PacNW Racing Scene

We've moved!!!

2010-02-28T08:33:00.000-08:00

Hello race fans! While Blogspot served us well for last season, I decided to move up a little and got a real website. Follow along at: http://pacnwracingscene.com where I can upload 100's of pictures at full resolution, plus there's now a discussion board and a section for our project cars!

Whew! That's a LOT of racing!

2009-09-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, but the last two weeks have been insane. I attended the ORPCA autocross at PIR two weeks ago and last weekend was the double-header at Packwood to end out the Oregon Region SCCA. I did very, very well; in fact, I am the 2009 STS Class Champion! Anyways, I have a lot of pictures and posts to make but I wanted to let everyone know that they are going to take awhile. I should have everything caught up by the end of Sunday. Oh yeah, I'm drag racing at PIR on Saturday for PDXCGP also. That means more posts about racing!

Oregon Region SCCA Auto-X #7 on 8/23/09 in Packwood

2009-08-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I'm trying to play catch-up since there's no racing this weekend. Here's the pics and story from the latest Oregon Region SCCA Autocross which was last Sunday at Packwood. Turnout was on the low side but was very high quality as a lot of Nationals hopefuls showed up for that "last practice". There were some mechanical failures, but no safety problems and the course was awesome! Because I race in the Street Tire classes I only have pictures from the morning session, sorry afternoon racers. John came down from Bellingham to run his GTO in STU as normal, but he corded a tire and we had no replacements! After a quick consult with the rulebook we determined my Crown Vic Police Interceptor P71 could move up from STX to STU so I let him take it. It's really weird to follow your own car on a road trip. Even weirder to shag cones for it...

The view on the drive from Longview to Packwood.

John and Audra helping setup base camp for the day.

The P71 dressed up in STU guise. Not the most competitive in class I'm sure...

It sure does look good with the 17" Ford Racing FR500 wheels. Unfortunately mine are the knock-offs and quite a bit heavier than the real ones. Still lighter than the factory steelies!

Yes, we really put "Ram Rod" on the tail. You can't own one of these cars without a sense of humor... and a mustache.

The weather turned out to be chilly with breaks of sun. It was a nice change of pace from our usual 100* days!

This only car older than my RX7! I love this little Honda.

Audra and I co-drove the 7.

If the GT-R is Godzilla than the P71 is Mecha-Godzilla. Battle of the super-heavyweight, high-power cars!

Audra wants one of these, an NA Miata. If you have one cheap...

And John wants one of these, a C4 Corvette convertible. If you have one cheap...

And I want one of these, a C5 Corvette Z06. If you have one cheap...

Honda S2000

MINI Cooper S

Porsche 944

C5 Z06

C6 Z06. I love this car!

Lotus Elise

My '01 Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Did I mention how much I enjoy this Honda?

The mountains make for a great backdrop!

Audra getting ready to go.

Packwood is always great. The locals are friendly, the food is good, the courses are hot, and the view fantastic!

I was trying to get some great shots of all of the cars in my run group. I particularly liked this one.

I had to resort to extreme zoom to get any action shots.

But the starting line afforded a great vantage.

And she's off!
Audra on the go.
Chuck's excellent Porsche Boxter. Great shot!

At speed!

Hollywood and the C5 Z06 getting ready.
Hollywood at speed.

Further out

Hollywood finishing up.

The C4 comes through the finish while a Miata zooms by in the distance.

The 944 gets it's close-up.

As does the S2000.

The weather started to break.

The beautiful blue C6 Z06 on a run.

And into the corner!

Chuck has too much fun. I couldn't resist snapping this shot.

Classic!

Yay! A good shot of my car!

OK, two shots.

Audra is having too much fun!

Beautiful!

Gorgeous!

405HP 5.7L LS6

Menacing!

Some shots of the trip home.

The P71 looks sweet when it's moving! Love those new wheels!

Unique Tin Car Show Cruise, Longview, WA, 22 Aug 2009

2009-08-25T19:59:00.001-07:00

OK, so this post is a little bit outside of my racing ones. Every year Longview has a HUGE car show and they close off the main streets downtown to let the show cars cruise. So I brought my camera out and started snapping pictures of all of the cool local cars to share. We have some very cool and unique stuff around here!

'71 or '72 Roadrunner

C4 Corvette Targa in Dark Green!

'69 Dodge Charger

Original MINI Cooper

'56 Chevy in Cream over Bronze

3rd Gen Camaro with a seriously built motor under the cowl hood

Comet? It was customized pretty heavily.

This Yenko Nova clone had it going on. Check out the side dumps.

