Scenes from the track - 2004

8/9 May 2004

Just a few pictures from my first race of the 2004 season, at Portland International Raceway. Pictures taken by my wife.

	It's not perfect, but I'm doing a much better job of tracking out of Turn 12 than I have in the past. The key is to use the available track surface and ignore the painted lines.		Driving down to the hot pits and the exit to the paddock after the Group 1 qualifying session on Saturday. (My, what a clean and unblemished car I drive.)
	Feeling strangely relaxed on pregrid before the Group 1 race. It's a bit hot and I'm a bit tired, but I'm feeling pretty good about the race.		Everybody wave hello to the nice sponsor.
	The aftermath of Guy Selle's spin coming off of Turn 12. After starting near the back of the pack because of a problem on pregrid, Guy'd caught up and passed me about halfway through the race, but I hung with him, settled into a good rhythm, and basically harassed him until he spun. This was the second spin he'd had in front of me that race, but this one was much easier for me to predict and I just barely "breathed" the throttle a bit to take my normal line to the outside wall.		One lap later and they've pulled Guy into the pit lane. He'd stalled the car and, because of the starter motor problem he'd had on pregrid, had to get pushed/pulled to refire the engine. He'd eventually finish 3 laps down from me & Mike.
	The back and front sides of the trophies for 2nd (CP) and 4th (RS) I collected that week-end.

5/6 June 2004

Unlike the stuff from our digital camera that you'll usually find here, these are low-res scans of proofs (developed at Wal-Mart, no less) taken by a professional photographer standing on the outside of Portland International Raceway's Turn 5 during Saturday's sessions.

	Me "leading" Dan Heinrich through Turn 5 during Group 1 qualifying on Saturday. I put that in quotes 'cause Dan is consistently faster than all of DP, CP, and typically BP, too. He's also been known to finish ahead of any AP runners, too. In a Nissan Sentra. Eh?! As you can see, I've left Dan just enough room to pass me on the inside if he wants. (I bought two 8x10s of this one.)		I don't know if I've gotten way off-line or if I'm just leaving a lot of room for Rick Bostrom, but this was during Group 5 qualifying.
	This is the "proper" line through Turn 5. (I'm already past the apex or I'd be closer to the curbing.)		The low-res nature of the picture & scan means you can't really see it all that well, but this shot shows the damage I did to my left fender and driver's door after a brake job a few weeks earlier. Apparently, my garage floor is not quite as flat as I thought, but my driveway is every bit as steep as I knew it to be... :(
	My 2nd-place trophy for the CP race. I was told that Conference wanted to have trophies that were more useful than the mugs, plaques, and so on that they've used in the past. While I admire the intent, I personally would prefer a nice plaque. (And I don't know how "useful" these things might be: The optics are utter crap.)

Finally, as a special treat, a video from Mike Blaszczak's BMW during the Group 1 starting lap, featuring a significant amount of footage of the back of my car. :) Choose either the high- or low-resolution links listed as "Portland International Raceway / June, 2004". Windows Media Player required.

7/8 August 2004

Conference's second visit to my home track of Pacific Raceways for the year, but only my first. (Yes, I'm still annoyed about missing the May races.) Pictures as credited.

