Club Time Trials and Advanced PDX Report

High Plains Raceway
May 8th and 9th, 2010

Wind was the gift of the weather gods for the second event held at High Plains Raceway this season, but fortunately Mother Nature lost some steam, and Sunday was a bright, sunny, and most importantly calm day. A huge amount of thanks goes to those workers who braved the conditions on Saturday to allow us all to have such fun on track.

With PDX and CTT in somewhat of a rebuilding year, due to so many of our drivers graduating into road racing recently, the CTT chiefs were pleasantly surprised to see entries for PDX and CTT in double digits both days of Mothers Day weekend. A few cancels and mechanical issues saw slightly lower numbers take the grid each day.

This was the first time PDX has been scheduled after lunch each day, and it was a resounding success. The change in schedule means

No classroom session the day before the event, easing logistic planning for our drivers (eventually plans call for the classroom session to be available online)
All PDX drivers now work corners on the morning of their event, building relationships with corner workers, getting a grasp on flagging, and hopefully learning the race line by observation.
A drivers meeting / classroom session during lunch, meaning less of a rush for both drivers and instructors. It does mean that drivers coming off corners need to be early in line for lunch, a small compromise
An easing of workload on the PDX Instructor core by allowing them more time to meet and prepare with their students
Hopefully more workers will be encouraged to try PDX as they won’t have a conflict with their usual morning workers meeting ( Every single driver on Sunday was a worker, a first for the PDX program)

One of our longtime workers, Kris Reh, drove well enough in the PDX on Saturday to graduate to the CTT program, well done. Congratulations also to John Spangler, driving his beautiful Nissan 350Z, on joining the CTT drivers group. There were also several new additions to our instructor core, so many thanks to Nick Caruso, Geremy Kornreich, Troy Nakatani, and Garrett Waltz on stepping to the fore and offering to share the fun they have on track with the PDX students. Thanks also to our regular instructors who share so much of their knowledge with the other club members, and who took time over Mothers Day weekend to make the trip to the track – Thanks.

Club Time Trials

Justin Schuh showed up determined to prove that his new found speed in his BMW M3 is no flash in the pan. He went on to dominate each and every session of CTT in the weekend. All those miles in the LeMons winning Saab must be paying off. Watch for Justin and his team in action at HPR in July at the LeMons race.

While Justin was clear at the top of qualy, the next few spots were all pretty close, and the variety of cars just proves why CTT is so popular. E46 BMW M3, Mitsu Evo 9, E36 BMW M3, Porsche Boxster, and a VW Jetta and Subaru STi all showing towards the top half of the time sheets.

Saturday CTT Qualify

No.	Name	Laps	Lap Tm	Spd
1	Justin Schuh	4	01:36.175	74.9
12	Jeff Burch	9	01:38.507	73.1
52	Garrett Walz	7	01:39.162	72.6
86	John Scheier	1	01:39.819	72.1
68	Troy Nakatani	7	01:41.411	71
51	Nicholas Caruso	4	01:44.254	69.1
23	Adam Canessa	2	01:44.870	68.7
7	Howard Stussman	8	01:55.536	62.3
45	Geremy Kornreich	3	01:56.812	61.6

The wind finally started to calm down by the time CTT Competition started on Saturday afternoon. Some of the smaller cars, like the Stussman Caterham, had been blown around pretty severely in the morning, making it hard to stay on the racing line. Drivers were able to settle down, and run several fast consistent laps. Almost all drivers showed an improvement over qualifying, most likely due to the calmer conditions

Running the west course allowed drivers several more attempts at a fast lap time, and the drivers with an autocross background felt the benefit when running the section from turn 8 to the start of the main straight.

Saturday CTT Competition

No.	Name	Laps	Lap Tm	Spd
1	Justin Schuh	7	01:35.542	75.4
12	Jeff Burch	6	01:37.796	73.6
52	Garrett Walz	8	01:38.252	73.3
86	John Scheier	2	01:39.121	72.6
68	Troy Nakatani	5	01:41.576	70.9
51	Nicholas Caruso	3	01:43.192	69.8
7	Howard Stussman	2	01:54.260	63
45	Geremy Kornreich	4	01:56.102	62

Sunday Results

Sunday’s weather was a large improvement over the wind on Saturday, and sunscreen and keeping hydrated became really important. The CTT boys were back on track, and ready to tackle the full course for the first time since Aug 2009. Reports were the track was fast and times began tumbling from 1st practice. Qualy had the same familiar white BMW M3 at the top of the charts, this time followed by Eric Poss’s well modd’ed Subaru. Ben Snyder in his BMW M3 and new CTT driver John Spangler made up the rest of the top 4.

No.	Name	Laps	Lap Tm	Spd
1	Justin Schuh	3	02:04.496	73.7
23	Eric Poss	5	02:07.252	72.1
16	Ben Snyder	4	02:08.615	71.4
87	John Spangler	6	02:12.523	69.3
8	Eugene Yen	6	02:13.809	68.6
87	Joe Stubblefield	6	02:17.587	66.7
7	Howard Stussman	6	02:25.127	63.3
32	Kristoffer Reh	5	02:25.741	63

The Competition session started on time (to the minute, thanks stewards). Joining the drivers on track on Sunday was Joe Stubblefield, in his friends Spec 944. Joe was one of the founders of this growing class, and he and his friends had made the trip from out of state (AZ, NV, and TX) to come and experience High Plains Raceway. They were all impressed, and will be spreading the word when they return home, thanks for joining us guys.

With warmer conditions on Sunday afternoon, drivers struggled to match their qualy times, but clean and consistent driving was the order of the day, and there were no incidents of note during the session. Congrats to all drivers who drove so well and within their limits on the weekend, we look forward to seeing you at our next event in July at Pueblo.

No.	Name	Laps	Lap Tm	Spd
1	Justin Schuh	4	02:04.894	73.5
23	Eric Poss	3	02:07.544	72
16	Ben Snyder	3	02:10.341	70.4
87	John Spangler	5	02:12.925	69.1
8	Eugene Yen	4	02:15.328	67.8
87	Joe Stubblefield	3	02:16.262	67.4
32	Kristoffer Reh	3	02:22.949	64.2
7	Howard Stussman	3	02:30.243	61.1

Many thanks go to the CO BOD, the Race Chair, ALL the workers, all the drivers and instructors, and everyone else in the club that shows up at our events, allowing us all to have such a fun time on (and off) track. A special word to the catering staff, Saturday supper was superb, and the beer purchasing crew deserve a mention (I found Sunshine in the ice chests)