10-20-2005, 05:44 PM
Most of you guys know that this past weekend at Summit Point was my first wheel to wheel race. First off Id like to thank all the people that watched me, rooted for me, asked how it was going etc. It was really nice to have people there interested in the race and how I was doing.
Here is the weekend report:
Saturday
Drove the car to the track. I really shouldnt have bought that new sparco, its friggin tiny. My ass fits in it (barely), but my back and shoulders do not. 20 minutes of driving and my back feels like maengs mom right after DP thursdays.
The first thing that is so different about racing is the free time. No students, no jumping from car to car, and unfortunately, not much track time either. 1 20 min practice, 1 15 min qualifying, and a 20 min race.
The comp school I did back in july prepared me pretty well for the transition between HPDE and racing, so I really wasnt even that nervous on saturday. Which was odd, I felt like I should be nervous, or at least super excited or something.
So the first practice session went by pretty smoothly. It was quiet, because most of the honda challenge field was still wrenching on their busted-ass cars. Chris Snobeck introduced me to racing with some nice hard bumpdrafting down the front straight
I qualified pretty well on saturday. 4th out of 9. Happy with that.
The race comes, and MAN what a thrill. There is NO anticipation and excitement quite like coming around turn 10 in formation waiting for the flag to drop.
Unfortunately, when the flag did drop I must have been napping, because I got rolled pretty hard. Rookie mistake. Someone told me Kaan said at the time "we need to teach him how to street race" :lol:
Passed by 1 car in T2 then another car in T3. Both of which I out-qualified. d'oh! Most of the rest of the race was un-eventful. Traffic put a gap between me and any other SMs, so I was pretty much driving by myself. Even after a restart due to a flipped neon, there wasnt much action.
Finish: 5th place out of 9. Not too bad for my first race, but I had a ton of areas to improve, and I went about concentrating on those that evening.
Sunday
Practice: Another pretty quiet session. I like sharing a run group with honda challenge. Their cars are too busted to practice.
My preparations from the night before paid off because I was flying. Car felt great, the air was cool, the track had tons of grip, and my mental prep from the night before really helped me pick up speed through 3 and 10. The time sheets came out after the session and I ran a 31.7. Faster than the 2 guys leading the points championship . If any of you know Chris Snobeck, you can imagine how bad that bugged him.
He wouldnt stop talking about it!
Qualifying: Awesome qualifying session. Had some cars to run with and push me. If felt like I picked up some speed but the times came in and I ran a 32.something. Hrm. Qualified 5th out of 10. Wait, who was the new driver that showed up? Former ITA champ Jason Meise, in a pro built car w/ sunbelt engine. shit. He didnt have a qualifying time so he would start at the back though.
Race Intent on not making the same mistake twice, I NAILED the start, all over the ass of the car in front of me, and if he had even given me a sliver of room Id have taken it. I didnt give up any positions on the first lap, and if I was more agressive I probably could have picked up one. For about 5 laps I was hanging with the lead group, with a great fight with the car in front of me. We had left all of the other cars way behind....
I had some great opportunities to pass the car in front, I got beside him a few times in T1, and also in T3 and T10. Just couldnt finish off the pass, and I blame that on going into the corners a little too slow (since going in side by side and offline is slower) this is a rookie thing and Im sure Ill get a better feel for it
then....Meise caught up with us. So now its a 3 way fight. Fun!
I was actually a little surprised that he wasnt faster, we would pull away from him in a few spots on the track.
Then...trying to get alongside the #5 car in front of me going into 6 I go in too hot and locked dem shitz up BAD. Could barely keep it on the track, and around goes Meise. Crap, 6th place.
For the remainder of the race we battle, which was a lot of fun. I had better exit speed out of T10 than him, and got a good draft to pass him in T1, but he got back beside me and I backed off in T3. Not quite comfortable enough yet to pass or go 2 wide through 3 at that speed! The #5 car slowed down a lot (not sure why) so we ended up passing him, and I finished the race right on Meise's bumper for 5th place. Fast lap for the race was 1:31.9. Again I thought it was faster but Im pretty happy with that, considering I planned on being happy with 33s!
I had a MUCH better time in the sunday race, really had an absolute blast. There isnt anything like this, folks.
Here are some pics and a video of the sunday race. My server crawls, so if anyone can mirror it, Id greatly appreciate it.
right click, save as, and it come back to it when you wake up tomorrow morning. ( divx codec required )
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://evan55.homeip.net:8080/images/Summit%20NASA%20race%2010-15-5/Summit_SM_race_10-16-2005_pass2_DIVX.avi">http://evan55.homeip.net:8080/images/Su ... 2_DIVX.avi</a><!-- m -->
T3 in practice
![[Image: wMTEwMzQ0MzZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg]](http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wMTEwMzQ0MzZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg)
T10
![[Image: wMTEwMzQ0NDZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg]](http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wMTEwMzQ0NDZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg)
no weekend is complete until you throw the shocker
![[Image: wMTEwMzQ1NDZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg]](http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wMTEwMzQ1NDZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg)
strapped in and ready to go
![[Image: cockpit.jpg]](http://evan55.homeip.net:8080/images/Summit%20NASA%20race%2010-15-5/cockpit.jpg)
Here is the weekend report:
Saturday
Drove the car to the track. I really shouldnt have bought that new sparco, its friggin tiny. My ass fits in it (barely), but my back and shoulders do not. 20 minutes of driving and my back feels like maengs mom right after DP thursdays.
