Speed World Challenge GT race Round 3 at Miller Mtrspt Park, SLC Utah as seen through the Woodhouse Windshield. 5/19/07

I owe an apology.  No Long Beach round 2 report, OK you didn’t even notice didja.  Long Beach had some good World Challenge racing in it.  The politics, smack downs and all around controversy, that was the real story.  It’s too late though, I can’t go back there and give you all the dirt.  Oh, OK maybe a little, lets just say a couple of prominent drivers took some tarnish off of the word “professional” when the swinging began.  Since this took place in front of half the GT paddock they did not reach bloody nose status before being pulled apart. There wasn’t even a race yet!  Brings back memories of last year when I went over to bury the hatchet with Lou G, and if this scene is foreign to you, then you have not raced with Lou, everyone who has can provide their own version of a scene from the Sopranos. 

So folks, yes, violence is acceptable, that is if you are willing to pay for it.  Fines start at $1000 and go up.  World Challenge is looking good for a profit this year.  I won’t even get a chance to tell you about the DQ after the race, (that’s “disqualification” for those not into the text message lingo.)  I know it’s mean but I have to leave you hang on this.  If you need more detail, go to the discussion page on www.world-challenge.com .

It’s Miller time, Miller Motorsports Park, 30 minutes west of Salt Lake City, a real eye popper of a facility, all 97 million worth.  The track is an Allan Wilson, his Crown Jewel as he puts it.  Never noticed that many beautiful transporters lined up so neatly as this weekend, with ALMS, World Challenge, F-BMW, Star-Mazda, Porsche Cup, IMSA lites all running. 

Probably the only time this year, but……..  I got to drive the #13 Kicker/Dodge Viper Competition Coupe.  I have to admit, I am a steering wheel druggie.  Dang that felt so good.  Loved it even with teammate Jeff Courtney, the young punk; taking me to school in the practice sessions.  Neither one of us are much good at the qualifying game tho.  We eked out a 15^th and 16^th place grid.  It’s bloody hell for an old guy, the game never stays the same, the pole time got squeezed nearly three seconds below last year.  I love every one of these drivers and their teams (well almost) but when it comes to competing, they do anything including asking Chip Herr to date their lesbian sister to get in front of you.

So there we are, game day, 9:45 AM. On the grid, a 30mph wind is finishing flapping  the flags of the girls who have just scurried over the wall.  Time to launch; the tension is huge, my clutch leg quivers as I mentally process the next couple of moves that will mandate a flawless departure, refusing the memories of the many that weren’t.  The Whelen start lights all blink to the lit position and we know in 3 to 10 seconds when they go out, the game begins.  A cacophony of engines thrumming at launch rpm, above the thrumming sound of 27 engines, one becomes prominent, out of the right of my helmet I see the Pilgrim Cadillac jump forward and stop, “what the….” My leg begins to release, a knee jerk, but no release.  As I try to process what just happened, Andy, our pro, the finest, just did a booboo, jumped too soon, but now the light really does go out, time becomes frozen, why am I not releasing, aaaargh, let the clutch out, it is taking forever, I know that light has been out for a month, finally, the engine pulls down and the tires hook; no spin, way good.  

Andy’s jump must have broken the concentration of all in earshot.   My laggard start compared well.  The beautiful Red and White Viper of Rich Marziale grew bigger instantly.  Second gear came as his door slid by and approaching corner one, the Corvette in front of him was disappearing in the passenger window.  I’m stoked; I was getting a grudgingly narrow band of asphalt on the left edge of the track, a half a tire hanging in the gravel while competitors shared the rest of the 40 foot wide tarmac.  As corner one arrives, James Sofranos and his Porsche spotted the same eye in the needle I was threading and jumped into it as the car herd was in deceleration prepping for the 70 mph corner one. 

Many of you know, we Vipers are now non-ABS and I am in the midst of my first severe panic stop.  Let’s just say I flunked.  Smoke rolls off the fronts as I lock em up in the over 100mph area, must’ve jumped that pedal fastern a fly gets on fresh laid cow dung.  Touched the back of Sofranos, so lightly though that no marks were found later, while at the same time somebody was up my back side leaving scratches.  No time to ponder, car warfare was all around; I recall Mike McCann going in three wide for corner two, who did what? I can’t tell ya, I was too busy with Mikes’ car sliding across the track backwards, I think anyway; since the dust didn’t make that clear, while also attempting to find a path around the other cars that reminded you of those zig zag ground fireworks you light for your kids.  The brake lock up reported in; both front tires were emitting a thump thump.  Just peachy Bob, (under my breath.)

Good fortune allowed us through all the gravel, err square rocks, as I tucked to the back side of Lime Green #17 Viper, Rob Foster.  Rob is doing a heck of a driving job this year.  Dan Fiffick and crew are giving him and Mike McCann some reliable fast cars to wheel..  Rob makes it around the James Sofranos blue Porsche leaving me a Porsche bumper to watch for two laps.   I get by at corner six to realize a gap has opened up.  I can’t close it.  But on my tail is pure excitement.  Brian Kubinski in his black Corvette, clearly a faster car, key word here, car.  And if you picked up on that you are well on your way to understanding the psyche of all race drivers.  29 out of 30 think they are unquestionably more skilled than any in the field.  Brian is all over my aa…..uh, back side lap after lap.  He reminds me of one of those phoo phoo dogs when the door bell rings:  Uhhuh uhhuh, bounce bounce, yap yap, uhhuh uhhuh, bounce bounce yap yap.  Gaad, driving me nuts, dives to one side then the other charging at every corner.   I am impressed with the car, killing me on the slower corners, but he is charging into, instead of out, on the corners allowing me to stay in front in spite of his power advantage.  Oh and maybe I should share this, I was cheating, well legally actually. 

