Jeff Kleiner
09-07-2014, 07:06 PM
Just gotta' brag a little. My local SCCA region's biggest event of the season, "Super Weekend" was this weekend. It's two separate days of competition that culminates with an award for the best two day cumulative score which is named in memory of one of the Region's founders and long time competitors. My buddy Joel is a national caliber driver and would have been almost unanimously named as one of the top two or three competitors most likely to take home the "Hank Dickey Memorial" trophy this year. When I learned that his fully built and uber-fast John Cooper Works Mini was under the weather on Friday I offered up my roadster for a co-drive. He drove it with me at a regular event a couple of years ago and had a blast. I beat him by a few tenths of a second but said then that with a little more seat time in the car he'd be kicking my butt! Turns out that by the time competition was over he didn't just kick mine but everyone elses' too! Among well over 100 competitors through the two days he nailed down FTD (fast time of the day) on both Saturday and Sunday giving him the FTW (fast time of the weekend) and the highest score towards the memorial trophy!
I personally made the top 5 both days and for the weekend and am quite pleased with that but what makes me most proud is that in the hands of an exceptional driver my little ol' home built and home sorted hot rod was able to take down the areas "Big Dogs". I hope that Dave Smith and the FFR crew take some pride in our little victory as well because these are tough little beasts! It did it with no fuss and no muss too---before driving it out of the garage Saturday morning I checked the oil and set tire pressures. That's it! While the competition was returning to the grid and breaking out tire gauges and pyrometers, twisting on sway bars, adjusting brake bias and fiddling with shock valving between runs Joel and I were sipping soft drinks and shooting the breeze with drivers who ran in earlier heats. We kept hammering on the black car and it just kept delivering even though I never opened the hood or even stuck a gauge on the tires! Well, that's not quite true; I did raise the hood to clear out some of the weeds and soybeans that wound up in the engine compartment after Joel was pushing it a bit too hard on his last run yesterday and made a little excursion off the track into the bean field! No harm, no foul.
Here's a shot that someone got of me on course yesterday (BTW, the down cone is a pointer, not a penalty ;)):
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/super2014.jpg
What a great little car!
Cheers,
Jeff
I personally made the top 5 both days and for the weekend and am quite pleased with that but what makes me most proud is that in the hands of an exceptional driver my little ol' home built and home sorted hot rod was able to take down the areas "Big Dogs". I hope that Dave Smith and the FFR crew take some pride in our little victory as well because these are tough little beasts! It did it with no fuss and no muss too---before driving it out of the garage Saturday morning I checked the oil and set tire pressures. That's it! While the competition was returning to the grid and breaking out tire gauges and pyrometers, twisting on sway bars, adjusting brake bias and fiddling with shock valving between runs Joel and I were sipping soft drinks and shooting the breeze with drivers who ran in earlier heats. We kept hammering on the black car and it just kept delivering even though I never opened the hood or even stuck a gauge on the tires! Well, that's not quite true; I did raise the hood to clear out some of the weeds and soybeans that wound up in the engine compartment after Joel was pushing it a bit too hard on his last run yesterday and made a little excursion off the track into the bean field! No harm, no foul.
Here's a shot that someone got of me on course yesterday (BTW, the down cone is a pointer, not a penalty ;)):
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/super2014.jpg
What a great little car!
Cheers,
Jeff