2nd Day at NHMS

The rain had held off till just after our second race on Saturday.  Sunday was bright and clear.  We lined up for the first race around 11 am.  I qualified 8th based on my race speed from Saturday.  But somehow they lined me up in 7th - someone must have dropped out.  4th row and I got the start of my life.  Dove to the inside and found myself in 3rd going into the hairpin   Dropped back one place going up the hill but still 4th was much better than 8th.  Unfortunately the hill was coming back to haunt me.  One by one people took a shot at me and I was powerless to take them on.  If I passed into the hairpin I was dead meat going up the hill.  Same with the Bowl.  So I dropped back into the middle of the pack and finish the race strong but looking for a bulldozer to level the hill.

The second race my start was as bad as the first one was good.  I have some video that I may get up on YouTube soon.  So I ended up running with - you guessed it - the two Pauls.  This was a lot of fun until Paul F. Missed a shift and spun in the hairpin.  I was lucky to get around to the left ($#%^^&$ camera shut off before this so I don't have a great shot) but then could not find 2nd - all weekend had no problem except when I need it.  This allowed John S. to catch me.  We fought for a while until I broke away and went after Paul M.  As before, did some of my best laps chasing him and just missed at the flag.

Overall a great weekend and another shout out to Dick Stewart and Aaron who had the car running perfect all weekend.  With hindsight I should have had them change the gearbox and I might have been more competitive, but that is what racing is all about.  When the green flag drops, you have to race what you have.  I still think I could have done a better job but coming back from being off for 3 years, I have no complaints.

If someone is going to go racing, renting a car from Stewurt Performance is a great way to go.

Here are Dick Stewart's cars before the first practice session.  I am driving the #9 car.  How did the first day go?

Practice and Qualifying.  Having not been in a car for almost 3 years, I was very tentative and tried to stay out of everyone's way.  The car seemed to be fast but I was not going to push it until I felt comfortable.

About 3/4 the way through the session, the oil pressure looked a little low so I brought the car into the pits for a check up.  What I learned is that the engine builders have turned down the pressure in order to make more horsepower.  Learning something new every day.

There were some minor things we did to the car between sessions - the most important item was the brake pedal which was just a little on the low side.  Dick and Aaron went to work and 15 minutes later the pedal was in its new position.  A little tape in certain areas to eliminate sharp spots and the car was ready to go.

In the race I lined up 16 overall or 14th in FV.  My times were nothing to shake a stick at, but I felt comfortable that I could improve.  When the race started I jumped up a few positions, but with NASCAR turn 1 coming up, and knowing that the 3rd lane was full of marbles (pieces of rubber for other car's tires), I decided not to three wide into the turn and instead drop back in place.  I was having a great race with Rob, Tom and Paul M,  but getting eaten alive going up the hill.  (The gearing on this car was not optimized for this track - with some more time Dick could have changed the gearbox to get me a little more speed, how ever with the short time and the fact that my own car has the same type of gear box I was okay with it.)

Halfway through the race I had passed Rob and Tom but Paul M had gotten in front of me and I was not able to get by him at the end of the straight.  Thus I had to wait another lap before making an attempt.  While we were having a great battle, the cars in front of us disappeared in the distance.  Paul F had spun and we caught him while he was getting back up to speed.  Now we add paul to the mix and the battle commenced.  While I was working on trying to get by Paul M, Paul F was trying to challenge me - I was the meat in a Paul sandwich!  With 2 laps to go in the race, Paul F put a big run on the inside of the uphill, which turns in to the outside of the bowl.  I did not want to give up the spot, but he had gotten enough in front of me that I felt trying to hold my spot would slow us down and drop us further back from Paul M. so I let him go.   Unfortunaltey for the both of us, as Paul F took the position, old tire and a mismatched downshift resulted in a spin right in front of me.  I had to take a real outside line while Paul did a great job of not rolling back in front of me.  Clear of Paul F I was now chasing Paul M.  At the finish I was just .25 of a second behind Paul M having made up 2 seconds in the last two laps.

So while I only finished 12th. the car was in one piece, I had knocked 2.5 seconds off my qualifying time, the pedal change gave me much more confidence in my braking points and I was feeling much more comfortable sliding the car around.  On to tomorrow.

It is getting late so tomorrow I will add some more details and I hope the results.  I hope I can race with someone not named Paul tomorrow so it does not seem so confusing. 

ChrisZ

Back in 2012

I am scheduled to race the Stewurt Performance #9 Protoform FV at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend (September 8 and 9th)

I will try to keep this blog updated.

Ironically, in the picture above, the car behind me is Dick Stewart!