[pmcrespo]

<img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

Indeed, it is official. I have been selected to participate in this year's UTCC. The 2nd annual Grassroots Motorsports and Hankook sponsored Ultimate Track Car Challenge will e held at Bottonwillow racetrack on June 8th. An invitation only event. I am still shocked that was I actually selected. It started as a wild "whatever, sure I'll register as hopeful" several months back.



I am super excited and totally stoked.... It will be awesome to be there and time trial with some of the fastest rides in the nation and well known pro drivers. And above all, hopefully we'll have a 968 making the pages of Grassroots Motorsports Magazine and maybe even TV. Great exposure for our awesome rides. Maybe we should invite Excellence Mag to be there, take some pics, and do a story on it!



I will run in the Independent Study Junior Varsity 4 cyl normally aspirated class. I do have a LOT of planning and logistics to arrange to make this happen but it will all be worth it....



Lastly; Thank you Pete for helping me get here and always supporting me regardless of how crazy or flat out insane my plans and/or thoughts are. Now.... how are we getting those extra 50 HPs...?



http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/utcc/



http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/

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[PorscheDude]

Best of luck Pablo.

The results should make for some great reading.

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[Mark]

Very cool and a great track, heck of a long trip for you.

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[PorscheG96]

Bummer that I'm going to miss this event. I'll be taking the 3-day Skip Barber racing school at Laguna Seca. Best of luck to you!

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[xrad]

GOOD LUCK and congrats, Crespo!

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[pmcrespo]

Thanks Guys! I am certainly not looking forward to the trip. Have not figured out how best to make it happen.

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[pinball1008]

Best of luck to you, hope all the preparations and the day go great.

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[94SilverCab]

Pablo,



This is great news !



I wish it was closer so I could help out in the pits...maybe an event closer to home?



Regards,



Jay

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[flash]

pablo - let me know how i can help - ring me up

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[pmcrespo]

[quote name='flash' post='52244' date='May 10 2008, 01:09 PM']pablo - let me know how i can help - ring me up[/quote]



Thanks Flash. I will. I need to call you and convince myself that trailering 2,700 miles is kind of hard... Logistics with Transport get kind of difficult and unreliable with timing....



Also, I need to find out how difficult Buttonwillow is. I have already signed up for the Open Track on Friday before the event. But I don't know if this will be enough track time to make the car justice. There is a SpeedVentures event the previous weekend that would also give me additional track time. But then I would have to wait 4 days until UTCC weekend.



To top it off, I am signed up for NASA races at Pocono that weekend of June 31/May 1 which I would have to cancel if I do the Speedventures thing. AND... I am supposed to be in HI for business the 17th through 25th of May... AND... I am in Puerto Rico now visiting my mom so no work is being done on the car this weekend...



I guess all great scheduling challenges to have..... we are fortunate to have "these" kind of issues...

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[Eric_K]

So how did it go?

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[flash]

i'm going to let pablo give the big story when he gets back, but it was an adventure - on sunday i popped up with ron to watch him buzz the track - he and the car did well, albeit on shot tires, an eyeball alignment due to a mechanical oopsy, and a weeping head gasket - had a blast all the same



i'm sure he has better shots from the track photographer, but in the meantime, here are a couple of pics:



the car

   



the man (being interviewed by grassroots)

   



the track (coming down the front straight)

   

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[RS Barn]

I made Pablo run 16's for practice and learning the track. His 18's were pretty much on there last legs anyway.

His travel expenses ate up the fresh tire budget.

Pablo still faired very well.

I"ll let him tell the details of his Track event and his journey home.

Snowstorms, Tournados, ETC!!!!!

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[Gotter]

Looking forward to reading the story... any video??

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[PorscheDude]

I would love to see the pics.



Congrats on a great outing....

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[Eric_K]

blog.cardomain.com/blog/ultimate_track_car_challenge



Some pics here (but it looks like Pablo successfully avoided this photog <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/dry.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> ):

http://www.cardomain.com/event/2008/06/07/GRM

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[pmcrespo]

Hi guys (and gals)!



I am indeed back.. A quick recap.... (at the office <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/sad.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> )



Thank you Pete and Flash for the intro words and few pics...



It was an awesome adventure in travel mode, and an even better weekend of practice, racing, and socializing at Buttonwillow.



I have many pictures and some video. I will post them all and also plan to make a CD with everything I have on the weekend for anyone to have. Just PM me mailing address and I'll send you a copy. Or maybe we can post it as a downloadable one click link for all the CD contents...



I believe we came in 4th in class in the UTCC with a 2:02. Configuration 13 Clockwise. Challenging track to really lay down laps at 10 tenths. I have not seen the official lap times yet so don't hold me to it now.... Unfortunatley, I did not have it in the budget to show up with a set of sticker R6s. So I practiced with the 16" "training wheels" to learn the track and on the 18s I put in one practice session on Sunday AM. By the time I got to the second session on Sunday (the first official UTCC timed session), both my front 18" R6s where already starting to show some cording and the failing head gasket we had been nursing since Saturday was taking about half a quart of water as well as robbing about 5-15 rwhp (that I could feel). Not to mention the oily and gasoline smelling and looking water in the reservoir.



