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One Lap Day 1 update....semi long and OT



The One lap of America Started Saturday at Watkins Glen Raceway in overcast
cold Southern NY.

Sorry this is late but I only subscribe through work.......so here it is.

Even for a native New Yorker ...it was very cold out Saturday morning....I
guess if I had a jacket it would have been a little better but the track was
definitely slippery. I will get to that later.    Anyway Brett and I met up
in Watkins Glen and drove up to the track me in my Scirocco and Brett in the
crew cab Dodge Ram.....what's up with that?   He said he was selling the
Roccs to get a SRT Neon......not really but after seeing that thing on the
track.....I want one!!

We got to the track to find that not many spectators come to this event and
there is absolutely no security...go and do whatever you want...very cool
with me.

We caught up with Mike, Raffi, and Paul Emptying out the Car.  Raffi was to
be the driver for today.  We turned out to be the only visitors they had.
Very cool with us again.  We hung out with them as they prepared the car and
tried to warm up, Paul's sandals were not a good idea.  Brett and I took a
walk around looking at the cars.  Some of the cars of most interest:

Yarrow's 1.8T Golf.....he completely stripped out the interior and parts of
the dash.   Then with the custom non-cable shifter and steering wheel
extender it was amazing to see that the car had only 34000 miles.....no way
this thing was going in for warranty service...but he supposedly lost 180
lbs with the interior.    After Yarrow had passed Raffi on the final lap of
the first run Yarrow hit a patch of what turned out to be coolant spun out
and lightly tapped into big blue (wall) leaving only some streaks on his
front bumper.  Seeing this from behind, Raffi was able to make it around the
patch and retake his place. Yarrow turned out to be faster and moved 2 spots
ahead of Mike Raffi and Paul after the first run.  After the run Mike and
Paul decided that the NOS bottle was either empty or not completely on and
replaced it with a new bottle.  I am not sure of the effect of the NOS on
the second run since I left immediately after seeing them run.  But they
started at 53 (coincidence  I don't think so)  and were 44 after the first
run.

Lamborghini Diablo......Remember that really cold track .....well since the
Diablo is one of the fastest cars in the group it was one of the first cars
on the track (second group actually).  On its first timed lap around he lost
it and tapped the wall with the drivers rear quarter panel.  The damage was
mostly cosmetic and a loss of brake lights and turn signals.  And with a
sawzall and some duck tape the car was back out for the second run.

Impala SS........You ever hear,  its fast but lets see it turn.....well, the
Impala came back to the pits by a tow truck.  He had gone head first into
the wall and mashed the Passenger front and rear quarters.  Now I know what
airbags do to your windshield...not good....that guy was done for the year
but I did hear him say that he was going to go home to Syracuse and get his
other Impala.  I saw him leaving later on a flatbed.

A3 Jetta ABA Turbo......He was in the Econo car group??  Anyway the car was
sweet and fast they were in a group with a civic SI and passed him.....In
the pits we found that they were only getting 5lbs of boost...they were
troubleshooting

SHOGUN Festiva.......OH MY GOD that was the loudest scariest looking death
trap I have ever seen....amazing!!!  also in the Econo car group.  Maybe the
short wheelbase is not good in the turns though.

NA 16v Saturn coupe.....I do not know what he did to that thing .....I am
pretty sure he was running NOS....anyway it was Fast!!!!..he passed the
SHOGUN....I was impressed.

SRT-4 Neon....240 HP stock ...racer boys are going to kill
themselves!!!....That car was also amazing...I have some awesome footage of
that car on the track screaming...actually I have footage(non-digital) of
all of the cars around the first three turns after the straightaway

~67 Mustang .....nothing really to say other than it was totally beautiful.

Nissan 260Zor 280Z with a Chevy 350........WOW 

Lots and Lots of C-4 and 5 vettes.....BMW's Porsche's and Scoobys...oh yeah
and then the odd entrants......Grand Caravan, GMC Envoy, Porsche Cayenne,
Old Caprice cop car, Citation X-11, Cooper-S

If you can ever go ...do it!!  I had a great time....and the un-fettered
access to the track was very cool too!!!!

Now I have to start making plans to learn how to drive and bankroll and
entry for ~10 years from now.  The question is what to run?

Hope you enjoyed the note......and if requested I will play this tape at the
2nd annual Cincy Garage door projector extravaganza