Mid-O

[Joe Moser]

I won't be there in ITA, but I'll be there!

I'm racing in T2 with the Z-Car (Only on Saturday)... I'll be ready for some beers on Saturday night

[Rabbit07]

That sucks, Chris! Why do I get the feeling that Goran and I are going to be the only ITA cars there? Oh yea, and Downing. :P

No Mosers, no Ian, no Jan, probably no Jon.
[/b]

Well, There is still a chance I'll make it to the ARRC?, I still need one more race to keep my National.

Who's up for Sebring in January?

[downingracing]

That sucks, Chris! Why do I get the feeling that Goran and I are going to be the only ITA cars there? Oh yea, and Downing. :P

No Mosers, no Ian, no Jan, probably no Jon.
[/b]

Yea - all those people (and more) missing and I'll still finish DFL in class! I kinda wish I didn't suck so bad... Still should be a great weekend! We've got plenty of beer at the Sat. night party (as usual). See you all there!

[Goran]

I have to echo what Kevin said. I was really looking forward to a good turnout and not having to use my windshield wipers behind the Neon!

[Rabbit07]

I have to echo what Kevin said. I was really looking forward to a good turnout and not having to use my windshield wipers behind the Neon!
[/b]

I am really sorry about all the fuel over everyones windshields. Everytime I though I had it fixed, it would show up again. This is actually one of the reasons I am not making it out this weekend. I need some time to cure the car of it's illness.

[Goran]

I am really sorry about all the fuel over everyones windshields. [/b]

No problem, it helped clean the bugs off my windshield.

[Eagle7]

I am really sorry about all the fuel over everyones windshields. Everytime I though I had it fixed, it would show up again. This is actually one of the reasons I am not making it out this weekend. I need some time to cure the car of it's illness.
[/b]

Let us know how you fix it. I think I've got the same problem.

[R2 Racing]

Joe - Nice that you're going to be there. Ian's being lame and won't even come up to watch/help/hangout. He's got a long weekend of couch sitting all planned out though. :P

Chris - These races aren't nearly as long as those IT Fest races were, so you shouldn't need to fill it up that much. Compared to those races, the ones this weekend are going to feel real short.

Please God just let me run in the 1:44's again!


We need as many GLDiv cars as possible down at the ARRC. I know that's the reason why several people aren't running this event, so they can save money for the ARRC trip. I can't argue againt that, because holy crap that's a fun weekend!

[bonespec]

from the looks of the weather, doubt many will get below 2:00 in the wet conditions.

doubtful I'll drive up to watch......

[Rabbit07]

Results? Did Ruck run in the 44's? Did Downing get so drunk he couldn't drive on Sunday?

Let's hear it.

[Dave Burchfield]

The ITA guys may have gotten a semi-dry race on Saturday but the ITS race on Saturday was 1 green lap, 6 under double yellow, and 1 green. Sunday races were in the rain until group 4 but the track was still wet. There was mass carnage. Everything in my trailer and motorhome is still saoked.

[downingracing]

Kevin was #2 on Sat and #1 on Sun. I was #6 on Sat and #2 on Sun. Sat. was qual. in the rain-ish and race in the dry - except for that one lap where we got a little rain... Sun. was qual. in the rain and race in the freakin storm. I actually left the party early on Sat. night to go into town and get a hotel. Working and driving takes a ton out of you...

THANKS to everyone who came out this weekend! Even with all the rain - I hope everyone had a blast!

Matt Downing
co-race chair
Ohio Valley Region

[RacerBill]

Rain started just after we got our tent up Friday night, and kept up for most of the weekend, periods of dry were few and far between.

I made a wrong decision on tires for the ITA practice Saturday morning (rain plus we followed the FV oilers), got sideways twice on the out-lap and decided to pack it in and not cause myself or anyone else any grief.

Sun came out at lunch and we had a semi-dry track for the race. Stuck with a Del Sol until we got a few sprinkles, and stayed ahead of a Neon from MI. Lowered my personal best by another 3 seconds, and one of the other drivers said I'm getting my inside wheel off the ground, so the car looks good.

Rained all night Saturday night except for about 15 minutes at 2am (silence woke me up). Everything looked so bad Sunday morning, we decided to get packed up and head home. Saw at least on SM with left front tire damage after the practice session. Kevin took the pole with a 2:08 (sorry I didn't ask permission before I posted that , Kevin, but it will be up on MyLaps in a day or two) When the race started, there were only 18 cars out of the 32 that had registered. There were at least two full course yellows, and the race was a parade, from what I saw.

