Weekend Reports

[Butch Kummer]

As of Thursday we have four of the 22 entries in Group 3:

. Mark Mercurio - GT1
. Mike Attaway - GT2
. Chris Gill - GT2 (but running for GTA points)
. Chris Evans - SPO (running for GTSC points)

Plus whomever y'all can recruit (and one key point is anyone signing up for the series now will also be eligible for 2018).

Wish I could be there but (as CGill mentioned in the other thread) sometimes life gets in the way...

[flyinwrenchz]

All I can say is those who decided not to come missed with out a doubt the best weather weekend we had all summer. With slight overcast but temps approaching 80 on Saturday we had four V8RRS and a run group of 20 total take to the track to try their hand at the famed 3.4 mile Grand Prix course.
   
     SAT QUAL results
Chris Evans       GTSC  2.06.911      4th overall
Mike Attaway     GT2    2.13.328     10th overall
Chris Gill           GTA     No time      18th overall
Mark Mercurio    GT1    Not time      20th overall 
 
The last two idiots forgot to put their transponder in the car so they didn't post times and had to start tail on the field for the Saturday sprint race. I obviously was racing myself so I didn't have a ton of time to catch up with everyone on Saturday, but I had talked to Mike Attaway on Friday after the test day and he had a clutch slippage issue and had to go to his back up car that apparently has a bone stock LS1 so he was down some power for sure. Chris Evans's car looked tip top and much better then I last saw it at Charlotte, the crew did a great job fixing it up after a dust up there.

The Saturday race will be tough to give details because I started last, also race monitor wasn't working so I have no official results. I gave it about a half a lap to sort out and started to make my way to the front. I took the lead on lap three or four and started running conservative laps until I saw John Hellmers in his new to him GT1 car lurking in the rear view mirror so I had to step it up but my brake pedal was getting long and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to hold him off and then as quickly as he appeared he was gone on the next to last lap. He suffered a right rear tire failure going into 6 a left hander entering the boot. How managed to keep it out of the armco I have no idea and we all agreed after it must a been a pretty sweet piece of driving to do so. The race ended with myself winning GT1 and first overall. Chris Evans first in SPO and second overall. Mike Attaway finished first in GTA but running GT2 in V8RRS not sure of his overall and Chris Gill I think completed enough laps to get first in GT2 but running GTA V8RRS not sure of his overall. Chris suffered a water pump/power steering belt failure and pulled off early, I'm not sure if he completed half the laps of the leader or not. After the race Chris headed off to the parts store to find a belt that didn't look like it went through an industrial shredder and the FWR crew quickly found the cause of my long brake pedal late in the race, one of the bleeders on the right front caliper was leaking when I pressed on the pedal and wouldn't seat right. After installing a new bleeder it seemed to fix the leakage issue. Chris returned with a fresh piece of rubber that more resembled a belt. After getting cars prepped for the Sunday AM Qual the beers were opened and a good time was had by all. Those of you that know my crew Roberts started story time.

     Sunday morning was like a mid summer one with day breaking with temps in the high 60's to start off and beautiful sunshine with just a few clouds. With the Sunday fun taking place on the shorter 2.45 mile NASCAR course a shorter 15 minuet Qual session was in order. At the end of Qualifying the field was going to start as follows.

Mark Mercurio      GT1  1.14.133 1st overall
Chris Evans         SPO  1.19.856 2nd overall 
Chris Gill             GTA  1.23.464 6th overall
Mike Attaway       GT2   1.23.675 7th overall

     The Sunday afternoon race under mid 80's temps went off the first session after lunch. I started on the pole and quickly pulled out to a decent lead and went back to conservative laps. Wasn't really sure what was going on behind me other then I could see Chris Evans in his stock car lurking for about five laps. On or about lap 9 as I came into the bus stop I saw a cloud of smoke and Mike Attaway getting it pointed in the right direction but unfortunately for him I could see his left front tire was flat. I didn't catch up with him after so I'm not sure if the flat tire was the cause of the spin or effect from it. He did a good job of parking it well off the track so we could continue. It was short lived because on lap 11 an AS Camaro came to a stop under the flag stand on the front stretch bringing out a full course caution. We rode around for two laps under yellow before they ended the session. The final results were as follows.
                               
Mark Mercurio    GT1  1.13.628   1st overall 
Chris Evans       GTSC 1.20.755  2nd overall
Chris Gill           GTA   1.24.633  5th overall
Mike Attaway     GT2   1.25.188  15th overall completed 7 of 13 laps   

It was a great weekend and lots of fun. Also spoke with a few potential new members for next year and all three are northeast folks so it would be nice to add some new faces and numbers up here. Later all.

     
       

[millstreet]

Good stuff, looks like that Sunday GT1 time is a new track record??

http://www.nediv.com/images/trackrecords/glen-sc-160918.pdf

Congrats

Andy

[Butch Kummer]

I was in communication with Mark over the weekend, so here's some stuff he may have forgotten he sent me:

Sat race results
. 1st GT1 (1st OA) - Mark Mercurio, 1.58.968
. 1st GTSC (2nd OA) - Chris Evans, 2.03.532
. 1st GT2 (5th OA) - Mike Attaway, 2.09.883
. 1st GTA (18th OA) - Chris Gill, 2.09.515

His Sunday race results are accurate and (as Andy noted), Mark's 1.13.628 is indeed a new GT1 track record.

Sounds like a good time was had by all and folks continue to be interested in what we're doing. Hopefully I'll be able to make it back there in 2018! 

[Allan K]

Way to go Mark!    Allan

[flyinwrenchz]

Thanks guys. Finally feel like we are gaining on the chassis. Butch I did forget I had sent that to you thanks for updating. I'm clearly not as good at this as you are, don't think anyone is.

[vern smith]

Mark, Great job on the reporting. Now all we need to do is buy Amy a camera    Good job on driving as well.

[millstreet]

full Sunday race results are here;

https://www.race-monitor.com/Results/Session/6185162

Andy

[flyinwrenchz]

Sunday morning Qual run four laps

https://youtu.be/Ny1B2m7TjZA

[flyinwrenchz]

Sunday race video with record lap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lwlAUSK09U&t=2s

[flyinwrenchz]

How about a little suspension/brake cam action. This is from the right front of my car during the Sunday race. Don't tell me brake cooling isn't important!

https://youtu.be/uIs4lfJiRKE

[millstreet]

Super video, thanks for posting
you've got me motivated to put a camera under the hood on mine and see how the balancer hits the steering rack 

Andy

[Butch Kummer]

That there's some pretty good driving, Tex! Compared to my in-car from 2016 I notice your straights are a lot shorter than mine were... 

the underhood video should be required viewing for anyone who thinks brakes ducts are not needed.

[Allan K]

Mark,
    Thank you for both videos, excellent!     Allan   

[flyinwrenchz]

I love watching peoples reaction to the brake rotors glowing red. Trust me it only gets worse the longer you go. I like to think I have decent cooling on my brakes to. Glad you guys liked them. I also posted a new video from my Toronto weekend (finally) if you want to see that in the North forum.