Infineon Raceway  6/24/2006 Round Five of the Speed World Challenge GT.

A race report from #13 Woodhouse Auto Family/Kicker/Viosport  Dodge Viper Competition Coupe. That is a mouthful

 

As I write, I am listening to Joe Namath on TV telling the audience he used to “throw up” before a big game.  I can identify.  I haven’t thrown up….. yet,  just don’t eat, but the tension, the self doubt, the question of outcome, all raise hell with inner calm as the final moments before the start of the race.  It drags on like molasses running uphill in January.  Competitors can’t hide it either; “How do you plan to start?”  “What if I am on your tail?” nervous questions to occupy their minds.  Handshakes and good lucks are passed around with a giddiness that tells you their gut feels it too.  It’s Saturday now, mid-afternoon and the TC race is about to end, most of the drivers are on the wall trying to stay cool, waiting to get in our cars for the GT race. 

 

Fans are peppered throughout the half dozen huge grandstands of this massive upgraded facility called Infineon now, old timers still call it Sear Point.  I prefer to think they are all here for the World Challenge events;  we are but two of the many races this week-end culminating in the Dodge 350 Nextel Cup race.  These folks are hardcore, enduring the 100 degree heat but immersed in a terrific atmosphere that would make any Kicker enthusiast proud, good music wafting out over good equipment.   This place runs like a Swiss watch all day replacing one racing venue, the cars, equipment and pit crews with another in just minutes.

 

The Race:

It’s time; the presentation lap, flag girls, and start boxes are all complete and we watch Kathy drop the 5 second board while bringing  the rpm’s up to 4000 and glue to the official Whelen red lights for that first flicker of “off”.  Now it’s the zone, where focus forces time into slow motion.  Did I just see them dim?  No, oops yes, oh dang why did I wait that extra bit, why isn’t the clutch foot moving quicker, why is the car in front of me not moving yet, it sure is noisy right now, hey that wasn’t a bad launch.  We pull second gear with the nose of #13 at the door of Rob Foster’s #17 Lime Green Viper gridded 6^th to our 7^th.  Hmm looking mighty crowded as we approach the blind right hander at the top of the hill.  Rob falls back and makes room as most of the field negotiates two and three wide racing through the opening lap corners.

 

As the laps begin to “melt” away I find two quick cars, the Sofranos GMG Porsche and Jon Grooms AXA Financial Porsche driven by Lawson Auschenbach on my back side.  “Ignore em and just drive like your on an island with your ass on fire” I tell myself.   That works until I make a slight bauble in turn three and Sofronas, who is driving like a rifle bullet sneaks up the inside en route to corner 4a. 

Contact is eminent if I don’t yield, it’s time.  In his wake comes Lawson, closing the door would be risky and wrong.  Lawson is leading the driver points and I don’t want the responsibility of altering his destiny.  Lap 13, radio to Rick, “where did Rob Foster go?  He was in my mirrors a minute ago”.  Rick: “mechanical I think.”   No time to ponder as my cabin was alive with its own diversions.  The ice chest in the passenger side assigned to keep my cool shirt just that; started doing jumping jacks.  Now completely loose, it went crazy in turn three, as the car crested the hill, a lack of gravity and down hill braking made it attempt a kiss on the inside of the windshield.  Its acrobatic tendencies freed it from all appendages including the cold water tubing to the vest.  Stay positive Bob, saunas are healthy so why not this. 

 

Then in turn seven the yellow Corvette of Greg Weigert has pulled off line and is blossoming with flames, the fire teams are on it like ants to a hill.  It is sure to bring a full coarse yellow and does, about three laps, long enough for the field to bunch, tires to cool and a plan to develop.  “Rick, keep a hard eye on that re-start, when the front goes green I want to be racin, not nappin.”  Rick did us proud and the throttle hit the wall sooner than Lawson’s AXA Porsche to put us side by side going up the hill into turn one.  You can’t take anything away from Lawson Auschenbach, easily anyway, as we ran door to door for the next three corners and at 4a he reluctantly handed the position back for the remainder of our adventure giving us a 7^th position finish.  To make this result feel really fulfilling we managed to drop a valve keeper on the final practice session, the evening before race day.  The quickest way out was to change the engine, thanks go to Autohaus and 3R for their help.  Rick and Nancy stayed up until 1 AM getting the fire lit in the fresh engine.  You guys are incredible, thanks.

 

There’s more drama but first a word for you devoted Viper people.

