Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Dirt Track Demo Cross and Firearms Spectacular

On the weekend of November 3, a small group of individuals was reportedly spotted in Eastern NC engaging in a plethora of activities ranging from marginally rude all the way to extremely offensive to the environment and society in general. While the reports remain vague and unconfirmed, some details about the events that occurred in that corn field have surfaced…..

Weird Al's 1st Annual Dirt Track Demo Cross and Firearms Spectacular!

The participants came from all walks of life, although they were homogenous in a deep appreciation for fire, alcoholic beverages, dented body panels, and violence. Each brought his own talent to the field, whether it be driver's skill, artistic ability, or just ammunition. All brought something to drink.

The event began unenthusiastically, with the Beertech crew arriving first, unable to pinpoint the exact destination, due mainly to the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere, and everything looked pretty much the same. Once their target location was discovered, the quickly went to work implementing a bold plan to create the single most fearsome BMW 320is ever to exist. Thanks to the artistic vision of one recovering weird M-Coupe guy, the 320 quickly became the centerpiece of the event, and a symbol for the lengths at which all the participants would go to have a good time. At 10:15am the first alcoholic beverage was served, and subsequently enjoyed.

The other vehicular participants arrived, and soon after, the Saab was already on its side. There are conflicting reports as to the cause of this incident, but all evidence points to driver error. The Beereck 320 and Weird Al's Audi both ran flawlessly.

At approximately 12:32pm, the firearms were unsheathed, and a defacto state of war resulted. No metal duck was safe; no clay pigeon flew without at least 3 eager shotgunners attempting to take it down. Unfortunately, sometime during the hostilities, the Beereck 320 received two grievous gunshot wounds. There was no driver or passengers in the car at the time.

Once the firing slowed down, the serious racing commenced. The pile of empties was getting large, but reinforcements had arrived with more provisions. The DemoCross was a violent affair, lacking any formal rules or regulations, and the track was challenging, especially with spectators hurling objects at the participants. The racing continued late into the evening, fueled by delicious grilled chicken, innocent deer, and more booze. The cars became battered and bruise, and most kept on running. Bump drafting was encouraged, and in the pits, love taps ruled. The S10 Blazer crapped out early, and was subsequently the victim of a wiring problem and engulfed in flames.

The winners of the actual racing are yet to be determined, although only two vehicles left the field that day: Weird Al's Audi and the Beereck 320. All of the participants are anxious, and ready for Big Al's Dirt Track Demo Cross and Firearms Spectacular…….2008!

Please take a moment to enjoy the artistic vision of Scott M's video:


Pictures to follow.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Road Atlanta: mini report



As I prepare to head off to Roebling Road for the weekend, and there's no report from Road Atlanta. I'll keep the RA report very brief.

Road Atlanta is an extremely fun track to drive. Scary... but that is what makes it so fun. The combination on hills and blind turns add to the thrill. August is a very hot time of the year. We saw temps over 110°. Factor in the humidity and it was just über hot. Lucky for us, we have cool suits. I really don't know how someone could sit on grid without one.

We had a good time. So much fun it hurt. I'll just leave it at that.

Oh... Thanks to Discovery Parts (www.discoveryparts.com) for the random drawing and the $50 gift certificate.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

CMP & VIR Reports

Don't let the lack of blogging activity fool you into thinking BeerTech hasn't been racing. The truth is, I've been racing every other week for the past month and a half. Three weeks after JP and I raced at Rockingham, I hit CMP with the Southeast guys and gal, then with just one weekend off... I joined the Mid-Atlantic guys for a hot weekend of racing on VIR's north course. And in a few short days, JP and I will be attacking Road Atlanta for the first time. Which quite frankly is why I'm going to crank this race report out. I don't want to have to try to recap 3 races in one report.

