 |
|
Man, I think I am as excited as you guys are about the first MA race. A field of 26 cars! Someday perhaps we will see those numbers in the Southeast.
Many of you are on the way to VIR today. Please keep us posted with race results, 26 individual race stories, fix 'em stories and the like.
Regards, Robert Patton
Make it 27 - Han should be a late addition to the pack. Stephen will be there, but only insturcting (it coulda been 28!!!)
We’re hitting the road in a few hours. See you all at the track!!!
-Vic
Friday afternoon…the calm before the storm of 27 racers at VIR. Ahh, how was your drive to the track?
Seriously, keep us armchair racers up to date.
Regards, Robert Patton
John Allen ran away with it today! I think everyone had a great time and a fun race. It was an awsome watching 26 spec e30’s circle VIR full. It was a little conjested though, 90 cars were in the BOMBER race :woohoo:
What a great weekend! I went to the supercomp school on Friday with 32 other candidates. Chris said it was the largest Nasa school so far. As everyone had said - the class was a blast! All the SpecE30 students passed, so the ranks swell.
The weekend had a different format with the enduro adding essentially another race group. While 90 cars had registered in the "Bomber" group (which contained SpecE30), 78 started the race. It was an interesting first rookie race experience, I got to watch Dan Elam appear from seemingly nowhere driving his Daytona Coupe - that thing is crazy fast! The weather was clear, temperature was 54 and almost no wind. Perfect conditions.
J. Allen took the race followed by Carter Hunt, Vic Hall, Chris Cobetto and Calton Goldthwaite. Fast lap went to Vic with a 02:20.076 Candidly, I saw several SpecE30’s at the start and then again as the top three lapped me. Otherwise I was trying to stay out of the way. With the large differential of speed capability, it felt like I was looking in the mirror more than out the windshield…
As always, the commraderie was great! Everyone helping each other whenever possible. I was an endless series of questions since it was my first outing, but everyone was patient, helpful and encouraging. I think this prevailing atitude is the single biggest reason that SpecE30 is the fastest growing series in club
racing now.
Special thanks to Carter for his coaching and help. Same to Jon Mc, Eric Rupert, Keith Smith and Kappy - you guys really made me feel welcome. Assuming I’m not in China - I’ll be at VIR March 30!
I enjoyed getting to met everyone… I just hate that I didn’t get the chance to race with you guys. 
I’m going to restart my build soon and will be back out there.
I’ve posted some pics in the gallery I snapped off while ya’ll were out racing.
I F’d up…
Cold tires, cold track, cold brain.
I was thinking about qualifying (during practice) when I should have been thinking about what I was doing.
The rear came around going thru 10 and once I was on the grass I was just along for the ride. The ride ended with the passenger side whacking into the Armco and my rear passenger side into the tire wall. It was heart breaking.
Not sure it I’m going to be able to salvage this car or have to start with a new tub. The front is bent but engine and most of the other parts are still good. I hope to know more soon.
Damn, sorry to hear that. I’ve done some damage at that part of VIR my self with my last race car. Hope you are able to get back out there soon.
Here’s my review:
The car still runs! The way the week was going approaching the race, I was planning to miss at least one session due to mechanical trouble. Managed to get through the weekend unscathed, which was goal #1.
Friday was relatively uneventful; I spent most of the first two sessions at least just trying to diagnose every noise, smell, and vibration I could to make sure something wasn’t going wrong. Started the day turning slow laps round a bout 2:29, ended up around 2:25 in traffic. The last session of the day I followed Ken Neuhoff around for most of the session and we had a lot of fun working through traffic.
My goal after day 1 was to get down to at least 2:23 on day 2. Managed to get there in the first practice session Saturday morning. During qualifying on my new tires, I managed to get one or two laps pretty clear of traffic (which was a feat in and of itself with 70+ cars!) and turned a 2:22–good enough for 7th. In the race, I held up one of the Salazar cars for a while (Alex May I think) and he spun a little while after passing me. There may have been other position changes, I don’t remember, but I ended up 7th.
