How about a post race report from Summit

#4

screwynewy wrote:

I was home by 9pm and I was the last to leave. :wink:

From the back of the pack, things were no less exciting, but not for W2W reasons.

On Saturday, 6 laps into the race, my engine died at the turn-in to T1 – a lead on the back of my kill switch worked it’s way loose, cutting power to the coil. (I initially assumed that I missed a shift.) I ended up coasting to a stop behind Bobbie Elam, who had had another 944 drive up and over her side just in front of me. Six laps of watching the race in my rearview from the very edge of the track-out of T1 was not what I would describe as fun, but with 6 of 12 laps, the race counted. Unfortunately for Steve Kappy, a down tire from a Lap 1, Turn 1 excursion limited him to 5 laps despite a fast trip to the paddock for a new wheel.

Sunday qualifying was "interesting" thanks to a 944 that blew its engine through the line in T3. During what was looking like my first clean lap of the session, I must have come through just after the 944 went off and drove right through the oil at the apex – I kept it to just 2 fishtails :silly: – the corner worker apparently thought pointing toward the 944 that I couldn’t see would be much more effective than using a flag. Go figure.

A stalled Spec Racer made the start a bit crazy and a total brown-out in T9 on the first lap was definitely pulse-pounding. Being put a lap down by Jens and Chris in T9 and T10, respectively, right before checker gave me the definitive proof that stock camber plates are severely robbing my corner exit speed.

A lackluster performance, for sure, but most important to me was J.J.'s autograph on the last two blanks in my rookie book. :woohoo:

#5

sharkd wrote:

[quote]
I was home by 9pm and I was the last to leave. ;)[/quote]

Autobahn must have been the first group to race. The race in August we were last group which had me getting home about 11:30pm. :frowning:

Thanks for the write up. Sounds like an eventful weekend for you. Glad you managed it without incident.

Did anyone challenge Brain for 3rd place?

#6

I was able to get some shots of SpecE30 cars in action during Saturday’s qualifying session (including a great sequence of a 944 spinning at Turn 3, and the moves made by a couple of SpecE30s to miss it) along with some shots of Chris Cobetto giving rides during the final HPDE session Saturday.







































#7

Missed some of you. Here’s more:











#8

  1. The weather was absolutly spectacular.

  2. I sucked…bad. I need to figure Summit out, not sure if it is mental or car or track but I am thinking about doing the Turkey Bowl in Nov and getting some coaching. I set my fastest personal laps, but so did everyone else so instead of being right in the middle, I was trailing…there was plenty of excitement for sure. On Saturday one of the Spec Renault Racers spent the entire race sucking exhast gas from my tail pipe, Sunday 2 of them split me in the carosel, I have yellow paint all down the side of my car…but I had no real battles within the spec e30 group…dammit.

Al
going back to school

#9

I was in HPDE3 trying to break the weakest part of my car, which turned out to be the heater core. :S Good I wasn’t wearing my new racing shoes. Anyway, I was very pleased with the car, and not so pleased with the driver. :whistle: Apparently I need a little helmet-smack before corner entries to slow my butt down a bit more.
I was in the Sat run group with Cobetto. He naturally blew me into the weeds. I tried in vain to keep him in sight to try to watch his line, etc but his speed and other traffic killed that idea in about a half a lap. Thus, I expect to be a very competitive driver for about, oh, 8th place in the future. :lol:
Much thanks to Brain and Sean for tolerating my noob questions and taking the time to make us feel welcome. Really look forward to running with you guys, hopefully sometime in '07 as I suck up to my cage builder this winter.

#10

ddavidv wrote:

[quote]I was in HPDE3 trying to break the weakest part of my car, which turned out to be the heater core. :S Good I wasn’t wearing my new racing shoes. Anyway, I was very pleased with the car, and not so pleased with the driver. :whistle: Apparently I need a little helmet-smack before corner entries to slow my butt down a bit more.
I was in the Sat run group with Cobetto. He naturally blew me into the weeds. I tried in vain to keep him in sight to try to watch his line, etc but his speed and other traffic killed that idea in about a half a lap. Thus, I expect to be a very competitive driver for about, oh, 8th place in the future. :lol:
Much thanks to Brain and Sean for tolerating my noob questions and taking the time to make us feel welcome. Really look forward to running with you guys, hopefully sometime in '07 as I suck up to my cage builder this winter.[/quote] no worries man…the more the merrier.

Jens sure did a good job of not collecting that P car. Nice photos!

#11

This past weekend was definitely the most fun I have had in these cars yet.
There is no secret that I am still quite a novice at this sport, but I would like to point out the 12,000th reason that spece30 is the best series in existence: The entire weekend the only work I did on my car was rotate the tires once between qualifying and race on sunday. I did not turn a wrench, a screw, a nut, or bolt otherwise and low and behold on the last lap of the entire race weekend I put down the best time of my career a 1:30.4. If that is not proof that these cars are ready to perform and not let us down I do not know what is. (Of course it might also be proof that I was not pushing hard enough all weekend).

I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable off-season.
Thank you to Steve K, Steve D, and Al T for making the racing this past weekend such fun.

Jon

#12

Just looked at the NASA race results. From the qualifing and race times it looks like Chris and Jens were really fast.(In another time zone kind of describes it.) Congratulations to both race winners as I can see that a Spec E30 race wins are going to be harder to come by next year. Jens Scott is a new(ish) name.Where did all of these racers come from? Some background on Jens? Add to the mix the always fast duos of Carter and Carlton, Vic and Alex, Brandon and Steve, Mike and Ed, Daniel and David, etc.,I think the readership gets the picture. Argg…Ba humbug. Regards, Robert (it used to be easy) Patton

#13

I agree with Jon… What a great weekend!

I had a little more work on the car than Jon, but still had the best weekend!

Here is the recap:

Saturday, I think I surprised Jon during qualifying by finishing 2 10ths ahead of him. Obviously, it did not shake him, because he got a fantastic jump at the start jumped in front of me and was on the inside of turn one. Unfortunately, the grid had the slowest spec racers (87 hp) in front of us, so it was a crazy turn one. I went to the outside of turn one and ran out of track. Upon re-entry to the track, I must of hit the curbing, because I bent the rim (3 for the year) and ended up with a flat. A new father and son team in the Spec E30 paddock helped me change the tire (thanks guys!) and I was back on track, finishing 5 laps.

Sunday was incredible. Jon and I traded practice and qualifying spots so it set the stage for the race.

Jon got a great start again (proof I need to work on my standing starts) followed by Al, and me. It was a three way train until the straight after turn nine where a spec racer kicked up a cloud of dust so thick we were unable to see the track. Jon slowed down with Al behind him. I darted to the right and drove throught a thinner dust cloud. From that point until lap 9 I was running solidly in fourth.

Jon was slowly catching up, but lap traffic proved beneficial for Jon catching me. He caught me in turn 10 and by the end of the straight, he passed me. But, that was short lived. Don (in the black Porsche) passed me and then Jon on the straight between 2 and 3. I jumped on his bumper into 3 and repassed Jon.

Since I had to scrub speed to take the inside line, Jon got an incredible run on me through 4, but went into 5 too fast and lost time. I thought at this point I was safe. Obviously, I was not.

Jon came back again, and this time did not want to be denied. By lap 12, he caught me and was a couple of feet off my back bumper through turns 8 and 9. By turn 10, Jon was drafting me towards the finish line. He darted out at the last minute, but I held him off for fourth. What a relief for the checker, because I think if it were one more lap, I would not have been able to hold the place.

I want to add to the chorus of proof positive that this is the series to race. During qualifying on Sunday, the car would pull to one side under braking. I checked my brakes to find out that I was metal to metal on the front rotors. Dan Smith loaned me a set of pads (and tools) to finish the weekend. That plus the commradarie, you cannot beat this series!

I am now going into pout mode until February. We need a November race!

-Steve

#14

Now THAT is a race report! Steve, I can see why you are itching to get back out there again soon, sounded like a heck of a good time.

These other race classes that are mostly parades once the fast/slow guys sort themselves out seem pretty lame by comparison.

