Summit Point Vintage Race Report from Alex Csank

["Peter L. Krause" <pkrause@domain.elided>]

Hi folks,

For whatever it's worth, I just wrote the article below for entry into
either the Advocate, or the Hampton Roads AROC Newsletter (Dave, you can
pick). Thanks to Peter and his team for dinner and for letting me hold
wrenches, change a few tires, and generally get in his way (I had a blast)!

Cheers,
Alex Csank


With all the "retro" '60's and '70's clothing styles that are so popular
these days, even the infield at the SVRA race at Summit Point felt like we
had been transported back to 1974.  On a whim, I had decided to offer my
free services to assist Peter Krause and his 'K&E' team for a day up at
beautiful Summit Point, West Virginia. Nestled in the Easternmost part of
West Virginia, Summit Point is a bumpy, curvy track well-suited for
challenging the aging combatants (both cars and drivers) who regularly
attend the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association races.  On the first weekend
in October, the "Blue and Grey Challenge" saw some wonderful old machinery
meeting out on the track.  From very early Formula Vee and Formula Ford
cars, through some well-tuned Can-Am, Trans-Am and various categories of
sports and touring cars, there was much to see, hear and feel.

Arriving at about 10 AM, I made my way into the infield to find Peter
readying himself for a qualifying race in his fast and well-prepared Fiat
124 Spider. In the Krause and England stable, there was a wonderful
assortment of yesterday's dream cars. Besides Peter's 124, there was a
properly painted green Aston Martin, a very yellow and black series II Alfa
Romeo GTV owned by Bob Kullas, a wonderfully white GTA Junior owned by
Capitol Chapter and former National AROC Board member Hugh Tompkins and a
restored PBS sports racer with a hot Fiat 128 engine. After setting out to
view what the competition had to offer (and there was some really great
vintage machinery out there), I settled in to assist Peter and his team.

Typical race problems were encountered throughout the day. The PBS car was
overheating mysteriously and had to sit out most of the day. But while
sitting in wait, an inspection revealed that the right rear brake had a
fractured brake line. Jumping to the challenge, the K & E team found a
reasonable spare and repaired the brake. The Aston also had some electrical
trouble. There was a significant voltage drop between the battery and the
starter which prevented the starter from working. We pushed the Aston to try
and bump start her but after several attempts (and much huffing and puffing
from the pushers), we pushed her back under her tarp to get things fixed.
Once the battery voltage was again getting to the starter, she started up
easily, with a characteristic gurgle. Later that day when the Aston was out
in the "enduro" event, she wouldn't re-start after a pit stop and again
needed a push to get going. The beautiful yellow GTV ran well, but chewed up
its fan belt during the enduro event after the alternator froze causing some
overheating and a little coolant spray which resulted in a trip off the
track for its driver. I am happy to report that both the GTA Junior and
Peter's Fiat ran flawlessly that day. I guess that's just the way things go.
Later, I got the opportunity to help change tires on the GTA Junior, the GTV
and the Aston Martin, as their owners all purchased a fresh set of race
tires from the tire truck parked right next to the K&E Team's paddock. The
"offside undo's" on the Aston are really slick!

Other Alfas on scene included Jim Hanna's red, series II GTV which had never
been registered as a street car since new, and Peter's ex-GTV6, now owned by
Erich Stahlman. There were many other great cars running as well. Some of
the ones I noticed were a Porsche 356 Speedster, a Porsche 356 coupe, a BMW
2002, Al Taylor's BMW Bavaria, lots of Triumphs...Spitfires, GT6s, even a
TR250. There were MG Midgets, Bug-Eye Sprites, a few MGBs and even one MGA,
a few really odd production cars came out too. There was a Saab 93 which
put-putted it's way around on its two-cycle motor, a Volvo P1800, Jim
Duffields 1000 Abarth Bialbero, Jim Duffield's Fiat-Abarth 850 TC
Nurburgring, two Euro Ford Escorts and a Ford Anglia, several Loti including
a couple of Lotus 11s, a couple of Mini Coopers and some very nice Morgan
Plus 4's (including one wearing only its shiny 'aluminium' bodywork (eek!
look, it's naked!). Lots of other great cars were represented, but I won't
go through the entire list. After all, if I just entice you with what you've
heard thus far, then you just might go and attend the next one of these
great events, right?

Helping out at a track is a wonderful way to spend a spare weekend and I am
really glad that I got the opportunity to get my hands dirty. Thank you to
Peter Krause, Rod Atkinson and Dave Blum for letting me hang out!

Remember: Old Alfas never die, they just become someone elses parts car!
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