"All in" were our Triumphs at Grattan. Fabulous weather set the stage for
an amazing weekend of racing. FoT had a rich presence with 8 race cars and
dozens of other family and Friends.
The 3 days packed more race time than most cars could take.
Fot drivers and cars = Tony Drews (TR4), Sean Alexander (TR4), Dale Osterle
(Spitfire), Michael Moore(TR4), Michael Deweerd (TR4), John Styduhar TR3B),
Jason Ostrowski (2 GT6+'s)
Everyone's obvious goal to "Never be beaten by equipment" in this weekend
would take a car blessed by the racing Gods. We all had a shot at over a
dozen sessions. Grattan is very hard on suspension components. There were
over 44 cars in Group 2 and 25 in group 8.
Tony was the star in Group 2.
It was quite possible for him to beaten by Sean or myself but both of us
fell victim of terminal problems before our real chance came (Sean; likely
a Cracked Head) and (me; Motor time of Death sat. 9:27 am)
Great showings by Mike M, Mike D, Dale and John, filled the top 15 spots in
most sessions with some awesome Triumph action.
Michael Moore gets the FGR pick of the weekend for some stellar consistency
and excellent driving on a new track (he finished almost every lap he was
given and was clipping off some great lap times all weekend)
John had some excellent starts; passing many cars very quickly... but also
had a few disappointments with an epic big spin onto the front stretch and
a dead car at turn one in just prior to the start of the race.
Deweerd also had his share of troubles with couple of spins and a smoking
parked car. But hats off to him as he fixed all the problems he encountered
and made it all the way to the end of the weekend.
The extreme loss of power in my yellow car left me to focus on the green
#69 as the lone Triumph in group 8. And after many sleepless nights of prep
the entire week before, I was eventually rewarded with a ride that served
me very well. But, Brian and I were still working on the car till 2:00 in
the morning on Thursday. and then were not able to get it running at all on
Friday. It took us half of the day and a dismantling of many major
components to figure out that common bit of knowledge that most carburation
are electrical. A bad condenser turned out to be our demon.
In the end, the redone car was a magical beast of awesome sound. I drove
the car faster than I ever have before and moved up from 26th to 10th in
the first race, then 10th to 7th in the second race; and in the third
race I had my best race ever finishing 3rd overall and 2nd in class. I
passed and then was hounded all race by a nemesis cheater 240z and was
walking away from a Ferrari 348 Challenge! I couldn't belive it!
The Zippy car was unstoppable... until I broke an axle in the feature race
on Sunday.
Still, I'll take that cost of breakage as I turned a champion best time of
all of us by a few seconds ending up with a 1:32.8... by far the fastest
time any of us "Vintage Triumph" guys have gone there in years!
Brian tried some cool new go pro video angles and we hope to have some
highlight videos to share soon.
It was a great weekend for all us.Grattan in August is truly an event
that is like no other. The always awesome Beady Eyed Wine and Cheese,
Friends, and some of the best racing in the Midwest.
Hope to see you all there next year!
Jason Ostrowski
Friendly Ghost Racing
_______________________________________________
fot@autox.team.net
http://www.fot-racing.com
Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
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