Thunderbolt Race Weekend

[bobt993]

Quick report for race weekend.  A bunch of RTR here running Tbolt NASA NE.  Darren sorting his GTS4 car,  Dan Yonkers and Me running a field of 13 in GTS3.  Josh running Spec E30.  Currently 2nd in times, but found my camber was gone on the front left tire from bolt that shifted.  Should make a big improvement tomorrow.

Bob Turgeon

[Trevor McNeill]

Bob,
That's awesome. Too bad I couldn't be there to support. Best of luck to you and the rest of the RTR gang. Make us proud and come home in one piece!
Trevor

[bobt993]

More cars showed up GTS3 had 15 register!  Poor qualifying for me and Darren.  They placed all race groups on the track together and the speed disparity was tough for everyone.  

Started to rain just a little during the pace lap.

Started 4th in the race, but made a big move at the start up to 2nd.   Dan Yonkers slotted into 4th and was driving really well.  I gapped 3rd, but he was still lurking maybe 3 secs back.  I measured each lap trying not to overdrive the car on a wet track.   The two lead GTS4 cars took each other out in T1 which brought out a full course yellow.  The rest of the race was under yellow.  Dan ended up in 3rd when the M3 behind me was DQ'd for weight.  Darren stole 1st in GTS4 after the two front cars went off.  (Darren first real time driving the car at speed!!).  Good results for Saturday under very dicey conditions.

[ADCooperS]

Congratulations Bob, Darren, and Dan!  I'd love to go some time and watch you guys race... Let me know when the next big race is!

[Racingswh]

Very nice job and congratulations everyone!  Thanks for posting this up Bob and letting us know how everyone did.

[bobt993]

Yet another rain day!! I qualified 2nd in class 7th overall (includes unlimited).  I moved to first in T1 on the start battling an M3.  We checked out with the other unlimited and higher HP cars well ahead of the field.   Of course someone wrecked bad before the bridge bringing out full yellow.  I slowed and was passed under yellow, but the guy was not caught by the corner workers.  Restart I got a big jump and passed 5 cars putting me back in first for class, 2nd overall.  The 4wd Evo's came back easily and I battled with a high hp ALMS style M3 not in class. Then I started getting fuel starvation from the extended race ( I needed 2 extra gallons!!!).  I let him by then the 2nd place car, eventually Dan Yonkers came up and I had to let him by too.  I finally figured I could drive in 5th for most of the track and keep it running.  I actually held off the 4th place car for 3rd by a couple of car lengths.  Good lesson about fuel. 

Darren had an incident with an out of class car that was blocking him and another car fighting for first.  Big bummer for Darren, but just a door.  Dan drove great and picked up 2nd in class.   

Winter project, fuel cell.

[Darren]

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!

[Trevor McNeill]

Darren, Bob & Dan - You've all made us proud. Simply put - Well Done Gentlemen !!!

[geza]

Add one "Atta boys!" from me.

[Phokaioglaukos]

Darren wrote:

Thats a total no-no you never race cars out of class.

Sorry to hear of the contact, Darren. It's really annoying when faster cars have such slow drivers.

That said, I agree that if an out-of-class faster car/driver comes up on you that you should let him by in a way that does not cause either of you to give up pace, and of course if a pair of out-of-class cars bear down on you that you should try to let them both by, but it's an overstatement to say that one NEVER races cars out of class. Not your circumstance in the race you discuss, but there is a desire to race for the over-all win, so if there is an out-of-class car that is behind you, but not dramatically faster, there should be a race.

Thoughts?