Screamin' Lizard Race report: We Win Our Second Novice Race!
09-16-2009, 07:47 PM
#1
Melting Slicks
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Screamin' Lizard Race report: We Win Our Second Novice Race!
It's been quite awhile since I actually have been to a race. The last time I had a crank pulley problem that didn't allow me to race. Personal circumstances during the summer (divorce, moving etc.) really put a "crimp" in what my racing plans were this year. Regardless, I was able to get the "stars to align" and was able to complete my second novice race last Saturday at the Doernbecher Dash.
It was a really nice, warm day for racing. The car was well prepared, thanks to Russ Nyberg, who replaced my front rotors and pads and gave the car his usual "nut and bolt" inspection. The only problem that was occuring was an intermittant fuel problem that was causing problems at full throttle. Sometimes when I'd put my foot down, there was NOTHING there. A bit disconcerting when trying to pass another car at 120 mph!!
I talked to Tom Wong about it and discussed possibilities of a fuel pressure loss, bad fuel pump etc. Unfortunately, every explanation that we came up with was a problem that could not easily be resolved at the race track. I decided that I would run anyway and just deal with the consequences the best I could and finish the race in order to get credit.
My gut told me that the problem was related to running out of fuel at a recent track day.
During qualifying, the problem occured a couple of times, but seemed to be improving. I put down a decent lap time of 1:25:xx which was not my best time by about 6 seconds, but it seemed pretty good considering traffic and a hot track which quickly made the Hoosiers greasy. When times were finally posted, I had qualified third behind two tube frame stock cars whose drivers where just renewing there race licenses that had expired. They were about two seconds quicker than I was.
This was going to be a new experience because I normally have been the fastest car in the Novice field. I spent some time trying to come up with a race plan and recognized that my only chance to win would be to run as hard as I could and try to keep up with the stock cars, hoping for them to make a mistake or break something.
I drove to the grid to see what the race director had actually done to starting order to find that he had put the three of us together, but right in the middle of a bunch of slow cars.
The start was going to be interesting!!
When the race started, there were about 14 cars in front of me with the two stock cars side by side on the row behind. As we approaced turn 10, we all grouped up very tightly, trying to keep about 5 feet behind the row in front and 2-3 feet between the car next to us. The pace car pulled off and we got the green flag.
Time to haul *** right? Not so much....There were too many slow cars spread 5 wide so I just backed off to let the field organize itself a bit before charging through the chicane at turn one. This was really the situation for the first complete lap, too many slow cars in front trying to jockey for position. Definately not a time for me to try and muscle my way through them. I kept reminding myself that the race was 30 minutes long and I wanted to be there at the end.
On the front straight of the second lap, the field opened up and one of the stock cars (#316) passed me. I pulled out behind him and we went by a number of slower cars before braking for turn one. I have to admit that he was very fast and much more aggressive than I am when passing other cars. He quickly put 5 cars between us and after a few laps had about a 15 second lead. I did my best to keep him in sight and would pull close to him under braking so that he always knew that I was there. For a few laps I was right behind him and I was gradually making up the interval, then we would get into traffic and he would pull away.
After about 22 minutes of racing, my brakes were beginning to fade a bit, so I turned on the brake fans to add some additional cooling. Track temps were about 140 degrees and I could tell that my tires were starting to lose some grip. Apparently, the same thing was happening to #316. As I was pushing hard down the back straight, I saw a cloud of dust up in front in turn 10. The #316 car had gone off into the grass. Almost immediately I was back in the race. By the time I got to turn 10, he had sorted himself out and pulled right out in front of me at turn 12!!
What flashed through my mind was that after just going off track, he would have just had a huge shot of adrenaline which could impact his judgement. I pulled along side to his right so that he knew I was there and the drag race was on!
He was able to very slowly pull away from me and was about 1 car length ahead coming into the chicane. We both hit the brakes hard at about the same time. Unfortunately for him, his didn't slow him as well as mine. He locked them up and spun right through the inside of the chicane. I was able to make the turn and saw a cloud of white smoke in my rear view mirror.
Although he did get going again and wound up in second place, I was able to keep lapped traffic between us and never saw him again.
All of the excitement did put some stress on my brakes and tires and the next time around the track I went deeper into the braking zone at the chicane in order to get by about 5 slower cars. OOPS!! Not going to make that turn so I continued through the infield and took a "stop and go" at the turn worker station, allowing all of the cars that I just passed to get back out in front of me.
I backed off a notch and eventually passed all of them on the rear straight.
Heading down the front, I got the "LAST LAP" message at the start finish line. I took a deep breath and backed off another notch in order to make certain that I didn't do something stupid and screw things up. The last lap was smooth and relatively slow until the front straight where I gave it all I had left to finish strong.
