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Archer Third at Laguna, Wiens
Sixth and Out
In a caution filled
45-minute race, just eight green laps, Archer was able to move up consistently
with every restart. Trading paint was
the order of the day as the major manufacturers represented in the series had
their top cars running at the front and fighting for championship honors.
The pivotal moment
for Archer was the restart on lap 14 when the
“I lost count of
the amount of times that I got hit,” said Archer. “It was a busy and hard eight laps, the guys
at the front all were driving for something.
We had a good car, I wish I had about 10 more
laps to prove it. We ended up losing the
championship by six points. In hindsight
if I had my ten back from the penalties I would have won by four. I have never lost a championship on
penalties, which makes it tough.”
Teammate and team
owner Tim Wiens drove the wheels of his the number
3/FirsTier Bank/3R Viper from his fifteenth qualifying position to come home in
sixth for his last time behind the wheel in competition. “I told the TV guys that I was going to leave
my shoes on the track, they are sitting on the main straight. It was an action packed eight laps. I was able to stay out of trouble and make up
places. We had a good car today and
sixth is a satisfying result for my last race. I was able to finish in the top ten in the
driver standings. Tommy had a lot of
issues this year and ran a strong race, but we just came up short. The 3R team is strong and we are looking to
come back next and finish one place higher in the championship and get the
number one plate back.”
Speed GT Top Laguna Finishers:
1. Max Papis Cadillac
2. Max Angelelli Cadillac
3. Tommy Archer 3R Viper
4. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
5. James Sofronas Porsche
6. Tim Wiens 3R
Viper
7. Leighton Reese Corvette
8. Mike Davis Mustang
9. Tony Gaples Corvette
10. Lawson Ashebach Porsche
Speed GT Final Point
Standings:
1. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac 248
2. Tommy Archer 3R Viper 242
3. Robin Liddell Porsche 214
4. Wolf Henzler Porsche 210
6. Max Papis Cadillac 188
7. Leighton Reese Corvette 166
5. Stu Hayner
9. Tony Gaples Corvette 154
8. Lou Gigliotti Corvette 150
10. Tim Wiens 3R
Viper 143
3R Racing Viper Competition Coupe Weight and Restrictions
for Laguna:
·
Base weight 3,100 lbs.
·
35% air restrictor
·
Archer R.E.W.A.R.D.S. weight is 165 lbs.
3R Racing 2005 Results
Track
|
Driver
|
Qualify |
Finish |
|
Sebring |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
2 3 11 |
1 6 9 |
|
|
Archer McCLure Wiens |
3 7 15 |
1 6 7 |
|
Road |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
6 11 16 |
4 5 12 |
|
Mid-Ohio |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
7 10 22 |
6 14 25 |
|
|
Archer McCLure Wiens |
8 14 11 |
12 8 11 |
|
Lime Rock |
Archer Wiens |
9 12 |
9 12 |
|
Infineon |
Archer Wiens |
9 16 |
3 17 |
|
|
Archer Wiens |
6 10 |
4 7 |
|
|
Archer McCLure Wiens |
9 12 14 |
6 7 10 |
|
Mosport |
Archer Wiens |
9 13 |
6 19 |
|
Laguna Seca |
Archer Wiens |
9 15 |
3 6 |
3R Racing would
like to thank sponsors c3controls, Sirius Satellite Radio, FirsTier
Bank and partners Red Line Oil, Performance Friction brake pads, Ron Davis
radiators and Dodge Motorsport.
For more information or photos, please refer www.3RRacing.com or contact
Kyle Chura at chura@aol.com or (248) 821-0468.
As seen through the Woodhouse
windshield
A race report from the Laguna Seca
Finals - Woodhouse
Viper Comp Coupe windshield
First thank you all for your
calls, those who watched the live broadcast Sunday, you know things got ugly,
but no bones and no bruises. I can’t start there, let’s back up, we will
get to the race in a few moments.
That feeling ,
the one you get from a track driving experience, when you, the car, and the
track all come together; oh what a feeling it is. Most of you know that
feeling. It makes you love the world you are in, it makes you happy to be
alive, exhilarating, your fingers and toes tingle. (Hey hey, don’t go there.) Friday, the second day of
practice, I have that feeling, Rick and Nancy have the car dialed, I am one
with Laguna Seca and this wonderful #13 Viper
Competition Coupe. If this were music it would be Bach, if it were dance;
ballet, if it were romance; the first time. You also know it is as
addictive as smoking.
I ran across another guy who
knows that feeling. If you ran across Jonathan
Martinez, fellow Viper Club member and west coast racer, you saw the joy in his
eyes. He was giddy, having the greatest time living out a dream, pro
racing his red 97 GTS Viper clothed in the makeup of the winning 2000 ALMS
Viper. He teaches school. “I am so delighted to just be here, this
is my alter ego, nobody would believe this at
work.” With him in the paddock were other California Viper racers, John Deering, Al Bacera, Ted May and
Joe Brigante. A vibrant group of folks that
make you appreciate their presence. They coordinated with Maurice Liang and mad scientist John Penn to get us all together
for a Club Dinner with the Northern California Viper Club. Good people,
good time.
Our Saturday qualifying times
told us we had matched the pole sitting time of 2004, that was then, this is
now; we are still off by 1.5 seconds from this
year’s pole. This game is being played by teams of people no less
professional in their roles than those that launch a moon shot. I have
respect since I understand what it takes to bring another second to the
game. This gets past the “oh what a feeling” and into serious business
(pressure); from all directions: sponsors, team members, competitors,
sanctioning bodies.
Now for the race: Leighton
Reese said it best Sunday night at the SCCA
Speed W.C. banquet. “I came to a bar room brawl this afternoon and
somehow a race broke out.” If you were expecting gentlemen racing this
was not the day. Testosterone, anxiety, grudges,
and the price people are willing to pay for winning all exposed their demonic
chemistry for this final race. Both Manufacturers Championship and Drivers
Championships for 2005 were still up for grabs. Rookie of the Year was
the only done deal in the record books. (won by
Sonny Whelen, a man of character that red mist will
not compromise).. I must spare you the details, for you will find them
elsewhere but understand that these Championships came at a price; that of
exposing the character of individuals under pressure. Not pretty.
The phenomena of the desire to win is called “red
mist”. Familiar Lou, yes?
There was mist everywhere
Sunday afternoon It. helped end my day after one
entire lap of racing. The back half of the Woodhouse Auto Family
sponsored Viper CC #13 had the likeness of humpty dumpty
at the base of the wall when Jimmy McCann’s yellow Viper CC came careening
downhill out of control, fresh off of an altercation with the Mike Davis Saleen Mustang. I was told they went to war at the
top of the hill where Mike attempted a pass on Jimmy. That piece of track
referred to as corner one, is actually part of the main straight at a 130 mph
hillcrest. Mist? Racing incident? Who knows but
that bull fight ended with both cars spinning sending Jimmy cart wheeling along
the exit lane concrete wall, across the gravel trap into the center of corner two, then explosive deceleration as his Viper
torpedoed ours in the middle of the turn.
It was like getting a shock from
a light socket. When you were a kid and your. brother blew into a paper sack then popped it next to your
ear? That’s the sound. What the ……? “There’s nobody behind me, this
didn’t happen” as my brain fumbles with the obvious. This was just the
first of several full course yellows that “red
mist” influenced. In Nascar,
where the driver gets out of the wreck and throws his helmet as the other car
passes; yeah it entered my mind.
I love this car, slammed
sideways by a 3300 pound anvil that produced around three full rotations that
your attention but I felt protected. The helmet slapped that ear on the
racing seat designed for this very purpose. Safety crews do not like you
climbing out of your car so I stayed put causing a few
friends to call that were watching this “live”. After the crew pulled the car to safety and they efficiently got
Jimmy and I out of there.
Mike McCann had said earlier
that he felt Laguna was a Viper friendly track and that our brakes were a
strength that displayed well here. He set out to prove it, making some
passes under braking that put your neck hair at attention. He was in
second when the bullfighting got serious and the three car
Cadillac team decided to eliminate the competition. Mike got punted to
the sand as did Robin Liddell in the Porsche leaving Tommy to his own battles
with the Caddies. It does us no good to judge, that is for SCCA.
Tommy’s patience/aggression and skill were show cased in the few green laps
available but it was all he could do to find the last podium spot.
Got to hand it to the Cadillac
team and their effort, they proved they had what it takes. They also
proved that they had one professional driver, Andy Pilgrim, the other two missed
kindergarten, they never learned to play well with
others. Rules of combat, not their agenda.
Top 10 Finishers: Max Papis, Max Angelelli, Tommy Archer, Andy Pilgrim, James Sofronas, Tim Wiens, Leighton
Reese, Mike Davis, Tony Gaples, Lawson Aschenbach
It has been a heck of a year for
the Woodhouse Auto Family Viper Competiton Coupe #
13. Trouble clung to us like smell to garlic. Kenny Hawkins
diagnosed our incidents this year and determined we need a number change for
number next year. Could be. Just keep
going to www.woodhouse.com, and keep being our friends, thanks for
caring. See you next year, and stay tuned, there could be a surprise
coming.
NORTHEAST’S LARGEST VIPER DEALER – HUGE
DISCOUNTS – NATIONWIDE DELIVERY
Archer, behind the wheel of the number 1/c3controls/3R Racing
Viper, started from the fourth row and was able to navigate the streets and
finish the day strong in sixth position.
The
“I got punted
pretty good at the start, but there was really no
damage,” said Archer. “With the
restrictor I was having some trouble getting off of the turn. In the waning laps I was trying to get by the
Corvette and even got up along side but I couldn’t make it stick. The car got better and better with every lap,
I credit the Will Moody (team
engineer) setup with that. We took a
slight hit in the points to the Cadillac, but with two races remaining we have
not given up.”
McClure making a
return to the team after a three race sabbatical was able to cruise to a
seventh-place finish. “It was a fun
race,” McClure said of his seventh-place run.
“The car was really good. I was fighting either end, on a street course
that says a lot about the team. I had an
interesting moment with the McCann Viper, I was pressuring him to get by and we
had a good dice for a couple of laps. It
was a nice event this weekend, it was good to get back behind the wheel and
work with the 3R guys again.”
Westminster, Colorado resident Wiens, driving the
number 3/FirsTier Bank/3R Racing Viper, raced hard from his 14th place
qualifying position to come home in 10th and receiving the Coolest Move of The
Race for his pass on the Mustang on lap 24 in turn nine. To top it off, Tim and wife Jan celebrated
their 28th wedding anniversary today.
