Wild weekend. Strong rain and wind to start it off, tight paddock with all Midwest Fest has going on.
Struggled with setup on the warm-up day, lots of oversteer at all phases of the corner, and fading brakes after 1-2 hot laps led to very little confidence in the car. Many yellow and black flags made it a pain to be consistent at all. Not pleased with setup.
Practice and quali day was not much better, made changes to camber, pressure, splitter, etc and only saw mild improvements in behavior. Many yellow and black flags was a constant annoyance. Still struggling with severe brake fade, couldn’t be consistent, qualified off the pace in the mid 1:37’s. P27.
Replaced brake pads and fully flushed the brake fluid (Thanks to John Ryman, per usual!). The pads didn’t solve it, but the fluid did. Change your brake fluid at least yearly! Mine was old and must have absorbed enough water to cause some boiling and squishyness in the system over the last year. Rock hard brakes confirmed in the minor Saturday practice session, ready for Race 1. Adjusted the toe a little which helped the oversteer. It was a few mm out, so a good thing to square away.
Race 1 was an unmitigated disaster. Managed to survive the first lap, but saw several incidents I knew would develop into FCY. Came through T2 on Lap 2 and a car got loose on the outside of 2 and didn’t lock the brakes, tried to save it, and ended up hooking to the right into the racing line. Had a car on my inside and nowhere to go, tried to brake as much as possible but ended up getting hit in the front left by him hooking back across the track. Got rear-ended and a pileup ensued.
Managed to get back to the pits after a couple of SC laps and evaluate the damage. Miraculously, no suspension or wheel damage, just the left side floor / TCU / compressor mounting points were busted, and the right side sidepod cover needed to be replaced because the mounting point was broken at the front. Dad and Pat helped rebuild it before Race 2.
Had a driver’s meeting / intervention where we talked about how we can be better as as group, how suspensions are coming for drivers that can’t improve, etc. Not a bad meeting, but I felt that there were some specifics that could have been focused on:
– Hot lap quali pace / braking points is not the same as race pace / braking points, when there are fellow drivers all around you. Braking points, lines, focus, etc must be modified to accommodate clean races.
– If you start to spin and it’s not able to be countersteered back in line, immediately go both feet in. Clutch in to save the starter if you roll backwards, and brakes locked so that everyone behind you knows where you’re sliding. If you’re hooking back across the track or spinning and rolling backwards, it’s very difficult to avoid for the drivers behind. Yeah, you might get a teeny flat spot, who cares. It’s way better than getting collected by a guy behind you.
– If you enter with an overlap (or for midfield drivers like me, even proximity that smells like overlap), you MUST ALWAYS LEAVE’A THE SPACE!
You are not entitled to turn in, apex, and track out at your normal spots, and will cause an incident.
If you’re on the outside, leave space at the apex for another car.
If you’re on the inside, leave space at track-out for another car.
This must be non-negotiable, and would solve many of our contact issues. Yes, because you’re on the inside and can’t track all the way out, you need to modify your braking point and apex speed. This should be obvious.
– For 99% of the grid, this is a hobby. THIS IS CLUB RACING. Don’t let the broadcast and social media storms convince you you’re some kind of rock star. Make friends, come home without damage. We are paying to be here, and a few extra thousand dollars in bodywork and repairs each event means we’re not going to keep coming back. I promise your wife doesn’t care if you finish 14th or 18th. It will not make a difference. Lift, be cautious, be aware, extinguish the hair on fire, especially for the first few laps until things get settled.
Race 2 was better, although still had a FCY from an incident and a couple of local yellows. Everyone seemed a little more chill. Setup was somehow improved by the incident, I need to check my toe haha. Might have knocked some sense into the setup but it was much more controllable. Had some good battles so no fast laps but had more fun.
Race 3 was the most fun race I think I’ve had yet. The Hoosiers had so much traction in the rain, it was incredible. My first rain race and I made spots, felt in complete control. Went side-by-side with some friends and had some excellent passes executed by me and on me. Great race, so happy we made it through as a field without any major issues. Unbelievable how much lateral grip and braking performance those tires had on a wet track. Perfect conditions for a wet race without standing water (except T11, which was easy to avoid). Learned a lot about the faster wet line, and it was a challenge to pass competitors doing the traditional rain line. Had to adapt and had some great battles, especially with Jared Anderson and Anthony Magagnoli! Super clean, super close racing. Exactly why I want to be racing!
Race 4 was pretty decent. I think there was a quick FCY but it wasn’t too bad. Went side-by-side from the start/finish line through T7 with Jared, which was probably my favorite thing from the weekend aside from the wet race. Setup was working for me, and I’m happy with how it went.
Packed up and headed home to Buffalo, got in at 1am. Long weekend for those of us who have to do all our own wrenching, logistics, trailering, packing, etc. Being a privateer is tough, but doable. For now.
Looking forward to WGI. I’m a little concerned that if we see the same banzai behavior at WGI, the consequences will be more dire. There are very hard walls very close to the track (See T11), metal armco barriers very close to the track (see the esses, the back straight, outside T9), tire barriers very close to the track (see T6), etc. Running wide will be punished much more severely at The Glen… we will see how the field adapts.
For now, the car is on the lift for maintenance and repairs. WGI will be here quick!