109 replies to this topic

[Danny Steyn]

Of all the championship races I thought I really had a shot at winning, this was the one. I have lots of laps at Road Atlanta, have been pretty competitive there for some time, and my ’99 was a rocket ship at the June Sprints, so we had things going our way.

 

Despite the confidence in my ’99, I ran the ‘02 on test day to make sure, and actually ran my fastest lap times on test day in the ‘02, but I felt that the ’99 would have more of a chance on the long back straight leading to T10A where most of the passes are made in the closing stages of races at Road Atlanta.

 

On test day Mat Pombo and I got into a rhythm. We had very equal cars so we knew that we needed to team up to have a shot at winning. We worked well as a team in Qualifying Race 1 with me leading and Mat pushing, but when we swapped positions it just took too long for me in my ‘99 to get to the bumper of his ’01, and our lap times dropped off a few tenths. Mat got the win, and I held onto 2^nd from a hard charging OPM team mate Jonathan Czarny who had a breakout weekend, finishing 3^rd in QR1.

 

In examining the data, Jonathan was doing T5 better than both Mat and I, both of whom have had pretty recent encounters with the T5 wall, but it showed there was still time left on the track. In QR2 Matt and I did the same thing, I got ahead and he pushed, and it worked perfectly. At the end, due to a lot of fighting over positions behind us, we had a 12 second lead at the end. As we came under the T11 bridge on the last lap I pulled over to give Mat the win to say thanks for the help and also to secure the outside grid spot for Turn 1 for the start of the race, which provides the longer arc and faster exit up the hill.

 

Long before the weekend, we all knew Alex Bolanos was going to be a major threat, as he has had a dominant 2104 season in the SE winning the Eastern Conference Majors Champs.  And despite starting from almost last in QR1 he had driven superbly in both qualifying races to start the race in 4^th place directly behind me. His car was fast all weekend and he was carrying a lot of speed through T7 which made his car look even stronger than it was. I was also a bit concerned about Yiannis Tsiounis who had laid down some very quick times in the QR’s but was starting back in 8^th. Jim Drago is always a threat and his car was just a monster in a straight line in QR1, and I knew if he was around us on the last lap we had no chance to win, but Jim was not his normal self all weekend.

 

So the plan was for Mat and I to go flat out from the green and hopefully create a gap to avoid towing the rest of the field around behind us. Well that was the plan. I got into the lead in T1 and gave it everything I had, but from the start, on this set of tires I started to push in T7, so I had to give up a bit of entry speed into T6 and T7 and this hurt us. The car was absolutely perfect everywhere else around the track and was possibly the best setup I have ever had at Road Atlanta, other than T6 and T7.

 

Lap after lap I led with Mat on my bumper but the rest of the field were still on our tails, with Jonathan Czarny and Alex running in 3rd and 4th places. Around lap 4 I was starting to clear Mat enough in the infield section that he was not able to get to my bumper until the braking at Turn 10A so I decided to preserve tires and back off a bit to avoid falling into no-man’s land, waiting for the wolf pack to devour me. Alex got past Jonathan and caught onto the tail of Mat while Jonathan and Drago had a battle behind us.

 

Around lap 6 Mat had gapped Alex again but I was again leaving Mat behind, and I was really struggling with push in T7. I was conscious of trying to preserve tires for the last few laps so did not want to try and do a breakaway run and have no tires left to fight with in the last few laps. Alex caught back up to Matt and then pushed Mat before popping out making the pass on Mat into T10A, separating Mat and I, so I put in a few really hard laps trying to drop Alex and break the draft but he would make up a lot on the back straight. Two laps later I screwed up T7 and Alex came past me and Mat tucked in behind me again. I followed Alex for a couple of laps to see what he was doing, and but this time Drago had moved up to 4^th onto Mats bumper with Jonathan close in 5^th. On the back straight, tucked in behind Alex in the draft I could barely get to his bumper by the braking zone for T10 so I knew I had to try and do something earlier.

 

Two laps later Mat got back to my bumper and pushed me and him back past Alex into T10A. We kept that formation for another two laps and then Alex went for the T10 inside pass on Mat, and the two of them went side-by-side through T12, T1 and T3 before Mat’s car cut out briefly. This side-by-side racing gave me a cushion of several seconds and knew that I had to run as hard as I could to make sure Alex never got another sniff from me on the back straight. And I put in my fastest lap of the race that lap, all on my own. But on the very next lap, in my desire to break away, I completely over drove T3 and lost half of my lead. DOH.