Remember that 30 mph wind?  There happened to be two high speed turns where our cars would face right into the wind half way through the corner.  I could charge in over my head and  let that extra air speed forgive my sins as the down force stuck the car to the ground giving me a temporary two car length stretch on that rabid Corvette.

Brian is but one of two black Corvettes behind me with anxiety overtures.  Another driven by Tomy Drissi obviously trained in the same military attack school has now swapped places with Brian and taking the uh huh bounce bounce game to new heights.  As I learned from teammate Jeff Courtney after the race, Tomy smoked through a corner allowing Jeff to pass then comes back immediately to thump him in the buttocks.  Apparently the officials ran out of patience and blessed him with a stop and go for this and other superior driving tactics.  The Kubinski black Corvette retired early as well from mechanical issues, hmm, coulda had a V10. 

So to cap this rant:  This day, this track, things came pretty close to right, 5 Vipers finished in the top ten, about the amount of the field they represent, Tommy Archer narrowly squeeked out the lead with the Porsche of Randy Probst in tow and Lou G, our drama queen in 3^rd.  The Lawson Caddie did well, finishing up there, for Andy P.,  rough day after that jump at the start. 

Naykid Racing is getting strong along with a lot of great runs by all Viper brethren.

Woodhouse Performance put two Vipers in the top ten, thanks team, Rick Maxwell Ashley Wick, Eddie Martin, Erik Messley, Nancy Shanno, Delayne Hunt, Andrea Fornal, Steve Woodhouse flawless prep. 

SPEED broadcast time is:  Sunday, May 27; GT – 5:00 p.m.
Eastern Time

Video hi lites of the race are on our sponsor websites, see below..

Remember these fine companies they make this possible. 

Kenda Tires - a leading  manufacturer for specialty and automotive tires. www.kendausa.com

ProMPI – 20,000 items with your name on em.  www.prompi.com

MPI Coin – Specialists in coin products. www.mpicoin.com

Kicker Car Stereo – the world leader in high-performance mobile audio gear. www.kicker.com.

Badger Tire and Wheel – A leading Distributor/Manufacturer/Assembler of recreational trailer products. www.badgercomponents.com

Karavan Trailers –  manufacturer of private label boat, watercraft, utility, snowmobile and other recreational trailers.  www.karavantrailers.com

Forester Signs –  Custom designed vinyl graphics, signs & banners. www.forestersigns.com

JG Wheel – www.jgwheel.com

Go here to get the entire race results:

Series Website: www.world-challenge.com

Speed Channel’s Website: www.speedtv.com

THE WOODHOUSE WINDSHIELD REPORT: SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

SPEED World Challenge GT Series

SCCA Pro-Racing

A warped race report by Bob Woodhouse, Woodhouse Performance
 

Sebring International Raceway
Sebring, Florida              

March 17, 2007

What’s Changed: So the question is, can the passion stay in the story if you’re telling it from the sidelines? Heck, I don’t know, read this, then tell me.   But let’s drop the race story for a moment.  The last time I wrote you was late 2006, at Laguna Seca, the finals, my last race.  “OK old man, get out of the car and put your hands on your head”, a criminal act I sometimes think, this not driving thing.  Aaargh!  People close to me are happy that  I made good on the promise.  Not that I am too old, yeah right, you never are, but I had to stop before I got so mad at Lou Gigliotti that I might kill him.   No, no, no, just kidding, really I was, funny though huh?  Lou belongs in this sport, we need him in order to maintain series leadership in controversy and color as opposed to other reality shows. Alas, I digress.  

Since last year, the Woodhouse Race team has changed, the Dodge SRT-4 running in the Touring Car series has been sold, replaced with a second Dodge Viper Competition Coupe.  New crew members are on board to compliment Rick and Nancy who were the keys to last years GT Crew of the Year award.  
So two Vipers, two drivers, Brian Smith and Jeff Courtney and a new year as a team owner.  Race teams tend to always be awash in uncertainty from year to year with their funding.  So what will it take to overcome that?  If  I could make dreams come true we would have sponsors falling over each other to be on our program.    
Providing a sponsor more value than he is writing checks for, that might be where we start.  To dull the pain of no steering wheel in hand, I’m turning to help young Woodhouse Performance marketing director Delayne Hunt (any body is young by my standard) and others to bring our road racing to a higher level of appeal for both fan and sponsor.  Sounds like BS doesn’t it?  Could be, but we have a few fooled, this phenomenal group of sponsors we now have, KendaUSA.com , ProMPI.com and MPICoin.com as well as Badger Components, Kicker.com, and KaravanTrailers.com.  
 
RE: The “higher level:”
Take the Air Cannon, OK; T-shirt cannon, what a hoot, we bombed the crowd at the pre-race starting line with 150 T-shirts  branded with sponsor websites promising video hi-lites of the race. Once aware of our antics, a portion of  the 100,000  fans came to the fence to watch the four attractive ladies fling white cotton, hey, hey, I said nothing here that would take your mind to the gutter, if it did, you did it.  Now when this crowd lets loose of it’s beer bottles and starts typing in the dot coms we left them on the back of those shirts, oh lordie, “We got us a Convoy” (from the song by CW McCall).  
 
Politics update:  In an attempt to equalize competition during the off months, SCCA determined  that it would reduce the performance of the top performing race cars,  Viper, Porsche, Cadillac, Corvette, this is done through the addition of weight and/or increasing the air intake restriction.  Let  me say as I wipe the  tear from my eye that we Dodge Vipers received our ample helping.  Ten percent more restrictor and an increase in weight to 3200 pounds, the heaviest of any GT competitor.  Those street stock ABS brakes we had.  No longer allowed.   (Apparently ABS is for sissies.)  

