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Then they started to give out the awards for Saturday's races. Awards were given for the podium finishers in every class, even if you were alone in a class, so one can't take a podium spot too seriously. Regardless, I had finished third in my first race and I was going to get that trophy. And by trophy, I mean a large mug with NASA and third place printed on it.
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My buddy Marty (from MH Motorsports) also picked up a trophy after he finished second in class in his first race. Good showing for the THSCC rookies! After some much deserved domestic brews and ribbing from others, we headed back to the hotel. We reviewed the day's video and packed it in for a night's rest...a rest that promised to be better than the one the night before since we didn't need to be at the track until around 9:00 on Sunday. I've never been able to arrive at the track that late in the morning, so I was sure to take full advantage of it.
We got to the track without issue the following morning and began getting the car ready for qualifying. The car had driven so well on Friday and Saturday that all I did was check the torque of the lug nuts, check the tire pressures, and get the video and data systems in. I decided I would be in my car early and get to grid as soon as the HPDE students rolled onto track. This would allow me to grid at the front of the field in hopes of getting plenty of open track to get a good time in. Little did I know, I was about to receive another free education from the veteran racers in my group. I parked and waited on the paddock road that ran parallel to the grid entrance. While I waited there, about 30 Spec Miata's and Spec E30's were lining up on the paddock road that lead right into the grid entrance. As soon as the HPDE students were out and the grid was open, all of those cars freight trained their way onto the grid. My plan was totally destroyed before I could blink.
My new plan was to head for the back of the grid. Even though there were still plenty of open grid positions, I pulled into position 35 and waited for everyone else to fill in. Several of my E30 buddies had the same idea and were lined up right in front of me. We discussed how we all planned to gap the traffic in front of us in hopes of a good run. After hearing this I knew what I needed to do...pass all of them on the out lap and then stay back with them as we all opened up a gap. We all got buckled in and set out. I passed the 4 E30's in front of me by turn 8 and set back to let the gap in front of me open up. One of my GTS-2 competitors had the same idea and was passing everyone behind me. I let him go by in turn 11 and held back to open up a gap to him. Hopeful I had left enough room between me and him, I got to turn 14 and let it rip. I caught the other GTS-2 car in turn 11. He slowed me up a little but it was still a decent lap. I only got the one shot because we caught a bunch of traffic after that. I even tried pitting for some more room, but came out right into more traffic. My time ended up being a 1:50.1. This ending being just 0.2 seconds off the GTS-2 pole time. Here's the lap (again, sorry about the quality):
We received the grid sheets for Sunday's race at the racer's meeting over lunch. This is when we learned that the Lightning group would again have a split start, this time with the Spec E30's by themselves in the first group and everyone else in the second group. This meant a somewhat inverted field as the front third of the second group were all capable of quicker lap times than the entire E30 field. While my qualifying time was 7th fastest of the Lightning group, I would be starting the race in position 29. This time I was going to be right in the middle of my GTS-2 competitors who were in 28th, 30th, and 32nd. I was looking forward to actually racing the in-class cars this time rather than just watching time from a distance. I got gridded up and ready to go. The nerves were getting to me quite a bit more than they had the two days before.
Here are the race videos:
Here are the race videos:
Part 2:
The formation lap was entertaining as the guys in front of me in the Thunder Roadsters were "warming their tires" more aggressively than I had ever seen anyone do it before...ever. They continued it until after turn 13, meaning we had to quickly bunch up to be in the proper starting formation as we got onto the front straight. I had already heard the first group get the green, so I knew they would likely be giving us the green as well. When the green flag came out, the Spec Miata that was two cars behind me got an amazing jump and immediately passed the car behind me and got to my left rear quarter panel as we reached the braking zone. I was so surprised by his jump that I just kept it straight and let him have the inside line to turn 1. He went by and as I turned into turn 1 the car behind me hit me in the left rear corner. The hit was enough to start rotating the car counterclockwise, but I caught it and continued on toward turns 2 and 3. All this fun had allowed the 3rd place GTS-2 car to scoot by and I was two spots down by the time we exited turn 3.
I got a good run coming out of turn 8 and was able to blow by the Miata between turns 9 and 10. As I went through the kink (turn 10), a Honda S-2000 lost it and went off track left into the sand trap, spinning. He through a massive cloud of sand and gravel back onto the track and I fired through it totally blind. I didn't want to slow and get rear ended in it, so I just hoped no one in front of me slowed either. Thankfully they didn't and we continued on. Now the two cars in front of me were the 2nd and 1st place cars in my class, so I set my sights on them. The Sneed Speed Shop car had a big off-road adventure in front of me in turn 14, but I wasn't able to get by him into turn one. A full course yellow came out as we got to the carousel (turn 6). One and half laps before the full course caution was out. Yay.
