Firecracker at CMP
07-16-2008, 12:31 PM
#1
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Firecracker at CMP
The heat was on for the July running at Carolina Motorsports Park for NASA-SE. With the season half over competitors are looking at those 2008 Regional Championships and executing strategies. In Time Trial there was a strong field of 25+ competitors. The best part is with every event the TT competitor base is growing. There were at least two TTU, one TTC, and two TTD rookies at this event. Some have been around for a long time with NASA and stepped up but others have crossed over from other organizations. All the “rookies” did well and even took some podium positions.
Team England suffered a critical blow from the loss of a key member for the event. Due to circumstances beyond the teams control Josh was unable to attend. It seems he was a little behind in his summer preparation for school this fall and it was decided he should concentrate on school prep. It was tough on the team but we survived. It was a bit different to be at a NASA event and not looking for Josh.
Due to work conflicts we did not get to run on Friday but we did unload and get checked in without any hassle. We hit the track cold on Saturday morning with the FRC still running the brakes pads donated by Southern Son (thanks Artie!) at VIR. I finally corded the front NT01 practice/DE tires at Lowes last weekend so we were down to the Kumho 710 (“sticker” in February) with about 20+ heat cycles on them. We expected a little degradation from the February times since the tires were aged and had already been run hard at CMP, Roebling, Barber, and Road Atlanta. The track conditions were really slick on Saturday due to the heavy rains washing off the rubber and putting some sand back on it. Of cour se every dropped tire or off brought more sand back on the track also. As near as we can tell almost everyone was running on old tires and suffering on the same slick track. It often looked like a drift pair competition out on track as people went through T11-T14.
Student load and check rides kept us pretty busy all weekend with me only getting in the car for the last TT session on Saturday. My attempt to stay close to Michael Keena-Levin (MKL) was thwarted, to some degree, by his proclivity to drop two tires at every corner. The dust cloud and debris inspired me to drop back to a safe following distance. It is important to me to point out I stayed on track all weekend. This is unlike Jake who won the Sparkle Pony Award for an outstanding spin at T1 on the first hot lap in the pole position. Other than a damaged ego the car only suffered a bent tow hook and some scuff marks on the front bumper cover. The spin i s nearly priceless to me by the way.
The used Carbotech pads graciously provided by MungoZO6 at VIR ended up on MKL’s ZO6 at CMP. He had on Racerwannabe’s wheels/tires and MungoZO6’s pads when he set the new TTS track record in his 2003 ZO6 (it is probably borrowed also). He drove well all weekend. Butt Ugly even was on track for a session before it was retired for a bad wheel bearing, William's Mustang even made a session or two before a trailer was needed and Racerwannabe’s ZO6 made a few laps before it retired for no oil pressure in his big $$ 427 C5R motor. He was holding a yard sale to help rebuild the motor, again, I think. Even so the Corvettes did well with podiums in TTU, TTS and TTA.
It was a blast meeting up with old friends (Kim and Patches came over just to visit), making new ones (Tres and John in their 99 Vette) and running hard on track with my buddies.
I need to get out of Nashville, we need to get over to Atlanta to pick up the Mustang, get ready for the 24 Hours of Lemons at CMP, SeatTime at Roebling in August (testing the Mustang I hope), and then Road Atlanta to whoop up on TimZO6 at his home track.
Team England suffered a critical blow from the loss of a key member for the event. Due to circumstances beyond the teams control Josh was unable to attend. It seems he was a little behind in his summer preparation for school this fall and it was decided he should concentrate on school prep. It was tough on the team but we survived. It was a bit different to be at a NASA event and not looking for Josh.
Due to work conflicts we did not get to run on Friday but we did unload and get checked in without any hassle. We hit the track cold on Saturday morning with the FRC still running the brakes pads donated by Southern Son (thanks Artie!) at VIR. I finally corded the front NT01 practice/DE tires at Lowes last weekend so we were down to the Kumho 710 (“sticker” in February) with about 20+ heat cycles on them. We expected a little degradation from the February times since the tires were aged and had already been run hard at CMP, Roebling, Barber, and Road Atlanta. The track conditions were really slick on Saturday due to the heavy rains washing off the rubber and putting some sand back on it. Of cour se every dropped tire or off brought more sand back on the track also. As near as we can tell almost everyone was running on old tires and suffering on the same slick track. It often looked like a drift pair competition out on track as people went through T11-T14.
