What a weekend!
It started Friday afternoon. Loaded the car and headed south to the wonderful track of Blackhawk Farms Raceway for a 3 night stay. Got to the track around 10:30pm, unloaded the car, walked the track, then went to bed.
Saturday- HPDE / Lapping Day. Started off with rain all morning. Rain cleared and track dried up after lunch and I did a few laps to ensure the freshly repaired trans was working, and it worked flawlessly. The rest of the day went great, no issues with the car, scrubbed in the C91’s for the HSAX on Monday. I didn’t spend too much time on track as I didn’t want the car to break. Spent Saturday night at the track and got made fun of by some of the wheel-to-wheel racers.
Sunday- Day off. Instead of driving all the way back home, Eric Koehler and I stuck around the track for most of the day. We took a trip just 35 miles south to Byron Dragway to watch some big V8 drag cars go 7 seconds down the stip. What a ride that would be!
Monday- The big day. The weather was looking grim with chances of rain coming in the early afternoon. Did my 2 practice sessions which went well. I was very anxious to get out on a timed run before the rain. I sat in my car waiting for the call for all Race classes to the grid. My first run went great but not great enough. 1:15.0, just under a tenth of a second too slow. The good news is I knew where I could improve, bad news is, the rain was looking close. Again I sat in my car waiting for the call for my 2nd timed run. Right when I heard the announcement, a few rain drops in my windshield. I was getting nervous and quickly got into line for my 2nd run. [Watch the video below] 2nd run went great, 1:14.697, beating the old standing start overall lap record of 1:14.97 ran by a full tube chassis Ford Taurus (think Nascar).
I did 2 more attempts at going quicker, but failed. I feel I still could go faster, but my excuse is the track seemed to be falling apart in turns 1 and 7. If you look close in the video, the middle of the blacktop patches were literally falling apart. Really hoping that can be fixed soon.
We’ll see how long this record will stand. Maybe next year I’ll turn up the boost some more and stuff some wider tires under the car. Who knows……
Big thanks to everyone that helped me achieve my goal, I couldn’t have done it without you guys (and gals).
Full Results for the day: http://mcscc.org/results/2012/ax/MC.AX.2012-05-28.Results.htm
MCSCC Blackhawk Track Records: http://mcscc.org/results/2012/ax/MC.AX.2012.TrackRecords.Blackhawk.pdf
NASA Flying Lap at BHF Track Records: http://www.nasamidwest.com/pages/trackrecords/print_friendly_track_records.asp
In-Car Video:
Pictures:
2 Comments
Good Job. I was watching the clock change when it showed the record. I did not know at the time but was still floored that you could make it around 18 seconds faster than me. I’ll be there to see you break the record again I’m sure. Wish me luck on breaking 130.00 in my Prelude with 142hp. I’m just 2.8 seconds away.
Thanks James. I’m really hoping turns 1 and 7 get fixed. its going to be hard to get faster with those vital corners greatly reduced in grip. Hopefully we’ll see ya at the next event! Take care.
Comments are closed.