First NASA SE Race at CMP 2/10-11

#41

I’m coming to crew for an old friend of mine. See ya’ll there.

#42

Thanks to Robert Patton, we’ll be there. After all it is "All Patton’s fault!"

A big thank you to George Doughtie too. I got my car from him and he spent many hours working on the car to make sure it would be ready.

Jeff

blue 64

Team AMX Racing (almost a theme)

#43

This thread is so long, I’ve forgotten the format. Anyway, I’ll be there racing as a rookie, but not quite SE30. Technically, I’m GTS2 (usually in thunder), but I’m going to see if Pantas will let me run with you guys. You show me the lines and I’ll bring up the rear. Also, my son will be driving the car in HPDE3.
Jon Stroup, Adam Stroup
’87 325i
#58
:slight_smile:

#44

Ask Jim if he’ll let you run in "E30 Fun" and in the same group as the Spec E30 guys.

Carter

#45

Thought I might give you all an update on the race weekend at CMP. For me, obviously mixed emotions; my clutch exploded during the Saturday race as I down shifted from 4th to 3rd at turn eight, my first DNF. Here comes the very cool part. Several people got on cell phones to locate replacement parts. Hendricks’s BMW in Charlotte, NC had what we needed, the problem was they would close in 20 minutes and it was a 50 minute drive. I remembered my ole college buddy that just so happened to live 15 minutes from Hendricks. He made it there in the nick of time; they were literally locking the door as he walked up to get the parts. Damion rode with me to Charlotte to retrieve the parts. While we were gone, Al Taylor, Robert and Laura Patton, Travis Wilson, David Cullen and Kelly Childress towed my car to David Farmer’s trailer which just so happens to have a lift. Damion and I arrived back at CMP at 7:15 with the clutch kit and by 9:30 that night, my car was ready to race again! What a stand up bunch of guys (and girl), and I want everyone to know how pleased I am to be associated with this group. Thank you all!

Day two, practice and qualifying couldn’t have gone better; very pleased that I’m even there after the previous day. The race starts, I qualified 8th in class and got a really good start…. by turn two, I’m in 4th place (lucky start). Had a great time racing with Al Taylor for three laps. On the 5th lap, I’m feeling a horrible vibration in the right rear, the wheel studs were backing the lugs off and the wheel was wobbling off the car. Two DDF’s in the same weekend, how bad does that suck?

Here is what I learned this weekend:

The spec e30 SE group is a greatest group of people on the planet.
CMP is a great track and major fun
Don’t buy a racing clutch, stock is better
If you have black steel wheel studs on your car, get rid of them.

#46

Man, Steve, quite the weekend! I wish I could’ve been there with all you guys. How many SE30s ended up showing?

What exactly was the problem with the clutch/wheel studs?

#47

We had 11 spec e30 cars and we had a blast! Great racing for the limited time I was part of it.

The clutch in my car was installed last July and only had four events. It was a racing clutch from one of our sponsers, so I would prefer not to give more detail here. Let me just say if anyone wants to buy a piece of exploded clutch plate, I have 326 pieces for sale. It sounded like dynamite when it let go. It will be OEM for me going forward!

The wheel studs also had four events on them. Lessons learned the hard way. They would torque down to 85 ft. lbs. before event time but would back off as they got hot. Very disappointing to start the season this way, plus a very nice wheel is trash. :frowning:

Kuddo’s to all my fellow racers that helped out this weekend and to David Farmer for letting us use his lift.

#48

Steve,

Sorry to hear of your car trouble this weekend. This is not the first case that I have heard where fellow SE30 racers pulled together to get another competitors car back on the track. That’s what makes it such a great series.

Do you remember who podiumed for Saturday and Sunday? Thanks for the report.

  • Ken
#49

Wow, that is quite the weekend…And exactly why I chose to run Spec E30. (not for exploding clutches, but you get the point)

#50

Robert Patton was 1st both days. Damion was third both days. Travis was 2nd today. Can’t remember who came in second yesterday, think it was Al Taylor.

#51

Steve:

Thanks for the good reports. And it’s great to hear that the group got you back together. How many of us would have packed-up and headed home?

I hope we’ll get more reports from the Southeast Spec E30 racers.

Carter

ps. 11 cars? Good job guys/gal!

#52

Gasman wrote:

[quote]

The wheel studs also had four events on them. Lessons learned the hard way. They would torque down to 85 ft. lbs. before event time but would back off as they got hot. [/quote]

Did you use Red Loctite from the beginning?

Also- I would say "ditto" on the clutch. These cars don’t make enough power to tear up a factory clutch if taken care of properly.

#53

It was great meeting everyone at CMP. I stopped by here to see if there was an update on Steve’s car, glad to see it was running and my call to Hendrick payed off. Sorry I had to take off before it was done, I hated to leave Al under the lift by himself but I had a dinner appointment Saturday night.

You e30 guys are certainly a great bunch, I’ll be on the lookout for a 325 for myself. Hopefully I’ll see you guys again before the end of the season.

#54

CMP was great. The Spec E30 spirit shown bright this weekend with people coming together to help a fallen comrade. This is a great bunch of guys to be associated with.

