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11-01-2009, 05:55 PM
Yeah unfortunate incident for me today. I drove the Integra instead of the 911 because it was raining and I have Hoosier wet tires for the Integra and just slicks for the 911.
I bumped myself up a class to run with some other guys in PTD. I managed to qualify really well in fairly heavy rain -- 8th position overall out of 53 cars, right behind Bob, and first in PTD. Bob and I were Ricky Bobby and Cale (Taledega Nights) in qualifying "Shake and Bake". Bob gave me a great tow around the track and we were flying through the field of cars together.
Our last flying lap of qualifying, for some strange reason, they threw the checker at T8 and so we couldn't finish the last lap. I think we would have both moved up at least 2 positions.
Rain is the great equalizer! I was in a sea of BMW M3's and Porsche 993's in the race grid with my lowly 140 hp Integra
At the race start I let 2 GTS3 cars behind me pass so I wasn't interfering with their class race. That put my competitor directly behind me and we had a fantastic race for a few laps. He was driving a 2nd generation RX7, also on Hoosier wets. He dive bombed me into T1 and I forced him inside enough that I could repass on the exit. I got along side him by T2 and we were side by side for a full lap! Every turn! We were bumping and scraping, it was great fun!!!! All of this while it was starting to rain very hard!
I managed to get in front of him and caught up to an orange Corvette running in SU (super unlimited -- very high HP class). This guy was sliding through every turn and almost lost it a dozen or so times right in front of me -- I had to lift and almost stop several times because I thought he was going to spin and hit me! I couldn't get around him! He was blocking me into every braking zone. Thats a total no-no you never race cars out of class.
We had a double yellow flag for a few laps and then before the restart it started pouring rain. At the restart I totally fogged up because of all of the spray off of the other cars. I had to let the guy I was racing pass because I just couldn't see so I couldn't run close to the other cars. I stayed with him until he caught up to the orange vette...he eventually got by and gapped the Vette by like 5 seconds in one lap! The vette was really holding us up. I forced the issue passing the vette because there were only a few laps left and I had to get by. I passed him on the inside of T9 (the real tight right before the long left carousel) and at the apex he squeezed me off into the mud -- and then I had no room to track out. I had to pinch the turn off a little and the back end slid out a little and hit him in the middle of his door. His front bumper then came around and demolished my door and we both went off spinning to the outside into the mud.
In retrospect I felt like I had to pass and I was forcing the issue, maybe a little too much. Also he made huge mistakes by driving so out of control and racing out of class cars. The GTS3 cars also complained about this same guy wrecking their race. I think it just comes down to a racing incident -- we spoke afterwords, but neither of us was angry.
All in all a great end to the year! I was able to pull off a few wins this year in the Integra, several podiums, and winning my first race with the 996 was super fun!
I bumped myself up a class to run with some other guys in PTD. I managed to qualify really well in fairly heavy rain -- 8th position overall out of 53 cars, right behind Bob, and first in PTD. Bob and I were Ricky Bobby and Cale (Taledega Nights) in qualifying "Shake and Bake". Bob gave me a great tow around the track and we were flying through the field of cars together.
Our last flying lap of qualifying, for some strange reason, they threw the checker at T8 and so we couldn't finish the last lap. I think we would have both moved up at least 2 positions.
Rain is the great equalizer! I was in a sea of BMW M3's and Porsche 993's in the race grid with my lowly 140 hp Integra
At the race start I let 2 GTS3 cars behind me pass so I wasn't interfering with their class race. That put my competitor directly behind me and we had a fantastic race for a few laps. He was driving a 2nd generation RX7, also on Hoosier wets. He dive bombed me into T1 and I forced him inside enough that I could repass on the exit. I got along side him by T2 and we were side by side for a full lap! Every turn! We were bumping and scraping, it was great fun!!!! All of this while it was starting to rain very hard!
I managed to get in front of him and caught up to an orange Corvette running in SU (super unlimited -- very high HP class). This guy was sliding through every turn and almost lost it a dozen or so times right in front of me -- I had to lift and almost stop several times because I thought he was going to spin and hit me! I couldn't get around him! He was blocking me into every braking zone. Thats a total no-no you never race cars out of class.
We had a double yellow flag for a few laps and then before the restart it started pouring rain. At the restart I totally fogged up because of all of the spray off of the other cars. I had to let the guy I was racing pass because I just couldn't see so I couldn't run close to the other cars. I stayed with him until he caught up to the orange vette...he eventually got by and gapped the Vette by like 5 seconds in one lap! The vette was really holding us up. I forced the issue passing the vette because there were only a few laps left and I had to get by. I passed him on the inside of T9 (the real tight right before the long left carousel) and at the apex he squeezed me off into the mud -- and then I had no room to track out. I had to pinch the turn off a little and the back end slid out a little and hit him in the middle of his door. His front bumper then came around and demolished my door and we both went off spinning to the outside into the mud.
In retrospect I felt like I had to pass and I was forcing the issue, maybe a little too much. Also he made huge mistakes by driving so out of control and racing out of class cars. The GTS3 cars also complained about this same guy wrecking their race. I think it just comes down to a racing incident -- we spoke afterwords, but neither of us was angry.
All in all a great end to the year! I was able to pull off a few wins this year in the Integra, several podiums, and winning my first race with the 996 was super fun!