Grand Bayou Race Series Round #3
Well we are now at the half way point of the Grand Bayou Race Series and I have to say, I am pretty excited to be tied for 2nd overall in my class here in my rookie year of the series. I am staying pretty consistent throughout so far with 3 second place finishes in a row. I am still looking for that first Feature race win, but I am on my way and the car and driver are just getting better as the season goes on. Now, off to the race recap...
Practice - The practice sessions for me really are pretty uneventful. There are a lot of cars on the track and it is tough to get any clean runs without running up someone’s tail pipe all the time. However, I was helping a friend out with his car and was a little late getting to the grid so I started near the rear of the pack. I am going to have to remember this because I actually got more open track this practice session than any other so far this year. I really wanted to stress the things I had worked on the previous day at the practice/lapping day session on my braking points in 2 sections on the track and carrying more speed onto the front straight away. It seemed to be working well as I caught some slower cars and Spec Miata’s a little sooner than I had thought. The car towards the end started to feel a little under powered on the straight-aways. I looked at all the gauges and everything seemed to be well within the limits. Except for the boost gauge, it was only hitting around 10 PSI when I should be at 15. Got the car back into the pits and apparently the coupler on the lower intercooler pipe had a hole blown through it somehow creating a VERY bad leak there. I did not have any more couplers with me so I had to run to the nearest auto parts store and buy whatever they had there that would work. Ended up getting a descent coupler but it was bright red (ricer) but it worked and I was saved. I will be getting all new 4 ply couplers before the next event.
Qualifying - Well with the coupler issue all resolved and no more boost leaks, it was time to qualify. As I went down the front straight all I could think to myself was I hope the new coupler stays put and doesn’t cost me the session here. Scrubbing in the tires and heating up the brakes a little bit on the 3/4 lap till we get to the flag station I start to zone in. GREEN FLAG !!!....I take off in 3rd and full boost we have. I tuck in behind a black Porsche 944 from the bracket above me and try to stay with him the whole session. He pulls me a little in certain places but he is not leaving me by any means. I stay on his bumper for the better part of 3 laps when we get down into turn 4 and he goes in a little hot and locks up his brakes and goes sliding off the track. I tuck underneath him on the low line and head on about my qualifying session. Quick check of the mirrors and no one with in 3 turns of me that I could see. Time to lay down some good times here. As I run the qualifying session, I am so zoned in I don’t even realize that I am coming up to 3 guys that are in my bracket. I put a little pressure on Alan in his BMW and he goes a little wide heading onto the straight away and I just power around him on the outside. Next lap I pick Skeeter off in his Mustang. As I got around the mustang I felt an adrenaline rush as I headed around the track. These guys finished 1-2 last year in the points chase and I just passed them both. As the qualifying session came to a close, Skeeter pulled up next to me on the cool down lap and gave me a big thumbs up. Very cool guy and good racer to do so in my opinion. I go to check the times after a quick tire pressure check. What a run for me. I grabbed the pole with a time of 1:30.591 for my first pole of the season. I could not have been more excited with that run and time.
Heat Race - Well since I won my first pole of the season, I was starting up front in my bracket in the heat race. On the start, I could not have gotten any more lucky than I did. As soon as the green flag dropped, the white BMW to my inside missed a gear and forced everyone behind to jam on their brakes and go everywhere trying to avoid an accident. That let me shoot past about 4 cars on the start. It didn’t last too long though, the faster bracket cars came up on us on about the 3rd lap. During the heat race, since I got luck yon the start, the 4 guys in my bracket all got tied up on the missed gear mishap on the green flag so I was well out in front of my bracket the whole heat race. After a red 951 Porsche got around me, I just latched on to his bumper and tried to follow him around the course. He pulled away from me towards the end of the race, but I stayed with him a little better than I thought I could or even would. In the end, trying to stay with him proved to be costly to me. I had my personal best time to date in the heat race with a 1:29.512. With that being a GREAT time for me, unfortunately in bracket racing, you must stay within your brackets time. The fastest we are allowed to go in the blue bracket is 1:30.00. So going half a second faster than allowed cost me a 1 lap penalty. So I physically won the heat race but technically got 2nd. I did 10 laps in 15:49.356, the guy in second did 10 laps in 15.53.878. So I had him beat by almost 4 seconds of track time. Needless to say, I was PUMPED UP coming out of the car !!!
