Dear GGR Members,
This month, I wanted to highlight one of our members, who didn’t just do one good thing, but he has done three good things. The person I’m talking about is Don Oates, long time GGR member and dedicated track driver. Don has a Cayman S, that he has been gradually modifying over the years, nothing drastic, but remove a few pounds of unnecessary interior trim, get a better alignment, get a set of stickier tires – incremental improvements. Of note is that Don’s Cayman S is perfectly street legal with a license plate, yet he tows this car to the track on a trailer. Now there are both upsides and downsides of towing. The upside is that if your car experiences any mechanical issues, you can get home no problem. The other benefit is that you are driving in a comfortable tow vehicle, cushy seats, cold AC, and plenty of room to haul all of your gear. The downside is that in addition to having a track worthy car, you need to own a tow vehicle and a trailer. Then you need the extra 30 minutes to set the ramps, drive it up, and strap the car down. Once you get going, you experience lesser fuel economy as both the weight and the aerodynamics has suffered somewhat. Finally, towing has its challenges, finding a longer area to park your car is harder and for the less experienced, backing up with a trailer is not the most intuitive thing.
So apparently Don values the upsides of towing over its downsides. So getting back to the three good things:
2022: Scott Kalkin (past CDI and current Co-Track Director) was at Thunderhill when one of his coolant lines developed a significant leak (this is when the air-cooled people ask, what’s that mean?), so there was no way he could drive his car home. It turned out that Don was there and they both live about 5 minutes apart. So Scott’s car got loaded onto the trailer, Don drove the truck and trailer back, while Scott drove Don’s Cayman back home.
2023: Yours truly (past Track Director and current President) was at Sonoma Raceway, when my transmission basically stopped working. Turns out a metal tab on my clutch had snapped off, so every time I stepped on the clutch pedal, the clutch plate would get cockeyed and not release properly, so the whole gearbox basically ground to a halt. I walked around the paddock looking for help, most of the people with trailers are Club Racers, so they can’t help, since their cars are not street legal. Eventually I saw Don, explained my situation, and he was happy to help. He towed my car to Belmont as I got to enjoy driving his Cayman S. The second time he really bailed out another Club member.
2024: This year, it was Thwen “2N” Chaloemtiarana at Sonoma Raceway (now you know why we simply call him 2N). Thwen’s exhaust manifold had developed some large holes, which resulted in a totally messed up fuel/air mixture, so his otherwise sweet car ran and sounded like crap. With a major exhaust leak, he was not able to drive his car home. I think you know where this story is going by now… so once again, Don to the rescue. Thwen’s Cayman gets loaded onto the trailer, Don drives the tow vehicle, and Thwen gets to enjoy driving Don’s Cayman S back home.
Hopefully this three year streak will end and not continue onto the 2025 season. However, since we are all friends and we all live within 20 minutes from each other, we decided to take Don out to dinner at Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay, to show our appreciation. At the last minute, Scott Kalkin was not able to attend due to a silly little thing called Work, so here is a picture of us. On the left is you’s truly, in the middle is our guest of honor, Don Oates, and on the right is Thwen. A great time was had by all. I was the last person to show up at the restaurant, so these pranksters had told the server that I was a child. So when I sat down, I had a box of crayons and a coloring place mat in front of me. But not to disappoint, I colored that seahorse to the best of my abilities. Thank you Don for your generosity!
Finally just a reminder, the last track event of the season will take place at Thunderhill on the weekend of October 12-13, so if you haven’t registered yet, please do so! This will also be the final Time Trial, so its all coming down to this last event:
TT1 Class – Greg Herback and Sean Dillon are tied, so whoever does better wins the season.
TT2 Class – Paul Thompson and Kurt Eckhardt are also tied, so once again, whoever wins this TT, wins the class for the season.
TT3 Class – there are three drivers in contention. Dan Zitter is leading, while Allston MIckey and Brian Swift are tied for second. So if Dan shows up, he would be favored to win. But if Dan is not able to attend, then Allston or Brian will pass his right by in the points.
TT4 Class – Christian Stangier has been dominant in his class, so he has already clinched the title. But I know Christrian will be there regardless, just because he is just a dedicated driver and instructor.
Thanks all for being a part of this amazing Club!
Sincerely,
Howard Yao