Ignored, Silenced, and Excluded – Summit Point

April 6, 2019

With no pesky “medical procedures”, I would get out to the track early this season.  I did make it to Eric Cruz’s track day for friends at VIR in February, so I was primed and ready to play.  The racecar had been prepped and has been ready to go since last September. I didn’t take the racecar to VIR, but thrashed my Jaguar instead where I did see 145 mph on the back straight. 

Weather forecast was for rain and cold (for Spring), 40 degrees on Friday, but 60ish and mostly sunny for the rest of the weekend.  Good enough.   Had to wait for entry into the paddock until 6PM , but found the paddock VERY full of competitors despite the miserable practice day weather.  Finding paddock space was a challenge and I ended up sharing one space with Mark Walthew. We unloaded and headed off to what we expected to be a big ordeal of getting an annual technical inspection.  The process went surprisingly quick and painless, other than the 42 degree rain.  The cars and us were so wet we didn’t even put them under a tent figuring the promised morning dryness would take care of them.  We were in a hurry to get to a warm, dry place.

Saturday morning was slowly warming but was still heavily overcast and wet.  The car got toweled off and went off for the morning 15 minute Qualifier for our 18 car group 4.  OMG the track is still 100% wet with no hint of a dry line. I tip toe around for a couple of laps behind Mark and Craig Walker.  There are cars going off practically at every corner and mud and water is being deposited is large quantities.  About lap 4, I got caught out by freshly splashed water at the apex of T5 and did a lazy spin.  Not wanting to risk any further dinging the car, I returned to the pits thinking I likely had  a good enough time to get a mid-pack race start position.  NOT SO!  Due to some “technical difficulty” 3 cars, including me, had no qualifying time recorded by the timing system.  I would be starting at the back of the pack for the afternoon race.  Ignored!

Saturday Race.  Grid Hell behind a novice in an F5.  Their ring-a-ding exhaust note is always very annoying, but this guy is also producing substantial exhaust smoke.  I have to shield my nose.  There is a 15-20 minute delay for track cleanup, but the F5 guy keeps his car running and racing the engine.  I notice a rather large and growing puddle under his car and point it out to the grid people.  They don’t persuade F5 to shut off his motor until the 2 minute mark.  He easily restarts at roll out BUT the engine explodes in a HUGE cloud of smoke.  The back of the grid had to wait for 5-10 seconds for the smoke screen to clear.

The race was good.  David Glassman in a Ligier F3 started DFL and intimidated the field as he threaded thru.  I kinda held back for a couple of laps while the field got strung out.  I didn’t like the feel of my new (WILWOOD) rear caliper and bias setup.  I was also not liking my new gearing where  taller 3rd and 4th gears were installed to prevent running into the rev limit at T1.  Car felt slower.  The data will have to be looked at further.  I worked my way past Mark, Craig, and the F2000 car.  I could see long time competitor Chuck Van Nostrand about 150 yards ahead and begin to close.  I was within 50 feet at lap 10 of 15 when I saw my car number on the Black Flag board.  I came in to see what the problem was.  My race was done as I had exceeded the sound 103db limit.  My race was done.  Silenced!

Given the Spec nature of the Honda engine and exhaust package, everyone was shocked that my car had failed sound.  Sound Control, which took until the next morning to post their readings (and only after I raised the issue with the Race Chairman) only took readings on 5 of the 18 cars in the race and the only other Honda powered car had a 101 reading.  Oh well, I still had a fun race.  Mark and I went to an auto parts store and bought an exhaust pipe turndown.  (Maybe it worked; or maybe the weather was sufficiently different.)

Sunday Race.  Off about 11 AM.  Starting in 11th overall based upon yesterday’s best time. By T1, I was on Joe Marcinski and Mike Rand as they battled for first in CF.  They were having at each other, trading places often.  This goes on for about 8 or so laps, and it doesn’t appear that either one will make a mistake so I could go thru.  I am liking my new brake setup now as I go deeper into T1.  Thumbs Up!  Not so for the new gearing.  Well, I’m the first one to make a mistake.  My bum right foot frequently goes astray, and after heavy braking into T5, my toe gets caught under the brake pedal upon accelerating.  Exciting times!  I drop back 50 yards and cannot make much headway in catching up.  I would have another foot oopsy and finish 15 seconds in arrears of Joe/Mike for a 3rd in CF.  (and less than one second over their best lap times . . . . maybe I should have bought those fresh tires?)

BUT WAIT!   At impound, I am two pounds underweight.  They measure my weight from the opposite direction.  I am still under.  And EXCLUDED from the results. Have I been slacking on my beer and pizza consumption?