John's first race, SCCA at Road America

[billy]

Quals are over with and he's running around a 2:57 according to EJ who is there. Race is in the afternoon. Weather looks great, it was wet this morning but is dry now and radar is clear all around him.

Car tech went well, no issues.

[JimLill]

Based on last year's results, John and I thought he might be able to do a 2:45. Given a damp track, new car, and no practice..... 2:57 is pretty good. Making a leap from 2:57 -> 2:45 over 2 days is possible so let's see what tmrw brings.

[JimLill]

The 2 day sched

[billy]

So race 1 is over and we're not sure where he finished but he grided in 12th. The good news is he managed a 52 in the race which is pretty cool.
He is going to compare with repkas 48 to see where the 4 seconds are so tomorrow should be interesting.

[JimLill]

Congrats to John.......... that puts him 1/2-way to securing his license for this season. Tmrw should lock him in. It'll be interesting to get his view of W2W and the IT classes.

[jstecher]

Quick post with more later after I get some ice cream. :)

Quals were REALLY wet from the kink all the way up until 14 and then at T3 as well. Had a guy hit the kink in front of me, run wide into some standing water and then crack the inside wall really hard in a Miata. He drove it out but not to far. Times dropped as the track dried and traffic so I wasn't to upset. The car is COMPLETELY different than the same one here at Road America with the stock suspension so it took a little bit to relearn braking points and cornering speeds but I started to get them into the race. I ended up qualifying 12th out of 24 so I was pretty happy to start the day.

Race went as well as could be expected after the start. I got mildly screwed at the start as the guy I was suppose to start next to didn't think I was so on track coming up to the start he cut in front of me and then had everyone else on his side move up effectively making me 14th. T1 worked well and I picked up a spot back there and then chased down another four folks throughout the rest of the race. As I got more comfortable in the car lap times dropped and I ended with a 2:53 but I know right now that I have lot of time left in T1, T7, and T9-10 so its time to put that to work tomorrow. Obviously running in traffic makes the perfect line a little more difficult. :)

Overall I ended up 9th outta 24 and 3rd in class so I can't complain. The car worked great and was solid through the day. I only ended up throwing one wheel weight Rob! :D Braking in the 924 is pretty damn sweet as you can go as deep as the Miata's and other cars running slicks but the difference in front and rear track width can really be felt as the 924 really likes to throw its ass out but once you get the hang of it she becomes predictable but its still something that needs to be fixed to really fly in this car versus the other SP1s.

Overall IT is pretty damn fun with a lot of quality racing. The 944SP1 isn't competitive in ITS as the winners were in the 2:40 range but you can have your own race within a race against the Miata's and ITA-C cars. I had a blast and can't wait for tomorrow as I know the places I can push more given the feedback the car was giving me asking for more. Should be tons of fun.

Only negative that did come out of today was a real longing to get my car back on the track. Watching the Wings and things race was just heart breaking. :)

So now I really am going to get ice cream. :)

[jstecher]

Congrats to John.......... that puts him 1/2-way to securing his license for this season. Tmrw should lock him in. It'll be interesting to get his view of W2W and the IT classes.

HPDE doesn't even come close to comparing. Yeah you can chase down cars but nothing is as satisfying as passing someone in anger. :rockon: Time to knock the license out tomorrow and get back to work on the Stohr. :)

[Rob.wisniewski]

New suspsension working well in the dry then? that's good to hear. Just glad the car is finally sorted out. That was alot of work in the last couple of months! Awesome to hear John... thanks for shaking her down! Just make sure I get a chance to in Sept and bring her home rubber side down. =)

Any bad vibration from the wheel balance like we were worried about?

[jstecher]

Don't worry she will be home rubber side down. :) I take care of my equipment. No Vibration what so ever all the way up to 118 so all the fears were unfounded. She was rock solid.

[jstecher]

PS. You owe me $6 for a log book. :D

[Rob.wisniewski]

check's in the mail sir. sorry i couldn't be there. sounds awesome.. good luck tomorrow.

[mrepka]

Outstanding John, great to hear all went well. You have a whole bunch of pulling for you here. :cheers::cheers:

[Skeen]

I hope you have video. :)

[Conan]

Congrats, man. 3rd in class for your first race is awesome. I'm totally envious. :cheers:

[Eric]

Videos are coming. Don't have firewire on the laptop, so I can't download here. SRF race was, in John's most eloquent and fitting description... "Chaos". Sat in Canada Corner and saw a lot of action. Most of the other groups were well behaved.