Started 7th again this morning in the rain on dry tires with a very ill-handling car. The car hasn’t even had an alignment, and it showed itself more prominently in the rain. Lots of cars were spinning all over the place throughout the race, but I managed to keep everything on track. Picked up a few spots and lost a few as well. Saw both the Rev and Carlton spin in the rear view and one or two in front. Almost lost another spot on the last straight due to a slow Cobra holding me up through Hogpen and slowing way down at start/finish. Not sure where I ended up, probably 8th/9th.
I’ve already got a pretty good list of TO DOs (alignment!) before hitting the track again, hopefully I can be a bit more competitive next time out.
Here is another…
Wow…this weekend was amazing except for Scott’s incident. Beer Tech will of course rally and get that (or another) car on the track again. Comp School was a lot of fun and VERY insightlful. I really enjoyed the format and I think it is a fantastic preparation for racing.
I was nervous going in but once on track, that nervousness was gone. I felt extremely safe and comfortable with everyone in the school when we were on track. I felt the real races were a lot safer than many DE’s ive been in and I didnt expect that to be the case.
Saturday I qualified in 17th and finished in 15th for my first race. My quickest lap of the weekend was in the race saturday with a 2:24.1, my personal best. I was extremely pleased with this as this was the first time Ive driven the car more than 20ft since completely changing the suspension from my sweet GC coilovers and eibach sways to the Spec parts. The car felt and handled exactly the same as when I had the coilovers on it with smaller sways but stiffer springs. I also attribute a lot of this to the cage as this was also the first time driving the car at speed since that was put in as well.
Anyway, Saturday was great, I even got to dodge an errant wheel that was coming right for me, that was interesting. Sundays race was great thanks to Ken Neuhoff. I rented his rains since he and Matt Russell were sharing a car for the enduro and using Matt’s rains for the sprint. Thanks again Ken.
Qualifying was in order of the fastest laps of Saturdays race so I started in 15th on Sunday. I tried hard but couldnt get the car to spin all the way around so I managed to finish 10th which I was very happy with. Oaktree was an absolute skating rink since someone in the DE laid down some diff fluid through there just before our race. It was very interesting. I was loose all over the track but luckily managed to keep control.
I passed Al Taylor toward the end of the race just as he completed a beautiful spin in the middle of roller coaster and managed to stay in from of him for a while. It didnt take him long but he caught up with me again on the last lap. I had a good lead on him entering the esses and though 10 but as I was starting my turn in to Oak tree he was right on my bumper. As I got on the gas the car got sideways, I caught it on the edge of the track but I balked Al in doing so. This opened the door for Keith Smith who was battling Al along the way to squeeze past him and finish in 11th with Al in 12th.
What a blast, I was apprehensive about racing in the rain but it turned out to be a great experience and Im glad I did it.
It was great seeing everybody again this weekend and meeting a lot of the guys for the first time. Everyone was extremely helpful and made the transition to racing very easy with the on track conduct. Thanks goes out to Carter as well for taking that cat to Bret for me. I appreciate that.
I cant wait to get back out there. See you guys soon!
Brian Jones
Beer Tech #380
I hope you don’t mind this HPDE bozo piling on the thread. :unsure:
First, Mike Skeen–thanks for offering to ride with me. Unfortunately it never materialized; somehow my group began gridding not long after you came in, and I figured you packing things up was more important so I didn’t seek you out. I have decided I need to ‘hire’ someone at some point to give me some coaching (you’ll all appreciate this). I’m getting pretty comfortable with the car, and amazed at how much I can throw it around and how stable it is. I’ve got some work to do on my skills, but you know how it is…you think "Damn, I’m really getting pretty fast!". And then…some kid in a bone stock E30 owns you. 
Well, he didn’t walk away from me but he didn’t stay behind me either. Doh! And I really was enjoying those mental images of standing on the podium kissing the trophy girls.
I had a litany of irritating problems, among them a trans that was barfing gear oil onto the exhaust, radiator fan that quit working, check engine light that gave me a sunburn, and the discovery halfway through session two that, yes indeed, the pre-pump in the tank appears to be dead. :pinch: So the garage work continues.
I only did one session in the rain as we had a 6 hour drive NORTH through unknown weather to get home. All but the last 2 miles were uneventful, just wet roads that at 85-90 mph in an E30 go by pretty quickly (ssshhh!). However, I can tell you that Toyos are useless in the sleet/snow. No more Feb events unless it’s on a trailer!