 

Dodge made up 36% of the starting grid today and we qualified 5 cars in the top ten.  Tommy Archer and Mike McCann in the top 5.  Great news and as the politics of racing are there to be reckoned with, expect to have to defend these successes.  Other marques, not populating the top spots as heavily will have concern.  For that reason I want you to hear my opinion.  We are represented well because of the quality of preparation, the quality of drivers and obviously a reliable competitive car, and in that order.  Other whininess, er I mean reasons will undoubtedly be brought to the SCCA officials, we must trust in them for good and fair judgment in their decisions.

 

Which brings me to the entertainment side of racing that I have come to enjoy and think you should too.  If you are a regular to my ramblings you will recall Lou Gigliotti #28 Corvette and I have had a colorful relationship that has recently turned toward mild camaraderie, and why not, we couldn’t go much further the other way.  Lou is a deep, multifaceted person, loves to race, to win, to be a showman, to be on stage, to act; all this and I still don’t know him well.  Recently Lou took a new approach.  Since SCCA judged his car to be a little too quick (dominating the competition by over one second a lap) they decided to size his air intake restrictor down a bit and take 400 rpm off of his motor. 

 

Lou took it upon himself to set these deranged decision makers straight since they have over-slowed the Corvette and asked all of the Viper owners individually if they would consider his talent as a Viper driver in any of the remaining races this season, thus a point can be proven, Lou is the key to his winning ways, not the car.  So far, no takers.  Here’s the irony: during practice and qualifying the  #28 Corvette’s lap times were about mid-pack, you know, less motor, can’t expect too much.  So then…………..Lou sets the fastest lap of the entire race, gets the “coolest move” award for a couple of fabulous passes and finds himself making a stop and go for punching Rich Marziele in his White Viper CC mid corner on 11.  What’s up with that?  Geez maybe it is the driver.  Lou finished a commendable 10^th after all that.   I don’t make this stuff up.    

Rich is now a member in good standing of the “I’ve Been Crashed by LG Club”.  Where would we be without Lou , the drama, the twists, the posturing, it just makes sense, it all adds to the show. As official Pat Daniteli puts it:  “That’s just Lou”.

 

Lets cut it off here, but stay on the edge of your seats, you can learn who won and all the real stuff June 8^th on SPEED at 4pm est, Touring Car at 3pm eastern also. www.speedtv.com  or  www.world-challenge.com

 

Our Woodhouse Auto Family/Kicker/Viosport/ Dodge SRT-4 completed the best result so far in the hands of our Brian Smith, 28 seconds back of the leader.  The team is resolving to the fact that we have a lot of development left even though we have come miles.  Brian will tell you the story.

 

I would hate myself if I didn’t finish with some shameless hawking:  Remember the Kicker people www.kicker.com, Viosport www.viosport.com, and of course Woodhouse Auto Family www.woodhouse.com in fact, check em all out right here on line. www.dodge.com to see the hot line-up of SRT products.

If you want to feel good about yourself, then go to this web site and consider a serious donation. www.alexslemonade.com

 

 Bob Woodhouse

 

 

Mid Ohio Round 3 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

 

 

What type of track condition would you like?  The Mid Ohio weekend provide a little bit of everything except hot and sunny.  This is Spring time and all most summer?  Right?  We had dry & cold, dry & warm, damp and full out wet at some point for practice, qualifying and racing.

 

In regard to the car we went from a decent car to a great car in the damp to a pretty good car for qualifying in the dry.  Overall a very positive weekend (finally!).  We have a damp setup that is great!  We were 10^th in the wet practice session holding back somewhat to insure no off course excursions … new fill dirt around the edges of the newly paved track meant a muddy welcome for anyone venturing off the track.  We made some significant changes to the setup (the crew kept busy this weekend) before qualifying which rewarded us with a 13^th spot.  Even though this was our best qualifying spot of the year for the Woodhouse/Kicker/Viosport/Alex’s Lemonade Stand Dodge SRT-4 we were disappointed because I caught one of the BMW’s on our fast lap … it appeared we would have been around 6^th or 7^th.

 

So, race day arrived with great expectations of at least a top 10 finish and maybe with a little luck even higher.  As has become a given, the Woodhouse/Kicker/Viosport/Alex’s Lemonade Stand Dodge SRT-4 had a great start.  I am sure it is the car and not the driver … or at least that is what Bob tells me.  Having a good start was even more important since we were surrounded by all wheel drive Audi’s and BMW’s that typically have good launches.  Actually the start is easy.  Raise the RPM’s until the red shift light flashes, wait for the start lights to go out and modulate the clutch and throttle to blast away … along with the noise of 35 other cars doing the same.

