31 replies to this topic

[FTodaro]

The last 2 weeks where chamber of commerce weather. Sunny and mid 70's. Maybe the Ohioans brought the Mud Ohio rains

 Technically the track is in South Beloit Illinois

That is what Ann tried to pin on me when i saw her in the paddock.

[Bench Racer]

Frank, did ya catch any ​ off T1?

Great to see you, not fishing, in the paddock.

[Tom Sager]

Congrats to Voytek on the well earned double win in what may have been the toughest field I've seen at Blackhawk National/Major and to Mike N on the new record.  We've had this kind of cold and wet weather before at this event.  Just a very iffy time of year up here and it took a lot of enthusiasm Saturday to get through the day driving and working on cars.  Sunday was a welcome upgrade without the rain and we hit 50 degrees. 

 

As for the young talent most was near the front or the upper part of the field and it was an impressive group.  Justin I no longer consider you a part of that younger group.  You're just really good. 

 

The track is becoming less of a favorite of mine.  The people running it are terrific but since the surface was "enhanced" a few years ago with such nasty exit curbing in some areas, it's really hard on the car.  There's a great incentive to stay out of it but sometimes in our class you get helped out there and there is a price to pay.  We have passenger car suspension to a great extent.  The Formula car guys must like it even less.   I ran with a fairly exotic alignment Sunday which featured 1/4" (or slightly more) toe-in rear and who knows what cross weight.  Should have checked it earlier in the day but had a laundry list of things to do after Saturday.  The car car was pretty good though. 

 

I was surprised the double yellow didn't come out earlier with the car and wreckers being pretty close to the track and right in the line of fire if someone else had gone off similarly. 

 

Recommendation for anyone going back this year or next for a restaurant is Lucy's #7 Burger Bar in Beloit.  Tasty burgers and some interesting sides, good craft beer, nice pub atmosphere and dry inside. 

[Tom Scheifler]

Congrats to Voytek Burdzy on the double-win.  And to Evan Pecore, Justin Hille and Josh Bilicki for podiums.

 

Having run only mid-pack with our 1.6s at the Atlanta Major, Steve and I were expecting to do better at Blackhawk since we have more experience there and the track is good for 1.6s.

 

We had good weather for the Friday test day and were both turning some laps under the track record and many just above so we were feeling pretty good headed into Saturday.  Not everyone went out for the dry Saturday practice and the rain washed out any chance of getting a valid dry track comparison.

 

Sunday qualifying was damp-but-drying with most everyone getting their best lap on the last lap and wishing for just one more.  Still not what we'd hoped for to get a good dry track comparison.

 

Finally, the Sunday race was dry.  Steve got bounced from P5 to P18 because of the inexplicable under-weight violation in Q2 that he mentioned above.  That moved me from P10 to P9 which turned out to be very good at the start of the race (inside instead of outside).  Steve's bad weekend continued at the start when he got punted off T1 from behind and went to DFL.  My start went much better as the right side sailed through T1 and I was in P7 by T3. After 2 laps it became P6 when Tom Brown slid off in T4.  Running P6 (behind Evan) in my second Major I figured best to not force anything. The car had the power and setup to hang right with the lead train of cars.  I was able to just follow along with a couple passes made by Evan and was running P4 by lap 15 with less than a 1 second gap to P1.  On lap 17 I had a good opportunity to pass Josh for P3 from T2 to T3 but after making the pass I got loose in T3 and Josh was not able to check up in time to avoid contact and we both spun off track.  An unfortunate end for both of us but that's racing.

 

Although I'm disappointed I could not get my first top-10 finish it was clear that our 1.6s were competitive with the NBs at Blackhawk.  As expected, I could out-brake the NBs and (when the driver executed) often out-corner the NBs.  I don't think I ever out-powered any of the NBs when getting an equal exit from a corner.  I could hold even from T6 to T7 and T7 to T1.  The one draft I did get for trying a pass was aborted by a yellow at T1.  Over all my 1.6 seemed to have great parity with the top 6 cars on that day at that track.

 

So another data point in the books.  Looking forward to the St Louis major in a couple weeks.  I hope some more NBs decide to join the fun!

[evan.pecore]

Great running with everyone this weekend.  Congrats Novak on the record!  We learned a lot this weekend both on and off the track.

 

The myth of Voytek being good in the rain was confirmed.  Along with being good in the dry.  And good in traffic.  And good at pouring champagne down your back.  Great running with you.

 

Team shake and bake was fast.  Both Novak and Hille had times well under the track record.

 

Tyler Brown had a very good first majors weekend, looking forward to see where he is placing come the end of the season.

