Why such a small wing on the back?

 

It was what we had lying around. I'm going to try to get a Porsche GT3 Cup car wing for Iowa.

 

I'll say this..you're definitely not a chump, Alex. Great job buddy!

 

Well, it's Monday and I'm back at work after my first race weekend. WOW! What an awesome time! I've got a bunch of photos to post from my DSLR as well as some videos and data from the TrackMate data logger later once I have a chance to catch up with work and sleep. The last few days have been a blur as we got the car finalized and ready to race.

Thursday night was pretty much our last chance to get everyone on the car sorted out before we left for the track. It ended up taking us ~6.5 hrs to get there and most of us were really tired by the time we got to the house we rented at 2:30AM.



Friday morning got off to a late start as we woke up and started talking about the strategy for the day. There was a free practice session at the track from 12-4PM so while some of us ran some errands for food and other items we'd need for the weekend, the rest of the group went to the track to get the car set up and ready to drive.



Installed the new Sparco wheel.


We didn't get the car out on track until nearly 1:30 but once we got moving, everyone had at least a few laps in the car to familiarize themselves with the track as well as the car. On my only hot lap of the day, I managed to set a 3:11 which I thought was pretty decent for being the first time ever driving a race car in anger. I managed to be only a couple seconds off from the two more experienced drivers on the team who got quite a few more laps in.

After the free practice, we had to rush the car down to tech inspection. Once we got there, we realized we forgot the numbers for the side of the car so we tracked those on and put them on the car with the rest of the vinyl graphics we made.

I'm a sponsor!


We passed tech with flying colors and managed not to get any penalty laps at all, unlike some of our competitors. After tech and registration, Jon and myself attended the newbie driver school to learn what all the flags meant, as well as the do's and don'ts of ChumpCar racing. It ended up being a quick meeting and then we headed back to the house for dinner and a few drinks before going back to the garage at Road America to finish prepping the car for the race.

Day 1 got off to a poor start when we were black flagged before the first lap for having a Lexan front driver side window in place. It passed tech the day before and the regional coordinator said it was OK but one of the corner workers flagged us anyway and we had to take it out. As a result, we started the race a lap down from the rest of the field.

It was a bad omen of things to come. About 2.5 hrs into the race, one of our drivers had an incident going into Canada Corner (Turn 12) where he started sliding sideways under braking and kissed the inside wall of the turn. He managed to just scrape a little paint off and didn't harm my GoPro which was sitting about 6" back from where he made contact.

A few laps later, the gearbox grenaded itself and the car came to rest at Turn 12 again. We eventually got the car towed back to the garage where we spent the next 2.5 hrs replacing the gearbox. Luckily, we had a spare and managed to get the car back out on the track with the other rookie Jon behind the wheel for a bit.

Here we are dropping the gearbox...


And this is what it looked like after it decided to ventilate itself:


At this point, Jon had enough fuel to make it to the end of the race but we were so far down at that point (~60 laps behind the leader) that he was kind enough to come in so that I could squeeze in a few laps before the checker. With a 3rd gear syncro that was completely gone, I got the car back out onto the track and made an attempt to reel in the competition. It was to no avail and we finished the first day in 2nd to last place but I did manage to pull off a few fast laps including the second fastest lap of the day for our team.

After the race, we rolled the car into the garage and went to a racers banquet hosted by ChumpCar for a bit before heading back to the house for some more food and drink while comparing notes on the track and how the car felt. We went to bed early as to be well rested for Sunday.

The next morning we awoke to a very wet track and temps hovering just above freezing. A quick look at the forecast for the day and we knew that this was just the tip of the iceberg. More rain, sleet, and epic wind was on the way.

We got to the track around 7:45 and started tinkering with the car, changing its oil and putting some yellow tape over the headlight covers to make the car more visible on track.



At 8:15 we all headed over to the drivers safety meeting under a torrential downpour, our spirits optimistic about how the car would behave in the wet and dreary conditions. At 9:00, the cars all lined up on the grid and went around the track behind the safety car for a lap before the race began. Immediately after the green flag dropped, cars started flying off the track and into the muddy gravel traps. Luckily, Mike was able to pilot the car around the track for his full stint without going off track. Every so often we'd hear him over the radio informing us of which corners were especially slippery.

