Rick Potter and I left Kingston on our Car & Driver 1 Lap journey at 8:00 am on Friday the 30th of May. With the bright yellow 1993 twin turbo Mazda/Peter Farrell RX-7 on the trailer and a full Mazda MPV van we headed down to Painted Post, NY (near Corning). The Car & Driver 1 Lap is an event like no other in the world. It was derived from the 70's Cannonball Run races and has now become a premiere race event. The politically correct version of the Cannonball Run (called the 1 Lap of America now due to a lot of paranoia from the early years) is now set up in such a way that you do one recognizance lap of a race circuit followed by 2 timed race laps. After you are done your race laps you must then follow some rally navigational route instructions to get to the next circuit. Generally you have enough time, if travelling at the posted speed limit, to get there with sometime for gas, fast food and post fast food processing stops. Where things generally go off of the rails is when you have a mechanical break down. There is severe time and point penalties incurred to the teams that are not in their grid positions at the proper time at the next track.
Our level of preparation for this navigational tour was so well calculated that we took a wrong turn in Syracuse when trying to get on the bypass and we ran out of fuel going out of Syracuse!! So we unloaded the RX-7 and went for fuel, an advantage to having a licensed racecar on your trailer. We both hoped that this would not be a sign of things to come.
Upon our arrival in Painted Post we saw that Dan Corcoran and Marc White were already hard at work putting the required sponsor decals on their 1995 Firebird. Having already preregistered we grabbed our decal package and proceeded to decorate the RX-7.
The parking lot was full of a very wide variety of vehicles and talent. At the serious end of the spectrum you had a one off Mosler Raptor (a hand build street legal racecar) driven by the chief instructor and vice-president of Track Time Performance Drive School, Tom Reese. There were many other professional and amateur race drivers in such cars as Corvettes (C-4, C-5 and ZR-1), Vipers, Supercharged BMWs, Audis and Porsches, HKS powered Toyota Supras. In order to keep everybody happy, several classes exist to allow for some creative hardware to compete against each other and still embarrass some of the newer high tech cars (read 240Z class !!). This allowed for such vehicles as a 1969 Dodge Valiant with a NASCAR powertrain and Nitrous Oxide (rumored to have 700 hp)! a Porsche 928 with an Aluminum 500 cu in Donavan V-8, a 1972 V-8 Pinto and a Chevrolet S-10 Blazer with a late model Corvette engine, transmission and suspension in it! Upon seeing all of this, Rick and I were hoping to maintain our #30 position throughout the week, if we were lucky!
Saturday morning Brock Yates (the king of Cannonball Run and editor for Car & Driver) held a meeting to go over some of the finer points of this years 1 Lap event. After some briefings from some of the sponsors of the event, most notably Ronald McDonald House, wished us good luck on our 7-day odyssey. He also pointed out that we should take extreme care of our speeds as our cars would all be discretely disguised as racecars! Thanks Brock.
We now had a few hours to pack the RX-7 and get ourselves to Watkins Glen racetrack. This also gave us a chance to convert the route book from miles to Km, as our car would only read in Km.
The following is a brief recap, in a diary format, of what Rick and I did during that week. There will also be some references to the other StLAC team of Dan Corcoran and Marc White in their Firebird.
Event #1
- Watkins Glen, Saturday 30th of May.
- We arrive early (~ 3:30 p.m.) To watch the end of the 3 hr enduro race.
- A light rain starts, causing 3 separate accidents thus leaving lots of oil on the track.
- The SCCA Stewards will not allow us to race due to the precarious nature of the track surface. So we do 2 parade laps and we are off to Michigan International Speedway.
Road Trip 1
- Leave Watkins Glen @ 5:45 PM for Michigan International Speedway
- 744 km
- Arrive at Michigan International Speedway @ 2:30 am, Sunday
- We sleep in the car until the gates open up.
- With too little sleep, RK Smith in the Lingenfelter Trans-AM, with next to no exhaust, starts his car only 2 feet away from our faces. Shaking and rattling our car and making enough noise that you wake up in a panic thinking that Armageddon is here!! And this was at idle! So at 5:00 am 2 grumpy and tired Canadians drive into the facilities.
Event #2
- 6:00 am Sunday 1st June, race starts at Michigan International Speedway
- It's raining again!
- All 4 cars in Rick's group get lost in the infield on their recognizance run! It now looks like we will have to be lucky to stay as high as the top 50, in this field of 82 vehicles.
- On his first lap Rick catches up to the Corvette ahead of him on the high bank part of the course, but doesn't pass because he loses sight of the car in a rooster tail of water. Once on the infield the Vette eventually lost it and fell off the track, so Rick took advantage of the situation and passed him (rumor has it that he pushed yet another car off of the track!).
- 450 hp Mazda RX-7 race car and top contender BMW M3 blow up their engines.
