NASA weekend report: Was a good weekend, though friggin cold. (long)
02-23-2009, 06:34 AM
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NASA weekend report: Was a good weekend, though friggin cold. (long)
Got to VIR Thr evening and got my annual tech done. Set up the trailer for sleeping but starting my ceramic heater and headed up to the lodge for dinner and some beers with a couple other 944Cup guys. With temps getting into the low 20s, I quickly learned that my heater was grossly inadequate. Test and Tune time went well and only had one issue. My old shaved Toyos didn't always like the cold and one time I made my turn in for T10 and the rear end decided it didn't want to grip so I took a trip straight out into the grass like in Nov from the oil incident at the ACNA even. No issues since I knew that was the safe route as compared to trying to make the turn and wrecking bad. So after Test and Tune sessions were over, I headed into Danville in search of heat. After 2 strike outs, got an electric blanket from Sears that was 50% off (still $90 though :/). The blanket was a gift from heaven, until the wee hours of the morning when it go stupid cold again but I did get more than an hour of frozen sleep this time.
On to Saturday. No issues during practice and ran my new set of Hoosiers for qualifying and set a new best time of 2:23.9 which was good for 5th of the 8 944Cup cars there. During the race (which I ran on my old Hankooks) I made it up to 4th with my favorite inside pass at T10 but lost it back on the front straight. Eventually lost 5th due to several instances where a LSD would have prevented much lost time. :/ In my efforts to regain 5th and proceeded to out brake myself for T14/14A and gently slid into the grass. Oops. Got back on track in short order and finished with no issues.
On Sunday, the schedule was a litte different. Only qualifying then a 40 min race vs usual 25 min. Got new shaved RA1s to replace the old ones that started showing cords after Saturday's practice run. The track had a dry line after the early morning deluge and I somehow qualified 3rd of the same 8 with a 2:26.5. Was pretty happy but knew something was amiss. I was right as the guy who won from pole on Sat qual'd 6th but immediately shot up to the front at the start. My start got worse as I lost 2 more spots after T1. :/ Fear not tho as I got 2 spots back from passes. While still running 4th and approaching T1 with a waving yellow for a Spec E30 that had spun, I was passed under yellow and the guy hit my right rear fender in the process. He claimed to not see the yellow which was astonished but his story gets better. After that, the 1st and 2nd place 944s had a coming together at Oak Tree in a most violent way for such a slow corner. Basically 1st place guy lost control and spun across the track, then a Spec E30 hit him in the front which then spun him around and the 2nd place 944 hit him in the rear. That impact exploded the cars' rear hatch glass everywhere and that coupled with an undrivable car, a full course yellow came out. During the full course yellow, the guy who hit me and passed under yellow somehow managed to spin off and Hogpen and I had a "Thats just Karma" kind of moment. So the race ends under the double yellow but as I am approaching the checker plus double yellow, I see the guy who hit me come flying up the front straight past everyone in what can only be described as an "I was SEVENTH!" moment. He realized the error of his ways and pulled to the inside of the track at pit out. I think he might have thought the T17 flagger was pulling in the double yellows and that we were going green for the finish but he was sadly mistaken and was DQ'd for that and then for being underweight too. So as a result of the wreck, I finish 2nd! First podium and top 5! Pretty happy with the weekend, contact aside (at least it was the same fender that I wrinkled at NJMP) and look forward to March 28/29 at VIR again. Hopefully it will be warmer.
PS: Would have had video but I somehow managed to over-torque the camera on the mount and broke the camera internally. I did get video of one practice that I might post, but the initial camera aim was a little too far left. :/ Time to get a Go Pro camera.
On to Saturday. No issues during practice and ran my new set of Hoosiers for qualifying and set a new best time of 2:23.9 which was good for 5th of the 8 944Cup cars there. During the race (which I ran on my old Hankooks) I made it up to 4th with my favorite inside pass at T10 but lost it back on the front straight. Eventually lost 5th due to several instances where a LSD would have prevented much lost time. :/ In my efforts to regain 5th and proceeded to out brake myself for T14/14A and gently slid into the grass. Oops. Got back on track in short order and finished with no issues.
On Sunday, the schedule was a litte different. Only qualifying then a 40 min race vs usual 25 min. Got new shaved RA1s to replace the old ones that started showing cords after Saturday's practice run. The track had a dry line after the early morning deluge and I somehow qualified 3rd of the same 8 with a 2:26.5. Was pretty happy but knew something was amiss. I was right as the guy who won from pole on Sat qual'd 6th but immediately shot up to the front at the start. My start got worse as I lost 2 more spots after T1. :/ Fear not tho as I got 2 spots back from passes. While still running 4th and approaching T1 with a waving yellow for a Spec E30 that had spun, I was passed under yellow and the guy hit my right rear fender in the process. He claimed to not see the yellow which was astonished but his story gets better. After that, the 1st and 2nd place 944s had a coming together at Oak Tree in a most violent way for such a slow corner. Basically 1st place guy lost control and spun across the track, then a Spec E30 hit him in the front which then spun him around and the 2nd place 944 hit him in the rear. That impact exploded the cars' rear hatch glass everywhere and that coupled with an undrivable car, a full course yellow came out. During the full course yellow, the guy who hit me and passed under yellow somehow managed to spin off and Hogpen and I had a "Thats just Karma" kind of moment. So the race ends under the double yellow but as I am approaching the checker plus double yellow, I see the guy who hit me come flying up the front straight past everyone in what can only be described as an "I was SEVENTH!" moment. He realized the error of his ways and pulled to the inside of the track at pit out. I think he might have thought the T17 flagger was pulling in the double yellows and that we were going green for the finish but he was sadly mistaken and was DQ'd for that and then for being underweight too. So as a result of the wreck, I finish 2nd! First podium and top 5! Pretty happy with the weekend, contact aside (at least it was the same fender that I wrinkled at NJMP) and look forward to March 28/29 at VIR again. Hopefully it will be warmer.
PS: Would have had video but I somehow managed to over-torque the camera on the mount and broke the camera internally. I did get video of one practice that I might post, but the initial camera aim was a little too far left. :/ Time to get a Go Pro camera.
02-23-2009, 07:14 AM
#6
Great story. Congrats on the outcome. I assume the car ran well?
Funny re the "I am SEVENTH" guy.
My "big win" this weekend was that the 944 stopped making a scary noise that it started to make last week! It was like gear whine from the right rear, but with more of a friction/hissing sound. This may be a crazy explanation, but I had my right rear seat belt bolts out and maybe the noise was just leaking through the holes. I put in eye bolts over the weekend and the sound is gone.
I'll try to catch a 44Cup event at Summit. I'll bring spare parts (I'll actually drive my spare parts there!)
My "big win" this weekend was that the 944 stopped making a scary noise that it started to make last week! It was like gear whine from the right rear, but with more of a friction/hissing sound. This may be a crazy explanation, but I had my right rear seat belt bolts out and maybe the noise was just leaking through the holes. I put in eye bolts over the weekend and the sound is gone.
I'll try to catch a 44Cup event at Summit. I'll bring spare parts (I'll actually drive my spare parts there!)
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02-23-2009, 07:25 AM
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Sometimes you get so focused on the guy you are chasing you don't see whats going on around you.
I've done the same, not pass under yellow but miss seeing a flag tho I did see what said flag was for. It happens but that doesn't make it ok to pass of course.