First Spec E30 national Champ

#1

Well the results are up on the NASA site and it looks like our 1st ever Spec E30 National Champ is Chris Cobetto. Congrats to Chris and I look forward to attending myself next season.

#2

Damion, you’ and other SE racers will have to go to the nationals as the NASA SE region needs more participation. See you at RRR. Regards, Robert Patton

#3

Wow not one Kudo for Chris. I wonder if this means something? has Chris rubbed some people the wrong way;)

#4

Congrats to everyone and especially to Chris for winning inaugural championship title – I listen to the race coverage via net, and sounds like it was quite good and interesting race (wished I was there participating).

Igor

#5

It was a tough weekend for a couple racers. Carlton Broke:pinch: and Carter had a little trouble on the start Sat. but I will let those guys tell their story. Once again it was good to see all of you guys again.

Overall the whole event went pretty well. There was a huge GTS group and that caused some traffic issues for everyone. the facility is great and the turnout was pretty good. the weather couldn’t have been better.

#6

Speed Channel covered the SCCA National Championships last year, were they at NASA’s? I would love to catch these on Tivo/tape delay.

By the way, congrats Chris, and sorry to Carlton and Carter. I don’t know any of you guys or what happened at the race, but we have a Nat’l Champ and that’s worth kudos. I hope the competitors will describe the action that happened.

#7

official results are now posted at
http://mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=416882

Something funky with the delta times though - they show Robert being a lap down from Chris which isn’t right.

0.23 seconds between Robert and Carter - phew!

What happened to David on Sunday?

cheers,
bruce

#8

leggwork wrote:

[quote]official results are now posted at
http://mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=416882

Something funky with the delta times though - they show Robert being a lap down from Chris which isn’t right.

0.23 seconds between Robert and Carter - phew!

What happened to David on Sunday?

cheers,
bruce[/quote]

David’s car wouldn’t start. Which really sucks because he worked on it for awhile before the race and got it running. They replaced the fuel pump and it seemed to run fine but then it wouldn’t start once we got onto grid.

#9

Arrggghhhh!!! thosse gremlins are such a pain. Has it been successfully diagnosed?

#10

Congrats to Chris…I thought he was done for when he went off twice on the first lap!!!

See yall at summit.

Al

#11

Also congrats to Robert and Carter for the podium finishes, I will be gunning for yall next year.

Al

#12

No doubt, Chris was the man to beat all weekend but it was certainly no cakewalk for him. Carlton gave him a tough time in the qual races and Chris and I had several great racing laps for the lead during the championship race.

I pushed a little too hard and went off (drove it off as I could see that I was going off regardless) and got back on behind Robert.

Chris deserves serious praise for his performances over the weekend and Robert drove very consistently and quickly to secure a second place finish in the Championship. Robert had a very long trip home and left after clearing impound, so he’s not in the podium photos.

It really was a great time for many of us and I hope we’ll have a stronger turnout next year.

Carter

#13

A few more interesting things from Mid Ohio…

I tried to cut off the end of my thumb on Thursday, while helping change a front wheel bearing on Carlton’s car. Many thanks to Dr. David Herrington for his help and advice. And he was correct when he said that we have sensitive nerve endings at the tips of our fingers.

:woohoo:

David had some very frustrating moments over the weekend but some of the guys (especially Garreth) helped get him to the grid on Sunday. Unfortunately, his car wouldn’t start for the race but David kept his head up.

Carlton had some bad luck as well. The aforementioned wheel bearing, a broken rocker arm, and after a short run through the grass to avoid Mike on lap one of the Championship race, his car wouldn’t run.

We all learned that NASA needs some definite and written panalties, or we will use our own next year. Carlton’s car was ten pounds underweight after one of the qual races and our Group H Race Director (who did a good job overall) asked the drivers to vote on his suggested penalty. It turned out to be a problem and created some friction in the ranks…which is why we try to have definite penalties and why we don’t vote in Spec E30. Had there been a set rule, that would have been that. I was told that NASA would run the tech part of the weekend but we will have a more definite plan next year.

