Gregg's Web Log

Category Four-wheeled toys MARRS Race Video
MARRS 9, run September 23rd of last year was the pentultimate race of the '07 season. The weather at Summit Point Raceway was sublime and I was hoping to make a strong showing after my encouraging return to the track over Labor Day weekend. With a well-setup chassis but also a motor that was noticeably down on power to some of my competitors, I just hoped to stay close two-time MARRS champion Kirk Dohne in his Nissan 240SX and future Rookie of the Year Chris Perrera in his Acura Integra. Since I was only racing an abbreviated '07 schedule I had made the decision not to run for points in the MARRS series so as to not impact an existing points battles. Given that both Dohne and Perrera were neck-and-neck in the hunt for the '07 championship going into this event and whoever finished ahead of the other would be crowned as champ, I just wanted a remove as much pressure as possible.

Regardless of any points battles, my goal was a win. Knowing that I was down on power to my two closest competitors, I needed to use my handling advantages, guile and some luck to gain that checkered flag. Perera was on the class pole, gridded on the outside of row 2. Dohne was on inside of row 5, but his Nissan's torque advantage usually allows him to make stellar jumps on race starts. I was to start just behind Kirk, on the inside of row six. During a start that could only be described as hectic, Kirk jumped four positions and found himself on Chris's tail. I gained three positions leaving just one out-of-class car between us.

Chris had been considerably faster than Kirk all year, but his car reliability issues allowed Kirk to stay close all year long. On lap four, Perrera broke a half-shaf (neat name for an axle). When Kirk and I came up on his car, I think Kirk actually let off the gas for a moment in stunned disbelief that Chris was out and that all he had to do was stay on track to win a championship. I saw it as my chance to win! I'm not going to ruin this with commentary. Watch the video below for yourself. Kirk and I were nose to tail or side by side for the entire race. What a thrill!



I had my chance on the last lap. I came out of Turn 10 onto the front straight with one hell of a run, drafted right up to Kirk and popped out just ahead of the finish line. Unfortunately it just wasn't enough. Kirk took the checkered flag but 0.117 seconds. That's 117 thousandths of a second. Congrats to Kirk on his win and the championship.

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 8:08 PM Location Arlington VA | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Four-wheeled toys MARRS Race Video
After the elation of proving that both the new car and I were capable of great things after such a long layoff, the following day, Labor Day 2007, proved to be a bit of a disappointment. When building the newcar, the old car was gutted and provided every "good" piece of hardware it could.



Unfortunatley, that hulk of a shell sat out in the fall, winter, and spring weather, wreaking havoc on lubricated items like wheel bearings. I started 2nd in class and knew from almost the beginning of the race that something felt "off," when I could not pass Bryan Pritt's Integra. After a number of laps, I got the telltale clunking, but felt I could finish the race. It got so bad that once I had passed Bryan, I felt the left-rear tire completely seize. My day was done on lap 14 (of 16), finishing 19th out of 20 in ITA.

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 12:32 AM Location Arlington, VA | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Four-wheeled toys MARRS Race Video

Well, now that I'm back in the land of the living, I figured I'd start positng some of my videos since debuting the new race car. Yeah, I know it looks like the old race car, but it's black. Ya see, during my last MARRS (Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series) race of the 2006 season, I had the most unfortunate of incidents. While leading the race, the 3rd-place car had a brake failure at the end of Summit Point Raceway's main straight. My '89 Honda CRX Si was broadsided at about 90mph.



So anyways, it was almost an entire year in coming, but with Martin Burk's assistance in reconstructing the cage, Roger Troxell's Honda and race car building expertise, and the encouragement of my Casa de Amigos teammates, the 3rd iteration of the #72 ITA CRX Si first saw action over Labor Day weekend of '07. Unfortunately I don't have video of the race, but the car (and its very rusty driver performed admirably), finishing a close second in its first outing of a two-race weekend.

More to follow!

