Barber Motorsports Park

I am in disbelief…

Going into this North American Challenge event, I sat 2nd in the National Championship for K-Prepared. I had no one challenging me in class and all I needed to do was to finish 50% of the laps in ONE of the races (they were all worth 150% points) in order to secure the K-Prepared National Title. That should’ve been pretty easy…

In qualifying for the 90 minute Enduro on Saturday, I noticed the motor sounding rough in high rpms and it eventually lost some power, so I brought it in. I pulled the valve cover and spark plugs and found I had fouled a plug. While I sent my friend Eric to buy some plugs, I decided to gap the valves with my friend Julie (they were helping crew for the weekend). When I got to the #2 cylinder intake rocker, I noticed a LOT of play. Upon a closer look, the wear pad where the rocker contacts the cam lobe was worn completely down. I wouldn't be able to run the enduro that day, so I set to work on that with the help of Chuck Baader, who was paddocked next to me, as well as Eric, Julie, and a guy Leslie from work who had come to watch the race. We worked the whole afternoon and by the time we were kicked out at 7pm, it was put back together with a replacement rocker arm. We just needed to refill the radiator and top off the oil. We finished that in the morning and the car ran, but I knew the motor was hurt.





I went out in qualifying, shifting at no more than 5,000 rpm. I was slow, but I confirmed that it ran. The session was black-flagged after 3 laps for an incident, so we all went into the pits. I was going to go back out, but I decided to pull it in while it was still running. I pulled the valve cover again to look things over. Everything seemed ok. I just needed to nurse it through 50% of the first race…

I started the race from the back of the field. It was frustrating to shift at only 5,000 rpm, but after a couple laps I was ok with it and having a little fun with a couple other cars at the back of the field. I could hear a valve tick on the few left hand turns, which would have indicated oil starvation. I previously suspected a problem with the oil-sprayer that keeps the rockers and cam lubricated… On the 4th lap, coming out of the hairpin, the motor blew with a light bang and a huge plume of white smoke out the tailpipe. As it died, I coasted as far as I could, but I was only half-way around the track. I watched the race from over the fence until I was pulled in at the end.

Looking at the race results, I had finished 4 laps and the lead BMW’s had finished 10. Had I completed the lap that I was on, I would have completed 50% of the laps and the race would have counted for me. I was a HALF A LAP away from the National Championship.

I have one more chance at winning the championship and that is at Roebling Road, outside of Savannah, GA, in December. There will be some fast guys in my class there and I’ll have to either win the non-feature race, or place 2nd or 1st in the Feature race in order to still win the championship… By 1 point. Its going to be a lot harder than “simply finishing” a race. Stay tuned…

Mid-Ohio - Great Pumpkin Race

REVIEW:
If you had asked me anytime between the first race of this year (VIR) and Oktoberfest (Watkins Glen), I probably would’ve told you that I anticipated attending this race at Mid-Ohio just simply for fun. If you’ve been keeping up, you may remember that I incurred a penalty at VIR for hitting a tire wall in practice. That penalty put me on probation for 3 months, took away all my points for that weekend, and docked me 20 points off of my season total points. I didn’t know if it was even possible to recover from that.

The results from Oktoberfest changed things. I had beaten out the biggest field of competitors this year at my home track of Watkins Glen in 2 of the 3 races. The feature race had the only 200% points multiplier of the year and, with up to 10 bonus points for the 12 racers finishing behind me, it added up to be the largest and 2nd largest possible single points finishes possible for the series. Had I not snapped an axle in the 3rd race, I may have been able to hang on to pull off a hat-trick, but alas, the 2 wins put me back in contention for the national championship!

So, going into this race at Mid-Ohio, there ended up being a lot riding on these results. I was going to need a few wins through the remaining races this season in order to pull to the front of the national points race. I was only facing one other competitor in K-Prepared, but he was a formidable opponent. I’ve been battling all year with my nemesis, the #82, John Negus.

THIS RACE:
For this weekend, we would have a 40 minute sprint race and a 60 minute enduro, which requires a pit stop. I had dedicated support in the form of my crew-chief-for-the-weekend, Kevin Kreisa, who is my mechanic/badass fabricator under the name DTR Performance, and my friend Jeff Chiang who, for some reason, had offered to help me out again. Since I had to pamper my voluntary crew, I rented a garage, which we shared with my friend Tim Smith and his co-driver Doug Thoms. You may recall that Tim and I traded paint a couple times at Watkins Glen among some close, hard racing.

I had made some significant upgrades to my car before Oktoberfest and I was expecting them to translate into a decent drop in lap time. I was hoping that Negus would no longer be able to keep up with me, but it turned out that he haad also made some major improvements, too, and not only to his car.

It had been raining at Mid-Ohio for the last day or two and, although it had stopped, it wasn’t even 40 degrees in the morning, so that moisture wasn’t really going anywhere. Practice was wothless for me, as we had experienced some delay in having the car prepared that morning, so I only got a few laps, and in cold and wet conditions at Mid-Ohio, it makes for a pretty treacherous time.

For qualifying, the track was wet and we were on rain tires. I had a decent run, but was taking it somewhat easy in consideration of the conditions. Negus qualified just ahead of me. Well, rain is the great equalizer for horsepower, and we would be starting 6th and 7th out of the entire field! We were definitely going to be needing to watch our mirrors for faster traffic coming through, as the conditions dried up for the race.

The start of the first race was crazy. There were faster cars slicing up through the field and when we all reached Turn 1, there were 2 IP cars in front that were spinning and sending the rest of the field scattering to avoid them. NO ONE made contact, though! After narrowly sneaking through that, I worked on closing down the gap between me and Negus. It took about half the race, but when I caught him, I tailed him for a lap before finding the opportunity to take him on the inside of T12 (the drop into Thunder Valley). I was able to hang on for the class win!

The Fun Race was rediculous for me, as my car was oversteering horrendously on the practice tires, which I have some theories about... I decided to just have fun and put on a show for those watching, often drifting through many of the turns in a full tail-slide. I even made a trip into China Beach (off the end of the back straight) for them when I had braked a touch late and was still on them as I turned in. The car snapped around and I went off down into the gravel. I missed it... I hadn't been in there yet this year! After several attempts, I made my way out to the cheering of the crowd that was watching from madness. I drifted through the grass, flashing my lights at them, and continued on to the end.













