Watkins Glen – June 13th to 15th, 2008

A year has passed since George Tuma and I started racing together and a lot has happened in that time. Obviously, we’ve both become far more experienced and so the return trip to Watkins Glen for the June HSR races saw us at least knowing which way the corners went before we got there.

Jim Pace, vastly experienced professional racer and coach joined us, together with Cayenne, his dog. Thursday was test day, so Jim climbed into the Jagermeister RSR and took it out first to see that all was okay in the handling department. Then I went out in the car for a first practice after which George took over. Jim had installed radios into our helmets and so, all the way round the track, his level intonations of “smoothly, brake early, change gear, off the brake pedal, turn in” could be heard. Jim is a great psychologist and has, I am quite sure, mastered the art of calming a pupil down through those frenetic moments when, all keyed up, a student is at his most vulnerable in those early laps on a fresh track.

We were, as usual, in Group 9 but now, apart from two or three other, more modern RSRs, the class is full of bellowing Trans Am and NASCAR racers. They blow by on the straight, with their 6-700 horsepower but are then comparatively slow through the corners; It is not a pleasant experience to have to race with them and so I went to talk to Ken Fingler, the chief Steward and asked him if we could be re-classified into Group 5, in which most of our team mates run; His answer was an immediate “Yes!” I told George the good news and he was happy and then I told Nick, our Crew Chief. His response was: “What! I’ve already got four cars to look after in that class!” He was mollified when I pointed out that his boys looked after the RSR so well that it never went wrong and that’s the truth. Something bad will happen now!

Friday was qualifying day and George drove a great qualifying session, so much so that when I went out for the qualifying race in the afternoon, it was to find that we were gridded twelfth out of fifty-two starters. We’ve never been that far up a grid before and it’s almost embarrassing to drive past most of the other competitors on my way to take up the slot.

I had a good start and found myself tailing the lead group but couldn’t get past the white Mustang in front of me. How come a ’65-’67 Mustang can outrun a 1974 type RSR with a big motor? On the third lap, I remember looking in the mirror at the end of the straight and seeing no-one else behind me. I thought: “They must all have had a big accident right after the start!æ but they hadnt...Then a well-driven 911 caught up to me, out-braked and passed me and, although I shoved my nose down the inside of him he wouldn’t be deterred from chopping me off at the apex of a turn and then, all of a sudden, it was over. I drove back to the paddock, thinking “That wasn’t that fast, I expect I’ve only done a 2:17”, only to find Jim and George telling me I’d posted one lap at 2:13. Things are improving!

Saturday afternoon saw both George and I take part in the One-hour Enduro and, beforehand, we’d both decided not to run if it rained. “After all” said George “we have no wet tires and no windshield wiper motor!” George took the start and, sure enough, it started raining on the first lap. Good, I thought, George will pull in and we’ll retire. But no, George kept on going and, at the twenty-two minute mark, there was a full course yellow and George came in for his pitstop and I climbed in.

Now I don’t like the wet. I know there are drivers who love racing in the rain but I’m not one of them. Give me a nice sunny day and a dry track and I’m happy but, oh well, here we are, deal with it. I went very carefully indeed and, to begin with, quite a few cars passed me but then something happened and I began to find places on the track where there was some grip, even for a car on full slicks. So I tootled around and, by some sort of miracle, we finished up third in class and with the car in one piece. Miracles do happen.

Sunday saw George have an excellent race in the morning, in which he started faster than Larry Ligas in his Jaguar XKE racer and made Larry work hard to pass him. When Larry climbed out of his car afterwards, he congratulated George saying, “I thought it must be Jim Pace in the car but I looked across at one point and saw it was you! I don’t know what Jim Pace tells you but it’s working.”

There was a two-hour enduro on Sunday afternoon but the program ran late and we had a plane to catch so it was pack up time, leave the circuit and all go home. Another great time. Thanks to George; Larry, David, Nick, Scotty, Jim and all at Predator.

It’s Le Mans next!