 

The race can be summed up as being fun while frustrating with extreme disappoint at the end.  We jumped up to 11^th on the start, but the keyhole demonstrated that we had more understeer then anticipated.  This meant I missed the apex and track out of several corners on the first couple of laps as I tried to carry as much speed through the corners as I did in qualifying.  As you can imagine there were plenty of volunteers behind me willing to show me the proper line.  Thanks.  So a quick analysis of the situation resulted in a need for a different driving style.  Basically fly into the corner, park in the middle of the corner and then accelerate off the corner.  This improved lap times and along with some late braking allowed me to work back up to 11^th by the middle of the race.  I should mention that several of our competitors were trying to reshape our rear bumper.  For some reason they did not want to go the same speed through the middle of the corner.  The positive about this was I had plenty of racing action … that part was FUN.  Warning.  You are not going to believe what happened next.  With about 5 laps to go the power suddenly went away.  Flashback to Sebring and you can provide the answer as to why.  Once again we had an intercooler hose blow off.  So we drove around slowly and

finished a disappointing 25^th … needless to say the driver and crew was disappointed after a lot of hard work.  We will have new hoses and clamps.

 

Before you hear from me again we will be doing a test session before Infineon which will hopefully allow us to make the next jump to put the Woodhouse/Kicker/Viosport/Alex’s Lemonade Stand Dodge SRT-4 up in the top ten and possibly the top 5.

 

A big THANKS to Dave, Joel, Larry, Rick, Nancy and even Bob for all the work in some conditions that was not ideal for working outside.  We also enjoyed having the Eaton folks visit with us.  They have some great automotive products like differentials, hoses, etc.

 

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.

Long Beach, Ca.   Round Three of the Speed World Challenge. The GT race report  from the windshield of Bob Woodhouse  4/10/2006

 

 

The Place

The mother of all street races, the Long Beach Grand Prix, as it should be since they have been practicing for 32 years.  Lining a city with two miles of concrete barriers, putting grandstands on every corner and making this safe for 180 mph cars flying by your nose in a downtown metro setting with the Queen Mary in the background is not a vision most city fathers have the nads for. Kudos to you all.

Six racing venues taking place among tall buildings put noise in the air all week-end in this carnival atmosphere. The convention hall had two racing paddocks housed indoors sharing company with a kaleidoscope of vendors and fun booths likening it to a state fair. 

Transports were left at a remote location in order to shrink wrap us to fit  indoors.  For the SCCA World-Challenge GT community it created family.  We spent four days elbow to elbow.  We strengthened friendships and relied on each others resources. 

 

Heck, even Lou Gigliotti and I took time to bury the hatchet.  As you may know, we spent a lot of energy focusing on the character flaws of each other, (neither of us likely to run short of material).  We did agree on a change in direction moving forward.

 

As announcer Tom Hnatiw puts it. “Bob you tend to qualify around your number”.  Meaning we qualifed the Woodhouse Performance Kicker Viosport Viper Competition Coupe #13 in the 13^th grid position..  Dodge has good representation in the GT series, I was gridded in the middle of Vipers of  Ritch“Muzzy”Marziale, Skip Sauls and Rob Foster and John Deering along with Tommy Archer and Mike McCann up front.

 

The Race

For three days I heard stories about hard walls and 155 mph straights that would change the looks of a perfectly good race car.  Since we have a few points accumulated this year a “Did Not Finish” would not be prudent.   We launched good from the standing start, gaining a couple spots prior to corner one.  That moment of glory was flicked away as two trains of cars moved through the corner and the inside line became frozen (so it seemed) and the outside train of cars came rushing by leaving me 5 or 6 positions worse off  before blending into one line to get around the fountain.

 

Twenty nine laps later,  11^th place kept us 6^th in points.  Mike Davis with his ACS Salleen Mustang kept my move toward the front at a standstill for 15 of the 29 laps.  Mike defended his position with horsepower on the straights and used the narrow areas of the track to thwart my slightly faster lap times.  Nothing I wouldn’t do but it does get frustrating.  Five laps from the end I thought he would run out of race car as he started throwing oil and smoking but all that came of it was a well lubricated windshield for the #13 Woodhouse Auto Family, Kicker, Viosport, Dodge Viper, (shameless plug, yes?)..   

 

With four lead changes in the 29 laps and a cliff hanger last lap this will be a great race to watch.  Broadcast is this Sunday, check your times by going to www.speedtv.com or www.world-challenge.com.

 

An exciting side note:  Our race took place late on Sunday, after the Champ Cars had run.  The stands were virtually overflowing with people at a time you would expect them to head home.  Possible reasons, the WCGT series is growing in popularity.  The ex-Trans-Am fans have adopted WCGT.  Californians love big noisy street cars.   But most likely just drunk and didn’t want to leave. 

 

Thank you for enduring another GT race report.  No Touring Car this round.  Next round will be at Mid Ohio on May 20 and 21 with both the Woodhouse Auto Family/ Kicker/ Viosport / sponsored #13 Dodge Viper and #13 Dodge SRT-4 will be in attendance and battling to the front.

