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4 Speeds and Drum Brakes: Large & Small Fixes

Winter in New England has always been a time to fix things if you’re a car enthusiast. We call them projects but the fact is that with the race season over every driver needs something to keep them busy in the colder months. I had pushed the Puddle Jumper into the corner of the garage back in Sept after it ate a pressure plate on the way to  the 356 Registry Holiday in Blowing Rock NC and had to be dragged home (thanks Cliff). The engine came out back in Nov so that I could get to the damaged pieces. Taking things apart is always the easy part, putting them back together is the hard part.

The engine is held in place with only four bolts and two of them are a little tough to reach. They have been in and out so many times that once a wrench is in place they practically fall out. It’s getting that wrench in place that is the contest. Like every big job, the secret is to just do a little bit at a time. Since I’m the only one in the garage, when I set something down like a tool or a part, it is still there when I get back to it. An hour at a time works just great at my age.

Once the engine was out, the clutch cable and housing was easy to replace since I finally had the correct length cable. The clutch fork and throwout bearing also had damage and had to come out. It took a while to get the replacement pieces together (thanks to Vic, Jeff and jBugs) as the car is 67 years old.  Of course “while I was there” (famous quote) and waiting for the big brown truck I had plenty of time to replace the fuel filter, rattle can the transmission hoop where it had been scraped on something and replace the paper heater hoses. The final adjustment on the clutch cable was done at the pedal cluster under the dash and that required that the drivers door be open as far as it would go. That was a problem since the left side of the car was tight up against the wall in the garage so I can get 7 cars in a 4 car garage.

I overthought that for a few days and decided that the best way would be to put the rear wheels on the wheel dollys so that I could push the rear of the car easily. That worked great but did require that the Big Dog be moved out of the garage and that Blackie scoot up close to the door. A good reason to take the Turbo out for a spin.

The tough part of this final adjustment was just getting to the end of the clutch cable. Back when this car was younger I think there was more room under the dash or maybe I wasn’t as wide. To put wrenches on the end of the cable that was at the end of the center tunnel meant that I had to lay  across the door opening and seat base with my head near the brake pedal. Getting into position also required that I had the tools needed to clamp the cable in the down position, a pair of needle nose vice grips, 2 10 mm wrenches to lock the end nuts  together and a couple of lights to be able to see it all. I also needed to install a new pedal buffer (see “while I was there” above) and  adjust the pedal stop. Part of the problem is getting all the tools and parts needed within reach, a reach that is pretty restricted. I only had to get in and out three times. Thank goodness for Aleve, but I should’ve taken them before the job not after. It does seem to take a lot longer to get things done. There are four small barrel bolts that hold the cables and rods in place for the heating systems on these old Tubs. It’s always the last thing to hook up under the car and usually to takes just a few minutes. That’s if I have all the tools needed within reach. Of course this time I needed a 10 mm open end wrench, a 9 mm wrench, a pair of needle nose plyers, a long screwdriver and a long narrow punch to line up the hole on the barrel sleeve for the cable end to go into. Nothing wanted to just “fall together” this time. It took 4 trips to the tool box, two pairs of gloves and nearly an hour to be able to say I was done. Good thing my hourly repair rate is low.

The big part of that job is done and a test drive will have to wait until the weather is better so it was off to Pearl (the Audi RS4) to fix a dead fog light. I have been driving Pearl for 20 years and have had a variety of fog lights in place. It was delivered with just regular 55w bulbs in place and as LEDs came to market I have tried a few. The lights seem to last fine but the electrical connections get old and corroded and need attention.

The wiring and ballast units are down low in front and get wet a lot. When one goes out I just pull off the small grill and inspect the plugs and they usually come back to life. This time there was no power to the right side light and since I didn’t have time to check the connection on the left (the source) I just put it back together and left it on my “fix it list”. I don’t like to drive a car with a light out so I just didn’t use them for the daily ride to the train station. One morning I just hit the switch without thinking and both fog lights came on

I know that the cars talk to each other at night but I have never had them get together and fix one. That is not a complaint but maybe I should print the “fix it list” where they can all see it better. It was a small fix but a fix none the less.  Be thankful for little favors.

Tom Tate – KTF

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Four Speeds and Drum Brakes: The Big Show

In spite of a very mild winter so far the warm breezes of the Arizona desert called my name again last month. That and the sound of the auctioneer yelling “SOLD, SOLD, SOLD”. Of the auctions held in Scottsdale every year the largest is Barrett Jackson. Mostly Hot Rods and vintage American iron, this year had a few cars that seemed out of place. The first Big Dog was a steel bodied Mercedes 300SL Gullwing . It was silver with tan and fully restored, included fitted, matching luggage. In the Porsche world we just hope the engine and transmission are matching, in Mercedes Benz circles the luggage counts too. The total rang up to $3.41 million, far exceeding the market value of less than $2 million.