- Dan Corcoran - 6th place, Rick - 25th.
Road Trip 2
- left @ 7:15 for Gateway near St Louis, Missouri
- 1 lap Corvette in the ditch, 2 stories - broken rear suspension or too fast with too much water.
- 752 km later we arrive at Gateway at 3:30 p.m.
Event #3
- Gateway International Raceway is an oval with a road coarse in the infield. Due to rain delays the road course part was not completed yet, so we ran a flat oval using all of the existing entry and exit roads.
- The track is fairly dry so Rick cranks on the Peter Farrell computer to give him a full 15 psi of boost, should be about 380 hp.
- This was our first chance to see the top guns at speed up the straights, the Valiant was the most impressive to watch! It seemed to defy all laws of physics.
- Our car faltered, the engine management system was not happy. The Mazda computer did not seem to like to talk to the Farrell unit. So we disconnect the Farrell unit and go for the sure thing. This would leave us at about 270-280 hp. After the event we reasoned that the problem was with the low octane fuel which Rick inadvertently put in the car.
- Dan - 8th and Rick - 13th overall.
Road Trip 3 - Left Gateway @ 5:12 p.m. for Mountain View near Denver Colorado
- 1420 km, 2 time zones
- Arrive at 6 am local time, Monday 2nd June.
- Of course it rained for a good part of this leg of our trip.
- In Kansas during the early morning hours we witnessed one of the most intense lightening storms we had ever seen, yet with no rain, just a gigantic light show that rolled all around us. What added to the eeriness of it all, was that there were two fronts, one to the north and one to the south of us. Can you say Tornado! 1
- Arrive in Denver as the fog lifts and the sun breaks through drying things of nicely.
Event #4
- Mountain View - Road course
- Race starts at 9:45 am
Road trip #4 - 39 miles to Second Creek
Event 4& 5
- Second Creek
- 1.7 mile road course.
- 1st event - Dan - 6th, Rick - 9th overall
- Valiant and Mosler get 10-sec penalty for over shooting the first corner after the timer.
- 2nd event - Dan - 6th, Rick - 12th overall
- V-8 Pinto blows transmission on start line
- Dan goes off track on corner one, but gets away with no penalty as he was trying to negotiate the corner and not just trying to beat the timer. Damage seems minor, and with a little duck tape we are on our way.
Road Trip #5
- Leave Denver @ about 4:30 p.m.
- 1255 km to Las Vegas
- The drive through the Rockies at sunset was truly breath taking.
- Canyon run through the Rockies was a delight!
- Arrive in Vegas @ 5:30 am
- Gamble and eat breakfast
- Mosler
Event 6&7
- Las Vegas Speedway
- At 8:00 am Tuesday, it's 30 deg. C
- Road course 1.09 miles
- Rick - 4th, Dan - 15th
- Road course 2.47 miles- Includes 3/4 of the oval this time.
- Rick - 6th, Dan - 11th
- Mosler over revs the engine and bends some valves.
- Valiant finishes well but damages the differential.
- Many other competitors run into engine problems as well.
- Las Vegas stay over
- Our trusty RX-7 get to rest for about 18 hrs, it has run non-stop now since Saturday at Watkins Glen!
- We wine and dine while others rebuild Mosler engines and Dodge diffs.
Road trip #6
- Vegas to Hallett, Oklahoma, (near Tulsa)
- Leave @ 6 a.m. Wednesday
- Dead battery, we left the in car cooler plugged in all night. We get a most helpful boost from the GMC Tahoe Team.
- We have to travel 2098 km through Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Crossing 2 time zones.
- Just outside Vegas we stop in Mesquite, Nevada, with no air-conditioning! We get a Freon refill and stock up on water should the leak be serious.
- Going through New Mexico we spoke to
While going through Oklahoma we escape hitting any Armadillos and narrowly avoid a giant owl (looked like it had a wingspan of about 6 ft!). We also had a nice chat with one of Oklahoma's finest while trying to make up lost time in New Mexico.
The price was worth it as we arrived into Hallett Motorsport Park at exactly 5:45 am, our due time! Tired, but on time.
Event #8
- Hallett Motor Racing circuit
- 5:45 am, Thursday
- Morning dew on the track, fog in some of the lower corners and blinding sun in some of the corners. The course had several tight blind corners.
- Dan - 11th, Rick - 12th
- Dan's car is fixed and running strong again. It turns out that Dan's off road excursion in Denver crushed the engine air intake tube, to the point that it was only about 30% open!
- The more experienced (he comes here to practice the track because it is so difficult) Valiant driver passes Rick on the short start/finish straight. In the process shows us the difference between a 270 hp RX-7 and a 700 hp Dodge Valiant. It looked like Rick put the parking brake on by accident!
