Velocity Invitational - Laguna Seca Nov ‘21

[Chuck Miller]

Great look'n car Max .... Please let us know how'ya do ...

[TB73]

It is interesting how the Brit’s @ Goodwood seem much more willing to put themselves & their machinery in harms way than the Yank’s ……opinions on why that is ?
TB73

[Darth Frivolous]

We were at Laguna on Saturday for the event (which was excellent, by the way) and Max's car was definitely a favorite amongst a bunch us there. Lots of pictures taken and details pored over. Beautiful car!

[maxminshull]

From my notes...

Thursday Practice:
1st Practice was a bust as we had a misfire which choked the power. By the afternoon for 2nd practice we had solved the issue temporarily by running on a single plug set up. Car was having idling issues still. Ben Kirchner and Tom Jones from RetroSport were helping out. They had done the race set up in the lead up to the race after Taylor Shannon and Richie Humphrey in San Clemente had completed the light restoration the car needed over the past year or so. Anyway, what a special group of cars that included GTOs, 906/908/910s and RSRs aplenty. Plus some 356s (including a Super 90 GT) for you flat four fanatics.

Friday Qualifying:
The car got fixed late Thursday with the help of Jeff Gamroth and Ben tinkering with the carb jetting and tune. Qualifying looked like it would be a good opportunity to challenge the dominance of the plethora of 3.0 RSRs in Group 7 by qualifying ahead of the other Datsuns and early 1970s 2.8 RSRs and S/Ts. Group 7 was for 2.5L and up cars from 1966-1977 so at least we had no 934/935s but I knew I would be lucky to get out of the bottom third. More alarmingly the driver (me) pulled the gear knob off during the 3rd-4th shift down the front straight on my first lap. At least the 2.5 race motor sounds good enough at 7500rpm through straight pipes to make that careless mistake seem less annoying in the grand scheme of things! By the time I got out of the pits with a tightly installed gear knob, the session was black flagged due to a freshly restored S/T dropping an oil scavenge line on the racing line from Turn 4 through Turn 6. So I had qualified second to last...

Saturday Race 1:
Race 1 was to be a sunset race so we double checked the lights and happily found they were working. Other cars either had taped lights or no lights which made it interesting for the last couple laps to say the least. I made a couple mistakes, but passed 4 cars and 4 other cars dropped out so up to 14th place of 26! Not bad for the narrowest tires on the grid and being tied for the smallest engine.


Cars are pitted Goodwood style under tents, which keeps the vintage cars away from the modern trailers. Photo by Tom Jones.


Coming up and passing the Alfa. Photo by Emma Alderton

[maxminshull]

Part II of Photos from Saturday Race 1:


Photo by Emma Alderton


Photo by Larry Chen. Epic perspective in this shot.

Sunday Race 2:

Sunday's race was going to be a battle for less positions because the results of Saturday determined the starting grid for Sunday moving me quite a ways up past RSRs that had mechanical issues. My best battle of the race was against the aforementioned S/T, who I passed on a inside dive on the straight preceding the corkscrew.


Waiting in the hot pit.


Passing the S/T. Photo by Emma Alderton


Trying to stay ahead of RSRs. Captured from livestream.

Conclusion:
I had a great time at the Velocity Invitational. It is a special event that Jeff O'Neill and Steve Earl had a big part in planning and you can tell they wanted to elevate the experience you get at the Rolex Reunion especially but also just your typical (read lots of fun) CSRG/HSR event. The car will be back for a few races in CSRG and Rolex in August so please come by if you will be at a CSRG event or Rolex Reunion. I am a big fan of these narrow body cars and would love to hang out with any Early 911S forum members that come by.

[Chuck Miller]

Just outstanding Max !!!!!

I know the Jon Norman #58 2.5 TransAm 2lt. GTV quite well....
Jon's a nice guy and a tough competitor that has been champagning and developing that green car since the early '70's when he raced it in the original 2.5 TransAm....

Fantastic stuff !!!

Cheers,
cm

[maxminshull]

I'll need to talk to Jon next time I see him, it was a wonderful car. Most of the Giulias were competing in the under 2.5L class with the 356s (including two Abarth GTLs).

[Chuck Miller]

Max,

I also see you were on the same track as Erich Joiner and his crazy fast white with yellow/blue stripes #48 RSR tribute...
He's an incredible driver !!!
At Rennsport I've seen him beat every early non-tubo 911 on the track ....

You were with great company brother ....

[maxminshull]

Another photo from Velocity taken by Andrew Ritter