There were a couple of notable P cars, a 2015 918 Spyder in Acid Green and a 2005 Carrera GT Fayence Yellow (?), both with very low mileage (1500 miles and 2535 miles respectively).  My guess is that they are scary to drive.              

The Carrera GT brought $1.87 million and the 918 $1.78 million. In Mass, the sales tax alone on these two could start a new school lunch program. Both were easily 30% higher that expected. Even average P cars brought good bids. A ’55 Speedster (driver), white with black interior brought $255k. The owner said he had the car for 20 years but didn’t know the five digit vin when asked. That is the one thing that long term owners always know by heart. Seemed strange.  A 1970 911T, the only other vintage model we saw brought $155k, strong money but not off the chart. 

After that the numbers really started to get silly. A Restomod ’63 Corvette split window coupe had been done over with a new chassis, new drive train, new brakes and new everything. It reminded me of George Washington’s axe. You know, the one in the museum that he had used to chop down the cherry tree. The metal head had been replaced due to rust years ago and the wood handle was new because of termites but it was the original axe that he used. The display sign said so. The sign on the Corvette had a similar statement. Doing all that work and parts replacement could easily run up the bill to low six figures but the gavel fell at $1.1 million.

If there is a Chevy C10 pickup Club out there somewhere and I’m sure there is, they’re all drinking Champagne this month. There were a bunch at the auction, most with lots of horsepower and air bag suspensions. Four of them brought over $200k each with a blue one at $258k.  These are pickups built between 1967 and 1972 most are driven to the dump with the dog up front. You can buy them off Craigs List all day for $20k and that would be a nice one.  Throw in a big engine, some paint and even if you overpaid you wouldn’t drop another $60k. I just don’t know how the bids get to the present level.  My guess is that buyers just don’t want to go through the restoration process and they have the money to avoid it. It takes a few years to really restore or build a restomod and from the looks of it most of these bidders don’t have that kind of time left. They would just rather write a check for a car that was all done and drive off into the sunset. At a very high rate of speed.

The vendor area did not disappoint as all manner of products were offered. Those huge displays must work because every year the exhibits get bigger. What started out as just car parts, garage lifts and vibrating loungers now include  everything from signatures of  Presidents (both dead and alive) and famous baseball players(mostly dead) to a life size brass moose (free shipping) and bucking broncos.

Even boats have started to drift in. How about a 700hp pontoon boat for you and 25 of your best friends? That’s enough power to also tow a couple of skiers at the same time.

We did get into the car buying spirit of things and grabbed a BMW 330 off Craigs List for one of the grandsons. He had just flipped a Mercedes CLA 250 that was my ride for a couple of days so I needed something interesting to get around in. It was high mileage but solid and cheap ($2500) and with the headlight covers replaced and a good cleanup it looked like  $6k ride. We’ll see what the latest used car dealer in that family can do.

Arizona weather didn’t disappoint and sunny with 75 degrees was easy to take. There still isn’t anything like the change of seasons in New England so it was back to the big blue jet and off to Boston. I hear that Spring is coming.

-Tom Tate, KTF

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Four Speeds and Drum Brakes: Off to the (Rat) Races

For generations, teenage boys always got their drivers license on their birthday. For some it was 16 years old, down south it was 15 years old, when I was a kid. While different states had different age criteria we all looked forward to the freedom that a license allowed and couldn’t wait for that special day. We could run errands for the family, drive ourselves to school and Rat Race with our friends.

I had the advantage of riding with an older brother for a year and a half while he threw our father’s Studebaker President around the dirt roads of Kissimmee, FL . It was a low slung two door V8 that was pretty radical compared to classmates’ Fords and Chevys. The car came with us from, CA when we moved, had dual exhaust and dual antennas on the rear fenders. Bill got really good at “dirt tracking “ that car and I got good at learning how to steer in the direction of the skid.

In those days some of the roads were paved but there were no curbs, so chasing friends through neighborhoods meant cutting corners and driving across front yards. One course that we used often had an owner that would come flying out the front door yelling at us as we trimmed the edges of his Zoysia grass. One of our friends got such a charge out of the guy that he went back later in his ’49 Ford, rolled up by the front door and revved the straight pipe engine until the front door swung open. He dropped the clutch and laughed as the spinning tires left a pathway to the street. Halfway to the pavement he slammed the column shifter into second gear, popped the clutch and broke the driveshaft. When the police arrived he was still sitting in the car. It took him a month of weekends to repair the grass in the yard.   

