2009: OKEMO 1 Entry form and Information

[Kiwi]

Hi All,

sorry I couldn't make this one. However, my BMW is currently at Chris Howard's shop getting the roll cage! I hope to make Okemo II but I will be flying back from Albequerque on Friday afternoon so it will be tight to get up to Vermont.

James / Kiwi

[sciroccohp]

Club meeting cuting number of entries to 55 because we could never get 3 runs in with 60 cars.

So I guess showing up the day before the race without registering will be a mistake going forward. I guess I will have to force myself to write out a check and mail it then. If I get the car back together in time.

[Mopar 151]

Trust me - you'll like it better than having the club(s) or the event tank due to lack of entries - especially in this economy, and with our current cost structure. I think we all learned some stuff this weekend about what it really takes to make an event work for everyone involved. We pulled off our awesome Sunday because everybody paid attention, lent a hand wherever it was needed, and played nice. And isn't this what we want, and how we roll?

[BugEyeRex]

I would like to thank everyone for another great event. A big thanks to all the workers. Sorry for slowing things down on Sunday..... as soon as I lost it into the ditch I was saying..... idiot idiot idiot. I hope to make it to Okemo 2.

[agrabau]

Good synopsis Sherman.

Good time this weekend. I had fun watching some friends run for the first time. Patrick will definitely be back. He was already talking about building a dedicated car so he won't subject his new STI to undue risk.

Sunday was a hell of a ride. I thought that I had a good handle on things until Sherman kept pulling the afternoon times down, then Joey pulled the rabbit from his hat with a 1:14. I'm going to miss Okemo II- I have to go to a wedding. I'm going to buy some autocross tires for the next event; whichever that may be. I did this one on Street tires; the newest BFG KDW II's which were obvioulsly good but there is probably a little more to be had with competition tires.

I'd like to congratulate Pierre for another top 10 finish this year, his (4th, I think) hillclimb ever. Off to a good start for sure. Tony drove great too in his second event, both first timers at Okemo.

Saturday was a little confusing for the new guys with the large number of both entrants and issues I'm not sure if they thought 2 runs was the norm. I tried to tell them about Philo but Sunday put things into better perspective.

Bill's car ran great for it's first time out. It only made it out once last year. He has a ton of talent and just needs to get more confident in his equipment for next time. The 240 is really set up for track more than hillclimb which made it a real handful on the hill.

Now in the car breakage report my oil feed line melted and my car refused to quiet itself for sound check. Those with side exit cars really lucked out. I should have disconnected my exhaust at the end of the downpipe instead of sticking a silicone coupler on it for tech. Don laughed but she still failed. The next stop on the road to silence was Abuchon hardware- dryer ducts... failed.. Then to Kermit Upton's place where my buddy Matt scored a 90 degree mandrel bend, worked but blasted the start guys in the face. (not nice) so I will be buying a larger muffler for the next event.

People were asking me why my idle was loping. It's not because of the cams. It is using something called rotational idle which shuts down cylinders per rotation, changing cylinders per rotation to keep the idle down. Without it the idle would be high because the antilag requires the throttle plate to be propped open about 20%. I'd be idling at 4000 RPM without that idle strategy. It also makes the car amazingly difficult to drive around the pits which sucks. It stalls under slight load (ie: starting to move) all the time.

We took some videos this weekend.. A lot of them. I left the hill with not one in-car video since my camera failed. I'm thinking about putting it in a vice as punishment. These were captured on my still camera in video mode.

bill launch video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT31c_rujPA

Tony Launch video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYAlcsX4cCE

Sherman launch video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGU45_VgFQI

-Alex

[agrabau]

PS- I won't be at another hillclimb until Ascutney. Totally lame. I have to do a tour on the professional wedding circuit. August sees me in Maine for a wedding in Casco Bay then jetting on the Pro-wedding Cessna to Wisconsin for another one (on Burke II)

Next year weddings are banned from my schedule.

