Admins: Delete this if desired, I am posting it because I got my start with THSCC and still run/instruct with the club when I can.
The car has had some changes since most of you have seen it....
NASA East Coast Championships 2014
Road Atlanta, August 27-31
#01 ST3 Corvette Z06
Our trip to the Road Atlanta started just like every trip: leave a few minutes later than you want only to end up sitting in traffic across Lake Norman and around Charlotte. Towing a borrowed enclosed trailer (with AC!!!) and loaded to the hilt with spares, tools, coolers, tires, etc., we made our way to Georgia without issue after clearing the Wednesday morning traffic.
My wife had been asked to work registration, so we arrived just after 11am and started stuffing the last of the free drink coozies. When registration got busy, I headed back to the truck for some cool AC and to charge my phone. About the only thing that happened on pack in day was I almost ran my diesel out of fuel while sitting in front of Road Atlanta waiting for the gates to open at 2pm. Sitting still with the AC on max, I saw on the dash “50 miles til empty”, “45 miles til empty”, and I finally shut it off at “35 miles til empty”.
Thursday dawned clear and HOT. On old R6s, the car was running mid-1:30s with ease and coolant temps were in the 220s. Nothing overly concerning, but I had yet to really push the car. After destroying the front splitter at an early August event and building an entirely new one, I was determined to do a proper shakedown and come up to speed slowly. I could hear the front splitter scrubbing very badly in several corners. David and I raised the front 1.5 turns on the coilovers and I replaced several of the screw heads and rivets in my splitter that had scrubbed away.
Around mid-morning, I had a dyno appointment scheduled. In typical fashion, I was 15 minutes early and they were 30 minutes late getting to me. Even so, my ST3 tune dyno’ed 7hp low in 4th gear and 11hp low in 3rd gear. So, my forms I have been running on all year long were good to go and I did not need to make any changes.
Later that afternoon, I drove across the scales in Tech. They had trouble getting each and every car with a front splitter up on the scales. When they read the numbers to me, I couldn’t believe them and asked for a repeat: twice. I immediately drove back to our paddock and put the car on the scales I brought with me; scales I know are good and are almost dead on with another set my car is used on all the time. The official scales showed me 43lbs LIGHTER than my scales showed. FORTY THREE! I started drilling lead blocks that I had brought with me as well as burning up the calculator to figure out my options. Somewhere in there I called Tom, our ST Director, and told him of the discrepancy. He said they were swapping out scales and to hold off on the lead installs. I finished drilling them just in case. That reminds me, I need to replace the drill bit I broke….
Thursday night I swapped to sticker A6s, new brake pads front and rear, and gave everything a good once over feeling good about the next day.
The Friday morning warmup session went pretty well with no issues, but it was somewhat cool. During the qualifying session, I ran a 1:35.1 to Ziggy’s 1:34.7. I would be starting Qualifying Race #1 on the outside pole.
We started Qualifying Race #1 in the second group with six ST2 cars leading nine ST3 cars to the green flag. From the beginning, Ziggy and I had to deal with the back two ST2 cars being slow in the corners and drag racing us down the straights. Ziggy got by one of them and I noticed my coolant temps hitting 237* around the second or third lap. By now, Ziggy had put so much distance between me and the slower ST2 cars, I could barely see him. I decided to back off, maintain coolant temps in the 232-234* range and hold on to second place.
Following the race, the first thing I did was look to see if the OEM style radiator (new in January) was packed full of debris. Everything looked good, it was just a matter of racing in air temps in the high 90s with track temps well over 100. Morris Morgan, my buddies from CMD Automotive, and David Farmer Racing all got on the phones and found a larger DeWitts radiator in the warehouse at Summit Racing in McDonough, GA. While my dad and I hit the road for the five hour round trip through Atlanta Friday afternoon traffic, CMD sourced the radiator for me and David and my wife prepped the car for our return. By midnight, my wife and I had installed the new radiator and had everything back together. We left for the hotel hopeful that it was the cure. I awoke three times between 1am and 6am going through it all in my head: Did I reinstall this? Did I tighten that? Did we get all of the air out of the system? Will this fix it?????
In the 8:30am warmup session Saturday morning, I ran the car HARD and saw coolant temps hit high 190s*. Significantly lower, but we also had much cooler air. For Race #2 at 10:30am, we would again be starting in a mixed pack of ST2 cars in the front and ST3 cars in the rear. Due to some changes, there were now only four ST2 cars and we had ten ST3 cars. Better for contingencies, so I was hoping everyone would make it through the day.
