Miscellaneous ramblings from Memphis…
05-30-2006, 02:39 PM
#1
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Miscellaneous ramblings from Memphis…
Miscellaneous ramblings from Memphis…
First, I just want to tell the NORTH CAROLINA cop that wrote me a ticket for doing 59 in a 50…while going down a mountain… towing my freakin’ trailer…on Memorial Day weekend…when I’m active Army…stationed at Ft. Bragg, NORTH CAROLINA… to BLOW MEEEEEEEEEE YOU AS***LE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My mom has recovered fully from her breast cancer surgery and is in good health and spirits. She will continue to go back to the doc frequently for check ups, but everything looks good so far!!!!! She was at the track with me this weekend and was a great help to me and Michelle!!!
Anyway, it was unbelievably hot this weekend at Memphis – 86 degs for qual at 9am and 97 for the races at about 1:30 or so!! Whew!!!
I went ahead and did the regional qual and race on Saturday (won it) and then did the qual for the national on Sunday morning. My lap times weren’t what they should have been despite the new tires and the car wasn’t handling quite right….but I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I just thought it was the heat. While changing my brakes and rotors though, I noticed that the right front sway bar end link was just hanging there – DISCONNECTED!!!!! CRAP!!!!
So I scrounged a bolt, threw away all my tire temp and pressure data to that point, and finished getting the car ready for the Sunday national race.
Jim Lynch bought Scotty’s Viper (with the adjustable shocks!) and was there. Despite the fact that he had never driven a T1 car before, he was turning lap times comparable or faster to my vette. Duh. I was on the front row and had a good start. Lynch and Joe Gaudette (Vette) were on row 2. I unfortunately left enough room for Jim to slide down inside for turn 1 and had to follow him for a lap or so. I made a nice pass on him coming into 5, but his 10 trillion lbs-ft of torque coming out of the corner put him back into P1 thru Grant’s tomb. We drag raced down the front straight and he tried to out-brake me into one. He must have tried using that fancy electronic actuator shifter that Scotty used during the runoffs (ha ha) because he spun it right in front of me. I built a 15 or so second lead and then backed off and just hit my marks to the finish.
Mr. Gaudette is a helluva nice guy and has some serious speed boys and girls. Considering he was using 4 or 5 heat cycle Kumhos, he was still rocket fast and consistent and finished 2d. His car is beautiful and well sorted and he will be a contender with some more time!!
It’s going to be a long runoffs race for the Vette contingency folks – except for JH of course. Jim had no time in this Viper yet is immediately up to speed. He was on the new Hoosier R6 compound. No offense to him or his driving, but if you drive a Viper and can’t get into the top 10 at the runoffs, then you should be embarrassed and really need to reconsider what you’re doing. I doubt seriously if Jim had Scotty’s monster runoffs engine in there and he obviously didn’t have much seat time in that car…yet ran a faster race lap than I did. To say that these cars are OVERDOGS is like comparing hand grenades to Tomahawk cruise missiles. It’s ridiculous to compare the vette to the Viper right now – it’s not even close. The Viper probably needs another 75-100 lbs or the vette needs to be 3200 or lower (or both)!
My fastest race lap about .7 off what I ran last year. It was 80 degs last year and 97+ this year so I’m sure that had quite a bit to do with it.
Michelle bought me a heart rate monitor for my B-day and I used it for the race to see what kind of numbers you get while on track. Pretty shocking numbers actually:
Max HR: 162
In the cardio zone (120-180 bpm): 27 minutes!!
The Kumho Tires and Carbotech brakes still rock!!!!!
We drove 13 hours home…no tickets this time. I hope everybody had a great Memorial Day weekend and remembers the Servicemen and women who served this country. The cop is still a jerk.
The Viper is still an overdog – period. 
Ingle (Vette) 1:13.9
Gaudette (Vette) 1:14.3
Lynch (Overdog Viper) 1:13.7
McClain (Vette) 1:21.0
First, I just want to tell the NORTH CAROLINA cop that wrote me a ticket for doing 59 in a 50…while going down a mountain… towing my freakin’ trailer…on Memorial Day weekend…when I’m active Army…stationed at Ft. Bragg, NORTH CAROLINA… to BLOW MEEEEEEEEEE YOU AS***LE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My mom has recovered fully from her breast cancer surgery and is in good health and spirits. She will continue to go back to the doc frequently for check ups, but everything looks good so far!!!!! She was at the track with me this weekend and was a great help to me and Michelle!!!
Anyway, it was unbelievably hot this weekend at Memphis – 86 degs for qual at 9am and 97 for the races at about 1:30 or so!! Whew!!!
