BuckeyeZ06

Road America was the site of Round 5 of the 2013 Trans Am Series season.

I was entering this race loaded for bear. After a decent finish at Lime Rock Park (4th), and a great start (pole) but disappointing finish (DNF while leading) at Watkins Glen, I eyed RA as a place to make my mark on the season. I was't to be...

First session on Thursday went OK. I was second fastest, although there were a small number of participants in that session. I was about 2 second off what I thought would be needed. But we had almost a full tank of full (30+ gallons), and it was my first session, so I was comfortable with that start.

Session two was a bit unnerving. In one lap I approached Turn One at full speed, went for the brake pedal, but my foot caught that pedal AND the gas pedal. My braking force was not "all there" and I scrambled to get the car stopped. To say I was unnerved is a massive understatement. It ruined me for the rest of the session.

Session three I played with the brake bias using the control **** inside the car. I wasn't happy with the way the car was slowing down, so I experimented. I kept on going backwards time-wise. Very frustrating.

Session 4 was the first "official" session in which times would be kept by Trans Am. Performance here sets the False Grid for the Qualifying session on Friday morning. I go out and on the first lap spin the car going into Canada Corner, ending up in the gravel. No damage to the car, just time wasted waiting to be pulled (not a complaint about the safety crews).

I went out again in the session, and two laps later spun at the entry of Turn Five. There was something wrong with my braking system.

So I tip toed around the track trying to log a decent lap time. I kept extending my braking zone so not to take any undo risk. I have to admit I was a bit shaken. Road America is NOT a track you want to have concerns about your brakes, especially with 180+ MPH trap speeds.

After the practice session, the crew looked over things. It turned out the brake bias adjustment **** was not working. They adjusted things the "old fashioned" way by spinning the front and rear tires.

I was driving the car with four turns too much rear bias! Not only was I experiencing greatly reduced braking performance, but the balance of the car was being thrown off because of this. Not good.

With the car all "fixed" (at least in theory), I anxiously awaited Qualifying to see how much improved the car was going to be. To no avail, as qualifying was rained out. I had no interest in putting the car at risk for an unofficial practice session. I would be going into the race gridded sixth with little idea how the car would work. Oh well...

The race started well for me; by Turn 3 I was side-by-side for fourth, but took the cautious approach and fell back for fifth. I ran in 5th place for two laps until Amy Ruman dropped out with mechanical issues...4th place for me!

But I was seriously off the pace. I eventually dropped to fifth when Paul Fix passed me, and I had to hold of Kyle Kelly for that spot. Kyle and I swapped places a few times within the same lap until Paul Fix dropped out with mechanical issues.

At the green flag after the last Full Course Yellow, I set me eyes on passing Simon Gregg for 4th. 5 laps to go and we were all driving our cars as hard as we could. This is truly what we all signed up for!

Unfortunately for me, I ran out of talent entering Turn 3 and overshot it ending up in the gravel, No damage other than my ego and some gravel removal. I ended up tenth.

I have decided that I need some type of driver cooling system. I thought I was a bad *** and went without one, but it turns out I'm a whimp. So I am doing my research and will have a system in place for Mid Ohio on August 17.

A note about these cars and the Trans Am Series. This is sooooo cool. Nothing is like it. 100 miles of driving a car's wheels off. The last 20-25 miles are what everyone of us dreams about in racing. All out in some seriously fast cars. If you can swing the money-side of it, do it. You will not be disappointed. And honestly, the money isn't bad when you consider how fast these cars are!

We have six weeks of down time before Mid Ohio. I've got some ideas to improve things. I hope to see some of you there!

c5_4_me

Well-written narrative of your race weekend. You have piqued my interest in this Trans-Am series, even if I won't ever make it out to an event, I will be researching it online and watching for your results at Mid Ohio.

I wish you the best of luck getting things sorted for that event. I'm sure you will have the car well-prepared for the race.

BuckeyeZ06

At Lime Rock I was consistently in the top three during any dry session, at Watkins Glen I had the pole. Next race, no changes to the car, on a track I know very well, and have had high levels of success? Dead F......Last! Well, almost. Lol

Bob Ruman, Amy's father, said to me, "Welcome to Trans Am."

topmover

I enjoy your write ups thanks for sharing your experiances.

KBow_Photo

The huge problem with TRANS-am is that they race on Friday, for example there was no way i could make it to the 6pm start being 3 hours away (with traffic) in Chicago. The year before they raced on Friday morning IIRC. They need more exposure, great series, fast cars. The GT1 car driven by Tony Ave kept up with the factory C6-Rs during the Corvette World Tribute in 2011.

BuckeyeZ06

I was talking to the president of Trans Am, John Clagget, about 2014. We will be at events that will get us more exposure, but it's tough because we are at the mercy of other event's schedule by-and-large. We are not a "feature" race, simple as that. With the larger fields, that is starting to be a possibility of changing.

I have been told that a street-race is likely in our future for next year. Where? I don't know.

BuckeyeZ06

Here's the first two laps of the race:

c5_4_me

Awesome video.

Any way we can get more than two laps worth of footage?

I am quite jealous, as I find it fun lapping Road America in Forza Motorsport 4, let alone a Corvette race car!

What car is the video from?

BuckeyeZ06

Your wish is my command...

c5_4_me

Cool, thanks! Good clean battle with the #31.