East Coast Championships Stories and Videos

#21

Here’s how the event unfolded for me:

Qualifying Race #1
Started P5 and finished P8. I dialed it back to due to handling issues a few laps in. I thought my LR tire got cut due to using too much curbing, but it ended up being a loose toe eccentric which caused dynamic toe.

video - processing later

Qualifying Race #2
I qualified P5 and at the start I quickly fall back to P15 because of a horrible start. I wasn’t able to grab 2nd gear and then I tried 3rd gear and that didn’t work either! THANKS to everyone who was heads up and was able to avoid plowing into the back of the car. I then work my way back up to finish P5.

There’s some good/clean battling in this video.

Here’s that video - http://youtu.be/sRSuNFOjRaI

Championship Race

I started P6 and finished P4 until tech was completed. Later I’m informed that I moved up two spots to P2 due to two cars up front failing the tech inspection. Not the way I’d like to grab a podium position.

There’s some good battling in this video, overall it was very clean racing w/ the exception of some contact on the very last lap between turn 10a and 10b w/ car #194 of Eric Palacio.

Here’s that video - http://youtu.be/5jvEwTP7N0U

The difference between 1st and 2nd place was 0.141 seconds and the difference between 2nd and 3rd place was 0.035 seconds. It doesn’t get much closer than that!

Qualifying for Qualifying Race #1 - http://bit.ly/1x5QLBl
Qualifying Race #1 results - http://bit.ly/1vIBqoH
Qualifying Race #2 results - http://bit.ly/W6lNYG
Championship Race results - http://bit.ly/1tqH8e3
Car #609 dyno graph - http://bit.ly/1usPJKf

Thanks to Scott and the whole South East region for being an excellent host! You guys set the bar high!

Addtl. pictures,videos and info can be found on Instagram (http://instagram.com/robgagliardo) & Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/robert.gagliardo).

Drive fast, my friends

Rob

#22

Obligatory pic with girls.

What I should have done is arranged a shot with the Toyo girls. Maybe on the podium. Maybe holding a big trophy and check. All I had to do was drive faster.

#23

[quote=“Rob in VA” post=78247][quote=“Rnz520” post=78236]Great job out there to all the SE30 racers out there this weekend, I kept up with it as much as I could, and there is really no better series to run in right now. I hope to one day be a decent enough driver to be able to race with your group.
Congratulations to Mr Espinosa, I watched the youtube video, that was an amazing drive.
I’ll be at VIR next year to watch you guys in person.[/quote]

Ray, once you get your car up to snuff, you’ll be pretty fast indeed![/quote]

Thanks Rob, you almost got my name.
Great job out there this weekend, some great overtaking moves. Your car is fast.

-Renzo

#24

Lots of pics here: https://www.facebook.com/david.waldmann.543/media_set?set=a.10203654025704873.1073741842.1643663174&type=1

Pics taken by David Waldeman, a buddy of the Whitingers

#25

What an incredible weekend of NASA racing in the Southeast! Met a bunch of great guys and had a blast racing HARD with all of you.

I had a mixed bag pretty much all weekend but I was happy with the final results. I struggled with power down the back stretch all weekend. Seemed nothing I did could keep the front runners from gaining and passing on the back stretch. After some discussion around my car from some of you guys, I thought we had it figured out. The TPS was bad and I replaced it before the 2nd qualifying race. It didn’t seem to help in feel or in lap times.

First qualifying run went much better than I ever expected. After doing test and tune all day Thursday and warm up on Friday, I ran my quickest lap of the entire weekend for the qualifier and placed 2nd for the first race on Friday afternoon.

Hard and clean racing for the first race but I fell back to 7th place by the end. Still very happy with that result considering the field of great drivers around me.