CMP | July 14-15

In short, this was another weekend that I'd just as soon forget. I spent the whole weekend just trying to avoid being lapped. I was able to stay with the pack for the 1st lap but after that... they'd just pull away. I was spending all my time just trying to keep the car on track. If the car wasn't plowing though turns it was all over the place. Turns out it was because my whole rear end suspension had worked itself loose. I even had a loose rear axle nut on the drivers side. The combination of the car and the track conditions on Sunday made me think something had busted. Even at low speeds, I couldn't get the car to turn right. I think things were compounded (no pun intended) by running off line and picking up a bunch of rubber and trash. The only upside of the on-track portion of the weekend was I was able to practice driving a very poorly set up car. Something I learned, I'd rather not do again.

Off the track was a totally different experience. In contrast to the hot days, the evenings were nice and cool. The awards ceremony had some added entertainment with Al receiving the coveted 6th place trophy and Brandon winning his first race and the raffled CoolSuit system. The evening however hadn't even started until we ran into Hippy Harry and his stuffed possum. I'm not at liberty to divulge all the details of the evening, but Sunday started with an eerie fog that mysteriously cause several cars to be misplaced.

VIR | July 28-29
With only a week before heading to VIR and a very heavy work load... a questionable rear wheel bearing and whacked out alignment, I decided to let someone else deal with things. So I took my car to Carr Industries. Dropping it off on Wednesday and picking it up on Friday on my way out off town. I was going to just have to hope they'd get everything worked out.

My first test was in Saturday's practice. The car setup was so different from CMP, I had to get used to driving a totally different car. By the time qualifying rolled around I was much more comfortable in the car, out qualifying Canterbury. That may have been the highlight of my weekend and the ego boost I've needed to dial things up. Sadly, come race time... I would fail to complete the race due to an "off" that was triggered by me pushing too hard on greasy tires and Canterbury closing in. Coming through hog pin with 3 laps remaining, I dropped 2 wheels on the outside, came back on too soon... went back across the track and "brushed" the inside Armco, pulling my spoiler half off. All the way off would have been better. I was forced to return to the paddock and free the spoiler.

Not the ending I was looking for, but it was good to run with the pack for a change.

Sunday's quali was not as fruitful. I started 22nd... dead last. The track was HOT and the racing was intense. I was able to take a few positions throughout the race but the most eventful lap was the last. Paul M. had spun ahead of me in the middle of the race (as he tends to do) and was in my rearview for a better part of the race. Closing in as we dropped into roller coaster, I felt confident I was going to be able to keep him from getting past me before the checker. Little did I know, he was going to dive-bomb me in the last right hander... running me off into the grass and taking the position. I was not happy! Especially due to the fact that Paul received the meatball flag (he had been dumping fuel on the track the entire race) with only 3 laps left, but failed to pit. After a heated exchange on track and a much cooler discussion in the paddock, I decided to let it go. Going from 22nd to 17th was good enough for me. I had a good race... stuck with the pack and had a few battles.

However... once the official results were posted (days later), I saw that Paul got moved to the last position and I was awarded 16th place. Nice to know there is justice out there.

Next up Road Atlanta.

And JP's turn to post a report.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Scott's Rock'n Race Report:



Scott's Race Report: BeerTech was still one car shy for NASA's "Roll the Rock" race (June 16-17) at North Carolina Speedway (previously know as Rockingham or better know as the Rock). JP and I were able to make what may have been one of the last races to be held at the track that was at one time one of the southeast's premiere race venues. And let me tell you, that was a long, long time ago. Although the racing was good (better for JP than me… but I'll report on that later) and the garages are a luxury we rarely get to experience—the overall facility is a run down mess. But none of that stopped us from having a great weekend.

The weekend started with checking in and setting up shop on Friday night. Now that our cars are built there's not much more to do than unload the cars. That's nice because that leaves a lot more time for beer and trash talk with the other drivers. While Laura slow cooked her low country boil… that left extra time for the others of us to perfect our beer spiking techniques. While Al, Travis and JP all tried to out match me… this is one area of the weekend where I believe I may have out performed them. On the track however—they currently still have the edge.

