Western Sprints
Performance Driving Experience (PDX)
and Club Time Trials (CTT) Report

May 24/25 2009
09-CT-607-S / 09-CT-608-S / 09-PDX-609-S

The Rio Grande and Continental Divide Regions held the Western Sprints Regional Road Races at Pikes Peak International Raceway over Memorial Day weekend, and this included a Club Time Trials event held each day, a PDX Instructor Training session held Sunday morning, and a PDX held Monday morning.

This event marked a number of firsts for the program

Program Staff

Grant Barclay – Chief Steward, Program Director
Dan Goodman – Chief Operating Steward
Jeff Burch – Chief Instructor for PDX / CTT
David Jobusch – Chief Instructor for PDX / CTT
Mark Foust – Acting Chief of Tech
Mark Mauro, John Scheier – Safety Stewards and Advisors to Grant Barclay

Thanks to

What an outstanding weekend we enjoyed at PPIR this Memorial Day weekend, for the Western Sprints. The weather gods managed to steer the clouds around the speedway and for most of the weekend we remained dry. The downpour came Sunday after the track was cold, so no one raced in the wet.

Sun Club Trials

Sunday saw a close battle all day between the BMW M3’s of David Jobush and Doug Young, with Doug getting the best run in Qualifying to ensure a few clean laps at the start of the competition session. Several drivers were busy with their autocross runs over in the VIP lot and missed the qualifying session, but were able to join us for the practice and competition.

Results of Time Trials - Qualifying  
       
No. Name Lap Tm Lap
95 David Jobusch 01:07.136 2
43 Doug Young 01:08.051 8
68 Mark Foust 01:10.588 8
85 Robert Godby 01:11.036 7
9 Mike Critchley 01:12.238 4
6 Roger Longstreet 01:14.836 6
19 Lyn McNulty 01:21.017 9
31 Chris Longstreet 01:26.111 5

The battle during the competition session was tight with the two leading BMW’s swapping the fastest lap several times during the 30 minute stint on track, and forcing them to find clean runs on hot tires near the end in order to claim FTD. Doug Young showed remarkable improvement as he found his groove, and set his fast lap 20 laps in. David Jobusch was still working up to speed following some driving line issues in turn 1 in practice, but still knocked 1/10th off his qualifying time. The difference between their best all day – 73/1000th’s – wow.

One of the few Honda Civic’s, that actually needs wings, was piloted by acting Chief of Tech, Mark Faust, and he managed to give John Scheier in his STU (and fresh off the auto-x course) BMW M3 a really hard and competitive run. John ended up ahead, by Mark has given notice the Civic is not to be under-estimated.

Robert Godby was fast in his SSB Miata, running neck and neck with Mark Mauro the whole session. The battle of the Mazda’s eventually going to Mauro’s RX-8.

Chris Longstreet had been fighting mechanical issues typical of an older model car all day, and was able to run with the rest of  the drivers in the competition session. By Monday he had the issues largely solved, and was trouble free (well as trouble free as a Fiat X1/9 gets). It was great to see Chris out in his new track car after the demise of the Spec Forester in Pueblo last year.

Results of Time Trials – Sun Comp.  
       
No. Name Lap Tm Laps
43 Doug Young 01:06.994 20
95 David Jobusch 01:07.067 7
86 John Scheier 01:09.339 5
68 Mark Foust 01:09.842 21
62 Mark Mauro 01:10.354 8
85 Robert Godby 01:10.878 22
73 Matthew Wolfe 01:12.667 5
9 Mike Critchley 01:13.355 7
6 Roger Longstreet 01:17.122 17
19 Lyn McNulty 01:21.527 10
31 Chris Longstreet 01:23.485 7

Monday PDX

Monday’s PDX saw a host of new faces in the crowd, several of them joining us from the RMSolo program. They had attended a classroom session hosted by David Jobusch and Jeff Burch on Sunday, their cars were tech’d and they were ready to go.

11 Drivers took to the track at 8am for the PDX session on Monday morning. Several road racers assisted with PDX instruction, many thanks to them, notably Paul McLeod, Carolyn Kurjala, and Carol Barclay. There were 7 workers who took advantage of the free PDX, several of them are now regulars in PDX, and have been allowed to drive without an instructor in the car. They are progressing very well indeed. The program was able to accommodate John Frank, one of the T&S workers. John drives a car with hand controls, and to see the joy he gets from being on track is really gratifying for the PDX staff.

6 of the drivers were completing check out rides in order to graduate into the CTT program. All 6 drove really well, and were signed off for CTT. The Chief Steward or Chief Instructors are allowed to sign someone off for CTT with the proviso that they have an instructor ride along for a session or two before going “solo” in CTT. This allows some flexibility for drivers who are really close to making the transition to CTT, but just need an additional session or two of seat time.

