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Was there not an event at VIR this past weekend?
Any results from the MA crowd? The Smith’s have to rebuild a car…any other news?
Has the MA region entered the “noone cares” era of spec e30 series development? Soon to follow the SE region as we are 1-year behind in series development? Then the Nor Cal guys?
Regards, Robert Patton
Now I understand what you meant when you said noone cares. I apologise for not fully comprehending your point.
Robert,
Times are posted here.
It looks like mikeskeen.com will have to return to reset the course record soon.
csrow wrote:
[quote]
It looks like mikeskeen.com will have to return to reset the course record soon.[/quote]
Unless I’m missing something he stills holds the record at 2:18.000
When the shaved corners get some rubber built up, I am thinking the record is going to fall soon. Qualifying times are much lower than before.
Robert,
I know Mike is working on a video he will post later today. Saturday was Mike’s first win in mid-atlantic. As you will see in the video it was an exciting race. Skip B. was winning with 2 laps to go but got collected by a spinning Miata in Nascar 3 giving Mike the lead. Cobetto and Carlton chased him to the checkered. Sundays race, a scheduled 40 minute race, ended early due to a wreck at Oak Tree. A 944 spun right in front of Mike leaving him no where to go, they hit, and another car (Sentra?) goes into the 944, breaking most of the glass from the car. The cleanup ended the race behind the pace car.
Ed
Thanks, Ed.
Congratulations to Mike for the win. Anytime you can post a top 5, any spec e30 region, you can count it as a good day.
Sunday was not a good day? How bad is the damage? (By the way, that question is getting too old, too quick. Is it to be expected with large fields of racers? I hope not, but numbers do present more problems.)
Regards, Robert Patton
Just a scratch on the bumper for Mike - you will see it on the video. Other than the Smith’s misfortune and Skip and the Miata, it was a pretty clean weekend. In fact, Skips car was OK to race on Sunday.
Ed
Saturday was a fun race. Sunday was a bit crappy, the accident cut our race in half (if not less).
Question, what happened Sunday with the results? I finished second to last, but official results are showing me 6th.
DQs… no wonder it is so quiet. A couple of good DQs go a long way towards harmony in the paddock. Again, the SE group is about 1-year behind in series development. A a watchful reminder, folks.
Regards, Robert Patton
Mylaps results are up.
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=389901
No good info on DQs, though. Looks like Sunday’s race saw a few people shuffled back post-race, but it’s hard to tell without incriminating self-posted videos.
Steve D.
I hope to clear up the mysteries with this report available in hardback:
After a very disappointing off season, Chris Cobetto was nice enough to donate his old pre-rebuild engine to us just 2 days before this event. A huge thanks to him and DeltaV Motorsports in RIC for staying up Thursday night to make it work. The motor was said to make mid- 140’s, which was a big improvement over last year but not enough to make me optimistic about my chances, especially after Skip turned a 2:17.5 in Saturday practice :ohmy:. Qualifying went well. I put the car on pole with a fastest-overall 2:18.3, which wasn’t bad for a tired engine and some bad low speed understeer. Skip reportedly ran out of gas during the session, but still managed a respectable time :dry:. Rookie Robert Grace qualified in second just 2 tenths behind me, despite only being to VIR once before (in the rain) and having only one weekend of race experience at all. He’s another one to watch in '09…
In the race I pulled out an early lead, but Skip was closing in fast. I was getting absolutely screwed in traffic, catching the SM and PT backmarkers at the worst possible places 
. Skip and I traded the lead for a while until he pulled out a small gap in traffic. It didn’t help to be at a 25 hp disadvantage (watch as he literally drives around me on the front straight), but we’ve all heard that argument before… With 2 laps to go, Cobetto and Mike D got by me in T4/T5 after I caught a very unpredictable SM backmarker . In Oak Tree later that lap, Chris and Mike caught traffic that allowed me to get by Mike at the first apex. Unfortunately, Chris slowed way up to get a run on the traffic at the second apex which put me alongside him. It looks like a total kamikaze move but I actually didn’t even intend to pass him, but knowing I didn’t quite have position and I couldn’t back off at that point, I sped up to get alongside him. When I sped up I understeered a foot or two off the second apex so that when he turned in we made contact and I spun. I had position but it was clearly my fault because I didn’t put a wheel in the dirt. I was rightly DQ’d for the incident. Skip crashed with a spinning SM later that lap, giving MikeD the lead and the win. Cobetto got second. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think 10 of the 12 SE30s had some sort of reported contact in that race :blink:.