For Saturday’s qualifying JP made a fairly strong showing with a 7th position while I brought up the back of the pack with at 11. The up side… I wasn't last. The first race of the day was a 20 minute sprint. You'll have to wait for JP's report to know exactly what went on up front but he had a very strong race. He was able to move up several positions and held Laura and Al off to finish in a very strong 3rd place. Taking the bottom step of the podium, he brought home a nice trophy, some Toyo bucks and a victory for BeerTech. Meanwhile I was able to hold DP off, out last Skeen's POS (just kidding Mike) to take a 10th place finish and win $50 from CDOC.


The second race of the day was fairly uneventful from our perspective. For Mike D however it was a very different story. In the early portion of the race Mike had a pretty scary off that brought the red flag out. By the time I turned into the road course portion of the track, I was looking at the underside of his car. With the passenger wheels digging into the soft sand, he came pretty close to flipping the car. After landing back on all four wheels he's exhaust started a small grass fire. He was able to get out and extinguish whatever was burning.The race came to an abbreviated end but everyone was alright and Mike's car was in one piece. JP ended up in 4th (another strong run) and I was 11th (not so good).

Sunday's qualifying came sooner than I expected. I for some reason (idiot) or another (idiot) failed to take note that there wasn't a practice session. Oops! So without pushing it, I qualified in 10th while JP qualified 5th. Again… you have to get JP's version of what happened up front, because I haven't a clue. I was slow, had a an off and a spin which secured me the bat ottom of the order with a solid 12th place finish. JP fished 7th.


The Hard Rock 3, which is a 55 minute enduro was the 4th and final race of the weekend. For this race—the powers to be decided to invert the starting order. I gotta say, I loved this idea (sort of). Race time came as mercury bubbled up to a nice, balmy 98 degrees. And by balmy, I mean nice thick hot southern sticky air. The only clouds I recall seeing were the ones that came out of JP's tailpipe.

The start of the race was as exciting as you'd expect a spec series to be with all the slow cars up front. Although I still wasn't pushing things as much as I could or should… the inverted start gave me some much needed "in the thick of it" track time. For a while there I thought I was going to be able to battle it out with a few of the other cars, but things just slipped away and I decided to stay on strategy and just go for another finish. The enduro took it's toll on several cars. While fighting his way to the front… JP got a little too familiar with the curbing installed by our good friends at the THSCC, taking him out of the race much earlier than expected. After a long hot race and a close call coming through turn 7… I finished in a somewhat respectable 9th. Too bad CDOC doesn't pay out for that.

Proving the durability of an E30, Mike D came back from his little scare the day before and took the top of the podium in both of the Sunday races.

All in all, it was a great weekend.
Bitter sweet in some ways…
but it was still another weekend at the track.

–Scott

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge

Beertech Sponsor Tom and I attended the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge tonight. Thanks to a top secret connection with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, we had front row seats. While Beertech is more into the kind of racing with both left and right turns, there's no denying the entertainment value of the stock car boys. The PCC was pretty cool, and it did a great job of combining individual skills (jack man, tire changer, gas man, etc) with team efforts to really show which pit crews had the guts to pull through. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, and Steve Smith of the Panthers all made token appearances. I was really impressed by the skill of the tire change guys, as well as the brute strength of the teams as pushed the cars 40 yards (the final challenge); I've always sort of dug NASCAR as a spectacle, but this reinforces the more competitive aspects.....that is, unless its rigged....


Corporate Rob

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

BeerTech Spring Cook-Out


So by now you've got a pretty good idea that BeerTech is about some guys who are car nuts. And being nuts doesn't make us great drivers. But it's something we are passionate about.

But there's more to BeerTech than cars. There's also Go Karts... and food... and Beer.

Hooray BEER!

A few weeks ago we had our 1st Annual Spring BeerTech Cook-Out.

