I'm all ears..... ;)
Andy
Did not attend, but my understanding is Randy Walker had problems with his trailer and decided not to attend, so Vern opted out as well. Vern was there testing on Thursday, so he can give you a report on his day/weekend (I understand it was not fun).
I don't know if any new members were recruited, but Chris Durbin (SPO running as GT1) and Jarod Lovett (GTA running as GT2) were both on the entry list. I talked to Mark Mercurio yesterday and Chris broke another transmission (a T56 clone) on Thursday so he never turned a wheel during the SCCA portion of the weekend.
I did follow things on RaceMonitor and noticed Jarod finished on Saturday and with a DNS on Sunday. The official provisional (apparently there are some protests pending in GT1 at least) results (https://www.scca.com/events/1986216-super-tour-majors-sir-cfr) have him finishing ninth in GT2 with a best lap of 2:18.594, which is a pretty respectable time for a GTA car.
Hopefully Vern or Jim will have additional comments as they can...
lotso cars in the GT group 8)
Andy
Here is my rough report of the weekend:
I thought Sebring was a great track with a wonderful pit area. They had 400 entries and we still pitted on level concrete and had lots of room. That meant we didn't have to work in the grass, on the side of a hill, or be crammed next to someone. All that with me not arriving until Friday morning.
I have never been to Sebring before and found that 17 turns with no elevation changes to be land marks proved to be a challenge. I kept forgetting where I was somewhere in the back, which seem to cost me some time in the fast sections around 12 -14. I used some old F-45 Hoosiers for practice and then used Qualifying as more practice and kept getting faster. I did a 2:18.9 which placed me right in the middle of 50 cars. Great, I should be in perfect place for the large pile up.
Well, Sebring is 3.74 miles long and we raced 50 cars on Saturday mostly clean. I did bolt on some 5 lap scuffs and clocked a 2:18.5. I had a Corvette in front of me decide to show me his massive braking power going into the hairpin #7, so I went back to my circle track roots. I went inside to prevent a rear end collision and used his 4 tires along with my 4 tires, and then made the pass. That was about the excitement, except for this place is fast. Road Atlanta may have the back stretch, but Sebring overall felt faster.
I had to load up Sunday due to a broke shock. This may also be related to my "twitch" while braking. This may also be related to my exit from the AARC while leading back in November.
In closing, I thought the weather was great, the track and amenities where great, and there was plenty of room racing. I believe that it would have been excellent for a large group of GTA cars to have some fun.
Quote from: jarodlovett on January 18, 2017, 10:32:17 AM
I had a Corvette in front of me decide to show me his massive braking power going into the hairpin #7, so I went back to my circle track roots. I went inside to prevent a rear end collision and used his 4 tires along with my 4 tires, and then made the pass.
good stuff! as a former circle track racer, I hear you on using the slower car as "the cushion"
won't make a lot of friends that way, but it beats taking the 2 of you out ;)
rubbin's racin'
Andy
Good report, Jarod - thanks for posting that.
Talked to Vern this past Wednesday afternoon and while his third link mount redesign works as he thought it would (i.e. - successfully) he encountered engine problems during the test day. He was hoping it might be carburetor or ignition, but later discovered he had dropped a valve. Engine is on it's way back to Schwanke.
In other news, I got a note from Jay Gomer that he plans to test his new GTA car in February and debut it at our Road Atlanta event in March.