Will get the ball rolling with the fun race on Sunday…
1 hour race of combined Lightning and Thunder cars due to attendance / weather.
My first ever drive in the rain on track, and 5th race this year…Rain X does the job…
Enjoy…
Santa's Toy Run Video Thread December 7th / 8th
Jon62
#1
Ranger
#2
Lets see some entertaining write-ups. That will make the NASA SpeedNews article a helova lot better than…
“Terror on the front stretch”, how I let Ryan win by Sandro Espinoza.
Eric hit the soccer mom.
1 40 Ryan Whitinger SpecE30 BMW 325i 15 82.376 1:44.148 8 154833
2 00 A.R. Hoshmandy SpecE30 bmw 325is 15 81.772 1:45.185 9 137038
3 47 Team GSS Racing East SpecE30 BMW 325is 15 81.707 1:45.403 11 155760
4 30 jared stoops SpecE30 bmw 325is 15 81.510 1:44.879 9 140556
5 81 Steven Lako SpecE30 BMW 325i 15 81.053 1:45.568 9 128501
6 194 Julio Palacio SpecE30 BMW 325is 15 80.454 1:46.157 9 135796
7 911 Laura Parkhurst SpecE30 BMW 325is 15 79.588 1:47.516 4 114972
8 6 Scott Gress SpecE30 BMW 325is 15 79.354 1:47.264 14 129732
9 141 Wes Flack SpecE30 BMW 325i 15 78.089 1:49.202 8 123927
10 317 Davis Gregor SpecE30 BMW 325is 15 77.855 1:47.535 13 160293
11 62 Jon Manhood SpecE30 BMW 325i 14 74.711 1:55.290 3 137161
12 32 Sandro Espinosa SpecE30 BMW 325i 13 81.888 1:44.337 11 148479
13 141 Scott McKay SpecE30 BMW 65 3 69.167 1:48.389 3 123018
14 919 Eric Palacio SpecE30 BMW 325i 1 53.270 1:49.563 1 135795
15 490 Group 3 Racing SpecE30 bmw 325 15 81.070 1:45.603 5 125967
16 87 Rob Morrison SpecE30 BMW 325i 15 80.248 1:47.421 13 123858
17 90 Chris Harkins SpecE30 BMW 325i 15 79.239 1:48.382 12 133155
18 88 Nathan Pitcher SpecE30 BMW 325is 15 79.130 1:47.794 13 132767
That 1:44:1 hot lap of Ryan’s was really fast.
Congrats to the podium winners.
Definitely some interesting things happened in the Saturday race. I was able to catch both the “Soccer Mom” and the “I will hit the wall so Ryan can win” events on camera. Lucky me…
This is a copy of my post on the RAAW Motorsports Facebook page:
"Santa’s Toy Run at Road Atlanta weekend update:
Great weekend for the entire RAAW Motorsports team at Road Atlanta:
Melissa had her first weekend in DE2 in her Red #40 E30. She is getting more and more comfortable each time she is on track. Really proud of her progress.
Aaron is still in DE4 and getting faster and more comfortable each weekend. He drove his blue #15 Spec ready E30 with a “new to him” power plant. Car ran great after a brief issue on Friday evening with an injector that was not plugged in. Aaron is running pretty consistent 1:47’s and 1:48’s and is loving the close “racing” with other DE4 cars. If all goes well, he will be doing comp school in March at Road Atlanta and will joining the Spec E30 field the same weekend.
I was able to squeak out a 3rd place qualifying lap on Saturday even after totally blowing turn one and going into the sand trap. I was able to get back on track and have a decent second lap before the run was red flagged due to a Porsche Boxter meeting the wall on the front stretch.
The race was an absolute blast! Sandro Espinosa and I battled hard for first place for over half of the race. With about two laps to go, Sandro went wide coming out of twelve and unfortunately met the inside wall on the front stretch. This handed the lead over to me where I was able to come home with the victory. Certainly a race that I will never forget! Thanks to Sandro for a GREAT race!
Sunday was nasty. Raining and COLD. Actually packed up and went home. Unloaded the trailers and had the Copper #40 already up on the lift in the garage. Around 10:00am, I started kicking myself for leaving due to the weather and decided to load the car back up on the flatbed trailer and head back to the track. Made it for the drivers meeting and prepared the car for the 12:15 start of the 1 hour race. Just before the race started and while heading to grid, I found out that my wipers were not functioning at all. Almost bailed from the race again but decided to see how it went at the start. Only about 21 cars started the race in total due to the crappy weather. I was able to come away with the 3rd overall and 1st for the Spec E30 class. Race was just for fun and I had a lot of it. Not fun like on Saturday, but fun nonetheless. For some reason, I just love running in the rain!
Congrats to Eric Palacio for his 2013 Southeast Spec E30 championship!"