THANK YOU TO ANDY WELTER FOR THE FANTASTIC PHOTOGRAPHY!
http://www.the-welters.com/racing/bmwcca/oct2008/index.html

On Sunday, there were a lot of people who had come to see the race. Not the least of which were Katy and her parents! Just prior to the Feature Enduro, a rainstorm came through that had everyone scrambling on tire choice. Looking at the radar, it looked like it was going to pass, so I stayed with dry’s. That was the right choice. When it came race time, Negus turned on the heat. He qualified several spots ahead of me and was pulling me early in the race. I had Charles Benoit, in an I-Stock E30 M3, pressuring me from behind. I started slowly closing the gap on Negus and had closed about half of it after 5 or 6 laps. But then Benoit took me on the inside of T7 and the side-by-side through 7-8-9 countered the ground I had just made up on Negus. Benoit got by and I had to put my frustration aside and think about what I could do. He was quicker than me in the straights and I figured that if I could stick close enough to him, I could use his draft to help me catch Negus. While doing this, it only took a handful of laps for us to catch him. And, in the meantime, I set my personal best-lap of a 1:44.556. We caught up with Negus and Benoit got by him.





We were at the 40 minute mark and my guy Kevin told me over the radio to "pit on the next lap". I acknowledged this, but I wasn’t going to pit until I had caught Negus and put some pressure on him. If past experience was any indication, all I had to do was get close to him and he would put himself off. I caught him and as we were going into the carousel, he went in a bit hot and had the car sliding around the ouside of the turn. I tucked in under him, but keeping as much distance as I could so that I could either accelerate or brake, depending on what his car did. As soon as I saw the opportunity, I jetted ahead and watched Negus spin off into the gravel behind me. I called in to Kevin that I would, indeed, pit on the next lap. My friend Dave Cochran happened to capture video of the incident!:


The pit stop went smoothly and I headed back out. A lap later, Benoit exited the pits and we had ourselves a great battle to the end of the race, with me crossing the finish line merely inches off his bumper. I could hear Katy and her parents cheering when I pulled into the pits at the end! It was great to have the support of so many people around, sticking out the cold weather!

The results from this race weekend positioned me to need to simply finish one of the 3 races at Barber Motorsports Park in November in order to clinch the K-Prepared National Championship. The Barber write-up is coming next…

BMWCCA Oktoberfest 2008 - Watkins Glen

After hanging out at home in Rochester for a few days, I headed down to Watkins Glen on Wednesday to instruct the driving school for 2 days and get a little practice in. The driving school organizer was joking that I was the most-requested instructor there, as my A-Group student was my student from Mid-Ohio last month who requested me again, and a couple racers who were coming to the Glen for the first time had done the same. My C-group student on Thursday was driving a bone stock 4-cyl automatic Hyundai Sonata. I had the honor of taking him out for a couple of introductory laps in it and immediately overheated the brakes on their first application on my OUT-lap. Instructing him was not bad, actually. He listened well and improved significantly throughout the day. He couldn’t wait to come back once he bought his BMW! The weather was beautiful and it was enjoyable just to be in the middle of the huge Oktoberfest events.


Coming through Turn9, onto the NASCAR straight.

Friday practice went ok. I wasn't the quickest KP car out there, but I had narrow, old practice tires on. They were definitely taking a long time to warm up. While the previous days’ weather had been perfect, Qualifying on Friday afternoon for our race group was fogged out, so we substituted our Saturday no-points Fun Race with a Qualifying session in the morning.

The Qualifying session was very wet, so I took it easy and qualified 4th in a class of 13 and 17th overall (in Race Group 2). I would start the race with KP racer Keith Hammitte right in front of me, while John Negus and Michael Norek were 5 rows ahead. Considering that the other guys were running on Hoosier wet tires and I was on cheap Kumho Ecsta V700’s, going easy, I was satisfied with the result of qualifying. But, I had some ground to make up on these fast guys.

Saturday's early race began with everyone on wet tires. My Ecsta V700’s are not very good rain tires, but it turned out that they were pretty good intermediates! The weather had cleared and the track was merely damp by the time the green flag dropped.

On the race start, with Steve Shardt (founder of Forgeline Wheels) on the radio, I got a huge jump on the field. I was on the gas well before the green flag and I got a run past Hammitte in front of me, practically scraping my passenger side mirror down the pit wall in the process. We must’ve been 5-wide on the front straight! I had gotten all the way up to Norek by Turn 1 and went in side-by-side. I had picked up something like 8 spots on the start! Over the next several laps, I raced my way by Norek and eventually by Negus.

Just after I got by Negus (my nemesis) between Turns 9 and 10, I defended going into 11, which leads onto the front straight, and I dropped out of my power band. He and Norek got a good run and I saw them coming on our way into Turn 1. Norek was WAY on the inside and I could see by his speed that he was in way too early. Knowing what was about to happen, I backed off, let Norek slide across T1, meanwhile slowing down Negus since they went in together, and I powered out with nearly full exit speed, passing Negus before the top of the esses. On the following lap, though, Negus lost it coming out of the Outer Loop (T5d) and hit the armco, but fortunately was able to continue racing.


Leading Hammitte and Smith into the Toe of the Boot (Turn 7).

In the following laps, my friend Tim Smith, in his Spec E36, attempted a total Hail-Mary pass on me into Turn 1, but I had already committed to the turn, as he didn’t have a bumper on me by my turn-in point. I knew I wasn't leaving him much room (if enough at all) and tried to widen my line as I heard his tires howling next to me. I got a bit of a love tap that didn’t take any more than a brief correction to recover from. It was all good! There was yellow flag a couple laps later, though, that bunched up the field and so I had them behind me again, but the race ended under yellow. Unfortunately, my good friend Vivek had been spun by a KP driver coming out of the bus stop and hit the wall hard, putting him out for the weekend.
Overall I took 1st in class and 7th overall!


Momentarily opening a lead into the Toe of the Boot.

So, that’s where I started for the feature (200% points) race in the later afternoon. I was now running my new Hankook Z214 C51 tires, which I had just heat cycled on Wednesday. Leading the KP pack, when I had won the previous race partially due to lucky tire selection, was daunting, and especially knowing that the guys behind me were on Hoosiers.


Waiting on grid for the start of the Feature Race. Photo by Franco Culietta.


The race was fantastic. I had Hammitte all over the back of my car while I was running with the 2 points leaders in Spec E36 (Tim Smith and Mike Gilbert) through the entire race. The battles went back and forth relentlessly. I didn't want to interfere with the SE36 race, and in-fact had Gilbert motioning to me to leave them alone, but I had my own problems to deal with!! If either of them screwed up and left the door open, I was taking the position. And we swapped several times. The SE36 cars had bit more power, better aero, and could out-brake me, but I was quicker through the turns and their fastest lap times were within .1 sec of my 2:19.118 fastest lap! Hammitte even got by me at least a couple times through the race, but never for long. The back-and-forth was incredibly fun and, at one point, Gilbert even launched so far out into the runoff of T1 that he had to cut straight through the grass, foot flat on the gas, to get back on and keep his position!

