Worth every damn penny! -- now with more video action!

[Steve1968LS2]

No pun intended there... lol

The Bowler event was great. Rather than the small abrieviated "psudo" auto-x course found at Goodguys they featured a full on SCCA course. I think we were hitting close to 70mph in the straights and it was a blast.

Best of all there weren't a ton of cars (like at a regular SCCA event) so we got tons of runs. I think I was up in the high 30s. In fact we actually ran the car out of gas. After filling up we hit the track again and ran until 7pm.

I had to come home but on Sunday they had a car show and some 1/8th mile drag racing. Saturday night featured ribs, burgers, booze and fun over at Air Rides encampment.

Penny did well and it was nice to run her on a real course and get so much valuable seat time. Thanks to Tom over at Bowler Transmission the brakes were back to working great... As a thank you I let Tom take her out for a few laps. Man, he's a good driver and going by the grin on his face afterwards I'm worried I won't get my car back! lol

I HIGHLY reccomend this event for next year. It was both relaxed and professional. The autocross was ran super smoothly by the local SCCA guys and overall event had something for everyone (even a few bands playing).

Can't wait for next year!

Here are a few pics:

Tom taking Penny for some laps.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/4ibosm-1.jpg

Brian Finch and I battled it out all day. Nice ride and Brians a great driver!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/2d0m6tt-1.jpg

Mario was also on hand in the Bowler sponsored GT3. In fact there were four cars at the event from the Optima Invitational last year.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/w87ss5-1.jpg

I do believe Bill Howell won the 80 and up catagory at the auto-x
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/1zdbqpt-1.jpg

Phil brough out The Roadster Shop's killer Chevelle. Man that car is sweet!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/t8kbhw-1.jpg

[Steve1968LS2]

Air Ride Tech came to the event in Force.. Something like 8 or more cars!

Thier killer Mustang:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/28aqhb5-1.jpg

Velocity:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/24fg49c-1.jpg

Bret's new toy..
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/2v2tjed-1.jpg

I can't remember who's Mustang this is.. mental lapse here, but it nice, not too overdone.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/2lw23kn-1.jpg

Also, It was a chance for me to get a shot of my two cars together.. Considering the Fairlane now lives on the other side of the country I sure seem to see it a lot!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/4pyzr-1.jpg

Again, great event and a "must attend" for next year. This time I was just there on personal time but we're going to try and cover it in 2010.

Good times!

[RodDawg]

My family had a great time too. Heck, I even won the drawing for Indy race tickets at the Kentucky Speedway.

Thank you Steven, Brian, and Bill for the rides.

Sorry we missed the Air Ride BBQ, but hope to see you all at RTTH.

[Steve1968LS2]

My family had a great time too. Heck, I even won the drawing for Indy race tickets at the Kentucky Speedway.

Thank you Steven, Brian, and Bill for the rides.

Sorry we missed the Air Ride BBQ, but hope to see you all at RTTH.

No problem on the ride.. hope it was fun!

Actually, giving rides was the best part of the event.

[cmraman]

Air Ride Tech came to the event in Force.. Something like 8 or more cars!

I can't remember who's Mustang this is.. mental lapse here, but it nice, not too overdone.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/07/2lw23kn-1.jpg

Again, great event and a "must attend" for next year. This time I was just there on personal time but we're going to try and cover it in 2010.

Good times!



Steve, the Mustang is George Poteet's car. It was prepped by Rad Rides by Troy. It was at Columbus tearing up the course.

[Steve1968LS2]

Oh yea.. I even met George at the event.. really nice guy.

I knew he was driving it but I wasn't sure who it belonged to.

Thanks!

[CarlC]

Weird. Bill does not look like he's over 80.

[Steve1968LS2]

Weird. Bill does not look like he's over 80.

All that moonshine acts as a preservative..

[RodDawg]

It looks like the guy in the passenger side is texting, lol.


Yes Steven, the ride was fun. Although it would have been more fun had you stayed on course, and set a quick time...j/k. The backside of the track did look confusing with the beat up pavement and all.

[Steve1968LS2]

It looks like the guy in the passenger side is texting, lol.


Yes Steven, the ride was fun. Although it would have been more fun had you stayed on course, and set a quick time...j/k. The backside of the track did look confusing with the beat up pavement and all.

