Chumpcar 7hr @ Autobahn - Sunday 4/6/14 - Day #2

Just like the previous day, we'd be running a 7hr endurance race on Sunday.  Same team, same drivers, just a reversed driver order with me leading off this time.  I had convinced the owner to try some lower tire pressures today in hopes it would improve the handling and eliminate the push.
With another cold morning (but not as cold) starting, I suited up and hoped in the car for the initial warmup laps.  That's when one of the craziest things I've seen happen - and I got it on video!

Yes, that's a tire falling off!  Pretty crazy eh.  And they were pitted right next to us!  So it was pretty funny for our crew to tell their crew about it.  Obviously that took a bit to clean up, but eventually the green flag dropped and we were off.  The last vid below is the first 40mins of my lead stint - uncut.  With the random green I started in 26th or 29th, not really sure as I only heard it across the radio.  I pushed hard ran better laps than yesterday due to improved tire pressures and less push.  Best lap of 1:48.5 - nearly 2 seconds better than yesterday!  I and brought the car up to 11th before turning it over.  Once again, a clean session from behind the wheel, although I had to deal with some yellows and we actually brought the car in a few mins early to try and take advantage of a caution. 

http://youtu.be/3uJQ5dIjTuk <-- p="" video="">
Driver #2 (who spun yesterday) had instantly improved times.  I went to get some lunch since it was 11:15 or so and suddenly seen the car drive past the concession stand and through the paddock.  That wasn't a good sign!  I looked and we were down to 15, 18 and 20th pretty much immediately.  The story was another spin, stuck and had to get pulled to an access road to get out.  Ugh.

Driver #3 also improved his stint - running < 2:00 today.  He took the car in 26th and pretty much held it for most of his session.  Towards the last 15min he started picking up a few spots with the helps of some pitstops!  Dan did a terrific job imo as he had very little experience coming into the weekend.  Again a clean stint; no spins and no contact. 

Last up was the owner; taking the car from around 22nd to the checker.  I personally reset the tire pressures down a bit - but not too much.  The times were solid, again a bit better than yesterday and he worked the car up to a 19th place finish once again.  So we'd finish with a pair of 19th place finished each day - out of a 49 car field.  Top half!  w/o the spin each day we'd have been around 13-16th.

Chumpcar 7hr @ Autobahn - Sat 4/5/14 - Day #1 - part 2 of 2

As mentioned in the previous post, I would be the 4th and final team driver of the day.  I'd be driving from 2:10pm to the 4pm checkered flag.  I took the car in 26th and planned to push hard!  The car was pretty easy to drive and I quickly settled in with some 1:51-1:53 laps.  I did end up with the fastest lap of the team for the day - a 1:50.6.  The track was full but manageable and the car stayed consistent.  As I tried to pick up the speed even more, it became evident the car was setup to push (understeer) either for safety concerns or simply be accident.  It pushed badly in 2,3,4,5 and 13 where I had to back out of the gas mid-corner!  Not ideal, but at this point in the race I was trying to make up as many respectable position as possible!

The first 45min went by pretty normally.  The last hour was a bit more hectic; the last 15min was downright crazy (exactly why we switched me into the last stint) with a few different double-yellows because of contact and was hectic restarts where I wasn't the only one pushing hard for spots!  The first vid here is the last 45mins or so.

As I mentioned, it got more hectic.  Racing between local yellows and trying to time when a double-yellow will drop are 2 pretty difficult things to master.  Get it wrong and you can cause a wreck, injure a corner worker (very very bad), lose positions and/or incur a penalty.  Get it right and it's pretty sweet, fun, and definitely rewarding!
All in all, I pulled the car up to 20th and with a DQ in the top finishers, we ended up 19th overall out of 42 cars.  22 laps behind the leader and 7 laps out of 15th.  I figure that we lost 5-8 laps with the spin in stint #3 - which was the only spin for the team.  I am happy to say the entire team kept it clean; no car contact and no black flags!  Pretty much what I thought as we had a solid chance at 15th w/o the spin.  The 2 newbs were obviously slower, but we all expected that and by keeping it clean I thought they did a pretty solid job.  Pitstops were hastily planned, but executed pretty well with regards to fuel and driver changes.  We never checked any setup on the car at all - which I thought was a mistake.  We would eventually check the tire pressures after the race and find the fronts to be 42 and 55! 

