January Velocity Magazine - Issue - 21-01

Time to Trial

Note from the Editor:

Green Green Green – 2021 is off to a great start! As the pandemic continues, so does the POC with its first event of the season at the Streets of Willow. And as our members were obviously thrilled to get back onto the track, several of them decided to go out and break a few records. You can read about this in Robert Pendleton’s artcle “Time to Trial Something Different”. Our SIM League also kicked off with its third season. If you missed any of the action, so far, you can always catch up by going to YouTube where all of our races are available for viewing.

Don’t forget that our first big event at WSIR is rapidly approaching and that we will be handing out trophies to all of the top performers from last season along with our special awards for Best Driver, Best Rookie, Most Improved, Driver of the Year and the coveted John Deere Award. Hope to see you all there!

DM

VELOCITY Staff

Editor / Art Director

Don Matz

Production Manager

Matt Hollander

Contributing Writers

Don Matz

Robert Pendleton

Dennis Wolfe

Contributing Photographers

CaliPhotography

Robert Pendleton

Luis Vivar

POC Board of Directors

John Momeyer President

Scott Craig Treasurer

Nathan Johnson Secretary

Joe Wiederholt VP Motorsports

Dwain Dement Chief Driving Instructor

Matt Hollander Marketing Director

Steve Towne PDS Director

Time to Trial Something Different

By Robert Pendleton

The POC season opener at the Streets of Willow in Rosamond seemed to be built around a theme of “lets try something different.” And boy, were we all ready for something different! The year 2020 surely rates on everyone’s top ten list of “most stressful years,” with a raging pandemic, virtual family gatherings, Zoom meetings, draconian governmental mandates, and political mayhem, and our club delivered a much needed weekend of mental rehab. The freshness of the format only added to the excitement.

Literally every level of driver could be found wandering around the pits and “duking it out” on track. Newbies who have never set wheels upon a race track, “gentleman (and gentle woman) racers” who regularly attend POC races, professional drivers with decades of track time and everything in between.

During Friday testing, open-passing time-trialers shared the track with Dwain Dement’s and Martina Kwan’s DK Racing School students in alternating 30 min on-track, 30 minutes off-track time blocks. I found the format to be just enough structure to keep me focused on dialing in a properly installed suspension while giving everyone plenty of track time. DK racing school brought 16 smiling faces to the track. The women’s only

Level 1 group was led by Erin Vogel. Rick Knoop and Dwain Dement rounded out the instructors group, with an inspiring early AM track walk led by Dwain. Martina’s racing school provided a great opportunity for timid but interested significant others and serious entry level racers alike. The creative Time-Trial/Autocross hybridized format on Saturday, running in the clockwise direction, brought out another group of 20 or so new

faces to the club, and several new cars. Michael Oest set a track record for the Modified 5 class, and captured the top time of day in the afternoon autocross session driving a Miata MX-5. John Mueller had the fastest time in the time trial group in an open cockpit, sub-2000 pound KTM Crossbow on street tires, and was taking passengers on joy rides for anyone showing an interest in these “go-karts on steroids.” But it was Alexandra Hainer who put together the quickest lap of the day on Sunday going counterclockwise, capturing a track record for GT2 in the process. Speaking of Hainers, Anders Hainer also set the Boxter Spec track record that day of 1:24.299 in the counter clockwise direction. A track record was also set in Stock 6 by Kylie Chang.

Even the fun races on Saturday and Sunday offered up something new, putting die-hard spec boxters in the lead positions followed by the higher HP cars, followed by an handful of “first-time” racers. This forced the faster cars to work their way up front, gave a handful of time-trial drivers a rare opportunity to test their skills during a wheel-to-wheel racing simulation, and gave me the opportunity to start a race from the second row. Given the reactions of the new drivers, I’m pretty sure that the switch in attitude and intensity that accompanies that transition from “time-trial” to “race” convinced at least a couple of drivers to plunge deeper into racing.

Not everything was new and different. The weather was a mild rendition of the typical high desert winter, with “I wish that I had brought my gloves” sunrises followed by “I wish that I had set up my cool-suit afternoons” ending with the “how does it get so cold so fast?” sunsets. And then there was the track itself; The Streets of Willow is a popular race track for good

reason. Long enough straight-aways to break into the triple digits of speed, elevation changes, an impressively banked turn, and the ability to run in both directions gives this track just enough playfulness and variation to amuse first time track goers and seasoned professionals alike. Going clockwise there is the WaterFall and an off-camber turn one to test your nerves and skills. Counter-clockwise the track is more forgiving, and the skid pad gives you a chance to experiment with safely going beyond the limits of threshold braking.

Leaving for the day on Sunday, just past the long green wall, I paused to survey the big track in the afternoon sun. The “Fastest Road in the West,” big brother to “The Streets” is notoriously hard on tires and not at all forgiving like it’s shorter sibling. Apparently the berm built just inside “the green wall” was purposely constructed in such a way that overcooking turn 9 turns into a rollover and quick stop, rather than head-on collision with the green wall and instantaneous stop. A chilling reminder that car racing does have some absolute limits, but also an affirmation that when done “properly,” with the right equipment, the right attitude, and the right club, car racing gives us a chance to “safely” live on the edge with our foot to the floor.

Not everyone makes it to the Streets, perhaps because it isn’t real racing. But I assure you, it is still real fun, and if you missed it, you missed a great opportunity to try something different, and a much appreciated opportunity to put the challenges of 2020 where they belong, in the rear view mirror.

NO COMPROMISES.