B. Grimes	Belting in for the Group 5 race, as observed by one of my younger fans. (Beth's daughter Claire, not to be confused with Eric's daughter Clara, who was off watching her daddy win the ITE class in Group 4.)	Racing with the ITS 240Z of Jack Burns... okay, I'm actually just keeping a nice wide line (the "lapping day" line) to let him by. The faster cars in ITS are typically 2-2.5 seconds faster a lap than me.	J. Alberti
J. Alberti	Aiming for the apex of Turn 9, which is about 6 inches to the left (as the driver sees it) of the jersey barrier that's just out of shot to the lower-right of this picture.	The most interesting thing about this picture are all the tire marks that cross the service road on the left of this picture. I typically take the same line Jack is, or maybe a bit closer to the white line on driver's right, but clearly some people track out of Turn 8 so far that their inside (left) tires are actually outside the technical confines of the track!	J. Alberti
J. Alberti	Nothing real exciting here, just another shot of me lining up for Turn 9.	Coming around in formation at the end of Group 1's first pace lap, expecting to see the green in about 15 seconds or so. In the foreground is Rick Bostrom's SPM RX-7 starting 18th overall (DNF after 5 laps), to his left (out of shot) is Walt Conley's Pro-3 325is starting 19th (17th), then Jeff Wicks' SPM E36-style 325i (18th), the Kahn Team Racing SportBMW 325is of John Osborne (16th), Paul Fitzgerald's blue Pro-3 325 (DNF after 2 laps), Bill Spornitz' orange Pro-3 325 (finishing 19th), Guy's CP Datsun 2000 roadster (20th), and yours truly (15th overall).	B. Grimes
B. Grimes	Starting 4th of four in CP (that's Guy's Datsun roadster, starting 3rd in our class) and 25th overall for the start.	Near the end of the first lap, I've passed Guy for 3rd in class and am gaining on Bill Spornitz' Pro-3 325 as we enter Turn 9. We would be just about to Turn 1 (the other end of the straight we're getting to) when Paul Fitzgerald's front window would eat a 36" (huge!) cone that had been previously dislodged from just to the right of this picture.	B. Grimes
J. Alberti	In front of Walt Conley's Pro-3 325is and gaining ground on John Osborne's SportBMW 325is as we exit Turn 8.	Another shot of me heading toward the Turn 9 apex. This shot, though, was taken about 3 or 4 feet from where I'll pass. If you backed up from where this picture was taken and leaned over the fence, you could probably touch the cars as they go by.	J. Alberti
B. Grimes	Near the end of the race, I'm running 15th overall, followed by John Osborn's SportBMW 325is and Walt Conley's Pro-3 325is.	Having passed what looks like a SPU Datsun 510 on my way to Turn 9, you can see Bill Spornitz' 325 just about to turn for the apex of Turn 8 in the background.	J. Alberti
J. Alberti	After two nearly back-to-back races in the heat of August, I am so ready for this Gatorade. (Too bad they're not a sponsor!)	Trophies... plaques this time! :)	S. Adams

25/26 September 2004

The last two races of the season were consecutive week-ends at Portland and Pacific Raceways. Since I had already decided I wasn't up for back-to-back week-ends, and I was going to be running the enduro at PIR, I elected to run this race to really cement the track in my mind... before I had to run it at night. These are all of the Group 1 race, as taken from the grandstands at the (in)famous "Festival Turns" (also known as Turns 1-3) by my wife.

	We've just left pregrid (around the corner to the left) and are on our warmup lap.		Sure is lonely, starting 38th...
	First couple turns, first lap. I've passed 3 cars on the run down to the corner and I'm in the act of getting by Bill Spornitz' orange BMW. At the moment, I only have eyes for Guy's red & white roadster a few spots ahead of me. Later on, I would "grow" eyes for that yellow RX-7 in front of me: One of a pair of drivers down from Canada, they'd probably never been to PIR before and one of 'em (they had identical cars) tended to brake really early for the fast left-hand Turn 10 at the end of the back straight.		Taking the apex for Turn 2, about two seconds after the picture on the left.
	I've exited Turn 3 (4th car on the left) and am on the short run down to Turn 4. This is the direction we all look to gauge the weather... if you can't see those tree-covered hills in the background, better get your wet setup ready!		Between Turns 1 and 2 on the following lap. The order in front of me has shuffled a bit, but I'm still three cars behind Guy.
	Starting lap 3, I'm all over Guy's tail as we enter the chicane. That's Jeff Wicks' nicely turned-out E36 325i in front of us.		Contrary to how close we were in the picture to the left, I did not actually touch Guy to cause this spin. Unfortunately for Guy, this is typically how I end up passing him. (If you look carefully, you can see how his rear tires broke loose under acceleration from the apex of Turn 2. You might also be able to spot my grin as I go by, mission accomplished for the C Production race.)
	Following Jeff through Turn 2, after my accidental divebomb move on him in Turn 12. I had done what I needed to in this race, and I knew we would be meeting up later in the Group 5 race, so I eventually backed off a bit.		Now that I'd backed off my pace a bit, the Canadian RX-7 I'd passed earlier (note the left side of the picture directly above this one) had gained ground. This was especially obvious on the straigts, where a nicely-tuned second generation RX-7 (13B rotary) can get up a good head of steam.
	One lap later and he's just a bit closer... and manages to get by me on the inside of Turn 1.		A lap later, though, and I'm back in front.
	Tracking through Turn 2 all by myself...		Because he's gotten by me again, this time for good. (Honestly, though, I wasn't trying all that hard to keep him behind.)
	Some of the front-running cars in the very-fast Group 1 lapping us lowly middle-of-the-packers. Surprisingly, I would eventually unlap myself from the blue Porsche #300. If I recall correctly, the Viper Competition Coupe on the right is the same car that Gary Bockman borrowed for the SPEED World Challenge GT race earlier in the year.		Getting lapped, yes, but I haven't totally lost touch with the RX-7.
	Getting lapped by the eventual 2nd place finisher in a purpose-built, tube-framed Monte Carlo.		Looking back through the stands as I exit the left-hand Turn 6.
	Ground level as I enter Turn 2. Stiffly sprung as my car is, there's still a decent bit of body roll as I transition to a corner. Bigger sway bars (or "anti-roll bars" as they're known in Formula 1) would take care of that.		On the last lap of the race, just past the apex of Turn 6, as taken from the ground behind the stands. You can just see the nose of Eric's Porsche 968 behind me... one more lap and he'd've lapped me. :) (Three weeks after this shot was taken, that'd be ME driving Eric's car, in the enduro!)
	I received an engraved picture frame for my efforts in finishing 2nd in the C Production race. (Sorry 'bout the crappy photo quality.)