Road Trip #7
- 751 km to Memphis Motorsport Park, Tennessee
- Arrive at track @ 3:00 p.m.
- Valiant running on 7 cylinders due to a damaged valve train. I believe that they were still running somewhere in the 12 sec 1/4 mile times.
Event #9
- Memphis Motorsport Park, Drag racing event.
- Rick turned 13.84-sec time at 99 mph in the 1/4 mile. Not bad for a 95 deg. F day!
- Marc turned a 12.9-sec.
- Bracket drags followed. We make it through 2 rounds before we get eliminated. This event is lightly scored so it was not a big issue.
Road Trip #8
- 739 km to Putnam Park, Indiana
- Easy drive through 4 states but it's starting to cloud over.
-With such a short run we actually grab a hotel room for 2 hrs of sleep and a thorough scrubbing.
Event #10
- Putnam Park Raceway 6:00 am, Friday. We are at another wet and rainy track.
- Putnam Park is a 1.8 mile road course much like Shannonville Motorsport Park with no walls and a fairly flat landscape. Looks like fun.
- We get a 10th place and Dan collects a 12th.
Road Trip #9
- We drive to a complimentary breakfast in Greencastle Indiana, 17 km from the track. The Putnam County businesses pull together for this annual reception for the 1 Lappers. These people sure know how to make people feel welcome.
- We drive to Lancaster Speedway (near Buffalo) in NY, 934 km.
- Since we arrive there at about 8:00 p.m., we opt out for another good nights sleep in a hotel. We shower and crash again. The Mazda has great seats, but there is still no substitute for a bed.
Event #11
- Lancaster Speedway, Lancaster NY - 5:45 AM Saturday
- It's raining again. The 1/8-mile drag race is cancelled after a 2-hour wait for the rain to subside. We drive around the oval in an attempt to dry it out. By 9:00 AM the track is somewhat dry and the event goes on. The results also indicate how the track dried up as the event progressed.
- We finish with a 33rd and Dan and Marc get a 41st.
Road Trip #10
- We drive 62 KM to Wyoming NY for a free lunch at Brock Yates
- The Town shuts down for this event. We sign some autographs and pose for some pictures with our racecars.
- On our way to Watkins Glen race track (187 KM) we have to stop for a formal photo shoot in Letchworth State Park.
Event #12 - Watkins Glen at 5:00 PM.
- It's hot and sunny.
- The RX-7 on the first lap acted up and started to loose power. By the second lap it was all cleared up and was running like a top again. But the times did suffer from this set back.
- We get a 14th and Danny gets a deserving 8th.
- Danny's only challenge the whole week came from the Lingenfelter Trans-AM which would not let him place better than 2nd in class. After 8300 km, 7 days and 12 races in which the Lingenfelter
Rick and I after a slight scoring mishap ended up 5th in class and tied for 8th - 9th overall with a couple from Montreal running in a highly modified 1975 Porsche 911 Carrera. Very good results for a novice pair of guys from Kingston. A top 30 finish was our original goal with aspirations of a top 20 finish being great. To have finished in the top 10 was definitely a dream come true.
This event could not have been the success that it was if it wasn't for our sponsors. The following businesses were largely responsible for the high finish that we achieved:
3M Trimline Autographics
595 O'Connor Drive
Kingston, Ontario
(613) 389-8671
Autobuf
780 Burnett Street
Kingston, Ontario
(613) 384-2629
CSC Racing Products
163 Bowes Road, Unit 1
Concord Ontario
(905) 738-2238
Frame & Photo Centre
776 Blackburn Mews
Kingston, Ontario
K7P 1X3
(613) 384-5769
Kingston Collision Centre Carstar
442 Dalton Avenue
Kingston, Ontario
K7K 6C4
(613) 546-7987
Peter Farrell Supercars
9208-B Venture Court
Manassas, VA 22111
(703) 368-6947
R.G.Potter Consulting Services Inc.
1798 Middle Road
Kingston, Ontario
K7L 5H6
(613) 541-0271
Vanzuylen Alignment Services Ltd.
213 Concession Street
Kingston, Ontario
(613) 548-7444
Note: The final standings have been updated to reflect two corrections. First, Car No. 30 moves from 15th overall to 9th overall and 5th in class. The car was wrongly recorded as DNS/DNF at Mountain View. Second, Car No. 4 moves from 4th overall to 2nd overall, and from 3rd to 2nd in Sports/GT1. The wrong time was recorded for the car at the second course in Las Vegas.
