The second race of the 2024 Columbia Gorge Championship for Porsche 962s was held at Rob's Redline Raceway in Vancouver. This track is both fast and challenging! With approximate lap lengths of 80 feet, fast lap times for the Porsche 962s on this track are in the high three second to low four second range. Add to that the tight four-inch lane spacing, and it makes for some exciting racing to say the least! Four-inch lane spacing with these Porsche 962s places them in close proximity to each other in traffic! And on this course you are ALWAYS in traffic! There is never a moment when you can rest and cruise, you are contently passing or being passed! As expressed by Jack Black in his famous movie quote; "It will test your head, and your mind, and your brain, too."
So, this race report will be from MY perspective as a racer/participant. Please keep in mind, historically I do not have good luck racing this class of cars. As near as I can tell the Porsche 962s hate me! The race format is the traditional four rounds of four-minute heats. Note here that in the last Porsche 962 race I was sent to the pits when my motor was dislodged in a wreck, which resulted in less than optimum alignment of the gears. The resulting noise indicated immanent gear failure! So, in my prep work for this race I reinforced my motor position with some E-6000 glue. Just a little on each side of the motor, but enough to ensure correct positioning despite any wrecks. This will prove to be an important factor during this race at Redline Raceway.
Here we go, Round 1 and John is setting the pace with high three second lap times. Right behind John is Bob . As is expected, there is quite a bit of “rubbin’” going on! Towards the end of my first heat my car is acting kinda funny....When I went to place my car on my new and ultra cool Inslot Service Station and car cooler, I checked it for any damage. Motor placement and gear alignment was good thanks to E-6000 reinforcement, and no chassis damage. I figured any performance issues must have been from improper guide flag braid alignment. I fool with the braid a bit and put the car on the cooler. Just a few seconds into my second of the four heats in Round 1 it becomes obvious I have a problem! My car stops, then it goes, then it goes fast, then it slows, then it stops and won’t go at all.....I take it off the track and give it a look. No broken lead wires, and the braid looks good. Back on the track. It goes. It stops. Off the track and into the pits I go.... I pull the body off and everything looks OK. I check the motor. One bruch spring is so loose it almost falls off the spring post. I pull the spring off the motor and extract the motor brush, no easy task without removing the motor (remember the part about the E-6000 reinforcement?). With the brush out of the motor it is obvious it is worn to the point of being useless (less than half the length of a new brush). I spend my last two and a half heats of Round 1 replacing the bad motor brush....54 total laps for Round 1...Not a good start!
Round 2, Bob is now stepping up the pace with John close behind. Al is very consistent, and Howie seems to be getting dialed into the track. Rob is fast as always, but man he is tearing down some walls! OK, I’m back in. Yellow lane, not my favorite but I’ll get through it. In the first ten seconds or so of the heat, my car is looking pretty good. The chassis is handling well. What the heck? It comes to a stop again. I check the car, braid is good, no broken lead wires. Back on the track, I’m racing again. Then it slows quite a bit, and finally it stops again. I pull the car off the track and head to the pits. The same motor brush spring is loose again! I pull the spring off and it has no tension left in it... I install a new brush spring and head back to the track. Back on the track the car takes off just fine, although not very fast. Then all of a sudden it is super fast! Faster than it has ever been! Then just as suddenly it slows up and then comes to a complete stop...OK I give, there is something else wrong! Back to the pits I go. I decide it is time to pull the motor out and see what’s going on. The top of the brass chassis plate, between the motor can cooling opening, is blackened like it had been heated with a torch. I’m thinkin’ this motor has issues and is DONE! At this point, as a racer, I am DONE!....29 total laps for Round 2....
Round 3, Bob has definitely stepped it up! John is still battling him hard, but he is contending with a lot of traffic issues. It is clear at this point in the race that these are the guys to beat. Al is still running a very consistent and fast race, but Howie is starting to gain on him. Tim has also picked it up and is getting more consistent. By the end of Round 3 I had figured out that what the computer was showing us for "Fastest Lap" times was inaccurate. After the third round I changed one of the race settings which corrected the timing error in the fourth round. I am, at this point an official DNF!
Round 4, in this round Bob finished us off! After the first round he was consistently the fastest. John had a good lead over Al in third place, and kept it throughout the last round. Howie kept pace with Al in the fourth round, finishing just four laps behind him.
In the end this second race of the 2024 championship proved to be exciting, challenging, and must of all fun! Rob hit his highest lap total of the race in the second round, 30 laps higher than his other rounds! Tim only had one bad round, with three of the four rounds having lap totals over 160. Mark improved dramatically after the first round, becoming much faster and more consistent by races end. Hersch arrived late but was running fast out of the gate, with multiple 150 plus lap rounds. Congratulations to Bob on his win! And kudos to all the racers that finished! Overall it was quite a spectacle!
Race results:
1st Bob (Nak Nak) 750.5 laps
2nd John (Turing John) 732.4 laps
3rd Al (Meat) 696.3 laps
4th Howie (Howie) 677.8 laps
5th Tim (Tiny Tim) 619.0 laps
6th Rob (Rob) 603.0 laps
7th Hersch (Squirt) 592.2 laps
8th Mark (Skid Mark) 478.5 laps
9th Bill (Bad Billy) 83.0 laps DNF
