I WON!

I WON!

I really did! It was a GREAT weekend. I started out with some goals. I wanted to see at least one lap time under 1:27. I had been able to get a low 1:27 at the August DE with PCA and I was hoping that racing with other Spec Boxsters I'd get a little quicker. Racing always makes you faster.

Turns out I was able to get down to a 1:25.948! Very happy about that. The track record is a 1:24.8. The next fastest lap times are 1:25.8, and 1:25.948 and 1:25.97. That makes my lap time the 3rd fastest Spec Boxster at Summit Point. Pretty stoked!

Friday was fun with the practice starts. I was in the low 1:26's on Friday so I was feeling pretty good about my chances for the weekend. Saturday morning was just horrible. It was raining hard. Really hard in the afternoon. It was cold too. Not much fun at all. We raced anyway. This is the first time I have ever driven this car in the rain. Toyo R888 are a handful in the rain to say the least. All the other classes were out there on Hoosier Wets and just FLYING past me. My competitor was 5 seconds faster than me in the rain. Not a very impressive performance on my part. I just couldn't get on the gas with out nearly spinning. The video is pretty funny. Then the window fogged up. Just not a very fun day. In sprint one my competition spun out of T9 on lap 1 so all I had to do was get to the checker. Not as easy as it sounds. I came in DFL because I had to pit (who pits in a 25 minute sprint!!!) so my buddy Jeff could defog the window for me. That lasted about 3 laps then it fogged up again.

Sprint 2 was equally as miserable. This time I was armed with an ice scraper with a towel wrapped around it. A Jeff special. Every time I came down the front straight I would clean the window. Just no fun at all. I did win sprint 2 since no one else gridded up to race :)

I do think that 90 minutes in the rain helped me learn the car. Sunday was fantastic. Really great day. Sprint 3 saw a real challenge from my competition. I got a hell of a start. A few laps in he was right behind me as I was caught behind a slower D class car. It's not always easy to get around a car no matter how much slower they are. Thankfully, there was a local yellow in T1 that prevented P2 from making any pass attempts there and then it happened, I made the raciest move I've ever made! I dove to the inside of the chute and with inches to spare I out braked the D car and got ahead of him. P2 was never able to get around the D car so that pass won the race for me. My confidence in the brakes and the handling on this car went up dramatically over the weekend. I would not have tried that move in the 911. I'm liking this car! After the pass I really concentrated on just driving as fast as I could to put distance between me and P2. In previous races I would look backwards more than forwards. I was always trying to drive defensively which is sloooooow. With the cars being so equal I realized that no one is passing me if I just drive hard and hit my marks. I still have some work to do on consistency but I had enough of a margin that P2 never got a good shot at me. I placed 4th overall in that race.

The enduro was a hoot. This car is so much easier to drive. It's still work to drive fast but with power steering it takes less effort than the old car. 60 minutes is a walk in the park compared to the 911. I won the enduro too. The other Spec Boxster didn't get a lot of practice time (it wasn't his car so he drove fairly conservatively) so he struggled and the other two decided not to do the enduro at all.

This was the first time we used radios also. They are invaluable. I was able to call Jeff about my window and he was able to let us know how many laps were left. Calling the green flag is crucial if your class is towards the back of the group. Love the radios!

Overall it was a great weekend even though Saturday was miserable. I got much more comfortable in the car and my times came down dramatically.

Next up SEBRING!!!!! This year I'll try not to crash :)

Videos:

Rain Fun

Sprint 3

Enduro

Another perspective of Sprint 3 My car is the dark blue Boxster with the light blue/white stripe.

Rolex Weekend

Holy Crap it was hot! Real hot! Africa hot! You get the picture. It was hot. Loads of fun though. The track temps were well north of 120 degrees which made tire management critical. I ran a staggered set up which was a mistake. With the narrower front tire I heated them up too fast. That octopus, while fun, is a tire eater. The thunderbolt track is made for this car. I was one of two cars in the field on Toyos. Everyone else was on Hoosiers. I was astonished at how the SPB would keep up with the Hoosier cars in the Octopus. We are so light that a track of mostly turns is a blast.

Next week I'm going to play with a square set up. I've adjusted my front sway bar and fitted the wider front tires. I'll either spin immediately or it'll be great.

Here is a video from the weekend. It was a crazy start and the first few laps were intense until my tires went away:

Rolex Sprint 2

HYPERFEST!!!!!

OK, first weekend of racing with the new car. The car has some issues but nothing keeping me off the track. Took it to Piper Motorsport to be checked over and get some little things taken care of.