Cumulative Overall Points as of - Thu Jun 12 15:35:59 1997 Page 1 Results sorted by position Pos Car # Vehicle Class Points 1 1 MOSLER RAPTOR SSGT1 4760 2 4 CHEVROLET C-5 CORVETTE SSGT1 4705 3 5 CHEVROLET CORVETTE ZR-1 SSGT1 4575 4 6 PLYMOUTH VALIANT Vint Amer 4520 5 3 PONTIAC TRANS AM SSGT2 4310 6 25 PONTIAC FIREBIRD SSGT2 4275 7 15 DODGE VIPER SSGT1 4240 8 40 PORSCHE 911 CARRERA Vint For 4195 9 30 MAZDA RX-7 SSGT1 4195 10 16 DODGE VIPER GTS SSGT1 4170 11 11 BMW E36 M3 SSGT1 4170 12 12 PORSCHE 911 SSGT1 4060 13 14 TOYOTA SUPRA JZA30 SSGT1 4035 14 45 CHEVROLET CAMARO Vint Amer 3885 15 46 FORD MUSTANG COBRA SSGT2 3880 16 24 VOLVO 740 WAGON Vint For 3745 17 69 AUDI S4 Luxury Sed 3730 18 27 TOYOTA SUPRA TURBO SSGT1 3715 19 28 FORD MUSTANG SSGT2 3695 20 66 MERCEDES BENZ 500E Luxury Sed 3670 21 38 HONDA PRELUDE SSGT2 3645 22 26 MITSUBISHI 3000 GT VR4 SSGT1 3465 23 19 BMW M3 SSGT1 3445 24 64 VOLVO V70 T5 MANUAL Luxury Sed 3370 25 23 BMW M-3 SSGT1 3370 26 53 PORSCHE 928 Vint For 3350 27 20 DODGE VIPER SSGT1 3295 28 73 VOLKSWAEN GTI-VR6 MidPri Sed 3210 29 82 CHEVROLET S-10 BLAZER S U V 3195 30 51 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z-28 SS SSGT2 3085 31 70 AUDI A4 1.8t 20V MidPri Sed 3070 32 71 CHEVROLET IMPALLA SS MidPri Sed 2960 33 22 CHEVROLET CORVETTE ZR-1 SSGT1 2935 34 13 PORSCHE 993 TURBO SSGT1 2890 35 8 CHEVROLET CORVETTE SSGT1 2875 36 39 MITSUBISHI ECLIPSE GSX SSGT2 2865 37 68 AUDI S-6 WAGON Luxury Sed 2795 38 17 CHEVROLET CORVETTE SSGT1 2700 39 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE SSGT1 2665 40 29 CHEVROLET CORVETTE GS SSGT1 2530 41 31 CHEVROLET CORVETTE SSGT1 2505 42 80 CHEVROLET TAHOE S U V 2400 43 37 ACURA NSX SSGT1 2400 44 77 NISSAN 200SX SE-R Econo Car 2380 45 78 GMC TYPHOON S U V 2360 46 67 AUDI S6 Luxury Sed 2350 47 21 DODGE VIPER SSGT1 2325 48 74 OLDMOBILE AURORA Luxury Sed 2315 49 36 PORSCHE BOXTER SSGT1 2255 50 32 MITSUBISHI SPIDER SSGT1 2220 51 81 CHEVROLET EXT.CAB C15 S U V 2170 52 47 FORD MUSTANG COBRA SSGT2 2065 53 75 HONDA CIVIC Econo Car 2015 54 33 DODGE VIPER SSGT1 1840 55 52 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z-28 SSGT2 1775 56 54 PORSCHE 911SC Vint For 1775 57 50 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z-28 SSGT2 1740 58 61 PONTIAC FIREBIRD Vint Amer 1725 59 56 PORSCHE 944 Vint For 1650 60 83 OLDSMOBILE CUTLASS SUP BRG Vint Amer 1605 61 48 MAZDA MIATA SSGT2 1600 62 55 VOLKSWAGEN GTI-VR6 MidPri Sed 1525 63 49 SUBARU SVX SSGT2 1490 64 43 ACURA INTEGRA GSR SSGT2 1415 65 62 FORD PINTO Vint Amer 1335 66 63 TOYOTA CELICA Claiming 1330 67 76 ACURA INTEGRA Econo Car 1215 68 60 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Vint Amer 1210 69 79 GMC SAFARI S U V 1130 70 9 MAZDA RX-7 SSGT1 1130 71 41 PORSCHE 911 Vint For 1120 72 57 JAGUAR SER3E-TYPE V12 Vint For 1035 73 59 Delorean Delorean Vint For 1025 74 44 LOTUS SEVEN Vint For 900 75 72 MERKUR XR4TI MidPri Sed 650 76 58 MERCURY CAPRI Vint For 540 77 2 CHEVROLET CORVETTE SSGT1 350 78 35 DODGE STEALTH SSGT1 95 79 84 CADILLAC DEVILLE Vint Amer 95 80 10 BMW M3 SSGT1 0 81 42 CHRYSLER CONQUEST TSI SSGT2 0 82 18 BMW M-3 SSGT1 0