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My first race weekend Sunday (aka the sunny day)
Posted by
davecarama
,
04-19-2011
·
1,582 views
OK, wet and sandy in day 1...
I woke up early on day 2 and decided to work on the car a little. I was feeling bad that there were people up all night working on their winged cars and corvettes... so I decided to make them feel less bad and do some stuff to my own car.
So I re-attached my sway bars, swapped the tires and checked the timing. My timing was at 9*BTDC. Fully stock number. Well that just won't do. So I set it to about 14*BTDC. Alex gave me an OK and Hope it doesn't blow your car up.
I knew it would be fine though.
When it was time to grid, based on the qualifying and race times, I was now 18 out of 24 cars... which sucks. We did another split start, so I was bumped up to position 14... still suck. But I was feeling good about my car, and great about my driving. Dry was where I was familiar, and I was sure my car was ready to take me places.
They sent us out, and this time I was on the left side (outside). This would be interesting! New territory for me! We went around, I scrubbed a little, but the track was fairly clean and I just didn't feel like the car needed it. Around to ten, pace car drops off the track and into the pits. Around ten and I tighten my position. Then the motors go and I once again place my foot to the floor... But this time something I have never seen happens, I am passing cars on the start up to turn 1! and a LOT of cars! By the time we get to 1, I have a bit of a gap to the guy behind me and I am right on the next guy. I don't remember everything, but I know I got 2 guys in 6 and at least 2 in 1. There was a silver Miata with florescent red racing stripe in the middle in front of me, and all I know was I wanted to get that guy AND BAD! I did reel him in to the point I was about 2 car lengths away, but by the time I could start thinking up my passing strategy, the checker was thrown. My long race was now over!
Later I found that I was on the lead lap, the last person on the lead lap in fact. I also found I was about 1 second faster than the next 2 guys! I finished in 8th place overall. And it felt good to drive the full race and not watch from the beach. A top ten finish in my first race weekend is not half bad! A little more prep to the car, and I could find myself in the top 5!
I stuck my video camera in the car before the race, we got the thing on, but never hit the record button. So no proof of the race besides the Mylaps screen shot. My lap times were all just about .10 seconds apart, and each being slightly faster than the next. Not super fast, but respectable.
Can't wait for next MARRS!!!
Dave
I woke up early on day 2 and decided to work on the car a little. I was feeling bad that there were people up all night working on their winged cars and corvettes... so I decided to make them feel less bad and do some stuff to my own car.
So I re-attached my sway bars, swapped the tires and checked the timing. My timing was at 9*BTDC. Fully stock number. Well that just won't do. So I set it to about 14*BTDC. Alex gave me an OK and Hope it doesn't blow your car up.
I knew it would be fine though. When it was time to grid, based on the qualifying and race times, I was now 18 out of 24 cars... which sucks. We did another split start, so I was bumped up to position 14... still suck. But I was feeling good about my car, and great about my driving. Dry was where I was familiar, and I was sure my car was ready to take me places.
They sent us out, and this time I was on the left side (outside). This would be interesting! New territory for me! We went around, I scrubbed a little, but the track was fairly clean and I just didn't feel like the car needed it. Around to ten, pace car drops off the track and into the pits. Around ten and I tighten my position. Then the motors go and I once again place my foot to the floor... But this time something I have never seen happens, I am passing cars on the start up to turn 1! and a LOT of cars! By the time we get to 1, I have a bit of a gap to the guy behind me and I am right on the next guy. I don't remember everything, but I know I got 2 guys in 6 and at least 2 in 1. There was a silver Miata with florescent red racing stripe in the middle in front of me, and all I know was I wanted to get that guy AND BAD! I did reel him in to the point I was about 2 car lengths away, but by the time I could start thinking up my passing strategy, the checker was thrown. My long race was now over!
Later I found that I was on the lead lap, the last person on the lead lap in fact. I also found I was about 1 second faster than the next 2 guys! I finished in 8th place overall. And it felt good to drive the full race and not watch from the beach. A top ten finish in my first race weekend is not half bad! A little more prep to the car, and I could find myself in the top 5!
I stuck my video camera in the car before the race, we got the thing on, but never hit the record button. So no proof of the race besides the Mylaps screen shot. My lap times were all just about .10 seconds apart, and each being slightly faster than the next. Not super fast, but respectable.
Can't wait for next MARRS!!!
Dave