Most of these runs were at night and we quickly learned some tricks to outrunning other cars. Cars were pretty simple back then and all the fuses for my VW were bolted to the panel holding the steering column in place. It was easy to just drill a couple of holes for toggle switches and wire them in line to interrupt power to brake and taillights. The license plate light was connected to one of the taillights so everything out back went dark when that toggle was thrown. The first advantage was to be able to turn off the brake lights. That way when brakes were applied the car chasing close behind didn’t get any advance notice that you were about to turn. My beetle got outrun by a lot of faster cars but because they spent time backing up to get turns they missed, I could usually get away. Another advantage was to eliminate tail and license plate lights. That made it easy to hide in driveways and alleys but still be able to see ahead. The real advantage was to have a set course with short blocks and many turns to interrupt the line of sight. I was always taking a different way home from school to find roads that were to my advantage. Roads that looked like they didn’t go through or even construction areas that didn’t seem to have more than one entry/exit were perfect for my Bug.

My best run was with a neighbor that drove a ’57 Chevy with a Corvette engine, hardly a match for my 36hp VW. Lots of smoke and noise but every time he got up too close I would turn off the brake lights using the switch under the dash, hit the brakes hard and turn right. He would go sailing through the intersection with all four wheels locked and I was gone. The Beetle outran the big bad Chevy for the better part of an hour. I stopped before he ran out of gas and we had a great laugh. Great fun and we probably never got over 50 mph. At least I didn’t.

While cars weren’t as large as today’s version, most everything was larger than my VW. I found a couple of dirt roads that turned into paths which were wide enough for me but not for a “real” car. If all else failed I could always bail on a larger car by just heading for the “Squirrel path”. In the process of exploring a dirt road one night, I came upon two posts that were pretty close together on the top of a Dike that I figured I could slip past. As I stared at the fender clearance and slowly let out the clutch, I was surprised the see the chrome strip on the front hood hit the windshield. It turns out that there was a black crossbar that was attached to the two posts that I didn’t see. It was at just the right height to contract the chrome strip without damage to the hood itself and push it up into the glass. I stopped, backed out, pushed the strip back in place and counted myself lucky as there was no damage.

A few years ago, I read a report written by the guy who bought the Volvo wagon that belonged to, Paul Newman. The original engine had been swapped for a Ford V8 to turn the grocery grabber into a real sleeper. The part I liked the best was the disclosure that there was a brake light cut off switch, under the dash that, Paul had installed. While the current owner was not sure how it was used, I knew exactly why it was there. Nice to be a member of the same club as, Paul Newman.

Too much traffic and too many curbs to do any Rat Racing nowadays but I still feel the need for extra switches. With cars following too closely, the cutout switch isn’t needed but a turn on brake light switch sure comes in handy. I have a small momentary switch that will turn on the brake light without ever lifting my foot off the gas. If that doesn’t work I can throw on the clear ( LED bright) back up lights. The Audi also has rear fog lights which are really bright.  It only had one originally but it was easy to add a second in the other taillight housing. Different countries have different regulations as to which side should be used, so most manufacturers have a socket  inside both taillights.

Modern cars are not as easy to modify since their wiring harnesses look like something off the Lunar Landing vehicle. If you can find the correct wire, the computer will trip you up and start lighting up the dashboard. It knows the brake lights shouldn’t light up unless the brakes are on and will send  a message that there is a brake problem. Don’t ask me how I know that. I think it notifies your local dealer, the police department where you live and your Senator in Washington DC. If you throw the interrupt switch  I think a voice comes on and suggests that you pull over and wait for AAA.  I’m not sure of that because I didn’t get that far.

(Actual image: Porsche Gold Meisters doing any work on a modern Porsche)

I’m just happy that I have been able to personalize (OK modify) my cars over the years and nobody cared. It has been great fun to tinker with cars and make them my own. Whether it’s exhaust systems, wheels and tires, stripes down the side or switches under the dash, each change makes it different and I enjoy being different. Isn’t that what the Muppets said on Sesame Street?

May the cars in your garage be as much fun for you as mine are for me.

-Tom Tate

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Shift Happens (or Doesn’t)

My faithful readers will recall the clutch cable problems the Puddle Jumper had last year at the Catskill Drive for our 356 group. The cable was replaced in a parking lot in upstate NY using a borrowed spare from another traveling member (thanks Jeff). It was a little shorter than the correct one and prevented the use of a second locking nut on the transmission end but worked just fine the rest of the year. I thought about replacing after I got home but under the “if it ain’t broke , don’t fix it” policy I left it alone. A few hundred enjoyable miles in the spring and summer kept it on the list for the 1100 mile run to the 356 Registry East Coast Holiday. The engine in the Speedster was back up and running (boy these old cars break a lot) but didn’t have enough miles on it for a long , steady speed , trip. That looked like a great plan when the departure day began with heavy rain. The Speedster would’ve been awash while the coupe kept me dry.