16 October 2004

The 29th Annual CSCC "8 Hours of the Cascades," my first endurance race, running with Eric Krause and Hal Hilton in Eric's Porsche 968. Pictures by Skip Grehan of Paragon Products - Porsche Parts, Tech & Info.

	A little chit-chat among the drivers as Hal gets his helmet on in preparation for the race start.		Hal can't get his helmet to sit comfortably, I'm getting hydrated, and Eric's wondering if driving with the doors open will keep us from getting too hot.
	Clean, shiny, and topped up with gas, oil, coolant, brake pads, and tires. Looks like a podium-finisher just sittin' there, doesn't it? :)		A shot down the pitlane just before the start of the race.
	The Porsche 993 Supercup that would have some sort of problem near the end of the race, putting us on the podium in the P1 class.		The 2003 Porsche GT3 Cup car (w/2004 engine updates) that finished 2nd in our class (9 laps ahead of us) and 4th overall.
	Near the start of the race, Hal passes the Kahn Team Racing BMW 325 that would finish 5th in P2 and only 7 laps behind us.		I'm pretty sure that's me driving down the front straight, just about to the start/finish line.
	Me again, I think.		This is Eric exiting Turn 12 onto the front straight about an hour into his first stint.
	A little further through the same corner, one lap later.		Unbuckling the belts so I can hand over the car to Eric for the final stint. The halogen work lights Hal bought for the event were plenty bright, as you can see.
	Gil and Skip handling the refueling. (Since Skip's in this picture, it's obvious he didn't take it. Dunno who did, though.)		Getting Eric strapped in for the last stint.
	The race is finally over and Eric's just about to shut 'er off.		Gil, Andre, and Hal wait for Eric to exit a very tired 968.
	Congratulations to Eric, who's just finished a tough 1:20 minutes of racing in the rain and darkness.		The "over the wall" part of the crew. From left to right: Skip, Andrew, Hal, me, Gil, Randy, "driver" Eric, Andre, and "crew" Eric.
	Handmade commemorative plates were the trophies for (at least) 2nd and 3rd places. Nice.		Don't ask me why I took a picture of this, but here's my share of the $150 prize money for finishing 3rd in class. Does this mean I can put "semi-professional race car driver" on my resume now? :)

A slick little video/slideshow combo that Skip from Paragon Products made. It's set to music, so you can't hear the car(s) very well, but it does a good job capturing the day. I can't always tell who's driving and when, but I know that's a clip of me about 1'47" into the show, as I bomb down the front straight past a P2-classed 240Z, a P3 Miata and a P2 Porsche 944, and then a P2 BMW 325 at the end of the straight (the clip ends just before I move right to outbrake going into the corner). Having all that torque to play with was a real blast! Also some good clips of the other cars... especially the Porsches. :)

(It's a 28MB QuickTime clip, so it might take a while to download/start. I'd recommend doing a "Save Target As" or the equivalent.)