RTR at PCA Club Race at Thunderbolt

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Leading the Enduro

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Still leading

 

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more

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sprint race sunday

[Phokaioglaukos]

Looks like all was not just fun: http://www.vimeo.com/6353641

[ninjabones]

Holy crap... what a crazy weekend.  I went in thinking I'd just get my feet wet and test the waters in my first PCA club race.  Expectations were very low.  Before you knew it, I was sitting on the pole for the orange enduro on Sunday.  What a rush it was leading a pack of 30+ cars, with spectators cheering in the grandstands, and my wife and friends watching. 

Against the advice of my fellow RTR brethren (sorry Larry), I didn't put on my sticker hoosiers and left my 14+ heat cycled tires on (the weekend cost me enough and I wanted to keep the stickers for the summit race next month).  That was definitely my biggest mistake of the weekend, as I doubt I'll ever get an opportunity to lead a race like that again. 

Anyway, I had a very hard time holding off Kevin in the black 993 (GT5S car) shown in the picture above.  I was driving very "wide" and shutting down the constant onslaught for about 20 minutes.  Once he made his way by, we actually ran faster and opened up a gap with the rest of the field.  FredC (not Brubaker) in a silver and green carrera started to come to view in my mirror and I knew it wouldn't be long before I was fending off my #2 position from him.  It brought back visions of Fred Brubaker hunting me down in our last DE... they both have very similar driving styles and the pressure was relentless. That guy drove the doors off that old car and made his way by late in the race. 

By that time, we had opened up a nice gap with the rest of the field. I initially planned to take my pit stop early in the race, to bleed down my pressures, and run the rest of the race without having to worry about getting caught out on the track under yellow without my mandatory pit.  However, I had the two leaders in sight and we were running on open track. I just stayed out there and kept opening up more and more room on the rest of the field.  My tires started to get greasy and I was sliding way too much through the carusel, now more than 2 seconds off my initial pace.  I wanted to pit, but I thought I'd make better time staying out as we still hadn't caught lap traffic.

Once we caught lap traffic, I decided to pit.  My wife and Dan Yonker were my pit crew. It was nice to relax for a few minutes, take off my helmet, drink some water, and try to get my heartbeat down below 200. Dan bled my tires down, which were well over 40 psi all around.

After pit out, I saw the #2 car (black 993) about 1/4 mile ahead. My car was definitely hooked up again and my times were coming down.  Unfortunately, there were two battling SP2 cars between me and him.  By the time I made it around them, we were under double yellow (see video above).  Unfortunately, we finished under caution and I didn't get a chance to battle for 2nd again.


The weekend completely blasted away my expectations. My car performed beautifully (except for losing one of my supercup baffles during the enduro, and breaking my adjustment knob off my left front coilover right before the enduro).  It really didn't help my confidence, not knowing what my car was going to do on the start into turn 1.  I had some problems going flat through turn #14, but otherwise the car seamed to handle great. 

Highlights of the weekend were the crazy G class battle in the first sprint.  I took 2nd place in class (losing to a 944 turbo by 3/100 of a second... literally side by side down the entire front straight to the finish).   I got the class win in the second and third sprints and in the enduro, and took the overall points championship for G for the weekend.  It also looks like I will hold the G-class lap record at thunderbolt (at least until the race next summer).  I doubt it will last long, given the standing water everywhere all weekend.

[Phokaioglaukos]

Great job, Glen!

[Graham]

Congratulations Glen!   It was definately fun seeing the races on Saturday,  I know you and a bunch of other RTR guys were there, having what looked like a great time. 

-Graham

[Darren]

Great job Glen!  You did the right thing racing some "slow" Miatas first and I think that has paid off!

[APXD 30]

Phokaioglaukos wrote:

Looks like all was not just fun: http://www.vimeo.com/6353641

Nice finishes Glen. I saw a lot a people at the meeting Wed but didn't know about the event...the forum was quiet...or Jenn & I would have come down one of the days.

Chris, I love the accent on the cursing! Is that Italian or Greek?