Towards the end, a JP and a JS E30 M3 got caught up to us and the JS car made his way by. The JP car was David Hill and he got by me on the back straight, but I forced him to enter the bus stop on the right. He went in too hot, pushed wide to the right, and I passed him back as he drove off into the grass. Hammitte got by him, too. Hill re-passed Hammitte on the next lap and started pressuring me. Steve had been giving me updates on the radio whenever he could and had informed me that we were on the last lap. I frantically waved Hill off, both trying to keep him between me and Hammitte and also hoping he wouldn't try to force a pass that could give Hammitte the opportunity to get by me! Thankfully, he complied and I crossed the finish line 1st in class and 10th overall!! It looks like these Hankook tires really can run with the Hoosiers! Tim Smith also managed to finish in front of Gilbert and take 2nd for SE36, while Fred Furguson had won SE36 with a healthy 28 second lead.


Tailing Tim Smith into Turn 11, onto the front straight.


On Sunday, it was raining again, so I swapped to the rain tires. When I got out on track, I realized that my left rear spring was cocked out of its perch. The car was driving the way you might expect if you had a solid spring in your left rear, but with the addition of some funky noises in right-handers. I figured I had to do the best I could with what I had and just get through the race. I was starting in the lead for KP and knew I wouldn’t be able to fend off the guys on Hoosier Wets, but was hoping to minimize my positions lost.

I lost a couple of positions by the 2nd lap, as the lack of compliance in my left rear suspension was compounding the lack of grip of my Kumho tires. As it turned out, the spring was wedged against the CV Axle and the heat being generated snapped the axle on the 2nd lap. I heard the boom and immediately dipped the clutch and put the car in neutral. As I pulled off to the run-off area of T9, I heard a loud clanking and figured I had broken the axle. I watched some of the race from there and was picked up by a flat-bed truck and then towed in when the race finished. I received a DNF for that race, while Michael Norek picked up the KP win with 9 cars in class.


Very wet, trailing behind Hammitte.


Overall, I am hugely satisfied with the 2 hard-fought wins!! It was great to have my family and some friends with me and to come away with the results that evaded me at the Glen last year. The win in the 2nd race resulted in the highest possible points finish in any single race for the season, as Oktoberfest is the BMWCCA’s premier national event (10 points for the win x 200%, plus up to 10 points for cars finishing behind = 30 points). As I’m trying to recover from a 20 point penalty incurred at VIR at the beginning of the year, this result was critical for me. I’m now back in the running for the KP national title with races at Mid-Ohio, Barber, and Roebling Road left to finish off the season. We’ll see what happens!


Pipino, Pipina, Michelle, Christian, Franco, Papa', e Mamma.


Photo by Franco Cutietta.


Motioning about some move made on the track... looks kinda gay, though = P
Photo by Franco Cutietta.

Mid-Ohio 7-day SpeedFest!

Mid-Ohio 7-day Speedfest, May 20-27 Anthony Magagnoli #007 KP

Tues/Wed May 20/21: The Mid-Ohio School
Thus May 22: Work
Fri May 23: Private Coaching
Sat/Sun May 24/25: BMWCCA Club Races
Mon/Tues May 26/27: Chin Motorsports Driving School

Chapter 1: Tues/Wed May 20/21: The Mid-Ohio School

As Technical Leader for the Toyota 24 Hours of LeMons team, one of my responsibilities is to ensure adequate driver training for those of us who are crazy enough to drive these $500 heaps of metal. Upon considering all available options, I determined that The Mid-Ohio School would be the best option for us due to the fact that they provide the vehicles (which are also all equal to each other and most are front-wheel drive, like the cars we’ll be racing), the track is nearby, they offer a wide range of skill-building, and offer professional instructors.

10 of our 13 drivers were able to attend this date for the school and we headed up Monday night so that we’d be rested for the following day. Upon arriving at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, we headed up to the 2nd floor of the tower for sign-in and orientation. There we met our instructors. Chief Instructor was Brian Till, who is currently a race commentator on SPEED channel and formerly raced IndyCar, CART, and Formula Atlantics. Tommy Byrne has reached Formula1 level for testing previously in his career. Orlam Sonora is currently racing sports cars, Jim Bishop has a lot of racing experience, and Dave Roush (Program Manager) has extensive SCCA racing experience.

After a very brief orientation, we headed right out to the autocross track (in a parking lot) to stretch our legs. The cars we were using were Acura TSX’s with the A-Spec suspension package, summer tires, aggressive brake pads, and roll bars with harnesses. The cars that we used for this run had automatic transmissions that only required 1st gear to negotiate the course. Everyone got 1 timed run in the autocross course with no forewarning as to what to expect or how to approach it. Being all in equal cars, the brief pep talk I gave our drivers previously about this not being a competition event and to take it easy went right out the window as soon as the times started being written on the white-board, just as I expected ; ) Our 10 drivers from Toyota quickly showed dominance and posted the top 10 times among the 23 drivers present. Well, except for my own disqualification! I didn’t stop within the stop box and so my otherwise-good time was thrown out. D’oh! I hoped to redeem myself later.


Lining up, getting ready to go.


Taking the last turn to the finish!

Back in the classroom, Brian Till gave us a thorough explanation of the principals of high-performance driving, offering some good focus on how important some of them would be in our 24 Hours of LeMons race. After this, we headed out to the parking-lot areas and split into 3 groups.


Brian Till; classroom instruction


LeMons Drivers, Listen up!

8 of our drivers went as one group while I pulled Chase off with me to go into another group. Our first event was the Slalom exercise. We now had our own TSX’s, this time with 6-speed manuals. I think the Slalom was the least-favorite exercise among the group, but it basically incorporated accelerating and then smoothly transitioning back and forth through the cones, first steadily, and then using lift-throttle to aid in turning the car. In reality, the distance between the cones was decreasing, so we were slowing throughout the series of cones, not having the room to get back ON the throttle in order to use the lift-off for rotation. Halfway through the exercise, it was changed to a Brake-and-Turn exercise. This time, we accelerated down a straight-away that had a 90 degree right hand bend at the end. There were braking markers on the left side and apex and exit cones, as well. The target was to gradually brake later and later until we could just barely make the turn, carrying as much speed as possible. Hitting the apex and track-out cones was highly encouraged. This was a beneficial way to learn how to find the limits through a turn without hugely overstepping them and having an incident.


Chase wonders, “Why do we need brakes?... They just slow you down!”

Next up for my group was the autocross. The course was marked out by white lines as guides, but cones indicated turn-in, apex, and track-out points. One of the things that no one may have realized during the initial autocross run in the morning was that the cones actually indicated the fastest line through the course, rather than just merely boundary markers. In this exercise, we had a few cars on the course at once, so we had to leave space between the cars so as to not catch each other. We ran for about 5 minutes continuously, which was very taxing on the arms, as we were making a turn about every 2 seconds! I picked up a few suggestions from Brian Till and found some additional speed through the course. After cycling through a few times, we switched to the rear-wheel-drive Honda S2000 Roadsters. Normally, these would be much more fun cars to drive, but due to a near-miss in the recent past (a car almost through the fence), they would not allow us to turn off the VSC (stability control system). This sucked down the cars when they’d slide around, which is great for inexperienced drivers in the snow, but really aggravating in a performance driving environment. It forced us to drive as smoothly as possible in an attempt to keep the stability from intervening.