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 11:51 PM Location Arlington VA | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Four-wheeled toys

My SCCA region's December newsletter is out. You can read a little write-up of the last month's awards banquet and my Rookie of the Year award. Simply open the link below (Adobe Acrobat req'd) and go to the top of the third column on page 10.

http://www.wdcr-scca.org/straightpipe/2003december.pdf  

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 11:33 PM Location Arlington, VA | Permalink | Comments (1)

Category Four-wheeled toys
Picked up a trailer off of eBay on Sunday. Now all I need is a *big* gift certificate from Maaco under my Hanukkah bush so I can get the race car fixed.

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 11:26 PM Location Arlington, VA | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Four-wheeled toys

After my little incident I finally pulled the trigger and bought myself a tow vehicle. Nothing new, but to the contrary I purchased the '89 GMC Suburban SLE seen above. Nope, no four-wheel drive. Who needs it? I ain't gonna be doin' no towin' in the snow. Besides, with that huge 454 big block motor providing the motive force, who in their right mind would go joy riding in a truck that gets about 9 mpg? I'd first seen it w/ the For Sale sign about 1/2mi from my house earlier this summer and it turns out the seller had been trying to unload it for almost a year. It's got very low mileage, appears to be mechanically sound, and only appears to have some power window/lock issues that stick out. For what I paid (not a lot), it was a very good deal.

Now all I have to do is find a trailer and my days of dependence are over....

And just maybe I'll be able to take the race car to the body shop and start the repairs on my schedule.  

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 9:01 PM Location Arlington, VA | Permalink | Comments (1)

Category Four-wheeled toys


After an entire day of enduring Dave's ridicule for banging up his truck, he, Terri and I loaded into the family truckster and headed out to the DC Region SCCA banquet. Decent dinner, decent music, decent open bar, and good friends make for a decent evening

We sat thru an evening's worth of awards and when the Master of Cermonies got to the Rookie of the Year award, the story she told sounded quite familiar.

o Crashed his car in drivers school
o Missed the first four races while rebuilding the car
o Several top four finishes
o Finished the year in the top 10
o Came in 2nd at the last race of the year

Must be me!

Ya gotta love friends who have no qualms about torturing you, knowing all along that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

To everybody who's helped me get a competitive car on the track and kept me sane this past year, thank you! I owe you all in spades.

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 8:14 PM Location Arlington, VA | Permalink | Comments (2)

Category Four-wheeled toys

Some would say that I have no luck at all, or that perhaps just a bit less than anyone else. There might just a little bit of truth to that.

Dateline: Saturday, 5:25am
I've just finished tying the race car down to the borrowed tow dolly and everything's a go for my last races of the year. Although the car and I have been through a lot this year, I have a good feeling about this last East Coast Honda Challenge weekend.

Saturday, 5:30am
I'm off and driving up the hill, two blocks from my house.

BANG!!

Having just made the turn onto the main road, I look back and see #72's bumper laying in the road and the car sitting at the crest of the hill--40 feet behind me!

Saturday, 5:31am
Rather than jumping out of the truck and heading for the car, I did exactly what I was told not to do--back up the truck w/ the tow dolly attached, as I thought the truck might get hit where it stood. Why was I told this? Because backing up means certain jack knifing.

BANG!!

Yup. Jack knifed the dolly, bending the tongue and the tray that the car sits on. Blew out a rear tire on the truck. Dented up the bed pretty badly just ahead of the tire. Duh!

Saturday, 5:32am
After flipping the truck around, crawling on the flat tire, I headed for the race car. The car rolled downhill about 40 feet, missed parked cars and backed into a lamp post/utility pole. Thankfully the car hit the pole dead center in the rear. It destroyed the bumper skin, blew out the taillights and lower hatch glass, and dented up the hatch. All in all, not so horrible. Guess I'll just be giving the front and rear the Maaco makeover at the same time. Unfortunately I won't be taking the car to the track (since I've screwed both the truck and dolly).


Wednesday, 4:30
So here's the rundown on my expensive two-block tow:

Truck bodywork estimate: $1500
Replacement truck tire: $150
Replacement parts for tow dolly: $280
Race car body work: ???

