FCA Cleans Up

Actually, the fire crew cleaned up -- they had to wipe up all the oil spilled on Saturday by cars like Tom Brockmiller's 308. But, club members represented our Region well at the year's first track event. Held at Willow Springs International Raceway on February 10th and 11th in conjunction with the Alfa Romeo Owners of Southern California, the event was a raging success for almost all of the FCA members in attendance.

The spoils of victory won by FCA members.

Despite threats of rain, the weather was gorgeous with 70+ degree sunny skies and no wind. This made for nice cold dense air and a fast track. It was encouraging to see that FCA attendance is up, with more Ferraris than usual, including Denise Stillman's 328 GTS, Arthur Trejo's 308 QV, Marv Landon's 348 ts, Joel Quaid's 348 ts, Neil Miller's Mondial t coupe, and Tom Brockmiller's 308 GTB track car. There was also a 308 GT4 at the track but not raced. Other members of the club brought their "brand-x" track cars, including Doug Hayashi's Acura NSX, Doug Ota's BMW M3, and Jeff Littrell's Swift DB-2. And, of course, Marv Landon setup his famous "desert country club," complete with a cooler full of cold drinks and a table of free munchies. His efforts go a long way towards demonstrating that we Ferrari guys aren't a bunch of snobs (well, maybe we are -- but we're generous snobs anyway).

Marv Landon bench races, turning into turn 2.

Part of the FCA contingent (left to right) Marv Landon, Neil Miller, Denise Stillman, Joel Quaid, Arthur Trejo, and Jeff Littrell.

Most of the Ferraris survived the weekend without incident. Notable exceptions included Arthur Trejo burning up another starter motor and Tom Brockmiller blowing an oil line, causing a nice spin and small delay in track time for clean-up. No harm done but poor Tom's weekend was shot before 11:00 am Saturday morning.

Tom Brockmiller's mortally wounded 1977 308 GTB.

Joel Quaid keeps getting faster, Marv is getting used to his new 348, Denise ran real strong considering she forget to mount her race tires before leaving home, and Neil's Mondial looked and sounded very fast out there all weekend. Just goes to show that Ferraris were meant for this.

Jeff Littrell's Swift is overpowered by the number-two position Porsche 944 Turbo at the start of the qualifying race on Saturday.

Still, it was the brand-x bunch that did so well, taking home no less than 5 awards! Doug Hayashi took first place in class M time trials with an astounding new personal best of 1:35.9. He also won a 1st place in his class for the entire year of 1995, showing his dedication to track events and consistent top finishes. Doug Ota took 1st place in class N time trials with another personal best of 1:38.2 - amazing for a four seat sedan, huh? Jeff Littrell took 1st place and Top Time of the Day in class M+ time trials with a 1:25.0 in his Swift and also took 1st place in the race on Sunday afternoon, leading from pole to checkered.

Jeff Littrell sits on pole in his Swift DB-2 Sports 2000.