April 30, 2001

Magnaflow Vintage 2.5 Challenge

The Eastern Region kicks off with their first race at Virginia International this weekend (May 5-6th).  A preview of what's in store for the East Coast drivers was the Savannah race (not a VSRG race but featured a large turnout of B-Sedans; report is on BSedan.com).  This must have been quite a race as it even got mentioned on the Speedvision web site in an article that stated; "...this group provided the weekend's best racing and holds the promise of becoming a popular series" .  The link to the article is;  (http://www.speedvision.com/pub/articles/classics/01road/010416a.html).

The race season is off to a great start with a three way points tie in the Western Region after only two races.  The Las Vegas race was close and exciting with the drivers putting on quite a show. Although we had a smaller number of cars than the Willow Springs race, this proved to be a weekend of great racing with lots of nose to tail and door to door action in every race.  No single marque is dominating the series as we have a Cortina, Alfa and Datsun tied for first place in points and the Las Vegas race had a Cortina, Datsun, BMW and Alfa in the top 4 finishing spots!

The top 6 finishers were;  C.J. Bonura (Cortina), Steve Link (Datsun 510), Jeff Hecox (BMW 2002), David Wall (Alfa GTV), Kevin McKee (Alfa GTV) and Henry Manney (Alfa GTA).

Special congratulations are in order Jeff Hecox and Bob Sullivan who teamed up to drive Jeff's 2002 in the Enduro.  This one hour race pitted the cars of the Porsche 2 Liter Challenge against the cars of the Magnaflow 2.5 Challenge.  Jeff started the race and built a substantial lead before the required pit stop.  Bob took over and built on Jeff's lead for a solid win.

We want to thank all of the drivers and members that attended the race as well as our sponsors as they have made this great race series possible.  Magnaflow had their large display trailer at the race that served as VSRG HQ as well as home to "Fred's Burger Joint" (VSRG hosted lunch for our members, friends and family on Saturday and Sunday).
The next Western Region race will be June 2-3 at Thunderhill.  Once again VSRG will provide members and their family with lunch on both days.  We expect a large turnout for this race as many Southern California drivers are planning to attend and we will be joined by a number of Washington and Oregon drivers as well as our Northern California members.  Entry forms were mailed on May 2nd and 3rd.  If you do not receive one and want to attend, call Ed Swart at 310-530-9731.  For spectators, there will be a $10 admission charge that covers both days.
 
An Enduro at Thunderhill has been scheduled at the last minute and does not appear on the entry forms.  Seems like the Porsche group really wants to get even for the spankin' they got from Jeff Hecox and Bob Sullivan!  From what we saw at Las Vegas, everyone that ran the Enduro had a good time as well as an extra hour of track time.  We have spoken with a number of 2.5 drivers that plan to enter this race and we encourage all VSRG members to enter as well.  As far as we know, the entry for the Enduro will be at the track but if this changes we will send out an e-mail.  The fee has not been set but we have been told it could be as high as $90 and as low as $50 (the more entries the lower the price).  Note that you must be entered in the main race to enter the Enduro.  The race will be the same format as Las Vegas:

There are no points awarded for participation or finish position in the Enduro.

There were no Rule changes however we need to clarify a few points that have come up:

    1. Shocks, only period correct shocks are allowed.  Data acquisition type shocks and in-car adjustable shocks are not allowed.
    2. Data telemetry in any form is not allowed however "Hot Lap" timing devices and G-Tech/Pro meters are ok.
    3. Suspension- Mods can only be made as indicated in the rules with specific attention to rule 6A2.  This means that coilover's cannot be added where a strut did  not exist on the production model of the car.
    4. Brakes, only period correct brakes are legal.
    5. Transmission, period correct and it must have a working reverse.

Drivers should also be aware that our goal is "period correct" racing and that VSRG races are hosted by different vintage organizations, some of which are lax on vintage preparation and some that are very strict.  As an example, our event at Lagna Seca is with HMSA which more strictly enforces vintage preparation rules and it is possible that some cars running our series might not be accepted in their present state. 

Speaking of Laguna Seca, entry forms will be quite different from the HSR-West as they will require detailed car information as well as a recent photograph of the car.  Their entry form indicates slides and photocopies are not acceptable so get your camera out if you do not have a good photo to attach to the entry form.  We should have entry forms available at the Thunderhill race.
 
Vintage Racecar Journal devoted a photo page in the May issue to the first race of the series at Willow Springs.  Look for articles Sport Compact Car and European Car magazines as well.
 
We were unable to get a July race date at Sears Point so we will use the November 17-18 HSR-West PIR race as our final race of the season.  This means we will take a summer break after the upcoming Thunderhill race and pick up again in September at Laguna Seca.