Do not be surprised that eight of the top-10 qualifying positions were GM products and Tommy was our highest qualifying Viper in the ninth slot. Apparently the winter months left plenty of time for the Corvette and Cadillac teams to stew over getting their butt handed to ‘em so they came with a new level of performance (more engine) despite their restriction increases. Now that the playing field is tilted, either SCCA will act to rectify, or a spiral of expensive upgrades is about to take place. Lets ask for benevolent good judgment on the part of our SCCA scrutineering, and soon please.
 

The race:
When a race starts in a down pour and the track ends dry through 20 laps there is bound to be an abundance of drama; wow, do we have cool video for you.
 
Our drivers, Brian Smith and Jeff Courtney qualified 14th and 19th respectively and finished ninth and 11th but a lot happened “on the way to the office” as they say.  
 
Lap one, Brian gets tapped in the rear at corner seven sending him off to the inside of the turn, he works his way back up the ladder until mid-race when the forward momentum seems to go stagnant, probably tire temperature from the charge.  Then full coarse yellow ensues allowing tire cool down that opened up the chance to move on up.    Brian had been dogging the back of the Viper of Rookie Jason Daskalos and on the last lap Jason gets wide in corner 12, slides off the outside, does a “ballet academy 10” pirouette back onto the track facing Brian nose to nose.  This all in seconds and Brian makes one of the best  nanno-second decisions of his career to come away with only a partial nose removal job, thus allowing him to finish one spot down from Tommy Archer.  Our Jeff  “Mr. Smooth” Courtney brought home the next Viper finish of 11th. Overall a good day given the hand we were dealt.  
Tommy  Archer, our 8th place finisher, being either “the” or one of “the best drivers” in the series gives you a reference of how the competition adjustments effected the Dodge contingent.  
Mike McCann, our other strength for a top finish had some difficulty with what appeared to be corner 12.  On corner exit he caught some thrown up sand with the outside rear initiating a 150 degree rotation that was impeded by the inside tire wall leaving a changed look to the front and back of his beautiful yellow and white machine.  It appeared an oil cooler was ruptured and Mike called it a day.

CLICK HERE  to watch race highlights from the Woodhouse Performance Dodge Viper

Please remember all this happens because of these fine companies:

ProMPI – Your one stop shop for Promotional Items  www.prompi.com

MPI Coin – Specializes in distribution and marketing of coin products. www.mpicoin.com

Kicker Car Stereo –KICKER is the world leader in high-performance mobile audio gear. www.kicker.com.

Badger Tire and Wheel – A leading Distributor/Manufacturer/Assembler of recreational trailer products. www.badgercomponents.com

Kenda Tires - Kenda is a leading tire and tube manufacturer for specialty and automotive tires. www.kendausa.com

Karavan Trailers – Equipment manufacturer of private label boat, watercraft, utility, snowmobile and other recreational trailers.  www.karavantrailers.com

Forester Signs – Forester Signs is a company that makes Custom designed vinyl graphics, signs & banners. www.forestersigns.com

JG Wheel – www.jgwheel.com

Go here to get the entire race results:

Series Website: www.world-challenge.com

Speed Channel’s Website: www.speedtv.com

Laguna Seca, Ca,       Round 10    9/22/06

the 2006 Speed World Challenge GT Championships

It’s race 10 at Laguna Seca, it’s the SPEED World Challenge Finals.  The piranha tank is frothing, minnows are scarce. Teams whisper strategy, engines curiously get friskier, chassis tuning more creative, and when you think there’s nothing left, the cars get faster.  This is good ole boy racing, right? No pressure.  Think that?  Then you need to get to a World Challenge race. The 2005 lap record got broken by 21 of the 34 race cars in the GT field.  The finish line separated the first and second car by .03 second.   In spite of being 1.5 seconds quicker than last year, the Woodhouse Performance /Kicker /Dodge Viper Competition Coupe #13 qualified 11^th. 

Dodge Viper fans if this were an old western, it would have been called a “Bad day at Black Rock”.  Dodge came into this final round leading in manufacturers points, and left it, the 2006 Championship to Porsche with Cadillac in 3^rd.  What a scrap it was, this game of strategy, of preparation, of chance, of risk, of skill.   

Dodge did not have the fastest cars here, after practice and qualifying we were behind the Corvettes, Cads and Porsches.  Our biggest gun, and best finish was Tommy Archer.  He started 8^th and finished 6^th albeit with a wounded suspension..

The standing start found me staring at the back of Andy Pigrims’ 9^th gridded Caddy when the lights went out.   You usually can’t catch Andy napping but something kept him there.   When the light went out, our  #13 Woodhouse Auto Family Viper slid up between him and the pit wall accelerating up the hill.  As we came side by side the power in our snake began to falter.  Geez of all the times to pick for an engine gremlin, this wasn’t it.  On again off again like a light switch instead of a throttle we ended up at the  #2 turn about where we started. ^{click here.}

If I turned left the engine would kill, then back to life as the wheel straightened. I radio’d crew chief Rick about this alien presence.  Not that he could wave his wand but I needed a friend to talk to, Oprah wasn’t handy.  So deal with it.  Each left turn the strategy was; go in till she quits, then wiggle, then charge out.  We were struggling for momentum when the full coarse yellow came out.

“OK, Rick, lets get this re-start right”  Right, heck, we nailed it, he sounded like NASCAR… “green green green” he yells and I punch the throttle while the brake lights are lit on the Lawson AXA Porsche in the windshield. A smile builds, as the acceleration advantage catapults me past two cars heading under the bridge toward the start finish line.  In front of me are the #16 Caddie and the #5 Red Tommy Archer Viper.  The lane I am in narrows as the cars bend left under the starter bridge.  Room, plenty, a foot more than needed to get through  when O’Connell, the #16 Caddy sees me coming, he moves left, I am beside him.