“It was a typical
street course race,” Wiens said of his top-10 finish.
“It was really tight racing. Anytime I’m in the top-10, I am a really happy
guy. I was glad to see Tommy [Archer] and Phil [McClure] both do as well as we
could with the Vipers. All in all, it was a pretty good day. The 3R Racing
Viper, as always, was solid. The guys prepared the car so well. You can count
on the car. It is as good at the end of the race, as it is in the beginning of
the race. I couldn’t be more proud of the crew.”
Today’s race will
be televised on SPEED Channel, Saturday, August 20th at
Tonight on SPEED
Channel, Archer will be live on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain. Archer will be at the 3R Racing shop to
discuss the Viper, the SPEED GT championship and take caller questions live via
satellite. He is scheduled to appear at
approximately
·
Base weight 3,150 lbs. minus 50 lbs. post
·
Archer R.E.W.A.R.D.S. weight is 165 lbs.
Speed GT Top 10
1. Wolf Henzler Porsche
2. Robin Liddell Porsche
3. Lawson Aschenbach Porsche
4. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
5. Leighton Reese Corvette
6. Tommy Archer 3R Viper
7. Phil McClure 3R Viper
8. Mike Davis Mustang
9. Stu Hayner
10. Tim Wiens 3R
Viper
3R Racing 2005 Results
Track
|
Driver
|
Qualify |
Finish |
|
Sebring |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
2 3 11 |
1 6 9 |
|
|
Archer McCLure Wiens |
3 7 15 |
1 6 7 |
|
Road |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
6 11 16 |
4 5 12 |
|
Mid-Ohio |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
7 10 22 |
6 14 25 |
|
|
Archer McCLure Wiens |
8 14 11 |
12 8 11 |
|
Lime Rock |
Archer Wiens |
9 12 |
9 12 |
|
Infineon |
Archer Wiens |
9 16 |
3 17 |
|
|
Archer Wiens |
6 10 |
4 7 |
|
|
Archer McClure Wiens |
9 12 14 |
6 7 10 |
3R Racing would
like to thank sponsors c3controls, Sirius Satellite Radio, FirsTier
Bank and partners Red Line Oil, Performance Friction brake pads, Ron Davis
radiators and Dodge Motorsport.
For more information or photos, please refer www.3RRacing.com or contact
Kyle Chura at chura@aol.com or (248) 821-0468.
As seen through the Woodhouse
windshield
A race report from the #13 Woodhouse Viper Comp Coupe windshield.
A race report as seen from the windshield of the Woodhouse
Viper Comp Coupe
How do you measure the quality of
an event? If it is something like the Denver Grand Prix; perhaps just
check your fun meter to see if it got pegged. My bench mark for a street race are those small rooms called Port A
Potties, yes those little green plastic huts . They tell you if the city
is sincere about presenting a world class event.
Now imagine the logistics nightmare of getting all of
these racing venues on track for practice and testing. That left our
practice very minimal and our down time high, or so we thought. Those voids
got filled to intensity with Viper club members, and race fans full of passion
for automobiles, and not the kind with a six pack in one hand and a toke in the
other. The support team of SCCA people came from all over, including our
Nebraska Region SCCA team, the Whoomah gang, Frank Sofranek pres. (OK
explanation here.) Frank is a racer and corner worker and along with his
wife and friends has taken the word whoomah and infamized it with his constant full volume vocalizing and
stickers that show up on race cars.
The 1.657 mile track was created from the streets around
the
Bob and Holly Raub and Tim Wiens representing 3R Racing and First Tier Bank launched
the week-end in grand fashion by inviting the entire World Challenge paddock to
the 3R race shop for an evening of food, beverage, music and cars.
The gesture proved priceless to the SCCA World Challenge
community, establishing relationships and strengthening those that competition
erodes. Touring the shop left no question that 3R is a professional builder of
championship capable cars.
Phil McClure of the 3R Viper team, and one of the
finer drivers out there, took some after-practice ribbing on Friday.
Known to appreciate a good spinner knob on his steering wheel, he was asked if
he would like two installed on his Viper Competition Coupe. Apparently he was
doing some drifting and left a bit of wall evidence on his rear quarter.
OK, I guess you had to have been there.
Here’s a few of the many Viper people who said
hello: Jim Johnson local pres., Bob Cloutier, John
Johns, Gar, Jay Popp, Dave Fisher, Kip Partridge, Dennis Quela
and it goes on, don’t hit me for leaving you out.
Now for some dirt: After the
Lou was a good test of self control and I didn’t score an
A. But I do recognize a competitor’s fantasy world when his Corvette
looks like a Saltine cracker put together with super glue due to his own
aggression.
The race had an eerie feeling to it as the cars came to
grid for the standing start. Maybe it was Rick’s words ringing in my
ears, “Just go up and bump Lou on the grid and get it out of the way”. I
wouldn’t of coarse and I wouldn’t take a grudge into a race even if there was
one. What goes around comes around. The bleachers were filled with
impatient fans since we sat there for 20 minutes waiting. Finally the
lights go out, the car launches well and we go up the right side wall beside
Lou until a Cadillac jumps into the lane in front of him. Lou makes a quick
jerk right prompting me to back out and follow carefully as the four wide first
corner becomes a two wide in the next until some
reasonable room develops as the laps begin to unwind.
Short of seeing someone’s rear wing along the outside wall
there was little drama until lap ten when a long brake pedal took over a big
part of my life. It continued a downward trend for the next couple
of laps but I was confident it was stabilizing and that I could continue at a
reasonable pace. Not. Double pumps weren’t timely enough and I left
too much speed on the car in the short chutes landing a wall hit between 7 and
8. The right front suspension was damaged but the car would move enough
to maneuver out of the racing line. Humility got pretty deep thinking of how I
cheated competitors and race fans out of three laps of racing. I learned
later several cars were losing brakes as well and the full coarse yellow
allowed them to recover. Don’t thank me please.
How did the other Vipers do? Tommy came in 6th
with Phil McClure on his tail and Tim Wiens in 10th.
Considering all the politics, which I will get to
shortly, that was a commendable job for the 3R team to have all top tens.
Wait till you hear the rest of the politics. Mike McCann had power train
issues, Jimmie’s car isn’t finished so it didn’t run..
But alas fellow Dodge lovers, I think your Championship
title, and Tommy’s has been lost for the year. The political
machinery nearly ground to a halt in the Pro SCCA corner of the world. As
mentioned before, races are won as much off the track as on. The Viper
Competition Coupe has been in an underdog position all of this year and hurrah,
at last there has been some recognition of this. Thanks to Bob Raub, of 3R and the Dodge boys for their persistence in
getting heard. Harry Turner of SCCA personally came to each of the teams and
apologized since their data used to evaluate the competitiveness of each of the
different marques has been flawed. Recognizing it,
is good although it comes too late in the season to rescue a
championship.
For Harry to come and apologize
makes him a man we can respect. It gives the human race some balance
since we have to include Lou in that category. Oops, I am so bad.
Up front the top three finishers were Porsches, then a
Cadillac and a Corvette. A great job was again turned in by the Moxlow/Trenton Forging Pontiac GTO team. Driver Stu Heynor finished 9th
giving much of the credit to his new hair color. Stu,
I bruise easy.
Next up Mosport. Then the
finals at Laguna Seca. You know where to
go for details and for transportation of any kind go here www.woodhouse.com.
May god bless.
Bob Woodhouse
As seen through the Woodhouse
windshield
A race report from the #13 Woodhouse Viper Comp Coupe
windshield.
Still awash in “feel good feelings” from the 6th
place finish at Infineon and qualifying 9th
for today’s Portland Speed World Challenge GT
race; had us pumped about garnering a top 10 finish.
To bolster that thought, I had the strongest fan
club/cheering section in town. Twenty five Woodhouse “Kicken
Grass” T-shirts were being sported about by these sincere supporters. Did
I mention they were all relatives? (Hey, you do it your way, this works
for me. The paybacks could be brutal though, you know,
attendance at weddings and such.) So the stands were prepared to make as
much noise as the cars.
The waiting for race time is excruciating, nerves feel
like 10# fishing line with a 15# fish hangin on the
end. Mid-afternoon comes and so does the starting ceremony rituals. The
anthem is sung, the flag girls clear grid, and the race cars take their start
boxes. The red lights glow on, my clutch foot starts to shake, breath deep,
better; lights are out!, clutch drops, we go, Stu,
our friendly GTO driver in front me is growing bigger in the windshield, throttle stays down and we slip past on the right,
then the Volvo, this is good, we can do this, then the Cad CTS of Pappis makes an aggressive move to the right that chops our
unfettered acceleration. At the top of 3rd gear around 100 mph
entering turn three, comes the unexpected.
As if a giant sea-gull with diarrhea made a windshield hit
with the mother of all butt loads. The windshield went opaque
white. I began thinking the car in front blew up. As the wipers
take a sweep, it looks like old faithful coming through the hood louvers.
During the next few nanoseconds my brain is saying, “this
is gonna get wild”. The back end of the car is
swinging around like the loose end of a garden hose as the cooling system pukes
liquid everywhere. There are race cars in close quarters on
all sides. “Damn, I’m gonna wreck em
all.” I try to stabilize the car with the throttle and spin to unoccupied
territory.
Dan Lacy, the Motorsports
Chaplain would tell you “it was the grace of god”. Somehow all those
spinning cars managed to stay apart and get back to racing. They flew off
every direction. I wonder if Speed Channel got it. Sorry guys, it wasn’t
on purpose.
Radio to crew chief Rick: “We just blew something
big in the cooling system, I spun, we’re done. I will
nurse it to the pits”. As the emotion subsided, the rational comes back
and Rick finds and repairs a separated hose connection. No water for
refill, to the trash cans, where a dozen plastic water bottles are refilled and
used by Nancy and Scott Rogers as a water brigade that keeps Rick pouring as
fast as the engine will accept it. We’re re-fired and the Motec dash is reading like “man your battle stations” with
blinking words and flashing red lights. Finally the temperature drops to 225
and Rick says, I can’t burp the air out so go run a couple laps and see what
happens. Out we go for a half lap till the Motec
goes back into a “Red Alert”. Next time we leave the pits the engine acts
like it can deal with it, stabilizing around 230 degrees.