 

By now it was a two car race and Alex was eating into my lead and I had nothing left. I was hitting my marks trying not to over drive but I knew we had around 4 laps to go and he was closing fast. With three laps to go he made the inside pass attempt through T1 but couldn’t pull it off. I held him off through the infield knowing that he would try and get by me going into T10A. I had a great run out of T7 and actually gapped him on the exit of T7, but despite that, he easily passed me long before the black flag stand.

 

On the 2^nd last lap I tried to make a passing attempt at the uphill pass through T1 to T3 but could not pull it off and we briefly touched tires in T3. And then on the last lap I even made a last ditch attempt at a pass on the inside of the downhill esses, but common sense prevailed and I backed out of it.

 

Coming out of T7 Alex got another great run and I watched him disappear. Alex is too good a driver to screw up under pressure but I tried to make it stressful, only screwing up my own exit, and Alex went on to a WELL DESERVED victory!

 

I did everything I could to win this race. I trained hard, cycled, walked and swam every day for 6 weeks, lost 12lbs in the process, ate well, slept well, did not get sick, did hours of data and video analysis, hours and hours of iRacing simulator practice, and even went to a Skip Barber school at Road Atlanta the week before just so I could walk the surface and see how the new repaving was holding up.

 

Despite all that Alex kicked my butt. He is one of the nicest guys in Spec Miata, is a tremendous asset to our class, and it was a privilege racing with him. We have gone wheel to wheel so many times and never once has he ever remotely done anything to impede my run, never squeezed me, never chopped me,  never blocked me. Both on track and off the track his conduct is impeccable and in my eyes he is a true and worthy National Champion. Congrats Alex! Go kick ass in the Mazda challenge - the whole class is behind you!

 

In closing, you have seen all the tech images and reports in the other thread, so no need to get into that here. So finally I just want to say thanks to all those who helped me for this race. Team mates Mat Pombo, Jonathan Czarny, Blake Clements, John Wechsler, Roger Burdette, Willie Phee…. Great to be under the same tent with you guys. Always supportive, sharing data, tips and strategy. Much appreciated.

 

HUGE thanks to

• Tom Fowler and the entire team at OPM Autosports who built and prepared my amazing Miata, you guys are the best in this game.
• Mike Rossini who is both a dear friend and a wonderful engine builder,
• Glenn Stephens at Traqmate for the superb data system,
• Danny Puskar at Carbotech for the awesome brakes that worked so, so well at Road Atlanta (it took some convincing to change me but I am SO GLAD I DID!)
• Zack Skolnick and Sam Barnett at Driven Steering Wheels.
• Mazdaspeed  and Toyo Tires for the generous contingencies.
• my wonderful wife Kim who knows how much this means to me and supports me throughout the long season
• And finally thanks to all the NASA. For your inaugural EAST event, you guys put on a great show with very little drama. Congrats. 

Here is the full video of my race - there are some pretty interesting moments

 

[Mike Collins]

Danny, nice write up.  As always you are a class act.

[Alex Bolanos]

Awesome write up Danny, thanks for the kind words.  It was a long week, lots of hard work figuring out these tires and how to make them hold together for the whole race.  Once I saw you and Mat shacked up I knew it would be an uphill battle.  The goal became to get behind the OPM train and figure out what was what and who had the pace.  

 

The Old Dogs and I worked very hard on Thursday and by the end of the test day we we're in good shape with tires and race pace but Friday was a major set back.  A third of the field was "late" to grid and they forced us to start from the middle of the pit lane after the green.  Qual race 1 wound up to be my drive of the weekend, I managed to make it to 8th from the back with no double yellow and scored some good points.  Qual race 2 was better, started 8th but took a while to shake the pack and get to 3rd, by that time you and Pombo were gone and 3rd was the only result.

 

The race for me was the most controlled part of my whole week, finally was able to drive my own race with minimal drama.  Dicing and racing side by side with Danny and Mat is something special, these guys are world class drivers and it's a joy to race with drivers that you know will not take you out or cause unnecessary contact.  Spec Miata is something special for sure.

 

Thanks again to everyone that helped make this possible:

 

Autotechnik - We have such a great team of people with a priority to have fun at everyone's expense (including our own), it's so much easier to focus on driving when you know that you have competitive power that can be scrutinized at the highest level with no issues.  It's a shame Jeff and the boys weren't able to make it, they were having a great time of their own down at Sebring.

 

Momo - Thanks for the support all year, the Advanced Driver Cooling setup was a great help all week as the heat was relentless.  I look forward to helping bring more products to club racers next season!

