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From YourSITE.com Events Coverage For most of us, the mere mention of the year 1984 elicits an almost instant association with the dystopian novel by George Orwell. If you believed Mr. Orwell, by this time we were all doomed live in a totalitarian society with the government controlling our every action. Of course, in 1949 when the book was published, the likelihood of it all happening by 1984 might not have seemed so far fetched. In reality, the over-the-top ad pitch by Apple Computer’s introducing the Macintosh computer during the 1984 Superbowl was about as close as we ever got to seeing a world as depicted in the book.
Thursday October 4th The Event started on Thursday with the Golf Tournament at Stone Tree Golf Course hosted by ACGG Chapter member Mike Sremba. Participants enjoyed the 7,000-yard, 18-hole championship course with magnificent views of Mt. Tamalpais, Mt. Burdell and the California Coastal Range. Others who were there early on Thursday chose to take part in the Sonoma and Napa Valley Wine Country Tour, which featured a tour of some of the world's finest wineries in America's premier wine region and some exciting roads in the back country of the Sonoma Valley. Larry Whitney had the pleasure of escorting people on the tour which snaked it ways through the Napa and Sonoma Valleys.
Friday October 5th As Friday rolled around, energy around the Sheraton began to pick up as more and more people rolled in from around the country. Larry Whitney recruited ACGG member Cliff Musante to assist him in running a chauffeured tour of the Sonoma Wineries with a catered lunch at Larson Family Winery. The chauffeured limo was driven by ACGG member Marshall Walden who does this for a side line when he is not on track with one of his Audis. Still more followed Christina Ibanez in her highly modified A4 on the Pacific Coast Drive out to Tomales Bay. Winding their way through the farms and fields of Sonoma and Marin County, the group made its way out to the coast and the bay, known world wide for its famous oysters. To add to the festivities, Peter Solari conducted a Show and Shine held in the Hotel parking lot between 3 and 6pm so that everyone could showcase the hardware they’d be taking to the track on the following day. Several notable cars included Curt Hammill’s amazing grey Sport Quattro decked out in Audi Sport livery colors, the show also had an extremely clean white Sport Quattro, several very nicely appointed RS4’s, a couple early UrQuattro’s and a host of others.
As the cars and trailers rolled in, the tech inspection station was busy checking lug bolts and light bulbs, making sure everyone was going to have a safe event over the upcoming weekend. Those who had finished the tech Inspection headed out to registration to get their paperwork in order, pick up their packets and view the variety of items that would make up the event’s silent auction. Later that evening drivers and instructors gathered at the Sheraton for the initial drivers meeting where Dean Treadway, ACNA President, addressed the troops. Once the meeting adjourned, the drivers and instructors got together for introductions in anticipation of the track day excursions ahead.
Saturday October 6th “I love the smell of napalm in the morning….. The smell, you know, that gasoline smell, smells like - victory.” Luitenant Colonel Bill Kilgore Apocolypse Now, 1979 While race gas isn’t quite as volatile as napalm, it definitely has a distinct smell. As the sun came up and the cars rolled into the paddock at Infineon, that smell permeated the air, along with the rattle of impact guns, the whirring of air compressors and the clicks of torque wrenches as people hurried to ready their cars for their first run on the track. With the beginners in the classroom, the instructors saddled up and started heading to the hot pits. Several folks came armed with multiple track weapons. Dean Treadway brought six of his cars to the event to be shared between him, his wife and friends who flew in from across the nation. One of these cars just happened to be the former Speedvision GT series A4 originally piloted by Derek Bell. Dean also brought out his immaculate Coupe Quattro with the full RS2 engine and drive train swap.
Other crowd pleasers included four cars from Eurospec’s Motorsport Collection, including the 1988 Audi 200 Trans Am # 1 which was never raced but was Audi’s Trans Am development car driven by Hans Stuck and Walter Rohl. Eurospec also brought out the 470hp 1992 Audi 200 DTM driven by Hans Stuck as car #1 during the 1991 season, and a 720hp 1990 Audi 80/90 C4 S4 GTO which was developed and raced in South Africa and sported the blue and white Rothmans colors. 034 Motorsports showed a variety of cars which were venerable wolves in sheeps clothing. While their cars looked relatively stock from the outside, they had performed some pretty incredible transplants on the inside. One in particular is their A4 Quattro sporting a turbocharged 12V VR6 VW engine built to compete in the Eurotuner Tuner Grand Prix. While this car is capable of 800hp, it was only running its 550hp tune this weekend. Watching this car eat up the pavement down the straights out of turn 11 was simply jaw dropping.
Also known for an engine swap or two, Andrew Bennett and the crew from 2Bennett Audimotive brought several cars to the track including their 4000 complete with an Audi 4.2 V8 sitting in the engine compartment. With the instructors and beginners running through the driver education exercises, the next run groups hit the track. Unfortunately, so did one of the photographers, face first. An unidentified photographer decided that crossing the track when it was “hot” was a good idea. Fortunately all the time spent in the classroom payed off for the first driver to come out of the carousel to find the photographer lying face down on the track. As the cars came to a halt under a red flag condition and eventually were escorted off, the ambulance took the photographer to a local hospital. The photographer was patched up and sent home. This created a problem as the sessions couldn’t proceed until the ambulance returned. Fortunately, ACGG decided to run the program later into the evening so no track time would be lost. After a long day on the track, it was time to head back to the hotel to clean up and get ready for the evening’s planned banquet, silent auction and raffle. The silent auction was stocked with so many wonderful items. Everything from race seats to cases of wine were available for bidding. Kudos to all the sponsors of the event and especially to Audi of America, Griffin Motorwerke of Berkeley, Carlson Audi of Palo Alto, Toyo Tires of America, Neuspeed, APR, Recaro, Revo Technik, StopTech and Pagid Brake Pads.
Always a highlight of ACNA events, the banquet began with some opening remarks by Dean Treadway, ACNA president. Dean was followed by Michael Cagle from Audi of America who took the microphone and spoke of upcoming models and what to expect from Audi in the near future. Chip Pankow, Managing Director of the Audi Driving and Audi Sportscar Experience located at Infineon Raceway, clued us all in on the new opportunities that all Audi owners have now across the county with this exciting program. The evening was rounded out with some fantastic swag for everyone – Bell Racing helmet back packs filled with all types of great items including Audi diecasts of the newest models –Audi also donated plenty of Audi Accessories that were raffled off at the end of the evening. Sunday, October 7th As the sun rose up over hills, the final day of Nationals got underway. Since most of the cars had been prepped the day before, the atmosphere was much more casual in the morning. One of the definite highlights of the day was being able to get up close and personal with the Audi Sportscar Experience located off of turn one at Infineon Raceway. They had parked a new S5 and R8 and left them open for inspection next to their new multi-million dollar facilities for people to investigate. Needless to say, there was always a small crowd around the vehicles and pictures just don’t do these cars justice. The Audi Experience staff also set up a small auto-x style course in the parking area behind the paddock and brought out two new S5’s for people to test drive. All in all, the day went off without a hitch. As the day came to an end and long drives loomed ahead for some, the paddock started clearing out, trucks were loaded and cars were packed. Although pretty tired, most people were still sporting mile wide grins as they got ready to exit the facilities. The event was extremely well run and hats (and helmets) off to the Golden Gate Chapter for hosting upping the ante yet again.
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