Even though we are now 5 or 6 laps down I am enjoying the
ride, the car is an angel, entering and leaving corners well; well enough to
place the fastest race lap for the Vipers. Just wait, the politics side is
coming.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 out of the 33 lap no
full coarse yellow race, I end up on the back side of Mike McCann. Mike’s
Viper seems to be struggling and I notice drops of fluid hit my windshield so I
pull off line and watch in my mirror as he creates possibly a Guinness record
in white smoke plumes for the entire straight away. Later we learned he
lost the engine.
Some time after passing one of the Cadillacs
(being piloted respectfully) I became the trailer tow ball on the back of Jon
Grooms’ AXA Porsche lap after lap. Jon had some creative lines in his
corners, let’s see, you can zig but not zag? Let’s not start that, I will just say, Jon found
a way to place his car in front of mine regardless of how far off line it
was. OK insert politics here. The Porsche, has the ability to out
accelerate the Viper, (SCCA “can you hear me now?”) leaving me with three full
laps of high evaporation rate on my patience. So it is that we met in the
last of the esses when Jon’s car again came off line
and across my bow to find it nudging his rear bumper just an eensie bit. Jon spun and I went to the grass to stay
clear of any heavy hitting. No regrets on my behalf Jon, I think
you understand.
Portland International Raceway has two distinctions that
set it apart from other tracks. The lap times are extremely temperature
sensitive, changing as much as 2 seconds from morning to afternoon. The
other is how slowly she offers up her speed secrets. This track is
reasonably flat, looks easy to learn, but alas, she is devious, making you look
hard for the last two to three seconds. The local racers are usually a
leg up on the out of towners.
On the politics: I usually say something about the
balancing act being administered by SCCA to keep all the teams potentially
podium material. Vipers were the underdog earlier this year,
Cadillac was out front, with the rest of the professional teams between.
Then came an adjustment to the Cadillacs
which left them competitive but not dominate to the Viper. Now this is
one man’s opinion who happens to drive a Viper, and I
also know little about strategy for Championships and these are smart people.
All three of the CTS-V Cadillacs are not being driven
to potential at all times. Championships are not won on the race track
alone. We’ll leave it there since I am so ignorant and stand to learn
from all maneuverings. At present almost all of the race teams agree that the
Corvette and Porsches are dominant and thinking an adjustment is eminent.
We can hope.
How’d the Viper people fare? Rich Marziale popped a motor in practice. Al Becera came up from
This race is broadcast Aug 7th,
you know where to check www.speedtv.com
3R Racing Finishes Fourth and Seventh at 
Tommy Archer,
driver of the number 1/c3controls/3R Viper, started from the third row on the
grid and was not able to improve on his qualifying position after lap one. On lap six the
“I thought I had a
good jump at the start, but was on the outside row and just couldn’t make up
any positions,” said Archer. “The race
played out and I was hoping that the front three would slow each other down, or
take each other out. By the time they
really started battling the weight of my car had played out on the tires and I
couldn’t get into the fray. We were able
to make up some valuable points on Pilgrim for the championship.”
Tim Wiens behind the wheel of the number 3/FirsTier Bank/3R
Viper, went away from the grid from the fifth row. Wiens was embattled
in a three way fight the entire race with a Pontiac and a Cadillac, but was
able to come home in seventh, equaling his best finish of the season.
“Bob and the 3R
crew really put good cars us,” said Wiens. “My car was very consistent and confidence
inspiring the whole race. I was having
trouble getting through the esses in practice, but
today I had no issues and that what kept me ahead from my pursuers. I am a little peeved that I fell asleep on
the last lap and the
Archer’s finish
puts him just two points behind Pilgrim, 177 to 179, in the fight for the
series drivers championship. Tim Wiens has
reasserted himself in the top ten.
Today’s race from
Portland International Raceway will be televised on the Speed Channel, August 7th
at
Round nine of the
SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge GT series will be run through the streets
of
3R Racing Viper Competition Coupe weight and restrictions:
·
Base weight 3,200 lbs.
·
35% air restrictor
·
Archer R.E.W.A.R.D.S. weight is 135 lbs.
Speed GT Top 10
1. Dino Crescentini Corvette
2. Leighton Reese Corvette
3. Wolf Henzler Porsche
4. Tommy Archer 3R Viper
5. Michael Galati Volvo
6. Stu Hayner
7. Tim Wiens 3R
Viper
8. Max Papis Cadillac
9. Robin Liddell Porsche
10. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
3R Racing 2005 Results
Track
|
Driver
|
Qualify |
Finish |
|
Sebring |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
2 3 11 |
1 6 9 |
|
|
Archer McCLure Wiens |
3 7 15 |
1 6 7 |
|
Road |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
6 11 16 |
4 5 12 |
|
Mid-Ohio |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
7 10 22 |
6 14 25 |
|
|
Archer McCLure Wiens |
8 14 11 |
12 8 11 |
|
Lime Rock |
Archer Wiens |
9 12 |
9 12 |
|
Infineon |
Archer Wiens |
9 16 |
1 17 |
|
|
Archer Wiens |
6 10 |
4 7 |
3R Racing would
like to thank sponsors c3controls, Sirius Satellite Radio, FirsTier
Bank and partners Red Line Oil, Performance Friction brake pads, Ron Davis
radiators and Dodge Motorsport.
For more information or photos, please refer www.3RRacing.com or contact
Kyle Chura at chura@aol.com or (248) 821-0468.
3R Racing Heads to
Englewood, Colorado July 27, 2005
–
3R Racing continues the SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge GT series
West Coast swing by traveling to Portland for round eight to be run at Portland
International Raceway on July 31st.
When the checkered
flag flew at Infineon two weeks ago the meetings
began. On lap six when Tommy Archer
passed Max Papis, rendering the Cadillac stricken
with bent rear suspension pieces, this incident drew the ire of the SCCA Pro
Racing Officials. They determined that
it was avoidable contact and Archer was fined $3000, docked five championship
points and put on probation for two races.
Tommy Archer,
driving the number 1/c3controls/3R Viper, continues to hold down second place
in the GT series driver’s points standings, just nine behind the series
leader. If Archer had not been penalized
10-points so far this season, the battle for championship honors would have
Archer leading by one point. “We are appealing the ruling from Infineon,” said Archer.
The
Tim Wiens, team owner and driver of the number 3/FirstTier Bank/3R
Viper, finished in fifth place last year in
Round eight at
Portland International Raceway run on Sunday, July 31st and
televised on the Speed Channel, August 7th at
Speed GT Top 10 Drivers Points:
1. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac 163
2. Tommy Archer 3R Viper 154
3. Robin Liddell Porsche 151
4. Wolf Henzler Porsche 127
5. Max Papis Cadillac 126
6. Lou Gigliotti Corvette 109
7. Mike McCann Viper 105
8. Stu Hayner
9. Max Angelelli Cadillac 96
10. Phil McClure 3R
Viper 88
11. Tim Wiens 3R
Viper 88
3R Racing Viper Competition Coupe weight and restrictions:
·
Base weight 3,200 lbs.
·
35% air restrictor
·
Archer R.E.W.A.R.D.S. weight is 135 lbs.
Speed GT Manufacturers Championship
1. Cadillac 42
2. Porsche 36
3. Dodge 23
4. Chevrolet 13
3R Racing 2005 Results
Track
|
Driver
|
Qualify |
Finish |
|
Sebring |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
2 3 11 |
1 6 9 |
|
|
Archer McCLure Wiens |
3 7 15 |
1 6 7 |
|
Road |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
6 11 16 |
4 5 12 |
|
Mid-Ohio |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
7 10 22 |
6 14 25 |
|
|
Archer McCLure Wiens |
8 14 11 |
12 8 11 |
|
Lime Rock |
Archer Wiens |
9 12 |
9 12 |
|
Infineon |
Archer Wiens |
9 16 |
3 19 |
3R Racing would
like to thank sponsors c3controls, Sirius Satellite Radio, FirsTier
Bank and partners Red Line Oil, Performance Friction brake pads, Ron Davis
radiators and Dodge Motorsport.
For more information or photos, please refer www.3RRacing.com or contact
Kyle Chura at chura@aol.com
or (248) 821-0468.
NORTHEAST’S LARGEST VIPER DEALER – HUGE
DISCOUNTS – NATIONWIDE DELIVERY
3R Racing Finishes Ninth and
Twelfth at
Lime Rock, Connecticut – July 2, 2005 - 3R Racing drivers Tommy
Archer and Tim Wiens raced their 3R Vipers to a ninth
and twelfth place finish today at Lime Rock Park in the 50-minute SCCA Pro
Racing Speed World Challenge GT series race.
Both Tim and Tommy endured a spin and recovery to complete the
race. The event witnessed two caution
periods equaling nine laps, abbreviating the time that the 3R pilots had to
come back from their off track excursions.
Archer, driver of the number 1/c3controls/3R Viper, had a
difficult start being held up by a stalled Volvo and then was punted out of
sixth place by a Corvette. “The start
was not so good, the Volvo stalled in front of me and then I had to hesitate as
the Cadillac negotiated around him. On the
first restart I had a good run up the inside into one and was able to improve a
few positions. Then on lap 34, I was
going into one and was hit by a Corvette and spun putting me back to
ninth. It was tough; he wasn’t even
close to completing the pass.”
Wiens had a similar story regarding his
race. The
“I had a good start; I was heading into the top ten taking every
advantage to move up. The car was good
all race and the field was coming to me.
On lap eleven, I hit the oil slick in one and two and became a
passenger. I was able to recover, but
ran out of laps trying to get my positions back.”
Round seven of the SCCA Pro Racing
World Challenge GT series will be run at
3R Racing Viper Competition
Coupe weight and restrictions:
·
Base weight 3,200 lbs.
·
35% air restrictor
·
Archer R.E.W.A.R.D.S. weight is
120 lbs.
Speed GT Top 10 Lime Rock
Finishers:
1. Max Angelelli Cadillac
2. Max Papis Cadillac
3. James Sofronas Porsche
4. Stu
Hayner
5. Wolf Henzler Porsche
6. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
7. Lou Gigliotti Corvette
8. Robin Liddell Porsche
9. Tommy Archer 3R
Viper
10. Tony Gaples Corvette
-----
12. Tim Wiens 3R Viper
3R Racing Looks for Better Fortunes in
Englewood, Colorado June 22, 2005 – 3R Racing will take to the
2.1-mile, 10-turn circuit at Burke Lakefront airport in Cleveland for round
five of the SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge GT series race to be run on
Sunday, June 26th. Tommy Archer leads
the series driver’s points with teammate Phil McClure in sixth and team
owner/driver Tim Wiens in ninth. The series last visited the laser flat
airport circuit in 1992.
