we had the air pressure at 18 psi, very low for the street. It turns out great. I get a little wheel hop but not terrible. When I come around for my timeslip I am happy to see a 13.628 at 100mph. My 60’ time was 2.09! This beats out the Elise (14.4), Miata, Rice students, and BMW. Only the Ultralite at 12.6 outruns me in our class. Damn, that guy can do it all!

After they run all the cars they line us up for bracket racing. I notice that the entire lane 6 is open and an unsuspecting Firebird is sitting there in lane 5 with a 13.85 on the window. I decide on a 13.55 for my time knowing the Firebird should run much faster than he indicates. I figure he must not know much about drag racing and could be an easy target. I get a good launch and catch him by the 330’ mark. It is a simple task of shifting smoothly and keeping my nose in front of him to edge him by .2s with a 13.77 at 103mph! Damn, my car is really running strong for as few mods I have. We had added 3 gallons of race gas (103 unleaded) to try and keep detonation down in the cool dense air. Seems like it helped.

My next run put me against the WCW Ultralite who had a 12.5 time entered. I decide to keep my 13.55 (could have changed it) and line up. This will be my 3rd run from the right lane. Somehow the car rolls forward just a tick early. I know I waited for the 2nd amber but ended up with a red light start. I immediately decide to back off and save the wear and tear but still have a 2.16 60’ time so the car was really hooking up well! Back in the pits I explain to Chris that the smell coming from the car is the burnt clutch and not the air from checking tire pressures and replacing them for the drive to Danville.

05.03.05 - 4:50 PM - Nuke 'Em From High Orbit in First Place! (probably...)

Dave phoned in the good news today that Chris melted the asphalt at Summit Point on his first run this morning, finishing 25th overall. "Knowing the track really makes the difference," said Dave. Unfortunately, Chris was screwed by bad planning on the official's part when they put too many cars on the track too late on his second run. He was held up for nearly an entire lap by a Summit rookie. An attempted pass in turn 9 didn't go well when the rookie pinched him off, but there wasn't any contact or wheels-off. Even so, they are probably in first place in-class at this point, but the Ultralite S2K is hot on their heels. They saw no sign of the Daytona today, and Dave said "I wanted to see how we would have done against them head-to-head here" at Summit.

They are still a bit nervous over the hot coolant smell from the driver's side near the A/C compressor. They can't see anything, but the smell persists. They checked the radiator tanks, but didn't find a problem. I suggested they check the sealing foam on top of the belly pan, which can soak up leaking coolant and leave the bottom dry (don't ask me how I know...). Meanwhile, we are going to coordinate having a spare radiator available at VIR for them to take with.

The team is at Hagerstown now, waiting for the drag event this evening. they are using the downtime to give the weapon-of-choice RX-7 a little maintenance including an oil and filter change. After the drags tonight, they will be on their way to VIR for tomorrow's three events there.

No new pictures today.

05.02.05 - 4:30 PM - Chris Kicks Tail at New Hampshire, Improves Overall Position

Bill Again; Dave called at 3:00 PM on the road from New Hampshire into Massachusetts. Racing is a tough business, and gaining a position through other's misfortune may not be as much fun as beating them on the track, but it still counts, and "that's racing".

Dave says Chris did some seriously good driving this morning on New Hampshire International Speedway. Chris benefited from some last-minute over-the-phone instruction from a friend and fellow instructor experienced on NHIS. The results are up now, and show third in-class (36th overall) on the first run behind the Daytona and Ultralite S2K, and second in-class (35th overall) behind the Ultralite on the second run. The Daytona DNF'd the second run, and may have blown it's engine. Stinks for them but worth a position for Nuke 'Em From High Orbit. Dave said the owner was wandering around in a confused daze after the DNF, trying to remember the name of a local shop and figure out what to do next. Prior to blowing-up, they were burning up the track, fully ten seconds faster than Chris. We wish them luck and hope they can get back into the competition.

The overall results are up-to-date now through New Hampshire, and our team is still second in-class with 1950 points, still 365 points behind the Daytona's 2315 points. The Lotus Elise is in third, 230 points back. Overall, the team has moved up to 40th position.