Like squeezing a hazelnut with a pair of pliers.  Pop, with nowhere to go the front of the car jumps two feet into the air as the concrete and Cadillac jaws squeeze sending shards of body flying.  It was like the gates of hell exploded under the front end.  Due to the forward speed (about 100 mph) the cars had no option but to continue on. Click here. 

From this point forward I struggle to make sense of all this.  I’m feeling like a low flying water fowl above an outdoor Ducks Unlimited Convention: An engine that chooses when it wants to run. A suspension that is handling erratically after the nutcracker special and I can’t get Rick to answer the radio.

Flinging the car off the outside of every corner now;  elevating myself to idiot status.  Note to self:  “Get a grip”.  In the midst of note, I discover a disconnected ear plug cord.  Conveniently a full coarse yellow allows me to drive with one knee to get re-plugged just in time to hear Rick, in a highly motivated voice, tell me to get my undeniably ignorant self to the pits and pronto.  It takes him 30 seconds to replace the left front tire that was flat due to rim damage on the concrete wall. 

Back out we go with but one of the three issues left.  This time it takes one straight-away for that problem, the engine dyeing, to manifest itself.  No amount of steering and shaking will revive her and I roll dead stick to the inside of turn three. 

Relegated to spectator status I sit buckled in watching a bit of the race flashes across the turn in front of me.  20 minutes have gone by now and every five or so I try the starter.  This time it fires.  Fans have placed themselves along the inside fence observing the  fate of the #13 Viper.  When it fired I could hear their screams.  Cool, I’m with ya on that one.  It ran long enough to get back to the pits where Rick tugged on all things electrical until he discovered and plugged in a loose connector. 

Out we go again.  Four laps left.  Rick says “Keep your eyes on your mirrors, you have leaders behind you.”  Not to worry the car was all it needed to be, they advanced no ground. 

Our team goal was to bring back a top ten for the year.  We finished 7^th.   Eight finishes were top ten, four top 5 and a podium. We get to say we finished all ten.       

Race teams get asked to vote for the crew of the year.  In the TC series congratulations go to the hard working 3R team.  In the GT Series, Rick and Nancy, our little crew on the #13 Viper Competition Coupe received the honors.  A more meaningful recognition you could not bestow.  Nancy is still flushed with excitement.

Some of the hard working, caring folks that support this:  

Woodhouse Auto Family we deliver nationwide. 800 889 1893 www.woodhouse.com   

Kicker livin loud.      www.kicker.com

Dodge Motorsports   www.dodge.com

Charity of choice       www.alexslemonade.com

More info at     www.speedtv.com  or  www.world-challenge.com

broadcast time

Saturday, October 28,

TC at 1 and GT at 2 p.m. Eastern on SPEED

Bless you all.

 bobwoodhouse@woodhouse.com

Road Atlanta Round 9 of the SPEED World Challenge

TC Race Report Through the Windshield of the Woodhouse/Kicker/Viosport/Alex’s Lemonade Dodge SRT-4

by Brian Smith

WE WON!!!!  Okay it was only the practice session, but it sure felt good to the team to be on top of the charts.

Obviously the practice sessions went well for us.  We made many significant changes during practice to get the car to accommodate the high speed corners and the somewhat user friendly curbs.

We made a change for qualifying that we thought would help us gain a few tenths.  Instead it cost us a few tenths and we qualified a disappointing 10^th.  However, we knew the car would be strong for the race so optimism was high that we could get the top three finish that slipped through our hands at Road America.

Race day was a perfect day for racing … pleasantly warm and sunshine.  With a significant amount of friends and family around it was an enjoyable day.

On to the race.  With the normal pre-race activities completed (which we had our favorite flag girl Danielle back) we lined up for the standing start in the outside line in the 10^th position.  After Road America and Mosport this front stretch looked like it was an eight lane highway with plenty of room to maneuver.  The only catch at Road Atlanta is turn 1.  You can enter four or so wide but you probably will not exit the corner with everyone still on the pavement (if you were the driver you should probably have made a note of this).  Also, when something goes wrong the outside car tends to be the loser.  Oh, and it is a fast corner … minimum speed of 90 mph.  I figured everyone would head to the inside which is the conventional thinking at Rd. Atl.  So, as usual I planned on going were everyone would not be going … the outside.  I had another great start pulling several cars.  Either I need to switch to drag racing or a lot of people were sleeping.  I did head for the outside because nobody was there.  As we entered turn 1 it appeared we were up to 5^th or 6^th (hard to count exactly when you are driving at the same time).  I was about to pull beside the Tindol Mazda and Acura running side by side and thought about tucking in behind them for the remainder of turn 1.  However, greed obtained the best of me and I decided I wanted those two extra positions to be up to 3^rd or 4^th.  Remember that comment about not being on the outside too long?  Well half way up the hill I hit the loose stuff on the outside and the rear of the car stepped out into a slide.  This slide became larger when the rear tires went over the curb and into the dirt.  Luckily I did not spin.  I just slid for a long time watching out the windshield as all the cars that I had passed and a few others passed me.

I settled down and by lap 10 was back up to 8^th place with the 4^th fastest race lap.  I felt confident that we could still obtain our top 3 finish as we were running a comfortable pace and catching the cars in front.  However, luck struck us again.  On lap 11 of 27 the engine temp started to climb and I could smell some coolant.  For the remainder of the race the engine temperature continued to climb and the power steadily decreased (7 seconds a lap slower by the end of the race).  In addition the fluid we were losing was going under the car making the car a touch too loose.  We soldiered on to finish 11^th.

We head to Laguna in California in a couple of weeks for the final race of the season and hopefully a win.  We are also in the process of obtaining partners for next year so if you know of companies that would be interested in an affordable marketing tool let us know.

