Back to the Sixties at Diablo Hills
Back to the Sixties at Diablo Hills
By Jeff Daniels
On Saturday morning June 7th, 2008 my plane touched down at San Francisco International Airport after a pleasant cross-country flight. After retrieving my luggage, I caught a shuttle bus to the airport car center. Express customer service expedited my check-in and I was quickly on my way with my weekend rental car. Traffic was light and before long I was turning off CA-24 and following the signs toward Mt. Diablo Blvd which led into the suburban city of Walnut Creek, CA. and beyond was Mount Diablo with an elevation of 3,849 feet that stands alone on the edge of California’s Central Valley. At this point, the Coast range consists only of low hills, none high enough to block the spectacular view from the upper slopes of the mountain. The mountain dressed in a multitude of shades of green looked beautiful as I drove toward it on which I knew the Diablo Hills Raceway had been nestled into its landscape and topography,
A huge banner that read “Welcome Back to Sixties on Mount Diablo” hung across the historic main intersection in downtown Walnut Creek. Parked along the blvd were hundreds of classic muscle cars from the sixties. Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, 427 Fairlanes, GTO’s, Road Runners and Hemi ‘Cudas all parked side by side. Downtown Walnut Creek looked like Saturday night in any American city in the sixties. Poodle skirts, side burns and duck tails were everywhere and for a moment I wondered whether I had entered a time-machine that carried me back to my high school days.
I followed the signs out of town and soon found myself at the foot of Mount Diablo where I found another sign that should have told me that this was not going to be any ordinary ILMS weekend. The sign simply said – “Road Closed Ahead.” Part way up the mountain, I found where the road was closed. All vehicles were either turning around and heading back down the mountain or they were being directed to park in a large open space that turned out to be the parking area for Diablo Hills Raceway.
Diablo Hills Raceway
The sound of roaring engines told me that I was close to the track so I headed off in the direction from which I had heard the sound of engines. Nothing I had read about Diablo Hills Raceway prepared me for what I saw as I walked up to where people were lined up behind what looked like an out-of-place snow fence in an area where freezing temperatures and snow fell about once every one hundred years! On the other side of the fence, only a few feet away was an ordinary two-lane roadway on which people drove daily to reach the peak of Mount Diablo and the spectacular views that every tourist just had to see. This view is Walnut Creek’s answer to Chinatown, the Haight-Ashbury district and the steep streets of San Francisco that seem to climb for endless blocks away from the harbor and its docks.
As I looked up the road which climbed rapidly, I noticed the opposite side of the roadway was lined with bales of straw and the side of the road where I was standing was lined with Armco which had been placed there to stop ordinary traffic from plunging off the mountain in the event that an accident happened at that spot.
Straw and Armco Barriers
Then it hit me! I was looking at the race track! Diablo Hills Raceway wasn’t a purpose built road course designed and constructed with safety its primary concern. Diablo Hills Raceway used ordinary two lane roads that connected together to create the 2.98 mile (4.791 km) track. This wasn’t a return to the sixties when bales of straw and Armco lined purpose built tracks like Watkins Glen and Road America. This was a throwback to racing more than a half century before the 1960’s when road racing was truly conducted on ordinary roads. The early history of road races is filled with reports from road races at places like Elgin, IL and Elkhart Lake, WI that both hosted a series of “road races” on public roadways that were closed to regular traffic whenever races were held there.
For a moment, I expected to see Corvette Grand Sports, Jaguar E-types, Aston Martin DB4 GTs, Ferrari 250 GTOs, Lotus Elites, Austin Healey Sprites, Shelby Cobras and Porsche 718 GTRs to come screaming down that hill and around the curve. Instead, Corvette C6-Rs, Aston Martin DBR9s, Saleen S7Rs, Viper SRT-10, Ferrari 360 GTCs, BMW M3 GTRs, and Porsche GT3 RSRs swept down the hill and around the curve and out of view as they completed one more practice lap.