The last vid here is the final 3 laps of the race - keep in mind that's the final 3 laps of an 8 hr race!  It should give you a good snapshot of what things are like with managing slower and faster traffic, not passing under yellows, timing passes, etc.

We'd be doing the same thing tomorrow; another 7 hours!

March/April Racing Itinerary

It's took some planning, but the 2014 Racing Season starts soon - and it'll be a fast and furious start.  The last weekend in March will kick things off with a NASA sprint race at Gateway in STL.  The following weekend we'll be headed N to Autobahn in Joliet for a Chumpcar 14-hr Endurance race.  A b-day weekend off featuring some Cubs/Cards tickets at Busch is next.  The very next weekend I'm headed up to Michigan for 15-hr Endurance race with Lemons.  To finish up April I'm working on a NASA sprint weekend back at Autobahn in Joliet.

Already with a deposit on a NASA sprint weekend, a Chumpcar Endurance weekend and a Lemons Endurance weekend - 2014 should prove to be pretty interesting.

1/2 of the cars I've been in before, in 2013.  I'll return to drive the Team Cohn Miata and the #86 Little Urban Underachievers Volvo 240.  Good cars, good people and good prep led to some repeat adventures - can't wait.  Chumpcar I have only had 1 ever experience with before (in late 2012) and it was not very positive at all.  I was close to a few different races in late 2012 down South and when Chumpcar release a heavy midwest schedule with about 6 races within 5.5 hrs - I hit up the forums to find some options.  Hopefully things work out with the Miata team I found and we can repeat.  The other newcomer would be for the last NASA weekend in April.  I know the team and the car, I've just never driven it yet.  Hopefully we'll seal things up and I'll be racing 5/6 consecutive weekends to kick off the 2014 season!

2014 - Season (pre)Planning...

The past 2 winters - without a racecar - have been much different.  From 2009-2012 I was eagerly awaiting new classing rulesets to decide where to position the #929Evo, what mods to do or undo, what items to refresh and what would need done by my title sponsor (ECU Tuning, etc).  I would pull together all that information and eventually build my schedule.  The biggest pain of that process was scheduling the tuning/maintenance time with my title sponsors - AMS Performance or Buschur Racing.  The sponsors were great help - no issues there - but with them being between 3.5 hrs and 8 hrs away over the years, it provided schedule concerns, time off from work, issues with the weather, etc.  Some pics from years past:

The past 2 winters - without a racecar - have been much different!  No scheduling of long-distance trips, no pre-prep on the car, no figuring out mods, no ordering mods (UPS/Fedex guy probably misses me!), no time spent freezing in the garage during these cold months, etc.
So not owning a racecar isn't all bad news.  But I was extremely meticulous with my maintenance schedule and always strived to keep my racecar legal and in full advantage of the rules.

2014 Events Schedule to come...

2013 Schedule Outlook

Looking into 2013, it's really wide open!  Having obtained my NASA race license in 2012 and then selling my personal car last fall really opens up a lot of possibilities.  I think the goal would be to do some arrive-n-drive rentals at a few tracks throughout the year while keeping my eyes/ears open for other possibilities that might present themselves.

I have already had some inquiries to race with a few Chumpcar Teams, a Lemons Team as well as some NASA rentals.  Additionally I have inquired about a few NASA rentals across various regions including Enduro's and Sprint races.  I have considered larger ideas like One Lap or building towards the 25-hrs of Thunderhill endurance race as well as where my current DD would fit into the current NASA TT (Time Trial) classification system (answer; it's not currently classed).

Most of the 2013 schedules are out and pretty firmed up, with the exception of my local NASA Enduro events.  So it's really time to sit down and figure out what I would like to do, match up some dates and events and find a car that'll work for me!  That process is well underway....

And in case anyone is wondering, I still have no plans to purchase/own a racecar in the near future.  Having sold my trailer and my tow truck last year along with the #929Evo; I am not setup for it anymore either.  I am very open to offers for 24-hr races, Enduro's, filling in for teams, etc.  Hit me up:  pitchn at gmail (dot) com