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
No comments:
Post a Comment