Race Report: National Honda Challenge H2. Video + Pics
09-24-2007, 06:47 PM
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Race Report: National Honda Challenge H2. Video + Pics
<FONT SIZE="3">Edit: Some pics added on page 2.</FONT>
----------------------------------------------------
The 2nd annual NASA National Championships was held on Sept 14-16, 2007.
NASA racers from all over the country gathered together at Mid Ohio and competed for the National titles. As many of you have already known, I competed in Honda Challenge H2 and brought home the 2nd place finish. Even though I had a happy podium finish, my weekend actually started pretty rough.
Here's the H2 field of the weekend:
#7 EG hatch with B-swap - Andy Hope (also covering the event for Sport Compact Car)
#20 06 Civic Si - Brian Shanfeld (Team Honda Research)
#37 ITR - Brian Casella (ex-DC Sport race car)
#66 ITR - Josh Hoffman
#95 ITR - John Reamer
#96 ITR - Me, Wai-Ho Chiang (ex-Spoon race car)
#577 Prelude - Walter McKinney (Team MFactory)
<u>Thursday</u>
I left home at 6:30am, crawled thru weekday morning Chicago traffic and arrived Mid Ohio at about 2:30pm, just in time before they closed registration for the day at 3:00pm. I also made it just in time for the last practice session of the day at 3:30pm.
The practice session went well. I was just there a month ago for the regional race, so this session was perfect for me to freshen up my memory on the lines. Encountered couple other H2 cars during the session and they were moving pretty quick. I realized that it wouldn't be an easy battle for the races to come.
In the evening, Andy Hope came over to our paddock area (I was in the grass area up the hill with Chris F and other East Coast guys) and introduced himself. He told me that he would be doing a photoshoot tomorrow morning with his EG for SCC, and wanted Chris Drabouski's red EK (H1) and my car to be in it as well. Great! I'm up for it.
<u>Friday</u>
Bright and early at 7am, 3 of us got on the track before the first session of the day started and did the photoshoot. We should be on the cover. I'm not sure which issue, but I will sure keep my eyes out.
I seemed to be a bit off pace in the morning practice session. Clocked at 1:43.1, about 1.5 sec slower than the fastest H2 (#577) who was running pretty consistent 1:41's. I started to doubt if I had 1.5 sec out there to shave.....
I sat in my truck and visualized driving around the whole track over and over. I think my lines were fine, but I need to brake harder. I wasn't close to threashold, tires didn't squeal, so there's got to be more braking out there. I went out in qualifying and focused on my braking. It definitely had more out there. I started braking later and harder, and ended up with a 1:41.1, edged out #577 Prelude's 1:41.2 and #20 06 Si's 1:41.6. I got pole for Friday's qualifying race in the afternoon.
Several hours later, we were up for the first qualifying race. We drove the first warm up lap as usual, then came to a stop at the start/finish line for the standing start. Crap. I couldn't see the starting light at where I stopped. The light was too low and I was too close to the H1 backmarker. Being RHD didn't help the situation either.... I was stuck, all I could do was to watch other cars move first.
Sure enough, the start sucked and 3rd place #20 06 Si got a jump to 1st on the left, and #577 Prelude took off and held 2nd on the right. I was between them in 3rd place and 3 of us hauled down T2 full throttle with the other H2 cars closely behind us. I was able to motor my way slightly pass the Prelude up to 2nd. But at turn-in for T2 (tight right turn), there just wasn't enough room for all 3 of us. The Prelude and I touched and I bounced off to hit the Si on his right rear. The Prelude was still carrying a lot of momentum and went forward to hit the Si on the right front. #95 ITR couldn't slow down fast enough and hit my left rear, #37 ITR then tapped #95. 5 of 7 H2 cars were involved in this chain reaction.
The Prelude and I couldn't continue to race because of the damages. Surprisingly, #20 Si was able to finish and won the race despite the 2 hits that he got. Andy Hope got 2nd in his #7 EG, and Brian Casella got 3rd in his #37 ITR.
I limped back into the paddock to find that my wrinkled left fender was cutting into the tire. With the help from Chris F and the Smith's, my car looked decent enough to pass the 50/50 rule.
It was lucky that we did the photoshoot before everything happened......
<u>Saturday</u>
I went out in morning practice to get a feel of the car after the hit. Tried to make sure that everything was ok.... but it wasn't. The steering wheel shaked pretty badly. I found out that the left tie-rod got some play in it. Also the tires were flat-spotted from locking up yesterday when I tried to avoid the contact. Just at this moment, Mikey and Chase from Factory 5 showed up and they were like life-savers. They helped me put the brand new tie-rod end in (which I got from fellow racer Kevin Helm from Hondaworks!!!), rebalanced the tire and went out for qualifying.
Vibration was much improved, but still could feel the flat spots on the tires. That's ok I could live with that. Came back with a 1:42.1, 2nd in class behind #577 Walter's 1:40.9, and in front of 3rd place #3 Andy's 1:42.2.
In the afternoon, qualifying race again, this one was a VERY interesting one. Walter got pole (front row inside), I was 2nd (front row outside). At the start, an H1 car on the inside row stalled. I could see how 3-4 cars on the inside row, including Walter's, bumped into each other because of that. Andy's EG was able to swerve around and jumped to the lead. I was right behind him at 2nd. It was about 1 lap later, I passed the EG and led the class. I slowly pulled a good distance in the next 2 laps, thinking to myself that the win is in my bag with 3 more laps to go. Man was I wrong......
