FlamingZ06

Just got pics today, so thought I would post up a report on the PBOC race weekend at Sebring.


There were 80 cars in the Enduro Friday, about 8 of those were sports racers. With 15 laps of practice and qualifying under his belt, David started the Speedsouth/Active Power Racing Corvette in 20th position. In his excitement, he stomped the gas pedal on the backstraight on the first lap, causing the computer to go into limp mode (an ongoing issue). He coasted into the pits to reset the computer and refire the car. Luckily, a double yellow came out due to several first lap offs, and we didn't go a lap down. However, we did come out of the pits in dead last. Over the course of the next 50 minutes, with the aid of 2 more double yellows, David moved up some 67 positions, to 10th overall and first in class. When he pitted for gas, there were only 4 cars with roofs in front of him. A long pit stop and an overheating diff conspired to keep us from finishing, but it was good enduro experience for the team.

On Saturday, David qualified the car 26th in a field of 43 (they split the fields into 2 sprint races). He managed to pick off about 10 cars before the Hoosier DOT's gave up. As his lap times slowly increased, 3 cars closed and passed him, leaving us with a respectable 19th overall and 1st in class. Worthy of noting, virtually every single car that finished ahead of us was on Michelin slicks and had a sequential transmission. Best lap was 2:16.xx, and we both agreed there is a good bit left in the car.

Sunday, it was my turn. When I went out to qualify the car, I had a total of 10 laps of practice at Sebring under my belt. Best lap time to this point was 2:25.xx. With a full qualifying session (actually it too was cut short by a black flag) I was able to whittle that down to a 2:23.xx
However, I knew there was plenty more in me as I was still learning the course and getting comfortable with the speeds. Qualified 29th in a field of 32 (yes, there were actually 3 cars slower than me). As the race went on, my lap times kept dropping and I had a blast reeling in and passing several cars to finish 15th. Best lap during the race was a 2.20.xx

Certainly not an example of Breathless Domination, but not too bad for my second race ever, IISSM. Guess we should've taken up the offer from panozracing, we finished in front of him in both sprint races.

Oh, and most importantly, the MVOC creed "no man left behind" was put to the ultimate test. After the Saturday Sprint, we planned to change the brake pads. When we removed the left front wheel, we discovered the reason David had complained of losing his brakes toward the end of his race: fluid pouring from a piston seal on the caliper. We searched for the spare piston seals, and I realized that we didn't have them, that they were laying on the workbench in my garage. Can you say "screwed"? I was pretty dejected and I'm sure it showed. At this point Rob Leopard pulled me aside and offered his left front caliper. Of course I declined, although I was moved by his generosity and selflessness. As the conversation progressed, he became more insistent, demanding that we take his caliper and that if David and I didn't swap it, he would. We will never know if he was bluffing, but we had the caliper swapped and the car on the ground in time to go watch the drag racing on the front straight, where an 800HP Mercedes SUV mowed down all comers.

RAFTRACER

Congrats Guys !!!! Looks like a great time was had by all and certainly better weather than here up North. Regardless of outcome turning laps @ a place liek Sebring has to be awesome !!!

BTW, your car looks awesome !!!

Jason

Sounds like a good weekend. Just imagine how much better you'd have done with titanium lug nuts.

BERETTA

Car looks great Looks like the right front is off the ground in a couple of those pictures

FlamingZ06

I have a couple of shots where the inside front and rear both looked airborne. I also found it interesting the way the outside tire is rolling away from the rim.

sgsvette

Mr. FlamingZ06, I though after our talk at Sebring you were going to change your forum name to something that was "not questionable"?

Most people wouldn't associate "Flaming" with a fire.

David's lap times were certainly faster than Mr. nuts at Sebring according to mylaps.com Great accomplishment considering it was both your first times and even if you had been there before. By the way, I didn't see you pass any Miata's.

I wish I could have run with you guys, but testing was my goal to get the car ready for G/A.

I hope to be at Barber soon, I'll give you a call when I register to come up.

Aardwolf

Thank you for sharing!

FlamingZ06

Here's another pretty good shot. Looks like we are getting some pretty good body roll, could be we are overworking the outside of the tires and contributing to the fade we're seeing on the R6's. We had previously dropped the static camber back because we were seeing some uneven tire wear and temps, maybe we went too much. Never seems to be enough time to get any real data like tire temps on a race weekend, looking forward to the next DE. Maybe it's time to look at some sway bar alternatives.

Either way, I'm looking forward to trying out the new Dunlop ALMS slicks. Maybe then we'll have something for those pesky RSR's and won't have to drop 25 G's to match their sequential boxes.