 

Bilicki also did a great job both days, unfortunate that him and Tom Scheifler went off as they were both very fast.

 

See everyone at Mid Ohio!

[tylerbrown]

Learned a lot this weekend for my first ever Majors weekend.

 

Test day was great to see the new car (VVT) that I built over the winter being driven on track by my dad doing very competitive times in the high 1.21s. In the afternoon I was able to join him on track in the 99, and it was very very cool to drive on track with him for the first time. In the third session one of the NC miatas on track went off in turn 4 after I assume hitting the large outside rumble strips there at corner exit. The next session with my dad right behind me, I made a mistake and turned in early to turn 4 which pushed me over those same outside rumble strips, I was unable to get the car to keep turning left on the rumbles and once I hit the grass I went straight for the tires. Thankfully all the damage that I did was bent in the bumper and lost a mirror, after pushing some minor dents back out I went out for the last test session and was able to do a personal best lap at blackhawk with a 1.22.080. 

 

Saturday brought pretty miserable weather, before the session it was a toss up for wets or dries and my dad and I decided on dries, luckily that was the winning gamble as a dry line formed right away and times dropped every lap. I was able to qualify 8th and my dad 3rd. The race was no question going to be a rain race and it was also my first time ever racing in the rain. I was on two year old rain tires with two or three heat cycles on them, and for the record, they are not the best option! Still had a great time learning how to drive in the rain, pretty terrifying going through many corners not being able to see in front of you!! I fell back to 15th by the end of the race but was very happy that I survived the race! My dad finished 5th that day.

 

Sunday morning the track was dry for qualifying but I didn't feel the best with the car and was only able to secure a p15 with a 1.23.736. My dad qualified 3rd again. The race I had a good start, the inside line had a little bit of bump braking but nothing too serious, a few cars on the outside line went a little wide which gave me a good run into turn 3 and I had a good spot for the start of the race. Lap 2 I could only watch as my dad did the same thing that I did in turn 4 on the test day, and go into the tires. Watching that happen got to my head and it took me a couple laps before I could re focus on driving again. I lost some spots while that happened. After the restart I was able to refocus and had a good battle with Alex Piku and was right on Justin Elder's bumper for a five or six laps closing up on the tail of the lead pack. I then dropped a wheel on the exit of turn one which gapped me about three car lengths back from Elder and Alex was right on me again. After another mistake Alex was able to get around me and then after another couple laps I was able to get back around Alex. I finished 8th for my first Majors race which felt pretty dang good, after watching video I realized I was over slowing a few corners which  if I were to have corrected that I may have been able to stay with the lead pack.

 

Something that was mentioned above too was that even though the caution was out in turn 4, I don't believe anyone made any attempt to slow down, every lap we went through the flagger seemed to be waiving the flag more furiously trying to get us to slow at least a little. There was a car and a safety truck with safety workers trying to get the car off of the tires in the impact zone, if any were to drop a wheel in the wet grass they would have clobbered the safety team....... I believe that it why they threw the full course caution to get us to slow down, maybe it should have been thrown sooner? 

 

Great job to Voytek for winning both days

Hille and Bilicki did a great job all weekend, and my buddy Evan Pecore really impressed me with fourth and second place finishes!!

Great job to Novak on the track record as well!

 

Wish the weather was better on saturday, but overall a pretty good weekend, looking forward to learning more and more, I know I sure learned a lot this weekend.

 

Tyler

[JRHille]

 

video from Sunday race

[Bench Racer]

Fun ride, thanks for sharing.

[Michael Novak]

 

 

My Run from 9th to 12th to 4th  Lots of crazy offs from the field and a large blunder from me...

 

 

Start at 18:25 or so...   I didn't edit it...

[Bench Racer]

Michael, coming off T4 outside apex, WOW, WOW, WOW, ya can only jump the hump so far.  This past weekend our friend Down Town Tommy Brown jumped the T4 apex hump and then mounted the hill embankment at T5. Once upon a time my talented ITA rx7 decided it wanted to jump the T4 outside apex hump, afterwards it's parts were sold all over east of the big river.

[Michael Novak]

Michael, coming off T4 outside apex, WOW, WOW, WOW, ya can only jump the hump so far.  This past weekend our friend Down Town Tommy Brown jumped the T4 apex hump and then mounted the hill embankment at T5. Once upon a time my talented ITA rx7 decided it wanted to jump the T4 outside apex hump, afterwards it's parts were sold all over east of the big river.

Yes... It was a little too much....   Glad it didnt go bad...

[FTodaro]

Nice Drive Mike. people must fear you, no one drove a defensive line on the front straight, knowing that you were going to come to the inside. Looking like shake and bake.