Road Atlanta race report…so you don’t think drivers are athletes hunh?!?! …and yet m
06-05-2006, 03:52 PM
#1
Melting Slicks
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Road Atlanta race report…so you don’t think drivers are athletes hunh?!?! …and yet m
Road Atlanta race report…so you don’t think drivers are athletes hunh?!?! …and yet more miscellaneous ramblings.
Michelle bought me a heart rate monitor for my B-day and I’ve been experimenting with it. About 15 mins before the Atlanta race, I started it and then stopped it afterward. Look at these numbers:
Max HR: 183!!!!
In the training zone (120-180 bpm): 34 mins
Calories burned: 1100!!!
That was for one 17 lap race in 90 degree heat. I don’t achieve those kinds of numbers during my morning PT routine. Good lord!
During the last few laps of the test day session, my power steering started to act weird – going out intermittently and making the car very hard to drive. That would come into play during the race (and probably account for those high HR numbers!!
[One valuable lesson I’ve learned over the past year - If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I had a strong, reliable driveline in my car and either swapped them out or rebuilt them looking for something better/faster or just newer parts. Boy, was that an expensive mistake. My stock 01 equipment was fast and reliable. But, always wanting more, I swapped it out for a used 04 engine, rebuilt my tranny and diff, and thought I was getting more speed and ensuring reliability for years to come. Instead, I got less power and more problems out of the new stuff. I was advised not to fool with any of them, but I didn’t listen and it’s cost me well over $15K that I didn’t have to get nearly back to the point where I was before the swaps. CRAP!!!!]
The race. I had a good start and Phil was behind me. I was able to go thru turns 3 and the esses a bit better so I had a bit of a gap going into turn 7. Remember me talking about tranny and diff issues – well, coming out of turn 7, I missed a 3-4 shift. This crappy transmission doesn’t seem to shift well until everything gets hot so I’ve got to be more aware of that. Phil had a good run and went by and led the first lap. Coming into turn 7 again, I was able to stay tucked in behind him and get a tow down the back straight and passed him back into 10a. I extended the lead slightly over the next several laps to about 2.5 seconds up or so, but the steering was getting worse and by around 10 it was gone. I got to the top of turn 3 and just couldn’t get the wheel back straight again, so as soon as I touched the brakes, I felt the back end coming around. I drove straight off and did some agricultural driving until rejoining the track about 100 ft. later. Phil and I went down the thru the essess side by side, but I backed off going into 5 and followed him thru.
He missed the turn 6 and 7 apexes by no more than 6 inches, but that allowed me to get close enough to him to get a draft down the back straight and passed him into 10a again! There was no power steering from then on and I was working my *** off, but managed to keep him off me til the checkered. I could tell he was working hard too, because when I’d look in my rear view coming out of a corner I could see his car twitching under power.
That was probably the closest race we’ve ever had – and never separated by more than about 2 or 3 seconds either way. Great drive Phil, and thanks for the hospitality Saturday night!!!!!!!
The new bullet is certainly strong especially in traffic when drafting. The rake must be different than before. The suspension settings are different too and it’s going to take some time to get used to them. The car is back at the dealer getting a new power steering pump or whatever is wrong with it fixed. I just hope it’s not the whole rack; otherwise it’ll have to sit for a while. It’s always something.
Just how close was the race you ask? My fastest lap was .004 faster than Phil:
Ingle 1:35.398
Croyle 1:35.402
Nazario 1:38.2
Tim Hund – DNS His diff plug came out during a run and leaked all the fluid out and subsequently trashed the ring and pinion. That boy just hasn’t had any luck! Good luck bud…hope to see you down in Savannah.
Thanks to Butch, Michelle, Chris, David, Teddy, my sister Pam and her friend Rosealin (sp?) for coming out and supporting my habit.
The Kumhos are Carbotechs are just amazing and Rich Shafer’s Cool shirt is a wonderful thing. I also can’t thank Mike Scornavacchi enough for being so generous and helping me put an engine back in this thing.
And to Bob Mayer who’s ‘retiring’ from T1 – Booooooooo!!!!!!!
