Bobby Archer takes another T1 victory in Abilene TX
ViperSpeed drivers Bobby Archer and Dr. Deborah Loth resumed their quest for an SCCA T1 Championship this past weekend (5/5-5/6) as they competed in a Southwest Region event in Abilene, Texas.
On Saturday, Dr. Loth grabbed the pole for the Regional T1 race in the No. 32 SuperClubs Resorts/Bobby Archer Motorsports/ViperSpeed T1 Viper GTS. The track used in Abilene was an airport runway grid that provided several fast straight-a-ways connected by mostly sharp turns. Dr. Loth surrendered the lead early in the race, but would drive to a solid second place finish behind a Corvette Z06.
On Sunday, Bobby Archer grabbed another pole for ViperSpeed in the National T1 race in his black-and-yellow No. 32 Viper GTS, and it looked like it was going to be another smooth trip to victory circle for Bobby. However, Archer’s race would be anything but smooth. Starting from the pole ahead of the aforementioned Z06, Archer jumped out to a commanding lead after the brakes on the Z06 appeared to fade. During the early laps of the race, Archer set a new T1 track record, as he has done in each of the four T1 races he has entered this year.
With 23 laps left to go, Archer was travelling near 150mph when he hit the brakes to prepare for one of the many 90 degree turns. As he applied pressure to the brake pedal, the pedal went down to the floor and stayed there. A seal on the left front brake caliper had blown and Archer quickly found he had no brakes whatsoever. Luckily, there was no wall in front of him so he drove the car off the end of the turn and into a muddy field, nearly getting stuck as he tried to control the car and maneuver back toward the track. Archer was able to re-enter the race and decided, after noticing that the Z06 running in second place had pulled into the pits with his own brake problems, to stay on the track and see if he could finish the race. In perhaps one of his most remarkable drives ever, Archer was able to stay in the lead of the race and went on to drive the remaining 23 laps to victory with basically no brakes! When asked how he could pull off such a feat, Archer said “I would let off early going into a turn, use the transmission to slow me down a bit, and then just carry lots of speed through the turn.” The victory in Abilene solidified Archer’s position as the front-runner to win the T1 National Championship at the SCCA Valvoline Run-offs at Mid-Ohio in September.
On another note, before Sunday’s race, Dr. Loth received her National license and decided to rent a Porsche 993 and compete against her teammate Archer in the National T1 race. Loth qualified the Porsche in the fourth position and went on to finish in second place, behind Bobby, in the race.
The next T1 race for Archer and Loth is June 16-17 at Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas. In the meantime, Archer has been hired by Houston’s GrandSport Racing to drive a Corvette C-5 in the Speedvision World Challenge GT race at Mosport, Quebec. As the winner of the 1999 and 2000 World Challenge races at Mosport, Archer expects to do well, despite stiff competition from P.D. Cunningham’s supercharged Acura NSX and Michael Galati’s 400 hp AWD Audi S4.
More information on ViperSpeed and Bobby Archer Motorsports can be found at
www.viperspeed.com and
www.bobbyarchermotorsports.com.
And By the way, Bobby and the ViperSpeed wanted to say thanks to VCA member Paul Bilberry for a terrific diner Saturday night in Abilene!
