jburge01

See 2004 the SCCA Nationals Results

After day 1:

Holden/Thomas Z first

***/Miranda BMW second

Holt/Boruvka Z third

Less than 1/2 a second between first and third.

zlalomz

Almost but no cigar for Z cars. Still pretty amazing. Congratulations Tom Holt.

F Prepared Drivers: 10 Trophies:4
T 1 178 Chris *** 95 Bmw M3 Silver Hoosier 51.170(2) 46.472 46.355 93.952
[78] Morgan Hill, CA ARE, Maier Racing 48.318 47.766 47.597
T 2 177 John Thomas 76 Datsun Z Red Hoosier 47.804 47.176 46.219 95.016
[77] Tampa, FL 49.544 48.797 51.808(1) -1.064
T 3 199 Tom Holt 74 Datsun 280z White Hoosier 48.995(1) 46.819 46.628 95.254
[99] Round Rock, TX Road Trip Racing Team/Axware 48.829 DNF 48.626 -0.238
T 4 99 Vitek Boruvka 74 Datsun 240z White Hoosier 48.009 46.870 48.496(1) 95.452
[199] Austin, TX AXWare Systems 49.837 48.681 48.582 -0.198
5 153 David Newman 70 Porsche 911 White Hoosier 46.790 47.279 48.934(1) 95.562
[53] Allentown, PA Specialty Cars 49.044 48.973 48.772 -0.110
6 78 Pilar Miranda 95 Bmw M3 Silver Hoosier 51.151(2) 47.597 46.753 95.779
[178] Morgan Hill, CA ARE, Maier Racing 50.099 49.026 51.475(1) -0.217
7 77 Richard Holden 76 Datsun Z Red Hoosier 50.277(1) 47.761 48.719(1) 97.027
[177] Bartlett, TN Holt Tire Service 51.684(1) 49.266 54.281(1) -1.248
8 151 Michael Tews 72 Datsun 240 Z White Hoosier 47.688 47.247 47.189 97.636
[51] Sussex, WI J&M Autocrossers 51.605(1) DNF 50.447(1) -0.609
9 53 Chris Janusz 70 Porsche 911 White Hoosier 48.535 47.849 47.646 97.651
[153] Hunlock Creek, PA Specialty Cars - Thanks Dave! 51.358 50.005 53.415(1) -0.015
10 51 David A Bowland 72 Datsun 204z White Hoosier 51.574(1) DNF 49.810 100.853
[151] Missoula, MT J & M 51.992 51.120 51.043 -3.202

tholt29

Thanks for the congrats guys! It was a tough fight for such a small class! There are no slouches in this group!

I have to kick myself for not checking the car out better before going. I had a friend in tech come check the car out in my trailer so I didn't start the car until the morning before we ran (in the first heat). When I started to drive the car to grid, I noticed a little clunking coming from the left rear... just a little noise... no big deal. The site in Topeka is ROUGH so a car with no soft
bushings makes noise. We were to start running in a short while, so I decided
I would check it later... We were on the north course which is notoriously
bumpy and the car was a handfull. I told someone it was like driving a
basketball at times. After running and working I had some time to check the
rattle... The left rear shock insert was completely loose. The retaining nut
that holds the shock body in place was rattling around the shaft... So we
were trying to run with one shock tied behind our back! I got it fixed without too much trouble, but I sure as hell would have liked to driven the North course with a full suspension!

For day two the car felt better and Vitek and I can claim to be two of the very few on the list of people to beat John Thomas (well... at least on one day). Vitek (a recovering CP knuckle dragger) really cranked up his game for this race and managed to jump from 6th to 4th against some very good drivers. One of whom asked me to find a slower codriver for next year. We call the cone Vitek hit on day one his "ride home" cone. Had he been clean on that run, he would have bumped me back to fourth, and everyone knows, you're not supposed to beat the car owner! I have been in a cycle of finishing 4th every other year, so this was my year to finish somewhere else!