The plan was to drive the 410 miles to brother Bill’s house in Maryland, pick him and Beverly up for the second day drive to meet a bunch of friends in Wythsville, VA for dinner, then another couple of hours to  Blowing Rock, NC. I asked WAZE to plot the shortest route and it director me out the Mass Pike to Rt 84 and to the Merritt Parkway into NY. Not the way I would normally go but I’ve contested the WAZE instructions before and always been wrong so I went with it. I figured that since it took real time traffic in to account maybe the rain was backing things up on Rt 684. I needed to make a pit stop so when the rain slowed down a bit I ran down a short exit ramp on the Parkway to bail out. As I depressed the clutch pedal to downshift to third gear it went quickly to the floor and didn’t come back. I had lost the clutch cable again.

After you drive these old cars long enough, when something mechanical fails you tend to know exactly what failed. Throwing the gearbox into neutral I rolled to a stop to decide what to do. There was no doubt in my mind that the nut on the transmission end of the cable had fallen off and so the cable could no longer move the release bearing to operate the clutch pressure plate (TMI). I looked at the odometer to see that I was 212 miles from home and WAZE said I was 198 miles from Bills house. I was clearly out of AAA tow range. And it was still raining.

I have driven standard shift cars without a clutch before and even did a drive from Cape May, NJ to Boston with two kids in the car back in the ‘80’s. That was in a BMW 535is when the hydraulic slave cylinder failed. Since I figured that all I needed for a fix was another 8mm nut and the ability to install it, a drive to Maryland was the answer.

Old guys in old cars all know how to drive a standard shift without a clutch. It does depend upon a good strong battery and a well running engine. I will share the secret but know that this trick will not work with a modern car. They are wired so that the starter will not engage unless the clutch pedal is down which will disconnect the engine from the transmission and they needs to be connected for this to work.

The engine needs to be warmed up before attempting this procedure so with the car in neutral, just start the car and bring it up to operating temperature first. Then shut it off and secure everything in the car including passengers. With the ignition and hand brake off put the car in first gear. Turn the key on, release the hand brake, depress the gas pedal down half way, wait a moment and then engage the starter. The car will act like it was hit in the rear as it hops off and begins to move off in first gear. Now you have it moving in first gear how do you go to second gear? Lift off the throttle and pull gently and it will “fall” into neutral. As the engine speed slows a little pressure on the gearshift lever will drop it into second gear. If it doesn’t drop in just raise the engine speed a little and try again. Light pressure is all that is needed so don’t force it into gear. It gets better with practice and higher gears are easier. Downshifts are the same but with a higher , not lower, engine speed. Remember that if you stop the car you’ll have to start over so don’t stop.

On the remaining miles I only had to stop three times, once for gas, once in a traffic  jam and once to go to first gear to drive into Bills garage. Don’t try to downshift into first while moving, it’s too hard to match the engine to transmission speed while moving.  You will be surprised how slow you can go in second gear and still keep moving. It was a bit tense a few times but EZ Pass really helped on the Delaware bridge and the Baltimore tunnel. Bill was waiting with garage space and tools so I pulled up the floor boards to see if my diagnosis was correct, it was. The nut on the front was in place, the one on the rear was missing. 

We pulled the right rear wheel to allow access to that side of the transmission where the cable was mounted to measure the size of the nut we needed. Off to dinner and Ace Hardware and back to the garage. We bought a threaded sleeve (metric of course) to extend the cable length thinking that would let us use an additional lock nut for a permanent fix. When  it was all back in place it appeared that the cable was way too long so it came apart again. That time I couldn’t get any resistance on the pedal and the cable still seemed way too long. What was going on here? With a spacer on the cable I finally got some resistance but it didn’t seem right. With the car up on jack stands and in neutral, I started it up to test the fix. It made terrible noises. Sounded like metal scraping on metal in the area of the clutch. Our night and my ride to NC was over. We deduced that somehow the release bearing, with no pressure from a connected cable, had dropped off the yoke that held it and the shortened cable had pushed that yoke into the pressure plate. Ouch.

It was midnight and Bill suggested that we pull the engine out to find the problem. No chance, I suggested we go to bed but before we did we needed to push the car out to put Beverly’s car back inside.  With the wheel back on and the Tub on the ground we started to push it out of the  garage. As I walked over the spot the transmission covered I looked down to see a small C shaped clip laying on the ground. It was one of two clips that hold the release bearing onto to the yoke. The only clip like that used in the entire car. I had new clips at home waiting but that was a long way away.

That find told us that our conclusion was correct but left three questions unanswered:

1.   How did the clip get out of the transmission housing

2.   Why didn’t the clip fall out somewhere in the last 198 miles   

3.   Why did it wait until it was in Bills garage to drop the clip       

These cars never cease to amaze me, I swear they are alive. See last months column.

