SVRA Watkins Glen Vintage races September 5-9

[Mike Unger]

I just finished tuning up the new race engine for the roadster on the dyno. We are ready to race September 5-9 at Watkins Glen, NY. Please look us up at the track and say hi if your in town. Should be fun and we have 4 roadsters registered for the races so far. Time to harass those pesky Porsches.

Mike

[spl310]

Go get them Mike! By the way, what did it dyno out at?

[Mike Unger]

Thanks Sid we'll give em everything we can. Regarding the dyno, a guy has to keep a few secrets to keep them guessing...

[notoptoy]

Good luck Mike!

[Gregs672000]

Go get em Mike! U20 or R motor?

[jrusso07]

Swat those pesky Porsches! Good luck Mike and the rest of the roadster racers!

[Mike Unger]

Thanks everyone. It's a 2 liter.

[Gregs672000]

Thanks everyone. It's a 2 liter.

Heh heh heh heh... I hope you dominate.

[jake7140]

Looks like we got the country covered coast to coast this September. Best of luck to all, especially the Sharp cars!

[Mike Unger]

We had a great time at the SVRA Watkins Glen vintage races last weekend. Three Datsun 2000s (Bill Power, Tom Phelan and myself) took to the track for the Group 3 races and finished on Sunday. There was a large field and a variety of beautiful and fast cars. Lots of very fast and well driven Porsche 356s but we were able to come out on top on Sunday with the little red Datsun. Pictures show Tom and myself waiting on the grid to take to the track after a black flag to clean up some oil. The other shot is turn 7 ("toe of the boot") towards the end of the race. Grid picture by Bob Middleton and the turn 7 picture by Ron Freudenheim (Ron will have a bunch of race photos on line later, http://dexphoto.smugmug.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

[George H]

I think we need a full write-up of the race Mike. I was at the race but I only saw one corner.

[Mike Unger]

I think we need a full write-up of the race Mike. I was at the race but I only saw one corner.

The new engine ran a bit warm the first couple of days so my buddy Bob Middleton helped me fabricate a radiator shroud Saturday morning before the race at 930 am. He ended up getting the aluminum from a Mennonite welder (bib overalls brimmed hat etc.) in a small town (Dundee) near the Glen on Friday evening. That's a story all by itself. The car ran much cooler on the weekend so the fix worked. For Saturday's race we were sitting on the grid and it started to rain (oh great....). All the front running cars were on bias ply Hoosiers so this is not a good thing. Radials are much better in the rain. At least we all had the same issue. The race started on a damp but drying track and the pace picked up as the race went on but it was still slippery. I finished third overall behind two the the 356s on Saturday. Almost got 2nd as you can see in the video (link below).

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Sunday's Group 3 race was after Group 8 and two cars blew up and dumped oil in the boot and down the front straight in the previous race. While we were sitting on the grid it started to rain in the chicane (bus stop) and turn 7 (toe of the boot where the oil was). On our pace lap the pace car almost spun out so they black flagged the race before it started. This was a first for me! It proved to be a good decision as the track was REALLY bad. The second pace lap after the delay (here's the bad news, my camera shut off during the black flag and I have no video) was much better and I used the pace lap to test braking zones for future reference
The race went great with 2 of the Porsches out front but I was able to wind them in one by one in various places by setting up passes and out-braking them. Ellen gave me the one lap to go signal on the radio (turned out to be 2 laps as the track forgot to checker the leaders..) and I made my move on the leader and held him off for the last lap. There was a VERY fast white Elva there all weekend driven by Bill Thumel but he consistently broke every session on track. I will probably end up racing him at the Gold Cup races in a few weeks at VIR.

Mike

[Gregs672000]

Woo hoo! Score one more for the mighty U20 and all your efforts! Well done. I noted you had no airdam or anything up front (both of you) and was kinda surprised by that.

[Mike Unger]

Thanks Greg. Airdams were actually illegal in 1967 and I'm running the car in that body configuration as Sharp ran it. Pete Brock and BRE pushed the envelope a couple years later with the "brake cooler/spook" and then it was allowed in later years after that as long as it doesn't pass the midline of the tire on width. Rules creep in Production car racing started big time in the late 60's early 70's. By 1973 they had fiberglass fender flares in Production. My 240Z is prepped to 1972, no flares, no fiberglass, stock style brakes.

Mike