GT-1 Jumping Champion
Throughout the remainder of Friday, groups of cars were constantly on the track and into the pits as the drivers and race engineers worked together trying to find the ideal set-up that gave fast lap times without raising tire temperatures to dangerous levels. Calaveras County may be famous for its Frog Jumping Contest, but Diablo Mountain has its own version of frog jumping except that race cars are substituted for the frogs. There are at least a couple of spots where the cars get airborne over rises on the track and there are another couple of spots where it appears that the cars get pretty light, but don’t actually lift off the track. After the final practice session, spectators and teams returned to Walnut Creek where they mingled together around the display of classic cars while they dreamed of what might have been had they been born only a few years earlier than they were.
Overall Jumping Champion
I began dreaming of 55-57 Chevrolets and first generation Corvettes powered by small block V-8s using a design that is still being used to power Chevrolet street and race vehicles. They were the first cars that caught my attention as a teen growing up in the late 50’s and early 60’s. After walking a couple of blocks, I found myself surrounded by the muscle pony cars of the late sixties when Trans-Am rules required manufactures to produce a minimum number of street vehicles utilizing the basic chassis and power-trains. Boss Mustangs, Z/28 Camaros, AAR Cudas. American Motors Javelins, Canadian Pontiac Trans-Ams and Dodge Challengers reminded me of a short period of racing history when American Manufacturers went head to head racing Factory built tube frame chassis powered by 5 liter (305 CID) V8s on purpose-built North American road courses. A sparkling ’69 white-striped “Hugger Orange” Z/28 Camaro caught my eye reminding me of the days when I was the proud owner of such vehicle and of a time when $3,600 placed the keys to a street legal Trans-Am car in my hand. Of course, reality set in when I also remembered that I purchased that Camaro a few weeks before I completed my graduate degree and began full-time work with an annual salary of $ 6,000! Wow – haven’t things changed since the so-called “good-old-days’? Today, the closest thing to a Z/28 (a Turbo-charged Cobalt Super Sport) runs around $25,000 and restored ’69 Camaros bring $100,000 at auctions.
Sunday found me back at the track. The level of competition became much more serious as teams prepared their cars for qualifying that would set the grid for the 75 minute race scheduled for the next day. Drivers continued to complain that they could not keep their tire temperatures within acceptable limits while attempting to get more speed out of their race cars.
During the final practice session several drivers managed to push their cars over the limit and suffered rather spectacular accidents. Mike Hirsch, driving the number 731 ILMS Corvette C6-R, Bruce Brown in the 726 ILMS Aston Martin DBR9 and Paul Hamilton driving the number 808 ILMS Ferrari 360 GTC all had huge accidents that mangled their cars so completely that they were towed back to the paddock on flatbed tow trucks and were covered with tarps so spectators could not see the extent of the damage they suffered. During the same practice session, Rob Janca suffered an engine failure when he pushed his # 75 Texas Racing Ferrari 360 GTC beyond its limits. Other drivers would experience similar engine failures during the race on Monday.
Race day dawned with beautiful clear skies and hot desert-like temperatures. Walking through the garage area, I noticed several crew members looking quite haggard from teams whose driver’s had crashed during the Sunday practice session. They had apparently spent all night working to fix their cars or more likely, getting their back-up cars prepared for the qualifying session which would open race activities for the day.
Drew McLean GT-2 Pole and Race Winner
The GT-2 cars were the first to head out onto the two lane mountain road to set their places on the grid. Driving the number 818 ILMS Porsche GT3 RSR, Drew McLean quickly threw down the gauntlet with a lap time of 1:26.7 which placed him 12th on the grid after the GT-1 cars had completed their qualifying session. Both Mike Bennett in the number 123 KRABS Racing Team Porsche GT3 RSR and Paul Hamilton who had crashed heavily the day before in his number 808 ILMS Ferrari 360 GTC made runs at the time McLean put up, but they were unable to match his time. They settled for 13th and 14th positions on the grid with times of 1:27.1 and 1:27.5.
Scott Arrington – Overall Pole, Fastest Lap Speed and Race Winner
The GT-1 teams headed out on the “track” after the GT-2 cars had returned to the garage area and Scott Arrington who had been the leader on the unofficial charts of most teams after each practice session showed that his speed was no accident. Arrington put his number 742 Ford Saleen S7R on the pole with a time of 1:22.3, second on the grid was the number 726 ILMS Aston Martin DBR9 driven by new-comer, Bruce Brown with a qualifying time of 1:23.1. Third on the grid, driving the number 29 Phantom Force Racing Aston Martin DBR9 was Bob Cowden.
