Lets all post results and stories in a class specific manner, that way we can folllow each story/discussion more organized? Good Idea?
Anyway here is my ARRC story from the view of an ITB car, with the ugly details http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/wink.gif
We went down with the expectations of getting both Audi’s into the top 6. Last year Stephen finished third but we took that with a little bit of beginners luck. Anyway we didn’t meet that goal, but I am certainly proud of our achievements.
I left Tuesday night, arrived in DC around 3:00am to pick up Amanda. We continued on and I drove for about 30 minutes before I said, Ok I can not do this, it is your turn. Amada jumped behind the wheel and drove the rig like a champ.
We arrived at Road Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon, meeting up with the rest of the New England crowd (well Jake, Dave, Dick, Ray, and Kim). Parking was a pleasant experience this year (Thank you Fletcher for your hard work). Me and Amanda unloaded the basics and left and headed over to the hotel (Holiday Inn Express at Chateau Élan, cheep and very nice, strongly suggested). We went over to the Chateau Élan and enjoyed the beer (and Jack) at Paddy’s and by 9:00 we had called it a night (we might have slurred the words). The crew and Stephen arrived at 12:00 after flying in to Atlanta. They lucked out at the Rental place as Enterprise had no cars left and only 1 15 passenger van. Enterprise felt bad giving it to them and the crew pouted like upset people till they pulled out of the airport with a discount and free gas!!!
Thursday morning we woke to what seemed like an entire day of rain. We didn’t get to the track till around 11:00 as we felt running in the rain on test day was probably a waste of money and to much of a risk. The sun came out around 12:00 and we were ready for the afternoon testing!!! On test day I was into the 49’s which overly surprised me and I new we had a good chance at a top 5 if we could hold things together!!! Stephen like he had mentioned had electrical issues, which we hoped we had fixed each time. On Thursday night first we went to Register… what a failure. I hope for everyone down south they work on that process and learned a lot from the first night, as that was a major failure in speeding up the process. After that we hit up the Braselton Grill for dinner. Great food, good prices another suggestion for those in the area (it is on 211 on the way to the hotel).
On Friday it was qualifying… things went very very well for us as I qualified a second ahead of the rest of the ITB field in the first session. WOW was I amazed. My lap times were consistent low 1:49.1’s with the best being a 1:48.91. In the second session Stephen was able to turn out a couple low 1:49’s and a 1:48.93. I ran again al low 1:49’s. Derek was also running in the 1:49’s. When the final grid was posted I was very happy to see that I out qualified my brother by .02 of a second for the pole. This enough was a huge accomplishment and we were very very happy. Friday night celebrations were at hand as we met up with the IT.com crowd at Paddy’s. Some of the crew (and the drivers) drank a bit too much but we had an excellent time winning 75% of the giveaways from the promoters of some new cheep vodka!!! (those darn free shots I think are what gave a few of the crew members a morning headache http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/wink.gif )
Saturday morning came quick, but we were ready. In morning warm-ups we again were in the 1:49’s and feeling good.
The ITB Race:
I started the field slow (I am not sure why as my car always sucks when you put the hammer down in second gear ). Stephen took off and I slipped back as Sam, Derek, and Chris Whikle and I crossed the start finish line 4 wide. Going into turn 1 all three had passed me and were 3 wide. I searched for the one who would be first coming out of the turn and just as I went to the inside to follow Chris, he checked up (to let the others go?). I barely bumped the rear bumper of his car and he got squirly. He made the biggest mistake possible and didn’t put the hammer down to pull out of the slide. He over corrected the slide, sligshoted back across the track and collected Sam Moore. I went left to avoid the incident and all three of us ended up off track to drivers left. Sam Moore and I continued on but Chris in his VW did not. I found myself in last place well behind the rest of the field. Sam apparently had a fender rubbing on his tire and retired after two laps. I continued a strong charge to the front turning 1:48’s as I was on a mission to catch back up for a top 5 finish. Stephen encountered yet more wiring issues and was passed as the car was cutting out. He retired 1 lap later. Derek and Chris Albin then battled it out for first and I could see ahead of me both Derek and Chris go off on turn 10a and 11. Apparently Chris cut a tire on his off and he was forced to retire 1 lap later. That left Derek with a handsome lead, but I didn’t want to hand it to him as I drove as fast as my big car would turning a 1:48.6 and consistent high 1:48’s and low 1:49’s without any draft help. I was up to 4.5 seconds back from first) when the car started handling very funny. I couldn’t keep it on the track and went off on several turns as the car would literally turn left in the middle of a right hand turn. Little did I know I was about to loose a tire. I backed way out of it hoping maybe I could finish in the top 3 behind both the Canadian’s. Coming onto the long straight however I found myself dragging the left front corner until the car came to a stop. I watched the last 3 laps from the side (after making a pit stop in the woods). Congrats to Derek and Colin for a great run. You guys have built very solid consistent and reliable cars, and it shows. You deserved this one without a doubt!!!
