Charlotte Reports - Video?

#1

Bring em on - It is Saturday morning and I was hoping to do some reading and watch a video or two.

#2

race 1 http://vimeo.com/13053571

race 2 http://vimeo.com/13054769

full writeup here: http://racing.cerient.net/?p=206

great day of racing, i hooked up with evan in qualifying and knocked out a lap good enough for 2nd. unfortunately i can’t quite maintain that pace with other drivers breathing down my neck and i drove scared, losing a few positions in both races. the second one was almost comical, at least for everyone but me :slight_smile:

congrats to eric on winning both races, and condolences to those whose car didn’t make it home in quite the same condition as when it left. learned several important lessons and am pumped for the next one at vir in three weeks.

#3

The tires I ordered did not come in…so I had a choice of 4 year old rains or 2 year old completely shot 888’s…plus I was coming back to where I totaled the white car…so I had plenty of excuses…qualified crappy and apparently blew my motor a couple of laps from the end of the first race…the Charlotte curse continues for me.

On to VIR

Al

#4

Hmm, so far it seems things happened but nobody is spilling the beans…

This is where getting some DeVenney to the race pays off - you get a race report right away!

#5

Great report and videos Jason. That looked like fun.

#6

ukrbmw wrote:

[quote]Hmm, so far it seems things happened but nobody is spilling the beans…

This is where getting some DeVenney to the race pays off - you get a race report right away![/quote]

If you’re discussing towers comment about people’s cars not surviving… I got into Walsh in T2 in the second race and we both ended up in the inside wall. Tower’s video doesn’t quite show what happens… so the two sides of the story meet somewhere in the middle. Walsh felt I hit him, I felt he closed the door - but either way you swing it my nose probably shouldn’t have been there, so for that I apologize David!

We discussed the incident and chalked it up to a racing incident… in the end either of us could have prevented it.

His car got it worse than mine but will survive. Some body work, bumpers, and front left suspension/wheel.

#7

I had a lot of fun in the first race. Al Kritter & I swapped lead four times and if the timing loop had been a few feet further down the track our finish positions would have been reversed. I was passing him on the last lap and the cars crossed the finish .01 seconds apart. That kind of racing is just a whole lot of fun!

Since it has been such a struggle to get the new car running and race worthy I haven’t yet gotten RA1’s. I was running a set of year old 888 (old rain tires). As expected they got real greasy in the first race and the short time between races wasn’t enough for them to come back. The car was sliding a lot on the first lap and it just got worse with each lap. So I elected to just motor around and take the car home with no new modifications. RA1’s for next time!

#8

The racing videos looked fun! Sorry I missed it…

#9

Nice. Sorry to hear about the cars Evan and David. We have a pretty long break, so I’m sure they’ll be ready for the next one.

#10

ukrbmw wrote:

Yea… a 2 week break before VIR :stuck_out_tongue:

My car will be ready, but it won’t be pretty. Although it wasn’t pretty before either so, we’ll see how far NASA wants to take the 50/50 rule. :slight_smile:

#11

Here’s the view from the 5th row. These are mostly notable for watching the crazy Thunder Roadster guys. The way they whip around at max speed entering Nascar 3 was something to see.

Race 1 was fun chasing Al until his car died, and in race 2, managed to keep the main pack in sight a bit longer. A learning experience but not an easy track to love. Got by Laura after about 4 laps but she got a run near the end and took the position back. Good battle though!

Race 1: http://www.vimeo.com/13074114

Race 2: http://www.vimeo.com/13072947

#12

The first time being at Charlotte was fun and I will defiantly be back.

The early morning practice was much needed; just wish it had been a little longer.
Qualifying was so bad for me (@ 4 sec off the pace) that I joked about forfeiting the racing and just being the pace car instead. I felt that I was pretty quick through the infield but any gains I made were immediately taken back once we were on the back straight.