Remember to go online at www.woodhouse.com to purchase your next vehicle no matter where you live, upgrade your car stereo system or purchase your SRT with Kicker products (www.kicker.com), utilize Viosport (www.viosport.com) for  your affordable rugged wearable video needs, visit www.turnonetrackevents.com for corporate and track day events and consider supporting www.alexslemonade.com in their fight against children’s cancer.

Mosport Round 8 of the SPEED World Challenge

TC Race Report Through the Windshield of the Woodhouse/Kicker/Alex’s Lemonade Dodge SRT-4

by Brian Smith

The Kicker/Woodhouse Dodge SRT-4 team would like to put in a request for “no luck”.  We do not need good luck … we just do not need the bad luck.

People talk about how tough it is to learn Mosport and how difficult it is to be fast.  I can understand why.  I heard similar comments when I first went to the Nurburgring.  Actually, Mosport seems like a scaled down (much scaled down) Nurburgring.  Hills, blind corners, high speed blind corners, bumps, off camber corners, etc.  If there was a track that practice would be important it would be here.

So, to make it an interesting weekend our motor decided to throw in the towel after a few laps in the first practice session on the promoter test day.  It probably decided it did not like life in the oil temperature range we had been asking it to live for half the season.  That meant no practice and the crew (Joel, Larry, Marvin) spent the rest of the day replacing the motor.  A few laps around the paddock that evening insured the car was ready for the next day.

The first official twenty minute practice session was utilized to learn the track and determine that our setup from Road America was not going to work here.  The car was bouncing around at inappropriate times, locking the rear tires during braking, etc.  Minor details.  The team did some significant changes to the setup for the second and final practice session which resulted in 7^th fastest.  Not bad considering we were utilizing our new restrictor from our friends at SCCA and we only had about 15 laps around the track.  If we had another test session we could have tuned the car better, but at least we were in the ball park.  Hope was high for qualifying and the race.

The qualifying session started off damp with a dry line at the end of the session.  We were quick in the first couple of laps when it was damp, but fuel pump issues in the fuel cell resulted in a sputtering motor after two laps.  So we were unable to take advantage of the drying conditions like everyone else.  The result was our worse qualifying position of the year for the Woodhouse/Kicker Dodge SRT-4 … 21^st.  Where was that “no luck”?  The positive was we would have a good shot at the “hard charger” award. 

Race day appeared with every team trying to play weather forecaster.  At the time for the cars to be taken to the grid the track was still very wet and there was light rain.  However, the radar showed it might stop during our race which could result in a dry line.  Hmm … the big question was whether to go out on rain tires or dry tires.  We chose rain tires with our best guess of a rain setup.  A few teams went to grid with dry tires.  All of them except one changed to rains in the grid … the car that did not ended up in the kitty litter during the race.  One team missed the grid all together while they were contemplating their setup.  This was going to be a fun race.  We lined up for the standing start only to learn that one of the cars had blown up on the warm up lap so we would be doing a single file rolling start.  Bummer!!  I am sure we would have gained several positions on the start.  The start came and I was caught out a little (the front guys started racing around turn 8) at the start.  There were several cautions which robbed us of green flag racing laps.  However, we were able to work our way up to 11^th.  We would have finished better then that except the handling went away in the last 4 or 5 laps and I spent a lot of time dueling with Altenburg for the 10^th position.  Actually, that was fun.  We were passing each other multiple times in the same corner.  All while in close quarters with less then ideal traction.  We never touched … not sure how.  Keep an eye out for the last part of the TV broadcast.  I did not mention that we had plenty of large oversteer moments during the race, but no issues.  We did have an interesting moment on one of the restarts.  I dove to the inside of the Tindol car into turn 1, on the slippery part of the track, which resulted in a full counter steer slide beside him.  The good news is we did not hit him or spin … the bad news is we did not get that position.  However, he did spin himself at turn 2 which allowed me to get around.

So we ended the race in 11^th with the “hard charger” award.  Not bad for the eventful weekend.  Hopefully we will have “no luck” at Road Atlanta and we can pull off a win.

Thanks to the entire crew for the long hours changing the motor, fixing the fuel issues and the setup changes.

Remember to go online at www.woodhouse.com to purchase your next vehicle no matter where you live, upgrade your car stereo system or purchase your SRT with Kicker products (www.kicker.com), visit www.turnonetrackevents.com for corporate and track day events and consider supporting www.alexslemonade.com in their fight against children’s cancer.

Rd. America Round 7, Elkhart Lake Wi. August 18-20  and

Mosport Round 8 Toronto, Canada Sept. 1-3 of the 2006 SPEED World Challenge GT races as seen through the Woodhouse Windshield

Loyal followers; I so apologize.  The Round 7 race report got buried among the staples of survival between races (ie: making a living).  I ask your forgiveness and offer resolution by putting 7 and 8 together. 

Road America, if they made a heaven for a car guy, this would be it.  Hundreds of acres of beautiful green trees and grass with a four mile ribbon of asphalt race track laced through it.  Included are three near mile long straights.  That equates to one of the faster average lap speeds in the road racing world .  And it is no less a rush.

