The Hawk Vintage Race - Road America 7/16-7/19, ...I will be 'competing' in Huey! Options

[brant]

Did the ginetta run Cota last year?
I looked it over at some race.

Beautiful. And wow they are fast.
puts so many a bigger car and definitely my teener to shame.

[naro914]

I just get to drive the GT40 - not my car. The car is worth $5.5mm. We won the race on Saturday and on Sunday went from 4th to 2nd by turn one and the diff broke going into the kink at 130mph. We we doing about 182mph on the straight.

I looked at all the 914's that were there and all were very nice. My current 1974 2.0 is lots of fun. I would have really enjoyed meeting you and talking about 914's.

I've been to RA many times going back to 1979 when I drove for Mazda and Racing Beat on thru the GTP years when I drove for the GM (Pontiac) in GTPL and full size GTP cars. I was lucky enough to win the Road America 500 3 or 4 times (can't remember - 3 - I think) as well as 19 IMSA GT races.

Next year I'll be sure we meet. My next race back east (I live in CA) is the Daytona Classic in November in the GT40 - the week before I'll be in Austin at the COTA SVRA race in a Ginetta G4.

Holy cow, 130 in the kink!! Huey topped out at 125 on the straights!!

That's an awfully impressive resume. Would have loved to meet you and chat a bit. As you saw, I was with the Hawk guys as in Hawk that wrote the big check to have the race named after them. The CEO was there driving the DeVilbiss Audi, his '57 vette, 944 Cup, and GTO...he certainly got lots of track time!

[stownsen914]

Sounds like a great event. I've not driven RA before and would love to try it. My 911 is vintage eligible - I should take it up there one year to an event like this!

[Yahmann]

We have never made the race at COTA as there is a race at Coronado a few weeks before and we 2 years in a row we break something and not enough time to fix it. The Ginetta is an amazing car, there is a lot of in-car video on YouTube - search "ginetta coronado". We took the Ginetta to the Kohler Race (same as Hawk) in 2008 and it turned 2:31 laps. The is a video of it racing a 914 on YouTube, I don't own it either. The car weighs 1150 with me in it and the engine is 1700cc 8V twincam Lotus Ford. Very special motor - makes about 253HP at the crank.

If you are at COTA, I'd love to meet you. Do you work for Hawk. I saw all the cars the guy had. The Hawk guys were very helpful as we were having a brake problem with the GT40 and they gave us some good advice and some different pads that helped a lot. We go thru the Kink about 120mph - have to brake slightly from 130. Maybe someone younger (I'm 71) and braver could go thru flat, but not me in such an expensive car.

I looked your car over pretty well as we were at the track until 7pm or 8pm. It is really well done and very nice....I am sure you are very proud of it and have every reason to be.

[naro914]

If you are at COTA, I'd love to meet you. Do you work for Hawk. I saw all the cars the guy had. The Hawk guys were very helpful as we were having a brake problem with the GT40 and they gave us some good advice and some different pads that helped a lot. We go thru the Kink about 120mph - have to brake slightly from 130. Maybe someone younger (I'm 71) and braver could go thru flat, but not me in such an expensive car.

I looked your car over pretty well as we were at the track until 7pm or 8pm. It is really well done and very nice....I am sure you are very proud of it and have every reason to be.

I assume you're asking me? No, I do not work for Hawk. Dave the CEO of Hawk's parent company Carlisle is a good friend and he's been urging me to come to this for years. Had planned to be there with our race car, but found metal in the oil (5th time in 3 years!!) 2 weeks before the event, so had to scramble and get this car ready. Yes, the Hawk guys are great, good bunch of guys.

thanks about the comments on our car. In reality, its a nice car but not great at anything...it's an OK street car, but not very comfortable... its an OK autocross car, but not great...it's an OK hillclimb car, but not great either. And it's horrible as a track/race car (heck...it has carpeting and sound deadening!!). The very stock 3.2 engine is a great driving engine, but not a good race engine when up against much bigger competition....and the suspension is bone stock except for stiffer torsion bars and springs. It was built for Targa Newfoundland back in 2006 with a 2.0/6 engine which was very good for the class we were in. But after wrecking it in 2007, we built it a bit more street and installed the always-reliable 3.2. Fun car, just does not have a solid place in anything... Our race car would have been an absolute blast there. That was my first time driving RA...

Won't be at COTA, probably done with track for the rest of the year. Gotta figure out what to do with the race car engine...that's been a very sore subject in our household... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)