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It’s our last visit to summit point for the '09 season and the first entry list is already up:
Michael Trent
Chris Cobetto
Robert Allen
Raymond Jadczak
There are some rumors floating around about a more thorough repaving. If you’re thinking you’ve heard that before, it’s because you have… a few times actually… :S
We are now less than 2 weeks away but we still have some slackers who havent signed up yet. I’m betting on at least 15 cars.
Robert Allen
Chris Cobetto
Robert Grace
Carter Hunt
Raymond Jadczak
Jason Mahoney
Virgil R.(Rick) Mariani
Joseph McGrath
Michael Trent
possibles/probables:
Skip
the slower Allen 
Silver
McGrath
kappy
J. Bennet
Axis x2
anyone else?
Raymond Jadczak is more than likely out, spoke to him today and he is having some issues. Joe Mcgrath is in for saturday only. Andrew z is out…
I am out. Next race with either be VIR finale in October or Summit Finale in November.
-Steve
stevekappy wrote:
[quote]I am out. Next race with either be VIR finale in October or Summit Finale in November.
-Steve[/quote]
There is no summit november, its hpde only
another update:
Robert Allen
Jonathan Allen
Skip Bennett
Chris Cobetto
Michael Davidson
Robert Grace
Carter Hunt
Jason Mahoney
Virgil R.(Rick) Mariani
Joseph McGrath
Michael Trent
nice group but we could use a few more…
I’ll be in a land where computers dont grow for the next few days so someone else take over the updates if ya want.
True, Ray is out for this round and we are hopeful he will be back at it for Watkins Glen. Saturday I will race my Go Army! 944 with the 944 Cup boys and Sunday I will run the Fly Navy car with you guys in Spec e30, if Chris and Laura give the OK. I’ve never run an e30 at Summit before so I am really looking forward to that.
So you’ll see me on track on both days just one of them counting with Spec e30. If anyone is looking to rent a ride this weekend or breaks and needs a spec e30 in a pinch while at Summit Point I’m sure we could be talked into renting a ride 
Just come and find us in the paddock and ask to speak to Ray or Jeremy if you are interested in exploring rental opportunities.
See you MA guys this weekend, and don’t hit me in the Fly Navy car! 
I just signed up for the event. Late notice becuase of my schedule changing. See everyone down there in a few days, hope it rains B)
Peter Thibault
'Good to see some more cars added to the list. I’ve been out of my home state for several days and we just loaded-up the cars tonight. Carlton isn’t going to be there so we put Andy Petesh’s (sp?) soon-to-be Spec E30 car in the trailer. Andy’s a solid driver and will probably do his Comp School in March at VIR.
I apologize for not being here sooner, for this event. Very busy at work…which is good.
We are planning to do our regular Spec E30 Saturday burger-fest. Spec E30 has a few dollars in the account so we’ll provide the food. Bring your own drinks this time. Hopefully, the Drive Gear Racing guys will let us use their grill again. We’ve received many positive comments about this lunch and I have to thank our Southeast Spec E30 racers for the inspiration for a more social weekend.
Also, while it won’t be cool, it looks like it might be a bit cooler.
This week, I installed a wide-band air/fuel ratio gauge in my car so come see it if you’d like. The engine has always run lean and I had the fuel injectors cleaned and re-filtered. According to the numbers, four were a bit off but all are flowing properly now. I was planning to put it on the dyno but it was just announced that the dyno guy is ill and won’t be there. Regardless, with the cars so close, it will be interesting to see how my car does on the straights, in traffic.
We’ll arrive at about 7:00 so save us a spot in the paddock.
'Looking forward to seeing everyone again for some good Spec E30 racing.
Carter
Rained today for the race. Cobetto ran away with the win but there was a great battle for 2nd.
Will Spec E30 be racing tomorrow? If so, when? Was thinking about coming out and watching.
Today was dry. I qualified on pole. Skip got by me half way through and pulled a small gap in traffic. The two of us checked out.
Any race reports?
I read elsewhere that Mike Davidson had car shutoff problems.Not a happy feeling.
Is VIR the last race for the MA season?
Regards, Robert Patton
Patton wrote:
[quote]Any race reports?
I read elsewhere that Mike Davidson had car shutoff problems.Not a happy feeling.
Is VIR the last race for the MA season?