After the lunch break, all cars were allowed back on the track for a short warm up session to check for fluid leaks and other minor conditions that could be quickly corrected. Most of the teams chose not to use this session feeling that they had already put the best race setup on their cars and had no fluid leaks and tire temperature issues to check out. The one exception was Philippe Madgin driving the number 40 Team Quebec Porsche GT3 RSR who ran several laps at race pace apparently testing either a new setup that the crew had put on the car or perhaps testing fuel mileage to determine whether or not a one stop race strategy was possible for this race.
Start of the Race
The race grid formed up nicely following the recon lap, the green flag dropped with no delays and the cars were headed toward turn number one with Scott Arrington quickly establishing a gap between himself and the rest of the field. Arrington established the fact that he was driving the car to beat and in fact led 51 laps of the 52 lap race. The official results credit Ed Caranci in the number 99 EllisDon Racing Viper SRT10 with 5 overtakes and leading one lap. Caranci started 6th on the grid and dropped out on lap two following an accident but apparently was able to grab lead somewhere on the track and crossed the start-finish line in first place at the end of lap number one.
Attrition was quite high during the race. Seventeen GT-1 and twenty-three GT-2 cars attempted qualifying runs and 39 cars were credited with qualifying laps. Chuck Penfield in his number 90 ILMS Krohn Racing Porsche GT3 RSR was unable to complete a qualifying lap and was also listed as being unable to start. Of the 39 official starters, 17 cars retired before the end the race which is the most cars to fail to finish a race this season in the ILMS Sprint Series so far.
Is that car frowning?
In GT-1, the first four cars all finished 52 laps with pole-sitter Scott Arrington driving the # 742 ILMS Saleen S7R in first place when the checkered flag fell. Second on the podium was Bob Cowden driving the # 29 Phantom Force Racing Aston Martin DBR9. Third on the podium went to Gregg Mulgrew driving the # 59 Talon Racing Saleen S7R. Bruce Brown, driving the # 726 ILMS Aston Martin DBR9 finished 4th. Scott Arrington ran a lap in 1:26.4 to claim the fastest race lap award in addition to setting fast time in qualifying and winning the race. Corvette showed a bit more speed this week and was able to finish in 6th overall (4th in class) and the first Viper finished in 30th overall after suffering some kind of mechanical failure as the Viper drivers still seem to struggle to catch up with the front running Saleens and Astons.
Fighting for position
In GT-2, Drew McLean driving the # 818 ILMS Porsche GT3 RSR finished 5th overall showing how close the GT-2 cars were when compared to their more powerful sisters and brothers. Bruce Fisher, driving the # 19 Talon Racing BMW M3 GTR, reached the podium and his times indicate that he is getting closer to the times of the GT-2 leaders. Fisher is one to watch for a break-through win in either GT-2 or P-1 where he finished third last week at Suzuka. The final podium spot was filled by Pierre-Yves Mona driving a recently completed # 98 BMG Martinique BMW M3 GTR. Tom DiLibero earns my Racer of the Week Award for starting in 28th place on the grid and making of total of 23 overtakes during the race to finish 4th in GT-2 driving the # 231 Disaronno Racing Ferrari 360 GTC. All three GT-2 manufacturers were able to put at least one of their cars into the top four cars in class showing that even with the increased number of Ferraris that have appeared as new entries recently, the competition in GT-2 is still quite level which is what the ILMS seeks to do when it adjusts weight, the size of the air intake openings and other areo changed that are made to the cars during the season.
The next prototype race is scheduled for next week at the Paul Richard circuit where they will be joined by the GT-1 and GT-2 cars. The GTS series will resume on June 23rd at Autopolis before the ILMS takes its 4th of July break. New cars seem to join the circuit each week and competition is getting tighter and tighter as the season progresses. I hope to see you all when the LMC series resumes at Paul Richard circuit.