Chase; all smiles in the S2000!


Autocross in the S2000

After lunch, we headed to our last exercise, which was the Skid Car. One of the benefits of a professional school like this was that they have the money for some nice equipment. The Honda Civic Skid Car was probably the highlight, as it had a frame mounted under it with outriggers at the corners that could push down wheels on casters, relieving pressure from the car’s tires. By selecting a rearward pressure, they were able to make the car drive remarkably like a rear-wheel-drive car on ice. It took a very delicate balance to control it, which was eye-opening for someone who considers himself to have good car-control skills! Chase was in the back seat during my run and was highly amused at the number of laps it took me before I could pull off them off with nice consistent drifts… and only the occasional spin! I didn’t really care to be in the back seat of the car during Chase’s run, so I got out and took some pictures. I was laughing my head off during his first few laps, as he spun several times per lap (just like me)! It’s not as easy as it looks, eh?! It was a great opportunity to learn in a controlled low-speed environment just the right amount of throttle to use to control a slide (not jumping full-on or full-off the throttle).


It ain’t so easy!


Brian Till; imparting knowledge on the LeMons drivers

The last exercise that we did brought everyone back together for a repeat of the morning’s autocross. Everyone, save for a couple, improved their times. This time we were actually competing, as there was a prize on the line. Again, the Toyota guys fully comprised the top 10 times. I pulled off the top time, with a .44 second gap to Tom in second. Dave Spinnet took the third spot and the three of us had a runoff in the S2000’s. I got run preference and I chose to go last. Dave went first and hit a cone on his run (2 second penalty), which otherwise would have been a quick run. Tom went next and posted a decent time, without hitting any cones. The pressure was now on and I headed out for my run. The stability control sucked me down really badly in a critical spot, delaying the power application severely. Well, that wasn’t the worst of my problems. My time was better than Tom’s, but that cone that I thought I had only rolled over the edge of, was lying down when I looked back across the course. I couldn’t be too upset, because at least one of us took home the prize. Congratulations to Tom, who won a third day at the Mid-Ohio School!


Dave Spinnett; hit a cone


Anthony Magagnoli; hit a cone


Tom Duesing; autocross hero!

The last segment of the day comprised of a lead-follow exercise on the full race track. With instructors in the lead cars, they had a string of cars behind; following their line like tracks in the snow (that was the theory, anyway). We did this for about an hour, but vast discrepancies between the levels of drivers made things somewhat difficult. Considering that there had been no prior instruction of the track and only a few of us had experience there, we did what we could. It was more for recreation and just getting a taste of the track than real learning.

On the second day of the Mid-Ohio School, Duct Tape Motorsports friends Dave and Ian Sacarny were in attendance, with the intent to stay through Friday. On this day, we spent the entire time with the full 2.4 mile, 15-turn race track. The track was broken down into 3 segments so that we could repeat a smaller series of turns and better work on our lines without forgetting what we did the last time by the time we get back around to the turn. This was very helpful to really fine-tune the line and our steering, throttle, and brake inputs. We each got to ride with an instructor and have the instructors ride with us. Whenever we weren’t doing this, we were in line following the car the instructor was in, so there was virtually never any downtime. I picked up several small details that I was able to apply to help me in my racing and instructing. Most of the instructors were reluctant to get into the students’ cars when we combined the full course and started the open lapping session, but Brian Till was generous (or adventurous?) enough to get in with me for a few laps. While he told me he was very impressed, he also gave me some really good feedback. There were a few things that I was able to apply that weekend in my race.

In the first part of the open lapping session, everyone got pretty over-excited and there was a lot of overdriving going on. A lot of sliding, a couple spins… I was coming out of the pits after dropping Brian off and had a car slide through turn one, over the inside curbing, headed towards me. Fortunately, he recovered and I was able to back off to give him room, so nothing bad happened. As for the non-Toyota drivers, they were kind of all over the place. I caught one guy in a Lotus Exige going into Turn 1. Entering the back straight, rather than let me by, he kept his foot down and pulled away. At the end of the back straight, I was all over him, watching him drive way offline. I decided to back off since I didn’t want to pressure him into making a mistake. I pulled back 10 car-lengths, or so, and cruised behind. Going into Turn 12 (fast left before the carousel), I watched him turn in 2 car-lengths too late and said to myself, “Uh-oh.” His line at that point took him through the grass on the outside of the turn (in my first race ever, I was forced by traffic to do the same thing and fortunately recovered). I hung back to make sure he didn’t hook and come across the track into me, and then went buy him. I later found out that Stan was coming flying through 12 just behind us, only to find the Exige practically stopped in the track. He was forced to lift and had a BIG slide all the way through the turn!

Shortly after these shenanigans, the entire course was black-flagged and everyone was brought into the pits. The instructors gave everyone a firm talking-to, which was badly needed. I’m glad they did it when they did, before there was a real incident. After that, everyone got their heads screwed on and drove much more smoothly and - dare I say? - FASTER. In the LeMons race, vehicle preservation is going to be key and everyone took the opportunity to put the principals that the instructors had given us to practice in the last part of the session. Ultimately, the instructors’ feedback was very positive for all of the Toyota drivers, stating that we were much more responsive to instruction and feedback than students they’ve had from “other” automotive companies (cough-Honda-cough). I think we all picked up several things that will help us in our race.

Chapter 2: Fri May 23: Private Coaching at BMWCCA Test Day

I had driven my truck up to the track with my race car in tow when I went to the Mid-Ohio School with the intent of leaving it for the weekend. I drove back with my co-worker teammates and then got a ride back up early Friday morning with my friend Vivek, who is also a club racer. Vivek wanted to attend the practice day for racers on Friday, which was also an advanced student / instructor day for that weekend’s driving school. I didn’t want to spend the money for the test day, as I had just spent 2 days at the track and had run my car for a little bit at the end. Knowing that Dave and Ian Sacarny were still going to be there and there wouldn’t be any instructors readily available, I thought I’d offer to be their private coach for the day.

A fellow racer had brought in Guy Cosmo, driver of The Spirit of Daytona Daytona Prototype car, as his private coach, to the tune of $1500 for the day. Well, my fee was slightly less (lunch at Buck’s) and only because it was offered! I joked with Dave that I may have to up it to dinner next time, considering what Guy is charging!