I only set my best times with girls in the passenger's seat.. sorry ;)

[RodDawg]

I only set my best times with girls in the passenger's seat.. sorry ;)


I hear ya......show off!!! lol

[Bill Howell]

I second what Steve said, great event. Man, the list of must do events is getting longer by the month. Just this year we have added two huge events to my must do list, this and motor state will be permanate dates for us.
As Steve mentioned, I did win the 80 up class for the autocross. I did have some stiff competition, one WRX, and one of Mario's Porsche, but somehow squeezed out a win. I got 18 runs, so even a dummy like me can figure out the course by then.
Steve missed the dragracing, but it turned out to be 1/4 mile instead of 1/8 so I also got to see what the vette would do at the strip. I love that car, drove it up, got 28 mpg, flogged it all weekend, the drove it home yesterday.
I hooked up with Brian Finch in Nashville on the way up, both wives had a great weekend also. This event, like all others are about good times, and good friends hanging out. Bret and crew had some killer ribs on Saturday and it was great to see all those guys again.
I can not say enough about how well Mark, Tom and everyone else did to make this show a hit. I hope anyone close will pony up and go next year, you will not be dissappointed.
Thanks again to everyone involved, it was a blast.

[parsonsj]

I thought Bill was our age. :)

Seriously, looks like fun was had by all. Congrats to all the participants.

jp

[bret]

Since our shop is only 50 miles from Bowlers, we had 10 cars and over 20 people from Air Ride there for the Autocross. It was a great course...around 50 seconds and speeds up to around 70mph. It was also the first chance I had to lean on my new Z06. This car could spoil you quick. It is certainly a new target to shoot for!
It was also a chance to get my Mustang out again and do some serious tuning. We changed a few things over the winter and have not had a real chance to properly evaluate.
Also did more tuning on Velocity. The new Titanium shocks are responding quite nicely.

Saturday night was spent around the campfire "re-hydrating" and practicing lies...until around 5:00 am!
Mark is talking about do the autocross on both Saturday and Sunday next year. This will give us more time to run AND eliminate the last [toughest] 6 hours of campfire activity on Saturday night. Let's talk him into it! We'll supply the ribs again.

[Steve1968LS2]

GoPro video of the course...

mFwJSdcfBfA

[David Pozzi]

Congratulations Steve! What's interesting in that video is how little of the run you are on the gas.

[MarkB]

I am slowly recovering from the event, the crew and myself actually slept a few hours last night. Everyone put a lot of work to get this event to run smoothly. I really appreciate everyone for coming out and supporting the event. We had perfect weather, good cars and great people. Thank you Pro-touring for helping promote the event, a special thanks to Bret & Air Ride Technologies for sponsoring the Autocross, we couldn't do it without all of the great sponsors and all of the participants. We will look into being able to do 2 days of autocross for next year along with the 1/4 mile strip. We hope to see even more Pro-Touring cars in 2010. It was great to see Air Ride, The Roadster Shop, Bad Penny, Rad Rides by Troy, George Poteet, Bill Howell, Brian Finch and many others enjoy the day. Be sure to add "Day At The Strip" to your list in 2010, it will be held on the third weekend in July.

I would also like to thank BFGoodrich for stepping up with a set of tires for the winner in each class of the Autocross and Schwartz Extreme Performance for sponsoring the really cool custom hand made wooden trophies for each class of the Autocross.

Great pictures Steve!

Thanks!

[Steve1968LS2]

Congratulations Steve! What's interesting in that video is how little of the run you are on the gas.

Keep in mind that the GoPro isn't great at sound.. I think the in-car video will give a better idea.

I started in first and quickly went to second. I stayed there the whole time. I have so much torque that even in second I can easily rotate (or even over-rotate) the car with the throttle.

God knows what sort of time you or Mary would have turned in.. lol

[cmraman]

I am slowly recovering from the event, the crew and myself actually slept a few hours last night. Everyone put a lot of work to get this event to run smoothly. I really appreciate everyone for coming out and supporting the event. We had perfect weather, good cars and great people. Thank you Pro-touring for helping promote the event, a special thanks to Bret & Air Ride Technologies for sponsoring the Autocross, we couldn't do it without all of the great sponsors and all of the participants. We will look into being able to do 2 days of autocross for next year along with the 1/4 mile strip. We hope to see even more Pro-Touring cars in 2010. It was great to see Air Ride, The Roadster Shop, Bad Penny, Rad Rides by Troy, George Poteet, Bill Howell, Brian Finch and many others enjoy the day. Be sure to add "Day At The Strip" to your list in 2010, it will be held on the third weekend in July.