 

www.woodhouse.com Woodhouse Auto Family, check out our new vehicle search, you’re gonna love it.

www.kicker.com for making music sound it’s best

www.viosport.com for action camera equipment

www.dodge.com see the hot line-up of SRT products

 

Bob Woodhouse and the Woodhouse Performance Race Team

 

 

St.Petersburg, Fl. Round Two of the Speed World Challenge. The GT race report  from the windshield of Bob Woodhouse  4/3/2006

 

 

Dear reader, I wish it were possible to put you in this experience, to give you the anxiety, disappointment, adrenaline; all those feelings, and that’s before you get in the race car.  The acceleration, braking and corner g-loading; just sensational, but it looks like a walk in the park on camera.  Remember the commercial where they drop the pearl in a bottle of shampoo?  Maybe you could equate it to you being the pearl and Godzilla were shaking the bottle. One wild ride. 

 

The Place

This race week end brought all that, including deafening noise and sun drenched panoramas of beautiful buildings, airplanes, yachts. As I said last year, St. Petersburg Florida thinks they are Monaco.  The city gets a 10 when it comes to putting on entertainment.  Mid-afternoon fireworks displays streaking down the grandstand straightaway in front of thousands of fans marked the opening festivities of the Indy Race. 

 

Perhaps that was more dramatic than our two World Challenge Races but no less gripping.  You cannot get more show for the money. There were hard fought duels all through the pack, mucho grandee body contact with a number cars delegated to scrap iron. 

 

The GT Race: 

The SCCA crew snuffed the flames out on one of the Aston Martin DB9 race cars during our parade lap, no driver harm, just an extra 8 minute delay.   Finally the lights go out and the Woodhouse Auto Family/ Kicker/ Viosport/ Viper Competition Coupe #13 makes a strong launch.  Out of the 10^th starting position heading for turn one with 30 other anxiety stricken drivers determined to come out of turn one in first place, or at least several positions better than where they gridded. 

 

This makes turn one look like a zip filed Disneyworld parking lot during a Mickey Mouse convention.  No way are all of these cars going to fit.  I am surrounded, left with

no maneuvering options.  There’s a bump, oops, another, oh and another, and by turn three I log four body taps before a wiggly bumper to bumper congo line begins to form.  Just 50 minutes or 31 laps to go before we know who survives this concrete jungle. 

 

I digress to tell you once again that this fine city of St. Petersburg builds a street course that comes with a mandate of a higher order.  To be off your line or brake too deep by a couple feet will reward you with a concrete wall that does not negotiate outcomes. 

Through the course of the next 28 laps, the bravest of GT drivers found this truism. (What is it the pilots say?  There are old pilots and bold pilots but no old bold pilots?) More details can be found at www.world-challenge.com

 

Two laps from the end running in 6th position came my fight to survive. Approaching corner 10, I witness dust and spinning cars to find James Sofranos and Lou Cheetalotti (oops my spelling is so bad) digging themselves out of the tire wall catch area  and coming back up to speed. I happen to pass the two of them as we move on to the next straight.  In front of me is the Porsche GT3 of Imory and it appears to be slowing as we approach corner one and overtaking begins between corner 4 and 5.  I am thinking gee what a nice driver, slowing to allow me by.  Not.  I think now, that he might have been protecting the inside line.  As I move toward the corner five apex his car appears to have fixated a bulls eye on my passenger door, hmm, better be a gentleman and leave room in case he thinks this is still a race.  As we exit the corner, whether a love tap happened or the off  line grip loss, I slide wide as Imory drives back by and I find a hard brush of  the tires on corner exit. (note to city of St. Pete: send apology for shredding their Firestone sign) Hey, no story climax yet, this is just the build up.  Lou “despite what he tells you, is not my closest friend”  and I do not know who started the rumor that AARP called and wants to do a story on the two of us. Bill, any leads?.

 

So as this event unfolds Lou goes to the outside of the left hand corner six.   A very imaginative passing spot since it allows you to stare at the wall in corner seven. Lou is always the inventive one. Apparently this dawned on him about then, and he decides to take my space while I am still in it.  Kawhump!  I respond by rolling on a bit more throttle to reach corner seven in front. 

 

Unknowingly the previous fracas harvested a valve stem from one of my rear tires leaving me with three (I can do the math at this level) to finish the last half lap of the race.  Knowledge of this has not entered my little brain and it decides we have alignment issues from the contact adventure.  So I become one of these “don’t worry honey, hold my beer and watch this” kinda guys for the next couple of corners thinking I can hold on and keep the pace. Meanwhile Lou has his car so buried up my posterior I could read the part number on his rear view mirror. 

