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With #921 in for restoration, we elected to share the tow down. Richard brought #97 to our house and we swapped his car into our trailer. Terry & Rose met us as well, so we all caravanned down to WG together.
The drive was uneventful, and very scenic along Seneca lake and through the town of Geneva in particular. We arrived right as the gates opened at 4pm. Since we opted to rent garages (what a luxury!), we had assigned parking for the rig outside of the garage bay. It sure was easy to set up, without having to take out the generator, easy-up's, etc. The garages at WG also have power and great work benches, which were very handy.
We all had adjoining garage space (probably thanks to Mack), so there was Richard, us, and Mack all in the same garage area. Unfortunately Terry was not able to get space as he only was able to commit last minute. However since we only had one trailer, Terry was able to set up his pit spot directly beside us. After we set up on Thursday and got the cars teched, we headed into for dinner atSeneca Lodge. Pretty cool place, all the famous drivers from the past had stayed there, or at least visited the bar!
On Friday, the weather was getting ugly. The morning practice and the afternoon qualifying race were both in the wet, with plenty of wind and large areas of the track that had rivers of water running across the surface.
Our group was a mixed grid of 32 cars, Spridgets, MGA's & B's Alfas, Ginettas, etc. During the timed practice, Andy had the best lap @ 2:57.5 & put him on pole for the qualifying race, Richard was 2nd fastest @2:58, & Terry 3rd @3:03 (wet), Mack had the brakes lock up on the first practice lap, with a master cylinder problem & missed the qualifying race.
Andy won the Qualifying race in #68, with Terry second and Richard 5th.
After the day's racing, we headed into town. Terry had spotted a British phone booth on the main street, which turned out to be a great brew pub and restaurant. The Wildflower Cafe is part of the Crooked Rooster Brew Pub, and they had awesome beer and great food.
Saturday morning was nice & dry for our first race, Andy had the pole position, with Richard 2nd, & Terry 3rd (VRG uses the fastest lap times of the weekend, rather than finishing position to determine grid position). Terry won Race 1 on Saturday morning, with Richard 2nd and Andy 3rd, a very exciting race with the lead changing hands often, this was our best lap times of the weekend (other than the last race) Richard 2:27.5, Andy 2:28.8, & Terry 2:29.4. The starting grid had Richard on pole, Andy 2nd, & Terry 3rd. This was the starting order on the grid for all remaining races. Mack started at the back due to missing the qualifying race, with an incredible drive up through the field he passed 20+ cars to finish 4th!
Race 2 on Saturday afternoon it started pouring just as the cars lined up on the pre-grid. Terry, Andy & Mack were on Hoosiers and Richard had the Yokos, giving him an advantage. Terry's car broke the clutch arm and he pulled out after the pace lap. Andy wasn't sure if he had a problem with 68 and slowed and eventually stopped, turned out it was probably only the engine stopping when the front wheels locked up through a slippery patch, as the car was fine. Andy found it too slippery to stay out on Hoosiers & returned to the paddock. Richard was running very strong, and was able to open up a big lead on the rest of the field. Mack stayed out & braved the weather on Hoosier's, finishing a strong second.
Saturday night VRG put on a great banquet in the WG Media Center. The highlight of the evening was when Road & Track's Peter Egan was invited to give a short speech . He was running a formula Ford this weekend and captivated us with several stories, including his fond memory of Gilles Villeneuve at WG in 1979(?). Apparently the rain was coming down in buckets for the qualifying, and Mario went out and did a few laps, as did several others. Everyone went back to the paddock. Gilles however went out and in Peter's words "was sideways and airborne with rooster tails of water coming off his tires...he did it just because he "could"! And he was 11+ seconds ahead of every other car in the field. Amazing!"
Sunday morning we had dry weather again. Richard had invited Andy to drive #97 in the enduro, so Andy took out #97 for the morning practice. Richard & Andy ran the Enduro with Smurf and had a ball passing 911's, Lotus Elans and the like, easily winning the small bore class. It was a blast to watch these guys passing all these cars.
For the afternoon race, it stayed dry, with just a few drops of rain threatening... It was a very exciting race, with Richard, Terry & Andy way out front, Mack stayed up with them for the first few laps, then dropped back a bit. With positions swapped several times, the top 3 Minis were very exciting to watch. On the second last lap, something happened to Terry's car & he had to pull off track, finishing order, Richard 2:25.5, Andy 2:26.4, & Mack 2:33.2.
All and all a fantastic weekend of camaraderie, fast racing, excellent organization, and fun. A big "thank you" to Mack & Leigh for inviting us down to play. This is a great event with lots of track time, highly recommended!
