Rollcall - Sebring October 2 - 3

#41

Saturday for me too…Beeoootch.

#42

Don, stop being weak and bring a car.

Natalie, get Strasser to register.

#43

If Don races then he can’t insruct me.

#44

Wow, 5 pages. We haven’t hit 5 pages in a while. :slight_smile:

Saturday it is.

There’s a place called the Watering Hole that reeks of garlic and serves huge chunks of meat or seafood and doesn’t care if you have a bigger group. FYI, it’s cash only, but they do have an ATM in the restaurant.

Anyone else what to make a suggestion or are we good with that?

FYI, I’ll have my air compressor and filler hose with me that anyone can borrow. Save some trunk space if you were planning to bring one…

#45

BigKeyserSoze wrote:

I’ve sent him a message. Nothing. Barbara Nix sent him a message. Nothing.

It’s your turn. I’ll PM you his email - drop him a note and tell him to get his butt out there.

#46

Glad everyone made it down. Sorry for my short appearance, but I needed to get some food and rest. Just read about Scott’s car problems. I hope it runs good this weekend.

#47

I had a great time this weekend, and the drive home only took 8.5 hours and we got back before midnight which was nice. Thanks for the route advice Don as the 66/64 route was really fast with no stop lights. I really want to thank Don for all the instructing and teaching me the line on Saturday. Sorry about your rocker Natalie, and thanks for the one session and advice on smoothness John. My last instructor helped me brake less before 16 and tried some smooth trail braking into 17. It definitely is a different experience with Florida than with the Southeast. I was glad to get 3 instructors points of view and less time in the classroom combined with 4 longer sessions each day. After this weekend I feel my goal of racing SpecE30 is closer than ever and I plan to finish up my safety equipment as soon as I can.

#48

It was good meeting you. Let’s get the car done and come play ball!

#49

So, was there a race? Getting info from this crowd is close to that of Mid Atlantic…

Scott’s car broke?

Other stuff?

Thanks, RP

#50

I didn’t get to race, but I got to watch both races and here is my report:

There were 3 cars who took the grid on Saturday. They started probably 20 seconds behind about 17 Spec Miatas. They spread out pretty quickly with Scott pulling away, then Natalie, and then Al. Scott got all the way up to 4th place overall before the off course excursions began. Natalie also passed quite a few Miatas. I think Scott dropped down to around 10th and caught back up and finished around 4th overall and Natalie was maybe 10th overall while Al was still dropping his times and learning the track. On Sunday only 2 cars took the grid as in qualifying Natalie had a miss and was down on power. We changed the plug wires and all the plugs only to still hear it missing. I stuck my head down by the valve cover and heard a very distinct knocking sound. Since one cylinder was down I immediately said probably broke a rocker. We pulled the valve cover and the number 5 intake rocker was broken. She already had 2 new rockers on intake and exhaust for cylinder 1 and actually had some replacement rockers in her track spares package, but there was no way to quickly swap them in. Therefore only Scott and Al took the green on Sunday where Scott made his way through the Miata field to 2nd place. The first place Miata started last on Saturday and took the whole race to get up to first whereas on Sunday he started on pole so he gapped the field quickly giving Scott no chance to chase him down. I got to watch from Turn 17 and Al was dropping his times again and experimenting with Turn 17. Oh yeah in the Thunder race on Saturday (Scott was running both Lightning and Thunder), he managed to shear the front caliper mounting bolts on the first lap I believe and had no brakes going into Turn 17. He was lucky to get it limped back into the pits and the caliper and rotor was promptly changed.

#51

Thanks, Chris.

Replacing rocker arms is a royal PITA.

RP

#52

Wow what a track! My first time there and boy was I confused (lost) in the first couple of sessions. The practice and qualifying were only 20 minute sessions which consisted of all of 4-5 laps and then in. Of course I qualified last and the race gave me time to build some confidence and the opportunity to pass a couple of slow miatas. I did keep up with Scott and Natalie for maybe a lap and a half but then they were gone. Sunday I was much more comfortable and my run times became respectable, not great but not as embarrassing as they were on Saturday. But once again, after the first lap I never saw another E30 (Scott setting a track record), but I did get to pass more miatas.

Wow, what a track, but I enjoyed the people more. The weather was perfect and it was a pleasure meeting and wrenching with Scott, Don, Chris, and Ivan. Natalie took a bunch of pictures; I hope she posts a few.

The SE racers have to make a trip down there, it is worth the tow. I know I am going back.