The first thing that is so different about racing is the free time. No students, no jumping from car to car, and unfortunately, not much track time either. 1 20 min practice, 1 15 min qualifying, and a 20 min race.
The comp school I did back in july prepared me pretty well for the transition between HPDE and racing, so I really wasnt even that nervous on saturday. Which was odd, I felt like I should be nervous, or at least super excited or something.
So the first practice session went by pretty smoothly. It was quiet, because most of the honda challenge field was still wrenching on their busted-ass cars. Chris Snobeck introduced me to racing with some nice hard bumpdrafting down the front straight
I qualified pretty well on saturday. 4th out of 9. Happy with that.
The race comes, and MAN what a thrill. There is NO anticipation and excitement quite like coming around turn 10 in formation waiting for the flag to drop.
Unfortunately, when the flag did drop I must have been napping, because I got rolled pretty hard. Rookie mistake. Someone told me Kaan said at the time "we need to teach him how to street race" :lol:
Passed by 1 car in T2 then another car in T3. Both of which I out-qualified. d'oh! Most of the rest of the race was un-eventful. Traffic put a gap between me and any other SMs, so I was pretty much driving by myself. Even after a restart due to a flipped neon, there wasnt much action.
Finish: 5th place out of 9. Not too bad for my first race, but I had a ton of areas to improve, and I went about concentrating on those that evening.
Sunday
Practice: Another pretty quiet session. I like sharing a run group with honda challenge. Their cars are too busted to practice.
My preparations from the night before paid off because I was flying. Car felt great, the air was cool, the track had tons of grip, and my mental prep from the night before really helped me pick up speed through 3 and 10. The time sheets came out after the session and I ran a 31.7. Faster than the 2 guys leading the points championship . If any of you know Chris Snobeck, you can imagine how bad that bugged him.
He wouldnt stop talking about it!Qualifying: Awesome qualifying session. Had some cars to run with and push me. If felt like I picked up some speed but the times came in and I ran a 32.something. Hrm. Qualified 5th out of 10. Wait, who was the new driver that showed up? Former ITA champ Jason Meise, in a pro built car w/ sunbelt engine. shit. He didnt have a qualifying time so he would start at the back though.
Race Intent on not making the same mistake twice, I NAILED the start, all over the ass of the car in front of me, and if he had even given me a sliver of room Id have taken it. I didnt give up any positions on the first lap, and if I was more agressive I probably could have picked up one. For about 5 laps I was hanging with the lead group, with a great fight with the car in front of me. We had left all of the other cars way behind....
I had some great opportunities to pass the car in front, I got beside him a few times in T1, and also in T3 and T10. Just couldnt finish off the pass, and I blame that on going into the corners a little too slow (since going in side by side and offline is slower) this is a rookie thing and Im sure Ill get a better feel for it
then....Meise caught up with us. So now its a 3 way fight. Fun!
I was actually a little surprised that he wasnt faster, we would pull away from him in a few spots on the track.
Then...trying to get alongside the #5 car in front of me going into 6 I go in too hot and locked dem shitz up BAD. Could barely keep it on the track, and around goes Meise. Crap, 6th place.
For the remainder of the race we battle, which was a lot of fun. I had better exit speed out of T10 than him, and got a good draft to pass him in T1, but he got back beside me and I backed off in T3. Not quite comfortable enough yet to pass or go 2 wide through 3 at that speed! The #5 car slowed down a lot (not sure why) so we ended up passing him, and I finished the race right on Meise's bumper for 5th place. Fast lap for the race was 1:31.9. Again I thought it was faster but Im pretty happy with that, considering I planned on being happy with 33s!
I had a MUCH better time in the sunday race, really had an absolute blast. There isnt anything like this, folks.
Here are some pics and a video of the sunday race. My server crawls, so if anyone can mirror it, Id greatly appreciate it.
right click, save as, and it come back to it when you wake up tomorrow morning. ( divx codec required )
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://evan55.homeip.net:8080/images/Summit%20NASA%20race%2010-15-5/Summit_SM_race_10-16-2005_pass2_DIVX.avi">http://evan55.homeip.net:8080/images/Su ... 2_DIVX.avi</a><!-- m -->
T3 in practice
T10
no weekend is complete until you throw the shocker
strapped in and ready to go