Michelle bought me a heart rate monitor for my B-day and I’ve been experimenting with it. About 15 mins before the Atlanta race, I started it and then stopped it afterward. Look at these numbers:
Max HR: 183!!!!
In the training zone (120-180 bpm): 34 mins
Calories burned: 1100!!!
That was for one 17 lap race in 90 degree heat. I don’t achieve those kinds of numbers during my morning PT routine. Good lord!
During the last few laps of the test day session, my power steering started to act weird – going out intermittently and making the car very hard to drive. That would come into play during the race (and probably account for those high HR numbers!!
[One valuable lesson I’ve learned over the past year - If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I had a strong, reliable driveline in my car and either swapped them out or rebuilt them looking for something better/faster or just newer parts. Boy, was that an expensive mistake. My stock 01 equipment was fast and reliable. But, always wanting more, I swapped it out for a used 04 engine, rebuilt my tranny and diff, and thought I was getting more speed and ensuring reliability for years to come. Instead, I got less power and more problems out of the new stuff. I was advised not to fool with any of them, but I didn’t listen and it’s cost me well over $15K that I didn’t have to get nearly back to the point where I was before the swaps. CRAP!!!!]
The race. I had a good start and Phil was behind me. I was able to go thru turns 3 and the esses a bit better so I had a bit of a gap going into turn 7. Remember me talking about tranny and diff issues – well, coming out of turn 7, I missed a 3-4 shift. This crappy transmission doesn’t seem to shift well until everything gets hot so I’ve got to be more aware of that. Phil had a good run and went by and led the first lap. Coming into turn 7 again, I was able to stay tucked in behind him and get a tow down the back straight and passed him back into 10a. I extended the lead slightly over the next several laps to about 2.5 seconds up or so, but the steering was getting worse and by around 10 it was gone. I got to the top of turn 3 and just couldn’t get the wheel back straight again, so as soon as I touched the brakes, I felt the back end coming around. I drove straight off and did some agricultural driving until rejoining the track about 100 ft. later. Phil and I went down the thru the essess side by side, but I backed off going into 5 and followed him thru.
He missed the turn 6 and 7 apexes by no more than 6 inches, but that allowed me to get close enough to him to get a draft down the back straight and passed him into 10a again! There was no power steering from then on and I was working my *** off, but managed to keep him off me til the checkered. I could tell he was working hard too, because when I’d look in my rear view coming out of a corner I could see his car twitching under power.
That was probably the closest race we’ve ever had – and never separated by more than about 2 or 3 seconds either way. Great drive Phil, and thanks for the hospitality Saturday night!!!!!!!
The new bullet is certainly strong especially in traffic when drafting. The rake must be different than before. The suspension settings are different too and it’s going to take some time to get used to them. The car is back at the dealer getting a new power steering pump or whatever is wrong with it fixed. I just hope it’s not the whole rack; otherwise it’ll have to sit for a while. It’s always something.
Just how close was the race you ask? My fastest lap was .004 faster than Phil:
Ingle 1:35.398
Croyle 1:35.402
Nazario 1:38.2
Tim Hund – DNS His diff plug came out during a run and leaked all the fluid out and subsequently trashed the ring and pinion. That boy just hasn’t had any luck! Good luck bud…hope to see you down in Savannah.
Thanks to Butch, Michelle, Chris, David, Teddy, my sister Pam and her friend Rosealin (sp?) for coming out and supporting my habit.
The Kumhos are Carbotechs are just amazing and Rich Shafer’s Cool shirt is a wonderful thing. I also can’t thank Mike Scornavacchi enough for being so generous and helping me put an engine back in this thing.
And to Bob Mayer who’s ‘retiring’ from T1 – Booooooooo!!!!!!!
06-05-2006, 07:30 PM
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Chris, Thanks for putting me on your crew list. Congratulations on the 1st place win. 
It was a nice race between you and Phil.
Here are some pics I took.
The start of the group 4 race.
Chris and Phil going up turn 1.
Done.
Butch putting on the newest sticker.
It was a nice race between you and Phil.Here are some pics I took.
The start of the group 4 race.
Chris and Phil going up turn 1.
Done.
Butch putting on the newest sticker.
