May 24 and 25^th 2003 marked the first cross state 944-spec race. Paul Bloomberg, Glenn Gormley and myself braved the heat of the desert and crazy Los Angles traffic and towed our 944-spec cars to the high desert that is home of Willow Springs Raceway. We meet with Tim Comeau and new 944-spec racer David Marguglio. John Dowling also came out to instruct and run in DE in his 911SC 3.6.

Willow Springs is located about 15 miles north of the Lancaster/Palmdale Metro area. It is a fast 2.5 mile track that was built into the side of a mountain. The track hosted its first race in 1953 and has been know as "The Fastest Road in the West" ever since. This moniker is well deserved as the end of the weekend our little 130 rwhp 944-spec cars were averaging 86 mph over the tracks 9 turns with turn 8 taken flat out in 5^th gear! But I am jumping a little ahead of myself.

The trip out to Willow was in fact very eventful. The Southern California Region of NASA was hosting the event and had 7 race groups, 3 DE groups, a 3 hour night enduro planned for Saturday and local TV coverage of the event. Paul and Glenn had decided to drive out early on Friday to track late afternoon and set-up base camp before everyone else. I started the drive Friday afternoon just after work and all went well until we got to Desert Center in the middle of the California desert where the a/c quit in the 107F heat. We dealt with the heat until Banning where we notice the failed a/c clutch was wearing away the pulley potentially leaving us stranded. We found local parts store just before closing time and were able to rig up a shorter belt and by pass the A/C pulley and we were back in business. We arrived at out hotel to see Paul and Glenn’s cars and trailer still here and not at the track. Hmmm?

We found each other in the parking lot at 6am and Paul and Glenn relayed the story about a 2 hour traffic jam in San Bernadino due to a rollover on the freeway. Their trip took 10 hours and they got to the track too late to set-up and were NOT happy about it. John Dowling arrived in about 5 hrs since he drove his 911.

As we approached the track the first thing you notice about the track is its spectacular nature and elevation change. Then you see its large sweeping turns. This was looking like it was going to be a BLAST.

When got in the pits we went to look for Tim Comeau. Tim Comeau is a PCA member from San Diego and accomplished club racer. He has raced with the Porsche Owners Club in a 911 Sportomatic and was picked to race the Anderson Motors (tuner shop in San Deigo) 3.1L 944 NA in POC events to showcase the speed of the 220 rwhp 2250lbs beast. He also knows Willow Springs like the back of his hand and would be our guide and top competitor for the weekend in his black 924S spec car #22. Back in January Tim volunteered to be the Southern California 944-spec series director has been working hard to built 944-spec in the San Diego area.

We managed to find an area with enough space for our 5 spec cars, tow vehicles and John Dowling’s 911. David Marguglio and his well prepared white 84 944-spec car #62 arrived just after us. Dave is brand new racer coming from PCA autocrossing in San Diego and this would be his first 944-spec. As a quick side note I heard about his car from race prep shop he had do the work. Mind Over Motorsports was pitted next to me at the Las Vegas PCA Club Race in early May and I was quite surprised to find them interested in my lowly little 944-spec car in between preparing their customer’s GT3RS. They told me they knew all about 944-spec and had just put together a spec car for another customer! Later Tim dove up in his spec car. Yep Tim drove the car all the way from San Deigo!

First session out was going to be busy. We noticed that our run group consisted of the following racing groups. All in all 64 cars in the one run group. We also only had 1 practice session before the qualifying and race. Lots of cars, little practice time, new very fast track. Wow this was going to be challenging event!

Tim was very helpful at the track and gave us many pointers. He also did a lead and follow during the first session. As one would expect Tim stayed with us for a little while, but eventually drove away as he began testing his limits in the car. First impressions of the track to me were actually the bumps. It is actually quite bumpy compared to places like AMP, PIR and Firebird. The elevation change is quite dramatic, but hard to see in pictures and in car video. Then of course was the speed. You notice not so much by the things around you, but by the fact you using so much 4^th and 5^th gear and the track seems much shorter than the 2.5 miles it is. Tim was right many of the corners are a lot faster than they look due their being banked, uphill or both.

My best time from the first session was a 1:43.4 While I felt good for my first 20 min on that track it was still 2 seconds off Tim’s times. Paul and Glenn were in the 1:45-1:46 range and Dave was a bit off the pace at a 1:55. We returned to the pits really pumped up. Glenn had a huge smile on his face and proudly proclaimed "This place is FUN! My car felt GREAT!" The time in between run groups proceeded like they always do with the 5 of us swapping war stories and ideas about where to pick up more speed.

For qualifying the times did not change very much as it was tough to get clean laps with all the traffic and try to learn the track the same time. Grid order was Tim, me, Paul, Glenn and David.

In the break Tim took us to the top of the track the Budweiser Balcony at the top of turn 4. This is highest part of the track and you can see about 95% of it from here. You also can see how banked turn 4 real is. We watched some of the Fran-Am race and Tim pointed our guys doing it right and wrong. Thanks Tim!