The 13-year-old CYM R1 RX-7 is still holding up. Even Dave smelled the coolant under the hood this morning, and they did add about a cup when the car was cold, but they still don't see any evidence of leakage. Their latest theory is the filler cap or pressure cap may not be sealing completely. They are watching it closely and will stay on top of it. I relayed fellow DCRX7 club member Ashraf's suggestion they check the tanks on the stock radiator for hairline cracks.

The Long Arm of Johnny Law is aware of the One Lap, and...

At this point, they discovered they missed an exit and had to end the call and reconnoiter their position. (And they have a GPS and mapping software!)

3:40 PM - Finally back on the right road and confident enough to chat again. As I was saying, The Long Arm of Johnny Law is aware of the One Lap, and wanted to let the competitors know it. In the late hours of the night, flying low somewhere in New York state, one of the state's Finest lit them up with his handy laser speed gun, and took up pursuit. Chris promptly pulled over and received a ticket. Not for the 84 in a 65 the officer observed, but for "failure to yield to a traffic control device" which carries no points and doesn't cost nearly as much. Dan Swain, a fellow competitor from New York, said the NY Troopers often do that to give drivers a break. Thanks Troopers!!

Not to be outdone, New Hampshire also wanted to make sure the One Lappers knew who was in charge. Our heroes found themselves in a convoy with three other competitors as they blazed into NH. Not far into the state, they came over the proverbial rise only to see a couple of officers with speed guns at the side of the road flagging them all down (lead car was doing 71 in a 55). The Officers approached each car, took the paperwork, then proceeded to read each driver the Riot Act in it's entirety and added a chapter on 300 lb New Hampshire deer that would obliterate any car that hit the poor Big Arse Bambis. After the tongue-lashing, the officers returned the paperwork and sent the giggling leadfoots on their way. Dave says they were very polite and even thanked them for coming to New Hampshire, but that while in New Hampshire they will obey the posted speed limits "or else".

Team Nuke 'Em From High Orbit sounded better today, with both Chris and Dave talkative and resolute. Dave didn't get much sleep last night, having woken up in one of those "Oh My God I'm in the One Lap!" panics. (What? Doesn't everybody?). Chris got more sleep, and will try to get more today en route. Dave does not recommend eating meatball submarine sandwiches while on long car trips. Chris seconds that. That's all we are going to say about that.

A fellow RX-7 fan with a black third gen showed up to see the event at NHIS, and during the course of the morning, asked Dave if he was going to run the One Lap again next year. Dave's response: "Ask me in a week." (Actually, he'll probably be saying "Never again!" at that point. You'll have to wait until about December when the brain's defensive mechanisms have wiped the miserable memories and left only the excitement.)

In the random competitor notes column; the GT-40 is running again after fixing their head-gasket. Unfortunately they still DNF'd this morning because they forgot to put the high-tension lead back on the coil. D'OH! Apparently a silver EVO put down some coolant on the track, and there is some confusion over whether the flaggers flagged it or not. The end result is the Radical running after the EVO spun off the track, hit a wall, and bent up the front suspension. It was still rolling, but Dave didn't see how bad the damage was.

Finally, some information on who is driving where. Chris will drive both heats at Summit Point tomorrow. Please come out and support our team or any team! Dave will be pretending he's John Force (only much, much thinner ;) at Mason Dixon Dragway that afternoon. At VIR on Wednesday Dave will do South and Full courses, while Chris will do the North course. Chris will run Roebling Road the next day. They haven't decided on Nelson Ledges yet, and will likely leave the decision until later in the week.

05.01.05 - 10:05 PM - The Boys Bolster Second Place Position, and Nobody Likes Ovals...

Bill here again. Dave called at 9:00PM with some brief information tonight, which I have elaborated on far beyond reason. They are on the road again about 5 hours from New Hampshire, where Chris will run both time trials on the New Hampshire International Speedway tomorrow. They were stopping for some food and to switch drivers so Chris could sleep on the way up.