 

Through the “S” known as corner 11 and 12 an awareness of the car condition became front page news as I look straight ahead over the drivers door.  Eeeyow, this just isn’t handling that good and I spend the distance from 11 through corner 14 trying to abate a “tank slapper”  (you bike enthusiasts know that one, for the rest of us it is correcting a slide, then correcting an opposite slide then…… yeah and you think it is never gonna end).  OK back under control at turn 14 and Lou Gillotti (maybe that’s how you spell it, not sure) has half the nose of his Curvette sticking over the corner rumble bumps and the other half up my butt creating new meaning to the words “bump steer”.  Finally he breaks free, stealing several large chunks of the Viper’s rear quarter panel on his way by.  I suppose he figured an even trade since we found yellow Corvette fascia pieces with “last race” super glue still on them stuck in our rear quarter. (Subtle message there in case you read that too fast.) That put Lou across the finish line in 4^th position on the final straight and a still happy and grinning Woodhouse team across in fifth.  One point behind second place Andy Pilgrim this early in the season is way more than we expected, but don’t think we intend to give any back.  Keep the loud applause and shouting coming.

 

TC Race

Brian Smith, the driver of our  Woodhouse Auto Family /Kicker /Viosport / Dodge SRT-4 will also write you a love note.  But I want to say something in his honor.  He has been robbed.  Yes, a good result has been stolen from him on this season’s two opening races.  Dealing with the teething issues of a new race car, a la’ mechanical issues at Sebring and then this:  On Sunday Brian set the teams new mark for the shortest race in team history by making an immaculate start that saw disaster before turn one.  No he and others were not hurt.  When an “elbowing for room” contest several cars in front of him got ugly, it sent cars sliding sideways and bouncing off walls.  Brian did what looked to be a safe way through only to get met by the concrete almighty while another unaware driver sent him to the wall a second time.  A tears came to my eyes watching him get out of the car and wait while the wreckers came and picked up the scraps of four wrecked cars.  Seeing his standing there in silence, the looks on all of the faces of our team, the body language from all of them, the sacrifices given, it just swept over me, I wept, embarrassing, but a release.  This won’t crumble these good people.  Keep the faith we are there to make it happen.  Remember these great people that allow us to do this: God Bless

www.woodhouse.com Woodhouse Auto Family

www.kicker.com for making music sound it’s best

www.viosport.com for action camera equipment

www.dodge.com see the hot line-up of SRT products

 Bob Woodhouse

 

     

Round 2 of the SPEED World Challenge

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

by Brian Smith

 

Before I start on the report let me touch on a more serious and important topic that I left out of the last report.  We are trying to increase the awareness of a wonderful organization, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, that is working to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer causes, primarily research into new cures and treatments.  The foundation is named for Alexandra “Alex” Scott, a lovely and vital little girl who, stricken with cancer decided she would “help her doctors” find a cure by raising money selling lemonade in her front yard.  Alex succumbed to her illness in 2004, but the foundation, led by her parents Jay and Liz Scott, continues the good work.  So please take a few minutes and visit their site at www.alexslemonade.com to learn more about how you can help.

 

The Place:

 

This was my first street course race.  My first impression was “WOW”.   The course was surrounded by beautiful water, yachts, buildings, etc.  Throw in other factors such as plenty of sunshine, fireworks, air shows and military aircraft displaying their abilities to make it a spectacle.

 

Typical with a street course there were plenty of slow corners and enough jersey barriers with fencing on top to ensure they would receive a few love taps during the course of the weekend.

 

The Weekend:

 

I call it the weekend because we did not participate in much of a race.  My race was highlighted by admiring Penske’s yacht on the parade lap as we went down the back straight.  Here is the race play by play.

 

Line up.  The starting lights went red.  I was focused on the bright red lights to see them dim (no waiting for them to go completely out).  I bet you think the next line is going to be that I stalled the car.  Wrong.  We had a great start which allowed us to pull up on the rows in front of us.  I should tell you that the front straight where the start occurs is the only wide part of this circuit because it is one of the runways of the airport next door.  We were up to third gear and the car next to me (of German decent and a relative to Dodge) decided to slide in front of me to keep me behind him.  It appeared we were going to have a little contact.  I was remembering Jack’s words not to push the issue on the start.  He squeaked in front of me with no contact.  Great!