Dave was co-driving his son Ian’s new-to-him E36 M3, which I had coincidentally helped him buy just a few months prior in Cincinnati. This was Dave’s first time back on track since having an incident with his GT3 at Watkins Glen, and he had several reasons to be nervous. Mid-Ohio was a new track for him, there were lots of really fast cars on a crowded track, he was in his son’s new car, and Ian’s seating position was terrible for him (fixed seat). Despite this, we were able to work on several details of the line through the course and have a good time. Ian was more aggressive, as he was more comfortable in his own car and didn’t have the instinct of self-preservation (or instructor-preservation) that his father had just recently been instilled with! All joking aside, he did very well and was able to respond to my feedback, one factor at a time and was moving pretty well by the afternoon. He allowed me a couple laps in his car to show him everything I was talking about and I suddenly realized just how bad the seating position was for Dave! I was looking straight at the top of the steering wheel! So, vision was one thing, but then the wheel, itself, was high and slightly off to one side relative to the seat. Ian’s height must be all in his upper body! In any case, the car handled well and it was a joy to drive. Both Dave and Ian were very gracious, with follow-up phone calls and emails thanking me for the help. Guys, it was honestly my pleasure!

By the afternoon, some DTM’ers started rolling in for the weekend BMW Club driver’s school. We had dinner at Buck’s before the Sacarny’s headed out, then headed to KC’s for some drinks. I met up there with my friend Chris, whose company supports Jason Lane, the club racer that hired Guy Cosmo. Chatting with them, I got to talk with Guy for a while and get some perspective on how he got where he is and, really no matter where one is in motorsports, there’s always the desire to go higher. Even though his career is as a professional racer, he’s still looking to take that next step. Of course, to get where he is, he was fortunate enough to have parents who were able to get him into racing at a young age. It was nice to hear that he really didn’t take that for granted and was very appreciative, as he really loves what he’s doing. I was telling him how I had gotten all our LeMons drivers to attend the Mid-Ohio School earlier that week and how awesome it was to be paid to be at the racetrack. I joked with him, telling him, “No, you have NO idea how awesome it is to be paid to be driving at the track! I don’t think you can even fathom it!”

Chapter 3: Sat May 24: BMWCCA Club Race (30 Min Sprint)

Saturday was to contain one practice session, practice starts, which would lead into the qualifying session, and then a 30 minute sprint race. I started out on my Toyo RA-1 practice tires, which were close to the end of their life. I had a decent practice session, mainly using it to apply the points that I had picked up from the Mid-Ohio School. I was finding that I was able to brake much deeper into the carousel than I had before, which leaves little room for error, but I’m getting much more precise and consistent, building my confidence everywhere on the track.

I swapped to my race tires before qualifying and we did a few practice starts before continuing the open qualifying session. Only a couple laps into it, I was coming through the carousel with a D-Mod E30 a few car-lenghts behind me. As I was going through the turn, I saw him sail past, never making the turn-in, and fly straight into the tire wall. He hit it at essentially full speed, bouncing the front of the car 4 feet in the air before landing again. He hurt the front of the car pretty bad, but later inspection showed that there was probably no frame damage. He had done one main thing wrong… He was off-line to the outside (which is sometimes taught in driving schools) and this put him in the “marbles”, reducing his grip just before cresting the hill, but shortened his braking zone, besides. He didn’t stand a chance. The incident brought out a full-course black flag, with very few people having gotten an open lap to put down a decent qualifying number. The organizers took whatever our best time was between practice and qualifying to use as our qualifying position for the race. This put me second in class, starting just behind my arch nemesis, John Negus. This is the guy that I was racing down the back straight in the rain last year when I locked up and went off. I didn’t know that he had borrowed someone’s Hoosier Wet tires and could stop so late!! John is a really nice guy and I enjoy racing with him. He had even helped me corner-balance my car on his scales on Friday evening.

Toyota friends Bryce and Dale Mercer had shown up to watch and help out on Saturday. I didn’t have whole lot for them to do, so we mostly hung out. Since there was also a driving school going on, I thought I’d try to get them rides in instructor cars to get some time on the track. I found Bryce a good one… A brand new Aston Martin V8 Vantage. This guy was pretty anal about the interior of the car (despite the fact that he’s running it on a racetrack). He wouldn’t let Bryce in with jeans on, so I had to loan him my race suit, which was not exactly the right size for him. He had a good time in the car, though. His father, Dale, was jealous.


License Plate reads: FSTASTN


Dale and Bryce

Come race time, I was ready to go, with some help from DTM, and honorary-DTM members. I was a couple positions back from John, but as we lined up side-by-side on the track, I ended up just behind him. When the green flag dropped, I had no idea the battle I was in for. We were both working around some traffic and I was looking for a hole to get around him if he was slowed up by another car. It never came and we continued on with him in front of me and Lucas’ C-Mod E30 M3 and Lochner’s JP E36 325i with us. Lucas had some silly power down the straights, but we were faster through the corners. Lochner was the same, but to a smaller extent. Lucas eventually got by us and was able to use his power to pull away, but I had a fight on my hands.


Traffic through Turn 1

Every lap, I would be able to get side-by-side with John coming down the front straight and down the back straight, but could never complete the pass. Down the front straight, he would defend to the inside. Starting from the outside, I needed to turn-in a car-length earlier than him, but with him there, I was slowed on my entry and couldn’t make my way by before turn 2. I changed my line to back off before the turn-in to turn 1, concentrating on my exit speed. Lap after lap, I would cross his line to be inside of him coming out of the turn and I’d have enough of a run to get side-by-side, often times a 1/2 car-length ahead. But, his outside exit from turn 1 would place him on the inside of turn 2, which is normally a flat-out corner with heavy braking just before transitioning back left. From the inside, John would turn-in sooner than me, automatically pulling his car ahead of mine. I was very tempted to force my position and try to stick next to him through turn 2, which was within my right, but I had no confidence that he would give me the room to be there and it would’ve resulted in a bad wreck for both of us. Considering that we are both on probation, I thought that would be a bad idea, even if it would technically be his fault. So, every time, he’d regain his position there.

Coming out of the keyhole, I’d consistently get the run on him, coming within an inch of his back bumper before pulling out of his draft to try to execute the pass. We are about identical on power, so when I lost the draft, my difference in corner exit speed wasn’t enough to get completely past him to get the line through the right hander at the end of the straight. With him sticking with me through the turn, he’d have the inside through Madness. At one point, I had the inside going into madness and he was a ½ car-length ahead, but we were side-by-side. He turned right into me and I had to brake in order to not have contact. My suspicions were confirmed that if he couldn’t see my front bumper next to him, he was going to go ahead and assume I wasn’t there.


Inches off of John’s bumper… Lap after lap!

This went on lap after lap after lap. There were mod cars that were lapping us and hanging back to watch the show. I was very conscious of this when Watts (race leader at the time, I think) caught us in Madness. I started to plan a spot to let him by without slowing him too much, but he backed off a few car-lengths to allow us to race. When we hit the next straight, he rocketed by. Especially as the race went on, it was obvious that John was trying very hard to keep me behind him. Through the Chicane (turns 2-4), he was often getting sideways as he carried too much speed coming in. The problem for me was that I still couldn’t get by a car that was only half in control. I’ve been trying to drive smarter and stay within the limits of my car, regardless of the situation (they don’t magically get higher just because I need to go faster?!). I started conceiving a strategy. And not a moment too soon, as the 3rd place KP car had been creeping up on us while John and I were slowing each other down the entire race.