We wanted to do something to celebrate my 40th and the fact that Rob and Brook had just run off and gotten married.

Hooray Rob!

It was a full day of fun. We started the day with the Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez double feature... GRIND HOUSE. Sure it won't win any academy awards but it was an all out perfect guys flick. Fast cars, girls with guns, pocket bikes and lots of explosions. Quentin's move could have been 15 minutes shorter... But I digress.

If you want a review of the movie? Google "Grind House, review"... but I wouldn't trust anything you read on the internet.



Promptly following the movie, we headed to Greensboro's finest new attraction... the indoor Go Cart track (Greensboro Grand Prix). We didn't set any track records... but we had fun and gave the guys in the supposedly faster super carts a run for their money.

By know your asking... where's the cook-out? Well that's what we did after the go carting.

We headed to my house, where we met up with our better halves.

While we were doing our thing... the girls had been off getting manicures and stuff.



While the food cooked on the grill, the guys spent the evening out the garage talking cars and stuff. We all had just the right amount of food and adult beverage. At some point however, we decided to pay a quick visit to our favorite bar, Fishbones.

Rob and Brook left the group at this point to go and enjoy there BeerTech Honeymoon at the O'Henry. While the rest of us head back to my place to catch the late night viewing of the F1 race live from somewhere halfway around the world. I think some red car won?

So there's more to BeerTech than Cars, Go Karts, Food, and Beer... there's good times and good friends.

-Scott

Car 467 Returns to Action


Just a quick Update:

It was down to the wire to make it to the race this weekend at CMP. But through the amazing work done by Steve Bassan (the man is a magician), the good folks at Greensboro Maaco, the generosity of Steven Canterbury and JP... car 467 is back and better than before.

It was great to be back on track however I'm going to leave the race report to JP (see Below). I was a bit timid to say the least. The only thing I wanted to do was have a clean weekend. Get my 2 sigs and bring my car back in one piece. Not a very lofty goal but with all the damaged e30 metal incurred by BeerTech this year, I figured I'd do my part to help keep the price of parts from going through the roof.

Not sure why... but I ran a faster lap on Saturday than I did on Sunday. Oh well...

All in all I liked the track at CMP. It's both fast and technical. I think I'll fair much better the next time I go.

Scott... Out

Monday, May 7, 2007

Carolina Motorsports Park Recap

This weekend was MUCH different from the others. . . . none of the BeerTech cars found a wall!!! We were racing in lovely Kershaw SC. The track is really strange. The first 11 turns are great flowing turns, awesome. The last three are the worst set of turns I've ever done. No flow at all, it totally ruins the track. Oh well, at least there's only three of them.

Saturday started with cloudy skies that gave way to rain right before practice. It only rained lightly all days so dry tires would work. That's great seeing as we are too poor for rain tires, ha! Practice was our first time on the track, so it was throw away just to learn the track. I qualified 12th out of 18, and I believe Scott qualified 17th out of 18. I love the rain. We did a standing start which is REALLY fun. I spun all the way through 1st and 2nd gear and had to defend against a fast moving Steven Canterbury on the outside of Turn 1. The pack stayed close and I tucked in and tried to stay with them. I had a nice long spin coming out of turn 14 doing a nice 360 into the grass. I lost a handful of spots but got going again in front of Steven. I spent the entire rest of the race reeling in Herrington and Al Taylor who were in an epic battle. I made up about 10 car lengths to challenge them on the last two laps before we all got screwed by a turdbo 944 that ruined our race. He wasn't even racing for position. I finished 12th I think. Scott had a clean spin free race and brought the car home in one piece, really nice given the condition and considering he spun 3 or 4 times through practice/quali.

