Robz Wins ALL MOTOR Class At MIR WCFs
11-14-2014, 08:10 AM
#23
Drifting
Congrats Rob. Car is bad ***.
11-19-2014, 12:20 PM
#25
Heel & Toe
Thank you all for the kind words.
This was a complete team effort and thanks to good friends for always going out of their way for me to compete and be successful.
The trackside team of Gary, Kevin, Dave, Mark, and Ricky made it possible for me to run this weekend.
And without all the help from Tune Time Performance, Smalley Automotive, and MCP Competition Engines it's just not happening. I truly appreciate all the advice from Matt, Gary, Kevin, Mike, and Mark and who are always available to listen to some crazy scheme I have going.
It was a great time and exhausting at the same time. As Gary mentioned we swapped the transmission and slave cylinder on Saturday morning after qualifying in last place Friday due to the inability to get into gear. I knew the car wasn't right and I wound up hurting 2nd gear in the trans trying to force it in gear. (The weekend before I rushed the install of the clutch and though I could get away with too little space between the clutch and TOB.) That was my mistake.
So Saturday morning Kevin tells me we are putting the new trans in and we went for it. I had a back up t 56 in my truck which was designed to run with the race motor and I brought another stock slave and shims knowing we may have to correct the clearance issues. Somehow we made it happen following his instructions and getting him everything he needs. There's no task too big for Kevin Smalley.
We then race up to the staging lanes not knowing if it was going to all come together and the car ran strong and we qualified 2nd. What a relief. I didn't want my crew to go through all that trouble and not run well. The forth qualifier got cancelled so it was key that we made the 3rd one count.
Being an ET chaser I'm immediately thinking that I know this car can go low 9.5x's and start getting ready to put the car on 100% kill. I run the strategy by Gary and I can tell he's got a different plan in mind. We decide to not change anything, keep the car on 90% and be aggressive yet safe which will help minimize any mistakes. It turned out to be a solid plan because we never smoked the tires, missed any shifts, or had to over rev the motor and still ran as fast as we needed to. The car was deadly consistent.
Gary kept me focused on each round one by one and we had a handle on the opponent and what to expect. I never had to kill the tree knowing that I would always get a solid 60' and had the other car covered by et/mph. We made tiny adjustments based on track conditions and ran our own race and somehow wound up taking the win.
It was a great time with friends. The import guys were all very cool in my experience as well. It's amazing the track manages to make this event work with 25,000+ people. The cars in my class were all bad azz and it was impressive to see everyone laying it all out there. I truly appreciated the support I received from the corvette members and enthusiasts that were at the event. Those small words of encouragement go a long way.
This was a complete team effort and thanks to good friends for always going out of their way for me to compete and be successful.
The trackside team of Gary, Kevin, Dave, Mark, and Ricky made it possible for me to run this weekend.
And without all the help from Tune Time Performance, Smalley Automotive, and MCP Competition Engines it's just not happening. I truly appreciate all the advice from Matt, Gary, Kevin, Mike, and Mark and who are always available to listen to some crazy scheme I have going.
It was a great time and exhausting at the same time. As Gary mentioned we swapped the transmission and slave cylinder on Saturday morning after qualifying in last place Friday due to the inability to get into gear. I knew the car wasn't right and I wound up hurting 2nd gear in the trans trying to force it in gear. (The weekend before I rushed the install of the clutch and though I could get away with too little space between the clutch and TOB.) That was my mistake.
So Saturday morning Kevin tells me we are putting the new trans in and we went for it. I had a back up t 56 in my truck which was designed to run with the race motor and I brought another stock slave and shims knowing we may have to correct the clearance issues. Somehow we made it happen following his instructions and getting him everything he needs. There's no task too big for Kevin Smalley.
We then race up to the staging lanes not knowing if it was going to all come together and the car ran strong and we qualified 2nd. What a relief. I didn't want my crew to go through all that trouble and not run well. The forth qualifier got cancelled so it was key that we made the 3rd one count.
Being an ET chaser I'm immediately thinking that I know this car can go low 9.5x's and start getting ready to put the car on 100% kill. I run the strategy by Gary and I can tell he's got a different plan in mind. We decide to not change anything, keep the car on 90% and be aggressive yet safe which will help minimize any mistakes. It turned out to be a solid plan because we never smoked the tires, missed any shifts, or had to over rev the motor and still ran as fast as we needed to. The car was deadly consistent.
Gary kept me focused on each round one by one and we had a handle on the opponent and what to expect. I never had to kill the tree knowing that I would always get a solid 60' and had the other car covered by et/mph. We made tiny adjustments based on track conditions and ran our own race and somehow wound up taking the win.
It was a great time with friends. The import guys were all very cool in my experience as well. It's amazing the track manages to make this event work with 25,000+ people. The cars in my class were all bad azz and it was impressive to see everyone laying it all out there. I truly appreciated the support I received from the corvette members and enthusiasts that were at the event. Those small words of encouragement go a long way.
I bet the end result was SOO rewarded for you guys. Did you feel the pressure while driving? Im sure you must have felt you HAD to win, especially for the guys who put that monster back on the track. Days like these will be talked about for years on end. Great Job Team robz.
11-19-2014, 01:59 PM
#26
Le Mans Master
I bet the end result was SOO rewarded for you guys. Did you feel the pressure while driving? Im sure you must have felt you HAD to win, especially for the guys who put that monster back on the track. Days like these will be talked about for years on end. Great Job Team robz.
It certainly wasn't all fun and games. lol
I had no preconceived notions going in. The only thing I did know was that we could be very competitive. I've entered my share of races with zero chance of winning over the years at etown.
I felt obligated to perform well for all the people that made it possible for me to race, but zero pressure to win. I know enough that anything can happen and it did. We had to overcome some hurdles just to qualify. I also felt my inexperience meant that I had to be as consistent as possible and limit mistakes which was necessary. If I race again I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy the experience more.
11-19-2014, 02:33 PM
#27
Tech Contributor
Thanks.
It certainly wasn't all fun and games. lol
I had no preconceived notions going in. The only thing I did know was that we could be very competitive. I've entered my share of races with zero chance of winning over the years at etown.
I felt obligated to perform well for all the people that made it possible for me to race, but zero pressure to win. I know enough that anything can happen and it did. We had to overcome some hurdles just to qualify. I also felt my inexperience meant that I had to be as consistent as possible and limit mistakes which was necessary. If I race again I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy the experience more.
It certainly wasn't all fun and games. lol
I had no preconceived notions going in. The only thing I did know was that we could be very competitive. I've entered my share of races with zero chance of winning over the years at etown.
I felt obligated to perform well for all the people that made it possible for me to race, but zero pressure to win. I know enough that anything can happen and it did. We had to overcome some hurdles just to qualify. I also felt my inexperience meant that I had to be as consistent as possible and limit mistakes which was necessary. If I race again I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy the experience more.
But cutting a .00x light every round with a manual, now that's hard!!
How were your lights Rob? In a bracket race that's nearly all the matters, but were these lights less important as it was a first to the finish line race?
11-21-2014, 06:14 PM
#28
Le Mans Master
I find running a consistent ET gets easier when you have hundreds of passes on a car, like you do Rob at least it is for me.
But cutting a .00x light every round with a manual, now that's hard!!
How were your lights Rob? In a bracket race that's nearly all the matters, but were these lights less important as it was a first to the finish line race?
But cutting a .00x light every round with a manual, now that's hard!!
How were your lights Rob? In a bracket race that's nearly all the matters, but were these lights less important as it was a first to the finish line race?
