crash
06-03-2013, 01:26 PM
To be honest, this weekend started out pretty sublime as we didn't see any other ES cars signed up to compete in our class. We pretty much knew that we would win the class, and were thinking we pretty much had the overall in the bag as well as the car was pretty fast and no one could really touch us for speed in the 28 car Western Endurance Racing Championship race group. That was, before we got stuck in qualifying behind a bunch of slow cars, and then had an issue during the race.
It was 100+ degrees on Saturday, and we were kinda all hanging out in the A/C as long as we could. It was HOT. This ended up not working out well for qualifying. We started towards the rear of the group and I let people pass me so as to hopefully get a clear track. Didn't happen. Just when I would see a clear track, someone would have a problem and slow down and then I would have to deal with them. Usually in a tighter section so while we knew we had the speed, we just couldn't get a clean lap during qualifying. We ended up 5th.
The start of the race was really not so good. The starter did not give the green the first time around and everyone was under a full course double yellow. Then on the second time around the starter continued to hold the double yellows up as we got to about 100 feet from start/finish. At that point he simultaneously dropped the yellow flags and raised the green flag! Not how it is normally done and it resulted in quite the mess in turn one. I think we went in 4 or maybe even more wide. Guys were driving like complete fools. I never understand this. It's a three hour race and these guys drive like it's a five lap sprint race. In any event, myself and a couple others had passed back the guys who had dive bombed the lead cars during the start after only about the second lap. Really quite funny actually. Things were going well and we were up to 3rd or so when I went into the corner called "the bus stop" and the brake pedal went to the floor. Not a good thing and has never happened to me before in this car. Luckily I drove for over a decade with cars that had marginal brakes and would do this pretty much every race when the brakes were worked hard. I radioed in that there was a brake issue and we tried to decide whether I should come in or not. I wanted to stay out as I was able to turn pretty decent laps by just pumping up the brakes, but Richard and crew thought there may have been something more wrong so we decided to bring it in. With no competitors in our class, and a test coming up this weekend with Davy Jones, it was the right call. As it turns out, a rear brake cooling fan had failed and so the right rear brake assembly overheated and boiled the fluid. There was so much air in there that it would not allow the caliper to fully release when I was off the brake pedal, so definitely the correct call as it would have likely gotten so hot that something would have catastrophically failed or caught on fire. 14 minutes later I was back underway. We couldn't replace the brake fan so I turned the brake bias way up towards the front and went out to try and do something with the car. Being 7 laps down to the overall leader was a pretty daunting task. Especially with much reduced braking capabilities.
About the only victory I could see was to set the fastest race lap time, keep going strong, and see what we could manage. We were in 27th place when we re-entered the race. Buttonwillow is known to be a pretty crazy track for endurance races and it didn't disappoint. The sun in your eyes is brutal, the track surface is rough, the corners are not well marked for night racing, and the dirt is fine silt. Perfect combination for driving blind! Anyway, so I set out from the pits knowing that there was really only a small window before the sun got to where no one would go real fast through Talladega and then it would be dark and, again, the conditions would not be right to go fast. I also had no idea how long the rear brakes would last if I pushed them hard. So it was time to get it done if it was going to happen. First lap out of the pits was a 2:06. Second was a 2:04. Third was a 2:03. 4th was a mid 2:02 and I felt that, given the conditions worsening, that would prove to be the fastest race lap, so I backed it off a little. I will note that we have been running in the sub 2 minute laps at BW previously, but the race directors decided to run an extra length of straight away and a particularly difficult turn called "Star Mazda" so it added a little to the lap times and also presented a much heavier load on the brakes at the end of the straight. Not particularly good for our situation.
So I met that personal goal, and indeed no one would go faster throughout the evening than the FFR PDG GTM, but towards the end 1/3 of the race there was a full course yellow that bunched everyone up. We had been slowly climbing the ranks for overall, but this kind of inspired me to push a little harder. We actually looked at things and it appeared we could end up in the top 10 so I kept up a moderate pace and let things fall where they were going to. Everyone got a bit aggressive towards the end of the race and passing was a bit of a challenge. We had an incident in Star Mazda where another car ran into the back of us while trying to avoid a third car that was very much sideways and out of control, but no significant harm and no foul for anyone. Just a racing incident.
When it was all said and done we finished in 6th place overall and 5 laps down to the overall winner, so had we not had the brake issue we would likely have lapped the second place car...twice...but we didn't.
Still a great time with lots of tight racing. Richard had his students help make some really nice laser etched and routered wood trophies for the overall 1-2-3 positions, and I really wanted to bring one of those home, but it wasn't to be.
Testing this weekend with Davy Jones, and then Steve Zadig takes over to try and win a couple of SU races and secure the SU year end points title.
Our objectives this year were to focus on the WERC ES class title in preparation for the ultimate goal of winning The 25 Hours of Thunderhill, and secondarily to see if we could win the SU regional points race. So far the WERC only requires us to podium finish at one more event, with two more on the schedule, and for Steve to win two more events in SU with 6 more on the schedule, so we are looking pretty good. Not counting any chickens before they hatch, but it appears our biggest hurdle this year will be the 25, as it always is, but I feel we are better prepared this year than ever before. We'll see what the second half of 2013 brings...