Saturday Start


Sunday the skies cleared and the track dried out. I pulled off before we went out for practice because I left my jack in the trunk. Whoops. When I went back out, the car started to overheat on the first lap. I pulled it in and found a cut coolant hose. The motor/chassis flexing was letting the fan hit the hose. Fortunately for me, the Rev. Al Taylor came prepared with spares and donated a hose to BeerTech in return for our further support of his inebriation. With the car fixed, quali began. I ran a 2 min flat, 3 seconds off pole, not bad for my 4th session on the track. It put me right back in 12th again. Scott qualified 17th with no spins. The start of the race was a blast and I got a great launch, but not enough to get by anyone. After that it was pretty boring as I was about .5 seconds off of Travis and Al's pace, so I was losing about a car length a lap. I spent the rest of the race lapping by myself. . . . BORING. Scott and I finished where we started and had no wrecks or spins.

Not the best racing I've had, but the track was fun and the Spec E30 guys always make the weekend a blast. Johnny Allen, Team Salazar, Gasman, and the Al and Travis show had us laughing (and Al burping and farting) all weekend. I hope Earl takes a little longer to get an "I" car because he's going to be quick when he does. It was great the see the Canterbury race family again - James is a hangman pro and a hot dog terrorist. The BeerWreck curse continued when Vic had contact early and went off late in the race promptly after getting a sticker, DAMN YOU SALAZARRRR!!! Johnny didn't put his off though when he got a sticker. . . . he must be more talented than Vic. . .

Thanks for tuning in.

JP
















Friday, May 4, 2007

CMP this weekend


Scott and I(JP) will be tackling CMP, Carolina Motorsports Park, this weekend. It will be my 3rd weekend and Scott's first time racing since his wreck. I wouldn't expect to see any podium finishes as neither of us has ever driven this track. Wish us well.


Brian - get you ass in gear. Do work Son!

-JP

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Rob in a cave

I spent this weekend installing a Beertech sticker on the Acura washer/dryer combo. Got it straight with no bubbles, sweet.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Rockingham Race Recap

Well, I know its a bit late, but here is my story of my second race weekend at Rockingham:


I spent the morning getting ready for practice and making sure I had all of my excuses for being slow lined up. Fortunately, I was able to use one immediately as I only did one "hot" lap before I felt a nasty thumping/gallop from the right front. This is especially scary with the high banking that Rockingham has. I brought it in fearing the worst and it only turned out to be loose lugs on the right front. I must have forgotten to tighten those down while telling lies to Travis and Al. Whoops! Even with loose lugs an one lap in, I was still only 3 seconds off the pace. I ran a 1:15.8 for the first practice session.

With the lugs all secured, it was time for quali. I had some good clean laps and even got to dice a little with a white 944 for the last two laps. I ran a 1:11.776 putting me squarely into 6th out of seven racers. Not as fast as I wanted, but it would suffice. Robert Patton took the pole with a blistering 1:08.917! That is an eternity faster on such a small track.

When race time came I found that I was surprisingly calm and relaxed as I was sitting on grid waiting to go out. The green flag fell and I got and alright start. I found myself staring at the car in front of my instead of the starter. I settled into position and started racing. On about the third or forth lap, Steven Canterbury pulled a perfect pass into the braking zone for turn 3. This rattled me a bit because I've never actually been passed for position. I tucked in behind and focused on staying with him for the next few laps. The chance to take back my position came in turn 4, fishhook. Steven was running wide on turn in and leaving the door open. I trail-braked in and snuck along side him. I got a great run out of the turn and the position was mine. Steven follow me the rest of the race, never really letting me relax. Al Taylor overheated early allowing me to finish 5th for my 3rd ever race.

Results:
  1. Robert Patton
  2. Mike Skeen
  3. Travis Wilson
  4. Laura Patton
  5. JP Coates
  6. Steven Canterbury
  7. Al Taylor
The second race was a combined race with the faster group. They used our fastest race lap to grid us for the race. I ran a 1:10.862, my fastest of the weekend. This had me starting 5th out of eight racers. Al got by early and then promptly overheated again (thanks Al). Steven, David Herrington and myself all diced for the entire race. I got shuffled back to last place and fought back up to finish 5th. That was a great race. There was never a dull moment as I was either passing, being passed, or watching my mirror to anticipate a pass the entire time.

