Pro 1600 at Summit Point
August 24, 2012
I have been
looking forward to the Pro race at Summit all season.
Sean and I have done hundreds of laps around
the place, and were expecting some “home track” advantage. I have done two SCCA races
at Summit in my
Piper in the spring without seeing any significant improvement in lap
times
over the old girl Swift. Maybe
with new
tires . . . .
I arrived at
the track at 5 PM for the “load in”.
We
usually arrive hours after the load in, so this is a new (and painful)
experience. Since
the Pro group was
sharing the weekend with a LARGE (200+) motorcycle group, paddock space
management
was intense. Rand
and Co. parked each
big rig sequentially and carefully (slowly).
It was taking HOURS!!~!!!
I
volunteered to paddock in the woods, on the grass, behind the tech shed
if they
would just let me in. I
staked out a
spot for Sean also. Ray
Phillips was the
only car to join me in the woods.
By the
next day, the space would be filled with motorcycles.
Friday would
offer 3 half hour practice sessions and one qualifying session. Having to be at work, Sean
would not be
playing. Frank
Malone came up to crew
for me and Mark Walthew and Dave Hudson came up to check out the Pro
scene and
to hang out. In the
first two sessions,
I was pedaling like mad, the car was handling great, but I was eating
dust on
acceleration. Laps
times were miserable
in the 1:22 range. I
decided to check
throttle opening, fully expecting to find nothing, but discovered that
the cable
had slipped out of its retention groove.
I was only getting 55% full throttle.
(Should have checked the data sooner!) Given
that, I was amazed that the lap times
were that good. Frank
engineered a fix
to prevent further chance of slippage.
I started the
day on used tires from VIR which now had more than a dozen heat cycles
on
them. Doesn’t
matter when you are slow. By
now, 5 of the “kid” racers were under the lap
record. With full
throttle, the next
session offered promise. Didn’t
happen
as I wasn’t significantly faster with a 1:21.2.
I did feel that the old tires were done and came in at
about mid-session.
Qualifying
was next, and I would use my new ($966) tires.
By now, the turns were getting extremely rubbered up. On my second lap at speed,
I got hit HARD
entering turn 5 by an out of controlled Ed Callo.
A steering link was broken and my session was
done. He hit my
left front wheel causing
the steering wheel to rotate violently, and REALLY hurting my thumbs. (Got video!) After several days, the big
bruises are beginning
to fade. Frank and
I replaced the broken
link and aligned the car. We
would also
discover somewhat later that the mechanical stop on the steering rack
was
broken. (+marine tex and clamps). I
did
manage to out qualify two cars. Three
of
the kids were now doing amazing 1:13 laps!
Sean made it
to the track Friday night and setup.
We arrived
early Saturday morning so Sean could run the brief warm up session at
0800. As we were
leisurely getting
ready, we heard cars on the track.
They
had moved warm up to 0730! We
did the
fire drill thing and got Sean on the track in time for a few laps at
speed,
which was good since he would be starting the race without qualifying
or practice.
20 lap Race
at 1100. Sunny and
85 degrees. I got a
pretty good start, following the Japanese kid (Tanaka) in the Mygale. Things got bunched up a
bit on the inside
lane, and I see Sean closing on the outside.
I lift a touch and give him plenty of room to get by. Tanaka’s lines are a bit
random and Sean gets
by and I stay with him for a few laps.
Nesbitt and Callo are on my tail and pressing hard. I am determined to keep
them behind me. I
get more than one “love tap” from the pair;
they seem to be taking turns. About at the race mid-point,
Callo would go
off and park it. Nesbitt
would spin
shortly thereafter and lose contact.
Despite
trying hard, I do not go faster much and end up with a 1:20.6 lap. I really don’t know why I
am slower that I
was with the “ole girl” Swift which had a smaller restrictor and older
tires. (Best lap
with the Swift was
1:18.1) Running the
Piper in the two
earlier races this year at Summit (smaller restrictor, used tires)
yielded 1:19.2
laps. This mystery
will have me pouring
over the data for weeks now.
Sean had a
nice race, running a 1:16.69 lap which is a lot faster than his
previous
best. Cool. A late spin likely cost
him a couple of
spots. He would end
up 14th,
me 15th of 18.
Our AIM
SmartyCams worked great.
It rained
overnight, but Sunday morning was dry/drying under clouds. Weather radar indicated
that most small rain
cells had passed. Sleeping
in a bit, we
got to the track about 0900 for our 1100 race.
Sean did an adjustment to his brake bias mechanism. We mostly waited. By now all crew had gone
home. Buckling
yourself into the racecar is the most
challenging task, so you give yourself extra time.
We are both all buckled in at 1050 when a
rain shower pops up. We stare at each other and shrug.
The shower is very brief and we gamble that
the track will dry quickly. No
time to
change to rain tires anyhow. As
we get
to the grid, a HEAVY shower falls.
S*$%!! Sean
and I would be the
only cars on slicks. It’s
gonna be
ugly.
We have two
pace laps, and many cars spin off.
I go
slowly and somehow avoid rotations.
At
the back of the field, there is no vision and of course the visor
immediately
fogs over. I do the
green flag (not that
I saw it) lap, plus one, falling to DFL.
Knowing that I hold a terrible hand, I fold and come in. Sean continues to a
laudable 13th
place finish. Surprisingly,
the field
finished without any major crashes (but dozens of spins, including I
think 4
for Sean).
Postscript:
Going to a
Pro race without adequate crew, is not a good idea.
Until the Pro fields flesh out with club racers
(if ever), there are too few mere mortals to race with.
More
later.