365-racing.net Blog

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:

Well, first (real) event with the Evo and all of the changes. Lots to learn, and some time to shave off.

The weekend was looking to be a stressful one. Left work Friday as soon as I could, got home, loaded up, and headed to BHF for Midwestern Council’s first HSAX event of the year. I was also head of Timing & Scoring, and the first event of doing so which really put the pressure on me. Thankfully I’ve got some good friends (and sister) that helped out and I really owe it to them.

Night before prep: really easy, unload car, install bumper/splitter, go through tech, done. Good night (but not before some BWW’s!)

Next morning: Wake up, go setup timing, enter entries into computer.

Practice session 1: 1st lap was driving on ice, 2nd lap blew an I/C pipe. Day wasn’t looking too bright. Pulled into puts, found the blown I/C pipe, had to remove bumper/splitter, sliced my nose on a bolt losing about a cup of blood. No blood, no glory, fixed it and good to go.

Practice session 2: No problems, but at this point i realized how scary this car can be. Back end was stepping out and lots of sidewayness. It took 2 full laps to get the tires warmed up. This is a problem when we do a standing start. I decided that a big nasty AWD burnout through the start will be needed- No problem!

Timed Runs:  I stared in the 1:20’s and got faster almost every single run, shaving off a full second with every run.  The car ran flawless the rest of the day.  I eventually got down to a 1:16.15 for my best time of the day.  I hope to get faster, and with some car changes and more seat time in this car, I feel I can get about 2 seconds faster.  Besides my driving, I plan to switch to my C91’s and fix my trans issue (cant downshift into 3^rd).  Next event is planned for May 28^th which is followed by a lapping day on the 26^th.  This should be perfect, track will be fresh in my head.

Full Results: http://www.cwscc.com/results/2012/bhf_event1raw.html

In-Car Video:

Pictures: