My Saturday story is similar to Robert’s for obvious reasons. I qualified P6 and got a decent start and was making up spots but flew off at T2 while trying to keep a reasonable pace as a HC Civic was taking his dear sweet time to overtake me “Let’s get it done and move on, man!”). Rather than stay in it I realized I was going to hit the wall so I scrubbed energy and re-joined at the inside of T3’s entry. From there I clawed my way back, finishing 3rd. I thought I had something for Frans until I started un-porting (fuel) with about 1.5 laps to go. Pete set a new SE30 track record (broke his own from last month, actually), and I think four of us were in the 1:19s.
My Sunday story took a different turn. Pete and I put on freshies for Quali, but I got clean track and he didn’t. I captured P2, 0.1 behind Sean and 0.1 in front of Robert, IIRC. Pete was P5 for the start. You can see in Pete’s video how the start went: I got a good run through T1 and held onto it through a number of mistakes (for about 10 mins) until Robert decided that was enough of that. In a rare glance at my mirror I saw he was on an epic tear and I knew my tire temps would have to settle before I had anything for him. Robert slipped past as I dumped wheels-off at T1’s exit and I tucked in behind. I remember finding it strikingly easy to stay on his bumper and thinking to myself, “I can just hang out here for a while, perfectly happy.” I was certain we were about to check out on the rest of the pack. As that hope started to become reality, Robert’s driveshaft essentially exploded all over the front of my car. Data says we were doing about 111mph when it let go and I was following at a range of probably 20 feet. I took what I think was his trans brace to the radiator and at impound found that it had caused a water leak. Luckily the leak was very small and I never saw the temp gauge rise despite watching it like a hawk from that moment. During all this, Pete in #343 had been forging his way up to 3rd so when Robert retired Pete became my only concern. I knew I had speed in reserve and finishing 1st would only require making fewer mistakes than Pete. Luckily that’s how it worked out despite a #@*#%$! 944 who thought it was crucial to race me wheel-to-wheel on the last lap. I was so glad they reminded people in Saturday’s race meeting to “only race your own class” and that this guy was the only chump who didn’t listen. Robert and I set the fastest laps of the race (tied out to the thousandth, oddly, on MyLaps), but we were about a half-second slower than Saturday’s race from what I can tell (higher track temp, more debris, etc.).
Lightning is a brilliant track - simple yet technical - and I recommend it to anyone from novice to racer. I personally would choose it any day over Thunder. Hope to see you all at Hyperfest.
-Matt #232