Feature Race - Well since I broke out of my bracket in the heat race, I lost my pole position to Robert Bates in his BMW. In this series, you qualify for the heat race, then based on how you finish in your heat race is how you are gridded in the feature race. So since I technically finished 2nd in the heat race, I would line up in the 2nd position to start the feature race. Not to worry though. So here we are in the feature race and there is a hint of rain in the skies now. I am just hoping it holds off as I still have the Avon Tech R slicks on the car. We come around to the flag stand and its GREEN FLAG time.....Off and running and we head into the 1st turn and 2 Porsches get into each other and one goes sliding off to the left and the other to the right. I spilt the 2 of them spinning and jump right on Roberts bumper in the BMW. Skeeter in his Mustang takes a wild outside line through the sweeper and sneaks past me. I floor it on the straight away and 15 PSI of boost later I rocket around Robert in the BMW and tuck in behind Skeeter and the rest for 1st was on. Every time we would come up to turn 4 (the hairpin), he would take a very slow and low tight line around the turn, blocking my inside moves. Lap after lap I would gain on him in the sweeper, down the front straight and into turns 1, 2 and 3. But every time I would make the move to the inside, there he was slamming the door. About 10 minutes into the 20 minute feature we are both coming up on a black 924 Porsche VERY fast heading into the hairpin turn. The guy brakes way to hard and goes into a slide off the track, then as I go through the hairpin he shoots back across the track and literally misses T-boning me and Skeeter by no more than 2 inches. After we barely miss that accident we both head into the esses in the back track. Skeeter goes a little wide and I see his rear tires spinning. I make the move to the inside and I am right at his door going down the short shoot straight in the back. We come to a right hand turn and you need to be wide to carry speed through it. Problem is, I have the inside line, but it is not the line you want heading into the turn. So as soon as I jumped to the lead, I had to concede it to make sure I didn’t end up out into the wall somewhere at the end of the straight away there. After that mishap, I did all I could to make a move on the Mustang but it was not meant to be today. I finished 2nd with 12 laps in 19.00.550 and Skeeter took the win with a 12 lap in 18:59.817. He got me by .733 seconds. What a race though. It was a lot of fun chasing him down and trying to get by him. I gave it all I had. A few times maybe I could have pushed my nose inside him and forced him outside. But if I am going to pass someone, I want it to be clean pass. This being my rookie season and all, I do NOT want to be labeled a dirty driver. I am ok with 2nd place after a great race with the Mustang.
Heading Home - Well after the trophy presentations, we walk outside to the pouring rain. Luckily for me I had already got the car loaded up onto the trailer. Slow and steady for a while for about an hour until we got out of the rain. Looking back on this weekend’s event, I felt pretty darn good about things. The Saturday practice was very helpful to me during the next day’s events. And another 2nd place finish for me makes 3 podiums in a row and still in 2nd overall in the points chase. Not a bad spot to be at the half way point of the season. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Next up Round #4 on January 5th & 6th.
Practice - The practice sessions for me really are pretty uneventful. There are a lot of cars on the track and it is tough to get any clean runs without running up someone’s tail pipe all the time. However, I was helping a friend out with his car and was a little late getting to the grid so I started near the rear of the pack. I am going to have to remember this because I actually got more open track this practice session than any other so far this year. I really wanted to stress the things I had worked on the previous day at the practice/lapping day session on my braking points in 2 sections on the track and carrying more speed onto the front straight away. It seemed to be working well as I caught some slower cars and Spec Miata’s a little sooner than I had thought. The car towards the end started to feel a little under powered on the straight-aways. I looked at all the gauges and everything seemed to be well within the limits. Except for the boost gauge, it was only hitting around 10 PSI when I should be at 15. Got the car back into the pits and apparently the coupler on the lower intercooler pipe had a hole blown through it somehow creating a VERY bad leak there. I did not have any more couplers with me so I had to run to the nearest auto parts store and buy whatever they had there that would work. Ended up getting a descent coupler but it was bright red (ricer) but it worked and I was saved. I will be getting all new 4 ply couplers before the next event.