[sdwarf36]

Ok-heres a whole nites typing. As posted on the NEHA list:
Hello everyone.
Okemo 1 turned out being quite the event. How about 60 entries? How about sun both days? How about the fact the road was in better shape that it was in years? ( broken up tar spots going into turn 11 + 17 patched-the road wart at turn 29 mowed down-and a good part of holding fixed! By the looks of the spray painted marks on the road, more improvement are in store.)
Saturday was won by Don Taylor-he got the most number of runs up the hill. Most probably wouldn't have been wrecker calls at all in most years-but in this "summer of the ark" the sides of the roads were swamp all the way to the top. (As can be confirmed by the guys from Max's gang that did the legwork running wire.)
After a club meeting Sat nite, discussions were had on how to pick up the pace. Co-chairs Earl + Victor and worker coordinator Sharon had the troops in place and the 1st car rolling by 8:10 on Sunday! WOW! And from my sources on the wire, this was the best crew of workers ever. 4 runs! And a new record set of total number of total runs. Good work folks!
Rookies? I'm not even sure of the final number-15? ZERO offs from them. Where did they all come from? Alex and his presentation at Dentsport and Joey Kale with his crew from Kale Customs brought the lions share I'm sure. Thanks guys! Hope every likes The sounds of Subbies-I think these things are gonna catch on. S1 was the largest class--11 cars.
Max Stratton had his crew of riders there and had a blast. Max ended up winning the bike class and added many single black tire marks entering the turns. The bike riders worked at the drop of a hat. (we LIKE that!) Max has quite a following-and had posted in his newsletter that a nice weekend ride could be had in Vermont and you can watch fast cars + bikes at Okemo. And boy did they show up. The entire downtown was filled at lunch time by BMW riders-and the allowed watching areas at start + sugar shack had plenty on onlookers.
Speaking of bikes-Jimi Heyder was in his glory. Ran his car in the A group + bike in the B. As soon as he was done with the last pass. He loaded up his bike + started on a SOLO drive cross country to run at Pikes Peak! By the time you read this, he'll be at the drivers meeting.GOOD LUCK JIMI!
Everyone that went off not only were ok--they all managed to keep their cars going.
Gerry Driscoll won P1-Boy-it feels real good to say that again.
Every class we offer had cars in with the exception of U3.
Epic battles pt1: Brian beat Jennifer this time-the seat stays up at their house till the next Okemo.
Epic battle pt2: P4 was settled by a total 1.3 seconds for all 3 entries. The win going to Earl.
Epic battle for FTD: Run 1 had the first 4 cars covered by 1.11 seconds with me in the lead. Run 2 Had Alex gets the top spot with a 2:17.67-with me following by .48 seconds and Joey only .3 behind that. Run 3 I nipped Alex's time by .03 and Joey lowered his time and stayed .3 back. Run 4 I managed to get down to 2:17.39-Alex was unable to improve on his time -then POW!! Home run out of the park -holy cow-
Joey rips off a 2:14.48!! Unreal-a 4 second gain-I want to see that incar! Congrats on the FTD.
Thanks to all for helping to make this a great event!

[Rabbit Farmer]

Word of mouth is a very powerful method of attracting new folks. Often times a conversation can quell the concerns that a new-comer might have. There is no reason not to drive the event.

The internet is another powerful tool. Once the event info/entry is posted, I always post it to the following sites:

http://www.vtrides.com/forum/
http://forums.sccv.org/
http://www.dubsnorth.org/forum/
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zeroforum?id=84
http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=3
http://www.802crew.com/forumdisplay.php?f=61
http://www.mysubie.com/calendar
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=18

Get the word out!

Steve

[Rabbit Farmer]

I just recalled something funny at the start line this weekend; a future starter for the hillclimbs. A spectator's kid (1.5 years old? +/-) was doing "three, two, one... GO!" (okay, he was really doing 1, 2, 3.. Go!, but I guess they didn't teach him to count backwards again). Too funny.

[Mopar 151]

Gotta love that!
Now and then at the stock car races, you will see a kid near the flagstand with a litle set of flags, flagging away just like "Da Man".
Trouble is, tha last kid I saw doing this at Claremont (now Twin State) was significantly better than the regular flagman.