The team had an uncharacteristic race weekend at Mid-Ohio four
weeks ago. Tommy Archer was able to
finish seventh to keep his overall series lead, with teammate Phil McClure
coming home tenth and Tim Wiens having two incidents
of contact finishing in the twenty-fifth position.
Tommy Archer,
driver of the number 1/c3controls/3R Viper, last raced at the Cleveland Grand
Prix in 2002 driving a Viper Trans-Am car.
The
Phil McClure,
driving the number 2/FirstTier Bank/3R Viper, is looking forward to the challenge of
a new track. “It looks like it is going
to be a fast and exciting track. Turn
one is infamous for action and bad decisions.
I need to focus on being in the top ten.
At Mid-Ohio we struggled with handling and it felt really odd going
backward in the race. I am looking
forward to a little redemption in the state of
Tim Wiens, team owner and driver of the number 3/FirstTier Bank/3R
Viper, is ready for
Round five of the
SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge GT series will be run on Sunday, June 26th
starting at
3R Racing Viper
Competition Coupe weight and restrictions for Mid-Ohio:
· Base weight 3,200 lbs.
·
45% air restrictor, change from 50% at Mid-Ohio
·
Archer R.E.W.A.R.D.S. weight is 150 lbs.
Speed GT Top 10 Driver’s Points:
1. Tommy Archer 3R Viper 108
2. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac 100
3. Wolf Henzler Porsche 85
4. Max Papis Cadillac 83
5. Robin Liddell Porsche 79
6. Phil McClure 3R Viper 70
7. Mike McCann Viper 62
8. Lou Gigliotti Corvette 53
9. Tim Wiens 3R
Viper 50
10. Tom Oates Corvette 50
Speed GT Manufacturers’ Championship
1. Cadillac 26
2. Dodge 22
3. Porsche 22
4. Chevrolet 10
3R Racing 2005 Results
Track
|
Driver
|
Qualify |
Finish |
|
Sebring |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
2 3 11 |
1 6 9 |
|
|
Archer McCLure Wiens |
3 7 15 |
1 6 7 |
|
Road |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
6 11 16 |
4 5 12 |
|
Mid-Ohio |
Archer McCLure Wiens |
7 10 22 |
6 14 25 |
3R Racing would like
to thank sponsors c3controls, Sirius Satellite Radio, FirsTier
Bank and partners Red Line Oil, Performance Friction brake pads, Ron Davis
radiators and Dodge Motorsport.
For more information or photos, please refer www.3RRacing.com or contact
Kyle Chura at chura@aol.com or (248) 821-0468.
3R Racing Finishes
Fourth, Eighth and Twelfth at Road
Braselton,
Georgia - Under near perfect
weather conditions of 70-degress and sunny, 3R Racing drivers finished today's
round three of the SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge GT series race in
fourth, eighth and twelfth.
Following the teams second straight victory at
In addition to the 100 lbs. SCCA has mandated, Tommy
Archer had an additional 150 lbs., 75 for his win at Sebring and 75 for the
victory at
Phil McClure, driving the number 2/FirstTier Bank/3R Viper, started from the
fifth row and was quickly shuffled back to eighteenth at the start.
"I had a good launch, but came up along side a Corvette who then turned
toward me and I had to go to the grass to avoid contact and that put me back a
few positions. I had to really charge and use up the car to make the
positions back up. The car was good, but the weight shows itself on the
straight and out of the corners. Starting eleventh and finishing eighth
is all we had today."
Tim Wiens started from the eighth row and brought the
number 3/FirstTier Bank/3R Viper home in twelfth. "It is amazing how
these cars become sluggish with the added weight. You just watch people
go by down the straight. After the caution period I was pretty much
running around by myself. I just wanted to set good consistent laps.
The car behaved and drove well; we just cannot compete at the front like we
should be. We will regroup and be ready for Mid-Ohio next month."
Round four of the SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge GT series will be run on May
21st.
Speed GT Top 10 Road Atlanta Finishers:
1. Max Papis Cadillac
2. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
3. Max Angelelli Cadillac
4. Tommy Archer 3R Viper
5. Leighton Reese
Corvette
6. James Sofronas
Porsche
7. Mike McCann Viper
8. Phil McClure
3R Viper
9. Rob Foster
Viper
10. Tony Gaples
Corvette
--------
12. Tim Wiens
3R Viper
3R Racing would like to thank sponsors c3controls, Sirius Satellite Radio, FirsTier Bank and partners Red Line Oil, Performance
Friction brake pads, Ron Davis radiators and Dodge Motorsport.
For more information or photos, please refer www.3R-Racing.com or contact Kyle Chura at chura@aol.com or (248) 821-0468.
3R Racing's Tommy
Archer Wins
Starting
from the third position, his qualifying position was corrected later Saturday;
Archer sped into the lead on the first lap. Archer was only out of the
lead twice for the 50-minute timed race, with the Lidell
Porsche only leading for less than one lap. The close confines of the
"I had a good start and was able to get up to second by turn one,"
said Archer, driver of the number 1/c3controls/3R Viper. "I wanted
to be aggressive from the start; if I could gain a couple of places I knew we
would have a good day. On the first lap into turn ten I was able to get
under Henzler in the braking zone and then the front
washed out a little pushing him toward the wall; I made it stick. The
five yellows helped a lot. My tires were heating up and I was getting all
kinds of pressure from the Porsche. The team did a great job to stay on
top of the cars setup all weekend."
Phil McClure, piloting the number 2/FirstTier Bank/3R Viper, finished in sixth
from his seventh place qualifying effort. "Not a bad day. I
was giving up a lot going into the braking zone in turn one. I am not quite
comfortable with the Viper's brakes just yet. There was a lot of rubbing
going on and I bumped the wall once. We will take it and look forward to
Road Atlanta in two weeks."
Driving the number 3/FirsTier Bank/ 3R Viper is team owner Tim Wiens. Wiens had a
disappointing qualifying effort, but made up for it in the race. "I
had a really good start and was able to move up six places on the first
lap. On lap nineteen I was setup to pass the McCann Viper into turn
twelve and ended up going across the grass in thirteen, but made the
pass. I touched the wall and grass had filled the radiator vent, so the
motor temperature was increasing and I had a front vibration. The yellows
helped or I would have had to back off and give up positions. The team
had a great day. Tommy winning and Phil and I in the top ten keep us in
line for the championship and Dodge there for the manufacturers' title."
The
1. Tommy Archer 3R Viper
2. Robin Liddell Porsche
3. Lou Gigliotti Corvette
4. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
5. Wolf Henzler Porsche
6. Phil McClure 3R Viper
7. Tim Wiens 3R Viper
8. Tom Oates Corvette
9. Jon Groom Porsche
10. Rob Foster Viper
Speed GT Top 10 Driver's Points After Two Rounds:
1. Tommy Archer 3R Viper 65
2. Robin Liddell Porsche 53
3. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
51
4. Wolf Henzler Porsche 46
5. Phil McClure 3R Viper 40
6. Tim Wiens 3R Viper 36
7. Max Papis
Cadillac 35
8. Tom Oates Corvette 34
9. Mike McCann Viper 29
10. Sonny Whelen Corvette 26
3R
Racing would like to thank sponsors c3controls, Sirius Satellite Radio, FirsTier Bank and partners Red Line Oil, Performance
Friction brake pads, Ron Davis radiators and Dodge Motorsport.
For more information or photos, please refer www.3R-Racing.com or contact Kyle Chura at chura@aol.com or (248) 821-0468.
Archer
Wins Speed GT at Sebring!
March 18, 2005 Sebring, Florida - 3R Racing
driver Tommy Archer drove his number 1/c3controls/3R Viper to victory today in
round one of the SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge GT series race at
historic Sebring. Teammates Phil McClure and Tim Wiens
completed the 3R top ten run coming home in sixth and ninth.
Sunny skies and cool 70-degrees at race time was the setting for the
beginning of Archer's title defense. Starting from the front row in
second position, he was able to get the jump on the pole sitting Porsche to
lead into turn and never looked back.
"I got a great start," said Archer. "The clutch was
warm and when the lights went out on the starting stand this new Viper just
launched down the straight. I knew I had to get the Porsche at the start
because he is too light and too fast to chase down. The first few laps,
my teammate, Phil McClure was helping by mixing things up behind me. The
group that was pursuing made my job a little easier, second place had to race
with eye on his rear view mirror. The car was great. We did not do
any off season testing, Will Moody had this set for a nice Friday afternoon
drive."
Phil McClure, piloting the number 2/FirstTier Bank/3R Viper, started his
race from third on the grid. "I had a pretty good start and was able
to maintain my run third place on the first lap. Then going into the
hairpin I went inside for a pass and then a Viper came inside of me, we were
three abreast and he was able to make it work. I was having some handling
issues through the esses and I am still not
completely confident with the brakes, I felt I was leaving a few feet in each
corner."
Piloting the number 3/FirsTier Bank/ 3R Viper, Tim Wiens
started eleventh and came home ninth. "I was able to get a really
good start. The exit of the first turn on lap one was exciting, I had to
take to the grass to get around the Cadillac making up a few positions.
Mid race I caught some traffic and I was locked in a battle with two
Porsches. Tommy had a great drive today. The 3R guys finished is
the same positions as we ended the season in points last year. Hopefully
that is an omen for the rest of the year."
The race will be televised on Speed Channel, Sunday, March 27th at
Sebring Speed GT Top 10:
1. Tommy Archer 3R Viper
2. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
3. Robin Liddell Porsche
4. Wolf Henzler Porsche
5. Max Papis
Cadillac
6. Phil McClure
3R Viper
7. Mike McCann
Viper
8. Leighton Reese
Corvette
9. Tim Wiens
3R
Viper
10. Tom Oates Corvette
3R Racing would like to thank sponsors c3controls, Sirius Radio, FirsTier Bank and partners Red Line Oil, Performance
Friction brake pads, Ron Davis radiators and Dodge Motorsport.