The Race:  As the lights went out, the noise got deafening from all of these World Challenge GT race cars headed for turn one like hell shot out of a cannon.  I have a grin, I can’t recall a better standing start. Gridded directly in front of me in his Lime Green Viper Competition Coupe is Rob Foster.  Rob roasted em a bit so I pulled up along side, since asphalt was at a premium I had to use the grass.  Traction is less good on the green leaving a net gain of zero by the time we arrived at turn one.   Through turns one and two the cars stay two wide.  The #13 Woodhouse Auto Family/Kicker/Dodge Viper Competition Coupe is in the inside lane at the exit of turn five and we are blending into single file.  Rob goes a bit wide and the Viper in front of me now is Rich Marziale who slips to the inside and goes by Rob up the hill to 6.  I follow but am a half car short of making a safe pass.  Turn 8 again leaves an opportunity as I manage a fender to the inside of Rob going into the Carousel.  Again; pull back.  Through the carousel into the kink goes the line of cars using every ounce of grip their tires can create on this cool sunny day.  We arrive at the brake zone of  Canada Corner doing 140 mph.  Rob is directly in front and I speculate that he sees a large cloud of smoke in front of him and dives to the left earlier than expected.  Mind says:  “Bob, opportunity window, did you hear the bell or are you gonna just sit on the couch?” This is racing; I’m in, I brake softly and stay tucked to the inside of Canada Corner rattling over the inside candies.  At the apex comes a ka-whump-whump, as I peripherally observe the lime green machine careen off of the driver side.  Physics lesson at work, (you know, equal and opposite and all that) the ensuing spin into the gravel trap substantiates there are no new rules to go by.  The ka-whaump is no small thing and I in the mean time am wiggling around out of shape but manage to find a forward gear and move on.  Not before a Yellow Corvette comes blazing by. 

Two corners later I find my nose close enough to him going up the long straight to pull some draft.  As the Corvette approached turn one both he and I knew the intent; to pop out at the last minute and put my car on his inside at corner one.  So the Vette waited to brake as long as possible.  Perhaps too long since he slid off the end of the corner and allowed me to go on without him.  The entire race was full from beginning to end with battles like this.  Never this much war for a full race.  Big fun.  I recall passing Ritch Marziele on the restart (due to the crash of Adel Asayed and Mike Hartley in the Kink)only to be re-passed by him again later when we got into traffic. 

Near the race end, the Volvo had it’s drain plug fall out pumping oil onto the racing line, which came within a hairs width of changing the outcome of my day as I drove over it in full steering lock sideways followed by Jimmy McCann. 

Jimmy came through a bit more collected and found his way to my rear bumper going up the front straight.  He had every intention of doing unto me what I had bestowed on the Corvette at turn one earlier.  And it was happening, only this time I was the one attempting to wait to the last minute.  It ain’t easy guessing the exact spot to brake when you are clippin off 150 mph.  Apparently Jimmy got distracted slightly on his brake point and made a graceful arc past me on the inside and off into the corner exit grass on the other side of turn one.  No harm, no foul, but allowed me to maintain that 10^th position finishing spot.  Barely a top ten but it felt like much more.

Mosport; a place, like no other, the most famous of Canadian tracks,  50 miles east of Toronto.  Canadians take their racing seriously. 100,000 tickets sold for this  Labor Day racing weekend even though fans knew in advance it would be cold and rainy.  You marketing people, pay attention, this is being overlooked.  It is Saturday morning where practice and qualifying is taking place for World Challenge, American LeMans, Formula Mazda, and Formula BMW.  Rows of umbrella equipped people are lining two and three deep along this lightly fenced/safety walled race track. People as far as the eye will take you.  Many stay the week end on this vast “Mosport” Complex.  The surrounding hilly wooded areas are full of thousands of motor homes, trailers, tents and campfires

The track itself; is wanted on the resume’ of every established race driver who is alive to tell about it.  I humor you only a little.  2.5 miles of the fastest high speed blind vertical drop corners found anywhere.  This place is famous for lots of reasons, a sobering one; famed racers have met their maker here.  This is not a track to learn on your own. 

Qualifying began with light rain, but increasing during the session to deny a good lap time after the first 5 minutes.  That #13 on the side of the Woodhouse Auto Family/Kicker/Dodge SRT/Viper Competition Coupe brought good luck.  We qualified 4^th in the field. 

If you think women like to gossip, hey, you haven’t been around race teams when you throw in a few curve balls, like weather and drivers with names like Giolotti and the direction of World Challenge.  But lets focus on the rain.  Racers and officials were asking each other, “should we go to a rolling start?  Can we change the time of the race? Should the race  be cancelled?”  On pre-grid, front runner Andy Pilgrim came to my car window and says “ Hey Bob, maybe we should consider asking them to cancel.,  Ron Fellows in the ALMS practice reported standing water at the end of the long straight.  A 140mph car gets loose there and he could wipe us all out.”   I can’t tell you if that was a psych job (possible since we were gridded right behind him on the start) or sincerity.  You judge.  

The Race:  I can’t remember the last time we raced in the rain, I mean serious rain, so the chassis setup was pure guess on the Viper Competition Coupe.    We used one agenda: soften it. 

As the starting lights blinked out, this normally thundering field of high horsepower GT cars crawl off in slow motion with the hiss of tires squishing through water and the usual engine noise eerily subdued.  Windshield wipers wave at the umbrella’d crowd as the cars slither by.   You occasionally heard engines stutter from being reigned in by their traction devices.  Down the hill in corner two, the 5^th gridded all-wheel drive Volvo has blasted completely out of site.  

Side Bar:  Last year, this race started as a crash-fest taking out 8 cars in turn one.  This year the entire race went without a full course caution or a re-start.  Go figure. Maybe rain equals safe?  Tommy Archer, Mr. smooth moves from his less than ideal starting position to the head of the two wheel drive race cars around lap two. 

In my drivers seat, the race felt like it was three hours long, tense and slow.  Each lap was akin to wailing down your kids’ slippery slide in the back yard holding eggs in both hands.  The track had two kinds of grip, very slick and extremely slick.  Extremely slick could be found anywhere on the standard racing line.    Very slick portions (which is lousy but better) could be found in odd places like within a foot of the outside edge of a corner.  All this observed by looking through a windshield akin to your bathroom mirror after your wife finished her long shower.  Each lap a bonus is thrown in at the end of the long straight with the cars in front putting up a wall of taillight hiding fog from their wings and140mph speeds.  