The restart was yet another butt kicking handed down by a couple veterans. Restarts are done in single file and I something like 30 cars back from the front still. I stupidly assumed that the green flag wouldn't come out until I was back on the front straight. Rookie mistake. The green came out as I was in the braking zone for turn 14. I wasn't ready at all and the Miata that had gotten by me at the start blew by me yet again. The second place GTS-2 car also got a good jump on the first place car and they fought it out going through turn 14. I would find out later that they touched and the valve stem was torn out of the lead car's right rear tire. As a result the lead car spun at the exit of turn 1. The second place car, the Miata, and I narrowly avoided it. I got by the Miata into turn 8 and went after the now first place GTS-2 car in front of me. We caught all of the E30 traffic in turn 11 and I knew I'd have to stay with the first place car while working through the slower traffic.
Things got exciting when we got back around to turn 14 two laps later. I had been trying my best to stay on the bumper of the lead GTS-2 car and get him to make a mistake. As we exited turn 14, he lit up his dying Hoosiers and started to spin. I stayed to the left with the hopes of going behind him as he spun off to the right. He managed to catch the spin, but some over-correction brought him back around to the left and headed for me. I went into the grass on the left side of the track and managed to narrowly avoid contact with him. A buddy of mine had to take equally evasive maneuvers (watch for him in my rearview mirror). I gathered everything up and got the car back on track. I knew I was now in first place in my class. I checked my mirrors for the now second place car and realized he wasn't anywhere to be seen. I instantly switched my mind into "stay smooth, don't take any chances, this race is yours to mess up" mode. A couple laps later another full course caution came out for a car stuck off track in turn 14. There was still plenty of time left so I assumed we would have another restart in our future. However, on our second or third caution lap, the black flag came out and the race was over. First place! While the race totally fell into my lap, I felt good about being in position to be able to take advantage of what happened around me. I was awarded three things for my efforts:
A skinned up bumper (at least the orange fits my color scheme)
I got a good run coming out of turn 8 and was able to blow by the Miata between turns 9 and 10. As I went through the kink (turn 10), a Honda S-2000 lost it and went off track left into the sand trap, spinning. He through a massive cloud of sand and gravel back onto the track and I fired through it totally blind. I didn't want to slow and get rear ended in it, so I just hoped no one in front of me slowed either. Thankfully they didn't and we continued on. Now the two cars in front of me were the 2nd and 1st place cars in my class, so I set my sights on them. The Sneed Speed Shop car had a big off-road adventure in front of me in turn 14, but I wasn't able to get by him into turn one. A full course yellow came out as we got to the carousel (turn 6). One and half laps before the full course caution was out. Yay.
The restart was yet another butt kicking handed down by a couple veterans. Restarts are done in single file and I something like 30 cars back from the front still. I stupidly assumed that the green flag wouldn't come out until I was back on the front straight. Rookie mistake. The green came out as I was in the braking zone for turn 14. I wasn't ready at all and the Miata that had gotten by me at the start blew by me yet again. The second place GTS-2 car also got a good jump on the first place car and they fought it out going through turn 14. I would find out later that they touched and the valve stem was torn out of the lead car's right rear tire. As a result the lead car spun at the exit of turn 1. The second place car, the Miata, and I narrowly avoided it. I got by the Miata into turn 8 and went after the now first place GTS-2 car in front of me. We caught all of the E30 traffic in turn 11 and I knew I'd have to stay with the first place car while working through the slower traffic.
Things got exciting when we got back around to turn 14 two laps later. I had been trying my best to stay on the bumper of the lead GTS-2 car and get him to make a mistake. As we exited turn 14, he lit up his dying Hoosiers and started to spin. I stayed to the left with the hopes of going behind him as he spun off to the right. He managed to catch the spin, but some over-correction brought him back around to the left and headed for me. I went into the grass on the left side of the track and managed to narrowly avoid contact with him. A buddy of mine had to take equally evasive maneuvers (watch for him in my rearview mirror). I gathered everything up and got the car back on track. I knew I was now in first place in my class. I checked my mirrors for the now second place car and realized he wasn't anywhere to be seen. I instantly switched my mind into "stay smooth, don't take any chances, this race is yours to mess up" mode. A couple laps later another full course caution came out for a car stuck off track in turn 14. There was still plenty of time left so I assumed we would have another restart in our future. However, on our second or third caution lap, the black flag came out and the race was over. First place! While the race totally fell into my lap, I felt good about being in position to be able to take advantage of what happened around me. I was awarded three things for my efforts:
A skinned up bumper (at least the orange fits my color scheme)
A marked up wheel and tire (so lucky it didn't tear out my valve stem)
And the best prize of all
I had successfully completed Comp School, scored a 3rd place in my first race after starting from the back, and pulled off a win in my second race. Not a bad way to start. I know most of my weekends aren't going to go that well, but I couldn't have asked for a better rookie weekend.
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