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NASA Nationals at Mid-Ohio

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Dave532

15+ Year Contributor
98
0
Jun 5, 2006
Minneapolis, Minnesota
My race recap...

Arrived at Lexington Oh about 15:00 on Wednesday after a 14 hour tow from Minneapolis.
First practice on Thursday I just try memorize the corners and heat cycle the Hoosiers for the first time. Before 2nd practice I mount the Toyos and do a brake pad/rotor change (same brakes from Road America) and bleed the brakes. After a couple corners during the 2nd practice somethings feels loose in the left rear. I go back to my cold pits realizing that my crew (my father) forgot to torque that wheel down. Missed that practice. 3rd and 4th practices were uneventful. Best time 1:46.

Friday was Practice, Qual, Qual Race. Sorta like heat races the Qual race finish was where you qualified on the big Sunday race (or so I thought). Getting faster all day long. However, the PT A,B and C guys realize we are also running with the Super Unlimited and Super touring guys...basically THE fastest cars NASA has. Us slower PT guys have a hard time watching our mirrors for these cars...especially in the "Madness" section. It's also hard to get a clear lap. Best time was in the 1:44's.

Saturday was similar to Friday except there seemed to be more carnage. Mid-Ohio is a very technical track with 3 blind corners that are off-camber at the exits and very little run-off room. The car is always in a 3-dimensional state...up and down as much as left and right. Great fun though! Best time 1:43's.

Sunday practice I try the Hoosiers again...no improvement over the Toyos for me. In fact I think the Toyos were balanced better (keeping in mind I had alot more experience with them). I go back to the Toyos for the race. For some reason all the qual racing/work we did was for naught...I grid toward the back behind slower cars...I still don't why this is. I'm a 4th place car in my class which varies from 6 to 9 cars depending upon the day. If I'm lucky I think I can make the podium for a few contigency dollars. Green flag drops and I am side by side with someone in the first corner. The second corner is blind left down hill that drops away. I am still side by side with a Camaro(?) when we come over the hill and see the #110 Thunder Roadster spinning...he's now perpindicular to the track. The Camaro breaks left for the dirt while I break right for the grass...no problem except the TR rolls backwards...right into my path. My left front strikes his left rear and I basically bounce over the back of him. I spin and stall..restart and drive back to the pits. I can feel the left front toe is knocked out pretty bad. I get out and survey the damage. I'll need a new door and some plastic bits. The rocker in front of the rear tire is badly pushed in...I'm not sure how I'm going to fix that. Anyway...I have all winter to straighten the car and fix the body...I'll probably have to paint it too...any suggestions? Best time 1:42s

The Good: Awesome track (2nd to Road America), many cool people and cars. Great racing...cool to compare myself with the national cars. If you get a chance to drive this track, do it!

The Bad: alot of rules manipulation and politics within the PT class...no big surprise at the National level, just tired of seeing it. The sessions and grid could have run smoother. Local people give bad directions.

The Ugly: my car! :(

Next event will be Sno-Drift with the Rally car in January.

-Dave
#532
NASA PTC
Rally America PGT
 
Sounds like a good experience overall!! Mid-Ohio as you found out is a very technical track and "madness" name is obvious. 1:42 is a good time on Mid-Ohio, your out pacing the S2000 my roommate been driving by about 4 secs though he's still only in hpde3.

As for the local drivers, yeah that's normal. Ohioans can't drive worth a darn and are worse with directions, and when there's snow on the ground.......look out.

I really hope to make it to the Nats next year, I was simply too busy with work this year to make it.
 
My race recap...

Congratulations on getting as far as you did in your first season. You are the only DSM to make it into the race classes since Greg Collier retired, and you did it in record time. I salute you, and wish you all the best for the 2008 season.

Rich
 
First off glad you are okay!! As I said in my pm, when I saw you didn't finish the race and we didn't hear from you, I was worried you might've had a bad wreck or something.

For some reason all the qual racing/work we did was for naught...I grid toward the back behind slower cars...I still don't why this is. I'm a 4th place car in my class which varies from 6 to 9 cars depending upon the day.

Did they grid by class? For instance, were all the STU cars together, then the ST1 cars behind them, etc. etc. and then PTC was gridded by the Saturday qualifying race?

Or were you gridded behind some other competitors in PTC that you beat on Saturday's qualifying race?

Anyway....congrats on excelling so quickly. It's a testament to your car prep and driving abilities. I've been flat out amazed watching you on the track working through traffic and clicking off lap after lap. Watching you has fed my desire for moving up to that level and I hope to run side-by-side with you soon. Congrats to your 2007 season and I'm sure you'll do great things in 2008 as well.
 
Great work. Hope to see you out there competing in the future.
 
Thanks for all the support, I appreciate it. I'm very happy with 95% of the season and did exactly what I wanted...stay under the radar and just learn the ropes of road racing. Next year I will take it more seriously by maximizing the car's potential and being a bit more aggressive. I can only the assume the motor is broke in by now ;) , so maybe I'll turn the boost up a bit and see what happens.

To answer your question, yes I was gridded behind slower cars in my class...I talked to the race director and he didn't know why either. Maybe it was to promote passing or something. If it happens again next year, I'll bi*** fer sure.

I would love to see you and that 3000GT on the track. The more the merrier. I have to say the Midwest Region has done an outstanding job so far.
Rich, if you're still gonna sell that DSM, make sure it goes to someone who'll race it!

See you fellers next spring (rumor has it that Gateway may be on the schedule).

-Dave
#532
 
I'm already making plans for next year in starting to work through HPDE so I can get out there and try my hand at racing, just going to take some time but I can't wait to get on the track, especially with some fellow dsm'ers!!
 
Rich, if you're still gonna sell that DSM, make sure it goes to someone who'll race it! -Dave
#532

I am definitely going to sell it, but I may have to part it out. There does not seem to be much of a market for used race cars. We ran it at MAM last weekend, and it was running right with the top TTS cars on the new Hoosiers. We'll take it to Road America, see if we can blow off the big, bad F-body cars, and try to sell it at the track.

Can you fix your car in time for Road America in two weeks? I'd love to run on the same track with you.

Mike and I were talking about maybe coming up to Sno*Drift to crew for you. Do you have a support crew for rallies?
Rich
 
Hey Dave, great to hear about a DSM making it to the Nationals. Sorry to hear about the crash and I'm glad to hear you're okay. I'm really hoping to have all the bugs worked on on this new setup pretty soon. I definitely need a roll bar/cage before long, along with a few other things. Just need to make some more money to support my habit (and pay our bills).
 
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