SCCA Mid Summer Regional

SCCA Mid Summer Regional 08/24-25/02

We had to rent a Uhaul to get the car to the track since the tow wagon was having the warranty inspectors look at the tranny at the tranny shop. No hope of having for this weekend at all. Through everything in Friday night and hooked up the trailer.

Saturday morning came and my crew came by to make sure I was on the road by 6:30 AM. I was and since his car was acting up he road with me. Uneventful tow up but we did not make it to the 8:30 practice. We unloaded, I checked in, picked up my tech sheet, and teched (had verify that I had a front tow point). I was now ready for the practice. I did install a 20# sprint rubber in the rear and back off the shock 1/4 turn.

I kept the old tires that I had run at Laguna which were a combination of the 7 event tires from this year and ? event tires from year ago. I wanted to get a comparison to a baseline, as close to apples to apples as possible. Since we an idea what the car did at Sears on the old tires we could see if it was better or worse with the new headers and exhaust system. So if you remember I was turning 2:02s in the sprint race when I broke and 2:00s and 2:01s in the race and I was 2 seconds off at Laguna. Are you ready? I turned a 1:59.7 and many 2:00s! As you can imagine I was very happy. The car felt faster to the point that I was probably unconsciously slowing it down by braking early before the really fast turns, 100+ mph. So I guessed at this point the car was definitely faster. Next was to put on the tires and qualify.

Qualifying was in the afternoon. The tries were mounted and we installed them no problem. I got a good spot for qualifying. I didn't have any trouble during qualifying. There was some traffic but not much. Mostly just good clean laps. I fired off the following in order from first to last:

2:00.572
1:59.471
1:59.788
2:00.236
2:00.438
2:02.315
2:01.169
2:02.206
2:00.960

That's right 2 1:59s and several 2:00s. I didn't like the 2:02s or 2:01s (maybe traffic) but I'll take the rest! I did have the Rx-3 pass me out of 11 on the last lap. I kind of let him by because I wanted to see how the power compared. He's almost always able to blow buy. This time it took all the way from 11 to turn 1 to get by. Another indication the exhaust changes added significantly to the power. I was hoping for more with the new tires. Typically in the past we have picked up 2 seconds with new tires when compared to old. I have to blame the driver for not picking up the extra second or 2. Here's how we qualified:

ITS Tom Wickersham Datsun 1:53.722
ITS Todd Wilson Datsun 1:54.122
ITS David Allen Mazda 1:55.671
ITS Phillip Cloud Datsun 1:56.728
ITA Bernardo Martinez (cal club) Honda 1:58.146
ITA Steve Borlik Mazda 1:58.254
ITA Kurt F. Kaub VW 1:58.635
ITA Chuck Canepa Mazda 1:58.709
ITA Robert Quintero Mazda 1:58.824 (wrong tire pressures)
ITA Alan Hamilton Pontiac 1:59.471
ITA Sandy McPherson Mazda 1:59.631
ITA John McNulty (cal club) Honda 1:59.811
ITA Tachi Callas Mazda 1:59.850
ITA Caleb Everrett Mazda 2:00.920
...

Well you get the point. Tough competition even some from outside the region. There were 19 ITAs qualifying for the race on Sunday. 21 ITAs had entered, John Schmale blue a motor in practice, and Andy Banta crashed in practice on Friday and was not here. Those interested in the ITB and other classes can check the website for results when there posted. So it was going to be tightest racing I had probably ever seen. I was hoping to improve on my times but that would have to wait for the race which was scheduled for 10:40 AM.

I was girdded 10th (6th in class) and next to the Rx-3 car of Robert's. Nothing to do now but follow the cars and the pace car to the green flag. We did take out another 1/4 turn of the shocks, not sure why we did but we did. Anyway back to the race. The green flag flew and we were off. I was hoping with this new found power that I'd be able to follow Robert past a few cars in to turn 2. Well I picked up one position getting past the VW. Robert (1:58.240) got passed Chuck (1:59.181) and I tucked in behind Chuck through turn 4. Chuck slowly got away from me and there was not much hope in staying up with him. Now Tachi was all over my tail and I have to admit I was probably watching my mirrors to much, anyway I could not shake him. He kept trying to get me in turn 11 but I was holding him off on the exit, for now. I think the power was helping me here. He finally got passed and I then found myself with as many as 4 cars on my tail. I was trying to catch Tachi (1:59.873) and was still not losing the group. They finally caught up to me in turn 4. I went a little wide but was ahead when John Mcnulty (1:59.727) tapped my right rear bumper and tire. I think it turned me almost all the way around. I ended up in the dirt, restarted and got back on course behind Matt Rosemond in an Alfa ITB (2:01.020). I got passed Matt after turn 11 then Caleb (2:00.824) out of turn 6. Then the yellows came out. Tyson Lee had broken a hub and was on the inside of the track between turns 10 and 11. I now had a chance to get back in to it except that we had picked up some lapped cars some ITCs cars and a slower ITB car and others. We were under yellow for 2 laps. I had a pretty good start and was able to get by the ITB car then Tachi. I'm a little fuzzy on whether I got passed McNulty or not. I needed to get passed some more of the back markers but it was difficult. I even passed one on the outside of 8 going in to 8a. Tachi was able to get by again and McNulty finished in front of me and behind Tachi. So I finished 8th in class with my fastest lap time being 2:00.520. My times were from first to almost last (we lost the times after the restart):

2:05.410
2:01.229
2:00.850
2:00.520
2:00.695
2:10.601 (spin)
2:01.961 (BMW)
2:00.723
2:01.170
2:05.108 (Tyson Lee and stuck behind the ITB car under yellow through 11)
...

I pointed out the times of Caleb and Matt because it shows that I was able to get by them within on lap. There times only show that I was 3/10 to 5/10 fast so I shouldn't have been able to get by them that quickly. I think the power again played a role. I won't really know until I have the car dynoed if the power is up significantly. I'm still disappointed that I didn't get in to the 1:59s again. I have to take the blame there. Well that's it. I shouldn't really complain since the weekend went pretty well. We're actually one step ahead all though still seconds behind, fastest lap in an ITA was in a Honda with a spare motor and he ran 1:56.120. Steve Borlik in his ITA Mazda turned in a 1:57.690. The comments from the Mazda crowd was that the Hondas were taking an advantage of the new rules that allow them to tune there computers. Maybe or maybe just better tuning. So I still need 2 seconds to run with Steve and 3 seconds to get close to the track record.

Next event is at Thunderhill September 14 and 15.