Qualifying - Well with the coupler issue all resolved and no more boost leaks, it was time to qualify. As I went down the front straight all I could think to myself was I hope the new coupler stays put and doesn’t cost me the session here. Scrubbing in the tires and heating up the brakes a little bit on the 3/4 lap till we get to the flag station I start to zone in. GREEN FLAG !!!....I take off in 3rd and full boost we have. I tuck in behind a black Porsche 944 from the bracket above me and try to stay with him the whole session. He pulls me a little in certain places but he is not leaving me by any means. I stay on his bumper for the better part of 3 laps when we get down into turn 4 and he goes in a little hot and locks up his brakes and goes sliding off the track. I tuck underneath him on the low line and head on about my qualifying session. Quick check of the mirrors and no one with in 3 turns of me that I could see. Time to lay down some good times here. As I run the qualifying session, I am so zoned in I don’t even realize that I am coming up to 3 guys that are in my bracket. I put a little pressure on Alan in his BMW and he goes a little wide heading onto the straight away and I just power around him on the outside. Next lap I pick Skeeter off in his Mustang. As I got around the mustang I felt an adrenaline rush as I headed around the track. These guys finished 1-2 last year in the points chase and I just passed them both. As the qualifying session came to a close, Skeeter pulled up next to me on the cool down lap and gave me a big thumbs up. Very cool guy and good racer to do so in my opinion. I go to check the times after a quick tire pressure check. What a run for me. I grabbed the pole with a time of 1:30.591 for my first pole of the season. I could not have been more excited with that run and time.
Heat Race - Well since I won my first pole of the season, I was starting up front in my bracket in the heat race. On the start, I could not have gotten any more lucky than I did. As soon as the green flag dropped, the white BMW to my inside missed a gear and forced everyone behind to jam on their brakes and go everywhere trying to avoid an accident. That let me shoot past about 4 cars on the start. It didn’t last too long though, the faster bracket cars came up on us on about the 3rd lap. During the heat race, since I got luck yon the start, the 4 guys in my bracket all got tied up on the missed gear mishap on the green flag so I was well out in front of my bracket the whole heat race. After a red 951 Porsche got around me, I just latched on to his bumper and tried to follow him around the course. He pulled away from me towards the end of the race, but I stayed with him a little better than I thought I could or even would. In the end, trying to stay with him proved to be costly to me. I had my personal best time to date in the heat race with a 1:29.512. With that being a GREAT time for me, unfortunately in bracket racing, you must stay within your brackets time. The fastest we are allowed to go in the blue bracket is 1:30.00. So going half a second faster than allowed cost me a 1 lap penalty. So I physically won the heat race but technically got 2nd. I did 10 laps in 15:49.356, the guy in second did 10 laps in 15.53.878. So I had him beat by almost 4 seconds of track time. Needless to say, I was PUMPED UP coming out of the car !!!
Feature Race - Well since I broke out of my bracket in the heat race, I lost my pole position to Robert Bates in his BMW. In this series, you qualify for the heat race, then based on how you finish in your heat race is how you are gridded in the feature race. So since I technically finished 2nd in the heat race, I would line up in the 2nd position to start the feature race. Not to worry though. So here we are in the feature race and there is a hint of rain in the skies now. I am just hoping it holds off as I still have the Avon Tech R slicks on the car. We come around to the flag stand and its GREEN FLAG time.....Off and running and we head into the 1st turn and 2 Porsches get into each other and one goes sliding off to the left and the other to the right. I spilt the 2 of them spinning and jump right on Roberts bumper in the BMW. Skeeter in his Mustang takes a wild outside line through the sweeper and sneaks past me. I floor it on the straight away and 15 PSI of boost later I rocket around Robert in the BMW and tuck in behind Skeeter and the rest for 1st was on. Every time we would come up to turn 4 (the hairpin), he would take a very slow and low tight line around the turn, blocking my inside moves. Lap after lap I would gain on him in the sweeper, down the front straight and into turns 1, 2 and 3. But every time I would make the move to the inside, there he was slamming the door. About 10 minutes into the 20 minute feature we are both coming up on a black 924 Porsche VERY fast heading into the hairpin turn. The guy brakes way to hard and goes into a slide off the track, then as I go through the hairpin he shoots back across the track and literally misses T-boning me and Skeeter by no more than 2 inches. After we barely miss that accident we both head into the esses in the back track. Skeeter goes a little wide and I see his rear tires spinning. I make the move to the inside and I am right at his door going down the short shoot straight in the back. We come to a right hand turn and you need to be wide to carry speed through it. Problem is, I have the inside line, but it is not the line you want heading into the turn. So as soon as I jumped to the lead, I had to concede it to make sure I didn’t end up out into the wall somewhere at the end of the straight away there. After that mishap, I did all I could to make a move on the Mustang but it was not meant to be today. I finished 2nd with 12 laps in 19.00.550 and Skeeter took the win with a 12 lap in 18:59.817. He got me by .733 seconds. What a race though. It was a lot of fun chasing him down and trying to get by him. I gave it all I had. A few times maybe I could have pushed my nose inside him and forced him outside. But if I am going to pass someone, I want it to be clean pass. This being my rookie season and all, I do NOT want to be labeled a dirty driver. I am ok with 2nd place after a great race with the Mustang.
