Story by David Sugg
Practice on the 5th was uneventful. The Superformance guys had some maintenance to do on the cars. On the Reed/Sugg car, a CV boot cover split and had to be replaced. On the Gould/Naquin car, which is a new car with a new engine, carburetor problems forced a lot of head scratching. Everyone had an opinion and Clay was running in circles until Mark Ray solved the problem. It was finally determined that the carburetor supplied was ordered for road racing but made for circle track racing, and any right turn caused the engine to sputter and die. The offending carb was replaced and the car now runs fine.
The new Superformance Coupe finally arrived sometime in the afternoon with Dennis at the wheel. He had driven it on the way up to put some miles on the car. It looks beautiful and seems to have the potential to be a real rocket. Mark Ray, Dennis’ co-driver arrived in the truck and Bob Olthoff and Geoff Blandford, the engineer responsible for the design and construction of the Superformance Coupe, came along to do the final setup on the car. Dennis was able to get some practice laps in and is prepared for the qualifying at 5 PM today.
The schedule for today is tech in the morning, a drivers meeting from 2 until 4 PM and then qualifying beginning at 5 PM. It is over at 8 PM and then there is a welcome party by the organizers. It won’t last too long because the first event is tomorrow morning at 7 AM. After two events here at Gingerman, we go to MIS for another event and then drive 700+ miles to be at Road Atlanta in the morning to begin the events there. Needless to say, the radar detectors will be working overtime tonight as we all speed to get there and get some sleep.
The Gingerman track is a really nice, technically challenging course near the town of South Haven, MI. It is in great shape and a lot of fun to drive. The Mk III's can stay pretty much in 3rd gear through most of it and really get around. Qualifying consists of 3 timed laps around it and the times determine the run group that each car is in. Run groups determine how soon each day you can leave the track to get to the next track. The earlier the better. The cars entered range from a 1995 Cadillac Eldorado with two engines to Dodge Neons. Everyone seems to be having a great time with despite the looming prospect of sleep deprivation.
Final thoughts for the day:
Qualifying is over, but there are no times posted because the printer broke. I guess we will find out where we run tomorrow. We did get our own times and Dennis was clocked at a 1:38.5, David was clocked at a 1:39.3 and Clay was clocked at 1:45+ after spinning out. Barry Cline was the fourth Superformance car at the event and he posted a 1:43 after being blocked by another car. All the Mk III's were fast.
Qualifying Results
| Qualifying Position | Entry | Drivers | Time |
1 |
Hennessey 1998 Dodge Viper GTS Venom 650R | Sean Roe John Hennessey |
1:35.3 |
2 |
1994 Dodge Ram Pickup | Ron Adee Mark Reuter |
1:36.4 |
3 |
1999 TNT Dodge Viper GTS | Kim Crumb David Muyres |
1:36.7 |
4 |
1998 Dodge Viper GTS | Brian Smith Spencer Geswein |
1:37.0 |
5 |
1994 RENNTech Mercedes-Benz 600SL | Paul Gerrard Dan Kary |
1:37.3 |
6 |
2000 Lingenfelter Chevrolet Corvette | Robert Renc Ron Kline |
1:38.1 |
7 |
1964 Superformance Coupe | Dennis Olthoff Mark Ray |
1:38.6 |
8 |
1997 Mallett Chevrolet Corvette 435 | Jim Minneker Chuck Mallett |
1:38.6 |
9 |
1997 Dodge Viper GTS | Jerry Churchill Bill Evans |
1:38.6 |
10 |
1994 Toyota Supra Turbo | Emmanuel Crouvisier Reg Riemer |
1:39.0. |
On to Gingerman 1...