I drove with Bob Lutz in his ZR1 on track. A few pics.
04-08-2012, 01:56 PM
#1
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
I drove with Bob Lutz in his ZR1 on track. A few pics.
I had Bob Lutz (and his son-in-law) out as my guest at Autobahn Country Club this weekend.
Bob was at the club a few years ago introducing the new model lineup for the upcoming year but never had a chance to drive on track as he was there working for GM. I remember taking Jim Mero out on track in the ZR1 (no press was allowed to drive it so early in it's preview)showing him the lines which took him 1 lap to learn, as you all have seen in his videos, that guy can drive!
Bob rolled in with his carbon flash metallic ZR1. Sporting a pair of casual pants and a WW Bomber jacket told me a little ARMCO would not scare him today. Considering he flies military jets for a hobby and enjoys triple digit MPH on motorcycles, driving on track would probably be a bore to him right?
The first session on track I had Bob ride with one of our track pros, Tom Bagley (former F1 driver in the 70s), they had much to talk about, LOL!
After a few laps around the track Bob was ready to give it a go.
I assumed my position in the passenger seat and prepared to hook up the helmet communicator to give him pointers. That would have been a great tool except the radio was left in the 'on' position off season and resulted in a dead battery. I'm usually careful about that but I guess with the new season and not driving much of last year due to my eye surgery, I'm rusty. We quickly agreed to go old school with hand signals, because that is fool proof right?
We entered Pit In and proceeded to the starter. After a few cars flying by passed on the straight, we got the 'Go' sign and took off. I was pleased to see he obeyed the blend line without me saying a word, I already felt good about the session.
Bob reminded me several times he was going to take it easy because the tire wear was now on his personal expense account.
After 2-3 laps he picked up the driving line as well as his speed.
On the 5th lap he turned to me and said 'screw the tires' (I'm paraphrasing here to keep this family friendly), "an entire set costs less than an hour of flying time." The rest of the session involved tire screeching and passing virtually every other car on track that session. I felt like I was riding a terrier chasing a rabbit. He would see a car a few turns ahead and gun for it. He drove particularly well and by session end equaled times that would rival many members. Our session ended a tad early at South T4, the ZR1 lost power. A quick check of the gauges told us he was out of fuel. We coasted all the way to South T6 (Bobby Rahal's garage) and pulled next to a manned corner station. I gave the flagger a thumbs up that we were okay so they wouldn't black flag the session. About 2 minutes later Bob was able to fire up the car on whatever fumes of fuel was left and we did make it off track to the paddock. We headed straight to the fuel pump station. FYI, the car took 18.3 gallons of gas, it's capacity!
After lunch and some very informative conversations it was time to go out again. I asked Bob if he wanted to drive any of my cars. A question I already knew the answer to. We brought out the C5 T1/ST2 car. After a quick review of the car's setup, I strapped him in and away he went solo. Do you have any idea how cool it is to see an 80-year old rape a C5 around the track? When he came off, I'm not sure who had the bigger grin, he or I.
Of course no trip out to Autobahn is complete without a few laps in the Beast. I took his son-in-law out for a few laps at 70 percent as he had no Hans or firesuit. Each lap he asked for more and it didn't take me long to remember that he had been flying with Bob in his jets so there was nothing I could do to scare either of them.
Bob is a great guy who tells it like it is and has a fantastic sense of humor. It was a great time and best of all, he'll be back!
It's already been a great season!
Mike
Bob was at the club a few years ago introducing the new model lineup for the upcoming year but never had a chance to drive on track as he was there working for GM. I remember taking Jim Mero out on track in the ZR1 (no press was allowed to drive it so early in it's preview)showing him the lines which took him 1 lap to learn, as you all have seen in his videos, that guy can drive!
Bob rolled in with his carbon flash metallic ZR1. Sporting a pair of casual pants and a WW Bomber jacket told me a little ARMCO would not scare him today. Considering he flies military jets for a hobby and enjoys triple digit MPH on motorcycles, driving on track would probably be a bore to him right?
The first session on track I had Bob ride with one of our track pros, Tom Bagley (former F1 driver in the 70s), they had much to talk about, LOL!
After a few laps around the track Bob was ready to give it a go.
I assumed my position in the passenger seat and prepared to hook up the helmet communicator to give him pointers. That would have been a great tool except the radio was left in the 'on' position off season and resulted in a dead battery. I'm usually careful about that but I guess with the new season and not driving much of last year due to my eye surgery, I'm rusty. We quickly agreed to go old school with hand signals, because that is fool proof right?
We entered Pit In and proceeded to the starter. After a few cars flying by passed on the straight, we got the 'Go' sign and took off. I was pleased to see he obeyed the blend line without me saying a word, I already felt good about the session.
Bob reminded me several times he was going to take it easy because the tire wear was now on his personal expense account.
After 2-3 laps he picked up the driving line as well as his speed.On the 5th lap he turned to me and said 'screw the tires' (I'm paraphrasing here to keep this family friendly), "an entire set costs less than an hour of flying time." The rest of the session involved tire screeching and passing virtually every other car on track that session. I felt like I was riding a terrier chasing a rabbit. He would see a car a few turns ahead and gun for it. He drove particularly well and by session end equaled times that would rival many members. Our session ended a tad early at South T4, the ZR1 lost power. A quick check of the gauges told us he was out of fuel. We coasted all the way to South T6 (Bobby Rahal's garage) and pulled next to a manned corner station. I gave the flagger a thumbs up that we were okay so they wouldn't black flag the session. About 2 minutes later Bob was able to fire up the car on whatever fumes of fuel was left and we did make it off track to the paddock. We headed straight to the fuel pump station. FYI, the car took 18.3 gallons of gas, it's capacity!
After lunch and some very informative conversations it was time to go out again. I asked Bob if he wanted to drive any of my cars. A question I already knew the answer to. We brought out the C5 T1/ST2 car. After a quick review of the car's setup, I strapped him in and away he went solo. Do you have any idea how cool it is to see an 80-year old rape a C5 around the track? When he came off, I'm not sure who had the bigger grin, he or I.
Of course no trip out to Autobahn is complete without a few laps in the Beast. I took his son-in-law out for a few laps at 70 percent as he had no Hans or firesuit. Each lap he asked for more and it didn't take me long to remember that he had been flying with Bob in his jets so there was nothing I could do to scare either of them.
Bob is a great guy who tells it like it is and has a fantastic sense of humor. It was a great time and best of all, he'll be back!
It's already been a great season!
Mike
04-08-2012, 06:20 PM
#10
Le Mans Master
Very good write up Mike. Thanks. It is nice to see another old guy go kinda fast. I don't think Bob has as many broken parts as me.
Jim
Jim
04-08-2012, 07:54 PM
#14
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Way cool and an inspiration to run hot laps at 80! Thanks for the story and pictures. 
Dead communicator and run out of gas on track; wow you have been off track a long time!
Dead communicator and run out of gas on track; wow you have been off track a long time!
Last edited by V8 Juice; 04-08-2012 at 08:01 PM. Reason: Edit text
04-08-2012, 10:02 PM
#15
Burning Brakes
.....Definitely!!!!
04-09-2012, 01:05 AM
#16
Great write up Mike! Sounds like Bob truely is a "Car Guy"!
You would defintely get the most votes for "Best Host" at Autobahn!
Chris Shay
You would defintely get the most votes for "Best Host" at Autobahn!
Chris Shay
Last edited by autoxer6; 04-09-2012 at 01:10 AM.
04-09-2012, 10:56 AM
#20
Drifting