Dave says he likes BeaveRun, and described it as a real "power course". He was able to turn laps times only about 1 second off the class pace set by the heavily prepared Dodge Daytona. The weather wasn't cooperating, but did give him a dry track for his runs. He finished the first run THIRD in-class out of nine, and 46th overall. On the second run, Dave managed SECOND in-class, once again beating the Elise, but unable to catch the über Daytona.

He says the replica GT40 blew a head gasket, and a Corvette with a deadly combination of the redneck technologies of supercharger and nitrous ventilated it's motor in an unfortunate corner on the track. Besides those two, they aren't aware of any other less-than-graceful exits from the competition.

At the Lancaster Speedway, Dave described the experience as "Accelerate, brake, turn left, repeat." He's never driven on an oval before, and didn't sound too excited about doing it again. Results are not posted yet, so we'll have to wait to see how he did. When asked what he thought of the big cement walls around the track, he simply stated, "I stayed away from them." Who can blame him with that beautiful and rare CYM R1? The Daytona, on the other hand, used every inch of the track and was able to outpace our team. But who cares if an 80's Chrysler hits the wall? ;-)

It seems all of Team Nuke 'Em From High Orbit are in high spirits. Dave sounded a little more worn than yesterday, but he worked hard on two tracks today. The car is whirring along faithfully. Chris' bloodhound-like ability to detect errant automotive fluids picked up a slight whiff of coolant outside the car today, but they didn't see anything, and it's likely just hot coolant in the open overflow tank. (He may also be projecting, given some recent coolant excitement with his own second-gen racecar, affectionately known as "Rusty". ;)

Yesterday's results: Chris finished SECOND in-class and 43rd overall on the first run at IRP with street brake pads. After switching to Hawks, he slipped to third in-class behind a turbo Miata, and 47th overall. Maybe fading brakes make him go faster? Overall after 5 events including BeaveRun, our team is in SECOND PLACE (Woo-hoo!) with 1205 points, trailing behind the Daytona by 365. They are 45th overall. Not bad for a mostly-stock 13-year-old car and One Lap novices! Nice work, guys!

There are no new pictures today, and I suspect the schedule and lack of easy Internet connections will limit their ability to send more. But rest assured they are snapping pictures and filming video and will provide much of both when the event is over and they awake from their recovery-comas.

04.30.05 - 9:30 PM - Off to a Great Start!

Bill here, Dave phoned in an update: They placed 3rd in class and 39th overall in the wet skidpad, finishing better than 5 of their competitors including an *Elise*! First place in-class and *overall* was taken by a front-wheel-drive turbo Dodge Daytona Dave described as a "total race car with a new engine."

Dave also said they did well at Indianapolis Raceway Park, but were set back on the first run when they didn't have time to change brake pads to Hawk blues. Chris was doing the driving, and said they were fading badly (been there, done that!). Wisely, they are going to leave the Hawk's on for the rest of the One Lap. On the second run with good pads, Chris acquitted himself and the mostly stock car nicely; Dave says last they heard they are 41 out of 90 competitors. He thinks all of the cars ahead of him (and some behind!) are specially prepared or purpose-built for racing. The Ultima didn't plan well and ran out of gas on their first run, resulting in a DNF. DNF's are *very* costly in points, so our champions will be trying very hard to finish every event.

Dave called from the road somewhere in Ohio. They are headed to BeaveRun, and expect to arrive there around Midnight. Racing starts again at 8:30 AM, and Dave will be doing the driving there and at the oval at Lancaster Speedway. (He's say Chris has no interest in ovals. Can't blame him. ;)

There will be new pictures up shortly.

04.29.05 - Registration and "tech" inspection.

Registration was to begin at 8AM today. We arrived at 8:30 to find we were one of a handful who bothered to get there that early. Such is the life of those who have never done this event before. We spent the day prepping stickers, gawking at the others as they arrived, listening to stories, and trying to convince people our car was really pretty much stock.

There is a trick to the stickers, which we figured out very quickly. First, we washed the car at a local carwash. Then, we applied a decent coat of wax. Then, we sprayed water onto the surface first which allowed for some re-positioning before settling on the final spot. Given more time, etc. maybe we could have been more fancy with the layout but I like how it turned out. The stickers from PBC turned out really well and I hope Pete gets some good promotion out of this.