John Thomas is one of the best drivers in the country and is the last driver
to win FP in a Z (in 91). This year he planned to finish rebuilding his old
car and make his return to FP. He bought a new motor from Rebello, built a complete new suspension and pulled together everything he needed to make a top flight Z.. Unfortunately he didn't plan on 3 hurricanes hitting his state and his rolling shell didn't get out of the paint shop until the friday before
nationals. No time to put it all together.... He would have driven Tom
Lombardo's EP civic again and probably would have continued his win streak
but that car was broken. John turned to Richard Holden as his last resort.
Every other car in FP had 2 drivers except for Richard. Of the 5 cars in FP,
Richard's car was probably the slowest in the bunch. Down probably 50+ hp on every other car in the class and running a suspension that was the hot setup in about 93... How John managed to get the fast time on day one is
amazing... Watch out for him next year. He will be fast!

Mike Tews driving John Anderson's Z should have been higher up in the results but had a tough time. The car broke a half shaft u joint on second runs on day two and Mike had to thrash to swap out half shafts before his final run. He got it done and went out and turned the second fastest raw time of the day... but took a cone too. He's a great guy and plans to have his own car at Nats next year.

Chris *** did an exact repeat of his win from last year... We were all close on day one with Chris sitting in second. On day two he just went out and killed the class by a second... again. The second place driver had troubles and Chris cruised to another win. If he comes back to FP next year he will have to add good bit of weight, so it will be interesting. There's a good chance he may just move up to AP where he can run lighter ... We'll see.

Just to finish the list, Dave Newman in his 911 also deserves a big pat on the back. He almost didn't run because of being hit with a case of shingles that affected his right eye and put him in the hospital for a couple days on the weekend before we ran. His eye was still swollen half closed when he ran. His 911 is running with a "stock" 3.2 motor, so he too will be getting 150 pounds added for next year and may just move to AP. I hope not. He's a hell of a good competitior!

Everybody needs to pull together to help keep this class alive. We need more cars AT NATIONALS. Lack of attendance there will cause the class to be moved/revised/disbanded or some variation of the three!

Tom
3rd!

zlalomz

Holy Crap! Doing that well 50 hp down and a suspension from last century, plus John Thomas was not in his car. He is a god. I was looking forward to see pics and getting information about the car he was building.

Well it is great what you did against a pro built Bimmer and a god. Next year you just need tighter nuts. On your shocks anyway.

tholt29

My co driver took a bunch of pictures and posted them here:
http://axwaresystems.com/pics/2004-09-11-nats_web/

There are a few of the FP cars mostly in impound and then there's a bunch of the Austin crowd with a lot of beer in their systems!

Tom

Spudz

Way to go Tom !!!!!

I noticed that Leeds and Greg ran ASP Porsche instead of the 914-6 . That
lowered your count by two

Do you know if the new rules for FP have been adopted yet ?

I noticed that one of are local guys Dave Bowland was in last place. I figured
he was a bit better then that .

I have been holding on to both my Z cars waiting to see what rules are going
to be changed. I sure would like to be able to make it to the big show someday.

Mike

preith

I autocross with Mike at the local Milwaukee events here. He has a BSP car that he's been running for quite a long time. It's definetly a low buck entry, and he's always right at the top. He took me for a ride just recently, and there were times where I thought for sure it was going over. Just threw it all over the place, I couldn't beleive it.

tholt29

Gullick and Fordahl broke their motor at the Bremerton Tour and couldn't get it rebuilt in time. They should be back in FP next year. (4th here I come again!)

The rules changes have been approved by the SEB and forwarded to the BOD for final approval. I'm not sure if that has happened yet. They ended up stripping out all of the weight adders for mutivalve, mid/rear engine, VVT etc. They still have the penalty for aftermarket FI but it will only be 6% next year and 3% in 06, then it goes away. Over 16x10 wheels will get a 75 lb adder I think. Bottom line for the early Zs is 2070 pounds for 280s, 1930 (Ithink) for 260s and 1900 for 240s.

Keep an eye out for the next few Fastracks. It should be published soon.