Got some footage of John's quals from 5, and race from 5, 14, and going into 1. We'll work on the in car camera this morning.

In the mean time, here is a still from the video camera's memory stick.

[Rob.wisniewski]

The ugliest Porsche made never looked so good! =)

How's the gas pedal working out?

[mrepka]

Videos are coming. Don't have firewire on the laptop, so I can't download here. SRF race was, in John's most eloquent and fitting description... "Chaos". Sat in Canada Corner and saw a lot of action. Most of the other groups were well behaved.

There is a reason corner workers have dubbed that particular class "Spec 'Recker Ford"

[JimLill]

There is a reason corner workers have dubbed that particular class "Spec 'Recker Ford"

In the Tn classes, I attribute the carnage to mostly to driver skill issues. SRF and SM both have their moments too, some for the same reason, but the parity in those classes means close packs and any incident by one tends to affect those around them.

[Rob.wisniewski]

Just talked to John again.. 2nd place today! High 2:51's. Rockin time. He's even got some trophies apparently. =)

Somehow the fan cut a hole in the lower rad hose as they were loading onto the trailer, so there's a little work that needs to be done, but awesome that it happened when the day was done. Simple enough fix too.. apparently the rad was loose because some fasteners are missing (we've never touched these, so probably missing for a while)

[JimLill]

Congrats to John... and kudos to you Rob for the loan of the car........

[mrepka]

:cheers: Outstanding! :cheers:

[JimLill]

Watch here for other times:

http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevents.jsp?st=3&org=43536

[bbailey]

Congrats on your race.

[Lobo6]

First time out, in a new car, 3rd in class? Great job John. :cheers:

[f1rocks]

Congrats John!!

Glad the car did well for it's first real W2W test. Were you required to run the Toyo's or could you run Hoosiers? Are you limited by wheel size?

Rob,
I have a an additional guard that will prevent the hose from contacting the fan again, I'll see if I can find it. This is a common problem on the 44/24's as the hose is precariously close to the fan.

[JimLill]

Results...........

Saturday

http://www.mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=634598
http://www.mylaps.com/results/newLapchart.jsp?id=634598

Sunday

http://www.mylaps.com/results/newResults.jsp?id=634614
http://www.mylaps.com/results/newLapchart.jsp?id=634614

[Rob.wisniewski]

Of course you do Brent.. Of course you do. =) Put one of those on the wish list.

[jstecher]

Congrats John!!

Glad the car did well for it's first real W2W test. Were you required to run the Toyo's or could you run Hoosiers? Are you limited by wheel size?


More later on the race and my final thoughts as I have been busy at work today. Just wanted to chime in on the tires. I just ran the Toyo's because of issues with Tirerack getting some other things ordered for me. The Miata's and me were the only ones on Toyo's everyone else was on Hoosiers or Kuhmos. I can tell you there is a huge difference in tires. The Hoosier shod cars were blindingly fast for the first set of laps 3-5 then would start to go off (track temps were high) as I could gage it by maintainable speed around the carousel and if I could close on them or they would pull away. Once the Toyo's got 3-4 laps in them they would start to come on and be solid the rest of the race unless I abused them or overdrove them.

[TailWagger]

More later on the race and my final thoughts as I have been busy at work today. Just wanted to chime in on the tires. I just ran the Toyo's because of issues with Tirerack getting some other things ordered for me. The Miata's and me were the only ones on Toyo's everyone else was on Hoosiers or Kuhmos. I can tell you there is a huge difference in tires. The Hoosier shod cars were blindingly fast for the first set of laps 3-5 then would start to go off (track temps were high) as I could gage it by maintainable speed around the carousel and if I could close on them or they would pull away. Once the Toyo's got 3-4 laps in them they would start to come on and be solid the rest of the race unless I abused them or overdrove them.
I think this jives with out lot of my personal observations on the toyos. btw, :cheers::cheers::cheers: great job!

[kbrew8991]

can't wait to see the video :) good job

[billy]

The video is pretty cool, we saw it yesterday. The HD video camera is just gorgeous, once you see it, you'll want one.

[jstecher]

No in car video however as I couldn't get my bullet cam setup pass tech for SCCA. Normally I just use a samsung sport cam and keep the main unit in my pocket (its all of 4.9oz) but that wouldn't fly this time around.

Next time I will have a better solution.