6 replies to this topic

[Richard Astacio]

    I wanted to thank Jim for putting me in contact with Justin Hille, I had Justin coach me this past weekend and it was a great experience all around. 

I guess I am allowed to call him a kid since I am at least 10 years older then him, he is a great kid!, very poised, knowledgeable and for being pick by Mazdaspeed a favorite to when the run-offs he is quite humble.

 

   I was able to pick up positions during the race and throughout the weekend I was also able to break into the low and mid 43, after each session we compare data and video... being my first full year of racing I still need to hone in my race craft, and feeling comfortable racing nose to tail the entire race. He actually had me slow the car down in certain corners and I was able to go faster. 

 

  On top of that he calls a great green flag!!! I was able to go from 19th - 13th in (race #1) and 17th  - 12th in (race #2) although I was not able to keep those spots I was able to finish 15th. The last race everyone got smart lol and the door was shut quickly on me.

 

 I was very impressed by the local hospitality and the willingness of everyone willing to help out, everyone was friendly.

Last but not least I'm not sure what happened last month at the majors ohio race and all the talk that the regional races are a bit crazy ,

There was some close, close racing and no incident as far as I saw, I would say everyone from the front to the back was inline and safe to race against. 

I would race with these guys any day of the week! 

 

I had so much fun that I will be coming back in a few weeks to race in the last regional before the run-offs....another 10 hour tow! 

Now on to NJMP in a few days to qualify for the run-offs.

Attached Files

•  IMG_0326.JPG   10.12KB   1 downloads

[Caveman-kwebb99]

    I wanted to thank Jim for putting me in contact with Justin Hille, I had Justin coach me this past weekend and it was a great experience all around. 

I guess I am allowed to call him a kid since I am at least 10 years older then him, he is a great kid!, very poised, knowledgeable and for being pick by Mazdaspeed a favorite to when the run-offs he is quite humble.

 

   I was able to pick up positions during the race and throughout the weekend I was also able to break into the low and mid 43, after each session we compare data and video... being my first full year of racing I still need to hone in my race craft, and feeling comfortable racing nose to tail the entire race. He actually had me slow the car down in certain corners and I was able to go faster. 

 

  

 

 

 

Good to see Justin getting into the coaching!!!  Glad you had a great time!!! One of the hardest things to teach and learn is when to slow things down in order to go faster!!!!  Look forward to meeting you in aug!

[LarryKing]

It's a new paradigm, all the crashing happens at Majors (top level drivers) and the regionals are clean (read fun).

[38bfast]

Just for reference the regional at Mid O was not completely clean. No cars were totaled and no major crash damage but there were several cases of bent sheet metal. Some drivers had to talk to the Stewart but no penalties were assessed. IMHO i would have liked to see some penalties for the metal to metal. 

[B(Kuch)Kucera45]

I'm not going to say one is better than the other because every weekend is diff. but I had a lot of contact in the Majors at Mid-O and witnessed a lot of contact during the race.Three diff times I was hit in the side of the car and I thought to myself that it felt like I was racing with new guys. Some people are racing like they are racing for big money or just don't care about there cars. I love racing side by side without any contact but a couple of guys that I was next to would track out and didn't care if someone was next to them. I also got a bump in the left rear in mid corner on a wet track (really ). I would have never done that to anyone now if it was dry that's a diff story.

Now on to the last regional at Mid-O. My son was hit in the left rear quarter panel going over the crest of the hill and put him sideways on the start. Luckily he was able to save it and only damage was a donut mark. Now I'm totally fine with what happened if it was me but I thought to myself that he was a newbee and had the triangle on the back of the car and they should have been a little more careful around him. Again there where no hard feelings and thought it was a good experience for him.

Again I'm not complaining just sharing what happened the last couple of outings we had. I just think some people should be a little smarter on the track and everyone will go home with a straight car.

Sorry I posted this to the wrong post so if someone can move it to the on track compliance post that would be great !

[Richard Astacio]

Sorry to hear about that....I guess I was lucky and was not involved or did not see any of that. 

I hope your son had fun, I did see the triangle during qualifying and I gave him plenty of room, perhaps someone didn't know what the triangle was about?? maybe you need to put some neon lights on the back of the car ... Were you able to look at video to see if that could of been avoided? 

[B(Kuch)Kucera45]

Sorry to hear about that....I guess I was lucky and was not involved or did not see any of that. 
I hope your son had fun, I did see the triangle during qualifying and I gave him plenty of room, perhaps someone didn't know what the triangle was about?? maybe you need to put some neon lights on the back of the car ... Were you able to look at video to see if that could of been avoided?

He had the time of his life.

I do believe it was avoidable and again I'm not upset about it at all but there are other people that might have been.

You looked good out there and I was able to see the improvement every time you went out there. I hope you had a good time out there and with your coach Justin as well. He is a fast and good guy and hope you can remember all the good advise he gave you.