Every adventure at GTM always seems to have some mix of drama, tragedy and then ends in “epic-#fullsend-ness” … or it wouldn’t be worth recapping, now would it? And this past weekend is no exception. 20+ GTM’ers from all over our regions joined our friends at HookedOnDriving for their first event weekend at PittRACE in the small town of Wampum, PA about 30 minutes north of the Pittsburgh Airport off Route-18. And as you may recall, a smaller group of Cannonballers went to PittRACE last year. Having had an absolute blast we jumped at the opportunity to sign up for another weekend at Pitt!
PittRACE is truly a hidden gem as far as East Coast tracks go. We’ve come to understand that in the early days of “Beaver Run” (aka “The North Course”) it wasn’t much to write home about. Now that the track is owned/operated by some folks that also have vested interest in VIR, the quality of the grounds, the facilities and track itself are nothing less than amazing. Unlike PA roads, which are constantly under-construction, causing many of us to double our short trips to Pitt, the track is well maintained and very smooth. That being said, on a day without delays, Pitt is within 4 hrs of the DC-area making it a very reachable track to visit (even on short notice).
Trouble from the word go… Using our “modern walkie-talkies” as some put it, we dialed into the GTM HQ conference bridge and left the line open during the drive since members were coming from all directions. It was fun to see who would jump on/off the call next while topics ranged from mild-to-wild, as expected. This made for a pleasant diversion while slogging through traffic. Meanwhile, we’d heard rumor that the “HOD Party Bus” was having some issues and may have broken down very near the track. “Near” was an understatement… they were stuck at the entrance.
First on the scene (around 3 pm) was Mike C & Chrissy C followed, by yours truly. John C was already there trying to sort out the situation. The diagnosis was that something had gone awry in the transmission and they were only able to use reverse. Dave, the track manager, came to the Arrigo’s rescue and offered to (slowly) pull the bus forward enough with his Chevy 2500 so they could get it off the street. We offered up straps, receivers, tools, advice and some traffic control to help get them on their way. Once the bus was pointed “the wrong way”, the Arrigos drove in reverse, uphill, to the paddock which was a short 1.5 miles or so from the road. Impressive!
Setting up for a weekend like this is always tricky. We’ve gotten better at not over packing food, snacks, etc for the team. But we always try and spice things up with new ideas and activities. This time we decided it might be fun to setup a volleyball court as well as have some squirt gun fights along with our standard “tent city” … but plans for inter-mural sports were immediately over shadowed and super-ceded by the idea of organizing a HOD v GTM karting rematch at PittRACE’s nearly mile long outdoor go-kart track. Additionally, we opted to move the HOD BBQ to the Kart track so as to have an audience for what would become “the grand spectacle.”
The 20 driver race was broken into two 10 minute qualifiers, followed by a 40 minute enduro. Grid position was determined by best lap time during the qualifiers, but John C added a last minute twist and requested a “reverse-grid” option for the race so that the fastest drivers had to work a little harder. We were happy to see folks like Max S, John R, Mike B and other GTM members in the top spots on the leader board. Switching to a “rolling start“ at the last minute meant one of the facilities employees had to hop on a mountain bike to act as the pace car. LOL! – Check out the clips of the start of the race, as well as some on-board footage courtesy of Brett S. #fullsend #sendit
The race was action packed: spins, collisions, bump drafting, even some off-road antics… never a dull moment. In the end John C took 1st place representing his brand “Project Motoring” while HOD took 2nd and 5th, and GTM grabbed 3rd (Kris W) and 4th (Eric M) rounding out the top-5 spots.
We’re happy that the race was well received – so much so, we had a waiting list of drivers – and we plan to do more when/where available at upcoming events like NJMP, VIR, etc – so stay tuned for details. But the celebrations weren’t quite over…
Steve F organized a Happy Hour after the Karting/BBQ at the local Ramada Inn, and lets just say… well, we can’t say. #keepitPG #hadtobethere. #dadjokes #furminator
No weekend is ever perfect. But our mechanical issues were pretty low. We were happy to see Kerwin W pushing the SSM Miata to its limits after getting it back together so soon after engine failure at Pocono. Kerwin spent some time working out bugs from the 1.8 swap, but they seemed simple enough to overcome. Mike C had some “variable alignment” problems which seemed to get fixed, then get worse, then get fixed again. We’re sure he’ll have it nailed down in time for WGI. Gordon B pulled a classic “Richter Move” by running out of fuel on track, and Andrew B and I spent some time helping Matt Y patch up his Honda allowing him to run 3+ full sessions on Saturday. Jordan F had a catastrophic clutch failure in his Miata, so Matt loaned him his car for the remainder of the weekend.
Lastly and probably the most important part of the weekend, was meeting “Kona Bob” who is on an epic 1-lap of North America of his own design as a tribute to his late wife, to feed his passion and remind us all why this sport is so exciting. More on Kona Bob in an upcoming article/interview by John R.
(sigh) – We miss PittRACE already. It’s really that good… seriously. If you haven’t taken the time to make it a point go get out there and try this track, you’re missing out. It is arguably one of the most fun laps, for a newer track, this side of the Mississippi. Its a great blend of speed and technical challenge, that make you want to #outeverysession like Ken E. Groups like: HOD, CHIN and PCA are holding multiple events there per season, and for good reason. But don’t take our word for it… Check out this on-board video by John R in his Ecoboost Mustang.
Want to share your memories of this event? Comment below!
More photos from this event are available in the Vault. And for those that couldn’t make it, sorry you missed it.
until next time… #merrymotoring.
More photos available in the Vault!
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