06-29-2012, 02:25 AM
This past weekend the RS Barn - Wellbridge Capital - Hoosier - AJ Hartman Racing #75 Porsche 968 traveled to Virginia International Raceway (7 hour pull) for what was our Round 3 of the 2012 PCA Club Racing Season. Being a power track with loooong hilly straights, 100 degree weather, and our first ever enduro, we knew it would be a battle and were certain that it would not be easy. We also have never raced here here wheel-to-wheel, but had about 6 sessions in the UTCC events with Pete's Firehawk, and a weekend of slushing around in a rental FWD Hyundai under monsoon conditions (long story).
It was hotter than hell; I think. Technically 100 all weekend. No cool suit or water bottle in my race car so I was definitely not ready for it and would pay the price accordingly. Thankfully, since I was by myself this weekend, I worked out a deal and the folks at SpeedWerksNY for providing on-track support inclusive of an air conditioned trailer and tons of chilled beverages to keep me hydrated. They were outstanding and a great group of guys as well as associated drivers. Also new for the weekend, in our quest to continue dialing-in the aero package and continuing dialing out the last little bit of understeer that we fight here and there, we did have the latest and greatest addition fresh from AJ Hartman Racing's shop: spiffy custom front canards.
My class, GT5S was running in the Red Group with many classes including fast SP3, F, and this time, even faster G classed cars. Going in, we figured that at the very least the top running F and most G class race cars would dominate the front of the group all weekend. Slipped and slid Friday on 18 heat cycle Hoosiers during practices and warm-up runs. Could not get below 2:15 lap times. Which is super slow for that track (race trim). But very few in the group could. Somehow, we found ourselves contending for top 5 overall in the first few practice sessions even with F and G cars in the group. But most of everyone was running old tires and the track was simply very, very greasy with the unyielding temperatures and punishing sun. So I did not give the results much weight. And of course, we did get yelled at by the National Staff for apparently breaking the all-time universe record for spins and off track excursion during a practice day! LOL... Luckily, the #75 did not see any off-track excursions but rather, plenty of drifting exhibitions in several key turns....! Ha!
The fastest time in the last Practice session on Friday would set the grid for Saturday's qualifying session. So we go out and try to continue learning the track after making some more suspension tweaks and try to set the fastest lap we could muster. Guess what; we set the fastest time of the session overall and stunned the field by grabbing the Pole for Saturday's qualifying session.
Dropped in a set of new R6s on Sat in the morning, we skipped the warmup, and got ready for Qualifying. Go out for qualifying noticing pretty much everyone was on new stickers and pulling out all the stops. We go out there and turn a 2:14.683. I am thinking a terrible time as we should really be around 2:10. I walk into the SpeedWerks trailer and they all look at me weird.... I am like: "Whut?" Fastest overall lap that got us the Sprint 1’s Pole. Overall Pole that is!!!!
Sprint 1 did not carry any points or significance other than its fastest times setting the grid for Sprint 2 which is a championship points race. So Sprint 1 is really just a qualifying session with a practice start. We also knew we would get blown out of the water at the Green Flag where horsepower rules. So from pole, after being passed regardless of how hard a tried, I out-broke everyone and nailed T1 for the first time in the weekend. Then got walked in the back straight and 3 cars got by. Blew by like I was sitting still. I sat back and waited for clean room knowing that running a clean lap was the only thing that mattered. Let a couple more cars by, held back, found some room and ran a couple laps at 10/10ths with little gtraffic. Settled in and finished the Sprint 1 First in Class, 10th overall. LOL.... Guess what…. Took the Overall Pole AGAIN for Sprint 2. By one tenth with a 2.12.613. Everyone was stunned, again.
The plan for the Sprint was to focus on the Class win and manage the race, save the car, and save the tires for the Enduro the next day. I “nailed” the start and repeated the out-breaking and out-gripping through T1. But those behind battled and allowed me to open a little larger gap. It was JUST enough of a gap that I could hold them off on the back and front straights where they would catch back up. Found myself still in the lead at the end of Lap 1 and decided to go for it. To hell with the plan! Put my head down and managed the OVERALL WIN!!!!!!! Insane!!!! Was the hardest race I have had ever. Every turn every lap at 10/10[sup]th[/sup] and beyond for ½ hour…. But we pulled it off!!!! I had to get pulled off the car as I was almost passed out from the heat and dehydration. We managed to set fastest lap of the race with a 2:12.715 which AGAIN got us a Pole, for the 90 Minute Enduro on Sunday this time.
Enduro, we raced as planned. Kept the lead for ½ a lap but the faster cars got through in the back straight as I did not put on much a fight. Settled into a rhythm and tried to relax knowing that without a cool suit or water bottle I could not physically make it 90 minutes. Running 1st in Class and 3rd overall we had a bit of a slow Pitstop. Brought it home 1[sup]st[/sup] in Class and 5[sup]th[/sup] Overall.
The Awards Dinner on Saturday also saw us take the “Best Prepared Porsche Car” Award and $100 GT Racing gift certificate. I was stoked (Credits to RS Barn and AJ Hartman Racing - they earned that award).
