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Posted by: stownsen914 Jul 31 2015, 01:37 PM

I ran across this randomly today. David Finch won the race in his 944. Less noticed was Doug Arnao taking 3rd place in his 914/6. As a kid I remember watching Doug drive increasingly fast 914s at PCA trackdays before he went racing. Enjoy!

http://datab.us/oziaJTkp0ag

Posted by: jd74914 Jul 31 2015, 02:40 PM

Thanks for posting!

The Raetech 944 is so cool, though from what I understand the car is more custom than 944.

Posted by: Racer Chris Jul 31 2015, 03:16 PM

I'm pretty sure the engine block and head are from a 944, but not much else.

Posted by: stownsen914 Aug 2 2015, 10:54 AM

David Finch was at the runoffs again a couple years ago, and while he didn't win, he was still competitive and placed in the top few if I recall correctly. Not bad for a car built in the 1980s!

Posted by: maf914 Aug 5 2015, 08:04 AM

Thanks for posting that clip. Great racing.

That was Road Atlanta in its original form, before Don Panoz acquired the track and made several safety related renovations, including a left-right turn complex before the bridge, to slow the cars before the blind downhill plunge under the bridge.

Posted by: stownsen914 Aug 5 2015, 11:03 AM

Yeah. I remember a few years before the video I posted above ... maybe circa 1980 or so, there was a suddent rain storm during the GT1 race at the runoffs just as the entire field came upon the section of track you describe. Basically the entire field slid off the track and hit either guardrail or one another. I think they had to cancel the race. It was apparently complete chaos.

Posted by: jd74914 Aug 12 2015, 07:08 AM

I think he placed Top 5 when he reran which is pretty incredible. That said, I'd be very surprised if he hadn't changed at least a few things on the car when dusting off the cobwebs.

I've had the pleasure of talking to Finch a handful of times at FSAE events and learned something new each time. He's quite an interesting guy with a very good systems engineering view of racing and a really good memory. Random story, but...The first time we met was in a FSAE design presentation in 2011. Our tube frame was MIG welded [quite well IMHO] to save time over TIG welding it. Finch quietly listened to the entire presentation, asked a few engine simulation questions, and then literally told us we should be ashamed of having not TIG welding it. In 2012 he stopped by to make sure it was TIG welded together and complimented the welding.

Posted by: HAM Inc Aug 13 2015, 06:11 PM

I was there the year that happened (and a bunch of others). The rain hit during the ASR race in turn 6 on the other side of the track, not the dip. No guardrail outside turn 6 and most of the field flew off the track into a big pile. Jerry Hansen had been leading.

We were watching from the bridge and only a couple of back markers came by and the track got very quiet. Worst injury was a broken leg. They gave the win to Hansen, despite the fact that the race was not black flagged til after a couple of other drivers made it back to the finish line. The general consensus among the fans was that the first driver to make it through to the finish line should have won.