66 replies to this topic

[Craig Berry]

Congrats Danny!

[Johnny D]

Congrats Danny!! Great job.   

 

Danny's interview.

https://www.scca.com/videos/2032696

 

Race 2

https://www.scca.com...p-3-sm-race-2-2

 

J~

[Jim Drago]

I don't think I have ever seen Danny happier post race

[tburas56]

Danny is a Super Tour Winner! Congrats!

[DrDomm]

Prolly one of a handful of guys who only run a fire extinguisher, and not a full system.  Scubbing tires on pace lap, I hear a loud banging noise.  Yep, the single clamp that holds the damn extinguisher in place came loose.  Had to drop to the back to get to the inside, then drive through pitlane on the start to be able to reconnect it.  Ugh.

[Tyler Kicera]

I've had a 4.5hr drive and 2hrs worth of lawn mowing to think about this...

 

First off, congrats to Danny on the win today.  It was a very clean race - exactly like it should have been.  Hats off to Tom and the OPM guys for tuning up his car.  He was off somewhat on test day compared to what I could run, but they made some changes and gave him what he needed to keep pace.  Both races were so close between the two of us and either one could have come away with the victories.  I turned my best race laps ever on hoosiers today which says a lot for what he was able to do.

 

On my end, the weekend went nearly as planned except for the last lap today.  The car was consistent and fast in every session, except on the wets - wrong call.  We had a scary incident on Saturday with Geraci crashed in the carousel.  Officials only had a local yellow at the stand which was basically at his car.  His drivers door was facing the track and we're so loaded there that it could have ended badly.  On the last lap, Danny and I were side by side in the bus stop and in the heat of battle for the win I had forgotten he was there - again there was no yellow thrown earlier in the corner.   Once we got to the point where we could see the flag, we both lifted running side by side giving plenty of room until we were past and then continued our last lap battle.  Moral to the story was that they should have gone FCY immediately with how his car was sitting but officials claimed 'it didn't look that bad'.  We discussed with a number officials post race to ensure the possible consequences of this call were brought to everyone's attention.  

 

In all, it was a good weekend and great to see everyone.  Congrats to Nick Leverone on the double podium in a borrowed car.  I would be lying if I didn't admit this stings a bit, but we'll move on to the next one!  

[Danny Steyn]

January of 2016 at Sebring was my last Majors/Super Tour win in Spec Miata. Carter and Davison scoured the internet to find that date, and created that f'ng CLOCK. Pure genius. Funny as sh!t!

 

Well this weekend finally I was able to reset the clock, at least in my mind as I suspect that clock will continue ad infinitum without resetting until the domain/hosting package expires – (would be really funny if Carter had bought a long term package).

 

Anyway, on to the races. Watkins Glen has bitten me hard several times, and I have taken my cars home in pieces after some ugly crashes. Despite having set a lap record in 2014, I have never won a race here, and have really struggled to get my car setup to work the way Kicera and other locals seem to get theirs to do. I always struggled at the toe of the boot and would get horribly killed from T7 – T8.

 

Fortunately, with advice and suggestions from locals including Nick Leverone and Ralle Rookey, during Thursdays four test sessions, Tom and I took big swings at our setup and slowly started to close in on a setup that really worked. Lots of trial and error, but not one session did we go out without making changes to the car. Soon the car was doing what it needed to do and at the end of the last test day session I was able to run with the locals Kicera, Leverone and Rookey, and it seemed like the four of us were very equal.

 

In Qualifying, I managed to put the car into 3^rd spot after pushing Rookey around to 2^nd place behind Kicera with Nick in 4^th.

 

In Race 1, I was able to hang with, and push Kicera away from Leverone and Rookey, and towards the end of the race I seemed to be able to roll more speed through a couple of corners that would put me in a position to make a pass. On the final lap I got alongside Kicera on the run to the bus stop, and we went into the bus stop side by side, through the carousel side by side, and then Kicera passed me going into the laces. From there he was able to hold me off for the win. We had three consecutive laps of 2:16.074, 2:16.074, 2:16.060, and I think our total race lap variation was under a second other than the last lap due to the yellow flag for Geraci. The winning margin was a couple of car lengths.

 

But being able to hang with Kicera at Watkins Glen was a huge confidence booster.