We now confortably lead the Regional GT5S Championship race. Also lead the National Championship, but the guys in 3[sup]rd[/sup] and 5[sup]th[/sup] could take the lead if they have good points in their next events…. As they have only done 2 and 1 events respectively. NJMP Thunderbolt next in August.
It was hotter than hell; I think. Technically 100 all weekend. No cool suit or water bottle in my race car so I was definitely not ready for it and would pay the price accordingly. Thankfully, since I was by myself this weekend, I worked out a deal and the folks at SpeedWerksNY for providing on-track support inclusive of an air conditioned trailer and tons of chilled beverages to keep me hydrated. They were outstanding and a great group of guys as well as associated drivers. Also new for the weekend, in our quest to continue dialing-in the aero package and continuing dialing out the last little bit of understeer that we fight here and there, we did have the latest and greatest addition fresh from AJ Hartman Racing's shop: spiffy custom front canards.
My class, GT5S was running in the Red Group with many classes including fast SP3, F, and this time, even faster G classed cars. Going in, we figured that at the very least the top running F and most G class race cars would dominate the front of the group all weekend. Slipped and slid Friday on 18 heat cycle Hoosiers during practices and warm-up runs. Could not get below 2:15 lap times. Which is super slow for that track (race trim). But very few in the group could. Somehow, we found ourselves contending for top 5 overall in the first few practice sessions even with F and G cars in the group. But most of everyone was running old tires and the track was simply very, very greasy with the unyielding temperatures and punishing sun. So I did not give the results much weight. And of course, we did get yelled at by the National Staff for apparently breaking the all-time universe record for spins and off track excursion during a practice day! LOL... Luckily, the #75 did not see any off-track excursions but rather, plenty of drifting exhibitions in several key turns....! Ha!
The fastest time in the last Practice session on Friday would set the grid for Saturday's qualifying session. So we go out and try to continue learning the track after making some more suspension tweaks and try to set the fastest lap we could muster. Guess what; we set the fastest time of the session overall and stunned the field by grabbing the Pole for Saturday's qualifying session.
Dropped in a set of new R6s on Sat in the morning, we skipped the warmup, and got ready for Qualifying. Go out for qualifying noticing pretty much everyone was on new stickers and pulling out all the stops. We go out there and turn a 2:14.683. I am thinking a terrible time as we should really be around 2:10. I walk into the SpeedWerks trailer and they all look at me weird.... I am like: "Whut?" Fastest overall lap that got us the Sprint 1’s Pole. Overall Pole that is!!!!
Sprint 1 did not carry any points or significance other than its fastest times setting the grid for Sprint 2 which is a championship points race. So Sprint 1 is really just a qualifying session with a practice start. We also knew we would get blown out of the water at the Green Flag where horsepower rules. So from pole, after being passed regardless of how hard a tried, I out-broke everyone and nailed T1 for the first time in the weekend. Then got walked in the back straight and 3 cars got by. Blew by like I was sitting still. I sat back and waited for clean room knowing that running a clean lap was the only thing that mattered. Let a couple more cars by, held back, found some room and ran a couple laps at 10/10ths with little gtraffic. Settled in and finished the Sprint 1 First in Class, 10th overall. LOL.... Guess what…. Took the Overall Pole AGAIN for Sprint 2. By one tenth with a 2.12.613. Everyone was stunned, again.
The plan for the Sprint was to focus on the Class win and manage the race, save the car, and save the tires for the Enduro the next day. I “nailed” the start and repeated the out-breaking and out-gripping through T1. But those behind battled and allowed me to open a little larger gap. It was JUST enough of a gap that I could hold them off on the back and front straights where they would catch back up. Found myself still in the lead at the end of Lap 1 and decided to go for it. To hell with the plan! Put my head down and managed the OVERALL WIN!!!!!!! Insane!!!! Was the hardest race I have had ever. Every turn every lap at 10/10[sup]th[/sup] and beyond for ½ hour…. But we pulled it off!!!! I had to get pulled off the car as I was almost passed out from the heat and dehydration. We managed to set fastest lap of the race with a 2:12.715 which AGAIN got us a Pole, for the 90 Minute Enduro on Sunday this time.
Enduro, we raced as planned. Kept the lead for ½ a lap but the faster cars got through in the back straight as I did not put on much a fight. Settled into a rhythm and tried to relax knowing that without a cool suit or water bottle I could not physically make it 90 minutes. Running 1st in Class and 3rd overall we had a bit of a slow Pitstop. Brought it home 1[sup]st[/sup] in Class and 5[sup]th[/sup] Overall.
The Awards Dinner on Saturday also saw us take the “Best Prepared Porsche Car” Award and $100 GT Racing gift certificate. I was stoked (Credits to RS Barn and AJ Hartman Racing - they earned that award).
We now confortably lead the Regional GT5S Championship race. Also lead the National Championship, but the guys in 3[sup]rd[/sup] and 5[sup]th[/sup] could take the lead if they have good points in their next events…. As they have only done 2 and 1 events respectively. NJMP Thunderbolt next in August.
