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Some highlights:
Dennis Quella came down from Castle Rock, CO with his tube frame Pantera race car. And
here's the proof! Dennis Q. really did make it to TWS!
The track event was hosted by Space City Panteras of Houston and the TWS Motorsports Club. Several instructors from the Houston Porsche Club also supported the event. Corner workers, instructors, fuel, ambulance, wrecker, etc. were all available and folks who had never been on a track before got the chance to see what they and their cars could do.
Scott Black and TimePiece Public Relations hosted the barbeque on Saturday night and afterwards, we lined up all the Panteras present for a photoshoot.
Most people arrived early Saturday morning, but some arrived Friday night and spent the night
at the Cedar Creek Inn in Navasota. Wayne Stevens thought it more apt to rename it to the
'Cripple Creek Inn' though... :-))))
We'll see if we can do better with the accomodations next time.
John Taphorn and Bob Pitaro actually camped out in front of the gates on Friday night! Braving
the latest crop of Texas mosquitos all night shows you just how serious some people were at
getting out on the track! As soon as the gates opened at 7:00AM, everyone lined up on one
entire side of a garage and started getting ready for the event.
There were four 'run groups' based loosely on experience with the Green and Blue
groups running with instructors. Green group was for drivers who had no track
experience, Blue group was for those who had some experience, Yellow was for
those who had more experience and White was for the very experienced. Here's the
Panteras in the Green Group heading out onto the track. Don Franck leaving
through the gate, Tom Upton in the red car, Paul Timko next and William King in
the green Pantera.
Check out pictures of (I think) everyone on the track. I know I missed Keith Verges with his Viper... He had a power steering fluid leak and retired early. Told him to bring the Pantera! :-)))
While other run groups were out, most folks took advantage of the time to do some
bench racing and discuss cars, modifications and life in general!
Doug Lockin, Bob Pitaro, Bill Borrello, John Haas and John Taphorn.
Ernie, Richard Greenblum, Dennis Quella, William King, Wayne Stevens and David Auer talk
over the merits of a 16:1 compression ratio.
Dorsey Comeau, Don Franck, Mad Dog and Gray Gregory expounding on the delights of belonging
to POCA.
Dennis Q. and John Taphorn both ran in the White run group. Here's John Taphorn all suited up
and strapped into his Formula Continental heading out to the track.
John's 2.0L car was doing pretty good in the back corners, but Dennis' 650HP Pantera left
him behind on the straights. In one of the afternoon runs, as I understand it, Dennis
started to spin out with John right behind him and John started to spin. The two cars hit and
went off the track resulting in some minor damage to the Pantera and suspension and rear wing
damage to John's car.
Here's Dennis Q's pitcrew, Ernie, giving Dennis a pep talk before heading back
out in the White run group later. See that scrape just above the left front tire?
Courtesy of John Taphorn's rear spoiler. There are also tire marks and a gouge out of
the fiberglass down low between the left front tire and the first 7 also.
John's left lower suspension arm got bent and a suspension bracket cracked.
After this little incident, my boss, one of the instructors, came over and commented,
"Leave it to the Pantera Club to add some excitement around here!"
Doug Lockin got to hammer his M3 around the track and from his comments, liked his second instructor _much_ better than the first! Paul Timko was running well and commented several times that it was well worth the trip! Rob West had his NSX on the track for the first time and we got him to commit to having his Pantera there the next time... Bob Pitaro was pushing his Taurus so hard, he got it just a little warm... Reckons he's ready to graduate now to a faster car! Tom Upton had some problems with his new engine after he overrevved it to 7800... We're all hoping it isn't too serious. He did drive it home though as far as I know after finding a new rocker arm stud in an old, rusty head behind the NAPA parts store! He says a rev limiter is his next purchase! Gray Gregory had improved his times tremendously. Said he was doing a much improved 10mph faster at the end of the straight this afternoon.
We had over 35 folks at the BBQ on Saturday night. Mad Dog won the far West prize. William King supplied the very nice looking genuine Texas cowboy hat! Paul Timko came through with the farthest East car all the way from Chicago. His prize was a rack of ribs from the County Line. That should be worth a party when he gets back to Chicago!
Lots of club members who couldn't bring their cars came up to join us over the
weekend. Bill Borrello came up both days, David Auer came with his family on
Saturday and drive his GT5 up on Sunday. In the picture,
he's desperately trying to explain to Dennis Q. why he doesn't have an A/C in his
car!
Marilynn and Alan Brown arrived Saturday and stayed for the BBQ. Here
they are watching Bob Pitaro help John Taphorn get ready for his run.
Jack Tunnel came down from Dallas with his girlfriend Robin and his Pantera.
Wayne Stevens and Cheryl made it, but George Dausch had to be chained down in
order to stay home and work... Charlie Jacobs made it up on Saturday. Michael
Frazier and a friend came up from San Antonio. Alan and Marilynn Brown were up on
Saturday. Dennis Smith and his wife arrived Sunday afternoon and Rob McMullen and
three friends from Austin came on Saturday. I reckon there's a least one Pantera
convert there! Good luck on your engine, Rob!
After the BBQ Saturday night and a good night's sleep (for some!), many of the
Panteras came back for a second day of fun on Sunday. Here they are getting ready
again early Sunday morning.
Mad Dog getting pointers on how to take care of his new hat!
Mad Dog with Michael Frazier and friend, Paul Timko and his friend Ellen.
By Sunday afternoon, most everyone was getting tired and hot but still feeling good and
packing up started. Here's several folks joining in helping load up John Taphorn's
Formula Continental. Don't you reckon Mad Dog likes his new hat? Don Franck on the left,
not sure who with his back to us, Dorsey Comeau, John Taphorn and Mad Dog.
John Haas and I crawled around under Mad Dog's car for quite awhile until we finally got
it strapped down. After some farewells, here's Mad Dog hitting the road back to
California after a weekend at TWS!
Also, a big thanks to Vincent Hache. Vincent took some of the pictures you see here.