CRAZY Pro-Street Chevelle!

And a classic British Roadster. We have an eclectic mix of cars!

'69 Camaro

'09 Camaro (check out the Ambassador in the background!)

Falcon Gasser!

Sweet flames on a '50 Ford

Yes, this is a Porsche 911. Yes, it says "Longview Police" on it, no, it's not a drug dealer car. It's our retired Captain's personal 911 and the door graphics are magnetic. They use it for all the special events.

'73 Mach 1

Sweet Lime Green and White Bug

'57 Nomad!

Willys Army Jeep

Yes, that's a HALF TRACK next to the '66 GTO!!

I love the Silver and Cranberry color scheme on this '55 Chevy

This '62 'Vette was rocking as well!

Another GTO. I have a soft spot for orphan cars (AMC, Rambler, Oldsmobile, Plymouth, and now Pontiac).

I know it's a Nissan Pulsar, but I have never seen the wagon-back before!

Shelby GT

'68 Corvette, my personal favorite

New Camaro SS

Sweet Corvair!

Shelby GT500 Convertible

You know they we're thinking about racing...

Yes, that's a '59 Caddy with a Bamboo roof, and yes, that is a Jaws shark in the back.

Triumph? (I'm really bad at British sports cars...)

Cobra replica

Really cool Duster with a 440 swap.

This '68 Camaro was MEAN!

'72 Camaro

C6 'Vette Targa in Black baby!

Ultra-rare 3rd Gen Camaro Convertible!

And an insane blown '55 Chevy Pro Street!

I hope you liked my car show and cruise pictures! The SCCA Autocross post is coming tomorrow.

Upcoming events

2009-08-22T15:11:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the lack of updates in-between events, my life is a little hectic at the moment! Anyways, here's what I have coming up in the pipeline:

Saturday August 22nd; Unique Tin Car Show and Cruise; Longview, WA
Sunday August 23rd; Oregon SCCA AutoX #7; Packwood, WA
Sunday September 13th; ORPCA AutoX #6; Portland, OR
Saturday/Sunday September 19th/20th; Oregon SCCA AutoX #8 & 9; Packwood, WA
Saturday September 19; PDXCGP Drag Race #5; Portland, OR
Late September/Early October; PDXCGP Drag Race Finals; Portland, OR
Sunday October 11th; ORPCA AutoX #7; Portland, OR

Yes, I know I'm double-booked on the 19th, I'm the points leader in Oregon SCCA STS class AND the defending PDXCGP Season Champion, currently second in points, 1 point behind the leader. I will have to make both races, so I plan on being VERY tired that weekend! Lots of Red Bull in NOS in my future...

There will probably be other events between now and then that I will also post about and attend, but these are the major "for sures". Also, I just drug home a potential RallyCross car, so I will try to attend a few of those over the winter.

Is there anything else you would like to see? Car features? Project build-ups? I know posting will be slow over the winter so I want to keep writing stuff!

Shootout at the Mill - Day 2

2009-08-11T07:33:00.001-07:00

Sunday saw Day #2 of the Shootout at the Mill. ORPCA was running this one. The course was Saturday's backwards with a loop added in the far corner. That course was seriously the most fun course I've ever driven in 2 years of autocrossing! A huge thanks to Britain Smith, Gary Chapman, Kathy Smalley, Bill Thorp, Chuck Jarvie, and everybody else with ORPCA for always being so friendly and supportive to everybody, not just Porsche owners. We really appreciate everything you do and the hospitality you give.

We were greeted with more fog and drizzle.

Jared getting ready to go out with Tom riding shotgun.

Blinky the RX-7 gets ready to start 16 back-to-back-to-back runs without even turning off!

Josh had some rubbing issues with those huge 315's on Saturday. Some spacers from my P71 solved his problem. The Porsche crest was to confuse people into thinking it was a 944.

John Gonzalez took a nasty hit over a bump in his SRT4 testing out Sunday's course and had to pull double-duty in Derrick's Yellow SRT4.

The '03 still did very well. I've always liked these.

The turbo setup in this Civic was just pure art.

Jared's FD finally found it's sea legs and was FTD in the 1st run group. It took the Mod cars of the final group in the sun to beat out Tom's time in the morning drizzle!

Josh made a good showing with 2nd in NP and 6th overall.

I ended up 56th of 79, which I'm pretty happy with!

Krista improved over Saturday by a ton!

Not that Joshua did bad or anything. ;)

Except for spinning it once John did pretty good in the 7 as well. Notice the 8 in the background?

Alex tore it up in the 240 as well.

Richard did more than keep the tires warm for Josh, he did some great times as well.