As seen through the Woodhouse
windshield
Sebring 2005 Round One of
the Speed World Challenge GT
Just shoot me. Take me out
of my misery. But not yet; first hear the story. I am gridded 13th at the Friday afternoon GT race in
a field of 28 race cars. When the red start lights go out, my engine has
been hovering at 3500 rpm for 10 seconds preparing for that perfect standing
start launch. I went from hero to zero in a nano-second;
yup, killed it. I must be clueless, did this twice last year. Crew
chief Rick says all of our practice sessions from here forward will include a
stop and go in the pits every lap until I can do them in my sleep.
To the story. Position 13 turned into
position 28 instantly. As this was taking place a fellow Viper driver
Mike Hartley, gridded behind me, showed his surprise
by crumbling the right rear quarter on his way by. I saw a lot of Mike in
the next few moments since on the back side of turn one he and two Porsches got
caught off guard by some fluid spills. Be aware you can’t see the back
side of turn one from the front side due to concrete walls. Here I come like
hell shot out of a cannon to find these three doing
beautiful ballet slides in all directions. I was scrambling to find the
word “control” in my rolodex, ( how fast it feels the
brain is computing) the options were but one: a piece of grass between the
Hartley Viper and the wall which is what eventually stopped me; the wall.
I’m bummed; dead stick staring backwards at the race track, white painted guard
rail tires peeking in my driver side window. My hope of any kind of a race
finish is hanging by a spider thread when the engine re-fires and the car shows
movement. Dirt starts falling out of the wheels and grass starts blowing
out of those big beautiful hood vents but all gauges moniter
normal. Can it be, maybe the day is not done.
Traffic is beginning to show up on my windshield, and one
at a time the cars slowly begin to disappear out the back side over the next 19
laps. Despite the early frustration; we gain back a bit of self respect
by clicking off some consistent times comparable with the top ten allowing a 14th
position finish. So that’s my story. If you don’t shoot me now I’ll
tell you the rest.
Tommy Archer Won!!!!!!!! Of course you know this by now,
and the television coverage will be twice as good as anything I could
write. Just let me say he is a class act in every way, as are the people
that put the car out there for him, Bob Raub, Will,
the crew and co-drivers. The Viper community is fortunate to have
them. So we are at pre-grid and Tommy comes strolling over to offer
advice. He says “Bob all you gotta do is stay
on the track, drive conservative and you will move up”. I don’t hear so
good do I.
The Viper community was well represented. We had 10
out of the 28 cars on the starting grid. I get such a hoot from Kenny
Hawkins, the yellow and grey comp coupe from the Raliegh
area. He always tells us, “you can’t put a price
on your fun”. Saying it as much for himself as us. The self sponsored
have to be prepared for a good dent in the wallet. Stan, wish you were
here. You all know Dodge Motorsport is not involved in team sponsorship. I can
respect that, but they are doing one heck of a job of technical support.
Dan Knott and Gary Johnson are key to this
cause. Thank em if you get a chance. We
need them there dearly and they are committed for the season. Two of
their engineers will be at every race. Great help when the electrical and
chassis gremlins attack. Matt or Peter or Jeff are there to help your
crew through it. Problem is they will never tell you the hot set-up the
other teams are running (kidding).
The people I meet seem to know everything about Sebring
since 1952 or nothing at all. Somebody has
learned about it though In the neighborhood of
50,000 show up for this spectacle of racing venues that culminates with the
running of the 12 Hours of Sebring. This year the crowd came late. Perhaps influenced by five inches of rain that fell Thursday.
We used practice times for gridding since qualifying
wetted out.
Now for the inside scoop, this is top secret stuff so you
can’t tell anybody OK? Remember that last year we finished the year
realizing we did not have the fastest cars in the WCGT field. As you
remember the manufacturer’s championship went to Audi, with Cadillac narrowly
losing and this whole game is played with rules that are meant to make everyone
equal. OK that is an oxymoron, not possible. PRO-SCCA is doing
everything they can to attempt that, however, this year they felt it would be
nice to lower the speed potential of most of the field to allow slower cars a
competitive chance. EX: Volvo R60 and possibly Nissan. While this
is a virtuous idea, it goes against a race car drivers mind set. Take a
Viper owner, he buys a Comp Coupe, which is near stock, short a fire bottle and
steering wheel. Then we remove the stock engine horse power of 520 to
around 400 by pulling off the headers and giving it a 45% air intake
restrictor. Every race driver I know loves going slower, NOT. Most of the
field has been affected in varying degrees.
Throughout last winter there has been hard work put into
all of the brands to maintain their lap speeds. Since it isn’t available
in horsepower we are forced to find it elsewhere. And most of the teams
have found good improvements as this year straightaway speeds went down and
cornering speeds came up giving comparable lap time.
Now here is our secret stuff, we spent hours with our
chemical engineers developing a polymer wax that is so darn slick the wind
barely grabs our car. In fact
Pre-race some Viper folks were teasing Mr. Wonderful,
Sonny Whelen. Since I was gridded
behind him, they told him he should be ready to be punted forward about three
car lengths going into turn three. I am not saying for sure but this may
have been based off of some questionable reporting by Speed TV at Road
As you know Sonny switched to a very fast Corvette this
year. We forgave him for that but we thought it might be jolly humor.
Our car was headed for pre-grid with our new pillow bumper but questioned
whether Sonny would think it was as funny so we privately invited his crew over
and everybody got a good chuckle.
More to come: April 3rd, round two,
3R Racing Ready to
Starts 2005 Season at Sebring!
Englewood,
Colorado - 3R Racing has spent
the off season celebrating their SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge Speed GT
series driver's championship and preparing their, now three, Viper Competition
Coupes for the 2005 schedule.
Following the team's success with Tommy Archer's championship last year,
3R has purchased a third Viper for Phil McClure and is ready to defend their
driver's title and make some waves in the manufacturer chase for Dodge.
"The 2004 season was great, but that is behind us now," said
Tim Wiens, 3R Racing owner and driver of the number
3/First Interstate Inns/3R Viper. "I am looking forward to getting
back behind the wheel after a long winter in
Tommy Archer, driver of the c3controls/3R Viper has enjoyed being the
champion and will carry the number one on his car for 2005. "It was
nice to represent 3R and Dodge as the champion," said Archer.
"Tim has done a great job to keep the team together for this year and
improve the cars. The car is different, the rules have changed the car
somewhat including a 50% restrictor, but that is the nature of the
series. We will go to Sebring with the same attitude as we did each race
last year, take every position we are given and complete every lap. I
hope to improve my fourth place finish from last year."
Driving the number 2/Aggregate Industries/3R Viper is returning World
Challenge GT veteran Phil McCLure. "I've
had the opportunity to drive the Viper, it will be fun. It seems bigger
and heavier. The brakes on the car are really good and will take some
getting used to. The sound of the motor is a very different. In the
Corvette I could hear the shift point. Bob Raub
and Will Moody have a good handle on the car and we have a year of development
to lean on. Porsche, Cadillac and the new C6 will be cars that will be
really strong. Sebring rewards horsepower, so we are hoping to be right
there in the top eight looking for a good finish. I am looking forward to
getting some quality seat time in the Viper."
Round one of the World Challenge GT schedule at Sebring will be run on
March 18th at
For more information or photos, please refer www.3R-Racing.com or
contact Kyle Chura at chura@aol.com or (248) 821-0468
As seen through the Woodhouse
windshield
Laguna Seca, Speed TV World Challenge GT Race:
The Final Round Ten of 2004
On the
day of the race, waiting for it to begin is like the feeling you get when you
are building toward a highly romantic evening with your favorite person of the
opposite sex. The anticipation, the
anxiety, of what is to come, gets almost unbearable. This is the final; this is the famous Laguna Seca, the race that everybody prepares to do their very
best. Championships to be settled. Finally the red lights go out on the starting
grid and the race begins. How sweet that
moment; a head rush of endorphins all telling you the sacrifices were worth
it. Let’s try to savor the moment with focus and
intensity; for like the comparison above; it won’t last long, a short 28 laps,
just 50 minutes. Then fulfillment and satisfaction, then days later, a need to
do it all over again. Oh what fools we
are, to be addicted to our own passions in such a predictable way. How lucky we are to experience both of these
sensations; and mostly legal.
For those not familiar with
Laguna Seca, this race track is possibly the most
famous of all
The Race: Two people lay victim
to the “I killed it at the start virus” when the lights went out on the start
grid. The black Corvette at the back was
used as a launghing ramp for Derek Bell to two wheel
his Volvo down the side of. The other
was none other than our own hero, Tommy Archer.
It wasn’t me this time, surprised?
Alas, my Viper friends Tommy made for a spectacular race to win the
drivers championship, going in to this race he needed to finish 4 positions in
front of Michael Galatti to win. The deed was done, but I shall leave that to SpeedTV and now take you behind the Woodhouse
windshield.
Starting in 15th position on the
inside was not the worst place to be considering the first turn first lap drama
that unfolds on these standing start races.
I got a good launch and due to having an Audi in front of me we made
great head way up the inside flying up to turn two (turn one is not actually a
turn, just a kink in the front straight on the way to the tight 180 degree turn
2). When we arrived at the turn it was
astonishing to see all of these cars bunched up so tightly it looked like the parking lot of Wal
Mart on a 75% off sale. With tapping
pushing and shoving the field mostly made it through to turn three where things
got a little rougher. I watched Mike
McCann get shunted and slowed up which put me up beside him going into
four. Apparently he was a bit bit busy and saw none of me. He drove the racing line to the apex of
corner four with me on the inside of him forcing me up and over the concrete bumpys. “Ouch” as
they slid down the center of the belly of the car, later to find the oil pan
took a thumping and was slowly dripping oil through the duration of the race
(no engine damage).
By this time the field was
bunched up with yours truly around 11th
when the full coarse yellow comes out to remove carnage, the main one
was the Davis Mustang that caught fire in turn 5. Back to green on about lap four I caught debree in turn three and went wide giving Max Angelleli in the Cadillac the inside line. We ran door to door up through turn 4 and
into turn 5 where I dropped in behind him.
His forward momentum on corner exit was less than mine and I found
plenty of speed to pass him back on our way to turn six. Max was having none of it as I moved up along
side he kept driving to the left until I was out of asphalt to give. I was so surprised by this it took me a while
to digest it. I wasn’t expecting that
kind of treatment from a pro but the Cad/Audi battle was down to the wire so
one should expect it perhaps. He was
still pushing on my side sill when I decided to return the favor. About the only time a heavy race car has an
advantage is in a pushing match. (the
Viper is required to be the heaviest car in the series) Max volunteered the spot with my
encouragement and a lap or so later he made the pass, this time it was
professional.