I knew that I was faster almost everywhere, but the only places that I was going to make a pass was either going into turn 1 or 7, at the ends of the straights. Considering how much John was overdriving his car, I knew it would only be a matter of time before he made a mistake, or he was going to continually slow himself down. My chance finally came only 3 laps from the end of the race. I had been patient, conserving my car, and now it was time to make a pass stick. Coming onto the front straight, John defended to the inside, as he had done every time. I had a run, just as before, but instead of backing off before entering turn 1, I saw the opportunity to stick on the outside of John going through turn 1. I was about a ½ car-length ahead of him going in and I used a later turn-in and we were side-by-side through the turn, with him squirming around, trying to keep his car pointed where he wanted it to go, and not allow his line to put him into my door on track-out, which was my fear of making this move on him. When I came out of the turn on the outside, which was the inside for turn 2, I knew I had it. I dove into turn 2 ahead of him, just as he had on me for the past 10 laps. By the end of the back straight, I had 5 car-lengths on him, and kept pulling.


The pass on the outside, for the lead!

We got the 1-lap-to-go signal and I had a healthy lead. I just kept driving the same way, with the exception of braking early at the end of the back straight (previously my Achilles heel of the track). This allowed John to get within a few car-lengths and, as we went over Madness, I took my normal line and looked back at John. I said to myself, “there’s no way he’s going to try to….” Yup, he made a last-ditch effort to dive-bomb me going into turn 9, but had no chance from that far back. I cruised on to take 1st place in K-Prepared!! I was very satisfied to have driven a smart race and have come away with a hard-fought win! It was interesting to note that the battle with John slowed us both down so much that 3 other KP cars had fastest laps faster than mine!

Chapter 4: Sun May 25: BMWCCA Club Race (90 Min Enduro)

Sunday’s race was to be a 90 minute enduro, which was the longest race that I will have driven to date. I’ve survived every 60 minute race without issue, so I didn’t foresee any issue with running 90 minutes without a co-driver (although I had considered having my friend Chris co-drive). I had DTM folks and a new track friend, Jamie, helping me out in the pits. We teamed up with the UUC Motorwerks team for the pit stops. Tim Smith was lined up to have Doug Thoms co-drive his SpecE36, but Tim’s experience with the car and the track kept him in the car to improve his chances. The other car was Arjun Soundararajan (of UUC) and Goutam Pathak (of Corsa Exhausts) in Arjun’s J-Prepared E36 325is.

I qualified first in class, with a 1.9 second gap in lap time to the next KP car. This only put me 3 spots in front of him on the start, but I was hoping that the qualifying times would be indicative of how the race would go, but with mandated pit stops, you NEVER know…

I had Scott on the radio to tell me when the green flag dropped, which helped on the start. Early in the race, things went as expected. I pulled away from the other KP cars and was having fun racing with cars in J-Prepared and Spec E36. At one point I had a 40 second lead in class, but an incident brought out a yellow flag. At first, it was only a local yellow and I was within my pit window. When the pace car came out ahead of the lead car, it left a lot of room for us slow guys to make up. We tend to still drive at 95% (except at the location of the incident), just trying to catch up, and I was following Vivek in his SpecE36 at that time. We came up on a much slower SpecE36 and Vivek went by him. I was thinking of about my pit stop and I went by the SpecE36 a moment later. When I looked up, I saw the double-yellow flags and realized I had just made an illegal pass. On the back straight, I slowed up and pointed the SpecE36 by. It seems that between the time that Vivek went by and I went by, the course had gone from a local yellow to a full-course yellow. Scott was telling me, “Pit now! Pit now!”, but he hadn’t yet seen the full-course yellow.

We caught up to the pack and came down to a crawl for a couple more laps as the incident was cleaned up. On the restart, I took the green flag and went around the course before coming into the pits. On my way into the pits, I was being pointed into the “penalty box”. I hadn’t seen a black flag, so I ignored it and went to my pit stall. I fueled the car and while the guys were taking care of the other stuff, I asked Arjun, who was on the radio with race control, to explain to them that I had allowed the car that I had passed to RE-pass under yellow. Their response was “Don’t worry about it.”, so, we proceeded. I came out of the pits and I was headed into the Carousel side-by-side with another car when I saw a black flag. I couldn’t be certain that it was for me, so I took no chances and stayed out. The other poor guy went in, thinking it was for him. On my next time by, though, I saw the flag and it was definitely for me. I went in and was told that I was serving a stop-and-go penalty for passing under yellow. It made no sense to argue it then, so I headed back out.


The Duct Tape Motorsports / UUC Motorwerks Pit Stall


Brian; helping me get buckled in

As I came out of the pits, I saw the new KP leader on the back straight, which was a good 20+ seconds ahead of me. I didn’t think that I had enough time to make up the difference. Besides that, I had 2 other KP cars between me and the leader. I pressed on, caught the 2nd and 3rd place guys within a couple laps, and made my way by without too much trouble. I still had a significant gap between myself and the KP leader. I went lap after lap, watching the gap close while I was approaching the Chicane and the leader was on the back straight. Then... he wasn’t there anymore. I didn’t know what had happened, but assumed he had just made a late pit stop. If that was the case, I had no idea where I’d end up, so I kept pressing on. I took the checkered flag, not knowing whether I was in 1st or 2nd.

In the processions following the race, I was trying to get a final call on where I ended up. As it turned out, the car I was chasing had been involved in an incident with another car and ended up pulling out of the race, leaving me with the WIN! I was glad I didn’t have to argue out the fact that I had allowed the car back by that I had passed under yellow, which would have likely been to no avail. So, celebrations ensued, as Tim had taken SpecE36 and Arjun/Goutam had won J-Prepared, as well! THANK YOU to Scott, Brian, other Brian, and Jamie for your help with the smooth pit stops!


Gotham, myself, Arjun, Scott, and Brian

Sunday night, the remainder of the Duct Tape Motorsports members had arrived. We had 15 of us, in total! Chase even made it up around midnight, driving from Atlanta. I helped Phil tune his brand-new coil-over suspension in his M Roadster in one of the parking lots, adjusting the shocks so he’d have a decent baseline to start from. From there, we all went out to dinner and partook in some shenanigans that I won’t detail here. We had a good time, though.

Chapter 5: Mon/Tues, May 26-27: Instructing with Chin Motorsports Driving School

I received my student assignment on Monday and met up with him. He was driving an E36 328i and had come from Minnesota (!) for this event. Overall, he was good to ride with. He drove within the car’s limits and was responsive to feedback. I took him out for a couple laps in his car to show him the line and he adapted relatively quickly. At the end of the 1st day, I noticed him starting to lose focus, as he missed a few points in succession. He admitted to it, and so, rather than take him off the track, I asked him to back down his speed and run the last few laps at an easy pace. He did so and he was hitting every mark easily. I was sure that, given the night to collect himself and rethink the course in his head, he’d come back the following morning and be able to drive with confidence.