#53

Al, I thought you did great. Sebring is incredibly difficult to learn and drive fast on. Your times are close to what the gang was running last summer, and the gang had experience on the track before. Every time I think I have Sebring tamed, I go there again and learn something new. A year ago when I was there in Pantas’ Pink Panther, I was sure I had wrung every second out at a 2.43, but every session I learned something new this weekend and wound up at a 2.41. There is always something to learn, and I thought you did great. It was fun hanging out with you and your wife and I hope to do it again soon.

-Scott

#54

King Tut:

I was in the thick of the Miata hunt on both days, but particularly Saturday, when I was making my way through the field, they just started driving dangerously. I personally witnessed two contacts with the wall, three car to car incidents, and at least 5 4 wheel offs. I finally decided to back it down when a car spun a 360 right in front of me in turn 10. I didn’t need a Miata to wind up in my newly painted door. As it was, the Miatas were doing a good job killing themselves, I didn’t need to be part of that mess for no good reason. On Sunday I just made it a point to drive straight through the mess with authority.

#55

Hey all,

Don’t chase the Spec Miata guy out of town with pitchforks and torches!

Just wanted to apologize for the craziness from our sm guys, a lot were driving over their heads and went against everything we preach to them. I am glad you all came through the gauntlet unscathed. Scott, I was right behind you in turn 10 when Burson spun into Byerly, nice avoid and I have it on video. I think I have a record amount of spins and offs on video actually, we might have even set a new NASA record for dry weather racing!

Next event will be different, and if you want away from the sm’s we can probably get you all into the thunder group, let me know…

See you all in Homestead!
John Adamczyk
#25 5X Racing SM

#56

Hi John, nice to have you on this board.

I didn’t say I wanted away from the SM’s. I love being there and had a great time with them. I just wanted a little further away from some of them in the race this weekend, for some reason quite a few of them were driving outside of their talent range and I didn’t want my SE30 to pay the toll for that. Others were in Miatas for the first or second time after driving radically different cars in the past, which was creating a learning curve.

I think you have done a nice job bringing cars to grid and hope to see more and more of that. Can’t wait to do it again.

#57

I second Scott’s points. It was grest weekend.

Chris - I had a lot fo fun with you on Saturday and proudly watched as you passed us in the E36 M3 on Sunday. As I mentioned, you are a lot closer to being race ready than you think. By the time you get your safety stuff sorted and get through a comp/rookie school, you’ll be ready.

Al - I have to ask. How did YOU manage to win over the heart of such a charming wife? Seriously it was a real pleasure to be with the both of you and thanks for the laps in your car. I’d like to see your race videos.

Natalie - Sorry about the motor. You owe me a few band aids for my scraped knuckles.

I hope to be back racing soon and look forward to kciking Scott’s ass.

Don

#58

donstevens wrote:

Thanks Don, obviously it is the result of a very serious lapse in judgement on her part… for which I am very thankful.

#59

Scott,

Glad to be here, I want to get more involved with all the classes and want to learn more about E30’s so I can start offering parts for them on my site. I have plans to eventually build one, but still have another miata build in the works.

I totally agree with you on wanting to keep your car clean, this is why I wanted to get involved with a smaller race group to begin with. You hit the nail on the head, we have 5 drivers of much higher powered cars in miatas now and it looks like they found the limits at Sebring. It is a big issue and is being taken care of, not to worry. I didn’t mean to sound suggestive about wanting away from the sm’s, it was more of a question on whether you all liked racing against the sm’s or the thunder group better, and offering you all the opportunity to race in whichever group you preferred. The miata races get pretty rough sometimes and I don’t want you all to feel trapped with us.

Thanks for the compliment, we have a lot of people that love NASA and we are working to make them the best group to run with in FL. So, more good things to come in the future!

#60

John:

I enjoy the SM competition, even if it is out of class technically. Racing close with anything, in or out of class, makes you a better racer. I also think that it takes one skill to drive fast, alone, on-line, and another to make consistent good decisions in traffic. Like how to use slower cars as a pick. How to pass cars at the right place that your competitors get stuck for 5 turns in a row while you drive off. How to pass cars off line while losing the least possible time. Which turns to pass in. There is just an entire skill set on passing slower cars, one that I have far from mastered but enjoy the opportunity to learn.

Plus, I like to double down, race SE30 in Lightning and PTD or whatever in Thunder. When PTA starts coming around, I’ll run the SE30 in Lightning and my Factory Five in Thunder in PTA.

I run the car every chance I get. I can’t wait for the next event.