Aaron Quine Makes Return to SCCA T2 Majors at Mid-Ohio
06-04-2013, 11:03 PM
#1
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Aaron Quine Makes Return to SCCA T2 Majors at Mid-Ohio
it's Been a long time since I posted anything about racing here. It was back in Sept of 2010 at the SCCA Run-Offs when I was involved in the big one at the start of the race along with many others. It ended up destroying my Z06 T1 car and side lining me from National racing until this past weekend.
I was very fortunate that my friend John Stracensky let me use his 03 Z06 car that we changed to a T2 car. He opted to go this route as adding 120lbs and a $100.00 restrictor plate was cheaper than a
T1/STO $20K upgrade. We ran the 63mm plate and went back to stock exhaust manifolds. Car would not come off the corners for nothing with that restrictor on, I was hoping someone would bump draft me out of the keyhole.
We ran the club course this past weekend on both days. We qualified Friday with a 1:37.6 with a clutch/trans/slave/etc that wouldn't go into 3rd or 4th most of the time upshifting or downshifting which was somehow good enough for pole. We found a clutch in Mansfield that afternoon just in case and was going to change it, but opted not to cause we figured it would rain sat & sun. With those bad storms coming thru, we figured we would just lock it in 4th gear and cruise. WRONG!
Wouldn't you know, those storms went around us so we ended up bleeding the snot out of clutch fluid real fast. Nobody close had a clutch master or slave to try either of those so this was our only hope. We did get 2 huge bubbles out of system and clutch felt better so out we went.
The start was good for me on the outside cause the inside lane parked it in turn one letting me gain a few spots ahead of my competition. I just kept the RPM's down so I could shift gears a little easier and went REALLY deep into brake zones to make up for the loss of time shifting. I went on to lead flag to flag for the win and set the T2 track record.
Saturday afternoons 2nd qualifier for our Sundays race was canceled due to a very bad wreck in thunder valley. both drivers were fine but cars were destroyed. So they used our Friday qualifier & fastest race lap from sat to grid up Sunday. I was lucky to be on pole again with my times so off to bleed the clutch again sat night.
Sundays start was good again for me as I was on inside, but had Bill Moore right behind me looking to squeeze between me and the front straight pit wall but there wasn't enough room. Once I got thru turn one, I put my head down and slowly pulled away and Bill had a mechanical 1/2 way. The other class T2 Porsche's were too far back so we went on to win once again along with re-breaking my track record from sat once more.
It felt good to not only be in the car, but around the workers and other racers that make this sport so much fun. We even had our Akron Corvette Club members show up sat and Sunday to cheer me on from the infield.
The Majors event was really cool, they made us racers feel like rock stars when you podium. We got to say our thanks on the mic and even did a Champaign bottle toast. Most all of the other podium groups were friendly and just sprayed straight out. Not us, we got down and dirty like the pros cause its not often you get to celebrate like this.
Thought I would share my story with my Corvette family!
Here are a few pictures my friends took for me.
Aaron Quine
I was very fortunate that my friend John Stracensky let me use his 03 Z06 car that we changed to a T2 car. He opted to go this route as adding 120lbs and a $100.00 restrictor plate was cheaper than a
T1/STO $20K upgrade. We ran the 63mm plate and went back to stock exhaust manifolds. Car would not come off the corners for nothing with that restrictor on, I was hoping someone would bump draft me out of the keyhole.
We ran the club course this past weekend on both days. We qualified Friday with a 1:37.6 with a clutch/trans/slave/etc that wouldn't go into 3rd or 4th most of the time upshifting or downshifting which was somehow good enough for pole. We found a clutch in Mansfield that afternoon just in case and was going to change it, but opted not to cause we figured it would rain sat & sun. With those bad storms coming thru, we figured we would just lock it in 4th gear and cruise. WRONG!
Wouldn't you know, those storms went around us so we ended up bleeding the snot out of clutch fluid real fast. Nobody close had a clutch master or slave to try either of those so this was our only hope. We did get 2 huge bubbles out of system and clutch felt better so out we went.
