crash
04-08-2013, 05:04 PM
Let me just start off by saying that I am really pleased to be able to add whatever I can to the efforts of Team Prototype Development Group in trying to do as well as we can at EVERY race this year. As of this last weekend we are looking pretty good for point standings in both the sprint and Western Endurance Racing Championship series'. Steve Zadig has driven some fantastic laps at Infineon Raceway this year, and, hopefully will get some more time behind the wheel to win some more sprint races before we go and do the longer events such as the 6 hour race in Utah and, of course, the 25 hour race at the end of the year, which, as far as I know, we are both planning on attending and driving the PDG GTM in this year. I hope both of these events happen, but costs are high and $$ are short. Hopefully we can pick up a couple more sponsors to cover the costs of these events, and do the entire GTM community proud!
Anyway, on to what happened last weekend at Butonwillow...
First off, I have to thank Karen for bringing up the fact that the track was going to be reconfigured for the evening endurance race as opposed to what we practiced and qualified on earlier in the day. THANK YOU KAREN! Without you mentioning that in the drivers meeting, and with us being grided on the second row, I either would have simply been surprised during the pace lap, or, worst case gone left when everyone else went right down the back straight! Obviously I was not the only one to not see this detail online, so, again, THANK YOU for calling that to everyone's attention in the drivers meeting. You're a lifesaver!
So, on the upside, we qualified 4th and on the second row for this night race. On the down side, I was not at all familiar with the track layout and where we would be going or how to deal with the speeds we would be seeing, as we approached the 150 MPH mark with this track configuration, so I was a little relieved when we had a couple of unscheduled extra pace car yellow laps before the race got underway.
When the green flag finally dropped, I held my own into the first three corners or so, but the first decreasing radius turn saw a couple cars get underneath me and pass. As there was, unfortunately, only one car in our class out of the 26 starters, the red Camaro that started directly in front of me, I was a bit dismayed to watch him pull away and also that we now had a couple slower cars between us. However, this actually worked to my advantage, because these BMW drivers are actually some of the best drivers out there and showed me more than a thing or two about getting through the corners quickly. The first time on the back straight I found that I was having to lift off the throttle about 1/3 of the way down so I didn't pass them back as I needed them to teach me where to go through the rather technical section after the long back straight. This worked well, as far as me learning where I needed to be, and in a couple laps I decided that my teachers had taught me all I needed to know, so off past them I went to try and chase down the #96 Camaro stock car. Surprisingly, I caught him within a couple laps and after watching him struggle through some of the more technical stuff I decided to just hang back and pressure him into making an error. Then we got to that beautiful, smooth back straight, and my right foot just couldn't resist! I did the classic draft, pull out at the end, and pass under braking, and that was the last I saw of the #96. A couple laps later Richard radioed me and advised that the #96 had come into the pits with mechanical problems. A little bit of a let down as I had hoped that we would race together for the entire 3 hours, but I guess it was not to be.
On the other hand I guess it was a good thing as, unfortunately, we had experienced a touch of an issue in shifting the gearbox in practice. I had had a couple of missed shifts and we thought it was possibly due to a linkage adjustment after looking at the data. So we changed the throw slightly on the shifter, and, I think we may have went the wrong direction as I was having the same difficulty with the 3rd to 4th shift just about every time during the early laps of the race. So at this point we didn't know if the only other car in our class would come back out or not, and I was having an issue shifting the gearbox, so I decided to just put the car in 4th gear and make laps. Not fun lifting on the back straight and lugging coming out of the corners while being passed by stock bodied BMWs, but it was, IMHO, the right thing to do to win the war for year end points.
So for the first 2 hours and 10 minutes I got a good lesson in humility and how to drive Buttonwillow with momentum. When Richard called into me and said that there was 50 minutes left I decided that I would try very gingerly shifting the box up to 5th on the back straight to see how it felt. That lap I dropped two seconds and Richard radioed me saying "I don't know what you did, but it worked. Do it again!" So the next couple laps I kept shifting up into 5th on the back straight and had no issues even though I was doing the rest of the track in 4th. I guess I got a fire lit under me as the car was REALLY sticking well with the suspension and aero improvements we had made, and even though the track was dirty and dark, I could hear the teams enthusiasm in Richard's voice on the radio. I guess all the boring driving around getting passed by slower cars had been wearing on them too. So, at this point, I decided we had little to lose. I radioed in to Richard "should I go faster"? His replay was that I was going good and to maybe even back it off a little. Instead I went faster the next lap and as much as I think he wanted me to go slower in the big scheme of things, there was no hiding his excitement in the car starting to really pick up the pace. It was at this point that I said "hold my beer and watch this"!