I was up next and it was with some hesitation that I hopped into the car, not really knowing what to expect out there. On my first lap out, I got stuck behind a safety car and didn't really have a chance to test the brakes or the tires limits of adhesion on the slick track. After being let by the safety car at Turn 5, I started to get more of a feel for the track but wasn't prepared for how slippery the entrance to Turn 12 was and hydroplaned into the gravel trap. After getting pulled out and finding myself a couple of laps down from the lead, I started pushing it again.

Right as I was about to make a 3 car pass going up the hill on the front straight, I got the call on the radio that the race was being black flagged and I backed off. We all pulled into the pits to wait out the storm which had now turned into a hail storm with lightning and the word came over the radio that the area was under a tornado warning and that we had to seek shelter. We left the cars against the pit wall and retreated to the garage to wait out the storm.





About 20 min later, we were allowed back to the pit lane and the drivers entered their cars to prepare for a restart. We all restarted under a full course caution and I managed to get a great jump on the three cars in front of me on the restart. The first couple of laps under green were terrific! I passed a bunch more cars and set the fastest lap of the day of any of the ChumpCars which held until the storm ended and the track dried out. The car drove beautifully and I was having a blast but I ended up being called into the pits after making and attempt to overtake a Mustang on the outside of Turn 3 and going off the track again.

After a driver change, things ran pretty smoothly and we kept making decent times before finishing the race in 6th overall. It felt great to make it to the finish without any of the mechanical problems that we faced the previous day, aside from the issue with 3rd gear that never really became a problem.

ChumpCar really does an awesome job with the trophies they make. They don't only go to the podium finishers. The trophies are all handmade out of various car parts and are really intricate.



Here's the trophy we got for being pulled out of the gravel traps more times than any other team during Sunday's race.


After the awards ceremony, we packed up all of our tools and loaded the car on the trailer before heading back to the house. Most of the crew decided against driving all night and opted to stay at the house one more night. We had some good food and popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate the weekend while watching some of the race footage we captured. I had to be back at work today so I road back in the tow vehicle and got back home around 3:30 this morning with just enough time to shower and change before I had to head in to work.



All in all, the team did a fantastic job and the car was really fast. We definitely had the pace to make the podium if we hadn't run into a few hiccups along the way. The next race is a 24 hr race in Iowa at the end of April. I'm definitely looking forward to it and can't wait to get back in the car!

 

Thanks Jason! Everything about this weekend far exceeding my expectations. As long as I can afford it, I plan to keep on racing.

Stay tuned to this thread as I start posting pics from my D700 and the TrackMate video recorder later.

 

Great write up Alex, looks like you guys had an eventful weekend and learned a lot. Best of luck in the future races.

 

Thanks for the write-up Alex! That sounds like a whole lot of fun. I really want to do this. I was watching the standings updates on facebook and wondering if you were on the leaderboard.

 

We were in the top 10 for most of Sunday's race. I think we had a best position of 3rd and a worst position of 11th before ultimately finishing 6th.

I was really thinking we were going to show up, blow the doors off all the other cars and win easily but that obviously wasn't the case. Still, it was a great shakedown for a brand new race car and we got to see some of the limitations of various components right away in the season so we can build it bigger, faster, stronger for the next race.

One of the biggest problems we had at Road America was our time between fuel stops. Last year's car (the Escort) could almost always do 1:45-2:00 between fuel stops. With the Contour, it was more like 1:15 in the dry between stops or ~2 hrs in the rain but our fuel tank isn't all that big. The reason why our stints were so short was because of all the long straights where you just sit in the top part of the rev band. We might be adding a fuel cell soon.

 

I found this video from team Bear Patrol who I caught up to on the restart. Going through Turn 6, the driver started to lose the tail and spun out right in front of me. Keep an eye on the 0:38 mark to see me get by him.

YouTube - Close call

 

^ crap meng, that WAS close. Thanks for the write up. Look forward to the rest of the pics/info. Glad you had a good time.