Qwildurn Goes Racing

Although this really isn't the forum for "personal" stuff, (then why do we take this game so personally), different players have expressed an interest in my attempt at being a Race Car Driver and have asked me to post a picture or two.

Six months ago, my brother Pete (logon "aura8440") and I bought a 1973 Datsun 240z to turn into a hobby racer. We have been fixing it up in our spare time and finally made it to the track. The track is Willow Springs Raceway near Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Dessert of Southern California.

Pete Russell on left, Bob Russell (Qwildurn) on right. Yes, I'm an old fart. The "X" is to let the other drivers know that we're noobs. Separately, we have both taken a High Speed Driving Class using our Dad's Alfa Romeo. I was able to drive Dad's racer enough to get my Time Trials Licence, while Pete was recovering from two broken legs. After Pete gets some more experience (points) and a TT Licence (level-up, ding), we will work on our Full Competition Licences.

It was a near perfect weekend for racing in the High Desert of Mojave, California. Last year at this time (January) it never got above freezing. In our summer, it is between 100-120 (Fahrenheit). On this day, we had a few sprinkles of rain, gusting wind and about 50 degrees. In the early morning, a HUGE rainbow covered the track leading a storm front away.

Driving hard through a right-hand sweeper. The skid marks show where the "losers" have been.

A pair of Alfa Romeo's past me like I was standing still. Very well built cars with excellent drivers.

A Mercedes SLK ready to overtake me. I was hoping to hold him off longer than I did. Notice the stock street tires tucking under. I'm probably doing 70 MPH and turning sharper than the tires look. The stock 240z throttle steers quite well. Lift the gas to turn in sharper, push down to lift the nose and turn out. Weapon Finesse is the key feat here. To much throttle change and it's Devastation Critical.

A different view of the same turn doing about 70 MPH. Yes that's Q driving. Notice the daylight under the right front tire. The stock suspension allows for a lot of body roll. The two inside tires are not doing any work.

Our Dad's Alfa Romeo GTV blew the transmission, so we let him drive our Datsun 240z. During our last practice session the battery fell out ending our weekend just before the main event. All we missed was the last 5 laps of our weekend. We have our own in-car-timer and recorded our laps.

1. Dad = 1:55
2. Bob = 1:56
3. Pete = 1:57

Had we have been able to compete in the "timed event", the winning car of our class recorded a time of one minute, forty-five seconds. We would have been dicing it up for fourth place.

Racer Z
(LOL - my logon in the other forum)