Audra getting ready for a run. She did awesome on Sunday too!

You know why I love being a starter for ORPCA? Because I can take pictures and work!

Remember that gold 944 I wondered about from the way back post? THIS is what happened! Holy cow Kathy and Bill!

Chuck Jarvie smiling for the camera during a timer issue break. Chuck was my instructor when I started racing 2 years ago.

Glen's wicked-fast 924. He got a Top-20 overall with it!

A very, very nice Cayman with Fikse wheels.

A 911 whale tail with more modern Carrera wheels.

Hard to believe this is what the 911 started with. What a clean car!

The Shit Box prepares to make a run. We finally got some sunshine too!

Mike Skinner's "Kermie" has got to be my favorite 911.

The 914 Club Shootout was awesome to watch!

They were really pushing hard for those bragging rights!

I finally caught it in a picture!!

This Targa was appreciated all weekend, so clean!

A 996 going at it.

More 914's.

And more!

With so many 914's and EIGHT runs each I was able to get great shots of everybody!

Finally I got some good shots of the Shit Box too!

A lot of us forgot sunscreen when the sun came out. Luckily 914's are Targa's!

I think JP is at the wheel.

Another 911 finishes up.

Bob's Boxter starting a run.

Leeds just nipped Britain on Sunday for FTD. The White 914 was a QUICK car!

Gary and Pamela's car always looks stunning!

Another shot through the finish.

Mike Skinner starting off.

The sun does make for better pictures.

I still love this color.

Gotta love racing with the top down.

I caught BRITAIN in the Shit Box!!!

Through the finish.

That car is so much fun to ride in.

Again, thank you so much to ORPCA and NWPCA for a GREAT event! We love running with you guys and girls and the camrederie is really something special. I hope to afford a Porsche one day just so I can join ORPCA. John gives you all two thumbs up!

Shootout at the Mill - Day 1

2009-08-10T06:33:00.000-07:00

So we went to the joint NWPCA/ORPCA "Shootout at the Mill" this weekend and had a BLAST! Thank you so much to both clubs for both putting the event on and allowing us non-Porsche's to crash the party. Day 1 was NWPCA's turn. Everybody got 4 competition runs, and then there were 4 fun runs allowed later if anybody wanted, which most of us did. I have to point out my RX-7 again, it rolled over 235,000 miles on the way to Packwood, made 45 autocross runs with 3 drivers (and a fourth when his car broke), and drove all the way home without so much as a hiccup. That's all on the original, never been rebuilt, 12A rotary, all 1146 cc's of it. I also have to point out my girlfriend Audra raced for the first time this weekend and did AWESOME! She did a lot better at her first two autocrosses than I did at mine! OK, so on to the pics:

We were greeted with COLD, foggy weather and occasional drizzle.

That didn't deter anybody from lining up and having a go.

That's Audra getting ready for her first-ever autocross run.

And there she goes!

Hard to believe this car ran non-stop all weekend and didn't even get hot!

This is Josh's 2nd Gen (FC) RX-7. It has a 5.7L LS1 swap with a T56 6-Speed, coil-overs, and 315's on the back!

Yes, the rear 1/4's are cut. Josh has ordered some rear flares to match the front.

Line-up of Porsche!

Beautiful Black 911

There was a HUGE turnout!

We did get a little wet here and there, but it never "rained".

Power out of that corner!

The 914 Club also had their "Shootout" over the course of 2 days. There were some awesome 914's competing!

Targa whale-tail.

This 911 was just stunning AND it was really quick!

It seemed really odd to only have 1 Corvette.

Alex was present with his 240SX.

This SRT4 was really clean and showed improvement all weekend.

Another quick 914.

There were a TON of 911's, as if you didn't expect that.

Jared's wicked-quick 3rd Gen (FD) RX-7 turbo.

This 997 was a beautiful color called "Wimbledon Green" if I understood the owner correctly.

A couple of really quick 944's were out as well.

More 914's then you could shake a stick at!

I was particularly fond of this Orange one with flares.

And this full-on White one. It gave Britain fits all weekend!

The fog rolled in but we kept running!

John Gonzalez's SRT4. He's always found helping out with ORPCA.

A 993

An RX-8 even came out. We had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Gen RX-7 plus an RX-8. That was pretty cool.

Mike Skinner's super-quick Carrera, Kermie.

Joshua's free Miata. His friend, Krista, came out to race for the first time as well.

A very early 911.

Brian's MX-5. Please don't move into STR next season. Pretty please?

This Targa just had the look with the staggered Fuch's and Carrera tail!

Again with this Orange 914...