A couple of laps later, Tim Weins did a great job of taking advantage of a goof I made
in one of the corners he immediately went to work on the Audi (Galati I think) in front of us, meanwhile I look up and
incredulously realize Tommy had somehow gotten behind us. Later I learned it was the motor kill
thing. Tommy was cooking. We made room at the appropriate time and
watched him motor out of site. Tim made
it around the Audi, then it was my turn, (“oh what a feeling” oops, sorry
that’s
Immediate
Release
Tommy Archer Wins
Speed GT Championship!
Englewood, Colorado - 3R-Racing driver Tommy Archer won the SCCA Pro
Racing World Challenge GT series driver's championship today by finishing in
third place in the final round of the series at Laguna Seca.
The final standings have Archer over
Archer, driving the number 22/c3controls/ Whelen
Engineering/3R Viper, dug himself a hole by qualifying tenth - only for that
hole to get deeper at the start where he tried a different launch tactic.
This misjudgment caused him to fall back four positions to 14th on the first
lap, while his competitor for the title, Michael Galati
raced by into seventh position before the first turn. "I tried to
start with a little lower rpm, which wasn't a good idea. I then thought
that the race and championship was gone. Will Moody and I put a setup
under the car that was just great. That gave me
the confidence to move through the field. The car was the best it has
been all weekend. I was able to drive hard the whole race until the tires
started to fall off with about five laps to go. The team has worked hard
all year, Dodge has been a big help along with c3controls and Whelen Engineering." Archer also won the Remus Power Move of the race by passing the Pobst Audi for third position.
Viper teammate and 3R team owner Tim Wiens, driving
the number 33/1st Interstate Inns/3R Viper, finished in tenth with an excellent
run from his 14th place qualifying effort. "At the start I almost
rear ended Tommy when he was slow to get away on the grid. It took me a
little bit to get over the shock of seeing a championship go away. I had
a good run today, the car was consistent up until about six or seven laps to go
and then it started to fall off a little. The championship is the result
of a nice team effort and an excellent drive by Tommy." Wiens consistency throughout the
season is rewarded with an eighth place in the season ending driver's point
standings.
Phil McClure, piloting the number 73/Aggregate Industries/3R Corvette, started
from the fourth row and finished in twelfth today. McClure was able to
hold fourth position for half of the race until he made a passing attempt on
the Audi heading into the Cork Screw. "I was watching Tommy pick off
these cars going into the Cork Screw and I had a run on the Audi up the hill
and tried him on the inside but didn't get a good bite with the brakes and
spun. We had a good car, we were not very good in practice all week and
we took a gamble on the setup and it paid off. We had a better car than
where we finished today." McClure finished in sixth place in the
final season point standings.
Rob Foster, driving his number 71/LTI Contracting/Foster Motorsports/3R-Viper,
had a good race starting in 21st and coming home in thirteenth in his best
finish in the series to date. "I was able to get a good start,
picking up three places at the start. I was dicing with two Corvettes
about half way through the race and then the tires started to go away. We
had a good handling car all weekend."
Speed GT Top 10 Laguna Seca Finishers:
1. Wolf Henzler
Porsche
2. Boris Said Mustang
3. Tommy Archer 3R Viper
4. Randy Pobst Audi
5. Peter Cunningham Audi
6. Michael Culver Porsche
7. Max Angelelli Cadillac
8. Mike McCann Viper
9. Bob Woodhouse Viper
10. Tim Wiens
3R Viper
12. Phil McClure 3R Corvette
14. Rob Foster 3R Viper
As seen through the Woodhouse
windshield
Pre-race: It is called
Promoters Day, a practice day in advance of the SCCA sanctioned event. Tuesday
prior to the Friday race. It is the second of four sessions, Panoz race cars are practicing with the WCGT series cars. I
am under the bridge at turn twelve in the Woodhouse.com Viper Comp Coupe #13; a
red panoz race car with the same car no. as mine,
#13, (huh, anybody superstitious?) is beside me. The red Panoz
driver spots a green Panoz car that spun on the down
hill side and flings his car into the side of mine. Kawhump!
Aaargh! Still mobile I manage to drive it back to the
pits on three wheels dragging the left rear that is sticking out sideways.
Sobering: It took just a nano-second to put a $5000
bullet hole in the check book.
What a great bunch of Viper guys: between all of the teams and our Tom Francis,
we had all the parts to put it together. Rick and Nancy got right on it and we
were patched together by
Yes, I had to go over and visit my young Panoz driver
friend who was hiding out in anticipation. I was cool about it, (surprised
huh?) I asked him what was he thinking and he said he didn’t see me and I said
“that was not fresh news”, I wanted to know if that helmet was carrying any
brain activity at the time. Actually I wanted to know if he had an attitude or
if he was remorseful and apologetic. We started with the attitude and ended
with the latter.
I qualified 10th which felt pretty good since the next Viper on the chart was
Tommy in third. Still carrying his extra weight too.
Rick and I might be learning a bit about qualifying vs. race set-up. Shocking.
The Race: The Viper Nation had 8 Comp Coupes and Sonny’s GTS on the grid. Great showing. Leading up to the late afternoon race start
on Friday were a lot of edgy drivers as they had to sit around all day thinking
about the race. Finally it’s time; the red lights on the grid go out and all
the cars were off into turn one except Rob Foster’s beautiful lime green Viper
Comp Coupe. It was a very short race for Rob but no lack of drama! Welcome to
this year’s World Challenge Rob.
As we focused on our own car-to-car battles on the first lap, Rob was left
sitting in the middle of the front straight. The wrecker driver heard us coming
over the hill and left hastily only to return and hand Rob his tow hook after
it pulled off. The drivers were so pre-occupied with the raging first lap war
that the late waving yellow flag did little to slow the field as we all came
down the turn 12 hill with foot on firewall, then going “EEE-GAD” as we each
moved to the inside of the straight to clear Rob’s car. What happened behind
Rob at the start of the race must have been a drama of its own. I saw Tom Oates
car after the race and he had a bite out of his fender from John Groom, each
attempting to avoid Rob’s car.
An engine issue, a brake issue, and this a drive train
issue? A lot for one outing. Rob is Irish ya know. There will be a lot of four letter expletives in his
speech for the next few days. I would wait a week before calling him.
Three laps under full coarse yellow while Rob’s car is cleared; the battle
resumes. I am having a blast, cars on all sides to grapple with: Tim Wiens the 3R/Comp Coupe #33 is in front of me doing a great
job. Three, yes three not two Audis have a
Around lap 15 of this 29 lap event Peter Tonelli in
his Red Comp Coupe finds the gravel trap at the bottom of the big hill, turn
12. The yellow flag comes out and we circulate for the re-start. I notice Carol
Hollfelder with her Mustang, is caughtin
the line just in front of Tim Weins #33 Viper. Carol
is as nice as they come but somehow, trouble follows her. Not to be denied this
time. When the front cars get to the re-start cones the entire field goes green
and for some reason Tim does not go back to attack mode, he lays behind Carol
waiting, perhaps he thinks he can’t pass until his car is past the start cones.
The field in front of Carol is leaving, all the cars behind us are
bottlenecking. Tim and Carol come down the big turn 12 hill side by side. I am
having an anxiety attack. Tim is squeezing us to the left at the bottom of 12
when a huge cloud of red dust appears in front of Carol’s Mustang blocking any
forward vision short of the back end of two cars that disappeared into it.
Brain says: “bleep bleep, full alert, crash
underway”. I have no desire to partake so I point the car left which should
have been the long wide green exit curb but instead caught the dirt patch just
prior to the curbing.
From there the world went hyper-speed. You know the feeling when you hit grass?
Like the car just got rocket boosters. Brain says:
“this is a red alert. I'm calm but remember concrete wins.” I steer and countersteer thinking I am contributing to my good fortune.
Who knows, maybe both feet in would have been just as good. Do you remember the
Octopus ride at the state fair? Yeah, similar except I could
see the pores in the concrete on this ride. I was dizzy by the time this
thing quit acting like a helicopter rotor. Two 360 rotations?
Maybe three, hell I don’t know, each tire took a turn at a piece of pavement
while the rest were doing grass and dirt. As the rotation stopped, fortunately
the car ended up facing straight down the track. I found low gear and hi-tailed
it outta there before things got worse. One more
lesson learned from World Challenge racing: Pack extra underwear.
Unfortunately the front splitter did not recover from its temporary use as a
backhoe. When the car went over 90 mph it would begin this vertical vibration
that was violent enough to whip the hood into a blur that covered half of the
windshield view.
Into the pits while Rick took his battery powered sawzall
to any front splitter lip left. Back on track with no
improvement. I had decided to call it a day when Rick gets on the radio
and says, “Hey you are only a lap or two from the
checker, stay out there”.
Round 9 race results left Cadillac, Porsche, and Vette
up front. You had to go to fifth to find Tommy, our first Viper, then 10th for
Tim Weins, who drove a fine race. Our consistent and
aggressive McCann brothers did well considering they wrestled with less than
perfect car set-ups. Proudest of all should be Kenny Hawkins who started near
the back and moved up 6 positions to be awarded the Sunoco Hard Charger Award
of the race. They do not come any nicer than Kenny. Final
race; round 10, Laguna Seca. Keep the faith.
3R-Racing
Finishes Fourth, Fifth and Tenth at Road
tenth today in round nine of the SCCA Pro Racing World
Challenge GT series race at Road Atlanta. 3R
new comer Rob Foster
finished in 32nd after losing the transmission at the start of the race.
Phil McClure,
piloting the number 73/Aggregate Industries/3R Corvette, qualified in second
and was able to
hold his position
until lap fourteen when the Liddell Porsche got past. "I had a good car.
Liddell was strong
and I was using up
my tires trying to keep him behind me, so I let him go. I could hold off Gigliotti for fourth,
but we caught
traffic in the wrong place and he went past. I really didn't have anything for
him down the
straights at the end
of the race."
Tommy Archer, driving
the number 22/c3controls/ Whelen Engineering/3R
Viper, who is currently locked in
a points battle for
the championship improved his championship outlook today, leaving him just four
away
from the top spot.
"The race felt like a 50-minute qualifying session. I was able to get a
good start and then
was boxed in going
up the hill and the Porsche was able to get past. I was being pursued by
Pilgrim in the
Cadillac and was
driving every lap hard. The car developed a loose feeling at the entry of the
corners.