So it's late in the race, there are guys dumping oil all over the track, there is dirt and rocks all over from people going off and coming back onto the track, and this GTM just keeps sticking better and better. It was amazing. The aero was really shining as the faster I went, the better it stuck. I got into the 1:56s and Richard was ecstatic as the fast qualifier was in the 55s. Next lap I got into the 54s and I think the team about lost their minds! I got the high speed sweeper down better and better and it became like pulling in fish every time we got to that section of track. No one, and I do mean NO ONE could stay with me either in the sweeper or down the straights. Data would later show that we are inching up to the 145 MPH mark down the back. Pretty damn fast considering there is a sharp left hand turn that is maybe a 60 MPH corner at the end of that straight. Brutal on brakes, but that isn't the half of it. There is also a dip in the track that is big enough to put a truck and trailer in, and it is deep enough that the smaller import cars actually disappear when they go down into it when I am still coming down the straight! I did end up looping the car here and I don't know if it was oil or just me getting in slightly too deep, but dang it was fun! The car was phenominal in the esses as well and, again, no one was faster through there than we were. Perfect gearing, good downforce, it all just worked.
Long story short I ended up doing a 1:53:96 and I believe the fastest lap of the race was a 1:53.8x so we were only about .1 seconds off of the fastest race lap...set by a little sports racer very early in the race.
Needless to say, the team was very pleased by what they saw and where we ended up. While we came in second overall, I don't think there was any doubt about who the fastest car was that night and I had quite a few people come up to me afterwards and ask about how we had gotten the car to be so fast. I even had someone ask me who the other driver was assuming that we had a slow driver and a fast driver in the car because the lap times were so different between the beginning of the race and the end. It was a big morale booster for the whole team and the best part is, I wasn't even pushing it that hard! I KNOW there is at least 2 more seconds in the slow stuff as I was being ultra careful not to screw any of those corners up because they are such tight places on the track that problems would definitely have happened had I ended up sideways across the track there.
To sum it up, as Richard has been saying the last few events, just when we think we have had about as much fun as possible, something comes along that tops it. This was definitely one of those weekends.
While we are all having good times right now and feeling good about what we have done so far, I think we all also know that things can turn on a dime and that we can get just as far on the down side very quickly. That is the nature of auto racing...incredible highs and incredible lows. The trick is to not get to high and proud in the good times and, of course, on the flip side, try not to get too upset and down WHEN the downside comes.
Lots of races left and lots of work to still do, but with continued support by sponsors like Mendeola Transaxles, My Race Shop LLC, and of course Factory Five Racing, it looks like this could be a very good year for Team PDG!
Video to come shortly...:)
Anyway, on to what happened last weekend at Butonwillow...
First off, I have to thank Karen for bringing up the fact that the track was going to be reconfigured for the evening endurance race as opposed to what we practiced and qualified on earlier in the day. THANK YOU KAREN! Without you mentioning that in the drivers meeting, and with us being grided on the second row, I either would have simply been surprised during the pace lap, or, worst case gone left when everyone else went right down the back straight! Obviously I was not the only one to not see this detail online, so, again, THANK YOU for calling that to everyone's attention in the drivers meeting. You're a lifesaver!
So, on the upside, we qualified 4th and on the second row for this night race. On the down side, I was not at all familiar with the track layout and where we would be going or how to deal with the speeds we would be seeing, as we approached the 150 MPH mark with this track configuration, so I was a little relieved when we had a couple of unscheduled extra pace car yellow laps before the race got underway.
When the green flag finally dropped, I held my own into the first three corners or so, but the first decreasing radius turn saw a couple cars get underneath me and pass. As there was, unfortunately, only one car in our class out of the 26 starters, the red Camaro that started directly in front of me, I was a bit dismayed to watch him pull away and also that we now had a couple slower cars between us. However, this actually worked to my advantage, because these BMW drivers are actually some of the best drivers out there and showed me more than a thing or two about getting through the corners quickly. The first time on the back straight I found that I was having to lift off the throttle about 1/3 of the way down so I didn't pass them back as I needed them to teach me where to go through the rather technical section after the long back straight. This worked well, as far as me learning where I needed to be, and in a couple laps I decided that my teachers had taught me all I needed to know, so off past them I went to try and chase down the #96 Camaro stock car. Surprisingly, I caught him within a couple laps and after watching him struggle through some of the more technical stuff I decided to just hang back and pressure him into making an error. Then we got to that beautiful, smooth back straight, and my right foot just couldn't resist! I did the classic draft, pull out at the end, and pass under braking, and that was the last I saw of the #96. A couple laps later Richard radioed me and advised that the #96 had come into the pits with mechanical problems. A little bit of a let down as I had hoped that we would race together for the entire 3 hours, but I guess it was not to be.