Sunday:
Sunday morning we all got up with great expectations only to have them doused by nice rain showers. Stephen got an emergency phone call from his wife and had to pack up and leave first thing (everything was OK later). However, before he left, he let me use his rain tires for our first race. I qualified 3rd less than a second behind the pole. I LOVED the rain.

At the start I got a good run on Al, who was second, and pulled along side him before the banking. However, I forgot that I was in third and when I hit the rev limiter, Al pulled ahead. David Herrington then came from no where and passed me putting me back to 4th. Al and Herrington checked out in the lead while I was racing with Robert Patton. He has a VERY strong motor and would pull me substantially down the straight away and through the banking. I was turning faster laps but I couldn't get past him the whole race. Finally at the end Travis and I got by him with one lap to go. I held Travis off for the e
ntire lap until the last turn. I ran a very defensive inside line while Travis swung wide and got a great run off of turn 7 and pulled up beside me. It was a drag race to the finish from there. When we crossed the line, I was ahead by a fender for third place. My first, and probably only one this year.

My time from the first race again put me 3rd on the grid for the 4th and final race of the weekend. This one was going to be an hour long. The rain was going off and on in between the races. When race time rolled around, the entire Spec E30 field had made the call to run on dry tires. As the pace car pulled off, rain drops started to fall. This is where I was taught a valuable lesson by
Robert Patton - The apron is a racing surface. I had a great run on Travis and Al and this time I even remembered to shift to 4th!. I looked in my mirror and saw Robert closing fast so I moved down to the apron line to defend the position. The next thing I know Robert is on the dirty flat apron of the track flat out passing everyone. The apron was so dirty with rubber and dirt that he literally had a rooster tail of debris coming off of his tires.

This is where the mess happens. As the pack rounds turn seven headed for the start/finish there is a wall of rain - and we're all on shaved dry tires! It was raining so hard that if I was driving on the street, I would have pulled over. The top 4 guys; Al, Robert, Travis, and David all checked out as I limped my car around. They got out to about a half lap lead on me. I was just going fast enough to keep Laura Patton behind me. This was not easy. The rain only lasted about 5 min. Then it was time to play catch-up. The leaders were racing and catching traffic and there were caution flags everywhere which means no passing. I had clear track and put my head down and tried to run fast laps. I caught Herrington with about 4 laps to go. In the meantime, Travis had gone off in Turn 1 and was stuck in the gravel trap. It came down to the last lap with me right on David's bumper. I tried to stick the nose inside in every corner and even got beside him coming out of fish hook, but I couldn't make it stick. I crossed the line in 4th.

Al ended up winning the race with Patton in 2nd and
Herrington in 3rd. Great race and a great learning experience for me.

All in all this was by far the best track weekend I've every experienced. The racing was close and clean and the camaraderie and sportsmanship of the Southeast racers is unparalleled. Rockingham is really not a very nice track but after this weekend, I'll be at every race they have there.





To quote Travis "This ain't no high school beer party"

JP











Saturday, April 14, 2007

Car 467: on its way back


Between receiving my Comp License and qualifing for my first race there was the dreaded Armco of turn 10.

TURN 10 Clip

Cold tires + cold track + cold brain = bad day at the track. Good thing a bad day at the track is better than a good day at the office ; )


The damage was ugly but not beyond repair. The car hasn't been totally put back together yet, but she's in the capable hands of Steve Bassen (of Bassen Auto Body in Winston-Salem) and on her way to a full recovery. The photo above is of the new nose and the photo to the right is what the damage looked like. If all goes as planned... we'll be back on track for the May 4th race at CMP.