#28 going a little too fast for me this run.

Kermie going through the lights.

A stock 914! It's kind of weird seeing one without flares and a cage.

The Miata through the last gate.

"Blinky" making a run.

And through the finish!

Stay tuned for Day 2!

Shootout at the Mill - This Weekend!

2009-08-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

We'll be at the ORPCA/NWPCA "Shootout at the Mill" all weekend. Josh's LS1 RX-7 is on the trailer, John's in the GTO, and we're loaded up in my 1st Gen RX-7. See most of you there!

Duel at the Mill

2009-08-06T06:32:00.000-07:00

I will be attending the NWPCA and ORPCA's "Duel at the Mill" in Packwood all weekend. Since I do not have a 914 I will be taking lots of pictures at the 914 Shootout. There are FIVE of us drivers going up to race 2 cars so that should mean plenty of opportunity for others to take pictures as well. I'll see you in Packwood!

SCCA AutoX #5 and 6! July 25th/26th 2009.

2009-07-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Update time! I was at the Oregon Region SCCA Autocross all weekend at PIR. Event #5 was on Saturday and Event #6 on Sunday. It was HOT. I'm burned and I'm pretty sure my car is, too. Unfortunately we had another accident at the autocrosses. A 240SX had a throttle stick and went into one of the giant boulders by the Pro Drive office. The car was hurt badly, but there were no injuries and no damage to anything other than the 240 and the owner/driver's pride. Again guys and girls, when something goes wrong, go BOTH FEET IN! Slamming on the brakes and coming full stop instead of trying to free the pedal would have helped, and maybe even prevented the entire accident. Our SCCA stewards were well on top of safety however as no other incidents occured and even when a stray motorcyclist came on course things were quickly taken care of. So, on to the pictures!

Josh rips it up in his quick Miata. Love the Mariner Blue!

The "new" version of Josh's car, a blue MX-5.

Great shot at the 180* turn-around of an S2000.

C5 Z06 in SS.

Brian's always-at-the-top of the timesheets MX-5.

Somebody in a Z06! Depending on the number/letters this could be James Paulson, his wife, Ryan Otis, or his wife! And even then you can't always trust it as James cross-dressed for a run on Sunday afternoon...

Another insanely quick Miata!

F-Stock LT1 Camaro Convertible. You have to love the polished Torque-Thrust 2's.

Another F-Stock competitor in a S197 Mustang. FS is a TIGHT class this year!

This supercharged Miata had a sweet paint scheme!

And was driven well to boot.

Josh's LS1 RX-7 is always a FTD contender.

He claims it will be all black very soon. I think it needs more colors, not less.

One of the many, many STX cars running this weekend. That class is LOADED with talent!

Josh is so mis-matched even the wheels are different!

The quad-driver Z06. How this poor car copes with the abuse is beyond me. Gotta love GM!

If I've done my math correctly, and assuming no re-runs, this car got 36 runs this weekend!

Pumpkin Pie on a run.

A 1960 Austin Healy Sprite!

And a new Dodge Viper. They both have silver stripes.

A BRG Cooper. Nice!

I lust for this blue C6 Z06, it's so pretty!

But I'm pretty happy with my super-cheap RX-7. 234,800 miles and counting!

This STi just has the look!

Can't go wrong with a C4 'Vette drop-top either.

But combine the black look with a C6 Z06 and you get Darth Vader's car. Wicked!

Until next time!

Results for Event #5 are already up on oregonscca.com and I'm sure results for #6 and a points update are close behind. As always if you see any pics you like please feel free to copy them, save them, and use them as long as you give us a credit. Thanks!

Portland Historics - from the paddock Pt II

2009-07-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

And here we go some more! I don't know how many "parts" there will be, but with all these pics I have to share. This post will do it for the Portland Historics. There's more pics I haven't shared, so if you see a car you like let me know.

Sports racer

Naturally-aspirated, 2-rotor, Mazda Prototype cars. These two are pre-767/787 and originally ran on BFG street tires!

Tyrrell Ford F1!

Sports Racer

'65 Corvette Roadster

Acura Spice GTP

The 'infamous' Porsche 962. The owner/driver of this car found a loophole in SCCA rules and Club Races this monster!

Another 962.

Unidentified GTP car

Engine from unidentified GTP car. SBC w/mechanical fuel injection

Lotus?

Real McLaren CanAm car.

Formula car.

There were a lot of show cars too! Lotus Exige S/C in Gulf Oil colors...

A BMW M1. How long has it been since you've seen one of those?