It turned out to be a great weekend as I took Bill’s Acura (2006 – 147k miles) and followed his Speedster to NC and had a great time. There were lots of Tubs from the eastern states and the weather was clear and sunny all week. The Puddle Jumper missed a great Holiday but I didn’t.

A good friend who attended the Holiday was heading to Boston from NC  with an empty trailer to pick up a 356 so for the cost of a dinner he scooped up the Puddle Jumper in Maryland and brought it back to Mass for me. Aren’t car friends great?  Repair report to follow.

-Tom Tate

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The Wrong Direction at Palmer

Palmer Clockwise – NER’s Second DE Event June 9-11

Ok, I’m a bum.  My car broke at Thompson and I wasn’t sure I would be ready for Palmer so I didn’t sign up at first.  By the time I knew I was OK my calendar had filled up (or “been filled” to be more accurate) so I could only go on Sunday.  Fortunately that turned out to be the best weather day – another perfect 70 degree and sunny day just like Thompson.  Then I got there and was really busy being slow.  I really don’t like the clockwise direction and – despite pedaling as fast as I dared – I was almost 4 seconds slower than my best going counter-clockwise.  No excuses and I still had a fun time chasing others and having some good rides as part of the check-out/advancement process.  I’ll do better at the second Palmer when we go CC.

 

 

So I didn’t take any pictures, didn’t get any good stories (well maybe one) and have no idea what happened on Friday or Saturday.  The pictures are courtesy of Melanie Randall, the text below is from Charlie Kenney and the advancement from Dave Berman…

 

 

“Team, Another excellent event by this team at Palmer! Thank you!!!

All TC members contributed to a great event. Pre-event registrations, Tech, on the track, Instructor Development, in the classrooms. [Note from author:  lots of classroom – even for instructors – it was nice and cool inside and someone I know fell asleep.]

Judi, Pam and Jen set a high bar for the social and dinner!!! You had me at Palm tree.

 And Social Media!!! and now our T-shirt’s are collectors items!

Shout out to all who researched and compiled and delivered the training materials and the classroom education! We are getting good feedback on our classes from all groups. Green to Red. This is a LOT of off hours work. It shows. Videos are making an impression!

Where would we be without Sally and Buzz managing Worker Assignments? The answer is ‘lost’.

Dave and Mike:  awesome job on management of the instructor corps, the promotions and sign offs and the Mentoring.

We are seriously underpaid for the level of professionalism in this team!

Calabogie – ADAM SCHWARTZ makes a return as Track Chair and overall event manager. 
Please contact Adam for all questions on Calabogie and you are welcome to cc me.

Have fun in Canada for those going!  Charlie”

 

Advancements…

Placement in White (first time driving with us)

Dave Veracka

New Instructors: 

Jim Daley

Green to Yellow:

Bobby Lemieux

Alexis Regan

Yellow to Blue:

Ted Emerson

Blue to White:

Jason Loy

White to Black:

Kurt Drottar

Niket Anjaria

Christian Lesuisse

Final story:  Bad luck of the weekend award to Aaron Walker and good Samaritan award to Mike Woodward.  The story… Aaron tows his new (to him) GT3 to the track on Saturday with his Rivian pickup.  Throw out bearing goes south early in the day.  Rivian is out of charge so Aaron puts it on a charger near Palmer and takes an Uber home.  Drives back same day in second GT3 (who the hell has two GT3’s?  sometimes the world is not fair!).  Rivian is charged and Aaron uses it to bring home GT3 #1.  Aaron hooks a ride to track Sunday morning with Mike (who also is his instructor and a very brave soul).  In next to last run session GT3 #2 has a water hose split.  [More author note:  I was on the track at the same time, smelled anti-freeze and had a slight dance.  When I looked at video it became cloudy at that point and I had apparently run threw a cloud of mist despite the fact that Aaron was not immediately ahead of me.  Odd.] Aaron with help from Mike and Dave Berman wraps split hose with duct tape and zip ties and nurses it home while Mike follows with trailer (in case the wrap doesn’t hold plan is to take Mike’s car from trailer, put Aaron’s car in trailer and drive Mike’s car – which has a plate – home on the street). Aaron claims he got 20 miles per gallon of water which is better than his gas mileage. You can’t make this stuff up.

 

Fine German Engineering!
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DE Crier(s): Thompson Report – Jose Starts Down the Slippery Slope

In this special write up we see two DE perspectives, one from NER’s OG Bill Seymour and also from Jose Alberto Betances, a newer NER member – read on to get the full scoop!

Another One Starts Down the Slippery Slope!

