119 replies to this topic

[Jim Drago]

Look forward to seeing most everyone down there. I had two cancellations. If any one is needing trackside let me know as we will have some extra crew and can do an extra car or two

 

Jim

[Danica Davison]

Preston. P$. Pardus. Sweep.
 
G.
O.
A.
T.
 
GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT.GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT. GOAT.

 

#MazdaPickedTheWrongGuy

[MPR22]

I'm Baaaaaacckkk. 

[Danica Davison]

I'm Baaaaaacckkk.

 

Backstreet's back .... ALRIGHT!

[Danny Steyn]

Congrats to Preston Pardus for a flawless performance yesterday in Race 1.  Sheer domination.

 

Qualifying was amazing. On two separate parts of the track, 4 drivers qualified within a few thousandths of each other. I had new-to-spec-miata Jarred Thomas working with me and Preston Pardus and Michael Carter paired up. Pardus qualified with a blistering 2:34.601, Carter was 2:34.602, I ran a 2:34.667 (my fastest Sebring lap by a long shot), and Jarred 2:34.693. Drago and Buras were also in the 2:34's and the top 11 were within 1 second. This is what makes this class so great. 

 

In the race Preston got a great start and with Drago pushing me and me pushing Pardus, the three of us on the inside line cleared Carter and proceeded to open a bit of a gap. I was running in a handy 2nd place, trying to hang with Preston, but then I missed a 3-4 shift coming out of T7. Seriously - 3-4 shift??? How can anyone miss that shift? DOH! And I went straight back to 6th.

 

Up front Pardus was putting on a clinic with Drago and Goulart working hard to stay with him. Running 4th, 5th and 6th, myself, Carter and Thomas just never got our stuff together, and we dropped further back. But we had a great race fighting with each other and crossed the line overlapping. Hardest I have ever worked to finish 6th, and one of the most fun races in a long time. 

 

The YOUNG drivers are on a charge. 4 of the top 7 drivers are 21 years or younger - Preston 20, Carter 19, Thomas 21, and young Tyler Gonzalez 14 (who finished 7th) 

 

I was really impressed with Thomas who is the real deal. Fantastic car control, no fear. He is going to be quick for sure. And Gonzalez showed just how good he is with his 7th place finish yesterday. Spec Miata is becoming the place where the kids come to race, and this bodes well for our class, attracting young talent like this. 

 

Today for Race 2 we will all be chasing Pardus hoping he will fold under the pressure, but I am not holding my breath!

[Danny Steyn]

And it was great to see Michael Ross back on track. One of the good guys IMO, and despite being away for 9 months, he was quickly on the pace. Impressive

[Bench Racer]

Not to mess with Danny's post. I posted in another Sebring thread I had viewed Thomas last year several times at the Farm and Road America. 

https://www.facebook...edThomasRacing/

[tylerbrown]

Jared was fast last year and did well at Blackhawk Farms and Mid-Ohio. He will be another great top end of the field contender this year.

 

Congrats to Preston on the weekend.

[Danny Steyn]

Yesterday's Race 2 was a bit of a Cluster! One FCY early on for incident where Skip was turned into the wall exiting T16, and then we ended under black flag when cars went into the tire wall exiting T17. Never a good place to track out.

 

That being said, the podium for Race 2 was a sign of The Future for Spec Miata - Preston Pardus (20), Michael Carter (19), Jarred Thomas (21). Their cumulative age is only 60, but they have over 43 years of racing experience between them. That is what we are up against. Spec Miata has a very bright future when it attracts this kind of talent that see it as a legitimate stepping stone to the pro ranks, and I am proud to race against these guys. We are going to have our hands full for the foreseeable future.

 

Just love racing in Spec Miata

[Danica Davison]

Preston Pardus (20),

 

Just one fact check, P$ is 21 and turns 22 in February . So, he is basically an old man now!

[Jim Drago]

Yesterday's Race 2 was a bit of a Cluster! One FCY early on for incident where Skip was turned into the wall exiting T16, and then we ended under black flag when cars went into the tire wall exiting T17. Never a good place to track out.
 
