BMWCCA Club Race 12/7-9/2007
First, I did not gain enough points this weekend to secure the national championship.
I will finish my rookie season in 3rd place Nationaly in BMWCCA Club Racing K-Prepared, while winning the North Central Regional Championship.
I arrived at Roebling Road around 1pm on Friday and we had a practice session at 4. The entire weekend was coinciding not with a DE, but SVRA Vintage Racing. There was some beautiful machinery there. Overall impression of the track: There is very little room for error. Most of the turns are of decreasing radius or tighten up into another turn. So, if you enter a bit hot, you don't get a chance to recover because the turn tightens even further. 4 laps into the practice session, as I’m trying to learn the track, I was coming out of a very fast (90+ mph) turn 3 when the car in front of me blew its $10k motor (he had JUST installed it!). I was immediately blinded by the smoke and just trying to dodge his car. I slid in his oil off to the inside of turn 4, watching him spin back and forth ahead of me and to my left. As I was sliding, I did what little I could to guide my car between his, a dirt berm on my right, and an upcoming tire wall. I narrowly escaped 3 big collisions. Unfortunately, the rest of the session was cancelled in order to clean up. I hadn’t even had time to determine my shift points.
Saturday morning was very foggy and our session was delayed, but we still got most of our time in. I was getting a little more comfortable with the track, but not exactly cozy yet. I had been practicing on my Toyo RA-1 tires, but qualified on my Kumho V710 race tires about 1 second faster than the RA-1’s. Before the enduro, I found out that James Clay (owner of Bimmerworld) and Seth Thomas, drivers of the Bimmerworld E90 SPEED Touring Cars, would both be driving Spec E30’s in K-Prepared! The 2 fastest cars (de Haro and Hinkley) were both on Hoosiers. I didn't realize that Hinkley was in the points race, as he had registered last minute...
Come race time, things started out well. Seth got past me and he and James were nose to tail, with me following behind, for a few laps. Then, coming around T3, a Mod car went by me on the outside (clean pass). My inexperience at this track created the following condition: I did not align myself toward the inside of T4, behind the Mod car, because I didn't trust myself and my car to not hit him when we braked as soon as we straightened up. I stayed just to the left and I didn't realize at the time that I had just effectively cut my braking zone in HALF. Needless to say, I went off FAST. Through the grass, the sand did nothing, and I expected to initially crunch into the 3 foot tall berm. I was headed with the left front corner first and when the car started to climb the berm, I then thought I was going over it into the trees. When I rode up the berm but didn't go over, then I thought I'd flip to the right side. When I actually rode back down the berm, I couldn't really believe it. I didn't know if the car was running, but I put it in 2nd and put my foot down... It kept going, so I reentered the track.
Off-Roading
As the race continued, I found myself later behind Nissen in another KP car. We came around T3 and I was on his tail, coming up on him a considerable bit quicker. The car in front of him checked up early, causing him to brake early, and I just didn't leave myself enough reaction time. I tried to dodge him, but I tagged his rear bumper with my right front. I was just thinking that I really hoped that I didn't damage him or cause him to spin. Fortunately, neither of those occurred. I was not so lucky, though. It broke my bumper and caused me to repeat my trip to, up, and down the same berm as before. Coming back on the track, I asked myself if I should just bring it in and call it quits. Maybe some of you would agree... I stayed out, though, and finished the race in 6th of 7. The car was over-steering pretty badly at that point, though. I thought I may have broken something. Also, there was a heavy vibration which I was assuming was my wheel bearing, which was already on its way out, saying “Sayonara”. I was immensely frustrated and regretting having attended.
Broken bumper, missing lower valence.
Saturday night, I happened to be eating with Robert Patton (KP) and telling him what had happened. He informed me that he had a wheel bearing and it was not difficult to replace. With the help of pretty much the entire Bimmerworld team, but especially Dave, I got it replaced in not too much time at all! Unfortunately, the go-karting place shut down early, so Vivek, myself, and most of Bimmerworld ended up just heading downtown. It was fun hanging out and getting to know everyone, at their best (ie, beligerant!).
Sunday’s qualifying left me only more frustrated. The car was over-steering horribly and I was 2 ½ seconds off my pace and there was still a strong vibration, putting me at the back of the pack. Vivek suggested unhooking he rear sway bar in a last ditch effort to get the rear to grip. Bimmerworld Dave was helping me again and we jacked the rear of the car. Well, we discovered that there was no rear sway bar to remove (I bought the car built as-is), but as I caught Dave glance at my tires, I also looked and uttered an “oh, shit.” I had only run these tires in 2 race weekends (quals and race only, no practice) and the right rear was corded 2/3 of the way across, all the way around, and there was a visible patch of belt. I hadn’t even considered that these p.o.s. tires could’ve worn that quickly. They weren’t even that grippy! My only option was to run my practice tires.
Corded V710
Sunday’s race went much better than Saturday’s. I wasn’t going to be in it with Hinkley and de Haro, but I wanted to have a good run. Starting from the back, I was able to work my way up through a bunch of cars. I had some good dices with KP cars and ran the entire second half of the race back and forth with Tom Tice’s SE36, ultimately finishing 3rd in class. At least it was a satisfying finish to a frustrating (and costly) weekend.
"Roebling LOWLIGHTS":
I end up in 3rd overall in KP this year. It’s been a huge learning experience and I’ve been having a blast. I’ve found the range of emotion in this sport to be enormous and I’ve gotten a taste of each end. I hope to be able to build on what I’ve learned this year and make a good run at the KP title next year. Thank you to all of you who have helped me out this year, including GrassRootsGarage.com and especially to Scott and www.MyTrackSchedule.com. MY BEST MEMORIES FROM THIS SEASON ARE THOSE WHEN I’VE HAD MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY WITH ME!
End of the season