 

Then all hell broke loose.  Three of the lead cars in front of me did not get the memo with Jack’s advice.  They played bumper cars with each other until one of them hit the inside wall and started back across the track perpendicular to traffic.  The car in front of me moved abruptly left leaving me starring at the crashed car.  I immediately was on the brakes, checked the mirror to make I was not going to receive a tap from behind, then made a quick move to the right since I was not going to stop before impacting the car.  This was a good move until I caught the inside wall with the right front.  By this point in time I was basically at a stand still and pointed in the right direction about a car width from the wall.  Another check in the mirrors showed it was clear behind.  We were hurt, but would be able to continue on the battle.

 

Then “BOOM”.  One of the cars at the back of the field had arrived at the scene with a head of steam.  They swerved to miss the same car I avoided.  However, I was in the spot where the swerve took him.  We received a large impact on the left front which wiped out the suspension and then hit the wall again with the right front.  The race was over that quick.

 

There was a lot of disappoint among the team, but Bob did bring the team’s Viper home in 5^th place the previous day in the GT race.  He is still third in the points.  Good job!

 

The car is headed back to the shop to be healed.  There are sway bar and suspension changes that will happen at the same time.  Then we will be off testing for a few days to prepare for Mid-Ohio.

 

Thanks again to all the hard work of the team … Jack, Larry, Joel, Rick, Nancy, Dan and Danielle.  Thanks to the Dodge boys for their support.  We will get you a top finish at Mid-Ohio.

 

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.

 

 

 

Sebring World Challenge Race Report

Through the Windshield of the Woodhouse/Kicker/Visosport Dodge SRT-4

 

 

 

The goal of having the Woodhouse/ Kicker/ Viosport/ Dodge SRT-4 ready for Sebring was accomplished after a long five week span for all of the crew (Rick, Nancy, Larry, Jack, Dave and maybe even me).  There was multiple test sessions at various racetracks across the country, final preparation of the car, and resolution of issues that developed during testing … basically the teething issues that arise with a brand new car.  However, the dedication of all involved resulted in us arriving to Sebring with hopes of a top ten finish.

 

The week at Sebring could be summed up best by saying what we thought was going to be a given strength ended up being our weakness.  Based on last year’s performance by other Dodge SRT-4’s we felt comfortable our power would be comparable to the other teams.  The practice sessions showed we were missing a few squirrels.  Thanks to Dodge for their assistance we thought the problem was resolved for the race … more on the race below. 

 

The good news was that the handling was better than expected.  After multiple changes to increase our mid-corner grip in the slow to medium speed corners the Woodhouse/Kicker/Viosport Dodge SRT-4 was cornering respectably. 

 

The Brembo brakes with the Mintek pads were working well except that we were having kick back issues which was not solved with the many changes we tried.  This situation required a quick pump of the brakes prior to braking.  Typical of how the week was going, a valve stem was torn off (I’m stumped) during practice which resulted in a flat left rear tire as I entered turn 10.  Sorry to the Viper that I ended up sideways in front of.  

 

For qualifying we expected our power issues were resolved.  Qualifying is quite entertaining because you basically have one or two laps to lay down a flyer.  Lots of traffic, lack of power, missing the tire pressure zone and a bit of extra trying gave us a stellar 23^rd grid position.   I entered turn 17 a touch too fast on my fastest lap which resulted in a lot of tire smoke and sideways action.  Half way through the corner your mind switches from how am I going to keep this a good lap to how am I going to keep from hitting that outside wall?   

 

Friday was race day.  Hard work by the crew with assistance from the Dodge boys resulted in optimism that we had the power issue resolved.  After all the ceremony bruha we lined up for business … standing starts are part of SCCA Pro SPEED World Challenge.  The red lights came on, I brought the motor up to launch RPM, the red lights went out and we were off .  I had a great start snaking my way through traffic to pass 4 or 5 cars before turn 1. (click here) Turn 1 found me representing the meat in a BMW sandwich as we went 3 wide.  Bob Woodhouse, do not read this.   Three wide was a little too tight so I end up rubbing paint on the outside BMW.  Minor scratches only.  Guess what?  I finally had power.  Close to the ballpark at least.   This was going to be fun.  Over the next couple of laps the Woodhouse/Kicker/Viosport Dodge SRT-4 moved up to 14^th.  Suddenly the fun went out as the power went south.  The intercooler hose had blown off.  BUMMER.  After a lap of feeling sorry for myself I kept driving hard so we could learn how the handling would change over the race distance and give myself a chance to experiment with the brakes.  We learned some valuable information. 

 

A 22^nd place finish is not what we had in mind but the car is in one piece and will be ready for St. Pete.

 

I have to congratulate Bob on one of his best and most complete drives.  He was quick, smooth, consistent and had a couple of nice passes.  Great job Bob.  The only issue is that hurts my case with Nancy to switch from #13 to #31.

