1st place! NASA Midwest @ Autobahn 4.5 hr Enduro - "Into The Night"

Waiting for my final stint I was chugging water and heading to the bathroom.  The advice I got from a friend in regards to my first ever time racing in the dark was to be careful not to fixate on brake lights in front of you; and also not to look directly into the rearview mirror as you could get instantly blinded with all the hi-tech LED lights others were running.  Great...  Oh and trust your knowledge of the turns!

At about 8:10pm with 50min remaining David radioed that he was coming in next lap.  Everyone started setting up for what would be our 4th pitstop and 4th driverchange.  I would be going in; along with the final 10 gallons of fuel for the last 45min.  Once again, the pitstop was extremely flawless and everyone was moving even quicker.  Being my 2nd stint of the race, I was quickly buckled in and waiting on fuel.  Davids only advice to me was:  "look for those reflective apex cones; they are your only hope!". 
After the all-clear, I headed out of the pits with about a 2-lap lead over 2nd place in class.  With the car all warmed up obviously everything was sticking well and I headed past the first set of turns away from the lighted pitlane into turns 2/3.  What did I find - DARKNESS!  And lots of it for the next 3 miles basically.  Wow, words can't really explain it as there was just no light out there besides our OEM headlights that focus straight forward.  Looking L and R for the reflective apex cones (the ones that remained that is) was difficult at the least and you really had to trust your knowledge of the track and assume everything was all clear.  The corner workers had a tiny light to let you know it was manned; and we were told a larger flashing light to indicate a yellow. 
After about 2 laps I realized that car was very 'hooked up'; better than before as the track wasn't as hot since the sun went down.  It felt really good, but the fact I opted to go without the coolsuit was not a good call as the Mustang did not have much natural airflow in the car.  I had one of the overall leaders - an older Daytona Prototype - come up on me down the lighted pitstraight so it was an easy pass to let happen.  I then tried to stick with him to get the aid of his better lights but watching the taillights did indeed lead me into an offline approach and danger really quick, just as my friend had noted.  A few laps later I caught up to a Miata and set him up for a pass down the lit straight too.  Then I had to deal with about 1/2 a lap of mirrors with insanely bright lights and I just tried to hit my marks and put some distance on him.  Other than that, there was NO traffic out on the 3.56 mile course that I had to deal with.  Even though it was dark, I was running about the same laptimes (2:53-2:54's) as I did in the daylight.  The car felt good, and I felt more comfortable with the car and the North course portion which I had not ran since 2008.

After the traffic; trying to settle into a more relaxed groove, I instantly ran wide in T2.  Wow that was quick and dark!  I tried the same groove approach I use for longer Endurance races on the next lap and the same exact thing happened - I missed my turn-in badly and nearly ran wide!  Being my 2nd stint, dark, having driven 3+ hrs to the track, no other traffic to work with; whatever... it was difficult to concentrate in the pitch dark.  So I instead decided to start turning hotlaps.  With my mind focused on improving every laptime I started stomping out 2:50-2:51 laptimes.  After about 10 of these  I started really looking for the white flag - and was beginning to think about the fuel situation.  Having not been passed by any in-class car I was assuming we had the win but still focused on getting the car back safely and enjoying it! 
After a 2:50.3 I got a hesitation on very next lap on the front straight!  I know knew I could now complete 1.5 laps after the initial hesitation (David did earlier) so I decided to conserve some fuel circle with short shifts and hope for the white flag.  And I got it; with a slower 2:55 laptime!  I had no idea if I could make another lap but I was committed.  I just hoped I would not run out of gas and get rear-ended somewhere!  I coasted as much as I could and don't think I ever touched the brake pedal the last lap.  Once to the N course (the last 1/3 of the lap) it was struggling to pick up throttle at all.  Once I got to the final turn before pit-in it was barely sputtering and I was down to 20-30mph of momentum.  I coasted into pit lane where the lights started and I knew I would be ok, the car then died completely as I rolled into a pit stall only 6 short of ours!  I flashed my lights, shut off the car and waited for the team to reach me.  We exchanged a few quick high-fives and they pushed me back into the pits.

Joe quickly handed me out beers (Stella Artois) and we quickly headed up for awards.  As suspected we finished 1st in class E0 and 5th overall.  Turns out the Miata I passed in my final stint was for position!  83 totals laps complete; nearly 300 miles.  We finished 1 lap ahead of 6th overall; 21 laps ahead of our nearest in-class competitor - which apparently came into the pits with a cracked brake caliper soon after I left for the last stint!