The schedule makers for SE and MA need to get together on a SpecE30 challenge weekend next year, maybe CMP or RRR so we can get a 20-car field and have a shootout. Wouldn’t that be a good time!

#15

Word on the street is that Jens is the son of Summit Point Motorsports Park owner and operater, Bill Scott.

#16

Chuck, how about the Southeast Invitational (sounds exclusive, but we invite everyone from the Mid Atlantic to come down) at our first race: March at Road Atlanta. Kind of like the NASCAR guys at their first race in Daytona after the winter season. Road Atlanta anyone? Looking forward to next season,Robert Patton P. S. thanks for all for the race reports as it is great to see that there is competition throughout the field and always someone to race with, always someone to chase after, always someone to learn from, always someone to lend a helping hand.

#17

I think CMP is the one race that is close enough for everyone from the southeast and Mid Atlantic to come together for a battle royal;) Not the most exciting place even though I really like the place.

#18

I think CMP is the one race that is close enough for everyone from the southeast and Mid Atlantic to come together for a battle royal;) Not the most exciting place even though I really like the place.

#19

stevekappy wrote:

I dunno… the nearly $2,000 I’m looking at in maintenance and further car preparation suggests to me that I need to scrimp and save before February. :unsure:

I desperately need a parts sponsor. :pinch:

#20

sharkd wrote:

[quote]stevekappy wrote:

I dunno… the nearly $2,000 I’m looking at in maintenance and further car preparation suggests to me that I need to scrimp and save before February. :unsure:

I desperately need a parts sponsor. :pinch:[/quote]

I with you on this Dan. Based on my oil consumption and transmission chatter I may be in for an expensive and time consuming off season with maintenance.

My winter car project list is getting long!

#21

I with you guys, my power steering blew up just before the last event and I had a mysterious slow leak from the bottom of the tranny during the event. I guess we shall see.

#22

I will open my comments by saying that everyone had a great weekend, and lots of non-Spec E30 racers came by to talk with the group about the series and the GRM article. I personally talked with half a dozen guys about the series, including a couple of racers in other series who are ready for a change. Very positive feedback from everyone who read the article.

As for the race report…Chris Cobetta and Jens (Bill Scott’s Son, owner of Summit Point) checked out and managed to pull away from the rest of the field both days. Both Chris and Jens have more time at SP than all the other racers combined so it came as no suprise when they both rocketted out front. I qualified thrid both days and didn’t have much for the two front runners. I’m going to blame my crappy old tires, but the truth be know they were just better than me in turns 3 and 10 (Two places at SP I still can’t stomach going flat out). Chris won Saturday’s race with Jens in second. Sunday the order was reversed. Brain was all alone in third both Sat / Sun. The trophy girls were exceptionally attractive and I wished I had stayed to get my picture taken:)

Standing starts were uneventfull, as were both races, with all the E30 racers performing superbly. 8 cars started, 8 cars finished both races. With Dan’s electrical glitch which was quickly fixed being the sole exception. Series points battles had already been decided so this weekend was truly for the "hardcore" racers who race for the love of it…Carlton/Carter where are youuuuuuuu?:slight_smile:

The 944’s were a different story. Lots of heavy sheetmetal damage and a couple of blown engines. One 944 spun in another’s oil slick and almost hit the safety vehicle. Should be some interesting video if anyone in 944 land posts it.

#23

Patton wrote:

[quote]Just looked at the NASA race results. From the qualifing and race times it looks like Chris and Jens were really fast.(In another time zone kind of describes it.) Congratulations to both race winners as I can see that a Spec E30 race wins are going to be harder to come by next year. Jens Scott is a new(ish) name.Where did all of these racers come from? Some background on Jens? Add to the mix the always fast duos of Carter and Carlton, Vic and Alex, Brandon and Steve, Mike and Ed, Daniel and David, etc.,I think the readership gets the picture. Argg…Ba humbug. Regards, Robert (it used to be easy) Patton[/quote] Jens is a Summit Point Instructor and son of the track owner. He is co-driver with Skip Bennett in Dave Pallister’s old car.