Tech consisted of checking our suits for the SFI label on the sleeve. I could have probably shown up with an old pair of long pajamas as long as that patch was sewn on the sleeve. They checked the tires had the appropriate Tire Rack stamps and our helmets were Snell 2000. That was it. No check of the car. Basically "Hey, you drove it here didn't you?" which is not the case of a lot of cars here! There are a few cars here on or in trailers. There is a crazy tube frame Dodge "truck" that is all modifed Viper under the skin. The 600+ hp Volvo with a supercharged Ford V-8, and tons of others. A few pictures can be found here. I apologize they are low-res but we have limited internet access while here. Sadly, our schedule is about to get even tighter but we'll do our best to update as we go.

Tomorrow is the first full day of competition. We start with a wet skid-pad which unfortunately looks like Mother Nature will be happy to help with. I feel sorry for the guys in the Ultralite S2K. They are in an open cockpit and wearing motorcycle gear with heating elements for warmth. The car looks to be very fast since it is very light. After the skidpad, we head to Indianapolis Raceway Park for a few runs there. I'll be running the skidpad and Chris will run the IRP event. Chris is hoping not to miss the pit-in after his timed runs or we incur a penalty. The pit-in is inbetween some grandstands and looks a little tough to find.

04.28.05 - Chris and Dave are leaving for South Bend today.

The Drivers

Chris Regan is an experienced instructor at BSR for 3 years and Mazda Drivers for 2. He has his own page Regan Rotary Racing which contains TONS of information about the RX-7, rotary motor, modifications, track days, and useful links to other rotary related sites. He has done some amazing work on his car. People like to give him a hard time about how clean it is. Thus begins the slightly "odd couple" paring for our run at the One Lap this year.

Dave Henning (that's me) got into performance driving while living in Texas and going to graduate school at Texas A&M University (TAMU). The TAMU Sports Car Club is a great spot for amature motorsports. The club has produced national championship autocrossers and other successful racers, although I can't claim to be one of them. Through the club I was able to participate in multiple PCA events at Texas World Speedway. Once I moved to Maryland I joined the Mazda Sports Car Club of Washington DC where I got to be friends with Chris. People like to give me a hard time about how dirty my car usually is.

Our Support and Sponsors

First, we'd like to thank our families for being supportive of our need for a speed and competition fix. Dave's wife Alice and Chris' wife Melissa and his 3 kids, Calvin, Spencer, and Caroline.

We're really amazed at the level of support from our friends and family on this venture. We'll do our best to make all of you proud and show what a great race car the RX-7 really is!


The Car

The car we are using this year is Dave's mostly stock '93 CYM RX-7. The CYM (Competition Yellow Mica) paint was only available on 350 cars in North America. In the USA these were all R1 models while north of the border they got a few in the base package. The R1 "race" package consisted of 2 oil coolers instead of one, stiffer sway bars, shocks (not springs), factory front strut tower brace, front and rear spoilers, no sun roof, leather, or cruise control (this is a race car!), no rear wiper (weight savings) and no Bose accousti-mess in the hatch.

The engine is stock and should be running around 255hp/217lb.ft I have added a cat-back exhaust that I got cheap from a friend. This might get me 5-10 hp tops. For some reason my motor likes to run at 12psi instead of the normal 10. This should result in a gain of 15-20hp as well but hasn't been dyno proven. Since getting the motor rebuilt it is certainly stronger and requires a new level of restraint when getting on the gas leaving corners and in wet conditions.

The suspension has had most of the bushings replaced with stock rubber. Also, the original R1 shocks (which had seen 70k miles and still had some life) were replaced with Koni adjustables. Unfortunately I waited too many years and could no longer find the 8-way adjustable GAB shocks I'd always wanted. Springs are stock since to get significant gains in spring rate pretty much means getting a coil-over kit and I've tried to keep this car as close to stock as I could.