This Camaro was wicked! If you look close you'll see the tubular suspension, coilovers, modern disc brakes, and fat sway bars. It also had a fully ducted nose with an oil cooler and brake hoses. It was a 4-Speed (or more) too.

Datsun 240Z done right!

Jaguar XKE

That engine is a work of art.

Vintage SAAB Rally Car! This car is still actively rallied all over the Northwest along with it's sibling in the background.

SAAB Sonnet Rally Car!

This RX-2 was sooooo pretty!

Ferrari 308 GTB4

These Ferrari's look so nice from the rear 3/4.

Ferrari Dino.

2004 Corvette Z06 Anniversary Edition.

FFR Replica Cobra Daytona Coupe.

1969 AMC AMX. I come from an AMC family and have a 401/5-Speed waiting in the garage for something to put it in.

There's an AMC 390 for you. All AMC V8's share identical outside dimensions.

Classic Hurst 4-Speed in the 69 AMX interior.

Being Italian I'm also a Ferrari fan (sorry Porsche Club guys!). 360 Modena.

The Ferrari V8.

As a Crown Vic owner I also have to like the Marauder. Who doesn't love the look?

The Mazda Prototype again.

Somewhere in there is a rotary engine...

Find it yet?

More shots of the Tyrrell. This one was driven by Sir Jackie Stewart back in the day.

Ford DOHC V8.

This '65 Corvette B/P racer had the look.

Dig the straight-spoke Torque-Thrust wheels and the side-exit exhaust.

Well, that does it for Portland Historic pictures. I do have a few videos, but don't hold your breath! I'll see what I can do.

Portland Historics - from the paddock

2009-07-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the promised post of Portland Historic Paddock pictures. Bear with me as I'm not sure what a lot of these cars are, but some friends are helping me identify them. The blog software has been going nuts with all of these pics, so this is only Part 1. Here we go:

Lotus Elan

Porsche 914

TVR?

Unknown, but highly polished!

Even the engine was beautiful!

Couldn't help myself, I thought this scooter was cool as all get-out.

MG

Alfa Romeo

Lotus Formula car

Sports Racer. Lola maybe?

Some sort of BMW (Bavaria?) with cool headlights and a Grand Sport stripe.

Formula car

Another Formula car.

Lola Sports Racer

Can-Am Frisbee engine (SBC)

There were some nice street cars in attendance as well. This 911 was clean!

But the Martini racing version was better.

This is a real Talbot-Lago. It sounded glorious and the driver was not afraid to get on it!

This is the real 1970 Ferrari 512 as driven by the North American Racing Team, including the man that brought Ferrari into the US, Louis Chinetti.

The only view other drivers got!

I think this is a Lotus XI.

Shelby GT-350R B/P

GT-40, but I'm pretty sure it was a replica.

63 Split-Window Corvette racer.

Part 2 is on it's on way next.

Portland Historics! All of the on-track action!

2009-07-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the MONSTER post about the Portland Historic races from July 10th-12th! I'm going to upload a lot of pictures, but I literally took over 400 so if you see any cars you'd like more shots of, please ask and I will post them up! Anyways, John and I attended on Sunday (race day) and stayed for all of the on track action. I will try to bring you as much track action as I can. We also walked around the paddock for hours and shot nearly everything. I'm not real clear on what every car is, so bear with me! This post is all of the on-track action. I will post the paddock pictures in another post tonight. Here we go:

Porsche 904 being chased by a Martini liveried 911

Three B/P and Trans Am Mustangs rumbling through the chicane at PIR. The white ones are '65 Shelby GT350's and the yellow one is a Terilingua '67 Mustang Coupe. They sounded amazing!

Some small-bore Sports Racer

Triumph GT6

Ex-F1 car that sounded wicked!

The main event! Toyota GTP Prototype, Porsche 962, and a real ex-Can Am car that I'm told is a "frisbee".

And this is what happened on the first lap right in front of us! The Cam Am survived unscathed.

It's not often I catch a spin in action. Couple of Greenwood Corvette's and an Acura/Spice racer.

The other Porsche 962 LeMans GTP car.

Unfortunately one of the Mazda rotary IMSA cars blew a coolant seal and retired early. As a rotary owner this saddened me.

I did get some cool shots of it though! This is a pre-767/787 car that uses a naturally-aspirated 2-rotor, like my slow butt RX-7. They were just very, very light.

This is how the race finished. The 962 couldn't get around the Toyota, but it wasn't for lack of trying! They put on a great show. Also the Can Am that spun passed the field and wound up 3rd, right up these two's tailpipes!

Don't be fooled, this is the cool-down lap.

There were some FULL fields in some of the classes! Makes for some awesome racing!