Second qualifying race was pretty much a disaster. Anthony and I went side by side from the start to turn five and I pushed it to hard and tracked out into the gravel. Rear end kicked out and I did everything I could do to keep it off the track where 34 other cars were quickly coming fast. Did a couple tank slappers and went both feet in when I knew there was no recovery. That worked very well and kept me pretty straight heading towards 6 backwards. Bumped the wall about half way between 5 and 6 and back on the gas. I think I was in about 37th by that point. Scrambled back to finish 22nd in the second qualifying race.

How to go from 6th to 37th, in one lap at Road Atlanta http://youtu.be/-ERWt38od_0

Started 11th for the Championship race. Again, very hard racing pretty much the entire time. Had great battles with several of you guys including Harness, Hunt, Walsh, Curran, and several more. Finished the race in 7th position but net results put me in 5th.

As many have said, some things could have been done differently but that is for another day. As for the Spec E30 family, we put on one hell of a show!!! Congrats to the podium finishers, congrats to everyone who took their cars home in one piece, and congrats to the incredible skills shown by EVERY man out there.

I thought about posting a video of Sunday’s race but after watching the masterful run by Sandro I am feeling a little inadequate and decided not to bore anyone.

Looking forward to VIR next month and next year for Nationals
.
Thanks again to everyone for making my first Nationals a memorable experience!

#26

C’mon man!!! you gotta post it, maybe not here :ohmy: but gotta post it :slight_smile:

Like Gags says, sharing is caring!

#27

Anyone have video of me pit maneuvering Cobetto in T7 during Saturday’s race? B)

Ryan… Sandro did a good job running you off track in T3. He tried to bump me off at T5 during Sunday’s race. I think he had his Toyo grass/gravel tires on during the race.

#28

Despicable ME, you took out your regional director?! lol, only you!

Btw - you popped Eskew cherry for contact on the track when all 3 of us were going into T5.

We’re gonna tear it up down in NO. This time do bring extra Tshirts :wink:

#29

[quote=“ppatrick” post=78275]Anyone have video of me pit maneuvering Cobetto in T7 during Saturday’s race? B)

Ryan… Sandro did a good job running you off track in T3. He tried to bump me off at T5 during Sunday’s race. I think he had his Toyo grass/gravel tires on during the race.

[/quote]

PP, stop hitting people, you piece of shit. :laugh:

#30

It’s called the PP slap.

btw, at least I’m not the only one who has problems with standing starts. :wink:

#31

[quote=“ppatrick” post=78275]Anyone have video of me pit maneuvering Cobetto in T7 during Saturday’s race? B)

Ryan… Sandro did a good job running you off track in T3. He tried to bump me off at T5 during Sunday’s race. I think he had his Toyo grass/gravel tires on during the race.

[/quote]

Sandro didn’t run me off in three at all. In fact, I checked up a bit early in three to let Sandro go but he had a horrible exit out of three so I “bumped” him to get him going again. Pretty much how we always race together :slight_smile:

#32

Here’s my Saturday video of the absolute shit show that was our start:

http://vimeo.com/user20922536/review/105061944/879cde4840

This is the disaster of a start of the Saturday Spec E30 championship qualifier race. Here’s the deal: At the front of the pack are three rows of Spec 3 cars, in a different group from the Spec E30 cars. Both groups were to get their own separate standing start, so it was sombody’s idea to just line them all up, and throw two green flags. The first green flag was to be for Spec 3, while Spec E30 sat still and waited for their second flag. The second green flag was to be for Spec E30. This was announced at the meeting and again at grid. Although one could readily predict the disaster to follow, what was happening was well communicated. So, they throw the first green flag for Spec 3, and about 1/4 of the Spec E30 glass goes nuts and hits the gas. Its spectacular. I’m not sure what is my favorite part of this total abortion, but there is a lot to choose from. Hoshmandy running into Papa Palacio? Group leader Scott Gress jumping the start? Could it be A. Whitinger backing up at a million miles per hour through the grass, and then jumping the non-start a second time, and then not giving the positions back? What about Diego Gonzalez coming from 10 rows back, 4 seconds later, realizing his disaster? In the running for potential disaster of the weekend, but not viewable in the video is that while we sat on the grid with the race stewards trying to sort the mess out and what to do about it, nobody told the Spec 3 cars, who got their start right, that 42 BMW’s would be greeting them, parked, on the front straight. I think they might have gotten a double yellow just before they came down the hill. What a mess.

