West Coast D3 Racing
Retro le Mans Coupe race, September 16, 2007
Buena Park, CA

Anderson tries the new D3 spec motor and wins.
By "Gene Husting", photos by "Al Hall"... (Seriously, pictures courtesy Keith Tanaka)
 

Pre Race Activity

The Coupe race was run on the King track and as no other coupe bodies were readily available, the MAC Chevron was allowed once more. This situation will soon change as other period coupe boy molds are very close to be completed by several suppliers.

Tore Anderson borrowed a chassis from Bryan Warmack, fitted a D3-spec motor in it , a nicely-painted Chevron body and proceeded to set quick time, establishing a new Coupe record that betters the current Can-Am record, then win the race by 8 laps over a hapless Mike Steube.

Paul and Tore joke about the futility of it all. Minutes later, they will get serious and set new class records.

Lotsa ugly Chevrons... soon to be replaced by prettier bodies.

Philippe showed up with a truly, uh, loud shirt glorifying some old racing cars. Just a ploy to distract racers from concentrating on winning the race. It did not work.

Coupe Race Qualifying

Most remarkable was how close all the qualifying times were, within hundreds for the first six qualifiers, within 3 to 4 tenths for all. Most were using the new Falcon VII, while Tore and Philippe used unbroken-in D3 spec motors that got faster as the race went.

Pete Zimmerman placed a marker that nearly stood as TQ with what appears to be the fastest motor in the race. Anderson was last to qualify and barely bettered it, both as well as third fastest Paul Sterrett, bettering the current Can-Am qualifying record. Mike Steube was 4th and down on ponies, but his car could corner like no other. Philippe's car that he heavily modified was a handful but he was able to set a hare lap to hoist himself in 5th spot. John Cukras had some handling woes of his own but was able to come within 8/100" of Tore's time. All others were 1/10" or more off, but still, so close!

It is obvious that those new FK not only have the ponies, but are also a lot more "equal" than any previous generations.

For a while, it appeared that Zimmerman was going to be TQ... Mike Steube checks things out in disbelief.

* New qualifying record

Race

Run in round-Robin format, the race began with Kyle leading John Cukras with 38 laps, with Bob Maxwell one behind. Keith was next followed by Doug, with Philippe the victim of a 3-lap marshaling snafu. Ryan and Lee Hines closed the ranks. Second heat and Bob Maxwell seized the lead from Kyle, with Mike Steube turning 37 laps on red. Next heat and Paul Sterrett also turned 37 laps on the dreaded red lane, while not much changed up-front. When it was Pete Zimmerman's turn to run the red lane, he had trouble and only turned 32 laps, his car not liking the top turn, at all.

Then Tore came in and flattened everyone, turning 39 laps on red! The stage was set and all others would only collect crumbs from what he left them. Through the rotation, Zimmerman found himself with the most laps, but it was of course a brief illusion as all overhauled him except for poor Doug Matthes who had Zimmerman's car hitting his so many times it eventually broke a lead wire, and Doug simply packed up.

Mike Steube, short of power, did well to finish in 2nd with his great-handling car, but no less than 8 laps from Anderson. Paul was another 5 laps in arrears, two over Kyle. John Cukras and Philippe were only one lap apart at the end, both nursing ill-handling cars. Bob Maxwell's motor slowed some but he led Keith Tanaka by 3 laps. Keith Tanaka was another 7 laps ahead of Lee Hines in all kinds of hurts. Ryan Miller went wall-to-wall and ended one lap ahead of Zimmerman who crashed his way to 11ths but set the fastest lap in the race with his missile car.

The race laps bracket was even narrower than in qualifying, a very encouraging sign that the FK motors are now a viable "fair" motor for the future of the series. It is no longer needed to purchase 10 to get a good one, it appears that any is good. Tore Anderson was for one, quite satisfied with both performance and reliability and does not plan to use his hammer anytime soon. Now it will be to the racers to set them right and making sure that the gears are free enough to not strangle them.

Gear setup school anyone?

The first wave ready to rock. Dokk stands out in his racing shirt. Racers R-L, Lee Hines, Philippe, Keith Tanaka, John Cukras, Kyle Matthes, Bob Maxwell, Ryan Miller and Doug Matthes.

Serious race action with Mike Steube fixing his damaged body after being hit by his team mate. Ooops.

There is allways some kind of a circus on the inner lanes...

The Usual Suspects on the podium. Tore points to his Rent-a-Kar borrowed from his friend Bryan. Mike is contemplating a new strategy while Paul thinks that it is now past lunch time.

The ultra-efficient Warmack chassis was fitted with the new D3 spec motor. No complaints from the driver so far. The car weighed 105.5 grams. Note that Bryan used brass weights instead of lead.

The ultra-simple and clean design has proven a winner for the past few races, Bryan winning 3 of them on all 3 tracks!

* Fastest lap
 

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