Survived my first race

[ninjabones]

Dan Yonker and I ran our first race with NASA this weekend (Dan in an SM miata and me in an SSM miata).  Overall, f’ing great time!  Lots of action.  Good amount of track time, and no major incidents (which is a lot to say for a weekend racing miatas)!!!  I dropped more than 2 seconds off my best lap time and had a personal best (up to that point) during qualifying on Sunday (qualified 23[suP]rd[/suP] and 25[suP]th[/suP] Saturday and Sunday respectively, out of a field of 32 cars – 4[suP]th[/suP] out of 6 in my SSM class).  I think Dan probably dropped 4 seconds off his times and was kicking ass by Sunday’s race.  There were about 18 cars in SM and 6 in SSM for Sunday's enduro (40 minute race).


My best lap times of the weekend were actually during the race battling Dan in his SM car (we were turning very consistent 1:33s early in the race, which was a vast improvement from our previous efforts and probably mid-pack times for SSM).  He attempted an inside pass going into turn 1 and I passed him back with an over-under move, ducking inside on the exit and passing on the straight between 3 and 4.  We were nose-to-tail for 3-4 laps, strategizing and making moves with traffic from other classes (including Todd Reid and Darren Mingis in PTE). Todd passed me on the entry to 1, and I tried to follow him to get by Dan (but he shut the door). Then I tried to follow Darren wide around turn 5, got in the marbles and almost lost it.  After a few more laps, Dan picked up on a couple of my secrets in turn 8 and turn 10.  I blew the entry to turn 10 and he passed me early in the straight.  Then he slowly started to creep away (both due to better driving and aided by a few extra HP in the SM car vs. my SSM car).  He started turning 1:32s and high 1:31s, so I had not chance to stay with him.


I stayed calm and focused on consistency as I knew that the 40 minute race was going to boil down to who could make fewer mistakes.  Tires started getting greasy and I started to have to adjust my braking points into turn 1.  I saw Dan’s tires smoke two laps in a row in the breaking zone of 1 and knew he had to be feeling the pressure (always harder to be in front).  Next lap, Dan made an error and ended up in the gravel trap at turn 1.  He got to watch the three laps of the race in the gravel before getting a hot-pull back into the action.  I thought I had it in the bag until my car started sputtering in the carousel (shit… I was going to run out of fuel). I knew I had two laps of gas left…. White flag dropped (signal for last lap)….I think I can… I think I can… started stalling on the uphill bridge straight…. Coasted across the finish line and then onto the grass (behind a barrier)…. But no checker….. For some reason, there was still one more lap to go and I was stalled on the side of the track…. I got out of the car and jumped over the tire wall, and had to watch Dan and the rest of the guys that were trailing drive by on the very last lap.  A tad disappointing, but definitely some exciting racing folks.  Lot's of lessons learned this weekend.  DE will never be the same.  We’re now total miata junkies… can’t wait for my next fix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIMqGdn0Ccg

 

[steveh]

I did the time trial at SP this past weekend.  Great fun watching all the racing, but especially the "Stinger" group, which included Todd in PTE and all the Miatas.

I noticed there was a really good turnout of spec 944's as well.

Great job guys.  I'm finishing my SM this year, and looking forward to comp school next spring.  Can't wait to mix it up with you on track.

[AMoore]

Great write up Glen!  Did you guys rent or buy Miatas?

[Darren]

Congrats Glen, it's great to have you to a NASA event!

Todd and I were in a 3-way epic PTE battle on Sunday.  Todd continued his PTE dominance with another victory and I finished 3rd, only .5s behind Todd!  As the top 3 we were almost nose-to-tail at the finish of a 40 minute race!  It was non-stop action passing lapped cars and dealing with the oppressive heat of 95 degrees or so!

I qualified 5th out of 6 in PTE with a 1:29.9, almost 3 seconds off the leaders. I was still working out the new brake setup (Tilton dual masters) and I was running old tires. I was pretty confident that I'd pick up time in the race. I decided to try Hoosier A6 (autocross compound, super soft) for the first time.

Fairly quickly in the race I passed 2 in-class cars, one was an easy pass, the other I bumped pretty hard going into the carousel and then ducked underneath him. About 5 laps later I caught up to the two leaders, Todd in his Ford Probe GT and a Nissan SER.

The three of us had some very tight racing for 25 minutes until the finish. I passed the SER and was up to 2nd, and was able to actually move alongside Todd down the front straight but I couldn't pull of a pass from the outside going into T1. I squeezed him as far over to the inside as I could (I'm sure we were 1" max from each other) and still couldnt get around.  The next lap we got to the main straight and came on a huge pack of ultra-slow spec Miatas, like 10 seconds off pace. Todd dove right to pass them, I had to go left or slow down, but I was on the edge of the track, so I passed the Miatas left on the grass at 100 mph!