Heading Home - Well after the trophy presentations, we walk outside to the pouring rain. Luckily for me I had already got the car loaded up onto the trailer. Slow and steady for a while for about an hour until we got out of the rain. Looking back on this weekend’s event, I felt pretty darn good about things. The Saturday practice was very helpful to me during the next day’s events. And another 2nd place finish for me makes 3 podiums in a row and still in 2nd overall in the points chase. Not a bad spot to be at the half way point of the season. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Next up Round #4 on January 5th & 6th.
Total Comments 10
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That sounds like a smashing good time! That bracket race sounds like a very interesting format. I'll try and come out to one of your events next year since I'm just one state over. Good luck on round 4 and have a Happy Holidays!
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Posted 12-04-2007 at 12:32 AM by asian312
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asian312 - Thank you very much on the comments. It is an ABSOLUTE blast to be racing in this series. The bracket format is interesting and makes for some good tight racing with other guys in your bracket. Hope to see you at an event in '08.
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Posted 12-04-2007 at 06:28 AM by tsiboosted
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Nice Run, I kind of zone out on the track also. It's not a bad kind of zone. It's just the mind set I get into. Its me, the car, and the other cars out on the track and that's all that bothers me in the world at that time. Most of my experience comes from small time dirt track, a few small club run, and some small town dirt rally's during the fair with a old school Monte Carlo!
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Posted 12-06-2007 at 02:32 PM by ninjai_ruken
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Thanks Tyson. Yeah, like you, I zone out with nothing in my head except the race. I am looking far ahead to the next 3 or 4 corners and how I am going to get around someone or keep someone from getting around me. Man it is a BLAST !!!!
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Posted 12-06-2007 at 02:34 PM by tsiboosted
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Dude i gotta hand it to you. Your doing what i wish i could be doing. Low funds is making it hard for me to get my car race ready. Seeing somebody brake into his rookie season as competitively as you are inspires me! Best wishes on your 1st season and looking forward to seeing how you do!
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Posted 12-07-2007 at 04:37 PM by neoviper
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neoviper - thank you for the comments. I know where you are coming from on funds. I am lucky enough to be able to fund my car this season almost entirely out of my own pocet. Hopefully that will change next season.
Believe me, I am VERY excited in my rookie season being able to compete with these guys. Let me know how the car goes getting ready to race. Thanks again and good luck !! |
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Posted 12-08-2007 at 10:40 AM by tsiboosted
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What kind of times do the class above you run? You could seriously be up there with a few more mods. (Hello 16G
 )But to keep up with a 5.0 on a stock turbo is damn good. BTW, what BMW is Roberts running? |
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Posted 12-09-2007 at 03:26 PM by BoostFrenzy
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The guys in the brackets above me go no faster than 1:24 - 1:26 area. Yeah, the 16G is 1st on the mod list after the season is over for sure. Along with a Supra side mount. Just need to get some more funding going you know?
I am actually faster in times and on the track than the 5.0, but passing him is easier said than done. Sometimes the "racing" line is way different than the "line" on the track you know? The BMW's, I would have to look into on what year and model they are. They are a little older, I would say late 80's probably. But one has a turbo kit on it though. I can't complain at all for my rookie season. All the guys I am racing against have raced this track for at least 3 years before me. I couldn't be more pleased to be sitting where I am in the points at the half way mark. |
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Posted 12-09-2007 at 03:52 PM by tsiboosted
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Wow just reading it got me pumped. I have never done any kind of racing before but it sounds fun as hell. I wish I could do it.
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Posted 01-10-2008 at 09:14 PM by crimsondragon
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Thanks crimsondragon. Glad you enjoyed the write up. If you want to race man, just get out there and do it. Everyone has to start some where. Thanks again for checking out my blog.
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Posted 01-11-2008 at 05:51 AM by tsiboosted
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Recent Blog Entries by tsiboosted
- Road Atlanta Testing Days (08-22-2008)
- Off-Season Upgrade List (04-01-2008)
- Grand Bayou Race Series Round #6 (Final Race) (03-10-2008)
- New Sponsor for 2008 - 2009 (02-14-2008)
- Grand Bayou Race Series Round #5 (02-04-2008)