 

A big thanks to Rick, Nancy, Larry, Joel, Dave, Dan, Danielle, Jack and the Dodge boys for all their work!!  I also enjoyed spending time with Rob and Greg from Kicker who were at Sebring enjoying the racing. 

 

It was great meeting all the folks over at the SRT corral!  Hopefully we will meet more SRT folks at future races.

 

Our Viosport video system gets credit for the (click here) video you saw in this report.  Also posted at  www.kicker.com,   www.viosport.com and www.woodhouseviper.com.

 

St. Pete is less than two weeks away.  That race will be on the SPEED channel Sunday April 2.  Make sure you watch because I am giving you my commitment to put the Woodhouse/ Kicker/ Viosport/ Dodge SRT-4 in the top ten!

 

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, utilize Viosport for  your affordable rugged wearable video needs and visit www.turnonetrackevents.com for corporate and track day events.

 

 Sebring 2006 Round One of the Speed World Challenge.

The GT race report  from the windshield of Bob Woodhouse  3/17/06

 

 

 

The GT Race:

 

I am sooo glad the 2006 season is here.  We had enough car body contact in 2005 to assemble a museum exhibit matching the remains of the Titanic.   A year like that reduces attitudes, confidence and pocket books.

 

Friday afternoon saw the #13 Woodhouse Auto Family Viper Comp Coupe gridded  9^th in the 33 car field.  An opportunity to execute on the wisdom of Tommy Archer and others.    “Do not try to control the outcome of the race, let it come to you, be good to your tires, let the moving up come from competitors mistakes.”  Houston, we have liftoff! (click here)  The start found a stalled car directly in front but avoid it we did, and turn one was good to us  with a couple of positions gained. 

 

The early laps had James Sofronas in his Porsche GT3 and I swapping positions a couple times. As he pushed ever closer to my rear bumper, I conceded to his wishes, opening wide on corner 16 to let him slip through -. we needed these tires for another 16 laps.  I broke into a grin, watching him wave like a beauty queen on a parade float, after the pass.  Reminded me of the Lone Ranger calling, “hi ho silver, awaaay” - sheesh,  that will date me.   There really was a sunset, I’m not makin this stuff up as we headed West on the long straight touching 156 mph before the infamous turn 17 under the bridge.   

James was leading by a half straight, I am feeling like the hound in a hare chase after about 10 laps.  Then the distance began to evaporate.  I speculate that the black rubber that holds up his car had temperatures climbing into the ever slipperier zone.  He was coming back to my front fascia.

 

Coming through big turn 17, I had corner speed on the Porsche and my frontal lobe said:  “James, your mine!”    On to the grandstand straight toward corner one and I felt James knew the jig was up as he took a sort of mid track “I hope I’m wide” position.  I made as large a presentation as possible in his right side mirror to bring a decision to what piece of real estate he would claim in corner 1.  As he came over to respectfully shut the door I turned to the inside and made sure I was the last guy to lift out of the throttle coming off the 145 mph straight away. (click here)  James kept his car buried between my taillights for the next half lap before realizing the tire temperature game was not gonna swing back his way.

 One challenge left before the checker, we  were on a different brake pad and as the temps grew I ran short of  “whoa” power making a mess out of corner 7 a couple times but happily no change to the race outcome. 

 

A podium finish, dang, dang, how sweet it is!  A first for us in the series, you can’t invent the feeling it gives a team and Plaster of Paris couldn’t improve the grin I’m wearing.

 

 

 

The Politics:

The SCCA WCGT staff had a pre-season visit with us, boiling it down; body contact is a bedroom sport and bringing it on to the track will come with new and improved penalties.  Too early to know, but a few of us may have listened.  Both races ran flag to flag without restarts.     

Thank you SCCA, after two years of whining we Vipers are in a competitive position.  Dominant? No.  Of the 33 starters 10 were Viper Comp Coupes.  Seven finished in the top half, 4 in the top ten.  Factory brands and finishing orders were a salt and pepper scattering.

Thanks too for Tom Mikwold and the patient SCCA staff that had to coach us, duh, a podium?  You do what?

So why did Vipers do so well when Corvettes and Cadillac’s were looking so dominant?  Your answer is mechanical.  Many front runners broke, Giolotti, Reese( the two fastest Vettes), one Cad had a tire go down.  Tony Gaples Vette transmission ended up with a box full of neutrals.  To use Kenny Hawkins rhetoric, a “Corvette is a banjo wire a half turn from twang”.  A bit harsh but the Vette folks are making big power with light parts, and that increases the hero to zero ratio.   

 

Just an hour before the GT grid, Tommy Archer spoke to a group of Dodge SRT owners and one of his comments was that his Viper started and finished 20 some consecutive World Challenge races.  That streak got broken today when his engine expired mid race.  The engine and or oil hose was a season old and the scheduled rebuild did not fit in on time.