Race Report
Race Video
By Jeff Daniels
On Saturday morning June 7th, 2008 my plane touched down at San Francisco International Airport after a pleasant cross-country flight. After retrieving my luggage, I caught a shuttle bus to the airport car center. Express customer service expedited my check-in and I was quickly on my way with my weekend rental car. Traffic was light and before long I was turning off CA-24 and following the signs toward Mt. Diablo Blvd which led into the suburban city of Walnut Creek, CA. and beyond was Mount Diablo with an elevation of 3,849 feet that stands alone on the edge of California’s Central Valley. At this point, the Coast range consists only of low hills, none high enough to block the spectacular view from the upper slopes of the mountain. The mountain dressed in a multitude of shades of green looked beautiful as I drove toward it on which I knew the Diablo Hills Raceway had been nestled into its landscape and topography,
A huge banner that read “Welcome Back to Sixties on Mount Diablo” hung across the historic main intersection in downtown Walnut Creek. Parked along the blvd were hundreds of classic muscle cars from the sixties. Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, 427 Fairlanes, GTO’s, Road Runners and Hemi ‘Cudas all parked side by side. Downtown Walnut Creek looked like Saturday night in any American city in the sixties. Poodle skirts, side burns and duck tails were everywhere and for a moment I wondered whether I had entered a time-machine that carried me back to my high school days.
I followed the signs out of town and soon found myself at the foot of Mount Diablo where I found another sign that should have told me that this was not going to be any ordinary ILMS weekend. The sign simply said – “Road Closed Ahead.” Part way up the mountain, I found where the road was closed. All vehicles were either turning around and heading back down the mountain or they were being directed to park in a large open space that turned out to be the parking area for Diablo Hills Raceway.
Diablo Hills Raceway
The sound of roaring engines told me that I was close to the track so I headed off in the direction from which I had heard the sound of engines. Nothing I had read about Diablo Hills Raceway prepared me for what I saw as I walked up to where people were lined up behind what looked like an out-of-place snow fence in an area where freezing temperatures and snow fell about once every one hundred years! On the other side of the fence, only a few feet away was an ordinary two-lane roadway on which people drove daily to reach the peak of Mount Diablo and the spectacular views that every tourist just had to see. This view is Walnut Creek’s answer to Chinatown, the Haight-Ashbury district and the steep streets of San Francisco that seem to climb for endless blocks away from the harbor and its docks.
As I looked up the road which climbed rapidly, I noticed the opposite side of the roadway was lined with bales of straw and the side of the road where I was standing was lined with Armco which had been placed there to stop ordinary traffic from plunging off the mountain in the event that an accident happened at that spot.
Straw and Armco Barriers
Then it hit me! I was looking at the race track! Diablo Hills Raceway wasn’t a purpose built road course designed and constructed with safety its primary concern. Diablo Hills Raceway used ordinary two lane roads that connected together to create the 2.98 mile (4.791 km) track. This wasn’t a return to the sixties when bales of straw and Armco lined purpose built tracks like Watkins Glen and Road America. This was a throwback to racing more than a half century before the 1960’s when road racing was truly conducted on ordinary roads. The early history of road races is filled with reports from road races at places like Elgin, IL and Elkhart Lake, WI that both hosted a series of “road races” on public roadways that were closed to regular traffic whenever races were held there.
For a moment, I expected to see Corvette Grand Sports, Jaguar E-types, Aston Martin DB4 GTs, Ferrari 250 GTOs, Lotus Elites, Austin Healey Sprites, Shelby Cobras and Porsche 718 GTRs to come screaming down that hill and around the curve. Instead, Corvette C6-Rs, Aston Martin DBR9s, Saleen S7Rs, Viper SRT-10, Ferrari 360 GTCs, BMW M3 GTRs, and Porsche GT3 RSRs swept down the hill and around the curve and out of view as they completed one more practice lap.
