Jon B, Mark Jorgensen and Michael von Quilich - stand up guys. Thank you!

[VENOM V]

A week ago I was tracking my Gen V at Spring Mountain for a two-day lesson and picked up a vibration on the first day- consensus was that I had warped my old tired front rotors, and Murphy's Law would have it that I left my spare rotors at home. Fronts had a fair amount of checking and we hammered the brakes hard, so I needed to get new rotors overnighted to have a prayer of finishing the lesson.

So I called Mark Jorgensen of Woodhouse. Unfortunately no StopTech rotors in stock! Mark suggested I call my other go-to guy, Jon B of Parts Rack. Sure enough, he had the rotors but guess what? No UPS AM delivery at Spring Mountain because it's a rural area. Oh crap, what to do?

Jon called a local well-known Viper racer by the name of Michael von Quilich, an SCCA champion and currently leading the points in his division. Guess what? Michael pulled his rotors off of one of his cars and hand delivered them to the track while I was on the track turning laps. I was impressed with how hard Jon worked to find a way to get back on track, and that Michael dropped everything to help out a fellow Viper owner out he didn't know. He even contacted me the next day to make sure everything went smoothly. Just awesome.

After the rotors arrived, I pulled into the garage and the Ron Fellows mechanics needed some advice on how to troubleshoot the issue. Mark Jorgensen jumped on the phone with the mechanics and walked them through the whole diagnostic process to verify the vibration wasn't caused by something else. Mark went out of his way to help me despite not earning a dollar. The next day, we had a long talk on where to go with brakes, Etc. Mark is the real deal, one of the most knowledgeable about tracking and always willing to help a fellow car guy out.

What a community, Viper track rats are a rare breed. I cannot tell you how grateful I am that this long-planned lesson was a success because of their help. Mark, Jon and Michael - Thanks guys!

Todd

[johniew398]

Great writeup and story.

I know from experience how much we should value having people like Mark and Jon in the community.

[FLATOUT]

You would never get that kind of support in a corvette. Something similar happened this weekend at the Texas Viper Roundup. 10 minutes later Ben Keating is on the phone with Dick Winkles diagnosing the problem.

[Bruce H.]

Great to hear we have this kind of support in our small community. Some of the nicest people you will ever meet are serious track enthusiasts and share that passion and a strong bond with other track rats. SRT also does a great job of encouraging this spirit. Glad they were all able to get back on track!

Bruce

[ViperSmith]

thats awesome

[Nine Ball]

Bravo guys! The Viper network is a small one, but we do seem to cast a big net on quality people. Good to know people!

Tony

[RedTanRT/10]

Todd, Jon and Mark are great assets to the viper community, each had helped me out over the years with parts need (Jon) or technical advise (Mark)

Glad to hear your ran into Michael, some folks here know of him from the ACR-X series

Probably has the nicest home in Parhrump, he's hosted the SoCal group at Spring Mountain a number of times, here's a pic of his garage next to his home, he's a great guy!




Here's a parade lap at one of the events, he's up front with the "build your own" ACR from the '08 raffle;

[Nine Ball]

Nice pic! Are those all his cars?

[RedTanRT/10]

Nice pic! Are those all his cars?

No. from a SoCal event. He's got 2 X cars, white with red hood and deck lid, '08 red black ACR, blue/silver '06 and the blue ACR in the picture above (garage queen) his wife Virginia has a black '10 vert with tan leather. Last time I was there had a spec Miata plus God knows what else? and of course one of those giant Freightliner Custom haulers with a 30 ft stacker trailer

[Bitten]

That is so nice to hear! Our local group of Viper owners are wonderful people!

[VENOM V]

Todd, Jon and Mark are great assets to the viper community, each had helped me out over the years with parts need (Jon) or technical advise (Mark)

Glad to hear your ran into Michael, some folks here know of him from the ACR-X series

Probably has the nicest home in Parhrump, he's hosted the SoCal group at Spring Mountain a number of times, here's a pic of his garage next to his home, he's a great guy!




Here's a parade lap at one of the events, he's up front with the "build your own" ACR from the '08 raffle;

Man, that is just awesome. If the SoCal Club ventures to Spring Mountain again, let me know and COUNT ME IN!

I plan on watching Michael race when he's in town. Hopefully he'll be competing in the SCCA National Championships at Laguna Seca in October.

[MtnBiker]

So, I take it that the consensus was warped rotors? I had strong vibrations after a couple hard days at CoTA. In my case, the rotors were brand new (I'm not going to explain why I had brand new ones on...some here know). The brakes were undoubtedly abused/became very hot as observed by many micro cracks on the rotors and dark patches. Anyway, I believe the vibration was coming from inconsistent brake pad build up on the rotors.

[VENOM V]

So, I take it that the consensus was warped rotors? I had strong vibrations after a couple hard days at CoTA. In my case, the rotors were brand new (I'm not going to explain why I had brand new ones on...some here know). The brakes were undoubtedly abused/became very hot as observed by many micro cracks on the rotors and dark patches. Anyway, I believe the vibration was coming from inconsistent brake pad build up on the rotors.

The good news is that it likely wasn't warped rotors after all. We rushed to that conclusion in the heat of the battle at the track, as we didn't have enough time to really go through the car. More likely pad deposit, just as you suggest. However I won't know for sure until next week when I take it to my brake guy. We'll take runout measurements Etc. In talking with Mark Jorgensen, it's very unusual to warp a StopTech rotor. However, my rotors were so checked and old that it was about time to replace them, so it seemed like the right decision at the time.

[Leslie]

What a great story! I have been there looking for a 'donor' car with parts.
We are lucky to have vendors into tracking the Viper like we are