Race one was a lot of fun and I learned just what a difference bump drafting makes on the oval, maybe the higher speeds, being enclosed by walls, I don’t know but it seemed to make a much bigger difference there than at other tracks. Big thanks to Al for the bumps, that was a very cool experience. The race was going ok, I think I was in 5th or 6th when I spun in the infield. Apparently the tires were slightly flat spotted in the spin because as I broke for turn one later that lap, both fronts locked up, the car filled with tire smoke and I developed a violent shake. Luckily it was the last lap and I was able to limp it around one last time to at least complete the race. Both front tires were changed before the next race because they were torn to the steel.

Patton suggested that I change the airflow meter when he overheard me complaining about the lag in power I had been experiencing for the last few races. Turns out he was absolutely right, it made a night and day difference for the 2nd race. Big thanks to you yet AGAIN for your knowledge and willingness to share it.

Our grid positions were based on our early morning qualifying times regardless of the first race finishing position. (Probably in the interest of time for the one day event) I got a good start and was able to draft on a train of 6 or so cars on the first lap and by turn 1 was running third. About 15 mins into the race Evan had caught me and we were having a great battle for position. Unfortunately, a swarm of cars took turn one and two together and Evan and I didn’t make it out. One of those things that happens with racing sometimes that’s all.

Unfortunately I have no video as my Traqmate system has a knack for recording everything I don’t want and nothing that I actually want. I am beginning to hate the thing.
I hate that it missed the crash because it was pretty dramatic, glass flying all through the car, and the sound of hitting the wall was pretty cool. (Starting to be kind of familiar)

I will post some pictures as soon as I get them downloaded under a new topic “Reminder of why you should put your face shield down”

Thanks to everyone who helped get the car off the rollback and back under my tent. Oh and special thanks to the wrecker driver for leaving me and my bumper out on the track to walk back alone!

#13

Thanks for the videos posted. I watched all 4. I also enjoyed reading Jason’s report on his website. That definitely sucked when Eric kept you on the non banked part of the track which led to everyone freight training you. The most interesting thing I saw in the video was how on some turns Eric had his brake lights on through almost the entire turn. I’m assuming he is doing some kind of slight left foot braking while accelerating out of the corner to keep the car balanced. It was really evident in Jason’s videos towards the beginning.

#14

King Tut wrote:

evan and i just watched that video (we’re at vir practicing for the july race) and i commented on the same exact thing. could be as simple as a lazy brake light switch or something far more sinister that is the secret to his speed.

#15

Charlotte, as usual, is a lot of fun. I had a decent day, a few issues kept me from having the races that I wanted so let the excuses begin!

I managed to use up all of the tires I had left, not there there was much on them to begin the event. 7 of the 8 tires I brought are now corded. I have raced CMS three times anow and after every event, I have corded the right side tires. That place is tough on tires but to be fair, I was not running new tires at any of those events. All of the tires had multiple heat cycles on them.

This lack of grip led to me overdrive the car in the infield in order to try and keep up. (Also helping to run the rubber off of the tires.) I qualified 4th and finished 3rd in the first race. For the second race the car felt a little slow and the tires were mis matched, two RA1’s from 2008 on the rear and two from this year on the front…all on their last leg and subsequently corded after this race. I was overdriving to stay with the pack but steadily going backward. After a few laps as you can see in Tower’s video, I managed to spin the car in T1 after having to brake to keep from hitting the car in front of me as I had a good run through the corner.

Luckily, I did not hit the wall and got to sit at pit out waiting for the whole field to go by before I counld continue. In the interest of keeping my car’s body work in pristine condition, I decided to bring it on in and take my DNF for race 2.

After the race I also found that I have a blown out exhaust gasket on one of the downpipes. That will hopefully fix the power issue a little.

Now it is on to VIR at the end of this month…providing I have tires! Does anyone have a good used set of 888’s or RA1’s they no longer need? Im looking for decent practice tires, let me know!

Good to see eeveryone again.
Brian

#16

Brian,

I have something of a collection of used R888’s that are still good enough for practice sessions. You can have them real cheap…