The first thing I learned on track was the THIS IS NOT THE 911! I drove it exactly the same way I drove the 911. That really won't work with this car. I need to brake much later and keep braking into the turn taking advantage of the ABS. I cannot take my foot off the gas as this has considerably less power. Momentum is the key. I also need a coach :)

Saturday was awful. Really bad. Sunday was great! I just need track time to work on these things and learn to drive a Boxster. One thing I was a little worried about was the power steering. It's so easy and doesn't give you near the feedback of the 911 that I was concerned I may not react quickly enough to directional changes since the wheel doesn't react at all. It was all good though. The power steering was really nice during the 40 minute enduro. Usually I'm looking for the checker after 30 minutes but at 40 minutes I could have gone another 40.

Anyhoo, I ended on a high as the Sunday race was a huge improvement over Saturday. My laptimes came down about 2.5 seconds! I do have a long way to go but that's the fun!

Next up Rolex Grand-Am weekend at Thunderbolt!

Here are some vids from the weekend:

Hyperfest Highlights!

Guy's wheel comes off!

Spec Boxster!

Well, I've made a dramatic change in racing venue. I've purchased a Spec Boxster sight unseen from a guy in CA. What could possibly go wrong?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gqt1970/5257040976/in/set-72157625587954396/

It is due here next week. This is a series that has really exploded and I hope to be at the beginning of something akin to Spec Miata with an avid following and large fields.

Won't be able to get on track until later this month to really play with it but I hope to make HYPERFEST!!!!! in June.

/

What a week! Sebring was a very cool experience. Quite a few pro teams were there getting an extra few test days in advance of the AMLS winter test days. The TRG guys brought their Daytona winning car to display. They hadn't even washed it.

As for the racing, I spent a very frustrating few days trying to get on track for some practice before I was to co-drive my friend Scott's car in the Sunday enduro. Alas, my total practice time amounted to parade laps and a 30 minute practice Sunday morning. As you'll see in a bit, 30 minutes is just not enough practice for Sebring. I did get lucky during one of the parade laps because I ended up following Shane Lewis (winner of the Nurburgring 24 for Audi). Following him, even slowly, was great to learn the line. Unfortunately I was driving my friends Navigator full of junk including tool boxes that kept opening and closing and stuff was flying around.

On to the action. After spending a lot of time cajoling Scott into letting me start the car I was all set to race at Sebring. If you've never been there, the start is a little crazy but I really wanted to do it. The track going into turn 1 is very wide. So wide you can go about 10 wide. It very quickly closes down going into turn two to 4 wide then 2 wide. It's a hoot.

A side note, one of the guys that helped me convince Scott to start the car was a guy named Charlie Murphy. Charlie runs Intersport. When the poop hits the rotary oscillator, you want Charlie there. You want to talk to Charlie before you do anything else. He's like having an attorney only much better because he can fix your car too. He's been around a long time and has some terrific stories.

Back to the action. I survived turn 1 and things were going OK. I wasn't setting the world on fire since I was still learning the track. Not too bad, the car felt good. The track is horribly bumpy. I'm not sure why they don't fix it as it's just plain dangerous. It's so bumpy it's actually scary because you have no choice but to go over the bumps and hang on. You have to trust the car because you are getting knocked around pretty severely in there. With Lap 1 under my belt I was feeling pretty good. Then, under braking into the hairpin, I hit a bump and the car spun like a top. It happened really fast. Really really fast. My hands were quick but my feet were slow. I couldn't save it. It's OK because it's not my car! Joke! Even more unfortunate, a Boxster trying to avoid me the best he could ran across my nose so I messed up his day too. It could have been worse as a wall of cars was coming at me as I faced the wrong way on the track.

After much investigation, it seems that the culprit was a fairly good bump on the track. With a little more experience on that track I probably wouldn't have been braking there. I also wrestle with whether or not going both feet in was the right thing to do or if I should have gotten off the brake to settle the rear and try to ride it out and blow the turn. There is plenty of track down there to miss the turn but maybe trying to catch it would have started a tank slapper and ended worse. Live and learn.

Enjoy the pictures my "friends" made!

Here's the video:

http://www.vimeo.com/19730305

http://www.vimeo.com/19730521

The 24!!!

Very excited for this weekend's 24 Hours of Daytona! Mostly because the Flying Lizard team is fielding a DP car. Lots of Porsche's entered in the GT ranks as well.

I won't be leaving the couch or answering the phone until it's over! I mean it!

Sebring is fast approaching. Drove the car I'm co-driving. It's a little different but what could possibly go wrong?

I'm hoping some ALMS teams are rolling in when we are rolling out.