Based upon points
leader
Viper teammate Tim Wiens, driving the number 33/1st Interstate Inns/3R Viper,
qualified in eleventh place
and ran as high
eighth until finishing tenth behind premier road racer Johnny O'Connell.
"I had a good run.
O'Connell couldn't
quite get close enough early on to make a pass. I went down into the esses on the last
lap and there was
some oil there and I slid off line which allowed him to get past me along with
the two
Audis. I was able to
make up the places on the Audis down the long straight. The car was good all
day."
Rob Foster's weekend
of discontent continued into the race. Driving the number 71/LTI
Contracting/Foster
Motorsports/3R-Viper,
he was lined up on the grid and when the lights went out for the start the car
didn't
move. "I pulled
into my position after the parade laps getting ready for the standing start. I
revved the car
to 3500 rpms, dropped the clutch and didn't move. I tried a few
other gears, but had a fist full of neutral. It
was a tough weekend
with our blown motor on Wednesday. Now I will have a new drive train for
Laguna."
The race from Road
Atlanta will be televised on Speed Channel Sunday at
Speed GT Top 10 Road
1. Max Angelelli Cadillac
2. Robin Lydell Porsche
3. Lou Gigliotti Corvette
4. Phil McCLure 3R Corvette
5. Tommy
Archer 3R Viper
6. Andy Pilgrim
Cadillac
7. Leighton Reese
Corvette
8. Michael Culver
Porsche
9. Johnny O'Connell
Cadillac
10. Tim Wiens 3R Viper
32. Rob
Foster 3R-Viper
For more information
reference the team web site at www.3r-racing.com or contact Kyle Chura at
chura@aol.com or
(248) 821-0468.
As seen through the Woodhouse
windshield
My crew lady Nancy Shanno placed us in a “put up or shut up” position at Mosport last Aug. 8th . She told Tom Hnatiw,
the announcer that she would have our original Viper Competition Coupe back at
Road
We qualified the car twelfth
Saturday morning with a time under the pole sitting time for this race in
2003. That dramatizes the
competitiveness this series has seen in one year.
Derek Bell with the Volvo team
showed up for this race. We have
expected them since January. As results
show, it will be a daunting task to get competitive. Even with the air restrictions and weight
added to the rest of the field.
Audi made everybody scratch their
heads when their qualifying times came in at a ballistic 4 seconds below last
year. No I ain’t
speculating so don’t ask.
Our Corvette friends had some
engine difficulty this week end so it was an honor to be asked if we wanted to
help out by loaning the blue and silver Viper Comp Coupe to get Leighton Reese
a seat in the race. I can’t say we
converted him but he was pleased with the mid-range torque! Given about one lap to familiarize he
finished an admirable 15th.
With a “race start vs engine kill” ratio higher than anybody in the GT series I
was pleased to see the curse leave me.
Unfortunately the curse infected Tony Gaples
Corvette and while he was in re-crank mode several competitors attempted to
occupy the same space as he and Adam Malmquist were
evaluating their getaway plans. Adam got
the worst of it in his blue #9 Corvette making his total race about 29 feet
from start to finish. He told me he
thinks he got hit three separate times.
I managed
to arrive at turn one ahead of Ron Fellows in the Cadillac leaving me feeling
excited about being in the herd with the big dogs. After circulating a half dozen laps with a
confidence that I was not holding him up, it was time to keep my wits in my
helmet as the brake zones were picking up a sort of snake wiggle at the ends of
the long straights. It was time to be
courteous and drop a half second a lap and make things work to the end. Ron
made a clean pass at Canada Corner with my blessings. Meanwhile the Audi’s, the McClure Vette, the Cad’s, Tommy Archer and Mike McCann were all
looking like a conga line out front. How
Tommy even kept that lead sled (250#s in rewards weight) moving was
amazing. He had the largest cornering
arches in the history of Road
The white
flag just flew and I am picking up a red spot in my rear view mirror, fondly
known as Stan Wilson the #92 Viper CC, one of two of the most talented young
drivers in this series (the other would be Chip Herr). Stan is doing a fabulous job of closing on
me. By turn 5 at the end of the second
long straight he is on my rear bumper. Ya know if the man and the car are that dominant I should
breath it and let him go, so corner six I go wide and drop off a bit, hmm, no pass,
corner seven, OK he takes the pass, I fall in behind and go back to
business. As we leave the carousel and
pucker up for the kink I can tell I have a decent run going and approaching
Canada corner I am closing quickly with an inside pass on my radar. . Stan
is as competitive as any and he places his car in front of my intended inside
pass. No problem I think as I squeeze in
a small amount of brake so as not to lose the passing momentum that may still
be useable as I switch to the outside of the corner. What surprised me was the early brake check
from Stan’s car. What takes place next
felt like something out of a Star Wars movie.
Full brake pedal could not prevent the nose to tail contact. EEE-GAD! I watched Stan’s car do a tank slapper. I can’t be
sure what made the car react so violently, perhaps some wheels were in the
dirt. It was like the car was shot out
of a cannon. Stan spins around backwards
and tails it into
I spoke
with Stan today and he is hell bent to get the car re-incarnated by VOI8 where
we are both looking to be part of the races on Sat and Sun
Thank you
all for enduring my antics and for the support you give the Vipers and this
Woodhouse Auto Family. Next WC race is
Road Atlanta. Bob Woodhouse
Corner 5 at Rd Am
AutomobloxTM announces SPEED World Challenge sponsorship
“This sponsorship is a natural
fit. It’s an excellent way to introduce Automoblox to
an audience that is as passionate about cars as we are,” says Patrick Calello, Automoblox president.
“The Automoblox building system gives youngsters a
high-quality play experience, while helping them to develop important skills in
problem solving, giving parents the confidence they’re making good playtime
choices for their children.”
Automoblox’s sponsorship of the GT Class SPEED
World Challenge continues through the rest of the season. “We’re really excited about our affiliation
with the SPEED World Challenge. This is our first step in automotive industry
related promotion for Automoblox,” says Callello. “Think of Automoblox as
The Automoblox
building system is an educational, skill-building toy that uses interactivity
and interconnecting components that both challenges and inspires children to
create unique vehicles.
For more information, visit www.automoblox.com, call (973)
364-8090 or info@automoblox.com.
3R-Racing Takes Points Lead to Road
August
13, 2004 Englewood, Colorado -- 3R-Racing
is taking their slim points lead for driver Tommy Archer to Elkhart Lake,
Wisconsin next week for round eight of the SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge GT
series race to be run at Road America.
Archer leads the GT driver's standings with 174 points, two points ahead of
second place. 3R teammates Phil McClure and Tim Wiens
are also in the top ten in GT points with McClure in sixth with 122 and Wiens in tenth with 97.
Road
Tommy Archer, driver of the number 22/c3controls/ Whelen
Engineering/3R Viper, said, "the weight of our
car won't help us at Road
Phil McClure, piloting the number 73/Aggregate Industries/3R Corvette, returns
to Road
Viper teammate Tim Wiens, driving the number 33/1st
Interstate Inns/3R Viper, finished eighth last year at Road
The race will be run on August 21st and televised on Speed Channel August 29th
at
The double header from Mosport last week will be
televised on Speed Channel this weekend, August 15, at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00
p.m. Eastern time.
Speed GT Top 10 Drivers Point Standings:
1. Tommy Archer 3R Viper 174 Points
2. Michael Galati Audi
172
3. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
160
4. Randy Pobst
Audi 138
5. Max Angelelli
Cadillac 131
6. Phil McCLure
3R Corvette 122
7. Leighton Reese Corvette 112
8. Mike McCann Viper 103
9. Lou Gigliotti
Corvette 103
10. Tim Wiens
3R Viper 97
As seen through the Woodhouse
windshield
What a kaleidoscope of
experiences we had this past four days of August 5 – 8 at this track near Toronto
Ca. My perception of this track before
coming was that it was fast, famous, unforgiving and difficult to master. I was also informed that a who’s who of road
racing had dealt with their fate here.
But even with that weighty thought, if all those racing greats had dealt
with today’s customs and security at the
I remind you that this
experience comes just two weeks after
balling up my #13 Viper Comp Coupe in practice at Infineon. I wasn’t getting good sleep but I did not
want to miss a chance in a lifetime to run at this famous place. Tommy Archer
said it straight as he passed along some advice that was given to him here
years ago. “Go out there in your first
practice session and commit to being the slowest car there”. I won’t say it took away the “fear” of the
place, but it turned out to be great advice.
We never visited any grass or track picnic areas all week-end. And this track has lots of them.
The fans at Mosport
seem unique, they love this sport, in this order: watching racing, drinking
beer, being with friends, camping out, and some want to be close to the cars
and teams. In contrast is
Mitch also said that the World
Challenge Series is growing in television viewer ship and is staged to be the
most significant road racing series of our time. That makes this important to manufacturers
and guess what; Dodge has been quietly gaining on the big dogs, Caddy and Audi
in the point race. Check results on the www.world-challenge.org
What stands out about this 2.5
mile road circuit are the high speeds and large doses of elevation change. The average
lap speed for GT cars reaches 104 mph.
That is pretty high for 10 turns in 2.5 miles. Interpret that as meaning that the corners
are very fast. Amazing too is that the
speeds of the top 20 cars in the field range from 104 to 102 mph looking at the
Sat race results. SCCA is getting what
they planned for, tight racing by controlling car potential.
Corner numbers two and four are
the first to be brought up in Mosport bench racing
conversation. You approach those corners
at over 100 mph, which is no big deal; it’s the fact that you cannot see over
the crest of the hill as the corners drop away. You know that feeling your
stomach gets when the floor falls out from under you? Combine that with a
g-load multiplier at the bottom that makes your head sink into your lap. Wow!
The first few quick laps here
remind you of the story about the drowning swimmer that asks the lord that if
he were to get one more chance he would do anything in return? Once you become aware you survived; all promises
muttered in your helmet during the lap tend to evaporate.
Round Six, the Saturday race: For the first time this season
there were no full coarse yellows. And
get this; the top nine cars finished within 5 seconds of each other after 30
laps. This will be fantastic television
viewing. I wish we could hear all of the
drivers stories as they hugged each other (hmm, poor word choice) for the
entire race. One Viper; Tommy Archer
finished in the top 10, in fact Tommy made the podium once again finishing
third despite faster cars in back of him and despite the 200 extra pounds
(Rewards weight as it is called) he is carrying. Tommy gets our full respect for the skill
and experience he brings to the table each time. The Audi two car team came
home 1st and 2nd.
