507 replies to this topic

[Danny Steyn]

New thread for the Runoffs updates

Test days - Saturday / Sunday

Drago fastest of the bunch during dry test days. Was very smooth and appears to have more motah than most. Sandlin is up there too. They were running low 2.43 in a train. Gorilla is fast too. He ran 2.42's on the Friday before we arrived, but did not match those times on Saturday or Sunday, but I know he will be fast in qualifying. Andrew debuted his new American flag #1 race number, and was fast running with Bolanos (running Chip's copper '99). Sammy seemed a little down on power and spent time on the dyno, and says he is way up on Saturday's numbers. Berry didn't look quite as fast as his team mates Jim and Pat. Fowler and I ran nose to tail for two days and we are in the hunt. We both ran our best times on Saturday, low 2.44's. Did not see Coello run. Chip was not there, did not see Bednarz. Manning ran, and so did Collins and Cahall, but I dont know there times.

Sunday's last session was run on a wet slick track. Had a lot of fun running with Andrew, both of us were on the limit catching the slides. Nice to see Andrew playing in the rain.

New sealer on Turn 6 an d Turn 8. Seems to be grippy in the dry, and was reasonable in the damp conditions. Not sure about rain

Overall track is fast. Decent rubber down, and temps are cool - 60-70F

[Mitch Reading]

Wet today for first quali?

[James York]

Wet today for first quali?

Yes it was with times about 20 seconds off and over half of the SM field not going out.

[Caveman-kwebb99]

Moby Steyn!

[tferranti]

Thanks for the updates!

[Danny Steyn]

Q1 Session

It rained all night and was raining when we went to the grid at 9.20am. We were gridded in National points order, so Steve was up front I was 2^nd and Valafar was behind me.

Only 16 of us went out so most of the grid was empty, as everyone knew that this session would not yield the times for final grid. But I like to go out in the rain whenever I can and you just never know what might happen on race day.

I got around Steve on the out-lap and quickly set my fast lap in lap 3, while it was raining heavily. Interestingly, as the track dried and better lines appeared I was unable to lower my times. Seems like full tread depth tires need water to go fast (or something like that)

Order was

• Steyn
• Gorriaran
• Gerber
• Powers
• Collins
• Valafar
• Sager
• Brown
• Poland
• Campbell

Drago, Sandlin, Berry, Charbonneau, Reynolds and the rest sensibly sat this one out.

PS. I did bury it in the sand trap at Canada corner, trying too hard to find out where the limits are.

Q1 Results

[Nsparks]

PS. I did bury it in the sand trap at Canada corner, trying too hard to find out where the limits are.

Good man. I did the same thing at Mid Ohio and in the final race it paid off.

Thanks for the update.

Emoticons rule!

[Mike Collins]

Happy with p5 in the rain.

[Mike Collins]

Ps, and not driving near as hard as Danny or Steve for no reason at all.

[Mike Collins]

Ppss, several of us went to the dyno at the track for all to see what we had. Mine, 122hp 115tq. I was second best against the last two national champs. They can post their numbers if they want to...

[Jim Drago]

up early today again with thoughts running through my head...

Only 6 and a half more hours to qualifying Thinking all the same thoughts.. Did I put on the right tires? Is that really the cross number and camber numbers I want? What is the track going to be like in after the rain? Should I tweak my cold pressures for qualifying? Should I short fill for three laps or or put enough in for the entire session? Will Luke try and flat the kink in my new car on lap one? Why doesn't any one else have scales out? How bad was Steve sandbagging the last two days? Where will Andrew be when he puts on decent tires? Can I get a draft somewhere? Who goes off in gravel today? Will someone try and put me off the track today again? Is today the day or is it Thursday? Can I find a hole to get a lap in? Do we go out in order or wait at the back? Did I charge my radio and camera? Did we fix our Aero tight problem? Was that bread glutin free?

[Ken Quartuccio]

Jim go back to bed
Your making everybody that picked you in the poll
Nervous !

[Caveman-kwebb99]

It's not making me NERVOUS! That is a sign of anticipation, some of my best results have come on days I woke up earlier than my alarm went off! Now lets hope for prime track conditions!!!!

[Blake Clements]

I know what's going on around those parts right about now....

Charbonneau is just finishing his last beer before his first of three qualifying sessions. He will get progressively faster as the day goes on, wonder why....

Steve and DelGenio are testing new ducts in the windtunnel while Collins is running around the paddock telling them that he has more horsepower than Steve.

Danny Steyn is wondering which car he's going out in today, and he choses the one with more DANNY STEYN stickers...... Does Danny Steyn = Tom Fowler?

The East Street boys are getting out their Christmas Sweaters to match the Green, White, and Red on the cars for the podium sweep shot.

Coello is still locked in his tent hiding, does he ever come out? Groundhog day?

[George Munson]

I love it, Thanks for the thoughts and updates.
Good luck to all!