I cannot share all of the set up tips with you since you never know when the enemy might read this, but we found our strength was the long straight between 5 and 8 and our weakness was corners two and five with a serious killing being done on us by the Porsches there.  Did I mention our setup was not perfect? Push issues. 

As the laps swished by,  a Cadillac fell back,  the Vettes were slowing, and the Porsches were gaining.  James Sofranos Porsche came past, then the Aschenbach Porsche is in full attack, he is really fast (comparatively) in turn five but I  find traction going uphill on the long straight, he drops back.   Next is Ricardo Imory, AXA Porsche teammate who makes a brilliant outside pass in turn one and two, I stick to the inside as we approach three, he runs the rim of the corner and his extra distance brings me even with him at the apex.  It was like ice skating and touching with two fingers.  That tiny touch caused a loss of traction on his car and he spins off, regaining the track quickly to finish 8^th to our fifth after a soggy and stressful 27 laps.  This race is a unique memory.  Incredible.  

Fellow Chrysler and Viper enthusiasts, thank you for your interest and support.  Lets’ keep the momentum for Road Atlanta.  Dodge is one point back of Porsche for the lead in the manufacturers title race.   

Find more info at     www.speedtv.com  or  www.world-challenge.com

Now to the proud people behind all this and deserving of your support:  www.woodhouse.com Woodhouse Auto Family

Kicker www.kicker.com livin loud.

Dodge Motorsports  www.dodge.com  

feel good about yourself, check out www.alexslemonade.com

Our Woodhouse Auto Family/Kicker/Dodge SRT-4 story is in the hands of it’s driver Brian Smith, if you do not get his report and wish to, e mail Brian at brian@full-lock.com

Humbly      bobwoodhouse@woodhouse.com

Road America Round 7 of the SPEED World Challenge

TC Race Report Through the Windshield of the Woodhouse/Kicker/Alex’s Lemonade Dodge SRT-4

by Brian Smith

First, I would like congratulate Rob and the 3R crew for claiming a great 3^rd place with their Dodge SRT-4.  Good job!  Also Bob Woodhouse for another top ten finish!  In seven races his worse finish has been 11^th once.  He is sixth in the points!  Not bad for an old guy … must be his coach.  Haha.

Ok.  Onto the Kicker/Woodhouse Dodge SRT-4.  A BIG thanks to the entire crew for all the hours in the shop and at the track testing.  We improved our handling, reduced our engine temperatures to what most people would consider tolerable, etc.

I think when they built Road America they knew there was going to be an SRT-4 produced.  This track was great for our car.  Three straights (throw the kink into one of those straights for entertainment value) we were in 5^th gear.  And the top of 5^th gear at that.  Talk about fast!  Mother Nature even decided to help out by keeping the temperatures in the 70’s all weekend and we were not at high altitude.  Basically we had ideal conditions on an ideal track for us to make good power.  About time.  Mosport will not be as friendly, but look out again at Road Atlanta.  I think we will have a shot of finishing were we had a chance to finish at Road America … getting ahead of myself.

The official practice days were interesting in that we never were able to run a full tilt lap due to a few issues that we resolved before qualifying.  We were confident we would do well in qualifying.  However, I caught a slow car on my flyer lap and had to follow it for two corners (12 to 14) before I was able to clear it.  This cost me a significant amount of time.  I am not talking tenths of seconds here so you math majors do the math and you can determine where we thought we were going to qualify.  I was going to do another flyer immediately after, but the hold up affected that lap also so I did a cool down lap instead and came into the pits to reset the pressures.  I typically only do one lap for qualifying to minimize the wear on the tires so we set the air pressures for one lap.  Once the pressures were set I went out for one more flyer at the end of the session.  Unfortunately one of the other cars blew up and caused the session to end early before I could do the flyer.  So we had to settle with a 7^th place starting position.

I actually was not too worried because (knock on wood) I have had good starts all year making up several positions.  The first thing I noticed when we were sitting on the grid for the flag ceremony was how narrow the track was on the front straight.  I guess they wanted to save a few dollars in paving cost since it is 4 plus miles around the track.  Throw in the pit lane wall and there was not going to be much room on the start.

We lined up after the formation lap ready to go.  Unfortunately I could not see the 5 second board.  As I radioed the crew to see if the board had been raised I saw the start lights come on.  Answered that question.  The lights went out and I had a great start.  There was no way I could give up the momentum I had so I was searching for somewhere to go.  Just happened there was a little light between Rob in the other Dodge SRT-4 and the pit wall in front of me.  Could I fit?  Probably, but I might have to shed a mirror or two.  So, I went for the hole with Curran following me.  I made it through the hole and past Rob.  This put me beside Cunningham who was moving over to protect the line.  I headed for the pit entrance to gain a little extra room.  The only problem was that it ended and there was only grass.  I squeezed my way over enough to the left to stay on the pavement and go through turn 1 with Cunningham next to me.  Cunningham is fast and has more experience then probably every one in the field.  So, I tucked in behind him going into turn 3 with a love tap on the rear bumper from Curran just to make sure I did not forget about him.  I was up to 4^th.

I followed Cunningham for a lap and realized I had a big pack of hornets behind that wanted to get by badly.  So, I started working on Cunningham.  He does not give you easy passes.  On the second lap I had a good draft going up the front straight.  I pulled to the inside and we entered the turn one braking zone side by side.  I was thinking I would out brake him and then slide past.  Not.  He took me in really deep.  I had to bail because if I had gone any deeper I would never have made the corner and probably took him with me.  I was able to stay halfway beside him through the corner which kept him from getting to the apex and carrying speed through the corner.  At Turn 3 I was back beside him, but this time we broke at the same time so I was able to go through the corner and clear him on the exit.  I was very loose exiting the corner which was entertaining.  Now I was in a comfortable 3^rd.

