A review of the archives reveals that, in the history of NASA Midwest, there had only ever been one Spec E30 race in the Midwest Region. In fact, a Spec E30 had not turned a wheel at a Midwest Region event in a couple of years. So you can see why some have called the NASA Midwest 2012 season opener at Autobahn Country Club the “Series Opener” for NASA Midwest Spec E30 as four cars took to the grid.
The weekend started with new drivers, Robert Schmitt and Rob Rhodes, successfully completing Comp School on Friday. Series Director, Kyle Burkhardt, debuted his new car, and veteran Tom Tiede brought out the car he had run in GTS1 last year and converted to Spec trim.
Saturday qualifying saw Burkhardt’s 1:43.42 lap edge out Tiede’s best lap by 1.12 secs. Schmitt was off the pace while he adjusted to the new car and environment. Meanwhile, Rhodes was working with NASA Tech to get his car legal to race causing him to miss out on the on-track fun. Race 1 found Burkhardt taking a quick lead on the rolling start that was sealed when he moved down on the apex at T3 on the first lap to keep an advancing Tiede from getting the inside advantage. Burkhardt maintained a comfortable gap over Tiede until the last 10 minutes of the 40 minute race when it became clear that Tiede had the better tires and started closing the gap. Both drivers skillfully negotiated Miata and 944 back-markers, but Burkhardt was able to maintain his advantage to finish with a 1.97 sec. win over the charging Tiede. Schmitt finished P3 in his first career race. Burkhardt also set the fast lap of the day with a 1:43.2.
Sunday also bore evidence of the close racing expected from a Spec E30 field. Burkhardt took the pole with a 1:42.831, but was only 0.149 secs ahead of Tiede. Both were just a bit more than a second off the lap record. Schmitt was clearly more comfortable and managed to cut his lap time deficit by more than half, but was DQ’d. Rhodes got his first career qualifying session under his belt. Anticipating Spec E30 standing starts at NASA Nationals, the field took a standing start behind the CMC cars. Tiede got a great jump, but had to negotiate a stalled CMC car before taking the lead into T1. Tiede and Burkhardt started settling in for a close race when Burkhardt dropped two wheels coming out of T5 causing him to spin and hit the tire wall hard, but flush on the side. Schmitt and Rhodes took advantage and both got by Burkhardt, sending him back to P4. Burkhardt proceeded on and was able to quickly catch Rhodes, who suffered cooling issues that put him out of the race. He set his sights on Schmitt, who by now had found the pace he needed to keep up with Saturday’s front-runners. Burkhardt was able to track Schmitt down in the last 10 minutes of the race and, after Schmitt’s bobble in T5 that nearly took them both out, Burkhardt was able to get around Schmitt and into P2. A lap later, Schmitt attempted a pass on Burkhardt into T10, but bungled the down shift allowing Burkhardt to retain his spot in P2. Schmitt was able to keep Burkhardt in sight for the rest of the race, but could not manage to challenge for P2 again. Meanwhile, Tiede cruised to his first Spec E30 win and fast lap of the race with a 1:43.3.
For their efforts over the weekend, Burkhardt collected $100 in BimmerWorld contingency money, and Burkhardt and Tiede each earned a total of $70 in Toyo Bucks. Tiede also earned $75 in Hawk Bucks. The NASA Midwest Spec E30 racers would like to thank Toyo, BimmerWorld, TiresDirect.net, Hawk and Performance Friction for their support of the series and generous contingencies. Also, thanks to Chris Orr from Orr Autosports for their expertise in diagnosing a miss on Burkhardt’s engine, and to John Van Houten from Elephant Motorsports for coming up with a box of every ignition part to trouble shoot and fix the problem.
Schmitt and Rhodes deserve congratulations for earning their provisional licenses, and for racing clean in their first races.
Finally, we would like to thank Tom Tiede’s parents, Jay and Cheryl, and girlfriend, Kaitie, for their hospitality and support in the paddock. Thanks also to GTS regular, Jeff Hermann, for bringing the heater.
Vids and pics here: http://www.spece30.com/forum/26-midwest/65169-autobahn-results-and-video-thread