The real NART Ferrari 512 as driven by Chinetti back in '70! I was in love with this car!

Supposedly this car was the camera car in the classic Steve McQueen movie LeMans.

Another formula car.

March Formula Atlantic, it was FAST!

A classic Alfa Romeo. Loved these!

I told you I loved the Alfa's.

Really, really loved the Alfa's...

The fields were huge!

Which caused some spins... I didn't see any contact and only saw one car with damage all day. These guys and gals know how to drive without risking the priceless cars.

It's just not vintage racing without an original MINI!

I think this is an Eagle-Westlake.

Shelby GT-350R on track.

And it's sister car through the chicane.

We were surprised with an autocross happening in the infield pits! Just a note to the organizers if you see this: Put the word out! I haven't missed an autocross at PIR by any club in the last two years and had no idea this was going on. Officials at the event didn't even have information!

A C1 Corvette chasing a classic Porsche 911.

Lotus Cortina, TVR, and BRE Datsun 510.

That's a lot of horsepower!

This 3rd Gen Camaro Trans Am car was my hero of the event. The driver was absolutely getting it during practice. You could hear it all the way around the track and it was aural magic.

Porsche 356 and a GTB

BRE Datsun 510!

Until next time! (Stay tuned, paddock pics coming up next)

Printed in Loud Pedal!

2009-07-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

I just received my July 2009 Issue of the Loud Pedal, Oregon Region SCCA's newsletter and guess what? They printed my article! For those of you that receive that publication, turn to pages 26 and 27 and read up on the season opener and take a gander at the pictures I took of Josh's LS1 FC RX7 and John's LS2 GTO along with a picture John took of my FB RX7. Neat! For those of you who do not get the Loud Pedal in print, fear not as Oregon Region SCCA places them online in PDF form.

Link to July 09 Loud Pedal PDF

This is the second time I've been printed in Loud Pedal, the first was October 2008.

Link to Oct 08 Loud Pedal PDF

Pages 22 and 23 in that issue. I've had letters printed and been interviewed for a few articles, including one for Grassroots Motorsports but these are my only articles. I'm pretty happy and I will keep submitting them!

Portland Historics and a P71

2009-07-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

I took over 400 pictures at the Portland Historic Races on Sunday. They are all uploaded into my computer. I hope to post the best ones up on the blog tonight. In the meantime, here's my latest project, getting 17x9 and 17x10.5 FR500 wheels onto my P71 Crown Vic Police Interceptor. Enjoy!

Portland Historic Races

2009-07-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

I will be attending the Portland Historic Races on Sunday, July 12th armed with the camera. Check back Sunday night or Monday for loads of pictures! More information is available at:

http://www.portlandhistorics.com/

ORPCA AutoX #4 at PIR on 5 July (today)

2009-07-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I got back from the ORPCA Autocross a few hours ago. I visited a GRM member (Bryce who goes by Naschco) to see his wild AWD Fiero Hybrid (more coming about that one later), did some homework, downloaded the photos, and now I'm posting them. Results aren't even up yet for me to link to! Anyways, we had a really low car count because of the the date which equated into EIGHT runs a piece! Now that was worth rolling out of bed at 5AM for! Tony (wherethefmi from GRM) came down to double-drive my car since he ships out to Afghanistan in under 2 weeks (good luck and stay safe out there). He did very well for having never driven my car before or having to deal with the rally-cross like elevation changes at PIR's South Paddock.

We had a great day of autocrossing and the course was stellar. ORPCA really knows how to run an event and I really enjoy them (characters and all). I took a bunch of pictures (with a new camera because I broke my old one on Friday like an idiot) and then passed the camera off to Josh while I worked. So without further ado, the pictures:

A shot for Grassroots Motorsports of three readers/forum members flying the colors. From the left is Jared (Black FD RX-7 in SSM from Oregon), Tony (wherethefmi from Ft, Lewis with a minivan), and myself (Michael Pinto, the infamous P71, from Kelso, WA).

A pic of the $hitBox because Britain made me promise I would take pics of it.

Jared at the starting line with yours truly manning the green flag.

Tony hustling my 83 RX-7 through the cones. I need better shocks, springs, and swaybars. Look at that body lean!

My car was young at this event! Lots of classic 911's and 914's to out-age it as usual, plus some other neat stuff like a Corolla SR5 and this 240Z.

Plenty of not-quite classic cars as well. This 300ZX was clean and quick. Dig the 350Z wheels.

Mean turbo Civic making a corner. This car makes serious power.

Of course I got some Porsche shots as well. Nice Boxter here.