And I only have until March to get the car fixed.  

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 12:36 AM Location Arlington, VA | Permalink | Comments (1)

Category Four-wheeled toys
It was another banner weekend for Team Flipper. I went down to VIR (Virginia International Raceway) for the first time to run w/ NASA's Honda Challenge. Despite having being at a huge disadvantage, never having run the course before Friday, I started Saturday's race 22nd overall (out of 50 cars) and 3rd in class. I finished 18th and more importantly, 1st in class. I was also only 15/100sec off of the track record for my class.  





Unfortunately, Sunday wasn't quite as good for me. I again started 22nd overall (out of 52 cars), but this time second in class. Frankly, I spent more time off the track in the grass than on course. Even with being forced off track by other cars and plain stupid driving, I somehow managed to finish 28th, but still 2nd in class. At least the grounds crew at VIR has agreed to pay me $50 for all the grass cutting I did for them (kidding).

Thankfully, there was no damage to the car other than a bent front spoiler (very easy to fix) so I'll be ready to for my second SCCA MARRS weekend at Summit Point this coming weekend.

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 12:36 AM Location Arlington, VA | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Four-wheeled toys

Well, after spending almost exactly one year, building two race cars, I finally made it out for my first SCCA race at Summit Point Raceway this weekend. With a shiny new coat of Maaco's best, I took the new #72 out for qualifying on Saturday.

Out of 31 cars in my run group and 26 in my class, I qualified 4^th for the race on Sunday. Considering we just got the leaky brake system fixed up, I've had no time to fine tune the suspension settings, the three guys ahead of me were the top three finishers in the series last year, and I qualified only 15/100's of a second behind the 3rd place starter,  I was extremely happy with my performance.



Except for the start and one of those five cars in the other class completely blowing any chance I had of keeping with the leaders--he dive-bombed me on the first turn and I couldn't get around him for 3/4 of a lap, allowing the leaders to quickly open a huge chasm between myself and them--I had a very uneventful race on Sunday, with nothing but open track in front and behind. Although I inched closer to the lead pack once we started encountering slower, lapped traffic, there was no way I would catch them unless the race was 40 laps instead of just 16. Nonetheless, I managed to keep my cool, keep up my concentration despite the horrific temperatures, and make it to the checkered flag with nary a scratch on the car.

I'll be heading down to Virginia International Raceway (VIR) this weekend for my second Honda-Challenge event with NASA, but will be back at Summit Point in two weeks for the next race in the MARRS series. I'd love for you all to come out and see me run on Sunday August 10th. Email or call for more details.



Finally, I want to thank Eddie Farrow, master mechanic and race car builder, for building two amazingly fast CRX's and not killing me when I destroyed the first one in March. He's an all-around great guy who I hated to see move down to SC. I'd also like to thank the Parkers, Dave & Terri, for egging me on when I didn't have the confidence and when I lost what little confidence I had, pushing me kicking and screaming into racing. If not for them I'd have some money in the bank.

Anyways, I've included a few photos taken by a racing buddy of mine, Bill Hollinger, who after just having finished his race in Spec Miata ran out to track side to cheer me on and take some amazing photos. If he ever stops racing he oughta look into making some money off of his hobby.

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 12:36 AM Location Arlington, VA | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Four-wheeled toys

It seems like Eddie and I have been building up one CRX or another for almost a year (actually this week does make one year). Well, after the disappointment of destroying our first effort, we finally got #72 out on track for its first races. Although registration for NASA's Hyperfest at Summit Point Motorsports Park was to start at 3pm on July 4^th, Eddie and I took that "shadetree mechanic" thing quite literally, working on gauges and miscellaneous other stuff in his front yard until about 5pm.

We had gotten the suspension moved over earlier in the week and although we determined that no suspension parts were mangled from my barrel roll in March, there just wasn't a chance to get the car painted up in time for the event. Thankfully a red car with a silver hood and one silver door fits the Honda Challenge definition of presentable.  




