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PUB Racing Mid-Ohio Race Report

 
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924RACR  



Joined: 29 Jul 2001
Posts: 8794
Location: Royal Oak, MI, USA

PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2001 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks to cool weather, resolute crewmembers, extensive preparation, and a
major helping of good luck, PUB Racing has survived our season closer, WOR
Games at Mid-Ohio, and brought a second season to a successful close. Here's
the detailed report from the weekend's racing; photos and video should be
downloaded shortly to the website.

Following up on the heels of a very successful race weekend a month before
at Waterford, very little prep-work was needed to #77 to prepare for the WOR
Games
put on every fall at Mid-Ohio by the Western Ohio Region of SCCA. There were
a few relatively minor things to be fixed to prevent reliability problems,
but the engine and chassis had both worked very for the previous outing at
Waterford, providing our best lap times of the season, so no changes were
made to the setup for this weekend. However, the weekend's weather got off
to an ominous start with steady rain on the drive down Friday night. Thanks
to the rain, temperatures, and driving difficulties provided by the weather,
we decided to postpone any sort of setup from Friday night to the next AM
while the team regrouped, warmed up, and got some rest.

Arrival at the track showed this was a good decision; the miserable weather
had cleared overnight, earlier than expected, and while it was quite cold,
windy, and still a little damp, there were hints of sun already showing
through the cloud cover, boding well for the rest of the weekend! We
proceeded with establishing base camp for the weekend and prepping the car
for the early practice time.

Due to the damp track and our level of uncertainty with the track - this was
only our second weekend at Mid-O - we decided to take it very easy for
qualifying, just getting a feel for the track again and making sure there
were no problems with the car; there's always plenty of time to pass cars
during the race. Still, in spite of the relaxed pace, we were able to record
times (on a damp track) nearly as good as our race times from earlier this
season.

This resulted in our qualifying 26th out of 30 cars for the qualifying race
(to be held Saturday afternoon), the results of which would determine our
qualifying order for the actual Regional race Sunday. No big deal - our goal
was simply to survive the weekend, and the season, and gain points towards
an SCCA license.

The qual race took off, with the expected start - the remaining cars gridded
behind us proceed past on the front straight, in spite of a good start, due
to our lack of power. No biggie, we'll let them by, and work our way back
through once the running order is a little more sorted out. Sure enough, as
the short (8 laps) race progressed, we were able to gradually creep by one
or two cars on track as our superior handling showed its worth. We weren't
able to catch anyone on the straights, but had far better handling through
the long twisty back-section of the course than our low grid placement made
apparent. This success on-track was multiplied by our standings when all the
carnage had been cleaned up and the results posted - due to higher levels of
testosterone than some cars or drivers were able to handle, we found that a
number of cars had dropped off track and either not finished or finished
some laps behind us. Final placement was 20th, indicating that we'd moved up
a good 6 places! Good work, but due to make for a tricky start, with that
many powerful cars behind us.

Sunday morning, race day, opened to the spectacle of the track already shut
down by a lap 1 turn 1 incident in Group 1 - with track temps of 32 deg F,
they'd collectively overcooked the first turn and stopped racing. All was
well, and this meant we'd have even more time to get ready (we were in Group
3), set everything up, and... scrape the frost off the car!!! Boy was it
cold...

So, after some quick calesthenics to warm up the crew (yeah right!) we were
gridded up, in 20th, and moved out on the track to try and build some heat
in the cars and the tires. The green dropped and all hell broke loose -
typical ITA start, 3-4 cars wide, cars off in the grass, and inevitably the
one idiot going sideways through the first turn... zip around him, lucky to
have room as we whiz by at 50-60mph, and see one lost soul out in left field
- well, actually, off-track driver's right... and he's making his way back
in after turn 1... he's not going to spear back in in the middle of the
field, is he??? Yep, sure is - right in front of me! Zip around him, and
things are clear for the run down to the keyhole. Coming back up the back
straight, we're passed by a multitude of faster cars, a combination of the
ones that went off and those who didn't have a very good line to work
through the blockages. Finally we can settle down for the race - 16 laps
around Mid-O.

So, time to figure out the next step - who can I play with? The only car in
sight in front, after the first chaotic lap, is an MR2. However, catching
and passing him is not going to be easy - he's pulling away on every
straight, clearly our only chance to move up on him will be through the
turns. Consequently, it takes a good 5-6 laps to catch up; turning into
Thunder Valley, we close up so quickly that we get pointed by! However, with
the line not favoring us, and how far down on power we are, we can't
actually slip by until the Carousel, leading onto the front straight. We
both get on it - and he zips back by into Turn 1 - the game is on! He
realizes we're not really faster than him, and we pitch battle - for the
next 8 laps! After chasing him for another lap, we know we can pass him
again; so coming out of Madness, we slid up the inside to the first half of
the Esses and go by... then he gets in front going onto the front
straight... then we pass going into Carousel... and he passes us again on
the front straight... and back and forth many times... the leading cars
(Botha and Walker) go by going into 1 after he passes, and we're still hot
on his tail... then we pass him again coming out of Madness, and Walker's
teammate Mark Rushbrook, running in 3rd, slides by... so we follow Mark into
Thunder Valley.

Bad Move! In our excitement, we fail to make the apex, and slide really wide
to the left as soon as we hit the dropoff in the track just after the apex.
The car pushes out too far, the left side is in the grass, the curbing is
rushing under the center of the car, the car is bouncing up and down in the
grass at about 50mph, and the wall is getting closer! Actually, right there
it comes right down to the track's edge! We steady the car and ease it back
onto track, still at speed and full on the gas, and then ease up a bit to
let the MR2 back by; no need to put us both in the wall now, better to back
off and wait for the next chance to pass him. Besides, the way we can handle
the corners (when taken properly), we don't have to worry about waiting
another lap for the opportunity.

This dicing carries on for a few more laps - we pass the MR2 in Carousel and
he squeezes by on the straights, and we slide through again in front of lap
traffic - this one a BMW Z3 running in the SSB class. He squeezes by us
through Thunder Valley, and we stay hard on his tail to not lose any ground.
Coming in to Turn 1 off the front straight, and the MR2 is still behind us!
We continue to carry speed through the Turns, first Turn 1, then the
Chicane, then the Keyhole, and we've pulled ahead a great deal... so far, in
fact, that he's still behind us heading off the back straight into the
twisty stuff again. And so the race is done; while we still have a few laps
to go, we've moved up enough and we're gaining so much time through the
corners that the MR2 is unable to make up for it on the straights. We finish
up one position, in 19th, the hardest-fought position we've ever won! In
doing so, we've also managed to get our best times to date on the track, a
whole 4 seconds faster per lap than earlier this summer.

Thanks to all who made this possible, and in particular those who braved the
frigid weather to ensure such a great season finale - Greg, Merritt, and
Angela! Our exhaustive efforts through the season have paid off, and we head
into the winter having achieved our goals of completing a number of SCCA
races, and developing a reliable, durable, good-handling car. Now, this
winter, we can finally deal with the one piece of the puzzle still missing;
an engine!

Yes, that's right; we're going to build a true race motor this winter. Till
now, remember, we've been running a bone-stock motor, just to get us around
so we can learn to race. Now we'll be taking a spare motor and building it
to the limits of the rules. In addition, we hope to get some re-work done to
the cage to stiffen up the body, and we'll deal with some other minor
issues, like re-valveing the shocks. Come spring, the performance of our
suspension should hopefully be complemented, rather than hindered, by the
performance of our engine.

Take care, stay warm, keep the shiny side up, and see ya in the spring!!!

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype
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