September 6, 2006
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Round 7 and 8 of the Speed World Challenge GT Rd. America and Mosport
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 10th 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 4th 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 5th 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 8th 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