The start was good for me on the outside cause the inside lane parked it in turn one letting me gain a few spots ahead of my competition. I just kept the RPM's down so I could shift gears a little easier and went REALLY deep into brake zones to make up for the loss of time shifting. I went on to lead flag to flag for the win and set the T2 track record.
Saturday afternoons 2nd qualifier for our Sundays race was canceled due to a very bad wreck in thunder valley. both drivers were fine but cars were destroyed. So they used our Friday qualifier & fastest race lap from sat to grid up Sunday. I was lucky to be on pole again with my times so off to bleed the clutch again sat night.
Sundays start was good again for me as I was on inside, but had Bill Moore right behind me looking to squeeze between me and the front straight pit wall but there wasn't enough room. Once I got thru turn one, I put my head down and slowly pulled away and Bill had a mechanical 1/2 way. The other class T2 Porsche's were too far back so we went on to win once again along with re-breaking my track record from sat once more.
It felt good to not only be in the car, but around the workers and other racers that make this sport so much fun. We even had our Akron Corvette Club members show up sat and Sunday to cheer me on from the infield.
The Majors event was really cool, they made us racers feel like rock stars when you podium. We got to say our thanks on the mic and even did a Champaign bottle toast. Most all of the other podium groups were friendly and just sprayed straight out. Not us, we got down and dirty like the pros cause its not often you get to celebrate like this.
Thought I would share my story with my Corvette family!
Here are a few pictures my friends took for me.
Aaron Quine
Last edited by rasrboy; 06-04-2013 at 11:59 PM.
06-04-2013, 11:47 PM
#4
Le Mans Master
Welcome back Aaron!!!
06-05-2013, 12:44 AM
#7
I remember seeing video of that "big one" that destroyed your T1 car. That really sucks, but it must have felt awesome to make such a triumphant return! Great job representing Corvettes and C5's in particular.
06-05-2013, 09:24 AM
#10
Le Mans Master
Good to have you back out there, Aaron!
Is the Club course the configuration using the chicane on the straight after Turn 1?
Is the Club course the configuration using the chicane on the straight after Turn 1?
06-05-2013, 11:52 AM
#14
Burning Brakes
Very cool Aaron, congrats! Everyone I have talked to has like the Majors races.
Will you be making it out again?? Was the car still fun to drive with the reduced power?
Will you be making it out again?? Was the car still fun to drive with the reduced power?
06-05-2013, 01:33 PM
#16
Safety Car
Dude that is great news. Congrats and welcome back.
My only concern is that you'll start running some NASA and make our lives difficult
Any video of the races?
My only concern is that you'll start running some NASA and make our lives difficult
Any video of the races?
06-05-2013, 04:22 PM
#17
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Oct 2007
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2023 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
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St. Jude Donor '09-'10-'11
Congrats again Aaron!! Im sorry I couldn't be there, but I'm glad it went so well for you. See you at the next one!
06-05-2013, 09:30 PM
#18
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
The car was fun, but the reduced power and added weight is an understatement as you can see by the lap times. When your used to normally going 1:35's it feels like a turtle. But, I understand that's the adjustment SCCA made to make it competitive with the other cars in
T2.
BTW,
What happened to you buddy, you were on the registration list?
06-06-2013, 06:04 AM
#19
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
06-06-2013, 09:25 AM
#20
Burning Brakes
Not sure what events I can make, Time to get back to work.
The car was fun, but the reduced power and added weight is an understatement as you can see by the lap times. When your used to normally going 1:35's it feels like a turtle. But, I understand that's the adjustment SCCA made to make it competitive with the other cars in
T2.
BTW,
What happened to you buddy, you were on the registration list?
The car was fun, but the reduced power and added weight is an understatement as you can see by the lap times. When your used to normally going 1:35's it feels like a turtle. But, I understand that's the adjustment SCCA made to make it competitive with the other cars in
T2.
BTW,
What happened to you buddy, you were on the registration list?
I pulled the plug on going because the car was not ready until earlier that week and we did not get a chance to test. So I did not want to waste 4 days and a bunch of money to go "test" a "new" car. Testing at Road America on Monday and then running the sprints that following weekend.