Once the green flag waved, Ziggy made no bones about getting past the back ST2 cars because we both knew that whoever got in front of them would pretty much run away from the other. By T5 he had put a car between us and I was once again relegated to coasting in the corners and drag racing down the straights. I pass one ST2 car FOUR times in that race. By the fourth time, Ziggy had checked out so far that I had zero hope of ever catching him.
Late in the race, an SU car laid down some transmission fluid through T5. Two ST3 Thunder Roadsters spun out, with one hitting the right side wall. The TR that stayed on track was struck by Michael in the #111 ST1 Corvette. It knocked the entire a-arm, wheel, hub, and brake assembly off the #369 Thunder Roadster. It destroyed the splitter and front bumper cover on Michael’s Vette. That race ended under Full Course Caution with me in P2. Everyone was ok and the #369 made enough repairs to race again in the championship race (and finish 3rd!). It must have been the brake duct hose I gave him. Michael could have repaired his car, but in a freak accident, the tow truck dropped the rollback on his foot and a trip to the local emergency room confirmed a broken bone.
Highly frustrating to be raced that hard by a higher class car. The good thing is the coolant temps never got above 203*. Almost too cool, but the cooling problem was solved for good! A good friend of mine went and talked to the ST2 car that held me up in both races, but as you will see, it did not help. That night I swapped to scrubbed sticker R6s and rotated brake pads from front to rear.
The Championship Race started Sunday at 12:30. Hot, sticky, and ummmm hot. Thank goodness for cool suits packed full of ice. Again in a mixed start with ST2 and ST3 cars, I got a great jump on Ziggy but could make it through in T1. He tried to go too far inside of the ST2 car in T3 and I got around him digging on the outside of T4. I closed the door in the esses and he tucked in behind me. I led all the way around to the bridge and he got a GREAT run through T12. Coming onto the front straight, I could see that he had a head of steam on me. I thought about pulling to the inside line into T1, but thought I could run enough speed to hold him off. I was wrong. He passed me in the brake zone and crossed in front of me into T1. I didn’t have enough pull to get back to his right coming up the hill to T2 and he was in the lead.
Coming out of T7, I was tucked under his rear bumper we were dead even down the first half of the back straight. I was gaining on him in the draft and pulled to the right and ran down the right side of the track through T9 and into the brake zone of T10. I never fully cleared him and he braked down the inside of me into T10. He crossed my front and I was again on his bumper up to the bridge. Once again, he got a great run through T12 and put some distance on me down the front straight.
We held in that position getting in and out of the ST2 traffic until Greg in the ST2 Lotus hit the front wall and a Full Course Caution waved. Once we went back green, Ziggy and I were again in the middle of the ST2 traffic and trying to fight our way through. Ziggy had contact with the ST2 GTR passing the GTR in T6. I stayed on his bumper and dove down the inside of Ziggy in the brake zone of T7. Ziggy and I touched at the apex and he was able to again stay in front of me.
Coming out of T7, the ST2 cars again drag raced us down the backstraight and were again in front of me into T10. We battled all the way down the front straight. Ziggy went wide left into T1 to get around the two ST2 backmarkers and I was intent on staying with him when he made a hole. I went two wide with the ST2 GTR at T3, straightened my steering input and lifted at the apex to give him room and we touched when he came left into me. Ziggy got through the esses cleanly while I was left coasting behind the faster class cars.
This was the name of the game for the rest of the race. I never had a chance to catch him after that and I knew it. I continued running hard hoping something would happen but I didn’t get back around the ST2 GTR until it slowed with transmission troubles. By then Ziggy had hooked up with the ST2 class leader and they were putting down consistent laps with Matt in his ST2 Vette pulling Ziggy down the back straights at speeds I couldn’t hit.
So, I finished the Championship Race in second place this year. I am happy and proud, but somewhat dissatisfied knowing that an out of class car affected all three races from the weekend. I can only hope for better results at VIR in 2015. Time start planning on changes to the car!
You need to watch the Qualifying Race video to appreciate the Championship Race.
Highlights from the Qualifying Races:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc9JCziJcBsChampionship Race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbH42IdJZII-Kevin
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