Nothing else on the car has changed (yet). I used to have notions of SCCA Super Stock autox driving that made me keep it this way. Now that the 'Vette and Viper run in SS with 400-500hp it just isn't realistic that my car will be competitive there anymore. After this year in the One Lap, I'll see how competitive the car is in the SSGT2/SB class and think about upgrades for next year. For now, we think we'll have a competitive car. The proof will come at the end of April!

Car Classification

Chris and I will compete in SSGT2/SB this year. This class is for sports and GT cars originally sold for less than $40,000 with a "small bore" engine of less than 3.5l. This means we don't have to compete with Vipers, 'Vettes, and newer über cars.

The Competition

"Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated."

04/25/2005 Competition dropping like flies!
Our competition has changed significantly. Currently the Ultralite S2K is still there. However, the Neon has been moved to Mid-priced sedan as has the STi. There is also a Supra team who in the past had 600+ hp and placed as high as 4th overall. The drivers are different from previous years so who knows? Maybe if I keep listing them here they'll get scared? ;)

So I've been checking out the competition in our Class. Turns out, the winners of SSGT2/SB last year will be back. They are driving a 1989 BMW M3. Based on last years numbers it is mostly stock but well driven.UPDATE Last years winners are no longer listed as competing. Maybe we scared 'em off? :)

The other big competitor of interest in SSGT2/SB is a Dodge Neon SRT-4. This car also appears to have run near stock numbers last year and won the Economy class. Based on times at the '04 tracks, this Neon is competitive with the M3. I'll be curious to know what changes they've made for this year. UPDATE The Neon runs a stage 2 turbo kit with a claimed 265hp at the wheels. Sounds like fun!

There is another "big gun" in the mix now. A Subaru WRX STi driven by some guys with previous OLoA experience. Even at 100% stock this car will rip 1/4 mile times in the 13s and hold the road like it runs velcro tires.

Other cars of interest now listed include something called an Ultralite S2K. See their website here. It looks like a Lotus 7 with a Honda S2000 motor. I've also heard of someone building a 2nd generation RX-7 with a Corvette LS1 motor and running gear. This was still under construction as of a week ago so we'll see how well sorted it is.

Back to the main DCRX7 page
Last updated 2005/5/6.


Edit Me
NOTE: The Mini Mart station in Ohio shows the actual amount per gallon charged ($2.34/gallon). On the charge slip it was listed as $2.209/gallon!!
Date Store State Price/gal Gallons Total
4/28/2005 Sunoco Ohio $2.45 16.659 $40.80
4/28/2005 Costco Maryland $2.16 20.055 $43.30
4/29/2005 KB Express IN $2.24 15.051 $33.70
4/30/2005 Shell Ohio $2.28 13.235 $30.16
5/1/2005 Mobil NY $2.54 14.825 $37.64
5/1/2005 Sunoco NY $2.52 14.488 $36.50
5/1/2005 Sheetz PA $2.30 15.378 $35.35
5/2/2005 Sunoco PA $2.34 16.009 $37.45
5/2/2005 Xpress NH $2.34 10.219 $23.90
5/3/2005 Exxon Virginia $2.35 10.258 $24.10
5/4/2005 Coner Store SC $2.22 13.137 $29.15
5/4/2005 Exxon Virginia $2.24 8.397 $18.80
5/4/2005 Exxon Virginia $2.24 12.572 $28.15
5/5/2005 Gate Georgia $2.34 13.85 $32.40
5/5/2005 Exxon SC $2.36 15.474 $36.50
5/5/2005 Exxon WV $2.40 15.09 $36.20
5/5/2005 Exxon WV $2.40 5.003 $12.00
5/6/2005 Sheetz Ohio $2.16 15.607 $33.70
5/6/2005 Mini Mart Ohio $2.34 5.132 $12.00
5/6/2005 Meijer IN $2.19 15.646 $34.26
5/8/2005 Vermillion Ohio $2.26 14.432 $32.60
5/8/2005 Costco Maryland $2.14 16.409 $35.10
296.926 $683.75
Avg. $/gal. Avg. gals. Total $
$2.31 13.49664 $683.75