Tommy has a narrow lead in the points chase. I was surprised to see just one Coupe make
top 10, unlike
The standing start came off
well with a hole shot up the outside using the grass/pavement combination to
pass a couple cars before turn one. The
Round Seven the Sunday Race:
Contrary to what you may think, I did not kill
the engine on the race start on purpose just to have the opportunity to pass
all my east coast Viper Comp Coupe buddies.
But, it is true I have mastered the art of 3200 rpm dead stops. Most racers have creative excuses. Here’s
mine:
During the staging process at
the start of the race, the Silver Corvette of Tony Gaples
just in front of me staged a bit shallow in his start box. Smart.
No problem, until the frantic arm flailing of the SCCA official left me
a miniscule four feet of space between he and I, (imagined or not). So the light goes out, I, being the crack
clutch/throttle man personally trained by Adel Asayed
himself instantly release the clutch at the prescribed rpm. As the car begins to shudder (at this moment
I am so tickled with my quick reflexes) I witness the lack of movement on the
part of Mr. Gaples leading me to the conclusion that
snake fangs are about to take a bite out of the back of his Corvette. A release
of the throttle is prudent, at least for him.
Sparing you the agony of what happened next, I had the car re-fired just
in time to see the last car in the race drop over the hill into turn one.
With a 250 yard gap it was easy
to concentrate on a good lap. Shucks I
may end up with nobody to race I thought as I could just imagine the look on
Rick and Nancy’s face about now. At the
end of lap one I had rejoined the rear of the pack since they all were slowing
each other up a bit. As the laps began
to add up I had gotten back a few positions when a full coarse yellow allowed
the field to regroup. Phil McClure was
the victim of engine trouble. On the restart the cars stayed pretty tight
allowing for some great racing and an opportunity to see a few grudges being
played out in front of me.
At the finish we were back to
11th position which was reasonable given my knack for insisting on
leaving last at the beginning. This race
will hang in my memory as one of the most exciting yet one of many that will
keep me humble. Let’s see how it plays
on SpeedTV this Sunday the 14th. Remember this is the Blue Viper with Silver
Stripes down the middle. Hope I didn’t
bore you. Next is Road
3R-Racing Finishes Third, Eighth and Thirteenth at Mosport
The race started under cooler temperatures with a threat of rain. The 3R
trio was running conservatively with McClure in seventh, Archer in ninth and Weins in thirteenth for the first half of the race.
On lap 21 McClure began battling with the Pilgrim Cadillac and going into
Moss corner, Archer made a pass on the two assuming sixth place.
On lap 24 it began to sprinkle rain. Archer, driving the number
22/c3controls/ Whelen Engineering/3R Viper, continued
to take advantage of other drivers mistakes and was able to move up for a
podium finish. "We were three wide and I saw an opening and was able to
pass two cars," said Archer. "I was able to make up some
time under braking into five; the Viper was really transitioning nice in that
section of the track. When it stated to rain I just dug into a little ice
racing history and brought it home in third. A great finish for us with the
extra weight."
Phil McClure, piloting the number 73/Aggregate Industries/3R Corvette, had an
exciting battle with the Cadillac. The pair swapped positions three times
in a matter of two laps. "Wow was that ever fun! I was trying
everything, everywhere and some worked and some didn't, but what a race.
Pilgrim raced me clean and when you have a battle like that it makes for
an entertaining race. I unfortunately got into Leighton in five-B, but at
that point I was going for every position that I could."
Teammate Tim Wiens, driving the number 33/1st
Interstate Inns/3R Viper, followed up a fourteenth place qualifying effort with
a thirteenth place finish. "I had a few moments, especially in turn
five; it got really slippery in the rain. Other than that the car was
very consistent all race and I wanted to focus on bringing it home as we have
another race tomorrow. The 3R team is doing a great job keeping up with
the weather and making sure the cars in excellent shape for this double race
weekend."
On the strength of his third place finish, Archer retains the lead in the Speed
GT driver's standings by one point.
The first race will be run this afternoon and the second on Sunday, August 8.
The races will be televised on Speed Channel on August 15 at
Speed GT Top 10 Mosport Finishers:
1. Michael Galati Audi
2. Randy Pobst
Audi
3. Tommy Archer
3R Viper
4. Max Angelelli
Cadillac
5. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
6. Leighton Reese Corvette
7. Michael Culver Porsche
8. Phil McCLure
3R Corvette
9. Ron Fellows
Cadillac
10. Lou Gigliotti
Corvette
13. Tim Wiens
3R Viper
For more information reference the team web site at
www.3r-racing.com or contact Kyle Chura at
chura@aol.com or (248) 821-0468.
Archer
Wins Portland in 3R Viper!
Portland, Oregon -- Tommy Archer, driver of the number 22/c3controls/Whelen Engineering/3R
Viper, drove to victory today at Portland Raceway in round five of the SCCA Pro
Racing World Challenge GT series.
Teammates Phil McClure and Tim Wiens finished third
and fifth, resulting in all three 3R racers in the top five.
Archer led every lap from his pole position. The
Teammate Phil McClure, driving the number 73/Aggregate Industries/3R Corvette,
started in fifth place and moved into third from the start on lap one.
"The car stayed good throughout the race. I had to be careful on the right
pedal or I would loose my rear tires. The yellow flags benefited everyone. I
opened up the lead to fourth so I could be more cautious with my tires, but I
couldn't get into a passing position on Randy, third is a good result. The
cooler weather today was a real blessing; the track was a lot less
greasy."
Tim Wiens, driver of the number 33/1st Interstate
Ins/3R Viper, started from the fifth row in tenth and moved up through the
field all race to finish in a career best of fifth place. "The car was
strong down the straight. The weather man gave us a break today so that helped
with our tire wear, but the track was getting greasy towards the end. The
Cadillac got into me a little and was able to get by towards the end. It was a
great day for the 3R team, Tommy's win from pole is fantastic!"
The race will be televised on Speed Channel at
Speed GT Top 10 Finishers at
1. Tommy Archer 3R Viper
2. Randy Pobst Audi
3. Phil McCLure 3R Corvette
4. Andy Pilgrim Cadillac
5. Tim Wiens 3R Viper
6. Mike McCann Viper
7. Leighton Reese Corvette
8. Greg Brockman Viper
9. Michael Galati Audi
10. Jim McCann Viper
For more information reference the team web site at www.3r-racing.com or
contact Kyle Chura at chura@aol.com
or (248) 821-0468.
As seen through the Woodhouse
windshield
Accept my apology for a lack of
the usual report last week on the Infineon Race. If you were following the event you would
understand. Dale Earnhardt Jr. deserves the front
page news on his crash in practice, mine, a day earlier seemed more dramatic to
me of course; but I skipped the barbecue part.
Yeah
really; its Thursday afternoon in the third practice session here at Sears
Point, (now called Infineon); I am enjoying the
lapping and approaching corner #10 at about 120 mph. (Corner 10 has a bit of
infamy for making race cars into scrap).
In retrospect a bit more speed than I or the car were capable of when
the rear end steps out a bit. Yes a catchable
mistake, but one that causes corner exit to be wide, hey still not a problem, I’ve got this thing
under control, or so I thought. I needed
just 6 more feet of run-off……..dang!!
That tire wall put its big black hand out and swatted me like an
irritating fly on the back of your neck.
It was an immediate stop; two rows of tires bursting out in every
direction, car parts departing in the same fashion. I equate it to a dandelion seed pod when a
gust of wind hits it.
What a
fantastic emergency and rescue crew.
About 10 uniformed professionals swarmed in, with one keeping an eye on
me the rest went scurrying in all directions picking up these huge pieces of
shrapnel and piling them gently in the back of one of a pickup while the
balance of them swiftly pulled the biggest chunk, the chassis onto the rollback
and out of there we got.
Surveying the carnage later
revealed that the impact was absorbed by the wheels on the driver side keeping
frame damage minimal. But oh my, we have a few parts to round up. The passenger door will go again, that is
about it.
Now it
is Thursday night and I can’t sleep, what a mess I created. Friends, competitors, and crew people are all
concerned and supportive but I have to make a quick decision on what to do with
the rest of the season: 1)Quit
altogether, as I am doubting my ability to even be behind a steering wheel at
this point, 2)pull off the west coast, go home and fix the car, or 3)purchase
another car and finish the season as planned.
Friday morning at
With two
races on back to back week-ends we quickly pack up and head for Portland International Raceway. The couple days in between are used to do
some upgrades and modifications to the car.
The race
for the Woodhouse team was no where near the same result but we gave it good
effort: A few race start issues caused
us to be off our game, for some reason the radio refuses to work for the whole
race, and the staging for the start got rushed. None the less, at the start I
am so pumped; when the red light went out
the cars around me had no chance, I had the strategy all worked out on
how to move up before the first turn. Just one thing foiled the plan; I pulled
a “Stan Wilson at Mid Ohio” and killed the beast! Yup, nice move Bob you idiot. I fumble for the start button and watch the
entire field scream off into the distance. All is not lost however as you race
drivers know, first lap red mist has the field scrapping hard with each other
so I catch up within the same lap and begin what seems to me, a slow process of
moving past several cars. No longer dead
last, and managing to move up every now and then we are in 13th
position on the 9th lap when I get a significant love tap from the
“notorious” Lou Gigliotti #28 Corvette as I am
negotiating around the Veditto Corvette in front of
me as he went wide in festival corner. A
love tap is nothing unusual in this series, heavens, I received four of them at
Sear Point. But this one sent us to the
sand trap on the left side of corner one.
So now I am dug in on what appears to be a long stay. I am thinking this is where I get to watch
the balance of the race from, when along comes the tow truck, hustles me out of
there and says. “Get going!” No need to ask twice. I am outta there
leaving a wheel barrow worth of sand but doing the best I can to keep it off
the race line. I put the spurs to the
coupe and catch the field just as the green comes out.
Being a
lap down left me with little opportunity to resurrect a good finish but 17
beats DNF in any card game. Watching the
#28 Corvette that initiated the sand trap event now in front of me and slowing
was a hard opportunity to resist but I was a good boy. What one gives is eventually returned and I
don’t need to rush that process. The McCanns got
thumped and bumped but did fine along with good finishes from Tim Wiens and Jerry Bockman driving
Don Roberts car. You can see this race
on television August 1st at
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