Since Chase had been at The Mid-Ohio School a few days before, I vouched for him to be capable of running solo at the Chin school on Monday. I knew that I’d be able to ride with him, anyway. I’m typically very busy when I’m instructing and it’s always compounded when I’m with the DTM crew. I’ve generally been the go-to instructor for them, which offsets what a car-whore I am, but a few members are now instructors, themselves. We’re always bringing in new members to keep us occupied, though. So, I took Phil out for a session in his M Roadster to show him the line. After that, I took Chase out in his G35 Coupe to show him some of the details of the faster line around the track. I also managed to get so much heat in his brakes that the red “Brembo” decals on his calipers were a dark brown by the end of my 20 minute session!


Taking Phil for a ride in his M Roadster


Taking Chase for a ride in his G35 Coupe

I had an instructor ask me to show him the line around the track, as he had never been to Mid-Ohio before. I suggested we take his car because mine would be far too loud to hear each other and, well, I’m a car-whore, as I mentioned! He had an E36 M3 with some standard suspension and power modifications, running on race tires. So, I took him out and took a lap to get things warmed up. As I went around, I pointed out all the braking, turn-in, apex, and exit points, as well as visual references and details to the line. I was drove it at about 9/10ths for about 3 laps and then asked if he had seen enough. He asked me to keep going because he was learning a lot. Then he commented, “This is only my 3rd event with the car… I had no idea it could do this!” I was thinking to myself, “Dood, this is my 3rd LAP with the car and I’m doing this!” There’s a reason I always wanted instructors who had actual race experience…

The day went on and I hopped in and out of cars, taking my instructor and others for rides in my car, and trying to get out there to dice it up with the other DTM’ers. I got to ride with Chase for a session, too. I’ve been mentoring him since we were autocrossing together a couple years ago and I tend to be very critical of him because I see that he has a lot of potential. I’ve been very pleased with how quickly he’s progressed and I often forget that he only has a few driving schools under his belt!

In what was probably the highlight of the day, Tom finally caved in and let me take his Cayman S out for a few laps. The belts were all wrong for me and practically choking me, but I wasn’t going to let a little asphyxiation keep me off the track! I got warmed up on the out-lap and then ran about 5 laps. I was surprised by how much the car moved around, as well as how easy it was to drive, in general. It was fun, though, and I appreciate Tom trusting me in it, albeit not enough to let me run without stability control! No bother, though. The only place it intervened was when cresting Madness. Thanks, Tom!

We all went out to dinner again that night and I’m astounded at how large our group had become. There were a few new folks at this point, so we decided to go around and each tell the stories of how we became involved in Duct Tape Motorsports. It was corny, for sure. But it was nice to hear from each person.

Tuesday was a misty day when I got in with my student again. He had certainly improved overnight (this is typical). Things were going well and I was getting ready to sign him off to get a check ride to run solo. I wanted to work on a couple more things before doing that, so I addressed them in that session. He had been braking very early at the end of the back straight, so I gave him a reference point, which was still early, but about 1 ½ car-lengths later than where had been braking. It was a jut in the wall, which I told him to consider as the “5 marker”, after which there were cones indicating 4, 3, 2, and 1. The next lap around, he braked precisely at the 5 marker and had plenty of room to slow. I was pleased with that. However, on the next lap, I did not say anything more, but as we approached the braking zone at 120 mph, he passed his original braking point, then passed the “5 marker”, at which point my eyes went wide, and I was yelling “BRAKES!!!” as he was passing the “4 marker”. The 4 marker is pretty much the absolute limit for a car of his speed. He buried both feet into the brake pedal and got the car slowed down by the outside of the turn. I looked at him and asked what had happened. Since he had been able to slow in time on the previous lap, he had taken it upon himself to push his braking zone back by the same amount again. We took a slow lap or two while I explained the exponential nature of pushing the limits. At first you can make large gains, but then you must push the limits in smaller and smaller increments so that you can still correct yourself when you just step over them. I reminded him to not try anything new like that without first telling his instructor and definitely not during his check-ride. Consistency is key and keeping their instructor calm should be a primary goal of a student. I did sign him off to run solo and his check-ride instructor approved, as well. He completed the day without issue and had a car in one piece to drive back to Minnesota with.

I continued running whenever I could, as I had several people requesting rides. I took a 15 year old kid out who was riding in just about anything he could, as well as DTM’s own member, Dan, who had attended solely to get ride-alongs and was also riding in anything he could! I took another DTM’er, Jen, out for a session and she reported back that there were several times when she closed her eyes. She always knew we’d make it, but couldn’t bear to watch sometimes, just in case we didn’t.

At other points during the day, I did a couple check-rides for students to run solo. I had a gentleman, whose instructor was the one with the M3 that I had taken out the previous day, who had a virtually identical car. I talked with him a bit about how things had gone thus far before heading out on track. As we headed out, I sat completely silently for 3 laps. I had no question that this guy was capable of running solo, but could also see that he was driving somewhat reserved in his line. I told him he was fine to be soloed and asked him if he minded a little bit of feedback. He gladly accepted and we continued on. I modified his line in a few key areas and immediately applied each one. Just before this, there was an E30 325i that had gone by him. Just afterwards, he passed the E30 with authority! He was really running fast when I got done with him and thanked me for the feedback, so I asked to be dropped off so he could finish up on his own.

I did essentially the exact same thing for another gentleman, who had an SCCA-prepared E30 M3, in the next session. Then, towards the end of the day, Jen’s instructor had to head out early, so she asked me to ride with her in her M Coupe (which I had gotten airborne when I test drove it for her 3 years ago, which is a running joke, but that’s a whole other story). Jen is typically very timid in comparison to some others on the track, but I’ve found my style as an instructor and really focused her on hitting every mark, every time. If she could do this, she could methodically increase her speeds, knowing that nothing else has changed from lap-to-lap. So I made some modifications to her line and did the best I could to have her use the entire road on track-out, even if it meant steering the car out there. I coaxed her into feeding more throttle in where prudent and got closer to going flat-out in a couple of sections where it is intimidating to do so. I could see her becoming acclimated to the new lines and I’m sure that she realized a 2-3 second drop in her lap times out of all this. She told me she liked my instructing much better than her previous instructor’s, so I feel like I must be doing something right.


Drawing a smiley face in Jen’s brake dust


Big discrepancy between a Spec Miata and an ALMS Ford GT-R!