That being said, the podium for Race 2 was a sign of The Future for Spec Miata - Preston Pardus (20), Michael Carter (19), Jarred Thomas (21). Their cumulative age is only 60, but they have over 43 years of racing experience between them. That is what we are up against. Spec Miata has a very bright future when it attracts this kind of talent that see it as a legitimate stepping stone to the pro ranks, and I am proud to race against these guys. We are going to have our hands full for the foreseeable future.
 
Just love racing in Spec Miata

First congratulations to Preston, while many of us feel we had an opportunity to win had things been just a little different etc, I assure you, we didn't! It was his race to lose and I don't think I saw him make a mistake from session one on test day to the last lap of yesterday's cluster. VERY well deserved. He is REALLY driving at a very high level right now. To echo what Danny said..  These kids are all very talented and most have as much racing experience in there early 20's as I do at 52. I feel i drove really well for both weekends and my car is good. Not "happy" with a 3& 4 finish, but content I guess. It was pretty cool to have a all SM national Champion podium Saturday with Preston, Elivan and myself followed with the youth movement on Sunday of Preston, Michael and Jared. 

 

I have to say I am pretty disappointed with the way yesterday's race was handled. I am glad all are ok who were involved in two very nasty wrecks.   IMo we were the last race before lunch.  We should have been parked, clock stopped and the race restarted. Most all of us have travelled hundreds of miles, paid the ridiculous super tour entry fee, bought the required two sets of hoosier stickers, housing etc. Two give us less than two laps of racing is just pathetic. They could have easily pushed lunch back and cut it short 15 minutes and made up the time.  Pretty sad.  Not sure who is making these decisions, but terrible judgement IMO.

 

Lastly, The penske shocks, I am a fan. But they have an issue IMo already, The thin washer above the bump stop was crushed on most cars to form fit the hex nut in the shock hat. They pulled our left rear to inspect this weekend.  the answer from penske while not "wrong" is VERY unrealistic.. You should raise the car off the stops. I can assure you I was running the car higher than most and still destroyed this shim. IMO we need a thicker shim or we should be allowed to epoxy around the hex nut to allow the thin shim a firm flat base to seat against.  Not sure how much of "problem" this will be , but doesnt look good. 

 

Jim 

 

 

[Danica Davison]

I have to say I am pretty disappointed with the way yesterday's race was handled. I am glad all are ok who were involved in two very nasty wrecks.   IMo we were the last race before lunch.  We should have been parked, clock stopped and the race restarted. Most all of us have travelled hundreds of miles, paid the ridiculous super tour entry fee, bought the required two sets of hoosier stickers, housing etc. Two give us less than two laps of racing is just pathetic. They could have easily pushed lunch back and cut it short 15 minutes and made up the time.  Pretty sad.  Not sure who is making these decisions, but terrible judgement IMO.

 

They could have red flagged it which would stop the clock. But, if they did what you said for one race, they would have to do it for all of them. And, if they did it for every race group ... the last group or two would have a night race.

[n1gzd]

Wow, perhaps should delay installing mine incase a washer parts change is made in response to this. It looks pretty undesirable to me.

[MPR22]

Yesterday's Race 2 was a bit of a Cluster! One FCY early on for incident where Skip was turned into the wall exiting T16, and then we ended under black flag when cars went into the tire wall exiting T17. Never a good place to track out.

 

That being said, the podium for Race 2 was a sign of The Future for Spec Miata - Preston Pardus (20), Michael Carter (19), Jarred Thomas (21). Their cumulative age is only 60, but they have over 43 years of racing experience between them. That is what we are up against. Spec Miata has a very bright future when it attracts this kind of talent that see it as a legitimate stepping stone to the pro ranks, and I am proud to race against these guys. We are going to have our hands full for the foreseeable future.

 

Just love racing in Spec Miata

Don't forget Tyler Gonzalez, he was right there both days and has a bright future.  

