Chan -- (archive)

The complete automotive resource for buyers, sellers, and owners like you.

It was a great day. Its too bad the Z3 Coupes dropped out of the race. I would have liked to watch them all day. There was some great racing, though. There was a yellow 325(I think) that was pretty quick and that silver S4 was very fast and smooth. Even the 4 bangers were holding their own out there. It was great watching the smaller more nimble cars dance through the turns as the Firebirds, Camaros, and Mustangs lumbered around the track, pitching and diving as they cornered. Those Vettes and Vipers were amazingly fast though, and seemed to handle very well.

Its definitely time for a driving school after taking those few laps around VIR. I was excited just doing 50mph around there so I can't imagine learning how to really open it up.

Chan (CReiser) and I saw the last half of the four hour Motorola Cup at VIR today. When we got there, the Z3s of Team Spartanburg were running well, apparently in 4th and 5th place. They had distanced themselves some from the Acuras and were running down a couple of Lexus GS400s.

The cars were great to watch on the track. Appeared very nimble, and looked like they made up a bunch of time in the corners. Then, things started going down hill.

The leading TS coupe disappeared, and we had no idea what happened, so we headed over to the paddock to see what we could learn. We got there, to see a Z3 Coupe sitting at the entrance to the pits with a rear wheel just about caved in. Seems a bearing gave way. We talked with one of the TS mechanics, who kindly told us what happened and let us take some pictures of the car (I'll try to post them later). At the same time, the second TS car overrevved and broke a valve lifter. The third Z3 Coupe dropped out shortly thereafter.

Anyway, Motorola Cup is great racing. Lots of cars (50+) and tight racing at the front between the Vettes and Vipers.

And, VIR is a great place. Beautiful track. They also do track tours, and Chan and I got to do three laps behind a pace car at 50 mph or so. If you hung back just a bit, you could have some fun through the tighter corners. Just enough to give you a taste of what a real track day might be like.

Last, we saw some neat, neat stuff. A Lotus Super 7. A 70 Boss 302. Lots of Cobra replicas. A beautiful dark green S4. A purple Series 1 E Type. Two other coupes (a yellow M and a estoril M).

All in all, a pretty good day. Anthony, John, I think we are going back in October for SCCA regionals, as a send off for Chan before he heads to the Far East for a month. Hope you guys can make it.

Questions, comments, or problems, please visit the Roadfly help desk.