Grand Bayou Race Series Round #1

Well on Saturday October 6th the Grand Bayou Race Series held its first event of the 2007 - 2008 season at No Problem Raceway in Bella Rose, Louisiana. This was my first event of the season. They were around 50 drivers competing in 4 classes on Saturday. I had the #32 VIP Garage Eagle Talon in the Sport Touring (Blue Bracket) class.Watching the weather report Friday night after a lively evening in the hotels "Stardust Lounge" said there was a 40% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. We were hoping to avoid those, but mother nature has her way when she wants to.

So Saturday morning and we arrive at the track at 8:00 am to get the pit area setup and its really overcast and threatening to rain on us. It holds off for us and we get in our 15 minute warm up session at about 9:45 am. The car feels pretty good, really about the same as it did last weekend at our practice session. Rear end is sliding around just a bit so we took the pressure down to 25 all the way around (cold) and they heated up to 30 in the front and 28 in the rear and the car seem to be a little more stable in the turns.

Qualifying - In the Sport Touring class all 4 brackets (including the Spec Miatas) are on the track at the same time. So in our qualifying session I was up against everyone in the class. All the little Miatas all the way up to the fastest Touring car drivers at the event. They actually sent the Miatas out last so they would not be lap traffic too soon in the session. I ran fairly well for about the first 10 minutes of the 15 minute qualifying session. Not pushing the car to the limit, just trying to stay smooth and hitting my marks. With about 5 minutes to go, I can see Miatas in front of me as I have caught up to them and the fastest guys (red bracket drivers) in my rear view mirror. So the last 5 minutes or so of the qualifying was trying to get around Miatas without holding up the faster guys either. Overall I qualified 3rd in the Blue Bracket with my best time of the session being 1:33.00 Actually was my personal best on the track which made me very pleased with the outcome.

Heat Race - Well as our heat race approached, so did the rain. Well more like torrential down pours. It was raining so hard at one point that you could not see the other end of the track from the grand stands. So off we go in the rain for the heat race. 2 by 2 coming to the start line and we get the green flag. The first few laps I don't think anyone got out of second gear. Everyone was trying to feel out how everyone else was going to slide around and carve a new line in the rain. Around the 3rd lap I was following the #2 guy in our bracket in a 5.0 mustang, we go into the sweeper and he gets a little sideways sliding in his rear wheel drive and I tuck underneath him to go into second place. I set my eyes on the BMW who is running up front in our bracket. In the 20 minute heat race, cars a sliding all around the track and off the track left and right. No one is going fast and no one really could. As the session went on the rain got heavier. As the session comes to a close, I see we are getting the checkered flag as I come down the front straight, good thing too. I took the turn a little too deep in the rain and we on a wild 360 ride through turn 1 and off into the grass about 20 yards off the track. Took a few tries to get the car fired back up but no worries and limped back into the pits. No damage, just allot of wet grass clumps and some mud.

Feature Race - In the 20 minute feature race, since I got 2nd in the heat race I got to lineup a little further up in the grid. Even ahead of some of the "faster" bracket guys who slid all over the place and I passed in the previous heat race. We're off in the feature race on a somewhat drier track this time. I dive in behind a yellow bracket driver and the BMW (driven by Alan Simpson) who is leading our Blue Bracket. Through about the first 10 minutes it was just me giving chase to the BMW. About this time I see 2 of the Red Bracket (fastest Touring Cars) coming up on. I let them go around and just try to follow them around the circuit. With around 5 or so minutes to go, I latch onto a Yellow bracket Porsche 951's bumper and follow him around the track for the duration of the feature race. I finish the feature race 2nd in my bracket out of 5 drivers and 10th overall. All and all a very good first event for me in the series to start off my rookie season. Next race is November 4th !!!!

~Eddie Garrison