Josh tearing it up in the multi-colored LS1 RX-7. We've started calling it the Millennium Falcon...

Whale-tail Targa 911.

Too fast for me! Still getting used to the new camera.

Boxter coming at you!

Silver 914 out for the first time this year. It's kind of weird seeing a stock one after being so used to the highly modified ones at ORPCA.

We actually had two near-stock 914's today.

I promise to practice with the new camera before the next event!

The only reason I get good shot of my car is because it's so slow!

The closest we can get to a shot of Britain in action. Slow down dammit!

Special thanks to Tony for serving our country and coming down for some free seat time. Also for taking pictures along with Josh and Richard. A thanks to Jared for always being so nice and bringing out the racecam thing (email me the videos!). And of course, a huge thanks to Britain, Gary, Don, JP, and all of the ORPCA members for another great event.

Here on the Way Back Machine...

2009-07-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

All aboard the Way Back Machine! Since I decided to go through my archives and post up old pictures, I thought it was appropriate to find the oldest events first. I found some pics of ORPCA Autocrosses from 2008, events #2 and #3 (I think). These were my first two autocrosses. It's not all that long ago, but who remembers Paulson's Subaru? It seems like forever ago! Enjoy!

James Paulson's 2007 Nationals STU Winning STi

I haven't seen this 911 since last year. Love the chrome staggered Fuch's!

John at his second autocross.

My second autocross, but the P71's first. It was slow, but man was it fun.

The $hitBox before it was called that. Yeah, it was still FTD back then too.

Not sure what happened to this 944 Turbo as I haven't seen it this year, but it was clean and FAST!

To the Blue Miata driver: Watching you improve from last in the pack with timid driving to the speed demon you are now has been nothing short of amazing. You are truly an inspiration and a cool person to boot. Awesome, just awesome.

I liked this one back then too. ;)

Hope you enjoyed the Way Back Machine!

ORPCA AutoX #4 coming this Sunday

2009-07-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

Just a friendly reminder that Oregon Region Porsche Club of America is having their fourth autocross this Sunday, July 5th, at Portland International Raceway in the South Paddock. If you want to race sign up at www.motorsportsreg.com, registration closes today at midnight. I am already signed up to be there and since I now have this blog I will be vigilant in taking more pictures for posting. See you there!

ORPCA Spring BreakOut on 2/09 at PIR

2009-06-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

Oregon Region PCA hosted a new event called the "Spring Break Out" on the last weekend of February/1st of March. It was 2 days of solid autocrossing with a school, teen driver's clinic, practice, and a competition event. This was all held in the "Pro Pits" at PIR as BMWCCA and ORPCA were holding HPDE's at the same time! It was an awesome weekend despite the cold and wet weather. We hadn't been racing since October, so everybody was willing to tough it out and just enjoy not having snow. The grids were PACKED and the courses were HOT! I have hundreds of pics from both days of the BreakOut so even if you don't see your car, please feel free to e-mail and I will send you full-size copies of whatever I have.

Spring BreakOut featured packed lunches, and a sold-out grid for every event.

The view down the start. The Pro Pits area is small but well paved and the course designs made full use of every inch.

Into the stop box at the finish, the defending class champion Cayman.

The $hitBox taking off on a run with either Britain or JP at the helm.

Barry on a run in his GT3.

John running the 400HP GTO through the wet.

Gary getting up to speed in the 914-6.

We're just made of sterner stuff up here in the Pacific Northwest. That's a brand new Boxter autocrossing in the wet with the top down in Oregon in February. Nice!

A classic air-cooled 911 coming into the finish.

Gary showing the "standing water" conditions we sometimes have to deal with!

The insanely quick, and usually Top-5 overall finisher, Turbo Miata.

The even more insane LS1RX7 driven by builder/owner Josh. This car changes body panels every event but is usually found at FTD in Non-Porsche and even FTD overall.

Myself in my 12A-powered 1st Gen RX7.

And coming in hot at the finish. I had my first ever Top-10 in Non-Porsche at this event and first Top Half of Field. Water is the great power equalizer ;)

Oregon Region SCCA Auto-X #2 on 5/3/09 at PIR

2009-06-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

I promised I would start back-posting some older events and I got some great shots at the Oregon Region SCCA Autocross #2 back in May. John and showed up with just his '05 GTO running in STU. I got the class win, John nabbed 2nd (he really hates when I do that) but kept the overall points lead, and a Subaru STI got 3rd. We both finished in the top half of the field overall as well (57 and 60 out of 120) on KDW2's! Anyways, here are some of the many great pics I got this time out.

C6 Z06

MINI Cooper S

C5 Z06 that Nationals winner James Paulson is co-driving this season.