Packed with adrenaline the team stood around and talked for nearly an hour after the awards.  Everyone was shocked at the laptimes I was putting down in the dark.  Maybe I found a calling?  Since everyone else seems to hate the extra challenges of night racing!  I downed a gatorade and headed home.  Pulling into the garage around 1am - my day consisted of 6.5 hrs in the 335i to/from the track and two 50 minutes stints in the racecar for a total of 8+ hrs driving!  Thanks to everyone for their help.   
New firsts:  1st place in an Endurance Race (after piling up 2 seconds), my 1st time ever racing in the dark, my 1st time ever with 2+ stints in the same day!

NASA Midwest @ Autobahn 4.5 hr Enduro - "Into The Night" (Stints 4-5 overall)

Having handed the car over to Joe for the 3rd overall stint it was about 6pm at this point, right about the time you need your headlights.  And boy did some of the field have some crazy LED light bars and sideways 'Apex' lights.  We... had 100% OEM brights on the Mustang.
Joe's stint quickly ran into the night with the last 1/2 being completely pitch dark.  Since my stint was over I took in some water and took stock of the situation and the competition.  There were about 6 cars in our class to start the race and 2 had immediate trouble and another had fallen back.  It was really between us and 2 other AI (high hp and higher prepped) mustangs with us holding onto a 2-3 lap lead at this point which Joe stomping out 2:51's and then 2:54's in the darkness.

Next up was David again - the owner - for his 2nd stint.  We were already running calcs to figure out how long David would need to run before we had enough fuel to finish with the following stint (me).  This was partly strategy and partly because David simply did NOT light driving at night; much less racing.  We figured he needed 30+ minutes based on our earlier stints assuming they checkered the race at 9:25pm to allow for a cooldown to clear the track at 9:30pm.
Joe brought the car back in terrific shape right about the 50min mark.  Our crew (including me) went to work; this being our 3rd pit stop and all things were moving very well.  We took another look at the Front Left tire and it was decided to go ahead and change it - once the fueling was complete, since we had a couple lap lead we didn't want to take any chances.  I grabbed the jack, jackstand and wrench - cleaned the windshield while waiting on fuel to finish - and then set about swapping out the tire.  I got some help from the fuel guys since they were done and everything went pretty smooth overall.

David headed out and struggled initially to find a pace in the pitch dark - pretty much just like he thought.  Having the radios working helped though and he soon radioed that he was coming in!  I was like 'Already'?  Then he mentioned he'd hit an animal - like a fox - and we just needed to check out the car.  Well, the bumper had shifted a bit, but it looked fine.  He wanted to stay in (there was 1 hr of race left; more than a fuel load) so he headed back out and started lowering lap times like a pro.  The crazy mishap def helped him out!

Still with our ~3 lap lead Dave was finishing up and I would be the closer....

NASA Midwest @ Autobahn 4.5 hr Enduro - "Into The Night" - My Stint (#2 overall)!

After the 1st of many pitstops, I was leaving for my stint (#2 overall) around 5:55pm and the car was literally 1st in class; I think 5th overall.  Our fuel window was a few laps after the other in-class Mustangs and some of the GTS cars were having issues so we were in luck.  Suddenly running for fun and experience turned into 'we might have a podium chance'!
The car was pretty nice to drive really.  It was just before dusk, with only a few cars running lights and after the first few laps the sun was no longer blinding me - although my tinted visor came in handy; it completely blacked out the gauges so I had a difficult time figuring out the best shiftpoints at first. I was utilizing a borrowed cool-suit for the first time ever and very much enjoying that.  Being that we were utilizing the entire 3.56 mile course, there wasn't a lot of traffic but just enough to keep you occupied. 

Overall, after about 3 laps I settled into a pretty mellow pace, I think around 2:50 - as to protect all the gear.  My theory was if I was going to drive a full fuel load; why not try to stretch out the mileage a bit longer!  I was short-shifting and being easy on corner-entry for the first 1/2 of my stint as we discussed front tire wear being a potential issue over the 4.5 hrs of the race.  About midway through my stint we reached the overall 1.5hr mark which brought out a checkered flag (for those that optioned for the 1.5hr portion and not the full 4.5hr portion).  This cleared out a fair number of cars and the remainder of the my stint was even clearer.
After that I started picking it up; dropping a few tenths with each lap and running some 2:49's until the car hesitated under throttle - the sign my fuel stint was over!  I had ran for about 55min altogether and it wasn't even dark yet!

I brought the car into the pits and the team went to work on the 2nd pitstop as I helped our 3rd and final driver - Joe - get buckled in.  Note; I turned over the car 1st in class!  Once again; a flawless stop by the team of volunteers including 10 gallons of fuel and we were off once again.  Joe's stint would climb into the dark of night and the team was already trying to figure out the updated pit/driver strategy being our 50-55min fuel window we had been running; versus the 75min hopeful window we had initially.  Being we were still leading our class, the decision to stick with safe 10gal fuel loads had already been made.  The reason being if we spilled ANY fuel, we incurred an additional penalty of a pitstop and a 5min hold penalty - essentially costing 3-4 laps.