So the car looked fugly, but I knew after just two laps during Saturday's practice that the motor was still strong and the new custom Koni shocks were eons better than what I had before. The only thing I didn't count on was...

NO BRAKES!!!!

Actually, I had brakes for the first three laps or so but the one thing we didn't bring over from the other car was the master cylinder and it definitely appears as though the red car had a leaky one. There's nothing quite as scary as trying to haul down a car from 125mph and finding either a huge gravel trap or one of your competitors just feet in front of you. I never want to bleed brakes as much as I did this weekend and you can bet that this situation will be rectified before I head back to Summit for MARRS V at the end of the month.

So enough of the background. How'd I do?

Although the lack of brakes were holding me back a ton, I managed to come in second in class both days. Although it took me a day to get a handle on standing starts. I had a blast! Adding to the challenge was the 115 degree heat at ttrackside. Glad I didn't have a thermometer in the cockput. After a 20-lap race on Saturday you could practically pour me out of the car. Thankfully we had a much shorter race on Sunday (only 15 laps), but I struggled with the heat and the brakes too. My goal was to finish and I did. Got a nice kiss from a trophy girl too.

Here are links to the final results:

Saturday: http://www.ginsberg.org/echcresults/03/ECHC070503.html
Sunday: http://www.ginsberg.org/echcresults/03/ECHC070603.html

After Sunday's race I got a nice visit and a (desperately needed) bottle of water from Koni's Lee Grimes. After giving me some shock mounting tips earlier in the day, he critiqued my setup after watching me 'rounding the circuit. Since Lee is otherwise known as "CRX Lee" and it's his shock valving that currently suspends my car, it would be in my best interest to listen to him. He was right on about my car being slow to turn in. Although the car felt very safe, my base setup (as suggested by a fellow racer) was a bit too soft. Hopefully these changes as well as working brakes will make me a lot more competitive in the future. As long as I can keep the car on the track, I can only go up from here.

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 12:36 AM Location Arlington, VA | Permalink | Comments (13)

Category Four-wheeled toys
So earlier today I picked up the new(er) race car from Mitch Piper at Piper Motorsport. Mitch and his crew fabricate the best roll cages / safety equipment in the DC area. I have no problems writing Mitch a check for his work on a third car of mine. God knows, when I flipped ol' #72 out at Summit earlier this year, it was Mitch's cage that kept me in one piece (and not a smooshed  one).

So at this point, having already installed the race motor in the new tub, Eddie and I have to reinstall the gauges and move the suspension over from the carcass of the old car. Then it's off to the paint booth for a shot of Honda's Monte Carlo Blue (covers the Insight in the US and the S2000 in Europe and Japan). Although I had hoped to have the car ready for MARRS IV the weekend of June 14-15, it looks as though I'm going to have to wait it out until Hyperfest at Summit Point, July 5 and 6.

I can't wait!  

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 12:36 AM Location Arlington, VA | Permalink | Comments (13)

Category Four-wheeled toys

It's been a long time coming. I've had a ton of S2000 parts laying around the house since last June when I planted my baby in Summit's T3 tire wall. If I'm ever gonna get moved out, a lot of it has to go. I just don't feel like hauling this stuff in the back of the CRX to the new joint. Besides, I have a race car to rebuild and the money can't hurt.

Here's a list of what's up for sale:  

• Koni Sport (Yellow) shocks / Ground Control adjustable coilover sleeves / Eibach springs (SOLD)  
• 18" gunmetal OZ Superleggera wheels w/ almost-new tires (SOLD)  
• 17" bronze Volk CE28n lightweight racing wheels (SOLD)
• Mugen rear sway bar (SOLD)  
• Stock S2000 exhaust (SOLD)  
• Spoon X-Brace (SOLD)

For pricing and links to more info, head over to S2Ki's Mid-Atlantic forum. If something meets your fancy, email or IM me.  

Posted by Gregg S Ginsberg At 12:00 AM Location Ashburn, VA | Permalink | Comments (1)