Zack or Zane in their wicked SSM Miata. They've won every ORSCCA event this year in their class!

John giving the GTO a workout!

More of the Goat.

John can't complain about not having pics of his own car now.

Autocrossing, like real estate, is all about location, location, location. Look at that car placement! That's where you need to be for the best times.

Not to pick on anybody, but see the difference? (My apologies if you're reading this Mr. Miata driver. At least I liked your car enough to take pictures of it! :P )

Intro / Updates

2009-06-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

I kinda jumped in with pics and events without really thinking. I've never done this "blog" thing before, so bear with me. I've been racing in the Pacific Northwest for 3 years now, everywhere from Seattle (Pacific/SIR), Portland (PIR), Packwood, Woodburn, Medford, and all points in between. I have a ton of pictures that I enjoy sharing with family, friends, and fellow competitors so I figured I'd start up one of these blog things to share easier. I will be updating old events as quickly as I can and throwing up pics of new events as they happen.

Here's a little schedule of what's coming up that I will be attending:

7/5/09 - ORPCA AutoX #4 @ PIR
7/11 - 7/12/09 - Portland Historics @ PIR
7/18/09 - PDXCGP Drag Racing @ PIR
7/25 - 7/26/09 - Oregon Region SCCA Events 5 & 6 @ PIR

NW SCCA ProSolo #1 on 5/16/09 at Packwood, WA

2009-06-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to go to the first Northwest Region SCCA ProSolo event in Packwood, WA on 5/16. If you've never autocrossed at Packwood before you MUST go, this place is HUGE! After driving the smooth and open pavement at Packwood I appreciated just how rough our PIR courses are. Anyways, it was a great event and NWR SCCA really has their act together. John and I brought up my RX-7 where we were the oldest car, the most miles, the smallest engine, and the least amount of HP. Talk about a knife at a gunfight :(

We made do, did pretty well in class, and John got picked as one of the cars in the Challenge, in MY car! The jerk! Anyways I worked the course and watched him whip up on not one, but two C5 Z06's Vette's to make the semi-finals where he whipped an RX-8. The RX-8 owner complained about the staging lights blinking so they re-ran the round and John lost it on the last run. Oh well, we did our best.

The next day we returned for the normal Auto-X and had a blast. Packwood is a cool place to stay and a great place to race. Here are some assorted pictures from both days. I didn't get very many single-car shots as it was our first time at Packwood and I was a little overwhelmed!

Grid for ProSolo. The SSM class C4 Vette was downright intimidating!

Inside the massive hangar! Most hardcore types spend the night in here. We opted for a hotel (the Tatoosh, which was awesome and dirt cheap and walking distance to the track).

It's so big and so pretty here. Really a nice weekend getaway.

The excellent timing and scoring setup with NHRA drag tree. Guys, a perfect light has been .000 for 3 years, time to stop with the .500 tree ;)

Line up of awesomeness. That's a new GT-R, a CSP Miata, and an SSM C4. The Miata and Vette were fast. The GT-R was quick, but stock.

Our competition car for the weekend, my 1983 Mazda RX-7 with a 234,000 mile 12A that's never been rebuilt!
A very clean Porsche 944.

John's favorite car of the event, a Black Viper GTS Coupe.

As always, if you were there or see pics of your car you would like please e-mail me and I will send them right out, free of charge. If you have pics you'd like to share I'd love to post them.

ORPCA AutoX #3 on 6-21-09 at PIR

2009-06-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I figure it's probably a good time for me to start a blog as I'm always taking pictures at these events. A few days ago was the Oregon Region Porsche Club's Autocross #3 held at Portland International Raceway. We had a huge turnout, mostly good weather, and a good course. Unfortunately we also had the first ever wreck at a ORPCA event when a Novice in a Supercharged fox Mustang Convertible tapped a guardrail. Thankfully everybody was OK and the car was drivable. Take a lesson though, if you spin DON'T try to save it! The run will suck anyways and getting back on the gas will vault you off course! Kudos to the owner/driver for getting right back up on that horse and running the rest of the day. Anyways, here are some pics from the event:

This is what happens when you try to save a snap-oversteer spin with throttle instead of brakes.

Classic 911 on course.

Zane in the insane supercharged Miata.

My favorite colored 911!

Targa!

John's GTO, which I borrowed for the event ;)

Barry's GT3

I am making it my policy to share images with my racing friends for free. I take many, many more pictures than I can ever hope to post, so if you were at one of the events I post, please e-mail me at: amx310 AT gmail DOT com and I will gladly send you the full-size versions of whatever I have.