For the next 10 laps I basically kept myself about 1-1/2 seconds behind the front two cars.  I was watching the group behind me in the mirror and they showed no indications of being able to catch up so I paced myself with the front two guys.  The only glitch was about halfway through the race something cut the CV boot and allowed all the grease to leave.  Minor detail.  With about 7 laps to go I started to push a little harder.  Over the next two laps I cut about ¾ of a second off the lead guys.  This was going to be interesting.  I was sure we would catch the second place car with about 4 laps to go.  That would leave us time to try and get 2^nd and if we did maybe have an outside chance at getting the win.  Then disaster.  The left front tire went flat between turns 3 and 5.  Knowing I could not make it all the way around the track I went into the turn 5 cutoff which dumps you into the infield.  A quick check with the crew and I was driving back to the pits where they put on another tire so we could soldier on to an 18^th place finish.

Not what we wanted.  Especially since I thought we were going to be fighting for first and second in the last few laps.  However, a positive run for the Kicker/Woodhouse Dodge SRT-4.  Thanks again to the crew for great work all week and in preparing for the race.  We will be back at it Labor Day weekend so check www.world-challenge.com to see the results as they develop.

Remember to go online at www.woodhouse.com to purchase your next vehicle no matter where you live, upgrade your car stereo system or purchase your SRT with Kicker products (www.kicker.com), visit www.turnonetrackevents.com for corporate and track day events and consider supporting www.alexslemonade.com in their fight against children’s cancer.

Miller Motorsports Round 5 of the SPEED World Challenge

TC Race Report Through the Windshield of the Woodhouse/Kicker/Viosport/Alex’s Lemonade Dodge SRT-4

by Brian Smith

First, forgive me for being late with the report.  Frustration, SRT Nationals (where were all the Viper owners??) and a test session account for the lateness.  Am I allowed to cuss?  Talk about highs and lows of racing.  I think we experienced it all this weekend.

It was around 100 degrees every day.  Combine this with high altitude and you have the ingredients for a large portion of our frustration.  NO POWER.  It was obvious early on that we only had full power for two laps at the most.  Coolant and charge temperatures were probably higher then you would want to know.  Also, we had a failed speed sensor which kept us from full boost on the promoter’s test day.

Everyone spent a lot of time working and thinking about our cooling issues.  We moved coolers, modified the fascia slightly, etc.  We would find out in the race if all this work solved the problem.  Fingers were crossed.

Before we discuss the race we should probably quickly cover qualifying.  With Miller being a long track (4.8 miles) we opted to do one flying lap.  We had a good qualifying lap going until about 4 turns (there were about 24 turns) from the end.  The driver made an error that cost about 0.6 seconds.  So, instead of qualifying 6^th we were 12^th.  However, optimism was high for the race as long as the power hung in there.

After watching the GT race my plan was to go to the outside.  The standing start was on a 3500 foot straightway before turn 1.  As we pulled into position for the start I scouted the cars around me.  I was confident the Woodhouse/Kicker/Viosport/Alex’s Lemonade Dodge SRT-4 could get a good start compared to everyone except for the all wheel drive Audi behind me.  When the starting lights came on I was ready for them to go out quickly.  I was positive they would not hold us in this heat for long, but they did.  It seemed like a minute before the lights went out.  I had a decent start.  I started to the outside when a large hole on the inside opened up.  It was so enticing I had to go for it.  The only problem was that hole closed as I arrived.  So I quickly popped back out to the outside although I lost some momentum.  By the first turn I had picked up a couple of positions.  So far so good.

Next was a great example of being lucky instead of good.  Coming into turn 5 (or was it called 4) which is about a 50 mph corner after about a 110 mph straight everyone broke much earlier then I anticipated.  In our tight racing quarters I was in big trouble because I was not going to stop in time.  A quick move to the outside under braking almost caused me to spin, but I missed everyone.  And I passed three or four cars in the process.  We were now up to 7^th halfway through the first lap with only one bump on the nose, one bump on the rear fascia and tire mark on the right side of the car.  This was going to be good.

It was for about a lap and half.  Then the temperatures went up and the power went down.  I found this out as I went to pass a Tri-Point Mazda and Bimmer World BMW out of a corner.  They had tangled with each other in the corner which allowed me to get inside them and have a great run onto the straight.  As I was beside them pulling away I started to lose power.  Now they were starting to pull me.  On the previous lap I had a car on the outside of me going into the upcoming corner.  He did not make the corner on the pavement.  Now I was on the outside with an extra car inside.  Unfortunately everyone else had a run on them also and were tucked in behind them.  I was in no man’s land.  So I worked myself to the inside in the corner but I was back to 11^th with no power.

So I proceed to run around in 11^th for most of the race.  At the end we were pushing for 10^th.  However, with a couple of laps left we had some type of bolt failure (a critical one since it held the tie rod to the knuckle).  So we ended up parked on the track with a tire pointed in the wrong direction.

Since then another test session has improved our handling and we are working on the cooling issues.  I will go out on a limb and guarantee a top five qualifying or finish in each of the last four races of the year so stay tune.

A big THANKS to Dave, Joel, Larry, Rick, Nancy and Dave for all the work in some conditions that was not ideal for working outside.

Remember to go online at www.woodhouse.com to purchase your next vehicle no matter where you live, upgrade your car stereo system or purchase your SRT with Kicker products (www.kicker.com), utilize Viosport (www.viosport.com) for  your affordable rugged wearable video needs, visit www.turnonetrackevents.com for corporate and track day events and consider supporting www.alexslemonade.com in their fight against children’s cancer.