Pagoda

[mckee]

Congratulations to Sherm Baumann who did extremely well on his maiden visit to this tricky (and scary) hill. Sherm ran within 3+ seconds of the event winner Jeremy Dietzel who drove an Evil Evo with the magical turbo and 4WD.

Sherm was just edged out of a fifth place finish by a well driven Formula Super V that sported more than twice the Dwarf's displacement. It took me quite a few years to get down to Sherm's time so I would expect him to be quite competitive for FTD within his next few visits to this course.

2nd went to Merlin Miller in a mega HP GT-2 Sunbeam Tiger. Merlin normally wins this event by going thru a turn aptly called Oh-Sh-t 6 at just over 125 MPH. Jeremy tried the 125 MPH bit and that combined with his 4WD's explosive acceleration out of the tight hairpins gave him FTD. 3rd went to Kurt Eikenberg in his D Sports racer which coincidentally has a tiny engine similar to Sherm's. A formula C machine snuck into 4th and 5th went to the aforetomentioned Super V, with Sherm within a tenth close behind. Had Sherm had his 'fast' engine things may have been even better.

Pagoda is a hill that takes a while to learn despite its short length (1 mile). It starts off with two tight hairpins that feed into a very fast twisty section whose off camber bumps tend to catapult the unwary over the guard rails. If you make it around 6 you are confronted with two more acute hairpins and a hidden finish line that fools many into going into turn-around at insane speed.

I was unable to make Pagoda but would encourage anyone to try and make a PA event. Next up is Giant's Despair (July 10-11) which is second only to Mt Washington for oldest ongoing race honors.

Brgds,
Bob D'Amore

[sdwarf36]

Thanks for the report Bob-I suck- I should have written a report since I WAS there (but then again I never wrote one for Burke + I chaired it!)
I never came close to pushing it thru oh sh*t- but I was getting braver each lap. Being down 25 hp killed me off the turns-and I should have had a lower gear in the car. One thing that suprised me is how much the hill slows down over the day. I did what I thought was a good run on Sat afternoon (95* + humid both days) and my time was 1 sec slower than earlier passes (my 2nd run was the quickest) Someone looking at the board said that is normal here-every person he knew on the list was down 1 second.
There were 70 entries--and we got asked 70 times "Do you know Butch King?" ( Dont feel bad Bob-a bunch ask where you were too) Its a very wide mix of cars-3/4 are current or former SCCA road race cars. And almost all of them are show car condition. Some big buck teams too-how about a massive toter home towing a stacker trailer-with a March + Lola formula Continental? And a tricked out Ute with massive tool box attached?
They are just on the verge of having the "Joey syndrome"-there was 1 Subbie + 1 Evo-and the Evo got FTD by a fair margin-and he then drove the car home 5 hours. Old timers (and this group has a higher average age than we ever did) are at a loss to this-the was a LeCar that was required to have a cage-but this street driven Evo, being in whatever street class SCCA conjoured up, only had a roll bar. (dont even know if it was required.) Hmmm-sounds familiar?
The road was way cool-just too short. Next year they are lengthening the hill (Pagoda is like the middle 1/3 of Dureya-picture running Okemo from "into the woods" to check 6) with start moving to the bottom of the hill. That will make 6 or 7 180* turns and a run of apx 1.5 miles. Now if we can just find a way to get there without having to go thru NYC + Joisey....

[1980tr7007]

But Bob he cheated! He said he ran it many times on his computer!
All kidding aside it was a pleasure meeting Sherman. Very entertaining and insightfull. I was also impressed when i saw the 6th place finish. But i think you'll have to lend him your wing for him to move up into the top 5!

Tim Williams #007 TR7

[sdwarf36]

http://rides.webshots.com/video/3050506 ... 9971cMwkrb

Heres a quick video outside ( ) turn 5 Michele shot-where she got roped into working.

[jkale]

Nice Sherm... Just one question though: What exactly is "Joey syndrome"?

[sachilles]

It's when people realize that having four powered wheels is cooler than just two?!

[sdwarf36]

Nice Sherm... Just one question though: What exactly is "Joey syndrome"?

Don't worry-its not derogatory in any way--actually it really should be the "Maros syndrome". Its where the geezers (which i dont qualify YET-even though the bastards at AARP found my address-I'm maybe a "tweezer") can't fathom how something that was built in a factory and made to be sold to the masses can possible go faster than something that has been tweaked-tuned-custom built for the task-with 20 years of racetime on it. And then get driven home getting 32 mpg! You'll understand in 2030 when some kid comes to Okemo in his moms mag-lev car and takes FTD with a 1:30-rendering anything with tires useless.

[Number_5]

Nice Sherm... Just one question though: What exactly is "Your definition of geezer"?
John M

[sdwarf36]

Nice Sherm... Just one question though: What exactly is "Your definition of geezer"?
John M

Anyone who ever had to walk to school---uphill both ways--in the snow.

[Rabbit Farmer]

I had to walk up hill both ways to school. No snow.