I picked the worst possible time to have a bad weekend. I missed shifts in Friday’s and Sunday’s race, had to drive off on Sunday to miss Ranger in turn 1, and then blew it up. Tough weekend, but it was still fun to see all the Spec E30’s in one place for this event.

#33

Now THAT is a f*cking race report!!

I watched that shitshow courtesy of Bedmonds’ dash cam - complete with his audio. It was fantastic. I’ve seen buckets of baitfish act in a more orderly fashion.

#34

I didn’t feel too badly about jumping the start in the Qual race. We all told JJ that it was a terrible idea. As the long line of cars came on to the front straight, I heard engines roar. I thought that was the Spec3’s responding to a green that I could not yet see. So when I finally moved up to where I could see the flagger, I figured that the next green was for us. I was at midpack so I’m sure it was even harder for those behind me. I was all poised to go, the green flag dropped, AR took off in front of me and I went too.

Scott, seriously hosing you up at turn 1 was all my fault. That I feel badly about. I thought it was Walsh. I sent him an apologetic note earlier today. I hosed my downshift into 4th as I entered turn 1 and so went past the apex in neutral trying to keep the light rear end underneath me. Then I fought it into gear as you closed up behind me. Which is about when the engine reved to 7500 because I’d hit 2nd, not 4th. That caused me to abruptly slow. As I got the damned thing into 4th I glanced into my mirror and saw you trying your damndest to avoid whacking me in the ass. An effort that sent you off the track. I have a clear recollection of seeing the E30 right on my bumper careening off and hoping like hell that my screwup hadn’t caused it. I’m sorry I screwed you man.

Patton often says you gotta know who you’re racing against. I guess a person has to be aware when they’re coming up behind an idiot.

#35

you’re in 5th on the front straight?? A wise man once told me “K-I-S-S, keep it simple, stupid” limit those shifts!

#36

[quote=“Steve D” post=78290]Now THAT is a f*cking race report!!

I watched that shitshow courtesy of Bedmonds’ dash cam - complete with his audio. It was fantastic. I’ve seen buckets of baitfish act in a more orderly fashion.[/quote]

I think I invented a few cuss words. Glad the audio picked it up. There is not a single driver that can be held at fault for doing anything wrong. Race control did not control the race. Simple as that. This was not our first rodeo there so it’s not like we haven’t seen a second flag before. We usually talk about it at the meeting. The scheduled meeting. At the scheduled time. That is on the schedule. And we take roll. Oh well. It was still awesome.

#37

Re. not shifting into 5th on front straight. That’s a fair point. I did figure out last year that my tach reads a little high. I’ve so many laps at RA that my shift points are kinda on auto-pilot. I’d forgotten about the issue of the tach reading high until just now when you radiated surprise about shifting to 5th before turn 1. All this time I thought everyone did.

#38

I’m just busting your balls, Scott. It is right on the edge, personally I decided that hitting the rev limiter for bap-bap-bap, 0.8 seconds was better than up shifting and immediately downshifting. But I certainly tried 5th a few times.

thanks again for playing host and organizing all of the extra curricular. Really a fun weekend, we all appreciated the southern hospitality!

#39

Scott, when it’s hot, I found that it’s better not to shift into 5th on the front straight and left foot brake and immediately get on the throttle and keep your left foot in the brake to balance the car. If you’re not going 87mph up T1, you need to work on it. It’s .3 Seconds lost if Your going 84mph compared to 87mph, crazy, ha?!

#40

Sunday’s Championship race. Just for you Sandro :slight_smile:

http://youtu.be/9Uw_Ts112Gw