On the other hand I guess it was a good thing as, unfortunately, we had experienced a touch of an issue in shifting the gearbox in practice. I had had a couple of missed shifts and we thought it was possibly due to a linkage adjustment after looking at the data. So we changed the throw slightly on the shifter, and, I think we may have went the wrong direction as I was having the same difficulty with the 3rd to 4th shift just about every time during the early laps of the race. So at this point we didn't know if the only other car in our class would come back out or not, and I was having an issue shifting the gearbox, so I decided to just put the car in 4th gear and make laps. Not fun lifting on the back straight and lugging coming out of the corners while being passed by stock bodied BMWs, but it was, IMHO, the right thing to do to win the war for year end points.
So for the first 2 hours and 10 minutes I got a good lesson in humility and how to drive Buttonwillow with momentum. When Richard called into me and said that there was 50 minutes left I decided that I would try very gingerly shifting the box up to 5th on the back straight to see how it felt. That lap I dropped two seconds and Richard radioed me saying "I don't know what you did, but it worked. Do it again!" So the next couple laps I kept shifting up into 5th on the back straight and had no issues even though I was doing the rest of the track in 4th. I guess I got a fire lit under me as the car was REALLY sticking well with the suspension and aero improvements we had made, and even though the track was dirty and dark, I could hear the teams enthusiasm in Richard's voice on the radio. I guess all the boring driving around getting passed by slower cars had been wearing on them too. So, at this point, I decided we had little to lose. I radioed in to Richard "should I go faster"? His replay was that I was going good and to maybe even back it off a little. Instead I went faster the next lap and as much as I think he wanted me to go slower in the big scheme of things, there was no hiding his excitement in the car starting to really pick up the pace. It was at this point that I said "hold my beer and watch this"!
So it's late in the race, there are guys dumping oil all over the track, there is dirt and rocks all over from people going off and coming back onto the track, and this GTM just keeps sticking better and better. It was amazing. The aero was really shining as the faster I went, the better it stuck. I got into the 1:56s and Richard was ecstatic as the fast qualifier was in the 55s. Next lap I got into the 54s and I think the team about lost their minds! I got the high speed sweeper down better and better and it became like pulling in fish every time we got to that section of track. No one, and I do mean NO ONE could stay with me either in the sweeper or down the straights. Data would later show that we are inching up to the 145 MPH mark down the back. Pretty damn fast considering there is a sharp left hand turn that is maybe a 60 MPH corner at the end of that straight. Brutal on brakes, but that isn't the half of it. There is also a dip in the track that is big enough to put a truck and trailer in, and it is deep enough that the smaller import cars actually disappear when they go down into it when I am still coming down the straight! I did end up looping the car here and I don't know if it was oil or just me getting in slightly too deep, but dang it was fun! The car was phenominal in the esses as well and, again, no one was faster through there than we were. Perfect gearing, good downforce, it all just worked.
Long story short I ended up doing a 1:53:96 and I believe the fastest lap of the race was a 1:53.8x so we were only about .1 seconds off of the fastest race lap...set by a little sports racer very early in the race.
Needless to say, the team was very pleased by what they saw and where we ended up. While we came in second overall, I don't think there was any doubt about who the fastest car was that night and I had quite a few people come up to me afterwards and ask about how we had gotten the car to be so fast. I even had someone ask me who the other driver was assuming that we had a slow driver and a fast driver in the car because the lap times were so different between the beginning of the race and the end. It was a big morale booster for the whole team and the best part is, I wasn't even pushing it that hard! I KNOW there is at least 2 more seconds in the slow stuff as I was being ultra careful not to screw any of those corners up because they are such tight places on the track that problems would definitely have happened had I ended up sideways across the track there.
To sum it up, as Richard has been saying the last few events, just when we think we have had about as much fun as possible, something comes along that tops it. This was definitely one of those weekends.
While we are all having good times right now and feeling good about what we have done so far, I think we all also know that things can turn on a dime and that we can get just as far on the down side very quickly. That is the nature of auto racing...incredible highs and incredible lows. The trick is to not get to high and proud in the good times and, of course, on the flip side, try not to get too upset and down WHEN the downside comes.
Lots of races left and lots of work to still do, but with continued support by sponsors like Mendeola Transaxles, My Race Shop LLC, and of course Factory Five Racing, it looks like this could be a very good year for Team PDG!
Video to come shortly...:)