David (the owner; driver #1) thanked me immediately after I got out of the car for a terrific consistent pace and keeping the driving clean.  I told him - that's what I do!  He then said - count on another stint later tonight!  More to come...

NASA Midwest @ Autobahn 4.5 hr Enduro - "Into The Night" - Start!

STRATEGY:
This would be a fuel-mileage race, without question. We had six cars start the E0 class, us, three American Iron-prepped S197 Mustangs, and two E46 BMW M3s. We were the entry with the lowest horsepower, so our strategy was to run full fuel-load stints, hoping for around 75 minutes each, plus a quick splash-and-go towards the end. We assumed that the night-time stints would be at a slower pace, with no lights at all (save pit lane) on the 3.56-mile 21-turn course, and based strictly on the horsepower and weight of the AI cars, we believed that we could run one less fuel stop than they did, worth around eight minutes, or two and a half to three laps. The question was whether their pace could put us more than three laps down. The BMWs were the wildcards, with unknown fuel consumption characteristics, unknown fuel-tank (or cell) capacity, and had the potential to simply bury us with those hyper-efficient I-6 engines. All we could do was run the best race we could, and let the chips fall.

THE RACE:
John, our crew chief, had an excellent strategy lined up for us. Dave (the owner) would take the first stint, to establish pace, and (hopefully) get us in a solid position on track for the first fuel stop and driver change. Then I would take over, running us through dusk and into the dark. Our last driver - Joe - who has a good amount of time in the car, would handle the anchor leg, and take it to the checker, if the car survived. As they say, plans NEVER survive contact with the enemy, and this was no different! After I came in from practice, Dave hopped in the car and got all belted in, while John handled the data and video setup for the stint. After a quick check of tire pressures and lug torque, the field was off for the formation lap and the race start.

Based on a random pit-stall layout, we wound up starting roughly P9 (out of 22 starters), right behind a Daytona Prototype, and right ahead of one of the AI Mustangs, an E0 BMW M3, then another AI Mustang.  What we wanted was to get up to pace as quickly as possible, find some spacing, and then just dial into a solid, consistent lap time that didn’t overly punish the tires and brakes, and make maximum use of the fuel onboard. That went out the window as well!

Right around 5pm, the green flag flew, and Dave dropped the hammer!  The race would run until 9:30pm!  I believe our fastest lap of the entire race was lap #5 while he was battling for early position. 
For another forty-five minutes, Dave just kept knocking off the laps, in the high mostly in the 2:48 range, flying by the Miatas, and getting run over by the DP and the Sports Racer, then 20 laps after the green flew, the car started to hiccough on left-hand corner-exits, and he knew the fuel load was about gone, so (as planned; since radio's weren't working) he signaled the crew by dropping the clutch and blipping the throttle three times on the pit straight.  We knew we had about 4min including the roll through the pits to be ready.  I was already suited up; just had to put on my helmet!  The sucky part; this was NOWHERE NEAR the 75-minute hoped-for fuel window; hell, it was less than an hour! We were uncertain exactly how much fuel the car would take after a fuel run, so we were planning on a 14 gallon stop, and praying not to over-fill and spill, and take a 5-minute penalty plus a second trip through the pits. Dave rolled into pit lane at a sedate 25mph and my stint was next!  More to come...

Putnam Park 3hr Enduro Podium Finish!

On Friday I split a 3hr Enduro with a Jason P. from GP Racing Products in one of their Miata's.  I drove past the halfway point, to a total of 66 laps.  Accomplished everything I wanted to do.

Around 20-25 cars in total I think with 8 in our E3 class.  Being our car wasn't in 'Spec' Miata form, we were faster than all the other SM's and right on par with the top 2 944's judging by laptimes.  Then there were 3+ a lot slower and 5+ cars that were considerably faster.  So really a good mix of traffic imo with passing some and being passed some as well.  So I was able to accomplish everything I wanted with regards to traffic management.  I was also able to settle into a groove and click off consistent laps w/o having to think about it which was a huge goal of mine.

I started out running 1:26's.  Trying hard early with a FULL fuel load I got a few 1:25's before settling into a groove.  Then we were forced to pit with a clutch issue that Jason quickly jumped into the car to fix by adjusting the pedal a few inches - then I was back in and we were off - but about 5 laps down.  So back to work....  Some open laps then some passing back-and-forth and some chasing I netted a few high 1:24's before settling into a groove with consistent low 1:25's which made me very happy.  Best of 1:24.6 I think.
I wasn't getting too tired really and was calling out my fuel load over the radio every so often and saying everything was good (with regards to the clutch issue fix).  I was having fun with the car, and the combination of less fuel and me driving about 1.5 seconds faster really livened up the corners for me with a decent amount of 'dancing' which kept it interesting and funner still.