Author: Jose Alberto Betances

The Porsche brand has fans of all kinds, from those who enjoy the casual comfortable drives, to spirited drives, to true performance drives.  I have been in the first two categories, looking from the outside at that third category, for a long time.  I decided that this year, a year after getting a 2006 Cayman S, would be the year I added that third category to my repertoire. 

I have to believe there are many others out there like me, and after this experience, I highly recommend they take this step as well!  The “Ground School” at Palmer was a fine introduction.  Through this experience, I was encouraged to try out the first Driver Education event at Thompson.  I had never been on a track before, aside from the parade laps on Palmer, and so I prepared to do so.  After getting my first helmet, and tech inspection, I was ready to go.  But, admittedly nervous.  So much so, I almost backed out (as I have before), prepped some excuses just in case.  But I went anyway with a “now or never” mentality.

The Tech Crew

The folks who volunteer their time for this are really quality people – I can’t say enough about how welcoming and friendly folks were to me. While there was plenty about which to be intimidated, (just the line of vehicles there for this was incredible) it ended up not being so.  The focus for my “Green” group was learning some fundamentals.  Basic terms, flag meanings, and safety were essential and the day would be mostly about “the Line.”   Then it was out to the track for the first run of the day.

I was fortunate enough to be paired with Bill Seymour and he guided me through an exhilarating experience.  Just being on the track was good enough for me, but I was also there to learn how to become a better driver.  I remembered a quote from the Desiderata: “there will always be greater and lesser people than you” at anything.  Learn from those who are better and help those who may not be is my motto everywhere else.  It just so happened here that there were lots of people from whom to learn.  Yes, there were much better drivers (and cars!) out there, but Bill helped me focus on what I needed to do and learn, at a pace and manner that worked for me, personally.  And yes, passing signs were given – AND accepted.

As an added bonus, Bill found another member, Chip Wood, who was kind enough to give up some of his track time and car (a track-prepped orange Boxster) for me to ride-along.  With Bill in the driver’s seat, I saw what can REALLY be done on that track (and how far I have to go – but as they say, “the journey of a thousand miles…”).  I laughed so hard.  It was amazing.  I really should have done this sooner.

At the end of the day, I could not believe how much time I had on the track at Thompson.  Four rounds (five if you count the ride along), about 27 minutes each – so much more than I could have imagined for a first-timer like myself.  I learned a great deal about my limits (and beyond) and those of my Cayman.  I could feel the gradual improvement, and the opportunities to improve even further.  I know at least one way I can do so: more track time.  But first, let me prepare a strong case for my wife about the concept of “consumables….”

(Comment from Bill Seymour…”What Jose doesn’t explain – but you all should know – is that he would have had the same experience with any of the great NER DE instructors. The only difference is that they might not have talked him into writing up his experience for our website!”)

Thompson Rocks!

By: Bill Seymour

NER’s first Driver Education event of the season took place over Memorial Day weekend at Thompson Motorsports Park.  Apparently all of us Track Rats had been very well behaved because we were rewarded with absolutely perfect weather – dry, sunny, not too hot – perfect!

The weekend featured three special events.  First: on Friday, which was “advanced only,” the National Instructor Training took place.  Matthew Wallis organized the day which involved classroom sessions followed by on track role play (candidates in the right seat with mentors driving and pretending to be naughty students). Dan Dazzo, PCA National Safety Chair, flew in to do the classrooms and share lots of interesting stories. As a result there are now 17 new National Instructors in our region.

Charlie at the Drivers Meeting

On Saturday morning there was a special parking lot session for Green and Yellow drivers.  Chris Ryan, Autocross Chair, and his colleagues Ed Moschella, Bill Aubin and Bob Cantor, set up braking and skidpad exercises.  Think a braking exercise sounds silly?  You’d be surprised how many new track drivers never had their Porsche fully into ABS. And of course the watered skidpad was hugely helpful.  (By the way – a plug for Autocross – go to Ft. Devens and find the limits of your Porsche in a safe and entertaining way.)

On Saturday night there was the usual beer/wine social in the garage but this was followed by a buffet dinner at the Thompson golf course restaurant. (Sally and Mel got out all fancied up!)  Thanks to NER DE Social organizers Pam Mascetta and Judy Mansing! And welcome to the social crew a new volunteer:  Jen Hall. (Author note:  I quite enjoyed the Hall family.  I had a nice ride with Steve and daughter Emma was very complimentary of my car selection and driving.)