I will speculate the Cadillacs  are packing two seconds around in their pocket waiting for later in the season.   They are a smart bunch.  They will play their cards diligently, I just want them to keep em all on the table, not like last year.  Or maybe not, since people are not dumb and inappropriate action reflects negatively on a manufacturer.  (Dave Fitzer will read this twice).  

 

 

New for 2006: 

Some of you know the Woodhouse Auto Family sponsored Viper Competition Coupe has a new stable mate.  We will have commentary from our driver Brian Smith in the Dodge Neon SRT-4 running in the Touring Car series of WC.   Relax he isn’t as windy.  Find it as a separate article, you are gifted if you endured this much.

 

Brian Smith was my driving coach last year and how we became connected.  He thought volunteering fill the spot between the SRT-4 steering wheel and seat would boost his career.  Fool.   Dodge Motorsports deserves huge gratitude for their engineering support.

 

Crew chief and team management continues on both cars under Rick Maxwell and Nancy Shanno’s .

 

 Kicker, (a company that makes fabulous stuff to pump your music through) is on board. That is your hint for “pay attention to these people”.  www.kicker.com

 

You need to know Viosport also if you do any kind of action sports.  Incredible camera systems; witness fear without the consequences.  www.vioport.com

 

 

 

 

St Pete, next.   Look for the schedules at www.world-challenge.com

Look for your next vehicle on-line at www.woodhouse.com  a new search engine is up and running, check it out.J

 

Bob Woodhouse

 

 

Woodhouse Performance Viper to return to 2006 SWC GT wars.  Full season Dodge SRT-4R entry added for Touring Car.

The Woodhouse Performance Team is stepping into the ring for the 2006 season with entries in both classes of SPEED World Challenge competition.  The Woodhouse Auto Family sponsored #13 Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, driven by Bob Woodhouse will return in the GT class.  The Woodhouse team, based in Blair, Nebraska, will add the #13 Dodge SRT-4R entry, with driver Brian Smith, to the high Touring Car Class.

“We were recently asked why Woodhouse Performance, a team relatively new to SWC GT competition, would want to also join the fray in the intensely competitive world of Touring Car.” According to team principal Bob Woodhouse, “We were wondering if a committed Dodge SRT-4R could be successful in TC.  It has been homologated for some time and only a few brave souls have given it a try, with limited success.  Racing is about challenges so we rounded up a group of people who thrive on it and have made the commitment for the 2006 season.”

Woodhouse SRT-4R driver Brian Smith is not well known to SPEED World Challenge fans but he comes with a sterling pedigree. One of the founders of Full Lock Industries, of Greenville, SC, Brian is well known to the auto manufacturers and tire companies as a tire tester and vehicle developer.  He also has an extensive background in driver coaching and training. It was his coaching work that led to his initial association with Bob Woodhouse.  Grand American, SCCA and One Lap of America fill out his competition resume’ bringing championships along the way. Brian Smith will compete for SPEED World Challenge Rookie of the Year honors in the Touring Car Class with the support of Kicker car audio, Viosport action video equipment and Woodhouse Auto Family.       

For 2006, Bob Woodhouse continues as the driver of the #13 Dodge Viper Competition Coupe in the GT category. With both cars carrying the number 13, Bob and Brian are out to determine whether luck is associated with that number.  According to Bob, “All the bad luck has been rubbed off.”  Bob and the team look to improve on his top finish of 6th last season.  

Crew chief Rick Maxwell and Team Manager Nancy Shanno, both long time Woodhouse team members, continue to lead the preparation and presentation of both cars aided by team engineer Jack Broomall. 

Motorsport could not exist without the support and encouragement of great sponsors. Woodhouse Performance is grateful for the continued support Dodge Motorsports and SRT.  Kicker audio equipment is available on  Dodge SRT products. Visit them at www.kicker.com

Viosport is a supplier of incredible action video equipment at modest cost. Learn more at www.viosport.com Find your next vehicle online at www.woodhouse.com.  Don’t forget to check at www.world-challenge.com for SPEED World Challenge series information, results, and SPEED TV air times all season.  Follow the season through the Woodhouse Windshield posted at www.woodhouseviper.com and click on Bob’s Corner.

Here’s what we call the “snake pit”and ”viper pit” at Woodhouse. Inventory fluctuates throughout the year and is not the home to only Vipers.  Sometimes Panteras, Specialty Mustangs, Jaguars, SRT Vehicles, or other types of specialty vehicles are housed here.  All under tight security of course….but heres a little sneak peak!  You can view our SRT & Viper Inventory here. Photo by Brad Jensen