2012 VRA East Coast Challenge

Neil Choi · October 02, 2012, 10:45:16 AM

Quote from: giulia_veloce on October 02, 2012, 09:32:45 AM
having her RH door open while raceing.

Mmmm, didn't think of that, that's one way of making your car wider.

alfagtv58 · October 02, 2012, 10:48:51 AM

Ingenious, while most of us 'close the door' the smart ones 'open the door'

Neil Choi · October 02, 2012, 01:30:51 PM

Some more of many others.

Angelo didn't want to miss out on the photo shoot so decided to present his best side profile.

Evan Bottcher · October 02, 2012, 01:48:47 PM

Quote from: Neil Choi on October 02, 2012, 10:37:30 AM
Just learnt how to use Flickr and also its limitation, got 400 odd pics (some out of focus, not my doing) and can only display 200, so have to redo. Might also try Picasa, we will see.

I always recommend Picasa. It's free, it hooks up to web galleries with ease and only has limitations on MB not number of pics. I have bought some disk space from google, and have all my photos backed up to picasa in high resolution (still compressed) as an backup. Just install Picasa, point it to your pictures folder, and tick the boxes to have it back up to picasaweb. I think it has better touch-up tools than iphoto too.

Evan Bottcher · October 02, 2012, 11:47:05 PM

Some photos from around the paddock.

Evan Bottcher · October 02, 2012, 11:48:13 PM

And some more...

Evan Bottcher · October 02, 2012, 11:50:06 PM

Uploaded race one. No teasing of my lack of talent. I was totally daydreaming at the start. I just wanted a clean race without embarrassing myself, so I was being a bit timid. Car in front is Angelo Verga.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_e9tuEjmwc

Evan Bottcher · October 03, 2012, 07:29:39 AM

Race 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcf-p_HnI-4

Race 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mx-Q1sdXY8

Race 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7-bU6mUIzI

The last race I dropped back again at the start and got behind Dom Chaleyer. Loads of fun trying to get past a very wide 105!

Constructive criticism welcome - other than 'grow some bolts'.

Jekyll and Hyde · October 03, 2012, 08:39:38 PM

Quote from: Evan Bottcher on October 03, 2012, 07:29:39 AM
Race 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcf-p_HnI-4

Race 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mx-Q1sdXY8

Race 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7-bU6mUIzI

The last race I dropped back again at the start and got behind Dom Chaleyer. Loads of fun trying to get past a very wide 105!

Constructive criticism welcome - other than 'grow some bolts'.

Great pass at 2:10 in the second race! Not quite intentional, I would guess?

Evan Bottcher · October 03, 2012, 08:41:35 PM

Quote from: Jekyll and Hyde on October 03, 2012, 08:39:38 PM
Great pass at 2:10 in the second race! Not quite intentional, I would guess?

Ha! I was hoping someone would notice that. Er.. no - not quite intentional... but it worked! "Comin' through!"

Jekyll and Hyde · October 03, 2012, 09:59:24 PM

Quote from: Evan Bottcher on October 03, 2012, 08:41:35 PM
Quote from: Jekyll and Hyde on October 03, 2012, 08:39:38 PM
Great pass at 2:10 in the second race! Not quite intentional, I would guess?

Ha! I was hoping someone would notice that. Er.. no - not quite intentional... but it worked! "Comin' through!"

Haha - I can just picture the thought process going on at that point... "Crap, crap, CRAP, crap, crap....... Hey, that worked out well - POWER!"

alfa duk · October 04, 2012, 09:26:44 PM

Thanks guys for a great weekends racing but to be honest, it wasnt looking good at the start. I decided not to practice on the friday due to a sketchy 2nd gear syncro and wanted to be there on the sunday. Other senior members were suggesting that it would be a good idea, in hindsight i should have listened. Sat morning practice was the first time on the winton circuit and those of you that know, it is a tricky little track surrounded by mountains, those ripple strips are unbelievable and i came in thinking shit, im in trouble. Qualifying was better and i felt more comfortable with the mountains as i started using them speedway style, as they say" bouncing off the cushion" but still had a long way to go- qualified 13th. First race i spun up at the start and got blown away by Neil Choi- he will love me saying that, so i thought i will tuck in and follow a local to get the right line. I took me a lap to realize that this was a bad idea and decided to get around him. This was also a problem as Bok as he is affectionately know to us did everything he could, late braking, wheel lock ups, getting all loose in the sweeper, frankly it was surprising that there was no paint exchange, but finally on the last lap the job was done. Much to Boks disgust as i copped a "you bastxxd" for my effort. The other 3 races were a dramatic improvement as i began to understand the track finishing in the 1 min 10s. Was good to finally meet Evan and sheldon as you can put faces to the names and no doubt reading his experience, he will be back for more. Next time we will need to organise it well away from the 6 hour so others can get a taste of VRA racing.

Mick A · October 04, 2012, 11:35:40 PM

Great videos Evan! Love that pass into Watertower Ben mentioned in the 2nd race.

Red Mist!

Enforcer · October 05, 2012, 05:59:00 PM

Just catching up with this thread from the weekend... what another great ECC, they just get better and better. All that needs to be said has been said. Love that video of the field coming trough the last corner, it just goes on forever/ Forza Alfa.

Sheldon McIntosh · October 06, 2012, 01:52:26 AM

Quote from: Evan Bottcher on October 03, 2012, 08:41:35 PM
Quote from: Jekyll and Hyde on October 03, 2012, 08:39:38 PM
Great pass at 2:10 in the second race! Not quite intentional, I would guess?

Ha! I was hoping someone would notice that. Er.. no - not quite intentional... but it worked! "Comin' through!"

Funny this one came up.... the night before we'd (Evan, Neil, Phil and I) watched the footage from race 1 and qualifying, and we'd identified that Penrite was definitely the place for Evan to pass; he was faster through the end of the sweeper and the kink into Penrite than the pesky RWDs in front, could out-brake most people, had some slower corners after that to consolidate the pass etc...

I happened to be out at Penrite taking pics for race 2, saw the mighty 'sud go sideways relative to my line of sight, momentarily wondered what had happened while getting pics of it a split second either side of it being sideways, saw him pass the car in front up the inside just like we'd talked about, and thought "wow, nice move Evan, just like we talked about last night". I kept the camera trained on him waiting for him to do the same move again over the next few laps, but it didn't happen...

Got back to the pits, said to Evan "that was a great pass into Penrite", he said "did you see me get sideways?". "Yeah, but that was what you meant to do wasn't it...?" said I hopefully. "Ahhh, no".

But what a fantastic weekend, and I was only watching, and occasionally helping out. It was awesome to see the excitement from Evan during his first real race meeting, and I was kicking myself all weekend that I hadn't managed to get my car ready for it. It was really great seeing so many Alfas out there doing what they do best, and really nice to meet so many of the committed racers from North of the Border. As Duk said too, great to put a face to forum names. I had a great time socialising with the NSW and QLD members, they are a great bunch of blokes and blokesses.

I will be building a new track-car over the next six months (so that'll be 2 years then), but I'm already going over the VRA rules to make sure I can compete in future ECC meetings. It looks like too much fun to avoid missing another one. Highly recommended.