It was 100+ degrees on Saturday, and we were kinda all hanging out in the A/C as long as we could. It was HOT. This ended up not working out well for qualifying. We started towards the rear of the group and I let people pass me so as to hopefully get a clear track. Didn't happen. Just when I would see a clear track, someone would have a problem and slow down and then I would have to deal with them. Usually in a tighter section so while we knew we had the speed, we just couldn't get a clean lap during qualifying. We ended up 5th.
The start of the race was really not so good. The starter did not give the green the first time around and everyone was under a full course double yellow. Then on the second time around the starter continued to hold the double yellows up as we got to about 100 feet from start/finish. At that point he simultaneously dropped the yellow flags and raised the green flag! Not how it is normally done and it resulted in quite the mess in turn one. I think we went in 4 or maybe even more wide. Guys were driving like complete fools. I never understand this. It's a three hour race and these guys drive like it's a five lap sprint race. In any event, myself and a couple others had passed back the guys who had dive bombed the lead cars during the start after only about the second lap. Really quite funny actually. Things were going well and we were up to 3rd or so when I went into the corner called "the bus stop" and the brake pedal went to the floor. Not a good thing and has never happened to me before in this car. Luckily I drove for over a decade with cars that had marginal brakes and would do this pretty much every race when the brakes were worked hard. I radioed in that there was a brake issue and we tried to decide whether I should come in or not. I wanted to stay out as I was able to turn pretty decent laps by just pumping up the brakes, but Richard and crew thought there may have been something more wrong so we decided to bring it in. With no competitors in our class, and a test coming up this weekend with Davy Jones, it was the right call. As it turns out, a rear brake cooling fan had failed and so the right rear brake assembly overheated and boiled the fluid. There was so much air in there that it would not allow the caliper to fully release when I was off the brake pedal, so definitely the correct call as it would have likely gotten so hot that something would have catastrophically failed or caught on fire. 14 minutes later I was back underway. We couldn't replace the brake fan so I turned the brake bias way up towards the front and went out to try and do something with the car. Being 7 laps down to the overall leader was a pretty daunting task. Especially with much reduced braking capabilities.
About the only victory I could see was to set the fastest race lap time, keep going strong, and see what we could manage. We were in 27th place when we re-entered the race. Buttonwillow is known to be a pretty crazy track for endurance races and it didn't disappoint. The sun in your eyes is brutal, the track surface is rough, the corners are not well marked for night racing, and the dirt is fine silt. Perfect combination for driving blind! Anyway, so I set out from the pits knowing that there was really only a small window before the sun got to where no one would go real fast through Talladega and then it would be dark and, again, the conditions would not be right to go fast. I also had no idea how long the rear brakes would last if I pushed them hard. So it was time to get it done if it was going to happen. First lap out of the pits was a 2:06. Second was a 2:04. Third was a 2:03. 4th was a mid 2:02 and I felt that, given the conditions worsening, that would prove to be the fastest race lap, so I backed it off a little. I will note that we have been running in the sub 2 minute laps at BW previously, but the race directors decided to run an extra length of straight away and a particularly difficult turn called "Star Mazda" so it added a little to the lap times and also presented a much heavier load on the brakes at the end of the straight. Not particularly good for our situation.
So I met that personal goal, and indeed no one would go faster throughout the evening than the FFR PDG GTM, but towards the end 1/3 of the race there was a full course yellow that bunched everyone up. We had been slowly climbing the ranks for overall, but this kind of inspired me to push a little harder. We actually looked at things and it appeared we could end up in the top 10 so I kept up a moderate pace and let things fall where they were going to. Everyone got a bit aggressive towards the end of the race and passing was a bit of a challenge. We had an incident in Star Mazda where another car ran into the back of us while trying to avoid a third car that was very much sideways and out of control, but no significant harm and no foul for anyone. Just a racing incident.
When it was all said and done we finished in 6th place overall and 5 laps down to the overall winner, so had we not had the brake issue we would likely have lapped the second place car...twice...but we didn't.
Still a great time with lots of tight racing. Richard had his students help make some really nice laser etched and routered wood trophies for the overall 1-2-3 positions, and I really wanted to bring one of those home, but it wasn't to be.
Testing this weekend with Davy Jones, and then Steve Zadig takes over to try and win a couple of SU races and secure the SU year end points title.
Our objectives this year were to focus on the WERC ES class title in preparation for the ultimate goal of winning The 25 Hours of Thunderhill, and secondarily to see if we could win the SU regional points race. So far the WERC only requires us to podium finish at one more event, with two more on the schedule, and for Steve to win two more events in SU with 6 more on the schedule, so we are looking pretty good. Not counting any chickens before they hatch, but it appears our biggest hurdle this year will be the 25, as it always is, but I feel we are better prepared this year than ever before. We'll see what the second half of 2013 brings...