GT-1 Jumping Champion
Throughout the remainder of Friday, groups of cars were constantly on the track and into the pits as the drivers and race engineers worked together trying to find the ideal set-up that gave fast lap times without raising tire temperatures to dangerous levels. Calaveras County may be famous for its Frog Jumping Contest, but Diablo Mountain has its own version of frog jumping except that race cars are substituted for the frogs. There are at least a couple of spots where the cars get airborne over rises on the track and there are another couple of spots where it appears that the cars get pretty light, but don’t actually lift off the track. After the final practice session, spectators and teams returned to Walnut Creek where they mingled together around the display of classic cars while they dreamed of what might have been had they been born only a few years earlier than they were.
Overall Jumping Champion
I began dreaming of 55-57 Chevrolets and first generation Corvettes powered by small block V-8s using a design that is still being used to power Chevrolet street and race vehicles. They were the first cars that caught my attention as a teen growing up in the late 50’s and early 60’s. After walking a couple of blocks, I found myself surrounded by the muscle pony cars of the late sixties when Trans-Am rules required manufactures to produce a minimum number of street vehicles utilizing the basic chassis and power-trains. Boss Mustangs, Z/28 Camaros, AAR Cudas. American Motors Javelins, Canadian Pontiac Trans-Ams and Dodge Challengers reminded me of a short period of racing history when American Manufacturers went head to head racing Factory built tube frame chassis powered by 5 liter (305 CID) V8s on purpose-built North American road courses. A sparkling ’69 white-striped “Hugger Orange” Z/28 Camaro caught my eye reminding me of the days when I was the proud owner of such vehicle and of a time when $3,600 placed the keys to a street legal Trans-Am car in my hand. Of course, reality set in when I also remembered that I purchased that Camaro a few weeks before I completed my graduate degree and began full-time work with an annual salary of $ 6,000! Wow – haven’t things changed since the so-called “good-old-days’? Today, the closest thing to a Z/28 (a Turbo-charged Cobalt Super Sport) runs around $25,000 and restored ’69 Camaros bring $100,000 at auctions.
Sunday found me back at the track. The level of competition became much more serious as teams prepared their cars for qualifying that would set the grid for the 75 minute race scheduled for the next day. Drivers continued to complain that they could not keep their tire temperatures within acceptable limits while attempting to get more speed out of their race cars.
During the final practice session several drivers managed to push their cars over the limit and suffered rather spectacular accidents. Mike Hirsch, driving the number 731 ILMS Corvette C6-R, Bruce Brown in the 726 ILMS Aston Martin DBR9 and Paul Hamilton driving the number 808 ILMS Ferrari 360 GTC all had huge accidents that mangled their cars so completely that they were towed back to the paddock on flatbed tow trucks and were covered with tarps so spectators could not see the extent of the damage they suffered. During the same practice session, Rob Janca suffered an engine failure when he pushed his # 75 Texas Racing Ferrari 360 GTC beyond its limits. Other drivers would experience similar engine failures during the race on Monday.
Race day dawned with beautiful clear skies and hot desert-like temperatures. Walking through the garage area, I noticed several crew members looking quite haggard from teams whose driver’s had crashed during the Sunday practice session. They had apparently spent all night working to fix their cars or more likely, getting their back-up cars prepared for the qualifying session which would open race activities for the day.
Drew McLean GT-2 Pole and Race Winner
The GT-2 cars were the first to head out onto the two lane mountain road to set their places on the grid. Driving the number 818 ILMS Porsche GT3 RSR, Drew McLean quickly threw down the gauntlet with a lap time of 1:26.7 which placed him 12th on the grid after the GT-1 cars had completed their qualifying session. Both Mike Bennett in the number 123 KRABS Racing Team Porsche GT3 RSR and Paul Hamilton who had crashed heavily the day before in his number 808 ILMS Ferrari 360 GTC made runs at the time McLean put up, but they were unable to match his time. They settled for 13th and 14th positions on the grid with times of 1:27.1 and 1:27.5.
Scott Arrington – Overall Pole, Fastest Lap Speed and Race Winner
The GT-1 teams headed out on the “track” after the GT-2 cars had returned to the garage area and Scott Arrington who had been the leader on the unofficial charts of most teams after each practice session showed that his speed was no accident. Arrington put his number 742 Ford Saleen S7R on the pole with a time of 1:22.3, second on the grid was the number 726 ILMS Aston Martin DBR9 driven by new-comer, Bruce Brown with a qualifying time of 1:23.1. Third on the grid, driving the number 29 Phantom Force Racing Aston Martin DBR9 was Bob Cowden.
