2019 Labor Day Double - And before you know it.. 2019 Season is nearly over!

I did not get on the track last year, in big part because of the bad experience I had driving in 2016. I had planned to drive in ITA last year but never manage to find the time or will for some wheel to wheel racing and instead did track days.

In 2019, I decided to commit to run my car in ITA and leave the SM field and would start racing during the Labor Day Weekend double.

The weekend came and went and I had an awesome time. ITA is a mixed class and it can be difficult, maybe even frustrating to have to deal with the Big Bore Class that share the track with us, but the crowd is friendly and I had plenty of wheel to wheel racing, finishing 3rd on both the Saturday sprint race and the Monday long race. I only managed a 6th position in the Sunday race, in big part because it took a while to get used to the mixed classes and passing.

The weekend was nearly eventless, except for a broken left front hub during the Friday practice that RP Performance fixed quickly, letting me get back on track on Saturday morning for the qualifying. The broken hub follows an incident with my hood a couple weeks ago so that the car is starting to look like it needs some tender loving care. I hope to get that done this winter and be all ready for more ITA racing next year.

Finally drove on Nordschleife!

I had the chance to go on the Ring, thanks to a well timed conference in Germany and my good friend Kai who took me there for the weekend. I rented one of the raced-out Suzuki Swift and had a blast. We had all kind of wether, from rain to snow and finally some nice sun and it was an amazing experience!

2017 Season is starting!!

Another season is upon us. I had to buy a new shinny helmet and I got to try the car a couple of weeks ago. Car seems fine but might need some suspension tweaking as it seems to push in every corner... something to look into...

Will be heading to the track for Practice tomorrow and I am crossing fingers that the car works, that I do not forget anything, that the weather will be as good as predicted, and that IT WILL BE FUN!

MARRS 6 --- Could have been better...

MARRS 6 came and went. Weather was good. Car was shinny.

A lot happened and not all of it was good. Car is ok but it was a disappointing weekend;

Driving behaviour in the SM class is slowly deteriorting... Of the 4 Practice Sessions on Friday, only one lasted more than 3 laps because people kept crashing into one another.

The Qualifying on Saturday went alright, and I ended up in a "meh" mid-pack postion. It just had been too long since my last race and I was down on pace and back to old driving (bad) habits..

Then the fun began: 
During the Saturday short race, I immediately got bumped in Turn 1 . Fair enough, his car is faster and he obvioulsy does not mind contact... There were several more bumps out of Turn 1. Obviously, pushing cars around when there is nowhere to go passes as racing for some. Then, two front runners got together past Turn 2 and I got to see my first miata flying in the air, upside down. That was a scary sight. The pack immediately slowed down a bit before me and ... guess what... BUMP from behind at the Apex of 1. That made my car slide and slow down even more... so driver decided to go on the left, i.e. three car wide... He then proceeded to move into my car, fast, pushing me into the car on my right. He lost control and ended up on the bushes. I lost control and regained control on the right side grass and got the car back on the track safely. I remember thinking "wtf?" when I saw his car crashing into the trees. I was at least able to regain control of my car and minimized damage. The other car on the right was not so lucky and I saw it upside down on the left end side near Turn 4 on the next lap.

I have seen videos taken from the third car on the right (the one that ended up rolled upside down).

Anyway, bumper was trashed and rubbed and since I did not know if the car alignment had been messed up, I pitted. We checked the car later and it was fine so on to Sunday...

Sunday came and we raced before it got too hot. Un-eventful race. 

As I said... weekend could have been better....

MARRS1 Report

Just got back from the first race weekend of 2016. Oh, man, was it cooooold... My Pit Crew took good care of staying warm:

Friday practice was "interesting"... It was pretty cold and times were vert slow. Not much else to say about that... Car and driver both felt out of sort and times were low 1:30's, with a high 1:29's. Where did my speed go????

Saturday Qualification was... in the snow....That is sure to be a first for me. I got to actually use my windshield wipers (who look very shinny and black, thank you Sam). Gridded 15th, qualified 18th. Doh... still slow... Video here

Saturday Race was fun, but again a bit slow and disappointing. Video here. I vaguely remember being much close to the top laptimes at the end of the 2015 Season. Watched the video of the race in the evening, following a way to big Mexican food dinner and a Margharita. Sam mentioned that I was a P^%@ and he might have had a point.. maybe bing more aggressive in the turn in's is what I need and I thought I'd try that on Sunday.

Sunday came and after a short visit to the Waffle House (yeah!), we got to a dry but so very cold race track. Prepped the car (Pit crew stayed warm :-) ),  greeted my favorite fan (yes, that it you, Beth!) and Parviz who drove just to see how badly I can drive.

For once, I was not really stressed and decided that I would just have fun. A 20 lap race really feels like Eternity and I was unsure how I would cope. I gridded on position 17.

The race was so much fun and my laptimes kept coming down. It took the whole weekend but I got back into the/my own groove. There was an unfortunate crash in the first couple of laps and some fast cars had to catch back up. I opted to not bother putting a fight and instead stayed behind and watched... and learned. It must have worked since my last few laps where all in the 1:28's.  Had a good time racing car 155, same car I spent most time racing on Saturday. A couple of small spin in turn 5 for me (hey.... that is was pushing is..) and a bigger spin from him later gave me the edge. Had to watch my tail for the last dwq laps as car #27 was ready to pounce. Made sure to not spin in turn 5 anymore (fun has to stop as some point...) and finished ahead.  Finished 12/30 with a fastest time of 1:28.6s. I ended up wishing I could go back out and race some more. Here is a video of the 20 laps Race 2.

Thanks to all the drivers out there, and everyone else in the pits. The weekend was great!