video: http://www.vimeo.com/3357178
This was the first time I had the car to win an MA race, but I didn’t have the experience in traffic to make it happen. I don’t want to take anything away from MikeD’s great drive (congrats!!), but I think if it had been just specE30s on the track I would have won… but of course that’s not the game we play. Again, congrats MikeD on the well deserved win.
Sunday began almost as frustrating as Saturday ended. There was no practice to make room for a 40 minute race. 20 minutes before quali, the track was soaked with small puddles and no evidence of a dry line. Knowing that I am not the best rain driver, I made the call to disconnect the rear bar and put the rain tires on. I was in the rain mindset when we left grid to find a bone dry track :pinch:. And I thought the understeer was bad on Saturday… I qualified 8th, although just 1.5 seconds off Jonny’s pole time. That should show how competitive the field was. I’m still thinking coulda-shoulda-woulda after that one.
For the Sunday race, I had figured out the flagger and got the jump of a lifetime. It was one of those you can hope to get maybe once every 20 races. I was up to 3rd by T4, but lost the position to Carlton when I played it safe and defended from Chris. Jonny pulled out a comfortable lead, but the 5 way battle for second which I was a part of was intense. Again, traffic played a huge role in the outcome. The race was cut very short by a 944 wreck, and we ended under FCY. We thought Johnny had won, but he, carlton, and skip had ended up racing to the checker when it was still FCY. A triple “position reassignment” (not DQ) up front gave cobetto the win (conspiracy theorists go crazy) and me a second place. I would have only been top 5 without the flag misunderstanding… but that’s not the game we play.
video: http://www.vimeo.com/3343172
I’m a little disappointed about throwing away the win on Saturday and starting out the season with a drop and contact points. But I did get a pole, a second place, and a ton of good racing experience. I also learned a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of most of the individual frontrunners, who I hadn’t had the hp to go W2W with very much before this weekend.
For those who were wondering, there was no specE30 tent and a total lack of camaraderie, which might explain the non-mediocre racing on track. Zing! Smack!
Cant wait for march!
Robert, thanks for the write-up. Glad to hear that the DQ soap opera was not the ugly kind of stuff.
Regards, Robert Patton
Robert,
Great report - thanks. Your last comment is puzzling " … a total lack of camaraderie." I guess it is what you make of it. It was great of your dad to stop by and congratulate Mike on the win. We had a great time hanging out with the group during the day, after hours and during the trophy dinner.
Ed
edavidson wrote:
[quote]Robert,
Great report - thanks. Your last comment is puzzling " … a total lack of camaraderie." I guess it is what you make of it. It was great of your dad to stop by and congratulate Mike on the win. We had a great time hanging out with the group during the day, after hours and during the trophy dinner.
Ed[/quote]
I think he was joking
Had an awesome time. Spent all of saturday morning taking tire temps and adjusting camber and toe settings. Qualified 6th but I knew the car had some time left in it. The race was awesome and I battled with the king himself Chris Cobetto until the very last turn. This win meant a lot to me and it took everything I had to keep up with Chris. I had a great time hangin out with everybody and the trophy ceremony was really somethin else. Thanks guys. Here’s the video.
part 1:
part 2
[quote]Robert,
Great report - thanks. Your last comment is puzzling " … a total lack of camaraderie." I guess it is what you make of it. It was great of your dad to stop by and congratulate Mike on the win. We had a great time hanging out with the group during the day, after hours and during the trophy dinner.
Ed[/quote]
Ed,
It was a sarcastic way to poke fun at our brothers to the south. I guess you have to be a real regular here to get that one…
It was great seeing you and the rest of the guys at VIR. Sorry your car couldnt be ready :(.
Mike,
Awesome driving. Seeing my incident from that angle was helpful, too.
My sat. video is now up…