 

Left the track disappointed in my driving, rusty is the best adjective.  Was able to put together a few good laps here and there but not the consistency needed to win or even be top competitor.  After sleeping on it and thinking about what Danny has said above, feeling much better.  I race at most 6 times a year, and the last two years I have raced even less.  I am behind the curve on the shocks, which is leading to some of the inconsistency.  You can't just show up and hope to win or even be in the lead train.  Great to be back and see all the familiar faces and to meet the new ones.  

 

X-Factor put a really fast car under me this weekend and allowed me to just focus on driving.  Thank you Chris, Michael, Dave and Carl.    

[Jim Drago]

They could have red flagged it which would stop the clock. But, if they did what you said for one race, they would have to do it for all of them. And, if they did it for every race group ... the last group or two would have a night race.

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.

 

They made a bad decision, period. I know you and your family volunteer and do a lot in CFR, not disparaging the region. Just pointing out they could have and should have handled this better.  It is VERY unrealistic that it happened to all classes.. They could have shortened lunch and/or the races like they did Saturday. 

For our entry we got a race shortened to 20 minutes on Saturday and 2 green laps on Sunday.  That is a long way to go and a large expense for about 10 laps of racing.

[Danica Davison]

If [/size]ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.[/size]
 
They made a bad decision, period. I know you and your family volunteer and do a lot in CFR, not disparaging the region. Just pointing out they could have and should have handled this better.  It is VERY unrealistic that it happened to all classes.. They could have shortened lunch and/or the races like they did Saturday. 
For our entry we got a race shortened to 20 minutes on Saturday and 2 green laps on Sunday.  That is a long way to go and a large expense for about 10 laps of racing.[/size]

 
I understand your point and didn't take offense to it. It is now part of my very high paying job to talk to drivers about these situations . I wasn't aware the races were shortened on Saturday. I am guessing that was due to the GT1 Corvette on fire? That is unfortunate, because it definitely took a long time to clean up.

I would like to point out your comment here:  "It is VERY unrealistic that it happened to all classes." .  Unfortunately for everyone, it is very realistic and it did* happen to all other classes. The Saturday Spec Miata race was the ONLY  race session the entire weekend that did not have a FCY.  Also, historically, this has been the case for the last few years. SM has been one of the only groups that have not had a FCY. So, I understand the frustration of having the races shortened, and I think maybe it could have been redflagged in this instance and have the time stopped since there were cars, tires, and sebring trucks blocking about 90% of the track. But, since it stayed FCY, they just followed procedure and let the time roll out.

[Jim Drago]

 
 I think maybe it could have been redflagged in this instance and have the time stopped since there were cars, tires, and sebring trucks blocking about 90% of the track. But, since it stayed FCY, they just followed procedure and let the time roll out.

So you are saying you think they made a bad decision    

[Steve Scheifler]

Regarding the Penske shocks, I’m trying to picture the pieces and their purposes. Is that bent “washer” directly between the large nut under the shock hat and the bump stop simply to protect the stop from sharp edges? If so, are you compressing the bump stop enough to deform it around that washer and bend it? I didn’t think they were that big in diameter so I’m visualizing something wrong.

Has anyone checked the fronts?

Has anyone placed a video camera on these yet?

It doesn’t seem like a big deal if this happens on the occasions when you hit a particularly large bump/hole/curb. It folds out of the way once and done. But if getting into the stops is more common even with the car as high as you had it then that’s a potential issue for multiple reasons. Would be really nice to get video at both ends.

[Jim Drago]

Steve

The thin washer is between the hex nut and the stop. I believe it was so the stop rested on a flat surface. It is to thin to support the stop it seems? but yes, the stop is compressing and deforming the washer as it bottoms out. 

Jim

[Steve Scheifler]

OK, just looked at Ralph’s original FB posts (thanks again Ralph!). I’m repeating myself, but I really don’t understand why they didn’t shorten the rear shock body by at least 1/2 inch, or even more so they could stack two stops of different rates as they do up front. I don’t know how firm the rear stop is but it looks quite short so even if fairly soft it will just compress quickly then effectively go to infinity anyway. As much as the washer is deformed it must have done exactly that. Hopefully that was just one really big hit but curious to see what others find on each corner of their cars.