Start of a new season

The new racing season is almost here already. The winter break came and went really fast this year. I know that the first racing weekend is closing for three reasons: 1) the car is getting ready and new parts are being added (see below). 2) I spent a day driving an old police car like bat out of hell during the FATT Senior Instructor day. 3) I actually reconnected my three screen to my driving rig and got a few laps on iRacing.

Flipper is looking good, the new halo seat is in and feels good and comfortable, and safe. There are only a couple of minor things to take care of and it will be ready to go for MARRS1. If the weather is nice, I will go.

See you next Season?

Could it be? Could it really be over already?

Yes it is... Time for some iRacing until the 2016 Season starts..

The 2015 Season was frustrating at the beginning but the car ended up well sorted (Thanks to Bret and all the Performance people!). I am ready for next year!

MARRS 8-9 Post-mortem...

Ok, I have to start by admitting to a  bit of a bait and switch with the title of this post. The Labor Day MARRS double was a blast. The weather held up and while threatening to go over 90, it behaved and stayed slightly cooler than past events this year, and a lot less humid.

Friday Practice day started with Flipper being taken out to check that it was still holding all together and that the engine was still working. I have become quite paranoid about that lately. One session with old crappy tires proved the car to work fine and tires to be done for. Not worth  trying  to get any type of real practice out of them. I switched to  the  new set of Hossiers SM7 and went out for one practice. That made such a huge difference and lap times instantly started to come down as I found more grip to be found.  Parked the car, had a beer and waited for saturday...

Saturday came, and so did my favorite fans Beth and Sam.  I was in group 3, a comfortable mid morning time slot, before the weather gets too hot. Qualification went ok but I only managed a 14th place out of 23, even with new tires. Race time,  I did a bleh finish of 14th out of 23rd. I was complaining about how I wished the car would turn right a bit more and grab more quickly in turns 1 and 6 when Bret from RP suggested setting up a "wedge", something others on the paddock also put in my ear (thanks to all, especially Owen Schefer, Bret de Petro, and Mhyar Alzayat!). 1/2 turn change to coil overs (checking and double checking and triple checking that I was doing it right)  and parked the car, had a beer and waited for Sunday....

Sunday came and I went out for qualification and found the car to behaved quite differently. It was not longer on rails and much more agile in turns, with the rear stepping out ever so slightly in right turns. It made a huge difference in turns 1 and 6.. Turns 3 and 5 (left handers) did not seem to be too compromised. Ended up shaving 0.75s off the lap times and setting my fastest lap time ever with a 1:28.045s, which put me in 9th place out of 23. Unfortunately, because, you know, there should always  be some kind of drama at a race track, my car was weighted with 6 pounds underweight (2244 pounds with a minimum weight if 2450). I should have used my cool suit which adds about 20 pound to the car and should have known better than guessing that I would be ok... This meant having my qualifying time invalidated and I starting  the afternoon qualifying race at the very very back of the grid. Race however proved to be a blast with some real passing, and defending, and a 2 laps fight with Chris Blough who pushed me hard... Full video can be found here.. I ended up 15th of 22, which made me feel like Raikkonen :-). I parked the car, waved goodbye to Beth, and had a beer and waited for Monday...

Monday came with the last race of the weekend, a longer 20 lap race. Sam, as always was very helpful in getting the car ready and my car was ready with freshly painted windshield whippers. I started the race in 13th position on the grid. From the very start of the race, I pushed and I finished 9th of 21, my best finish ever. This involved quite a bit of passing as well as dealing with some less than cooperative black markers who just would not get out of the way. The highlight of the race (full video here) was the finish, three wide across the finishing line (managing to get a bumper width ahead of one of them) ....

MARRS8-9 is Here!

It is time for the annual Labor Double weekend at Summit Point. I have been looking forward to this for a while now. Flipper ran fine during the last PDX event and engine seems well sorted out!

I could not pass on getting a new race suit too (Sparco Evo4) and so far, on this Friday testing day, it is nice and cool and light. I went out for the first session and car responded well, but was a little loose in the turns, with considerable drift in turn 4 and 10. I went out for the second session and put on a set of spiffing new SM7. What a difference that made! Each consecutive lap was faster than the previous one as I pushed harder, and into the low 1:29s. There is quite a bit left and I am looking forward to tomorrow's race.

The Space Monkey Racing hospitality tent is ready and it is time to chill (and get some "real" work done) while my nee tires get themselves ready for tomorrow :-)

2015 MARRS 15: Flipper runs!

Back from a very hot but fun Race Weekend at Summit Point. Flipper ran well, despite the rusty driver. Had some good practice on Friday and drove all there was left of the Hossiers.

Saturday did not go too badly. Qualified so-so on Friday with a 15/23 qualifying time. The start of Race 1 (Video here)was a mess and lost several positions, and I ended up 16/23, but with a slightly quicktest lap time.

Sunday was a lot of fun (Video here) as I once again found myself next to Louis Interdonato and Michael LaMaina. Both forced me to get use to some pretty close racing, just as they did on Saturday. Great practice and great fun, even if my passing, and defending skills, need some serious work.

I was excited to see my fastest time being a 1:28.767, which is only 1s behind the fastest car in the SM group. I think that Flipper is running pretty well and there is likely some more time to be gained. It is gratifying to see the gap from the leader to have gone from 3+s, to 2.5s, to 2.0s and down to 1s over the course of the last two Racing Seasons. I was close to Louis and Michael all the way until the last lap when I mis-shifted and lost a few car lengths. Still, a really fun race.

My pit crew (Beth and Sam) was great, as usual and here is a picture of both of them hard at work preparing my car for Sunday's race!