The first turn debacle:
I am an honest guy, so I have no problems posting what happened post race along with my opinions. I did bump Chris Winkle in the VW as my car can’t possibly slow as fast as a VW (I way several hundred pounds more and I have smaller brakes). It amazed me that Chris checked up so much as we were on the first lap (a start) on the first turn. The next part that amazed me was Chris’s overcorrection that shot him back across the track. Most if not all the people I have raced with in the Northeast could have driven out of the small slide he was in without overcorrecting and taking out other cars. I was protested by Sam Moore (everyone’s down south favorite) and Chris. Sam protested me for hitting him, and making an unsafe pass however I never was in a position to pass him and I never hit him so he lost that protest (I wonder if he got his $20.00 back?). Chris on the other hand I lost that protest. I was given a probation for three races that starts today. I have no problem with that as I did bump Chris (oh did I mention no scratches on my bumper, and my plastic trim is still on the bumper that’s how light it was), however I still disappointed as I don’t want anything to be on my record. I have been involved in many more serious bumps at the fault of myself or others and no protests have ever been filed. I do not condone bumping in anyway, it is completely unacceptable, but I have no problem running up close rubbing mirrors and bumpers sometimes. Accidents do happen, but all of us racing should have the ability to correct small bumps such as this one. This accident that took us all out could have easily been avoided after my initial mistake.
Three things I learned:
1. Expect the unexpected when racing with unfamiliar drivers. Don’t expect them to drive as well or as bad as others that your normally race with.
2. Some stewards even though they agree with you will instead play it safe as the politics get involved they need to set an unarguable example rather than realize this is racing and accidents do happen even to the favorites. I feel strongly that my penalty is a result of Sam Moore being taken out by someone else, and the end results of the accident were viewed more heavily than the actual contact I was protested for.
3. Chris apparently broke his thumb, and was able to submit a protest well after the deadline. From my observations he watched the entire race from the side of the track then went to medical, and was held their past the protest time and was unable to submit his protest in a timely manner, however because the circumstances were beyond his control he was still able to submit the protest.
Chris-
If you read this I am sorry your race ended early and I would ask that you e-mail me so we can discuss the incident off line. I do have a few words for you, but they would not have gotten us anywhere at the track, and they need not be scene by others here, also I do plan on racing with you again and I would like to not be entering a race next year with any sort of “hostility” that will get us both into trouble. I herd interesting comments by the stewards but contact was made so they had to do something. Let’s discuss and make peace. (FYI when I get my in-car video back I would be glad to share it with you, I think from my view you will see that this was the slightest unintentional bump).
Sam-
If you read this I am also sorry that your race ended early. I was looking forward to racing with you. You said you were giving it your all in Qualifying but I am sure that you wouldn’t have let me or my brother walk away with an easy race had we all continued. Please let it be known that I WAS NOT the person who took you out of this race. I try to race clean and close. Amazing as it may sound I have been racing for 6 full seasons now and I have only replaced each fender once and each door once. I have replaced the entire front clip (frame) but that was from a rallying accident where a piece of pipe went through the frame in the front and pushed the engine, tranny, and subframe into the drivers compartment, no major body damage as all panels were reused. Any “racing marks” on my car are from 2 years of racing full seasons, without ever doing bodywork other than some re-lettering, cleaning off rubber marks, and painting the faded bumpers with more bumper black from Wal-Mart. Please feel free to email me as well if you have any feelings that you would like to share with me. (FYI, same with you Sam, when I get my in-car video back I would be happy to share it with you, and I think you will be surprised as to what actually happened. The video clearly shows the entire incident).
Ok now that is done, it is onto Sundays adventure!!!
Stephen went out for qualifying and was supposed to take it easy. He ran a 1:49 and put us 1st for ITB. I yelled at him over the radio and told him to be nice to my car and he kicked it back a few notches. In the Enduro as Stephen mentioned we he ran slow and safe rather than out to win in the first hour. He ran consistent 1:51’s (2-3 seconds off our normal pace), and stayed about 15 seconds back from the leaders. I took over after 1.5 hours and Stephen warned me about the fading brakes. After about 15 minutes I couldn’t slow enough (with the peddle on the floor) going into 10a and was forced to go over the inside curb rather than to hit an slow moving RX-7. This bent the left front suspension and gave us about 2 inches of toe out on the left front. I ran for about another 20 minutes or so then came in for the second pit stop where Amanda had put on Stephens very smelly suite as the rest of the team had already left to catch the plane. Amanda and I fueled the car and the nice grid person noted that over half of my RF tire was cords so I had to change the tire before continuing. This was not easy as the spacers were practically welded to the overheating tire. All in all our pitstop was about 12 minutes for 10 gallons of gas and changing the tire. Not bad for armatures http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/wink.gif. We went back out on track and I saw that Derek’s car had hit hard in the esses. I wasn’t sure how far ahead or behind I was so I continued with very fading brakes. With ½ hour left the peddle went completely to the floor going into turn 1 and the car didn’t slow at all. I had expected this as in the last braking zone I had to pump the brake once to get it to work. Generally with these cars one pump and you are done. I thought quickly and figured that I could make the rest of the race if I used 3rd gear on all the turns expect coming onto the big straight (8?) and at the end of the straight (10a). I ran the entire last half hour without ever touching the brakes and with the RF towed out 2 inches. Needless to say I wanted to see how long this tank would last. It made it across the line and I coasted to a stop on the back straight when the car came to a rest. 45 minutes later my car was finally towed in (I could drive in as I wouldn’t be able stop in put lane http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/wink.gif. I was towed to impound to be weighed as I finished in third place!!! Enduros are all about who can finish sometimes
Thanks for a great weekend, I am in DC now, and I need to hit the road so I can get home at a reasonable am hour .
Thanks again to the crew, Amanda, Randy, Theresa, and Steph.
Also thank you to Flat-out Motorsports for the radios and to Steve Mcnary for the trailer!!!
Raymond" Started pole at the ARRC!!!" Blethen
RST Performance Racing
Edited the more "nasty comments" that were uncalled for.
[This message has been edited by RSTPerformance (edited November 09, 2004).]