 

Race 2 was similar. I got to Kicera’s bumper early and pushed him lap after lap until lap 10 when he ran wide in Turn 1 and I inherited the lead. Kicera quickly passed me and I was back on his tail. At the start of the last lap I had a great run out of Turn 11, made the pass through T1, and was able to hold him off and get through the bus stop ahead of him. I then increased the lead through the carousel and laces and he started to claw some of it back coming up to the heel of the boot, but was not close enough to challenge. The winning margin was very similar to race 1. We ran several race laps within a few tenths off Andrew Carbonell’s lap record, which in the warm humid conditions was pretty quick. Will post a video soon.

 

That f’ng clock was one hell of a motivator. So sad that Carter isn’t here to enjoy the fun he created. I gave Carter and Davison all the credit in my post race speech. Carter will be missed

 

https://www.scca.com/videos/2032696

 

It really takes a team to make this work so a huge thanks to Mike at Rossini racing Engines, Tom and the entire team at OPM, Danny at G-Loc for the awesome brakes, Mazda Motorsports, Hoosier Tires and the SCCA for a great racing series. 

 

And I guess the clock has already started ticking again!

[DrDomm]

I'll be expecting video from both Tyler and Danny...I wanna see it!

 

Totally agree about the need for a FCY when Anthony hit the wall.  I have video of that...I will post soon.

[DrDomm]

Here's my view following Vic Kicera and Anthony Geraci coming out of the esses.  Sorry, the quality isn't great.

 

http://youtu.be/ylNpaV2-1AM

[Brandon]

Did Anthony break something or was he touched?

Wicked spin into the wall backwards...

[DrDomm]

Did Anthony break something or was he touched?

Wicked spin into the wall backwards...

 

He was loose all weekend.  Nothing broke, no contact.

[Danny Steyn]

Was just going through the weekend's lap times from the SCCA site. The consistency of the front runners is pretty amazing with Leverone being nothing short of a machine. Ignoring the start lap, here is the deviation, best lap to worst lap for each driver, over 14 laps

 

• Steyn - 1.257 seconds
• Kicera - 1.215 seconds
• Leverone - 0.670 seconds - seriously - 14 laps within 0.67 seconds - that is just amazing
• Rookey - 1.032 seconds

[sentercut]

Congratulations Tyler and Danny on the wins.  

[Dan Spangler]

• Leverone - 0.670 seconds - seriously - 14 laps within 0.67 seconds - that is just amazing

 

 

With only 14 laps in the race, the mountain dew he slammed before rolling onto track probably hadn't worn off yet!    Seriously though, that is some ridiculous muscle memory to repeat laps like that!

[Danica Davison]

That is very impressive. Compared it to last weekend. Besides the first and the last lap at the first race at Road America. Haldemans spread was 0.458 seconds. Track is 4 miles long right? so 0.1145 per mile!!

[Jim Drago]

That is very impressive. Compared it to last weekend. Besides the first and the last lap at the first race at Road America. Haldemans spread was 0.458 seconds. Track is 4 miles long right? so 0.1145 per mile!!

Since I was right behind in both this race and Cota.. Cota race 2 was more impressive IMO b/c in this one I could hang and push us away lap after lap running the same times.. At Cota I could not match the pace or consistency 

[Tom Sager]

And I guess the clock has already started ticking again!

 

Congrats on the win.  All Majors wins in this class are to be savored.  While your clock may re-start, most of us racing SM or reading this thread are measuring the gap between wins with solar eclipses rather than days and months. 

[Danny Steyn]

Full clock-stopping race-video from the weekend! Full race commentary and Fowler's radio transmissions captured by my wife Kim, who gets very invested in the last lap. Great to have your best friend cheering in the background!

 

Not particularly exciting video, just consistent, measured and deliberate. As Tyler and I commented before the start of the race, its going to be one interesting chess match.

 

Decisive chess move gets set up at around 31:50

 

[Jim Drago]

I watched this last night.. As I noted on you tube. This is the best complete race I have seen you drive or at least post. The car seems strong and the handling was perfect and you drove it well.  That's all it takes to win these things, nearly all to be perfect  

Congratulations  

[Danny Steyn]

I watched this last night.. As I noted on you tube. This is the best complete race I have seen you drive or at least post. The car seems strong and the handling was perfect and you drove it well.  That's all it takes to win these things, nearly all to be perfect  

Congratulations  

 

Thanks Jim, appreciate the kind words, and yes, the car was a pleasure to drive. By race-day we had definitely nailed the setup and were able to run good mid-corner speed without compromising the exits.