[James York]

1 SM 1 2 Jim Drago 2:44.870 --- --- 5 6 2:56.882 0 0 0 87.342 0 Active 81.410 19:52.474 1 MIDS Memphis
2 SM 2 44 Steven Gorriaran 2:45.055 0.185 0.185 2 11 2:45.510 0 0 0 87.244 0 Active 87.004 33:00.132 2 NER Providence
3 SM 3 1 Andrew von Charbonneau 2:45.297 0.427 0.242 10 11 2:45.444 0 0 0 87.116 0 Active 87.039 31:57.576 3 FLA Delray Beach
4 SM 4 78 Sammy Valafar 2:45.339 0.469 0.042 5 9 3:02.755 0 0 0 87.094 0 Active 78.794 25:48.964 4 LV Las Vegas
5 SM 5 02 Alexander Bolanos 2:45.515 0.645 0.176 5 11 2:46.569 0 0 0 87.001 0 Active 86.451 32:07.923 5 FLA Miami
6 SM 6 17 Tony Coello 2:45.777 0.907 0.262 7 11 3:07.054 0 0 0 86.864 0 Active 76.983 32:20.426 6 Milw East Troy
7 SM 7 58 L. Patrick Sandlin 2:46.114 1.244 0.337 6 7 3:06.844 0 0 0 86.687 0 Active 77.070 22:52.656 7 CFR Cordova
8 SM 8 38 Danny Steyn 2:46.120 1.250 0.006 9 11 2:47.724 0 0 0 86.684 0 Active 85.855 31:15.753 8 FLA Fort Lauderdale
9 SM 9 39 Tom Fowler 2:46.150 1.280 0.030 8 10 2:46.960 0 0 0 86.669 0 Active 86.248 31:15.877 9 Atl Cumming
10 SM 10 29 Craig Berry 2:46.358 1.488 0.208 4 8 3:01.297 0 0 0 86.560 0 Active 79.428 25:36.829 10 Tex Tyler
11 SM 11 94 Tom Sager 2:46.367 1.497 0.009 4 10 3:15.360 0 0 0 86.556 0 Active 73.710 32:43.538 11 CHI Naperville
12 SM 12 33 Adam Poland 2:46.570 1.700 0.203 2 5 3:15.336 0 0 0 86.450 0 Active 73.719 15:11.657 12 Tex Mount Vernon
13 SM 13 27 Tom Brown 2:46.591 1.721 0.021 2 11 2:47.094 0 0 0 86.439 0 Active 86.179 31:29.741 13 Milw Muskego
14 SM 14 12 Brian Ghidinelli 2:46.658 1.788 0.067 4 7 3:17.601 0 0 0 86.404 0 Active 72.874 23:18.996 14 CSCC San Rafael
15 SM 15 68 David Bednarz 2:46.926 2.056 0.268 2 10 3:06.708 0 0 0 86.266 0 Active 77.126 31:36.265 15 DET Ann Arbor
16 SM 16 92 Harry Manning 2:47.025 2.155 0.099 3 11 3:16.362 0 0 0 86.215 0 Active 73.334 32:32.810 16 Milw Racine
17 SM 17 79 Shawn Slattery 2:47.412 2.542 0.387 5 7 3:17.270 0 0 0 86.015 0 Active 72.996 21:11.272 17 CIN Chicago
18 SM 18 75 Michael Collins 2:47.671 2.801 0.259 4 9 3:10.551 0 0 0 85.882 0 Active 75.570 26:21.123 18 WDC Mount Airy
19 SM 19 9 Jerret Gerber 2:47.912 3.042 0.241 7 10 2:49.305 0 0 0 85.759 0 Active 85.054 32:56.396 19 Milw Dodgeville
20 SM 20 46 Tom Kraft 2:47.983 3.113 0.071 10 11 2:49.371 0 0 0 85.723 0 Active 85.020 32:25.005 20 DMV Des Moines
21 SM 21 98 Charlie Campbell 2:47.993 3.123 0.010 5 11 2:49.293 0 0 0 85.718 0 Active 85.060 32:03.162 21 MHR Corry
22 SM 22 04 David Palfenier 2:48.283 3.413 0.290 7 11 2:49.475 0 0 0 85.570 0 Active 84.968 31:52.215 22 CHI Naperville
23 SM 23 21 Steven Powers 2:48.612 3.742 0.329 3 10 3:01.195 0 0 0 85.403 0 Active 79.472 29:01.346 23 Colo Mesa
24 SM 24 72 Christopher Haldeman 2:49.385 4.515 0.773 8 10 3:12.074 0 0 0 85.013 0 Active 74.971 32:02.252 24 Tex Anna TX
25 SM 25 70 Tyler Dahl 2:49.730 4.860 0.345 10 11 2:53.198 0 0 0 84.841 0 Active 83.142 33:03.685 25 Utah Spanish Fork
26 SM 26 3 Phil Cummings 2:50.256 5.386 0.526 7 11 2:51.224 0 0 0 84.579 0 Active 84.100 32:54.695 26 CDR Colorado Springs
27 SM 27 40 David Pintaric 2:50.323 5.453 0.067 7 10 3:07.527 0 0 0 84.545 0 Active 76.789 30:18.573 27 MVR Canfield
28 SM 28 77 Ted Cahall 2:50.825+ 5.955 0.502 11+ 11 2:50.825 0 0 0 84.297+ 0 Active 84.297 32:26.342 28 WDC Bellevue
29 SM 29 96 James Suhr 2:52.777 7.907 1.952 4 11 2:53.320 0 0 0 83.344 0 Active 83.083 33:00.288 29 WOR Springboro
30 SM 30 84 Randy Cummings 3:10.325+ 25.455 17.548 8+ 8 3:10.325 0 0 0 75.660+ 0 Active 75.660 30:50.717 30 Utah Herriman
31 SM 31 20 Luke Bickham 4:36.958 112.088 86.633 1 1 4:36.958 0 0 0 51.993 0 Active 51.993 5:56.668 31 Tex Dallas TX
32 SM 32 57 Chip Van Vurst No Time --- --- --- 5 2:45.515 0 0 0 --- 0 Active 87.001 15:21.407 32 FLA Pompano Beach
33 SM 33 71 Voytek Burdzy No Time --- --- --- --- --.--- 0 0 0 --- 0 IN PIT 0.000 --.--- 33 BVR Algonquin
34 SM 34 73 Elivan Goulart No Time --- --- --- --- --.--- 0 0 0 --- 0 IN PIT 0.000 --.--- 34 NER Shelton
35 SM 35 74 Matthew Reynolds No Time --- --- --- --- --.--- 0 0 0 --- 0 IN PIT 0.000 --.--- 35 Almo Boerne