Checkered flag and another win for the Screamin' Lizard Race Team!
What a RUSH!!
:cheers
It was a really nice, warm day for racing. The car was well prepared, thanks to Russ Nyberg, who replaced my front rotors and pads and gave the car his usual "nut and bolt" inspection. The only problem that was occuring was an intermittant fuel problem that was causing problems at full throttle. Sometimes when I'd put my foot down, there was NOTHING there. A bit disconcerting when trying to pass another car at 120 mph!!
I talked to Tom Wong about it and discussed possibilities of a fuel pressure loss, bad fuel pump etc. Unfortunately, every explanation that we came up with was a problem that could not easily be resolved at the race track. I decided that I would run anyway and just deal with the consequences the best I could and finish the race in order to get credit.
My gut told me that the problem was related to running out of fuel at a recent track day.
During qualifying, the problem occured a couple of times, but seemed to be improving. I put down a decent lap time of 1:25:xx which was not my best time by about 6 seconds, but it seemed pretty good considering traffic and a hot track which quickly made the Hoosiers greasy. When times were finally posted, I had qualified third behind two tube frame stock cars whose drivers where just renewing there race licenses that had expired. They were about two seconds quicker than I was.
This was going to be a new experience because I normally have been the fastest car in the Novice field. I spent some time trying to come up with a race plan and recognized that my only chance to win would be to run as hard as I could and try to keep up with the stock cars, hoping for them to make a mistake or break something.
I drove to the grid to see what the race director had actually done to starting order to find that he had put the three of us together, but right in the middle of a bunch of slow cars.
The start was going to be interesting!!When the race started, there were about 14 cars in front of me with the two stock cars side by side on the row behind. As we approaced turn 10, we all grouped up very tightly, trying to keep about 5 feet behind the row in front and 2-3 feet between the car next to us. The pace car pulled off and we got the green flag.
Time to haul *** right? Not so much....There were too many slow cars spread 5 wide so I just backed off to let the field organize itself a bit before charging through the chicane at turn one. This was really the situation for the first complete lap, too many slow cars in front trying to jockey for position. Definately not a time for me to try and muscle my way through them. I kept reminding myself that the race was 30 minutes long and I wanted to be there at the end.
On the front straight of the second lap, the field opened up and one of the stock cars (#316) passed me. I pulled out behind him and we went by a number of slower cars before braking for turn one. I have to admit that he was very fast and much more aggressive than I am when passing other cars. He quickly put 5 cars between us and after a few laps had about a 15 second lead. I did my best to keep him in sight and would pull close to him under braking so that he always knew that I was there. For a few laps I was right behind him and I was gradually making up the interval, then we would get into traffic and he would pull away.
After about 22 minutes of racing, my brakes were beginning to fade a bit, so I turned on the brake fans to add some additional cooling. Track temps were about 140 degrees and I could tell that my tires were starting to lose some grip. Apparently, the same thing was happening to #316. As I was pushing hard down the back straight, I saw a cloud of dust up in front in turn 10. The #316 car had gone off into the grass. Almost immediately I was back in the race. By the time I got to turn 10, he had sorted himself out and pulled right out in front of me at turn 12!!
What flashed through my mind was that after just going off track, he would have just had a huge shot of adrenaline which could impact his judgement. I pulled along side to his right so that he knew I was there and the drag race was on!
He was able to very slowly pull away from me and was about 1 car length ahead coming into the chicane. We both hit the brakes hard at about the same time. Unfortunately for him, his didn't slow him as well as mine. He locked them up and spun right through the inside of the chicane. I was able to make the turn and saw a cloud of white smoke in my rear view mirror. Although he did get going again and wound up in second place, I was able to keep lapped traffic between us and never saw him again.
All of the excitement did put some stress on my brakes and tires and the next time around the track I went deeper into the braking zone at the chicane in order to get by about 5 slower cars. OOPS!! Not going to make that turn so I continued through the infield and took a "stop and go" at the turn worker station, allowing all of the cars that I just passed to get back out in front of me.
I backed off a notch and eventually passed all of them on the rear straight.Heading down the front, I got the "LAST LAP" message at the start finish line. I took a deep breath and backed off another notch in order to make certain that I didn't do something stupid and screw things up. The last lap was smooth and relatively slow until the front straight where I gave it all I had left to finish strong.
Checkered flag and another win for the Screamin' Lizard Race Team!
What a RUSH!!
:cheers
09-16-2009, 11:10 PM
#3
Melting Slicks
Great job, congrats on getting back out! BTW, love the color of your car. Bet nobody has any problems seeing you come up in their rear view mirrors. 
Aaron
Aaron
09-17-2009, 01:54 PM
#4
Drifting