The Social Team

The rest of the weekend involved lots of great weather and lots of track time. We had a somber moment each morning of the Memorial Day weekend when we recognized our fallen heroes with a moment of silence (and Stan Corbett once again brought poppies and flags). Track Chair Charlie Kenney managed to make the driver meetings short and amusing while not compromising any safety issues. Chief Instructor Dave Berman did his usual masterful job of herding students, instructors and arranging check out rides – there were a lot of promotions…

Placements (drivers who haven’t ridden with us before but had experience elsewhere): 

Nicholas Boghos – White

Amos Winter – White

James Dolabany – Blue

John Genereux – Blue

Advancements:

Green to Yellow

Gabriel Cueva

Roumen Stoyanov 

William Miniscalco

Yellow to Blue

Grayson Connors

Stephen Wanstall

Brianna Croteau

Blue to White

Arun Ramamurthy

White to Black

Christopher Necchi

Jeff Croteau

Black to Red (Instructor)

Robert Jacobsen

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Four Speeds and Drum Brakes: Back to Live Action

 A very mild winter had us all looking forward to driving events in New England before St Patricks Day. Too warm a winter kept the cars off the ice up north unless  northern VT looked like a nice ride. Cars and Coffee didn’t seem necessary because cars were out of the garage driving before April Fools Day. On April 2nd the draw was still there when 60 P cars arrived  at a C&C set up by the Slocum’s in RI.

  The All Porsche Swap Meet in Carlisle PA the end of April was threatened, as always, with rain but that didn’t stop the hard core and sales were brisk.  Maybe the fact that I’ve gotten more realistic about the value of old car parts helped move the merchandise. Looking around the garage I have come to the conclusion that my treasures are going to wind up at the dump unless I get them back into the market where someone, anyone, can use them. If you make things cheap enough people will buy parts they don’t even need. That’s how so much stuff followed me home.  

The first Track Day for your author was the beginning of April at Watkins Glen. That was where the loyal reader will remember I rolled a BMW into a ball last year. This year was much better. The 210 car (BMW E46 – 330) was the ride for the weekend and the AZ Tates flew in to play. It was Marie’s birthday and Rob had promised to take her someplace nice for her birthday so I guess WGI qualified. That certainly wouldn’t fly at my house.

Matt Connelly Motorsports provided a great car that we drove for 8 hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday at the American Endurance Racing event. I did have a tire go down due to a cracked alloy rim on the left rear during my stint. As it was losing air it caused a vibration that felt like the tire had just picked up some rubber on the track. At lower speeds the shudder went away so I stayed out. When I got back to the uphill esses  the tire had lost a lot of air and the rear of the car decided that it wanted to go first. I caught it before it got ugly but the time it took to get the car in, check it and replace the tire dropped us back into the middle of the class. Still great fun but no plastic trophy for us this time.

The weather was the best I have ever experienced at The Glen in spring time, cool at night and warm and sunny during the day. At the very end of the race on Sunday some clouds appeared and a bit of rain fell but nothing that would ruin a great weekend.  Well, it might have been a little more than a bit as we couldn’t see across the front straight but that is the kind of weather The Glen is known for. Besides, Rob was driving and he had it under control.

Next up was the first autocross for the Northeast Region at Ft Devens. The 1972 Martini 911 came out to play with 68 other drivers, a great turnout. I’m not as fast as I once was (hear a song here?) but it is still great fun to throw the car around and make a lot of noise. Many attending have never seen a Porsche this old doing what it was made to do.  I had novice drivers join me for nearly every run.

We had a dozen novices that included some seldom seen rides. Think Tesla and a mid eighties Olds 442. The latter was really well set up using a 760 hp V8 and tires wider than a new 911 Turbo S. These heavy American cars seldom do well but this Olds was an exception. Reasonably well set up and very well driven it was faster than most Porsches. The Tesla was silent but deadly and also ran with the big dogs as far as their elapsed time went. They were both fun to watch and taught everyone not to make snap judgements.

Next up is a 356 Drive in Lancaster PA set up by the gang that did the Catskill Tour last year. No car show, no autocross, just a bunch of old guys with old cars driving around Amish country trying to avoid the horse and buggy traffic. At least we’ll be faster than someone on the roads. The Puddle Jumper gets the nod on this ride as the Speedster engine isn’t back together yet. It stopped running last Fall on the way to NY for another 356 gathering with a suspected broken crankshaft.  The case has been opened and the two separate parts of the crankshaft have been removed showing no other damage so it may be alive soon.

I had another crank but turnaround time for a rebalanced crank was 5 months so that has delayed progress. Plus I had other toys to play with so Blackie got pushed to the back of the garage. An oil change and clutch adjustment was all the preparation that the sunroof coupe needed so it will be on the road again this week. Action report to follow…

Author: Tom Tate

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Parking Lots Revisited

It has been such a mild winter in New England that the Cars and Coffee program has been off to a slow start. Last year it seemed that there were gatherings any weekend that the weather would permit. This year winter seemed to be absent except for a couple of cold weekends, the roads stayed clear and that let people get their P cars out more than most years. The need, the need for speed, was satisfied almost every weekend. It wasn’t necessary to call a Cars and Coffee to get our toys out of the garage.