But I am not complaining, we have not had rain at MO for quite a few years. Looking forward to next year, already.

Hope everyone got home OK.

[Joe Moser]

Thanks for putting this weekend together Matt!

The Nissan team had a blast! Of course, we were only 1 of 2 T2 cars at the track, we still had a great time. I drove on Saturday, and a co-worker of mine drove on Sunday... For our work team, we have to submit Monday morning race reports, so I'll share it here too...

Saturday Race Report

Dry, ideal racing weather continues to avoid me! We woke up Saturday morning at 5:00 am to a heavy rain storm and floods that nearly carried Ben’s tent away… my van’s roof sounded like it was being shot by mortar fire, not the best sleeping conditions! The rain stopped around 8:00 am, and we were qualifying around 10:00 am, we felt confident that we would get a dry run. The track simply refused to dry! My session, Group 5, consisted of Spec Racer Fords, Showroom Stock, and T2 (us). Qualifying went well enough, even in semi-damp conditions, to get the tank… um… 350Z, to the front of the field, with a lap time of 1:43.1 (which is actually the best we’ve run at Mid-Ohio on the Club Course…). The newly installed Front and Rear Koni shocks were not even remotely set-up, and the car was pushing all over the place. Between sessions, I made some changes to shock set-up that would hopefully help balance the car. I had high hopes for a dry race! Leading up to race time, the track was soaked multiple times by sporadic rain storms, however it looked like the rain had stopped just before my session and the track would dry sometime during it. We decided to run on dry tires to avoid the inevitable burn-up of the wet tires if the track dried. At the 3-minutes before race start mark, the sky opened up and drenched the track… I knew I was in for a rough time! Many of the Spec Racer Ford’s had rain tires, and weigh about 1,500 lbs. less! As I brought the 30 car field around to an ideal pace for the Z, the green dropped and I was first to turn 1 by about 5 car lengths, entering turn 2, I was in 7th position! The combination of the Z’s weight, dry tires, and RR wheel drive made the car near undriveable! I decided to limp the car around the track and try to take the T2 victory. About ½ way through the race, a leader was making his way around the track to lap me, at the end of the back straight. Clearly, this guy was a little over-excited that he had rain-tires, and decided to lean on the Z-car to keep himself on the track… He sent me about 15 feet into the grass! Not missing a beat, he spun the car 2 corners later! I had to stop where he was and let him know how I felt about his maneuvers After our brief conversation, I continued the miserable race and brought the car home in 1st with no body damage, just a small FR tire slice from the Spec Racer incident. In impound, the driver of the other T2 car had this to say, “Man, , must be nice to have front wheel drive and rain tires!”… He was referring to the 350Z, and he was serious :P At least there was some humor to conclude an otherwise ugly race!


On another note, I LOVE watching the ITA, SM race, something about the cars and the competitiveness just make it the best race Goran had a spectacular race on Saturday, holding off Kevin for the win, congrats! Kevin decided to get serious on Sunday and went medieval on the rest of the field, nobody was even close... At the beginning of the Sunday race, in the rain, I watched 5 cars continually pile into China Beach at the end of the straight, we actually have a picture of 5 cars sitting in the gravel (all entering on their own accord!) I hate rain.

- Joe Moser

[R2 Racing]

The weather was horrendous but it was still a fun weekend. Saturday morning, the ITA/SM group qualified on a damp track. Goran Presevski took the overall pole, followed by four SM's, me in sixth, and then some more Miata's. I made the mistake of going out on a full dry setup while everyone ahead of me was on either full tread Kumho's or full tread Toyo's - those were the right tire to have; I think full rains may have burned up. For Saturday's race I was hoping to use some power and torque to quickly get up to Goran out front, but I got swarmed by Miata's everywhere. I got to run pretty much the whole front straight in the grass. Came back on in 11th, 3rd in ITA. I hooked up behind Rick Jarrett (ITA EF Civic) and we started picking off Miata's. I eventually got around Rick on the front straight, got around the last couple of Miata's (who all did a great job as Rick and I came through), and set off after Goran who had run away up front. A very slight rain swept across the track, slicking it up for only about a lap, but it was enough to allow me to close in. With about four laps to go, I caught the back of Goran. I took a couple of really good shots at him down the backstraight but he was absolutely super-hero braking in that CRX! Holy crap - I couldn't go that deep! He just hung it out the outside and fended me off every time. Damn fine job. I took some shots out of one too, but he also defended those well. He wanted that one bad, and he drove the freaking wheels off of his car to do so - a damn fine drive. Congrats to him. I wish Sunday could've been dry so we could've done it again.

