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Matthew 'Yip' Yip

What's My Story? My interest in motorsports started as a child - my parents' neighbors had a bunch of boys who were into cars and the like so I had my fair share of time watching NASTYCAR (when the cars were production-based) and working on antiques that weren't antiques at the time (think '61 Beetle and '66 Rustang).  Fast forward to university - I started school with a '76 Ford Capri II Ghia (no, NOT a Rustang) and finished with an '86 GTi 8v.  During that time, I befriended a fellow whose Dad maintained a car collection for a local owner in rural North Carolina.  The collection was quite eclectic and included such oddities as a Westfield 7, a Renault R5 Alpina, an XJ140 DHC and a 56 Packard Caribbean Convertible.  My friend's Dad had a few oddities himself like a 54 Chevy pickup (with a 6-cylinder Chevelle drivetrain), a drop-dead gorgeous MGB GT and a '66 Rustang with an odd VIN plate - CS(something or another) in Black with Gold Dust stripes and 4-on-the-floor.  Needless to say, I spent more than a few weekends at that house playing with cars - sometimes we'd have my Capri apart so I'd have to borrow a car to get home for the night.  This sadly wasn't nearly as exciting and I usually ended up with either the Chrysler minivan (5-speed) or the Pinto Woody wagon - yeah, it was like losing the lottery every time.I discovered autocrossing at school although it didn't sink in too much - this was probably to blame on Kurt Spitzner who was the President of the Tarheel Sports Car Club.  He had an affinity for all things AMC and my first autocross experience was in his Gremlin - fast and fun BUT it was STILL a Gremlin.  Better was the participant who drove a 78 Buick LeSabre...with a 455 and a 4-speed.  He would walk the crowd and select riders specifically for their weight so they'd hold the car down and make up for the lack of suspension.  I don't remember if I drove or not - I didn't own a helmet at the time and while I was fascinated by motorsports, the idea of participating was completely foreign to me.After school, I rediscovered motorsports in the DC area in the form of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Sports Car Clubs - MWCSCC.  This is where I was introduced to the local motorsports community and where my volunteer tourette's started to show.  I started as the National Capital Chapter VW Club's MWCSCC representative and ended up as the last club President before it disbanded.  During that time, I met a myriad of interesting car people including Eric's family and many others who have remained friends for decades!!!Autocrossing was quite a bit of fun and I found myself spending quite a bit of time at events that ranged from MWCSCC events to local marque club events (mainly BMW b/c they didn't require marque ownership).  After a while I wanted "more speed" and a friend signed me up for a BMWCCA event by telling me - here's the application, you need to send them money (as he dropped the application into the mailbox).  Mind you, this was the "old" BMWCCA NCC that was full of track junkies with older, non-beautiful, non-leased cars and after my first event, I was HOOKED.The transition to Track Events was surprisingly smooth although there were very few groups doing Track Events at that time - BMWCCA was one of the bigger groups with PCA and FATT filling in the gaps by offering a "series".  Other groups (SESCA and VW Club, amoung others) held 1 event/year at a time when Summit Point was still a sleepy race track somewhere in the wilds of West Virginia.  I started attending just about any Track Event I could find that would accept me but the big downfall was during a Mercedes Benz Club event where some participants started talking to me about racing with the SCCA.  That put a bug in my ear and that spring, I acquired an '87 16v GTi to convert to an Improved Touring (IT) car with my sights on taking the school that fall.By the following Spring, I had completed 2 schools (per the SCCA requirement at the time) and had a newly minted SCCA Competition permit.  I vividly remember completing my first race - probably DFL BUT knowing that I'd finally achieved one of my childhood dreams - I was a RACECAR DRIVER!!!  I sadly discovered that I wasn't especially good at racing but I wasn't especially bad either so I persevered and found that the sport was alot of fun even though I would forever be eclipsed by younger, more talented drivers and drivers with more cubic dollars.  None of that really mattered though because I was a RACECAR DRIVER!!!.This gave me exposure to even more fanatical car people, again, many whom I can call friends for decades.  This even gave me the opportunity to work in the Pro Racing World as a crew member travelling to various and sundry racetracks around the country.  What a change it was going from being a spectator to a participant!!Back in the Amateur Motorsports world, I raced a 16v GTi so long that the car was reclassed from ITA to ITB!! (Granted, I had a hand in having the car reclassed b/c I was tired of looking at Miata and Civic taillights).  After 17 years of racing a VW, I had an opportunity to switch classes and buy a Honduh.  I had no experience with Japanese cars BUT I knew that they were FAST albeit fragile.  Deciding enough was enough, I sold the VW (painted as the General Li) and purchased a '99 Civic SI for ITS.After some health issues, I'm back in the Civic and am hoping to participate in the upcoming race season.  The Civic is rearing to go and I'm hoping that since the mind is willing that the body is willing as well. My Motorsports ExperienceAutocross since 1993Track Events since 1995SCCA Competition License since 1996SCCA Pro Crew - 2000-2002Grand Am Crew - 2002-2006WDCR SCCA PDX/TT Chair - 2007-2010?SCCA TTAC NEDIV Representative - 2012-presentSCCA DTTC Chairman - 2015-presentTop 10 Cars I would ownLamborghini Muira SPorsche 930 (78 or 79)C3 Corvette (63 or 67)BMW E28 M5427 Cobra S/CPlymouth GTX w/426 hemi (70)Chevy C10 stepside (65)Ferrari 275 GTBJaguar XJ-SMercedes 450SEL
Joined: 02/01/2014 -- R4 - Mountain
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