After the lunch break, all cars were allowed back on the track for a short warm up session to check for fluid leaks and other minor conditions that could be quickly corrected. Most of the teams chose not to use this session feeling that they had already put the best race setup on their cars and had no fluid leaks and tire temperature issues to check out. The one exception was Philippe Madgin driving the number 40 Team Quebec Porsche GT3 RSR who ran several laps at race pace apparently testing either a new setup that the crew had put on the car or perhaps testing fuel mileage to determine whether or not a one stop race strategy was possible for this race.
Start of the Race
The race grid formed up nicely following the recon lap, the green flag dropped with no delays and the cars were headed toward turn number one with Scott Arrington quickly establishing a gap between himself and the rest of the field. Arrington established the fact that he was driving the car to beat and in fact led 51 laps of the 52 lap race. The official results credit Ed Caranci in the number 99 EllisDon Racing Viper SRT10 with 5 overtakes and leading one lap. Caranci started 6th on the grid and dropped out on lap two following an accident but apparently was able to grab lead somewhere on the track and crossed the start-finish line in first place at the end of lap number one.
Attrition was quite high during the race. Seventeen GT-1 and twenty-three GT-2 cars attempted qualifying runs and 39 cars were credited with qualifying laps. Chuck Penfield in his number 90 ILMS Krohn Racing Porsche GT3 RSR was unable to complete a qualifying lap and was also listed as being unable to start. Of the 39 official starters, 17 cars retired before the end the race which is the most cars to fail to finish a race this season in the ILMS Sprint Series so far.
Is that car frowning?
In GT-1, the first four cars all finished 52 laps with pole-sitter Scott Arrington driving the # 742 ILMS Saleen S7R in first place when the checkered flag fell. Second on the podium was Bob Cowden driving the # 29 Phantom Force Racing Aston Martin DBR9. Third on the podium went to Gregg Mulgrew driving the # 59 Talon Racing Saleen S7R. Bruce Brown, driving the # 726 ILMS Aston Martin DBR9 finished 4th. Scott Arrington ran a lap in 1:26.4 to claim the fastest race lap award in addition to setting fast time in qualifying and winning the race. Corvette showed a bit more speed this week and was able to finish in 6th overall (4th in class) and the first Viper finished in 30th overall after suffering some kind of mechanical failure as the Viper drivers still seem to struggle to catch up with the front running Saleens and Astons.
Fighting for position
In GT-2, Drew McLean driving the # 818 ILMS Porsche GT3 RSR finished 5th overall showing how close the GT-2 cars were when compared to their more powerful sisters and brothers. Bruce Fisher, driving the # 19 Talon Racing BMW M3 GTR, reached the podium and his times indicate that he is getting closer to the times of the GT-2 leaders. Fisher is one to watch for a break-through win in either GT-2 or P-1 where he finished third last week at Suzuka. The final podium spot was filled by Pierre-Yves Mona driving a recently completed # 98 BMG Martinique BMW M3 GTR. Tom DiLibero earns my Racer of the Week Award for starting in 28th place on the grid and making of total of 23 overtakes during the race to finish 4th in GT-2 driving the # 231 Disaronno Racing Ferrari 360 GTC. All three GT-2 manufacturers were able to put at least one of their cars into the top four cars in class showing that even with the increased number of Ferraris that have appeared as new entries recently, the competition in GT-2 is still quite level which is what the ILMS seeks to do when it adjusts weight, the size of the air intake openings and other areo changed that are made to the cars during the season.
The next prototype race is scheduled for next week at the Paul Richard circuit where they will be joined by the GT-1 and GT-2 cars. The GTS series will resume on June 23rd at Autopolis before the ILMS takes its 4th of July break. New cars seem to join the circuit each week and competition is getting tighter and tighter as the season progresses. I hope to see you all when the LMC series resumes at Paul Richard circuit.
Race Report
Race Video