As for my car, I was much, much happier with how my car drove. It was perfectly consistent from start to finish, it tucked well in the slow stuff yet wasn't loose in the fast stuff. Tire wear was fantastic and although I still only got down to low 1:45's like before, it did it much more effortlessly. If I had been able to get around Goran, there's no doubt in my mind that I could've clicked off some mid 1:44's. Unfortunately, this was the only session we got that was dry, and even then the track conditions weren't great (cloudy, humid, green track). I had some more setup things I wanted to work on and had Sunday been dry, I was really liking my chances of getting back down around a 1:44.0 again. So yea, I'm happy, but wish we could've got some more dry track time.

So yea, it poured all day on Sunday. Qualifing was in torrential rain and I got overall pole by three seconds (long wheel base Integra + Hoosier radial wets = woohoo!). Colletti was second in ITA in his Integra and fourth overall, four seconds back. When the race started, the rain had slowed down a bit but it was still really wet. I took off on the start pulling away at a good clip until about five cars all ended up down in China Beach. FCY came out. Colletti was up into 2nd overall by this time so I had to get going on the restart. I did, and pulled away again. On probably the third lap after the restart, Colletti slid off into China Beach bringing out another FCY. The pacecar was never sent out though, so I kept up as quick of a pace as I could without passing anyone. When Colletti's car was pulled, the FCY was dropped and we got back to racing. That lasted maybe two laps until the checker came out. I won by something like 25 seconds over Mark Rushbrook in his SM. I believe Downing ended up second in ITA. Very nice drive by him! I never saw him afterwards to congratulate him.

The real kicker is as we were pulling the rig out of the paddock, heading home, blue skies and the sun came out. That's awesome.....yeeaaaaa. Thanks to Downing for another great OVR race weekend. I know it beat you up pretty good dealing with that weather, but you guys did a great job, all things considering. I hope you took the day off work today.

[RacerBill]

Rain started just after we got our tent up Friday night, and kept up for most of the weekend, periods of dry were few and far between.

I made a wrong decision on tires for the ITA practice Saturday morning (rain plus we followed the FV oilers), got sideways twice on the out-lap and decided to pack it in and not cause myself or anyone else any grief.

Sun came out at lunch and we had a semi-dry track for the race. Stuck with a Del Sol until we got a few sprinkles, and stayed ahead of a Neon from MI. Lowered my personal best by another 3 seconds, and one of the other drivers said I'm getting my inside wheel off the ground, so the car looks good.

Rained all night Saturday night except for about 15 minutes at 2am (silence woke me up). Everything looked so bad Sunday morning, we decided to get packed up and head home. Saw at least on SM with left front tire damage after the practice session. Kevin took the pole with a 2:08 (sorry I didn't ask permission before I posted that , Kevin, but it will be up on MyLaps in a day or two) When the race started, there were only 18 cars out of the 32 that had registered. There were at least two full course yellows, and the race was a parade, from what I saw.

But I am not complaining, we have not had rain at MO for quite a few years. Looking forward to next year, already.

Hope everyone got home OK.

Edit: Kevin's narrative says it all.

(where's the sliding smiley?) maybe :snow_cool:

[bonespec]

doubt many will get below 2:00 in the wet conditions.[/b]

Kevin took the pole with a 2:08 [/b]

I was close on my prediction :026:

Please God just let me run in the 1:44's again![/b]

Did Ruck run in the 44's? [/b]

I still only got down to low 1:45's [/b]

on a green track, you'll be back into shape in no time.

Sounds like great wet racing, but I was already sick and the damp weather would have made it worse.

[datadude]

Data is posted to Mylaps for Sunday only. Search Neohio and you will find it. Saturday is a separate event also under Neohio.

well just found out the data for Sat is incorrect so will neetd to go throough it and fix it and then repost

[Racerlinn]

Kevin was #2 on Sat and #1 on Sun. I was #6 on Sat and #2 on Sun. Sat. was qual. in the rain-ish and race in the dry - except for that one lap where we got a little rain... Sun. was qual. in the rain and race in the freakin storm. I actually left the party early on Sat. night to go into town and get a hotel. Working and driving takes a ton out of you...

THANKS to everyone who came out this weekend! Even with all the rain - I hope everyone had a blast!

Matt Downing
co-race chair
Ohio Valley Region
[/b]

Hey Downing, there's some video's over on the sm.com board of you getting your butt kicked by a bunch of Wreck Me Otters! You suck!!
<poke, poke>
:P

Sincerely,
Your Pal,
Steve

[bonespec]

what, no links?