Had two days of great weather at Shenandoah. For those unfamiliar with Shenandoah, it is one of the most diabolical, technical race tracks in the country. 18 turns in about 2 miles, lotsa off camber turns, elevation changes, plus a recreation of the Nurburgring’s famous 20 degree banked Carousel turn. It's a fun circuit.
Saturday was an all beginner school with a lot of interesting student cars including an old school mid 60’s Datsun 1600 roadster (tweaked to whopping 96 hp), a delightful little car. A nice early NSX (I had almost forgotten how nimble they are), and an Audi R8 V10 6speed. I had two great students. One was in a pre-Bangle BMW M5 (very nice car), and the other had an old Audi 4000CS sleeper. Audi 4000’s were about a blistering in their day as a 240sx, but this particular one had a monster turbocharged motor. Very fast.
The second day was a more varied day with a mix of new and experienced students. I had just one student that day, a very good driver who drove a caged Audi A4 – supercharged, very loud and fast.
During lunch on Saturday, the club allowed an interesting British car group onto the course for some parade laps. It was 6 cars and a chase vehicle. Some miscellaneous Triumphs, a newer Aston Martin, a lotus 7 plus a chase vehicle. Gotta admit I had a little fun at the expense of the two gentlemen in the restored TR-3. When I asked what was happening, they replied it was a national British Car Reliability Challenge. I naturally asked if they were attempting 3 laps or just 2. I quickly found out I was not the rudest one as a friend of mine them suggested that this was the second day of the Challenge and they began yesterday with 100 cars.
There was also an Audi instructor that brought a gorgeous old Caddy convertible. He took a 5 passengers out for a lap around the course. The ol' land yacht’s tires protested loudly at every turn and the suspension bottomed out as they went thru the banked turn at 25 mph. IT was an amusing sight.
Overall a fun weekend. the rest of this week, I was helping out a close friend who just had major surgery done and whose his wife had to go out of town. Pretty busy keeping up with their kid, tending to their animals, running errands etc etc. there was no time to look anyone up. One highlight was right after an appointment at Johns Hopkins, I realized how close we were to an old friend's restaurant, Obryki's in Fells Point. So we stopped there, had a beer, and got some incredible crab cakes to go (burp).
Here are some paddock pics:
The Datsun (owner was really nice)
and parked beside my friend's spec miata...
Nice old porsche with an LS1 and straight pipes. Downright evil sounding. Very fast
traditional shot of my car in front of my "beast" tow vehicle.
nice V10 R8 6 speed, I caught a ride in it. Very sweet. Does everything well.
The NSX. I rode in it too. They are wonderful cars. great handling.
The Audi 4000CS sleeper. Surprisingly fast. Owner was a good driver too.
The caddy
The TriumphTR3. the guys had a good sense of humor. Nice restoration
TR7,TR6 and the British Reliability Run chase SUV...
The lotus, very low sitting car...
My friend's Elise. Stock motor, but it's had suspension work done.