A few laps later a Miata did a bonehead move on the main straight and moved over and pushed me off the track. I had a choice of risking him crashing (he would have punted himself on my front bumper) or going off, so I just went off. I lost one position but never lifted, there was a huge cloud of dust, like spyhunter style and I rejoined the track in 3rd in front of the Miatas.

At the finish, we were very close -- .2s separated first and second and .5s first to third. Our fastest lap times were all within .17s of each other! Very close racing indeed! My best time was a 1:27.52.

We were splitting lapped cars the entire race. There were 30 cars in our race group and only 6 cars had 22 laps, so we passed at least 24 cars! Traffic management usually decides these races.

I'm siked that finally the Integra is up to speed and I'll be going ALL OUT at Hyperfest going for the win.

Hopefully I'll follow-up with a video from the 2nd place car, should be fun to watch!

[ninjabones]

Darren:

As requested, here's footage of the lap when you guys caught up to me (I think it was about 25 min into the race).  I saw Todd about 1/2 mile behind me on the previous lap on the front straight, and figured that the PTE guys would probably catch me on the next lap.  I started thinking about how I could use you guys to get by Dan... first attempt was to sneak behind Todd tight into turn 1, but Dan closed the door.  Then I tried to follow you down the chute and wide through turn 5, but got out in the marbles and almost lost it (you can see me sawing the wheel pretty hard there).  Anyway, Dan started to creep away until I saw the smoke cloud in turn 1 about 4-5 laps later. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcRNCeQV0Wg


Aaron, it's very easy to rent a miata for a race... and actually significantly cheaper than it would cost to race my own 993 for a weekend (if you consider tires, rotors, pads, wear-and-tear, etc). I was fortunate to have borrowed a car for the race from a very generous friend (with a very clear understanding that I would take care of any damage/repairs).  Dan rented from his instructor at the SCCA school that we did together a few weeks ago.

[fasthonda]

hey glen -- you were driving really well for a rookie!!!!     you were keeping your head and trying to formulate plans to sneak by dan, which is fantastic...  keep working on your 'racecraft' skills, and you will move up in the ranking steadily.

it's very hard to explain what 'real racing' is like;  you've basically just got to experience it!!!

that was a hell of a race for me;  the toughest i've ever been in.  balls past the walls for the entire time, from start to finish!   i'll be posting some video very shortly, i hope!

oh, and glen is right -- renting is definitely the way to go for at least your first few races (if not the entire first year, or beyond).  either a miata, or perhaps a spec e30 bmw (if you want a little faster car;  i can drive a spec e30 to basically the same laptimes as my probenstien).  the guys i paddock with (drivegear.com), jonny and andrew, have four spec e30s for rent -- i was doing a bit of pro coaching with one of their consistent renters (joe) on friday - 'tuning him up' for the races on sat/sun.  i drove the #89 car for 7 laps or so on friday;  super easy car to drive, very friendly, and very fun to drive!     i also very much enjoy racing (co-driving) my friend brian's spec miata in the enduros -- super fun and neat car to race! 

i really think its best to learn to race in a lower speed car like the miata or e30, before trying to make the big jump to spec996 or gts3 or .....    you learn to drive, and carry momentum, rather than relying on a monster motor!!!!

you did really well, glen, especially the way you slashed your laptimes down, and the track was getting much slower, as the weekend progressed!!!  big thumbs up!

todd

ReidSpeed

[bobt993]

Glen,  Good job.  More of what Todd is saying.  It looks like I will be at Hyperfest.  Will know tomorrow, but looks good now.   Always race to the checker.  The white flag can be confusing with such a big field.  One of the most intense experiences in a NASA  race is the track seldom goes full course yellow.  Lot's of locals, lot's of tow trucks, but they just keep going!!! 
 
BTW, what did I tell you about racing vs DE.  I think you will relax a little more at the DE's now...  LOL!!!

[Darren]

Glen great recovery, you turned in just a hair too late there and hit the marbles.  Like Todd says, and he knows a lot more racecraft than I do, some of this stuff you just have to do it to "get" it.  For example in this video I think I'd be driving directly behind the car in front of you, right up his rear.

It's a hard transition to make from DE because we always leave space in DE to keep it safe and be polite 

You did an excellent job of staying out of our race, I wish the other Spec Miatas would plan like this!

The lap times will come down, you're running faster than I was when I first started racing. 

[Darren]

BTW Todd -- I led lap 19

[bobt993]

Darren wrote:

BTW Todd -- I led lap 19

Todd, he has a point. Give him one of your trophies. ( your most likely using them as coasters anyways).