 

Apex Alignment - The long hours on the rack and scales have paid off, I made exactly -one- adjustment all week and the car was spot on.  Thanks for all of the R&D down at the shop and taking my feedback from the event weekends to improve and perfect.  It's crystal clear what the best race alignment shop is in South Florida, you deserve all of your success and recognition!

 

Old Dogs Racing - HUGE thanks to Mark Gibbons and the old dogs for taking us in this week, Autotechnik seems to have found another group that can act as much of a fool as we do (they're better at drinking than we are though...).  Shame about Mark's car issues as I think a top 10 was possible, we'll keep working at it!

 

Mike Rossini - Thanks for your help all week especially in tech, you are a class act and we had a great time hanging out all week with you and Mr. Ferrari  You are one of the main reasons that Spec Miata is in a great place right now and will continue to grow in the future.

 

Video soon!

[Alex Bolanos]

Qualifying race one, started from pit lane, finished P8

 

[Speedycrw]

Nice drives Alex, Congratulations on getting the big one!

[Alex Bolanos]

And... here's the race!

 

[Danny Steyn]

Great measured drive Alex - watched it twice already!!!. Must say its nice to see that I wasn't the only one who had a bobble or two! Makes me feel a little better after my T3 snafu!

[Bench Racer]

Qualifying race one, COOL, CONTROLED, RELENTLESS.

[Jim Drago]

Qualifying race one, started from pit lane, finished P8

 

 

 

 

I have to say I don't think starting from the pit lane was fair. missing the grid was a bad enough penalty. They should have let you join at the tail of the field.  CCR rule?

 

Not sure what everyone else thought? My opinion was starting so far down the front straight made for more fair restarts?

[FTodaro]

Alex, just now had the time to watch your vid. Nice driving dude. you were battling a two car team at times, nice work. You were defiantly getting through 7 and 1 well and that was big. very few mistakes. I wish i could do that. Sweet.

[Bench Racer]

Qualifying race one, COOL, CONTROLED, RELENTLESS.

Race, same, same, same with a dash of URGENCY. 

 

[Parity]

http://www.youtube.c...e&v=OyPAVSciEEE

 

Nice little production by Mazda with comments from Danny "Stain".

[Bench Racer]

Interesting, add a couple faces to names.

[MPR22]

And yes I might be a redneck.

[Ron Alan]

Nicely done! Is there the actual race posted somewhere?

[chris haldeman]

Very proud of the x-factor drivers interviews!!

[Jim Drago]

Did anyone else notice the funky lower control arm bushing i had to go back and look again Not a miata

 

Good job on the interviews guys!

 

Alex told me they are not doing a full race video.. Not sure why...Pretty lame

 

Jim

[suck fumes]

Great videos but yah I wish they had done a whole race. Could have made a cool episode on discovery velocity channel!

[Ron Alan]

Did anyone else notice the funky lower control arm bushing i had to go back and look again

Jim

I thought a cockroach ran across the screen...it was the bolt falling in slow motion!

[john mueller]

I have to say I don't think starting from the pit lane was fair. missing the grid was a bad enough penalty. They should have let you join at the tail of the field.  CCR rule?

 

 

 

Yes, CCR rule.  For whats it worth, I was told almost every run group had an issue on Friday with SM having the most show-up after the one-minute signal was given.  ** NOTE: I was not there,  I got this information from a NASA official. **

 

Below are links to the rules and the unedited excerpt from them.

 

NASA EASTERN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP REGULATIONS (aka: "supps") - found on page 3

8. Grid
1) Drivers running in back to back sessions may have their second car staged in the pit lane or grid with the permission of the Grid and Pit Lane/Re-Entry Officials.
2) Cars not in position by the 1 minute signal may be held at the front of pit lane until their respective class/group has received the green flag.

 

 

NASA CCR - found on page 67

20.3.1 Pre -Grid
Pre-Grid should be formed, as scheduled, prior to the race.  Any driver failing to make it in to their assigned Pre-Grid before the one-minute signal is given, will be sent out last of all classes.

The competitor has the option of missing the warm up lap, in which case they may be released from the pit lane with their class, at the discretion of the Re-Entry Marshal, after the green flag has been displayed, or racing resumes. Under no circumstances, except under direct order from the Race Director, will a late car be allowed to regain their position on the pace lap.

 

Personally I wish there was some leniency awarded since the logistics of the facility helped create the problem, but I also heard that a adult pedestrian with a child was very nearly run over by a non-mazda racecar as the car sped through the paddock to make grid.  After that incident they had to get serious.