About 1 hr and 45 minutes into the 3hr timed race, I was called in for the driver change pitstop.  This went very very well as we did the switch and a 5 gallon fuel dump and Jason was off to finish things up.  I think we were sitting in 4th at this point.  A combination of a pitstop and Jason's pass got us up into P3.  He was clicking off consistent high 1:23's and chased down P1 and P2 in class and after 2 long battles was able to get around both with a best of 1:23.3 I think.  We're pretty sure had it not been for the clutch issue we'd have been on the lead lap and in our class lead at that point. 

Overall finished 3rd out of 8 in class - and ON the podium!  I was pretty happy with the way I drove.  I know I was giving up time in the braking zones as I was paranoid about locking up the tires w/o ABS and cording something.  Jason isn't the fastest in the world, but he's damn consistent and to be about 1.5 off his laps when he was running less weight in fuel I feel pretty good.  
This was an arrive-and-drive deal with GP Racing and the experience couldn't have gone better.  The whole team is so relaxed and that really helped, especially being my very 1st race and very 1st Enduro.  They regularly crew for 3+ cars including 8hr Enduro's so they've quickly become pro's.  Highly recommended...

Putnam Park weekend - Enduro kickoff!

At 4pm today, the 3hr NASA Enduro at Putnam Park kicks off.  After suffereing an engine failure in my first attempt at an Enduro before I got a chance to drive my stint in the car I was eager to give it another go.  This time I'll be splitting the drive with Jason and GP Racing in a SM (Spec Miata) build again running in the hotly contested E3 class with 8+ entries.

This time I'll be taking the first stint and the weather looks great for Friday.   With me and Jason luck!

And after the Friday Enduro, the normal NASA Sat/Sun schedule will take place with HPDE, Time Trials and Sprint races.  I'm currently signed up for TTA.  I set that TTA track record here last year with a 1:15.7 and hope to drop a similar time down on older tires and the updated Buschur tune.  I was working on updating my APR splitter and Kognition rear wing, but I don't think there will be time to make it all legal to fit into my TTA class and still be functional.  So more fabrication and planning is needed for that setup!

NASA Midwest - April Autobahn Enduro Recap.

With a busy day that started out with high hopes, it sure did end early on a downer!  All-in-All, I did not get to run the Enduro last Friday at Autobahn; sadly.

My co-driver - and the car owner - took the first stint, which was going to be the first 1.5 hrs of the race. He was doing just fine, after about 15min into the race he reached for 4th gear and got nothing but smoke! I was actually back at my truck getting all my racegear on and seen the smoke!

By the time I got back to the grid in my race attire, they were bringing the car in 'on the hook'. Engine gone. So my stint never happened. But, I was able to take off earlier than planned to go and get my Evo which was about 1 hour away @ Boostin Performance. So that helped at least.

The engine, and the car itself was a brand new build from Bennington Motorsports.  I am not sure of the plan, but I am assuming it will be fixed, remedied, and back out on the track later this summer.  We've got a few more Enduro's scheduled later in the summer so hopefully we'll be back at it in the Porsche 944.


The only positive from the situation was it free'd up some of my busy afternoon with the #929 Evo.  I had taken off the day to first run the Evo up to Boostin Performance in Chicago to diagnose and fix the electrical issues that came with the cage build.  Even before the Enduro 944 went down, I also had an email from Boostin stating the car was ready to go!  So I packed things back up to head ~1hr north again to fetch the car and prep it for Sat/Sun racing!

NASA Enduro #1 - April @ Autobahn

Race #1 of the NASA MW/GL Enduro Series kicks off today at 4:30pm.  It will be a 3hr Enduro on the full 3.56 mile track at Autobahn Country Club outside Joliet, IL.  This Enduro will kick off the NASA weekend at Joliet with the normal Sat/Sun festivities of HPDE, TT and w2w sprint races following.

Myself, being a newly licensed NASA racer, am now eligible to drive and compete in the Enduro series.  And wasting no time, I've partnered up with Michael of Michael Palmer Racing to co-drive his 1988 Porsche 944 in the very challenging E3 class.  The E3 class is nearly always the fullest, with other 944's and lots of Miata's participating just to name a few. 

This Spec944 is a brand new build, yet to even turn it's first lap.  Add to that the fact I've never personally driven a 944, this will be my first ever w2w race, this will be my first ever Enduro, this will be the longest I've never spent/driven in a racecar and I've yet to meet either the car or Michael!  So there is a host of challenges and items that need to fall into place - but that's what planning is for!  Also, for a bit more of a challenge, the forecast calls for 60% chance of rain that will hopefully clear in the afternoon.

The race starts at 4:30pm, with my scheduled stint from 6 - 7:30pm when we take the checker'd.  Wish us luck; we might need it!