Student load and check rides kept us pretty busy all weekend with me only getting in the car for the last TT session on Saturday. My attempt to stay close to Michael Keena-Levin (MKL) was thwarted, to some degree, by his proclivity to drop two tires at every corner. The dust cloud and debris inspired me to drop back to a safe following distance. It is important to me to point out I stayed on track all weekend. This is unlike Jake who won the Sparkle Pony Award for an outstanding spin at T1 on the first hot lap in the pole position. Other than a damaged ego the car only suffered a bent tow hook and some scuff marks on the front bumper cover. The spin i s nearly priceless to me by the way.
The used Carbotech pads graciously provided by MungoZO6 at VIR ended up on MKL’s ZO6 at CMP. He had on Racerwannabe’s wheels/tires and MungoZO6’s pads when he set the new TTS track record in his 2003 ZO6 (it is probably borrowed also). He drove well all weekend. Butt Ugly even was on track for a session before it was retired for a bad wheel bearing, William's Mustang even made a session or two before a trailer was needed and Racerwannabe’s ZO6 made a few laps before it retired for no oil pressure in his big $$ 427 C5R motor. He was holding a yard sale to help rebuild the motor, again, I think. Even so the Corvettes did well with podiums in TTU, TTS and TTA.
It was a blast meeting up with old friends (Kim and Patches came over just to visit), making new ones (Tres and John in their 99 Vette) and running hard on track with my buddies.
I need to get out of Nashville, we need to get over to Atlanta to pick up the Mustang, get ready for the 24 Hours of Lemons at CMP, SeatTime at Roebling in August (testing the Mustang I hope), and then Road Atlanta to whoop up on TimZO6 at his home track.
07-16-2008, 01:39 PM
#2
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Be sure Jake gets those spins out of his system before Road America!!
07-16-2008, 03:01 PM
#3
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
07-16-2008, 04:12 PM
#4
Le Mans Master
Enjoyable report as always, Jeffro!
Man, Michael Keena-Levin was setting the track on fire this weekend. He had fast lap after fast lap, and he's new to the Vette :o ! Imagine how much faster he'll be when he figures it our even more!!! :shock: Congratulations, MKL!
Man, Michael Keena-Levin was setting the track on fire this weekend. He had fast lap after fast lap, and he's new to the Vette :o ! Imagine how much faster he'll be when he figures it our even more!!! :shock: Congratulations, MKL!
07-16-2008, 07:40 PM
#5
Drifting
Nasa
This was my 1st NASA event but I have been racing for a longtime in NHRA, NASCAR, SCCA, PCA, and BMW and with other organizations so I had some basis for comparison. Of course I had “learned” all about NASA from my buddies and I was ready for a long weekend.
Getting in at 3:30 local time and then finding out my hotel reservations were lost did not help my mood but after a refreshing 3 hour nap it was off to the track. It was an experience that left me shocked. No problems! Everything from registration to parking was a breeze so when I had Tres go to tech while I started to unload the car I was expecting hat something else had to be done but he came back with a tech sticker and we were ready.
After his school session we had time to chat about what was presented during the class and we were both very pleased that the instructor knew what he was talking about and we both agreed that things were going very smooth and now it was time to play. We soon realized that the things I had “learned” about NASA were not true. We had a great weekend and now have signed up for the Road Atlanta event.
I would like to thank everyone from the gate checker to the fuel man. Everyone we came in contact with was just as friendly as anyone could ask for and even more made us want to come back. It was a long weekend but well worth it.
For the folks that wanted to know about the wheel bearing issue that problem is being resolved in a professional manner by the vendor and I have complete faith in them and their product. I only wish my DOD primes cared about their products the same way.
Thanks again for a wonderful experience.
"Pit Boss"
Getting in at 3:30 local time and then finding out my hotel reservations were lost did not help my mood but after a refreshing 3 hour nap it was off to the track. It was an experience that left me shocked. No problems! Everything from registration to parking was a breeze so when I had Tres go to tech while I started to unload the car I was expecting hat something else had to be done but he came back with a tech sticker and we were ready.
After his school session we had time to chat about what was presented during the class and we were both very pleased that the instructor knew what he was talking about and we both agreed that things were going very smooth and now it was time to play. We soon realized that the things I had “learned” about NASA were not true. We had a great weekend and now have signed up for the Road Atlanta event.
I would like to thank everyone from the gate checker to the fuel man. Everyone we came in contact with was just as friendly as anyone could ask for and even more made us want to come back. It was a long weekend but well worth it.
For the folks that wanted to know about the wheel bearing issue that problem is being resolved in a professional manner by the vendor and I have complete faith in them and their product. I only wish my DOD primes cared about their products the same way.
Thanks again for a wonderful experience.
"Pit Boss"
07-17-2008, 05:19 PM
#6
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
exracer28 - glad you gave us the benefit of the doubt and Tres now holds a 1st place in TTU
Road Atlanta will be a little bit more hectic then CMP - but just as professional...