The 2-day event was not without carnage. Fortunately, I did not see any student or instructor cars banged up, which is commendable, considering the high-performance nature of the cars that Chin Motorsports attracts, as well as the complexity of Mid-Ohio. But, there were 2 Ford GT-R’s from Robertson Racing who were there for testing. Unfortunately, one of them locked up under braking on the back straight and hit a wall rather hard. Then, later in the day, the other car spun into a sand-trap, but that looked to be relatively unharmed.


Robertson Racing’s American LeMans Ford GT-R


Robertson Racing’s American LeMans Ford GT-R

All-in-all, I couldn’t have asked for much more out of these 7-days. Great instruction from the Mid-Ohio School, 2 race wins, and getting to hang out with some of my best friends. What could be better? Oh, a win at the 24 Hours of LeMons? …well, we’ll see about that at the end of July!

VIR Season Opener

VIRginia International Raceway, BMWCCA Club Race, April 18-20 2008

VIR had its ups and downs, but basically, I was not performing to my expectations. I had to re-learn the track, as I had only been there once (I was driving 911's and an M Roadster when I went last July), and I was having braking issues throughout the weekend. They were very unconvincing and providing little feedback.

On Friday, the initial practice and qualifying were not so bad. I actually qualified 2nd out of 8. The race didn’t go quite as well, though. As I was defending the whole time, I was lured too deep into the braking zones on 2 occasions, which both resulted in me heading off the track. Despite the lost time, I came in 5th out of 8. I was disappointed and frustrated by my mistakes. Oh, as a reminder, I don't have ABS working.

Saturday morning, I was trying to push certain braking zones and one in particular was the right hander before Oak Tree (Turn 11), which required a lot of trailbraking through the turn in order to maximize speed, which is generally dangerous. I made my brake application point later and found myself to have plenty of room to go. The next lap around, I felt like I entered the same way, but the car just wouldn’t slow. I didn’t see any tire smoke from a locked wheel and it felt more like the brakes just weren’t adequately slowing the car. In either case, I went off before making the turn-in for Oak Tree. This time I had an impact. Straight into the tire barrier. The tires did a good job of absorbing the impact and after I bounced off, I was able to drive back along the track and pull out on the back straight pits. There was smoke in the car and I was dreading having to pull my newly installed fire suppression system, as the foam makes a huge mess. It looked like oil was just burning off of the exhaust and I noticed that I was dripping from the front.


Damage from Tire Wall


Oil Cooler Damage from Tire Wall

The damage was mostly mild. The left front fender was a bit mangled and the hood and bumper were scratched, but the lower valance support bracket had punctured my oil cooler. Fortunately, I had a mechanic, Sumpter, from Grass Roots garage (a shop local to VIR who sponsors me) there on Saturday to help me. I pulled the front valence and he pulled the oil cooler while I searched for another one. Miraculously, the first E30 guy I asked said he had one. How much? $50…. Sold! It was at his house… Where was that? Only 5 miles from the track! After a quick drive, I returned and had Sumpter installing another oil cooler! I actually lost no track time and got out for qualifying. Unfortunately, I was now so timid in the braking zones that I had slowed down significantly. I qualified last in class.

That afternoon we had a 60 minute enduro, which paid 150% points. Through the first part of the race, I did well in traffic and picked up several positions. I got crossed up in traffic coming out of Oak Tree, which leads onto the very long back straight, and lost everything I had gained. I fought back and was trying to make a pass stick when I went off in the braking zone of Turn 1. …Again. I got back on and kept going, but was very frustrated that I could not stop as well as the rest of these guys.

The rain was teasing, dropping a few drops here and several there... I was strategizing my mandatory 5-minute pit stop... My plan was to wait for it to downpour and do it then, while everyone would be turning laps 10+ seconds off their pace, hoping that they were doing their stops in the dry. That didn't happen, but a yellow flag did. There was a bad wreck in Turn 7.

I had learned (the hard way) at Watkins Glen that I couldn't pit under yellow, but as far as I knew, once the green flag dropped, the pits were open. 4 of the 6 cars ahead of me were in my class and so as soon as the flag dropped, I didn't head for the start/finish line, but pulled straight to the pits. I had nothing to lose. I figured that they all had a slow run onto the front straight and were battling each other out for the next 2 laps, so they’d be slowing each other down significantly. A couple laps after I came out of the pits, I saw the previous KP leader... 2 turns behind me! It worked!! Every time from then on, when I approached the start/finish line, I was praying for the checkered flag! It didn't come soon enough and the leader closed in on me quick. First it was a gained distance. Then he was only 1 turn behind. Then in my rear view, then on my bumper, then he got by me cleanly on the back straight when I missed a shift to 5th. I was able to hold off the next guy until the checkered, though, so I got 2nd overall.

It was a great finish for me, as I certainly wasn’t the 2nd fastest car. I got a good points payoff, which was the purpose of attending this particular race, and I get $150 towards more Hankook tires through their contingency program. While I certainly wasn't the 2nd fastest guy, I may have been the 2nd smartest on this day ; ) Bimmerworld hosted a biergarten (beer garden) that evening that brought everyone together for a good time. The highlight was probably one of the racers challenged to sit in a trash can filled with ice water for as long as possible… Yeah, some of these guys are pretty crazy. He was in there for somewhere between 5-10 minutes!

Sunday wasn't really eventful for me, which was probably a good thing. I was trying to get a fast Bimmerworld guy to drive my car, but it kept not working out. During practice, I warmed up the car and brought it in for Dave White to take it out. As soon as he got buckled in, the checkered flag dropped. Then in qualifying, I ran 4 qualifying laps and turned it over to him. He got an out-lap and an in-lap, as the checkered flew his first time around. On top of that, the data acquisition equipment didn’t record anything and my video camera ran out of tape as soon as he had gotten in the car!!

It turned out that part of the braking problem was actually OVER-cooling, since VIR has such long stretches with no brake application. Needing to keep my pads up in their temperature range, I taped over the cooling ducts and it helped out. I was gradually getting a little better in the braking zones, but I still have a lot of work to do. I need to simply re-learn how to brake and get the most out of a non-ABS setup. I’m not going to cop out and fix the ABS.

The race went ok. I picked up a couple positions by midway, but then lost them again in the braking zones. I finished 5th out of 6, but I was glad to be able to take an only mildly-damaged car home. There were MANY totaled cars through the weekend. A fellow K-Prepared racer smashed up his car in Sunday Qualifying and my friend who I traveled with smashed up his Spec E36 in the last race. I guess it was party due to the fact that the weekend started out with a 90 car field, it was the first race for many people for the year, there were 2 150% points races, and it brought out a lot of the bid dogs, pushing everyone to drive harder. For my incident with the tire barrier, I received a 3-month probation. While many of us don’t like the penalties assessed for single-car incidents with an impact, that’s the way it is. It seems like its kicking someone while their down, though. Since part of my incident could be attributed to a mechanical issue, I decided to appeal the decision. I’ll have to wait to hear what the final verdict is, but I hope its overturned, as I have 2 races in the next 3 months and another incident would result in suspension ; )