Today's qualification order. No surprises here except don't know why VanVurst and Reynolds posted no times. Your 2011 Runoffs winner is coming from today's top 10. They have their game on and are always quick. Congrats guys. Didn't think I would miss running with you all again as much as I do now. I guess I should have made the trip.

Drago is coming through under pressure of being the Sportcar pick. I know he wants this win.

[Brian Linn]

qual 2 session is complete. Drago's early morning ponderings seemed to pay off - must have been gluten free. Andrew von C posts his fastest lap on his 10th lap and bumps Sammy back to 4th.

Fastest time shown with gap to #1
1 Jim Drago 02:44.9 ---
2 Steven Gorriaran 02:45.1 0.185
3 Andrew von Charbonneau 02:45.3 0.427
4 Sammy Valafar 02:45.3 0.469
5 Alexander Bolanos 02:45.5 0.645
6 Tony Coello 02:45.8 0.907
7 L. Patrick Sandlin 02:46.1 1.244
8 Danny Steyn 02:46.1 1.25
9 Tom Fowler 02:46.2 1.28
10 Craig Berry 02:46.4 1.488
11 Tom Sager 02:46.4 1.497
12 Adam Poland 02:46.6 1.7
13 Tom Brown 02:46.6 1.721
14 Brian Ghidinelli 02:46.7 1.788
15 David Bednarz 02:46.9 2.056
16 Harry Manning 02:47.0 2.155
17 Shawn Slattery 02:47.4 2.542
18 Michael Collins 02:47.7 2.801
19 Jerret Gerber 02:47.9 3.042
20 Tom Kraft 02:48.0 3.113
21 Charlie Campbell 02:48.0 3.123
22 David Palfenier 02:48.3 3.413
23 Steven Powers 02:48.6 3.742
24 Christopher Haldeman 02:49.4 4.515
25 Tyler Dahl 02:49.7 4.86
26 Phil Cummings 02:50.3 5.386
27 David Pintaric 02:50.3 5.453
28 Ted Cahall 02:51.8 6.933
29 James Suhr 02:52.8 7.907
30 Randy Cummings 03:10.3 25.455
31 Luke Bickham 04:37.0 112.088
32 Chip Van Vurst No Time ---
33 Voytek Burdzy No Time ---
34 Elivan Goulart No Time ---
35 Matthew Reynolds No Time ---

Damn - I was beaten to the posting pole, need to work on my editing time

[suck fumes]

Man times are a lot slower than last year

[Caveman-kwebb99]

Man times are a lot slower than last year

that is to be expected after raining all day yesterday. last weekends times were faster than last years qualification times if I am reading right!

Wait till tomorrows and thursdays time get posted.

[James York]

Aaron,
Interesting observation. You're right, last year the top ten were all under 2:45.00. I am betting the track was still green a bit after yesterdays rain and/or it must have been warmer today than last year. If I remember, we had two days last year in which it was pretty cool when we ran. (50s I think)

It says it was 70F today. Thursday's forcast is for high of 56F. I bet times will be in the 43s on that day. That looks like pole day.