Just a quick summary from BookSmart's trip to Sebring..
Wow... What a fantastic weekend!! We left out on Friday night to run from Mooresville to Pooler, GA. Stayed at the Microtel Inn in Pooler which was the same place I stayed back in 1997 for my first ever track event at Roebling Road with Carguys. Just remember everyone changing tires, brakes, ect in the parking lot. What fun.. Anyways...
Made the rest of the 700 mile trek that morning and pulled into the track around 3pm. We quickly worked our way through tech which went rather quickly considering the 96 cars that were there to race. Everything went smoothly with tech and we were ready to start the race in the morning. Sooo, grabbed a beer and headed out for the 3.7M track walk. Looks like some fast and fun sections even though it is perfectly flat.
Saturday morning started off without a hitch. I was first in the car and 3rd in line. I was hoping to get a few laps behind the pace truck so we could rough in a few laps to mark out all the corner worker stations, ect.
Race started promptly at 9am and we were off and running. I haven't been that excited to learn a new track in a long time! Started with some slow 3:00 laps then quickly worked my way down to the 3:48's. Traffic management was fairly easy as I was amazed how empty the track felt with 100 cars on 3.7 miles vs what the start of the VIR 24 was like. About 45mins into the stint, our transmission started to pop out of 3rd gear on left handers. So we resorted to holding it in 3rd and one hand it....
Time to open up the trans and see what is wrong.
Pit stops went off without a hitch and everything was running great except for the 3rd gear issue. This track tends to favor hp as there are tight turns followed by long straight(ish) sections. Most of the front runners were running average 3.45 pace with a few fast laps in the 3.40's. E36's were FAST down the straights. Durability bit the two sri cars with what looked like a wheel that came off and an accident that was a result of a part coming off. The bumps were bad enough to rattle things loose.... Glad we checked wheel torque every stop!
There was a red flag near the end of the 5th stint that shut the track down for almost an hour. One of the JBBUGs cars was involved in a bad accident. Air lift was called in to respond to the driver who was later released and in OK condition. Glad everyone was OK and just reminds us how quick things can happen. Lots of walls to hit at a high rate of speed!!
On the second to last driver change the rain started falling. This really shuffled up the standings for awhile as some teams handled the rain better than others. Team infinity passed us for 3rd and were on a man hunt for second. Watching cars go down the front straight was the most exciting place to watch. The standing water and painted start finish line made for some exciting laps!
Race ended promptly at 11pm where team infinity passed flat out at the start finish line on the last lap for 2nd! We were pleased to finish in 4th considering we have never been to the track! Hopefully next year we will have more pace for these florida boys!
-Scott
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