We finally had the first PCA C & C in Rhode Island last Sunday, put together by Roger and Rosemary Slocum at the Longplex Sports Complex in Tiverton. We had over 50 cars show up on a cold and windy day. That tells me that people like to drive their cars around but they also like to meet with other members.

Where else can you show off a new ride (Larry) to folks that would understand? There was talk of new tires and computer chips, paint treatment and rear spoilers. All in all a good time to be a car club member. We met in a large paved parking lot because the grass area at Sweet Berry Farm is still too soft to walk on, let alone drive 50 cars onto but that’s coming soon.

Cars and Coffee gatherings are quick and easy to do compared to all day events like an autocross. Let’s hope that they grow and continue for years to come. That reminded me of all the places that we have gathered over the years that are no longer available for a variety of reasons.

When I first arrived in New England back in the ‘70’s autocrosses were set up and run in shopping center parking lots. The Blue Laws were in effect and stores were always closed on Sunday. Shoppers World on Rt 9 in Natick was very popular with the SCCA crowd and PCA ran there too. Opened in 1951 as the 7th Wonder of New England it was the largest outdoor Mall anywhere.  Closed in 1994 it was transformed into an indoor Mall.

 Another large parking lot was at the Burlington Mall. We even ran a autocross there on a Sat night under the lights in a lot next to Rt3A that we could block off with pylons to keep shoppers out. A couple did get in anyway and that was exciting.

There was better security at the Auburn Mall and we ran there with SCCA for a number of years but relaxing the Blue Laws in 1983 put an end to that lot too.  

 Another very large lot was the Bayside Expo Center in South Boston. The only problem there was drainage. If it rained hard, what looked like lakes formed in the middle. I once took FTD in my 914 in a rainstorm that saw 4” of water in the middle of the course. A win is a win.  The same drainage problem plagued the Seabrook Greyhound Racetrack in NH but we’d just take a break for a few minutes and the water would drain off. But then they started racing the dogs on Sunday (Live free ?) and that lot was off limits.

There were two sites that were a distance away but always great fun with the SCCA crowd. Both were public parking lots, one in Provincetown, the other was at Nauset Beach, MA. Both were run early in the year before the tourist arrived but it was always cold and windy. The problem with the wind near the beach was sand. Tire traction is always better on clean pavement and sand doesn’t help traction. One year I had a business meeting in Washington DC the evening before the event so I drove all night to Provincetown to run the next day. Ed Sanborn drove my 356 out the day before so it was ready when I got there. I arrived with no sleep, a sandy course, spun three times and finished last.  Very embarrassing. I don’t know if the towns or SCCA took it off the list but we certainly didn’t miss the sandy pavement .

The Mitre Corp parking lot in Bedford MA saw lots of Porsches making noise over the years, as did Nike sites (as in Nike missiles, not sneakers)  in Needham (there are houses there now) and Dighton (taken over by the town playing fields).

A small parking lot at Hanscom Field in Concord was used for a number of years as was the Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere. Bose Corp in Framingham let us run in their lot for a while but I guess the noise was too much for them on a Sunday morning. Noise didn’t bother Smith and Wesson in Springfield, MA and they opened their parking lot gates for PCA in the ‘80’s.

The locations began to dwindle over the years due to development, general attitudes about cars and our own mistakes. Autocrosses were run at SNHU until a Sprite driver spun at the finish line and injured a spectator. That was the end of that lot.

 A Zone 1 autocross at Six Flags in Springfield was stopped when they discovered that driver education in one of their parking lots included timing race cars. The Police were called and after a lot of discussion we were asked to leave. Not our best day. 

As soon as the Blue Laws were repealed the Malls and retail shopping center parking lots were off limit. The first airport that the Northeast Region used was at Orange, MA.

A little used public airport, we shared the runways with small planes and a Skydiving school. The planes were directed to the other runway on Autocross days but the skydiving students  just tried to jump between runs it seemed. We did have a few land on the course but they were easy to spot and pylon pickers had red flags to stop a run when necessary. There was one student that landed between runways on a large pile of dirt and broke a few bones and so we had to wait while they were taken by ambulance to a local hospital. We wouldn’t do anything that dangerous, we were just racing cars. The 1 ½ hour drive from the Boston metro area was a bit of a hike so when a closer venue became available we signed up. That was Ft Devens

The pavement at Ft Devens has been our home for the last 37 years and many other clubs also run there. It is the last site anywhere to be found. Here’s hoping that, until electric cars take over the roads or they pull our drivers license, we can continue to test the limits of old ICE cars  in Ayer, MA. The season is about to start so come join us before the only Porsche test course left is an on ramp on the Mass pike. Your place on the pavement is waiting.

Author: Tom Tate

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