Once again we saw how well autocross prepares drivers for driving on track. Nick Caruso, Lynn McNulty, Greg Ngyen, Remy Rounds, and Ryan Sotak all coming from RMSolo to join us, and all doing very well when they were on track.

Immediately after the PDX, several of the drivers headed out to work corners for the rest of the day.

Monday CTT

A few more drivers joined us for Monday, including Dan Aweida in his jaw dropping yellow Porsche. You may recognize Dan’s name from the entry lists of Speed World Challenge where he drove for 3R racing (based in Denver), or the Mustang Challenge where he is driving in 2009. Dan was blisteringly fast in the two sessions he drove before heading home before the rain (that never arrived!). We really appreciate that “pro” drivers see value in the track time a driver gets during Time Trials, and hope Dan can bring the Mustang to HPR later this year.

Practice and Qualifying saw a renewal of the Jobush / Young rivalry, with Doug out in front of qualifying by a mere 46/1000th’s. Top of the time sheets, was dominated by Clay Dellacava in his stunning blue Mitsubishi Evolution X. Even our resident Evo expert, Chief Instructor, Jeff Burch was really impressed with the cornering prowess of the new Evo, as was I when I drove with Clay at Pueblo last year. A really, impressive machine.

Drivers were figuring out the line they needed on the front straight, with high powered cars hugging the wall, while the momentum cars were driving the shortest line they could, while still getting setup for the challenging 1/2/3 complex. Very impressive to see most drivers were able to drive through here at full throttle by the end of the weekend.

Results of Time Trials – Qualifying Monday
  No. Name Lap Tm Laps  
  21 Clay Dellacava 01:01.443 7  
  17 Dan Aweida 01:05.614 4  
  43 Doug Young 01:07.090 3  
  95 David Jobusch 01:07.136 14  
  86 John Scheier 01:08.447 17  
  68 Mark Foust 01:08.914 17  
  62? Mark Mauro 01:08.923 4  
  85 Robert Godby 01:10.262 8  
  7 Stephen Cornett 01:11.482 2  
  6 Roger Longstreet 01:13.868 7  
  26 Eric Dietz 01:15.002 8  
  19 Lyn McNulty 01:19.015 9  
  31 Chris Longstreet 01:21.204 1  

The Monday afternoon competition session was threatened by rain, but it never amounted to more than light sprinkles, and the track remained dry throughout. Clay Dellacava continued to stay atop the time logs, running even quicker than he had in the morning. FTD went to Clay with a 61 second lap. Well done.

The battle for fastest BMW again went to almost the last laps, David Jobusch managing to improve almost a full second over the times he set in the morning, and leaving Doug Young wondering where David had found the extra speed. John Scheier was very quick dipping into the 07’s with Faust only tenth’s back.

The Battle of the Mazda’s was within a quarter of a second, the RX8 driven by Mauro proving quicker than the Robert Godby Miata, at least for now.

Very pleasing was to see the huge improvement drivers were able to make over the previous day, notably Roger Longstreet, and Stephen Cornett. Lynn McNulty dropped 2 seconds after finding her time in turn 5. Thanks to all the drivers who so graciously helped out their fellow competitors with advice, tips, guidance, and sometimes using a lead/follow to show them a different line. The essence of the program is that we all improve together, and hopefully produce the best track drivers around.

With no serious incidents, and most drivers expressing how much fun they had, the event must be considered a success. Many thanks to all the hard working volunteers who make sure the event runs so smoothly. The PDX/CTT staff once again appreciated the advice and insight offered by the road race stewards, this is vital in guiding the program along a safe path as it continues to grow.

Congratulations to all drivers who drove so well and with such discipline this weekend, especially to our new CTT graduates. We also congratulate Mark Baer and Carol Barclay, both CTT drivers and instructors, who completed their second regional races, and are now Regional Road Racers, they have done the program proud.

If you missed the Spec7 repair party in the paddock on Sunday night, you missed possibly the funniest sight I have ever seen at a track. Be sure to catch our next events, so you don’t miss out. Debauchery and a good time assured.

Monday Results

No. Name Lap Tm Laps
21 Clay Dellacava 01:01.351 4
95 David Jobusch 01:06.167 20
43 Doug Young 01:07.007 17
86 John Scheier 01:07.799 16
68 Mark Foust 01:08.203 17
62 Mark Mauro 01:09.666 14
7 Stephen Cornett 01:09.900 22
85 Robert Godby 01:10.199 14
6 Roger Longstreet 01:12.329 17
26 Eric Dietz 01:13.929 16
19 Lyn McNulty 01:19.404 21
31 Chris Longstreet 01:20.023 4

The next event scheduled is the La Junta event on July 26, Colorado’s most historic racetrack. Food and beer the night before at the track, PDX and Club Trials Sunday. Be there or be square.

Grant Barclay
PDX/CTT Steward and Program Director