Beertech Takes too the ROCK


Today, as the sole surviving Beertech car, will race at Rockingham "the dirt track" as Brian calls it. Its an old Nascar track that we use with 28 degree banking. We hit "Nascar" turns one and two and then use the infield section. Its notoriously touch on the cars so lets hope that the last intact Beertech car stays intact!



Friday, April 6, 2007


Brian had a tough weekend at VIR this past weekend. The damage is 90% cosmetic which means he should be back on track by May/June.

Above is perfect shot of how we roll; banged up race car being repair with a beer in hand! Get some of that.

Sasha, one of our buddies and part time BeerTecher, sent us a great recap of his weekend via email:

"So, can I peel the sticker off the back of my car?
The BeerTech curse continues. Check out the attached
photos documenting damage to my car on the BeerTech
sticker side. Jens spun Carter in the uphill esses,
so I was ahead of Carter! It didn't take him long to
catch us, though. He passed me on the back straight
after a lap or two. As I followed him into Roller
Coaster, I thought I'd learn from the master. I
followed him, trail breaking, rotating the car, and
hooking up after a brief slide. Then...wham! Matt
Olson had gotten in the marbles behind me, then the
infield, and then my passenger side. He booted me off
the track sideways and I dirt-tracked it over to the
turn before Hog Pen, still ahead of Matt (for the rest
of the race, too). Yeah Son, that's the way I roll!
Now I've got work to do on the car that's no fun to
pay for. There was a big to-do after the race. I got
impounded, had to write an incident report, and then
had to defend my racing to Jimmy and Piloti. Ultimately
I got signed off, though, so I'm no longer
"provisional." I still suck though. By the way, my
fuse blew on the transponder, so I don't register on
the results. I finished behind Laura Patton, again.

To give you some idea of the BeerTech curse, I'll tell
you about the other photos. I was chasing Laura all
race. As I came across the start/finish, a Sports
Racer came up to lap me yet again. He got the
checker, which fucked me up for a second (I had to
process that I was still under green). Realizing that
I had just one more lap, I went for broke to catch
Laura. In turn 4 I got sideways like I had been doing
all day. It was a sloppy strategy, but it was
working. I let go of the wheel for a self-correction
like I had been doing, but it didn't work (I think I

got on the throttle too soon). I ended up losing it
big time, going all over and heading off the track at
T5 straight for the Armco. I was on the brakes hard,
but not slowing much on the dirt and grass. Just as I
was about to impact, I remembered that steering was an
option, too. I stopped braking and turned. It
worked, and I grazed the tire wall (see the skid marks
by my tail lights and the edge of my rear view). It
was like it happened in slow motion--I could see the
corner worker leaning out of his gazebo to watch my
bite it and then give me the nod of approval as I
escaped disaster by about .25"!

Sorry more of you weren't around to keep me company.
We all need to get drunk and do some body work.
And just maybe, peel all the BeerTech stickers off to
lose the curse!"
Sasha

Thursday, March 29, 2007

What is Beer Tech?

The most frequent question any of us have to answer is "What is BeerTech?", or more accurately "What the hell is this BeerTech crap?" Well, honestly, we're still answering that question. It started out as a few friends with common interests -- namely things with engines, moderate BAC levels, and being cheap. Our group comes from all walks of life, but we're all just regular guys who would rather get a little dirty and figure out how to fix something than drop off our cars with a stranger, pay through the nose and hope we don't get ripped off. So that's where we're coming from with this, and I suspect we are not alone. Our type has been around since the first monkey used a stick to get at fire ants, so in this regard we're not special. What we are trying do here is to translate our work into a resource for anyone, like us, who has the will but not the knowledge to get the job done. BeerTech seldom takes the traditional proper" path in our endeavors. We're not UAW workers; we haven't graduated from BMW's STEP Program. Hell, Ian can't even spell graduated, and he went to Wake Forest. But what we lack in skill, or resources, we make up for in pure, unadulterated enthusiasm. Frankly, that's all you need.

We're Live

BeerTech Racing goes teh blog.