Video from Saturday’s Lightning race:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDYzTFb1qsQ
Steve_D
#4
[quote=“RAAW_Motorsports” post=75082]I was able to catch both the “Soccer Mom” and the “I will hit the wall so Ryan can win” events on camera. Lucky me…
[/quote]
A few observations:
- WTF is a minivan doing on track? I love NASA to death but that is f*cking stupid. There are limits to what should be on track.
- Your motor mounts look like they are shot.
- Run with your face shield down. You’d be surprised what can glance off your mirrors or another car.
- Your diff and motor are extremely well tuned. Coming out of Turn 7, your car just works!
[quote=“Steve D” post=75084][quote=“RAAW_Motorsports” post=75082]I was able to catch both the “Soccer Mom” and the “I will hit the wall so Ryan can win” events on camera. Lucky me…
[/quote]
A few observations:
- WTF is a minivan doing on track? I love NASA to death but that is f*cking stupid. There are limits to what should be on track.
- Your motor mounts look like they are shot.
- Run with your face shield down. You’d be surprised what can glance off your mirrors or another car.
- Your diff and motor are extremely well tuned. Coming out of Turn 7, your car just works![/quote]
Agreed about the Mini Van. First time I saw it at the track was this weekend. It was fully race prepped. Cage, Seat, the whole nine yards. I just don’t get it!
Motor mounts are solid and in basically new shape. Not really sure why I get the movement. Seems to be the case in all three of our cars.
I know I should run with it down. That is why it is there. I do wear full clear safety glass eye protection but can’t get used to the full shield.
Ranger
#6
http://youtu.be/VXKamW-e_fM
33min of racing with no full course yellows was excellent. There were a lot of local yellows tho and it became challenging to keep track of when you could and couldn’t pass. Most of my race was spent trying to either get around Laura, or catch back up so I could get around Laura. I never did. At the same time I was fighting to keep Davis Gregor behind me.
I had no issues with the Honda Oddyssey. Seemed to me like he was trying hard to stay out of the way. I had pretty good success with traffic.
As usual I sucked at turn 5, but my suckage at turn 1 was less than than the norm. I was hitting 121 on the back stretch, which is good for me.
Qual was awful so I started the race 16th of 18. Finished 8th.
Not a particularly good start. Almost ran out of track in turn 1. Had to overslow to stay on the track.
Have a high pitched whine come out of something. Tranny? Diff?
11:00 Bumped drafted Laura.
15:25. I get hosed by traffic and Davis takes me in 1.
20:20. I get into 10a beside Davis. I wasn’t really trying to pass him, it was more about just making his life complicated.
21:03. Having never gotten over the anxeity I created in 10a, Davis bobbles turn 3 and I get by.
25:00. Still not recovered from the shock of seeing me by his side in 10a 5min prior, Davis gets sideways on the exit of 5 and I think comes out unscathed.
26:38. My only scare of the whole race. At the entrance to the S Curves, a Thunder Roadster attempts to punt himself over my bow. I dart left into the grass to avoid.
Sandro32
#7
Another absolute BLAST on Saturday, one of my most enjoyable races so far, up there with the battle with Laura at CMP. It started rough having poured water in the tank early in the am, and not having a great qualy, but the race made it all better having a great battle with Ryan, for most of the race, switching the lead at least twice per lap, until I lost it in my favorite turn of RA. First time to hit the wall and I never would’ve thought it would be there, but it was great, thankfully I didn’t hit anybody else and the car is going to be put to rest. Building another for next year. Thank you all for being a part of this, and please don’t forget that we do this for FUN, although very dangerous and expensive, it’s still how we choose to have a great time. Can’t wait for next season!
Here is my video from Sunday. MUCH less exciting than Saturday as far as traffic but still a ton of fun running in the rain. An entirely different challenge!
harkinsc
#9
Fairly uneventful. My start was alright. Managed to pick up one spot from Laura, but quickly gave one back in 5 and another in 7 trying to pass on the inside and therefore another on the back straight :pinch: Rode around by myself most of the race playing catch up with mid pack. I was closing in on Scott on the final lap and tried to make a pass in turn 7, once again…didn’t work! Obviously I didn’t learn my lesson from the first lap :S I was originally DQ’d for passing under yellow, but got the decision reversed after video review…clearly I wasn’t doing a whole lot of passing, haha! The flag at 10A on the last lap was a debris flag, not a yellow. Somehow finished 9th for my best finish to date and first top 10!
Saturday’s Race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0bWV9bZx9U&feature=youtu.be
DMoses
#11
I know haven’t been around much but DAMN somebody has got a serious motor:woohoo:!
See you guys this season for sure
FARTBREF
#12
Atlanta = Balls+Motor
CMP = Tires+Brakes/Luck
I aint got balls or a motor so yall know where you will see me…
Al