In my opinion, the car and support team executed superbly. Without all the help, contributions, sponsorship, and support from RSBarn, Pro Legacy Advisors, and everyone else, I could have not had the succesful weekend we had. I can't say much for the driving as I humbly say there was perhaps a better time to be had as it was my first time at the facility and, well.... I am indeed a rookie with only two races under my belt. In fact, I had never done a time trial until this weekend... how funny is that....



Apparently a 2:02 is a reasonably quick lap for 207 rwhp on a 2,600 pound platform. The teams that came in 2nd and 3rd (I believe) had high end high tech japanese 4 cylinders putting out over 200 rwhp in platforms weighting 2,000 pounds WITH driver. And yet, our money lap was within one second. A fresh set of Hoosiers and a healthy head gasket would have gotten us there.... Kudos definitely to the super competitive 968 platform, Pete's work, and Flash's R&D.



The guys from Grassroots Motorsports Magazine really liked the car and our overall performance. Same with the representatives from Cardomain.com and a few others. We will make the UTCC feature story in the magazine and there is a chance that GRM will publish an exclusive feature story on the car and our partciaption (including getting there) in a magazine issue later in the year.



I will start posting Pics and videos as soon as I get myself together.



Cheers!

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[pmcrespo]

[quote name='Eric_K' post='54744' date='Jun 13 2008, 06:23 PM']blog.cardomain.com/blog/ultimate_track_car_challenge



Some pics here (but it looks like Pablo successfully avoided this photog <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/dry.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> ):

http://www.cardomain.com/event/2008/06/07/GRM[/quote]



LOL Eric! Not a single pic of the 68! <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/mad.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> NOT NICE!

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[pmcrespo]

The 968 P car and I finally made it back to Philly indeed on Thursday around midnight after enduring a snow storm in Colorado at about 9,000 feet (crazy talk), and a few tornadoes touching down around us in Kansas (NOT nice!).



An overall outstanding 2nd Annual UTCC at Buttonwillow. All my doubts about making the 6,000 mile round trip were quickly erased the moment I arrived Buttonwillow on Thursday night where I was greeted with open arms by everyone offering nothing but support, tons of help, and much needed driving advice for this rookie’s first visit to the track.



I practiced Friday in open track day, and three HPDE4 type sessions with NASA on Saturday. Managed to destroy my 16"s due to a tie rod coming off the A-arm that I did not discover until mid-day Saturday. Had to buy 2 R888s on track just so I could finish practice and save the 18"s as I realized that they were worse than I thought. The event on Sunday was simply first rate and the competition assembled was simply top rated. God knows this underdog from the East Coast was over his head! Nevertheless, everyone made us feel right at home and could not helped but be excited about the UTC Challenge, the magazine, CarDomain, the rest of the sponsors, and all supporters across the board. It was a truly rewarding experience in a fantastic track, with a NASA Sother Cali staff that is second to none.



They made the first session on Sunday a practice and "qualifying" session so I was forced to switch back to the 16"s (combo with R888s in front and Hoosier R6s on back - crazee talk!) so I could save the 18"s for the timed sessions. Byt this kind o backfired as I only managed a 2.05 on the mismatched "training wheels" which pooled me with the slower Group 2 (well.... Independent JV was supposed to be the slowest group anyway but.... I was hoping....). So it was a little harder to get clean fast laps. I actually ended up setting the fast lap of the day on the first timed session (second run of the morning). From there, the tires just deteriorated, the track heated much loosing precious grip, and the head gasket kept getting worse by the minute. Somehow there always appears to be drama in this racing business! <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/unsure.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> LOL!!!



I personally do feel I exceeded my expectation having a strong finish (I think) with a car that came into Sunday with less power and more weight than the top competition in the Independent JV class. Not to mention my mistake of coming in without a set of sticker tires instead of my used (Sunday practice corded) tires. The failed head gasket hurt as well. But it was all challenging and exciting. Especially as a rookie with only two races under my belt and never having run a time trial before! What better place to do it but at Buttonwillow with everyone watching, taking pcs, and shooting video while running against some of the best competition in the nation. Does not get any better than that! Well.... nerves aside.. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/cool.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />



The feedback from everyone has been great, and the 968 got lots of attention from everyone; spectators, GRM Staff, CarDomain staff, and racers alike. I am truly looking forward to perhaps getting invited again next year (hopefully east coast). I am also very much looking forward to the magazine's UTCC feature story and overall impressions from the editorial staff at GRM and CarDomain.



Some pics..... Will post Vids once I can get a Video editing software that does HDV... The final lap times will not be posted in mylaps.com until after the story is out so I am really not sure how we placed outside of knowing I ran the one 2.02.4 lap...



   



These next two pics show shots exiting Turn 9 "Magic Mountain". A blind sharply cresting off camber exit right handed nasty turn that is...... ...actually AWESOME! If you look closely, you'll notice both right tires up in the air... and that is without any help from berms or turtles...



   



   



   



   



   



   



   



   



   



   



A little me just to make it a bit more personal.... since you all know me now for a while....



   



   

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[Eric_K]

Nice pics! I can't even imagine doing the cross country tow. I thought only Flash was crazy enough to do that.

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