Regards, Robert Patton[/quote]
VIR is the last one for us. Saturday I had a great time in practice and qualifying running neck and neck with Skip. For the rain race on Saturday I Started 2nd and finished 3rd after an awesome battle with Johnny. As we were pulling out of the pits I noticed my brake pedal going to the floor. My master cylinder had failed 
So I knew I was in for a challenge. During the out lap I was trying to gauge how wet it really was but couldn’t get a good idea because we were going so slow. When the green flag dropped skip pulled ahead of me as we went into one and then he started to put a gap on me until it started raining harder. And then came Chris from 6th to first like a bat outta hell. As the rest of us tried to test the waters Chris passed us like were sitting still. When Chris came by I thought to myself it must not be that wet but by that time is was too late. I managed to stay in second until turn one on the last lap. Johhny got me going into turn one and managed to hold me off to the checkered flag. Carter was in my mirrors the entire race as well. I saw some really good driving and had a good time. I managed to snag a brake master cylinder from Thibault saturday night and get that replaced. Thanks Pete!
Unfortunately Sunday was a disappointment as the car started sputtering during qualifying and continued to get worse throughout the race. I’ve dealt with this problem all year and just can’t seem to catch a break, but hopefully we will figure it out soon enough.
I had a great time regardless. Good driving guys and nice wins Chris and Skip.
no report from the 12 car this time. there were some “trust” issues with the last one.
videos will be up sometime this week…
Videos are up:
Saturday: http://www.vimeo.com/6303562
Qualified 3rd in the dry with a very poorly handling car as a result of a big toe adjustment, but the race was wet so I fell back to 10th early. I got more comfortable with each lap and I started to catch a few midpackers, but I really just used the race to work on my wet driving. The video is just the last few laps.
Sunday: http://www.vimeo.com/6303026
Qualified on pole on a dry/damp/wet track with a car that was much improved but still not perfectly balanced. After lap 1, I knew it was going to be a long race. The understeer was worse than qualifying after making an air pressure adjustment. I was able to hold Jonny behind for the first few laps and still back off slightly to save my tires/brakes. He fell back early from dicing with Cobetto and Skip. Halfway through the race, I saw skip coming hard and although I was in conservation mode, I knew he simply had too much pace for me. I dialed up the pace and tried hard to defend but I was caught in traffic a few times and he finally got by when I made a small bobble coming through T10. After he got by, I got screwed by traffic worse than I have ever been before. It was really scary the way some of those guys were driving as the leaders came through. Finished where I belonged in 2nd. Still frustrating since it was looking so good early on.
allenr wrote:
Just wondering but where (looking for a numerical time such as 10:45) did this occur in the video.
Nice job on the podium.
Thanks.
[quote]Just wondering but where (looking for a numerical time such as 10:45) did this occur in the video.
Nice job on the podium.
Thanks. [/quote]
Haha no 10:45 was the opposite. Thanks for the tow ;).
I got held up in traffic that race more than I ever have, but I understand that some of it is just bad luck, like when I caught the pack of 944s that allowed skip to catch up. But there were other situations where guys where just not paying attention to their mirrors or being totally unpredictable as I tried to pass them. There’s a big difference there. Here are the examples from the race:
18:25 SpecE30 way off the pace moves over on straightaway to let skip through, then moves back over and dives for apex when I’m alongside. I knew he didn’t see me but I had already committed and we barely missed contact. I had to drop wheels and it kept me from getting on the power early. Frustrating because a car that slow needs to be watching its mirrors more carefully. Even more frustrating because the car is in the same class, which makes it less understandable not to anticipate the closing speeds. Even more frustrating because we usually catch this car 2 or 3 times during the 40 minute race and its always a “hold your breath and hope he’s paying attention this time” situation.
21:21 GTS car moves over on straightaway for skip, then drives down middle of track like, “take the side you want”. I pop right to pass inside 4. At the same time he jukes right to leave me the outside. I had to come all the way out of the throttle to keep from hitting him. I understand he was just trying to stay out of the way, but the best thing to do is be predictable, which he was not.
24:20 spec3 lets skip by no problem on straightaway approaching T3. I catch him at straight between T3 and T4. He points me by to the left, then moves over track left so there is no room to pass on that side. I move right to go to open track. He realizes his mistake and he moves right, where I’m already committed. I move left, he panics and jams on the brakes. I not only lost a ton of time zig zagging and coasting on the straightaway, but he almost caused me to wreck. After that skip was on the horizon. The same car made a similar move when I tried to pass him in the same spot earlier this year.
I’m not saying traffic necessarily caused me to lose the race because skip was the better driver that day, but it kept me from staying close and possibly pressuring him into a mistake. I also don’t want to call anyone out since I haven’t spoken to any of these people about it in person and for the most part I think they all had good intentions, but it’s not something you should have to be told. They preach this stuff in comp school…