I would also like to thank BFGoodrich for stepping up with a set of tires for the winner in each class of the Autocross and Schwartz Extreme Performance for sponsoring the really cool custom hand made wooden trophies for each class of the Autocross.

Great pictures Steve!

Thanks!


Mark, sorry I couldn't be there. I would have loved to have been. That event sounds awesome. Looking forward to being there next year.

[Steve1968LS2]

Mark, sorry I couldn't be there. I would have loved to have been. That event sounds awesome. Looking forward to being there next year.

With your car right????

[YancyJohns]

Darn, I wish I could of made it. Looked like a great event. Well done Mark! I'll definitely be there next year. Aaron and I really love the ribs from Air-Ride. Down with trampolines!!!

[buickfunnycar.com]

Man that RS Chevelle looks awesome!:enguard:

LOVE THAT CAR!!!

[Steve1968LS2]

Here's a killer vid that Brian Finch's wife shot..

I'm happy with how the car looked in the video.. it rotated well and was pretty flat through the slalomn.

It was my fastest lap of the day.

Better (bigger) vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFqEAt1s5zg

for the lazy folk:
WFqEAt1s5zg

[YancyJohns]

Steve, great pics and video of Penny.


Unfortunately after driving Penny I have the following symptoms:

A state of confusion and hallucinations (visual) -- known as delirium tremens
Agitation
Fever
Convulsions
"Black outs" -- when the person forgets what happened during the episode/video/pics
Treatment may require Penny for a week or more until withdrawal is complete...lol

I can't wait for RTTH5......

[MrQuick]

Steve, great pics and video of Penny.



Unfortunately after driving Penny I have the following symptoms:

A state of confusion and hallucinations (visual) -- known as delirium tremens
Agitation
Fever
Convulsions
"Black outs" -- when the person forgets what happened during the episode/video/pics
Treatment may require Penny for a week or more until withdrawal is complete...lol

I can't wait for RTTH5...... haa haa, I bet I'd get the same but just with the severe tightening of the pants.

Looks good steve. What springs are you ruinning now F&R?

[Steve1968LS2]

haa haa, I bet I'd get the same but just with the severe tightening of the pants.

Looks good steve. What springs are you ruinning now F&R?

Right now we have 500 up front an 310 out back.. David is most likely going to swap to 275s in the back before our next event.

We're also looking at revalving the shocks a bit. We have a slight "bunny hop" on hard acceleration that we think is due to too much compression. At least that's what my crew chief thinks.. lol

It's a process. The bar setup right now is perfect. Thanks Dave!

[Steve1968LS2]

Slower lap.. funny how it actually looks faster.

Shows the rotation of the car better though.. Whatch think Dave? Did we get the sway bars right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLr0cBhYX9s

nLr0cBhYX9s

[Steve1968LS2]

Last Video.. In car shot..

Forgot to turn off my iPod. lol

I hit a nasty drop off on the straight and it skipped.. would have been bad if it had gone to my air supply track..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJl9Dr5E_yo

LJl9Dr5E_yo

[zbugger]

She's looking pretty damn good around the track, Steve. I wish I could check her out at RTTH this year. I can't make it though. Maybe some day though. But it's great to see you having fun with her. And she's really living up to her name!!!

[Steve1968LS2]

She's looking pretty damn good around the track, Steve. I wish I could check her out at RTTH this year. I can't make it though. Maybe some day though. But it's great to see you having fun with her. And she's really living up to her name!!!

I'm sure we will run her at Marina again.. that's not TOO far from you :)

[David Pozzi]

Steve,
Looks very good! You can hear the car doing it's little "hopping" thing as it accelerates. looks like it's turning in very well and very controllable.

Looks like a fairly confusing course layout.
David

[Steve1968LS2]

Steve,
Looks very good! You can hear the car doing it's little "hopping" thing as it accelerates. looks like it's turning in very well and very controllable.

Looks like a fairly confusing course layout.
David

Well, it had to negotiate around all the pot holes and such. lol

Yea, need to revalve the rears. I will call Bilstein today.

[David Pozzi]

If we get a chance to experiment I'd like to try the rear bar one hole softer. Might be better, might be worse.
David