I went ahead and did the regional qual and race on Saturday (won it) and then did the qual for the national on Sunday morning. My lap times weren’t what they should have been despite the new tires and the car wasn’t handling quite right….but I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I just thought it was the heat. While changing my brakes and rotors though, I noticed that the right front sway bar end link was just hanging there – DISCONNECTED!!!!! CRAP!!!!
So I scrounged a bolt, threw away all my tire temp and pressure data to that point, and finished getting the car ready for the Sunday national race.Jim Lynch bought Scotty’s Viper (with the adjustable shocks!) and was there. Despite the fact that he had never driven a T1 car before, he was turning lap times comparable or faster to my vette. Duh. I was on the front row and had a good start. Lynch and Joe Gaudette (Vette) were on row 2. I unfortunately left enough room for Jim to slide down inside for turn 1 and had to follow him for a lap or so. I made a nice pass on him coming into 5, but his 10 trillion lbs-ft of torque coming out of the corner put him back into P1 thru Grant’s tomb. We drag raced down the front straight and he tried to out-brake me into one. He must have tried using that fancy electronic actuator shifter that Scotty used during the runoffs (ha ha) because he spun it right in front of me. I built a 15 or so second lead and then backed off and just hit my marks to the finish.
Mr. Gaudette is a helluva nice guy and has some serious speed boys and girls. Considering he was using 4 or 5 heat cycle Kumhos, he was still rocket fast and consistent and finished 2d. His car is beautiful and well sorted and he will be a contender with some more time!!
It’s going to be a long runoffs race for the Vette contingency folks – except for JH of course. Jim had no time in this Viper yet is immediately up to speed. He was on the new Hoosier R6 compound. No offense to him or his driving, but if you drive a Viper and can’t get into the top 10 at the runoffs, then you should be embarrassed and really need to reconsider what you’re doing. I doubt seriously if Jim had Scotty’s monster runoffs engine in there and he obviously didn’t have much seat time in that car…yet ran a faster race lap than I did. To say that these cars are OVERDOGS is like comparing hand grenades to Tomahawk cruise missiles. It’s ridiculous to compare the vette to the Viper right now – it’s not even close. The Viper probably needs another 75-100 lbs or the vette needs to be 3200 or lower (or both)!
My fastest race lap about .7 off what I ran last year. It was 80 degs last year and 97+ this year so I’m sure that had quite a bit to do with it.
Michelle bought me a heart rate monitor for my B-day and I used it for the race to see what kind of numbers you get while on track. Pretty shocking numbers actually:
Max HR: 162
In the cardio zone (120-180 bpm): 27 minutes!!
The Kumho Tires and Carbotech brakes still rock!!!!!
We drove 13 hours home…no tickets this time. I hope everybody had a great Memorial Day weekend and remembers the Servicemen and women who served this country. The cop is still a jerk.
The Viper is still an overdog – period. Ingle (Vette) 1:13.9
Gaudette (Vette) 1:14.3
Lynch (Overdog Viper) 1:13.7
McClain (Vette) 1:21.0
05-30-2006, 02:52 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
Great read, Chris. Sounds like GM has their work cut out for them.
I hate the cop felt it necessary to ticket you. Was that up around Black Mountain?
I've been on track with Joe when he was doing DE's and he was faster than hell then, so I can't imagine how fast he is now in a full race setup.
Good luck with the rest of the season!
I hate the cop felt it necessary to ticket you. Was that up around Black Mountain?
I've been on track with Joe when he was doing DE's and he was faster than hell then, so I can't imagine how fast he is now in a full race setup.
Good luck with the rest of the season!
05-30-2006, 04:22 PM
#3
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Falcon
Great read, Chris. Sounds like GM has their work cut out for them.
I hate the cop felt it necessary to ticket you. Was that up around Black Mountain?
I've been on track with Joe when he was doing DE's and he was faster than hell then, so I can't imagine how fast he is now in a full race setup.
Good luck with the rest of the season!
I hate the cop felt it necessary to ticket you. Was that up around Black Mountain?
I've been on track with Joe when he was doing DE's and he was faster than hell then, so I can't imagine how fast he is now in a full race setup.
Good luck with the rest of the season!
05-30-2006, 06:09 PM
#4
Le Mans Master
Dove Creek, Colorado cop zapped me back when I was active duty in New Mexico. Absolutely no mercy for a minor infraction speeding infraction )I was towing my 67 Corvette on a trailer at the time. I made sure I gave him lots of radar energy everytime I flew over and detected his radar on for the next 18 months.
Congrats to you and Joe on the race.
Congrats to you and Joe on the race.
05-31-2006, 10:04 AM
#6
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by gpm30236
Gr8 write up , Srry will miss you at ATL next weekend. Are you still up for VIR with the Viper crew ?
06-06-2006, 09:33 PM
#8
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
Here's a lap or two of me pestering a Viper at Memphis