On to the racing. I really consider CMP to be my home track and it showed in qualifying on Sat. I layed down a smokin time (1.56.0) which was good enough for pole position. I got a decent start and had Robert patton on my bumper. Going into turn 8 on the first lap Robert got by as I anticapted a honda zigging when he zagged, oh well. Robert and I waged war for about 8 laps nose to tail. It was a lot of fun. I usually try and race smart but did something stupid and pushed too hard when I should have waited for a better opportunity. Needless to say I spun the car. Robert drove off into the distance and Steve Stubbs passed me as I was trying to get back on track. I continued on and finshed 3rd.

Sunday was a 60 mintue enduro so managing tires and brakes at a track CMP was going to be important. i layed down a very poor qualifyng effort. note to self: A lot of thunder guys throw out the boat anchor when they come to a corner. Robert layed down an incredible qualifying time (1.55.xx):woohoo: with new fast guy Travis Wilson right behind him. Kelly also upped his speed. I was way back, about 8th in Spec e30. At the start I was flying and passed at least 5-6 cars before turn 1 and was up to fifth in Spec e30 at that point. Kelly had a pretty dramatic spin in turn 5 on cold tires and moved back a bit. I commenced to battling with Steve Stubbs for about 4-5 laps. By the time I cleared Stubbs Robert and Travis had opened a lead that i couldn’t make up, so 3rd is where i Finshed again. Ribert was first, and travis was second.

#55

As Damion eluded to, I had an "exciting" weekend. Saturday was fun… It was only my second time at CMP so I was still learning the track some. I qualified mid pack a few seconds off my practice time. During the race, Travis got by me when I was dicing with Cullen, but I eventually got by Dave to finish in my starting position.

Sunday was great, I did some research (aka took a ride with an instructor) on the track to pick up some pointers and set a really quick qualifying time behind Robert (a hair faster than Travis). Finally, I would be in a position to dice with the Taxi and pick up some tips & tricks from following Robert. Travis and I had even conspired to work together to reel Patton in so he doesn’t run away with it. Needless to say, it was all for not as I carried a little too much speed through four on the first lap after the start. My correction carried me off the outside of the carousel, so I tried to dirt track it the long way around. Not quite pulling it off, the car spun and I stopped it before coming back across the track as the field streamed by. The rest of the race was spent trying to better my now 10th in SE30 position. I fought back through a good portion of the field to find myself closing on Al Taylor (for fifth?). Unfortunately I pretty much had used up the tires and brakes by overdriving the car to get back as much as I could. The last third of the race consisted of me closing the gap a little and Al pulling away over and over. During the race even though I had clear track, I never got back down to my qualifyinig pace.

So good times, no incidents, and much learned for next time…

#56
#57

WannaBeRacer wrote:

[quote]It was great meeting everyone at CMP. I stopped by here to see if there was an update on Steve’s car, glad to see it was running and my call to Hendrick payed off. Sorry I had to take off before it was done, I hated to leave Al under the lift by himself but I had a dinner appointment Saturday night.

You e30 guys are certainly a great bunch, I’ll be on the lookout for a 325 for myself. Hopefully I’ll see you guys again before the end of the season.[/quote]

I was sorry to see you gone when I returned, I had hoped to thank you personally. Without your help, it wouldn’t have come together. WBR, You can crew for my anytime! Thanks.

#58

Saturday: This was a good race as Damion was on my bumper throughout 2/3 of the race. We were wearing-out the cars… He bobbled in turn 3 and I was able to cruise on to the checkered flag

Sunday: Get set for a one-hour race… I qualified well thanks to a new set of Toyos at 4/32. At the start Kelly was right behind me. Going into turn 4 he bobbled and lost several positions. It wasn’t long befor this new guy ,Travis Wilson, was on my tail. Travis is the SE version of a Carlton Goldwaite-crazy fast. After I lead for several laps, Travis passed me at the end of the long back straight. I followed him for quite some time. As traffic came by, Travis bobbled and David Cullen and I both got past him.The race ended with Cullen on my door panel and Travis on David’s bumper. They both would have passed me at the next corner. Wow, 1 hour of racing seperated by .2 seconds.

Racing note to others: I really didn’t win the races as much as others bobbled. Don’t bobble.

It was great to see so many new racers. Okay, guys, how was your race?
Paul Marshall
Travis Wilson
Tom Hall
Scott Peterson
Jon Stroup
Jeff Puras

Regards, Robert Patton

#59

Definitely the most fun I have ever had with my clothes on!! Or off for the matter!. It was everything I expected and wanted and I loved racing for a full hour. Funny how I thought I was pushing pretty hard in DE’s - but now I know you have to push MUCH harder to keep up in a race. I had a few off-track excursions but was able to keep it straight and get back on without incident. My fastet race lap just barely beat my qualifying time and I felt fairly consistant. I know that I need to sort a few things out on the car, like get the Hawk pads on, and some brake ducting (things got a bit mushy at times) but the car handled it well in general.
I really appreciate all of the encouragment from the E30 group, the commradery (sp?) within the group is outstanding. My brother Jeff experienced huge improvements in HPDE 2 and is ready to solo and work towards racing. We are trying to get it together and go to Road Atlanta next month (eventhough I may just instruct in order to learn the track) - hope to see you all there.

Tom Hall

#60

Tom, you are racing at Road Atlanta, got it. And bring more Brats;)