Lastly, Scottmc: I could have wept for you when I saw your car. What a blow that must be. In my ‘professional’ opinion as an auto damage appraiser, I sadly declare that shell done. Easier (relatively speaking) to start over than chop everything in front of the firewall off and try to fix it. I hope you’re able to get back out there soon.
Dwight V.
Looking more like 2008 than 2007 :whistle:
ddavidv wrote:
[quote]
First, Mike Skeen–thanks for offering to ride with me. Unfortunately it never materialized; somehow my group began gridding not long after you came in, and I figured you packing things up was more important so I didn’t seek you out.[/quote]
No problemo. I had even gotten the arm band to ride along! Offer still stands for the future.
New guy on the podium…Congratulations to Jon Allen. Likely Jon has done this stuff before? Jon give us an update. Thanks in advance, Robert Patton
Here is a recap of my weekend:
Thursday Night: Got the car through tech without any issues and got my log book for the car.
Friday: Comp school was a busy, stressful, but fun day. Especially so since I was chasing multiple problems with the car all day. I can’t say there was anything I could have done to have been better prepared, but having to work on the car and do comp school was a challenge.
Saturday: Set my quickest lap of the weekend in practice Sat. morning of 2:30.xxx but car overheated again. Spent the next 4 hours diagnosing the leak (which could not be reproduced in the pits) and finally found the 4" long hose that comes off the back of the engine head at the firewall had a small split in it. Also changed the Throttle position sensor which made the car run much, much better that it had been. Missed qualifying due to working on the car, but made grid for the race and completed the race without incedent. I hope that I can get faster and still feel in control since I did not have a single scary moment during the race. I’m amazed at how quick the fastest SpecE30 drivers are, and I have to wonder if I’ll ever be able to take it that close to the limit…
Sunday: Spun on the pace lap in the wet and made the conscious decision to not spin again in the race. I probably drove overly cautious after the spin, but I just wanted to finish the race and bring the car home in one piece.
My final comments are that even though I was not very competitive, I left VIR on Sunday afternoon feeling like I had achieved a lot by 1) getting the log book, 2) getting my provision license, and 3) finishing both races successfully.
I’m looking at my lap times from the standpoint that I have a large room for improvement. My goals moving forward are to get the car more reliable, improve my lap times, but to never comprimise my comfort zone (even if that means running at the back of the pack forever)! I’m looking forward to going back to VIR in March!
Steven
scottmc wrote:
[quote]I enjoyed getting to met everyone… I just hate that I didn’t get the chance to race with you guys.
I’m going to restart my build soon and will be back out there.
I’ve posted some pics in the gallery I snapped off while ya’ll were out racing. [/quote]
Scott please give us (RRT) a call if there is anything we can do to help you getting back to the track. Checked behind the shop Sunday night when we got back and remembered Seth sold the 318 so no parts scavenging solution there! I had a "time and place" conflict with the front straight armco on Sunday and have to source some body panels myself. Send me an e-mail (olson at roadracetech dot com) and I will try to coordinate both shipments if you want.
Hope you’re not too sore buddy.
Cheers,
Matt
Patton wrote:
[quote]New guy on the podium…Congratulations to Jon Allen. Likely Jon has done this stuff before? Jon give us an update. Thanks in advance, Robert Patton[/quote]Jon was the GTS2 champ last season and is usually seen whipping a red #41 GTI.He is a heck of a nice guy and a great addition to Spec E30 for sure.
What a great weekend. With the number of cars that we now have, there is always racing action to be had regardless of where you are in the pack. Congratulations to all our rookie drivers for completing comp school and their first big event.
Can’t wait to see some videos of the race from different cars. Can anyone give an update to the enduro results/weather. It was just starting to pour as I was leaving around 11:00.
Keith
What a great weekend. With the number of cars that we now have, there is always racing action to be had regardless of where you are in the pack. Congratulations to all our rookie drivers for completing comp school and their first big event.
Can’t wait to see some videos of the race from different cars. Can anyone give an update to the enduro results/weather. It was just starting to pour as I was leaving around 11:00.
Keith