PUSHING YOUR PROBLEMS TO THE END

Tenth Chasers Vol.6

Article: Dennis Wolfe

Photo: Luis Vivar

If you’ve read a few of these Tenth Chasers articles recently, you’ll note that we’ve been focusing primarily on driving technique, which is of course very important. But from time to time we’re going to discuss topics beyond just driving. Things like preparation, approach, equipment and so on.

So with that context in mind, today we will focus on a very important concept to going faster at autocross: pushing your problems to the end.

One of the unique challenges to autocross - indeed, one of the things that makes it so interesting and fun - is that the course is never the same. Every time you show up, even if it’s the same venue, the course will be different, and that means you’ve got to learn it. Quick.

Which is why we do a thorough track walk in the morning, so you can start to paint a mental picture of the course. Where are the slaloms? Am I entering from the right or the left? Where are the key braking zones? How can I set up the best line to get through this series of elements?

And then of course you get out there in your car and suddenly everything is coming at you MUCH faster, and all of your careful plans while walking the course suddenly mean very little as your tires are squealing and the car is sliding.

So what do you do? Break up the course into sections, like you would at a proper racetrack. Instead of Turn 1, you’ve got Section 1, which might include 3-5 elements, then you get to Section 2, and so on.

The typical autocross course at El Toro has around 7 sections. Once you break the course down into sections in your head, then you need to work on them SEQUENTIALLY. Do not try to solve your problems in Section 7 if you’re still totally blowing Sections 1, 3 and 6. Get 1 nice and clean first, then 3, then 6 until you’ve pushed your problems all the way to the end and can finish strong.

Another technique I’ve found helpful is to take a clipboard on the track walk and do your best to draw the course as you’re walking it, making note of the major elements. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it will help when you’re in the pits to quickly review where your problem areas are and mentally prepare for them on the next lap.

The key to all of this is to learn the track as quickly as possible, solve your problems as quickly as possible, and then DRIVE as quickly as possible. Breaking the course into sections and pushing your problems to the end will help you do just that.

Next edition of Tenth Chasers: Smooth Is Fast

Happy racing! - Dennis

Got questions? Hit me up: denniswolfe101@gmail.com

Porsche News

Porsche is celebrating the 25th birthday of its roadster family with an anniversary model... the Boxster 25 years

Limited-edition model:

The Boxster has a very special meaning for Porsche as it marked a re-orientation of the sports car manufacturer’s model strategy and provided a way forward during the difficult economic times of the mid-1990s. This was reflected in the first water-cooled production flat-six engine and also in the intelligent carry-over parts concept that made its debut with the agile mid-engined roadster. This concept was incorporated into the 996 generation 911, which was launched a year later, and made it possible for Porsche to return to profitable production.

Boxster 25 years

The attractively priced two-seater captured the hearts of new, younger customers right from the start. In terms of looks, it incorporated features of the already renowned history of the brand. The visual appearance of the Boxster concept car shown in Detroit evoked images of the legendary 550 Spyder and the 718 RS 60 Spyder racing car. It was received so well in January 1993 that the Porsche Executive Board intervened in the ongoing design development of the production model and ordered, without further ado: “Build the concept car just like that”. As time would tell, it was a wise decision.

SIMRACING 3

Jan 11 Silverstone

Jan 25 Nürbugring GP

Feb 8 Spa (Grand Prix Pits)

Feb 22 Zolder GP

Mar 8 Imola

Mar 22 Okayama

Apr 5 Interlagos GP

Apr 19 Barcelona GP

May 3 COTA

May 17 VIR (90 Minutess)

May 31 Laguna Seca

June 21 Sebring

Jul 5 Sonoma Cup Historic

GT3 RSR GT4 Clubsport

1st Teddy Framhein Travis Brown

2nd Matthew Robinson Jerr y Freckleton 3rd Michael Oest Aaron Edwards

Teddy Framhein Jerr y Feckleton

Bayan Salehi John Momeyer

BJ Fulton Adam Fulton

RSR GT4 Clubsport

Jan 11 Road Atlanta

Jan 25 Auto Club

Feb 8 Watkins Glen Boot

Feb 22 Road America

Mar 8 Long Beach

Mar 22 Mid Ohio

Apr 5 Bathurst

Apr 19 Phillip Island

May 3 Summit Point

May 17 Mosport

May 31 Daytona Road

Competition Team Event (180 Minutes) (90 Minutess)

All club members with track experience or online sim racing experience are invited to participate – however, you will need an iRacing Membership and a simulator.

Silverstone

Nürbugring SIMRACING

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UPCOMING

WILLOW SPRINGS

February 6-7

Kick off the 2021 season with a “Go-AtIt” on what is commonly referred to as our Home Track. This event which will include PDS, Time Trial and Cup Racing is sure to be well attended so...

Register Today!

SPRING MOUNTAIN

April 24-25

Let’s head on over to Nevada and run what has got to be one of the most fun and challenging tracks on our roster. Be soon to jumo onboard as soon as registration opens!

Registration Soon Open

BUTTONWILLOW

February 27-28

You’ll surely not want to miss this DOUBLE POINTS event which will also include our first DRIVERS CLINIC of the year for those of you aspiring to become Wheel-to-wheel Racers!

Register Today!

TRIBUTE to LeMans

May 15-16

Get your teams together now and get signed up for our long-awaited “4-Hour” Tribute to LeMans at Willow Springs. It’s been a couple of years so get ready for the fireworks!

Registration Soon Open

Be sure to check out the POC website for our 2020 schedule of events and to stay current on PDS, Time Trial and Cup Racing standings.

And, don’t miss the Official POC Facebook Page with photos, videos and comments from our members.