I made it to barber and after helping work registration I found there was still plenty of room in the paddock. I found a good spot near some friends and got unpacked, tires changed, and called it a night.
The next morning I headed back up to registration to get the rest of the NASA crew signed in and any other information they needed. That was over quickly and I went back to the paddock to get ready for morning practice.
I decided that I wanted to make the most of some old tires and was going to use them up for practice and depending on how they felt for qualifying and the race too. They were ok, but no longer near the same grip as my newer tires and I was going from push to oversteer and back to push in several corners. I dont know if others were also using old tires too but I managed to have the second fastest time in the lighting group.
Qualifing went well as I headed out at the very tail of the group, taking a very easy warm up lap to give myself room before I caught up with traffic. It worked out well as I got in 3-4 laps almost traffic free and was able to take third overall time.
While griding for the race, a couple of my competitors noticed the order was not what we had decided in the racers meeting. But by that time there was nothing we could do to change it. The fastest group of cars would be the last to take the green flag. I knew I would have to get a good start or risk being caught up in the spec miata field that was now starting right in front of us. I did and passed almost ten before turn one, trying my best to keep up with the 350z that out qualified me. I was unable to make a treat for the lead but had a blast and took home second overall.
Sunday started off as hot as saturday and I quickly ran out of water, but the car was good to go. I went out for qualifying again and again took third overall in qualifying.
But this race was different, there was a semi-pro driver starting in front of me in a playboy cup miata. I was a little slow on the start and both the miata and 350 pulled a small gap on me. I had a good seat to watch them race each other and was quickly back on their heels. After only a couple laps the 350 driver made a mistake and went wide through turn one giving me second place. It was still early in the race and I didnt want to burn the tires off my car so I settled into a rhythm. But not much later I saw the miata was pulling a small gap on me each lap. This could not be, I put my head down and started driving harder. I knew he went faster in qualifying and should have a better balanced car but I didnt care. I pushed hard and saw that he was having a little more trouble than me making it through the traffic, this just fuel my fire to catch him. I looked down at my stopwatch/timer and saw I was running out of time, I had to catch him soon or the race would be over. I caught a break as he was approaching lap traffic coming up on the front straight, I got a huge run onto the front straight and as he was passing the lap car I pulled inside to make it three wide. As I do the white flag comes out, I have to make the pass stick. I get him into turn one but he dives back inside into turn two, we run door to door through two and three. I pull ahead on the next straight and he never got close enough to make a move back on me. I got to be the first to take the checker, what a feeling.
here is saturdays race, unfortunately on sunday the battery went out about half way through
http://www.vimeo.com/4991053
The next morning I headed back up to registration to get the rest of the NASA crew signed in and any other information they needed. That was over quickly and I went back to the paddock to get ready for morning practice.
I decided that I wanted to make the most of some old tires and was going to use them up for practice and depending on how they felt for qualifying and the race too. They were ok, but no longer near the same grip as my newer tires and I was going from push to oversteer and back to push in several corners. I dont know if others were also using old tires too but I managed to have the second fastest time in the lighting group.
Qualifing went well as I headed out at the very tail of the group, taking a very easy warm up lap to give myself room before I caught up with traffic. It worked out well as I got in 3-4 laps almost traffic free and was able to take third overall time.
While griding for the race, a couple of my competitors noticed the order was not what we had decided in the racers meeting. But by that time there was nothing we could do to change it. The fastest group of cars would be the last to take the green flag. I knew I would have to get a good start or risk being caught up in the spec miata field that was now starting right in front of us. I did and passed almost ten before turn one, trying my best to keep up with the 350z that out qualified me. I was unable to make a treat for the lead but had a blast and took home second overall.
Sunday started off as hot as saturday and I quickly ran out of water, but the car was good to go. I went out for qualifying again and again took third overall in qualifying.
But this race was different, there was a semi-pro driver starting in front of me in a playboy cup miata. I was a little slow on the start and both the miata and 350 pulled a small gap on me. I had a good seat to watch them race each other and was quickly back on their heels. After only a couple laps the 350 driver made a mistake and went wide through turn one giving me second place. It was still early in the race and I didnt want to burn the tires off my car so I settled into a rhythm. But not much later I saw the miata was pulling a small gap on me each lap. This could not be, I put my head down and started driving harder. I knew he went faster in qualifying and should have a better balanced car but I didnt care. I pushed hard and saw that he was having a little more trouble than me making it through the traffic, this just fuel my fire to catch him. I looked down at my stopwatch/timer and saw I was running out of time, I had to catch him soon or the race would be over. I caught a break as he was approaching lap traffic coming up on the front straight, I got a huge run onto the front straight and as he was passing the lap car I pulled inside to make it three wide. As I do the white flag comes out, I have to make the pass stick. I get him into turn one but he dives back inside into turn two, we run door to door through two and three. I pull ahead on the next straight and he never got close enough to make a move back on me. I got to be the first to take the checker, what a feeling.
here is saturdays race, unfortunately on sunday the battery went out about half way through
http://www.vimeo.com/4991053
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