Hanging out in the paddock together really was a fun part of the weekend. David and Carlton spent a lot of time at the grill, making hamburgers and hotdogs for the Spec E30 drivers and crew. Chis had many official duties but I hope he and Sean can take some time next year to have lunch with us.

I learned a lot about Toyo tires (through talking with their on-sight tech guy and through my experiences on the track) and how they really need to be shaved properly. The tires I got from last years Toyo Bucks were shaved to 6/32nds and were very squirmy. I had them on the front and lost 8/10ths of a second per lap which took me from 2nd quickest to 6th.

I kept them on the car and they got better as they wore, and were at their best during the Sunday Championship race. The guys at Vilven Tire Company, Inc. from Royal, IL swapped-out my other new 6/32nds tires for 4/32nds and give us good trackside support. I’m also talking with Toyo to see if they will give us Toyo Bucks for the Champ race, since we didn’t qualify for the Toyo prize money.

I give NASA an "A" for their efforts to make the weekend successful.

While a few of us had some tough issues, we had a lot of fun and really look forward to another Championship weekend at Mid Ohio next year.

Carter

#14

One more thing…

With more entries next year, we will qualify for the Toyo money, the Hawk awards, and any other prizes I can arrange for the group.

Carter

#15

Carter wrote:

[quote]I learned a lot about Toyo tires (through talking with their on-sight tech guy and through my experiences on the track) and how they really need to be shaved properly. The tires I got from last years Toyo Bucks were shaved to 6/32nds and were very squirmy. I had them on the front and lost 8/10ths of a second per lap which took me from 2nd quickest to 6th.

Carter[/quote]

See i knew this was why you beat me at Road Atlanta;)

#16

When I wasn’t getting Chris’s car ready to go out I spent a LOT of time with JJ, (our JJ) who was the Honda Challenge Race Director, Jim Politi, who was the Spec Miata Race Director and Jayson West (our other Timing/scoring Chief, who was a huge bonus to the crew there) and of course Chris and US Drift to assist them in doing their jobs, acted as a sound board for the incidents(mostlyHC), reviewed video tape, acted as chauffer in the golf cart and actually got a little spectating in. I hope all you guys don’t feel put off by that because I never had an intention to "not" hang out with you.

#17

I have to congratulate patton, chris, and carter for great and clean driving. I wish i could have been in the mix but I got a little excited and what happened is obvious. Next season should be interesting and i’m looking forward to racing with some new people.

p.s. I agree with carter, we put brand new 5/32 shaved tires on the car on thursday and they didn’t get tacky until saturday afternoon! Then one of the tires went flat overnight on saturday and when we got there for the final race we had to scramble to go get a new tire as the toyo guys were packing up for the event.

#18

If anyone runs out of tires or has a puncture, I’m sure someone will have a spare Toyo for a race. We don’t want anyone to miss a race if we can get you on the grid.

Carter

#19

Carter wrote:

[quote]If anyone runs out of tires or has a puncture, I’m sure someone will have a spare Toyo for a race. We don’t want anyone to miss a race if we can get you on the grid.

Carter[/quote]

I think someone said on the day of the final race as we were working on david’s and carlton’s cars "what other series would be like this as far as helping each other out" the answer was: I don’t think there is one. This really is a great series and it wouldn’t be that way without a great bunch of guys.

#20

MikeD wrote:

Not to belittle SpecE30, but someones not giving other guys enough credit. Everyone at an event is a car guy, many are gearheads too. Guys all over NASA, PCA, SCCA, etc will usually help each other other as much as possible (though there are bound to be some pricks given a large enough group.) Heck, even the pro teams at the Lemans 24 will share parts & help. Auto racing is SUPPOSED to be a "gentlemans sport".

SMD