I don't know about the rest of the 914 guys that instructed today, but I'm beat.

All in all a fun day as we all had some great students that made huge progress.

But the days highlight was lunch when Bill gave me a ride in his new rocket, carefully disguised as a race car.

This car is simply stunningly fast and it has the handling to go with it. Watch out when Bill sets it up for AutoX, i.e., I mean serious competition.

Thanks again Bill for a turn at the wheel; I haven't stopped smiling since.

I want a ride.

I can beat him


KT

I was there at 11:30 and watched him take a somewhat jerky run.

At rest

Twins

More twins

My son and I left at the lunch break and hit the indoor karts in Burlingame for a HeLLA good time.

3.6L with Big ass tires and light chassis is a winning combination.

Bill's car is very nice indeed. Randal, I drove it at Laguna at speed and it was awsome. The antithisis of a 2.0L 914-4
Brawn vs. momentum

My morning student was the black Carrera2S - lowered, H&R springs, bilstiens shocks. Car really handles well, fun ride along. Very well attended school. Agree with previous posts - fun day ! That 911 looked fast sitting still in the paddock.

Greg

QUOTE

and watched him take a somewhat jerky run

There is nothing like Candlestick.

Larry Sharp had the short salomon course set up right down one of Candlesticks ridges. Believe it or not the ridge is probably two feet higher than the rest of the pavement.

The boxers would do great on this section of the course, as they should be designated off road vehicles, but a stiff race car, like Bill's, has trouble making the abrupt transition.

When I first saw him run he was airborne going over one of those ridges, but did he let off? No way, not Bill.

Watch out when he runs this car at Alameda.

QUOTE

Brawn vs. momentum

It sure opened my eyes!

Candlestick is the only norcal AX venue with elevation change.

QUOTE (trekkor @ Mar 4 2006, 07:15 PM)

I want a ride. I can beat him

me too ...
i think he would be pissed!

Andy

The tight right-hander near the end of the course was also on the "ridge". The cars would jump when we went through there!

My attorney and I had a great time, too. We're still tired!! I can't believe I may be volunteering to teach two more days in July...

--DD

QUOTE

The tight right-hander near the end of the course was also on the "ridge".

For some reason they changed that part of the course after a few cars had run through the section. Must have been a safety change(?)

The remake totally changed the tempo of the course as you had to brake, almost to a stop, after the fastest part of the course (if you were applying full power half way through that sweeper). That part was really fun, i.e., squirting up the hill - set up for a late apex on the last turn before the remade corner.

Hey Randal,

Are you a 3.6 convert? A tail dragger convert?

Man, I'm beat today. I ended up having 3 students during the day and all of them were great. I had a guy in 987 in the morning, anda lady in a 986 and guy in a 996 cab C4 in the PM. The guy in the cab C4 was a natural, he nailed the lines every freakin time....If he wanted to be good....he really could be. But he just had a baby, so we'll see him in about 10 years!

Let me tell you, the new 987's are awesome. That car, with all of the engineering and 280HP stock, just put sticky buns on it and fly. It is a night and day improvement over the 986 platform.

Patrick,

Thanks for taking a few pics. I got to take the car out f 4 laps during the course of the day. I decided to hang out the car since I hadn't felt where it breaks loose yet (I've only been on the big tracks with it). With the 914 I would swap out suspensions between autox and track, but with Fritz I do not plan on doing that. So I'm going to need to adjust my driving style to play to the strenths of the car, but all in all "Fritz" may be able to compete with the AX big dogs if the course is smooth. The Candlestick events will be very difficult as the elevation changes are too much for the car to absorb.

One eye opener I had was when I let Randal drive my car during lunch on the course. He took a line on the back of the course that I could not see when driving. And he absolutely ripped a FULL THROTTLE sprint right through it where I had been feathering. Geez, musta saved 1 second right there per lap. It's too bad the lap timers were'nt running during lunch.

After not driving an autox for a year and a half, I forgot how much technical fun it is to figure out the lines. The only downer is that I have to figure out what to do with my front spoiler setup. It's too low for AX. And unfortunately my entire front hood is latched to the spoiler, so I'll either have to tie down the latches and leave ther spoiler off, or buy another spoiler that I can cut down and run for autox.....

Oh well....It was nice to be back. I'll make the start of the season next week and I plan on gunning for Trekkor at the Zone 1&2 if I'm in town.
If you're aiming high, you might as well aim for Trekkor since he's been kicking ass!

The biggest thing is to get seat time. "Fritz" has a decidedly different personality to our 914.

Bill P.

QUOTE

I decided to hang out the car since I hadn't felt where it breaks loose yet (I've only been on the big tracks with it).

Your car has great balance Bill. To be honest I was stunned.

No question, that "tail-dragger" of yours would convert anyone.

I think you and Alameda/Marina are going to be good friends.