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For those following along at home… Qualifying for the first race is done and grid looks like this (rounded to the tenth):
Cobetto 2:20.7
Ferrario 2:20.9
McClure 2:22.4
DeVinney 2:24.1
Beraja 2.26.0
Neville 2:27.0
Beautiful weather, great track, good competition!
Steve D wrote:
[quote]
DeVinney 2:24.1[/quote]
That’s nice and SE medicore. Good work.
I think these are the correct regions:
Cobetto 2:20.7 MA
Ferrario 2:20.9 NoCal
McClure 2:22.4 NoCal
DeVinney 2:24.1 Mediocre
Beraja 2.26.0 SoCal
Neville 2:27.0 NoCal
No worries Robert. When you look like I do you have to develop a thick skin or the criticism will crush you.:laugh:
Qualifying Race #1 goes off in 25 minutes. I hope to have some fun with my first standing start!
Steve D.
Steve, watch the flagman’s shoulder…Go when it twitches.
Drop the clutch at low rpm and don’t spin the tires. First gear will rev-out real fast, shift earily and often…
Likely you know all this stuff, but how else can we (I) live vicariously throigh your participation without giving half-baked advise.
Small e30 crowd. Big fields in other classes, or does the event need to be back east?
RP
I think the organizers looked a map and said “Utah” is close to California.
Well compared to Ohio it is…
IndyJim wrote:
[quote]I think the organizers looked a map and said “Utah” is close to California.
Well compared to Ohio it is…[/quote]
Jim gets the “Christopher Columbus” award for the day.
RP
Patton wrote:
[quote]Steve, watch the flagman’s shoulder…Go when it twitches.
Drop the clutch at low rpm and don’t spin the tires. First gear will rev-out real fast, shift earily and often…[/quote]
I drop from ~3k and feather the clutch a little to avoid wheel spin. When you’ve not qualified 1st or 2nd, leave room a car length or more between you and the car ahead of you, and offset a little to the left or right. The gap and offset are useful to avoid plowing straight into the guy who misses a shift or is asleep at the wheel. If that doesn’t happen, you can easily gain that car length back in the accordion braking into the first turn.
Laz,good advise. But,with a standing start, why do the LEADERS brake for turn 1? Usually the car is going slower than the normal entry speed…
Better question, why am I not one of the lead guys.
RP
I survived my first standing start. Got a decent jump on Ferrario right at the flag drop then blew it with a missed shift. We entered T1 just like we qualified. From what I saw/heard, Cobetto and Ferrario had a great race except for when they were balked by a solo out-of-class dustball working through the field after a spin.
Finishing positions and tires of choice:
Cobetto 888
Ferrario RA1
McClure 888
DeVinney RA1
Neville RA1
Beraja 888
Victor and I were sent to tech and passed with flying colors. They measured front track. :huh: No weight, no rear track, no pop-the-hood-and-see-if-it-looks-like-an-M20…:laugh:
I guess with 6 cars there’s less of a point to invasive tech.
Steve D.
Patton wrote:
[quote]Laz,good advise. But,with a standing start, why do the LEADERS brake for turn 1? Usually the car is going slower than the normal entry speed…
Better question, why am I not one of the lead guys.[/quote]
Ah, you’ve got a point there. I ask myself that same question all the time 
Cobetto and Ferrario were side by side at the finish. It will be interesting to listen in. Dang I wish I was there!
I gave Steve my garage, that is why he is doing well…I am convinced. Some of the guys near the back like Scoot will pick up the pace, Brad will no doubt be in the mix as well, I am sure all the guys will put more pressure on Chris and Steve.
BTW I think Steve has run about half the races with Nor Cal, he started the season in a 318 and then bought a car Walter Ford was building and he has run it well. Steve to his credit has a lot of Bicycle and Karting experience. He is a real Competitor! Does his home work and trains real hard. He will be tough as the weak wears on. He will take care of himself, so the other guys better not drink too much at the 19th hole.
Kevin
I tried the 888s in the PT race last night. Car felt more planted, but I was 1.7 seconds off my RA1 pace. I’ll try them in this morning’s warm up to get apples-to-apples with yesterday, but I think this track likes RA1s.
On Robert’s advice, I ran the 888s in warm-up and qualifying today. I ran the exact same time as yesterday’s warm-up. I was really hoping for a clear “better choice” but they appear pretty close (13 heat cycle RA1s vs 4 heat cycle 888s in case you care).
This morning’s qualifying set the grid for today’s 5:15 EST race like this (provisional):
Ferrario 20.07
Cobetto 21.62
DeVinney 21.93
Neville 23.43
McClure 23.55
I am not sure if Beraja had car problems in yesterday’s race, but he was not on track this morning as far as I know.
Steve D.
Sounds like a hollow top 5 victory is in your future! Feel proud… like Enduro IndyJim.
Geegar - Most parents don’t turn bitter until their kids start crashing cars. You’re getting quite a jump on it. Besides, “bad attitude” is IndyJim’s schtick.
Today’s qually race turned out a bit better for me. Here’s how it ended up (provisional):
Ferrario 21.6
DeVinney 23.2
Neville 23.7
McClure 23.6
Cobetto 21.5
Beraja 26.0
Better start than yesterday for me. No missed shift! Things got a bit interesting for me in Turn 1 on Lap 2. I went to brake and the car just wasn’t slowing down. I figured out after a couple more turns that the throttle cable/linkage was stuck wide a$$ open. :ohmy: After a few more panicked turns, I got my left big toe under the pedal and unstuck it. Next corner, stuck again. Big toe again. Wash, rinse, repeat. :huh:
I finally got pretty good at the footwork (lift, slide left foot, right foot brake, remember not to blip the throttle, feed in throttle…). I hope to have some foot cam video up soon.
I was behind by many car lengths, but Ferrario and Cobetto had a great battle. I don’t know what happened, but Cobetto spun coming onto the front straight which handed me 2nd.
More fun tomorrow!
Steve D.