When race time came around they started us grouped by class and not by overall times that left us all bunched together. I figured that my best chance was to get by him early in traffic and hopefully be able to hold him off for a while. After a lap I got my chance as Tim’s momentum was held up just at bit coming down the hill at turn 5. This turn is critical as it starts the long flat out run to turn 9. I got a run and passed him in on the inside of turn 8 going flat out in 5^th gear at 110 mph. I stayed in the lead for couple laps before Tim, being the excellent racer that he is, found the right opportunity. That came when I backed off for a spinning car in turn 8. The lift was what Tim needed and he was all over me by the exit of the fast 4^th gear Turn 9. It took what I thought was very tight defensive line to fast left 4^th gear Turn 1. t stuck his car in the little space I had left and we were side by side. The approaching Turn 2 is 200 degree slightly banked uphill right taken in 4^th after a light tap of the brakes. We went the through this corner again side by side but, by then end of the corner Tim had won the battle. I stayed on his tail found that I could get a run through Turn 5 and carry speed through Turn 9 thus gain ground going into turn 1. I attempted to pass him in Turn 1 over then next few laps but he was much better in turn 1 and would always get by on the exit. Eventually I got lucky and found myself with great run from Turn 2 and was able to execute a very late brake into Turn 3 that got me back around Tim. On our next trip through Turn 9 things got interesting. I came up to a slow moving car at my track out point and make a quick correction that lead me to a tank slapper at 95+ mph down the main straight. At the same time the 2 group leading 911 GT3 Cup cars came to lap us along with an open topped spec racer and caused Tim to miss judge 9 and have to take to the dirt resulting in a slow drive down pit lane to re-enter the track. This gave me a slight cushion that held to the end of the race a few laps later.

In my chasing of Tim I had picked up 2.5 seconds and run a race best lap of 1:40.7. Paul and Glenn had their own battle that was settled on the last corner of the last lap. Glenn knew he was faster in Turn 9 and thought he could beat Paul to line. He waited and planned to make his move on the very last lap. Glenn started the charge in turn 5 and by the time he got to Turn 9 was already gaining in Paul. On that lap Paul as approached a slower car in turn 9 he backed off a little. As Paul lost a little momentum Glenn came by and beat him to the Checkered flag for 3^rd place! The only casualty of the day was David’s Marguglio’s left rear tire that punctured on him and he was unable to finish the race.

Over dinner we discusses the usual post race talk, but Dave was a little worried that his car was not handling right. He felt the car to be too stiff and did not react well. We discussed this and length and figured by softening both sway bars we could keep the balance, soften the car and make it more to his liking.

We started with our normal car prep routines and were able to make the sway bar adjustment on David’s car we talked about the night before. I ran series of 1:40 laps while Paul and Glenn ran 1:43 laps. Tim still ran his consistent 1:41 laps. Dave came in and said "Wow this car feel so much better! I feel like I picked up 5 seconds!" We went to the times and found the Dave was wrong and had not gotten 5 seconds faster. He had in fact gotten 9 seconds faster! He went from a 1:54 to a 1:45! Qualifying was busy and everyone seemed to loose 1 second. I tried everything I could, but was still in the 1:41’s. I was enough however as I got pole. Order was Tim, Paul, Glenn, and David.

The race start was as busy as ever and by turn 3 Tim sneaked inside me for a pass and few others went around as well. Paul also took this opportunity to get by me in Turn 4. I had gone form 1^st to 3^rd in class in 4 corners. Luckily all the traffic that held me up also help up Paul and Tim. By turn 8 I had gotten run on Paul from a better exit at 5 and passed him. I set my sights for Tim who I passed in turn 1 just before car a spun in front us. The mayhem continued over the next couple laps before it settled down into class lead fight between Tim and I and 3 Nissan Setntra SE-Rs in their own battle. Tim was able back by me in Turn 1 and A few more hard fought laps later I got a run on him out of 5. QI was able to carry speed to the braking zone for 9 and slipped by. He stayed right on my tail as I attempted to put as many SE-R cars between us as possible. By the last lap I began to back off bit when letting faster cars by. This almost cost me as I noticed Tim on my tail in Turn 4. I knew I would need good run through 5 and 9 to prevent him from passing me like Glenn did Paul the day before. I managed to carry good speed through that section of track and beat Tim at the line by less than 1 second. On the last lap Tim went faster than he had done all weekend and set the official track record at a 1:40.528. Paul and Glenn went at it once again with Paul getting 3^rd place. Also notable is that Paul and Glenn both set fast lap times in 1:41 range. Dave came in 5^th and dropped off two seconds from qualifying running a 1:44.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend with great old friends, new friends, really great racing and fun track. The cars ran strong with no mechanical issues at all. The three of us found the experience to be not only fun but also very useful as drivers. Driving on a completely new track for us with limited practice time, 64 cars with close dicing among 10 cars at time really makes you better as a driver! Wow!