As I was approaching madness, I saw an H1 car crawling slowly (or even not moving) right at the apex of the turn. I quickly glimpsed at the flag station to see if there's any yellow (passing the H1 car under yellow would be instant DQ), and also backed off to avoid him. This caused me to loose the 1-2 sec lead and the 2nd place EG caught right up to my bumper. I was trying to stay in front of him for the next lap, and as we entered the carousal, he tapped me in the right rear corner and spun me into the grass. I immediately went from 1st to 6th with only 2 laps to go. The EG took the checkered but got DQ'd because of the tap.
Final finishing order was #95 John Reamer's ITR, #37 Brian Casella's ITR, #20 Brian Shanfeld's 06 Si, #577 Walter McKinney's Prelude, #96 me, and #66 Josh Hoffman's ITR.
So with me having a DNF on Friday race, and 5th place finish on Saturday race, my starting position on Sunday's main race was going to SUCK because it will be based on the results from these 2 qualifying races. Sure enough, the grid order was:
1. #20 Brian Shanfeld 06 Si (1st, 3rd)
2. #95 John Reamer (4th, 1st)
3. #37 Brian Casella ITR (3rd, 2nd)
4. #66 Josh Hoffman (5th, 6th)
5. #577 Walter McKinney (DNF, 4th)
6. #96 Wai-Ho Chiang (DNF, 5th)
7. #7 Andy Hope (2nd, DQ)
I was a bit frustrated with the weekend so far. Streak of bad luck didn't only put me in 6th, but also cost me $$$ with all the damages. Luckily my good buddies Matt (Dropspeed) and Ed (sackdz) showed up in the evening. We went out for dinner, hung out with Al and Jim from PIC, Mikey and Chase from Factory 5, along with many other MW race buddies, it made me feel a lot better and realized that it's all about the people!! It's the people who made everything fun and memorable.
<u>Sunday</u>
This is it.... the main day!
Morning practice session at 8am, I went out trying to scrub off more tires. RA1 is fastest when they are almost down to cord. I think I still had a bit "too much" rubber, so I was using this last chance to wear them down. Everyone was taking it pretty easy, so nothing much to write about.
Honda Challenge was the first race of the day at 10:05am. National Anthem sang, and off we go to the grid. I will let the video do the talking/typing:
<FONT SIZE="4">http://video.google.com/videop...hl=en</FONT>
Credit to Markus F for the pics. More here:
http://markus.smugmug.com/NASA...81278
I would like to thank all of my sponsors for supporting me throughout this whole season.
Greg at GT Motoring for getting me the Spoon calipers, C-West wing, harnesses, Cobalt pads, Motul fluids, etc. etc......
Charlie at Top Setup for the gangsta front splitter and my overall motor needs.
Leo at Password:JDM for taking care of my JDM front end.
Bjorn at Custom Lightz for the retrofit work (will be on my truck for towing).
Also, as posted in the video, special thanks to Mikey for the last minute dyno tuning that netted me extra 5whp peak, and as much as 7 to 10whp at mid-range. And the motor was actually running SAFER and smoother with all the power increase.
Modified by Wai at 12:26 PM 10/17/2007
----------------------------------------------------
The 2nd annual NASA National Championships was held on Sept 14-16, 2007.
NASA racers from all over the country gathered together at Mid Ohio and competed for the National titles. As many of you have already known, I competed in Honda Challenge H2 and brought home the 2nd place finish. Even though I had a happy podium finish, my weekend actually started pretty rough.
Here's the H2 field of the weekend:
#7 EG hatch with B-swap - Andy Hope (also covering the event for Sport Compact Car)
#20 06 Civic Si - Brian Shanfeld (Team Honda Research)
#37 ITR - Brian Casella (ex-DC Sport race car)
#66 ITR - Josh Hoffman
#95 ITR - John Reamer
#96 ITR - Me, Wai-Ho Chiang (ex-Spoon race car)
#577 Prelude - Walter McKinney (Team MFactory)
<u>Thursday</u>
I left home at 6:30am, crawled thru weekday morning Chicago traffic and arrived Mid Ohio at about 2:30pm, just in time before they closed registration for the day at 3:00pm. I also made it just in time for the last practice session of the day at 3:30pm.
The practice session went well. I was just there a month ago for the regional race, so this session was perfect for me to freshen up my memory on the lines. Encountered couple other H2 cars during the session and they were moving pretty quick. I realized that it wouldn't be an easy battle for the races to come.
In the evening, Andy Hope came over to our paddock area (I was in the grass area up the hill with Chris F and other East Coast guys) and introduced himself. He told me that he would be doing a photoshoot tomorrow morning with his EG for SCC, and wanted Chris Drabouski's red EK (H1) and my car to be in it as well. Great! I'm up for it.
<u>Friday</u>
Bright and early at 7am, 3 of us got on the track before the first session of the day started and did the photoshoot. We should be on the cover. I'm not sure which issue, but I will sure keep my eyes out.
I seemed to be a bit off pace in the morning practice session. Clocked at 1:43.1, about 1.5 sec slower than the fastest H2 (#577) who was running pretty consistent 1:41's. I started to doubt if I had 1.5 sec out there to shave.....
I sat in my truck and visualized driving around the whole track over and over. I think my lines were fine, but I need to brake harder. I wasn't close to threashold, tires didn't squeal, so there's got to be more braking out there. I went out in qualifying and focused on my braking. It definitely had more out there. I started braking later and harder, and ended up with a 1:41.1, edged out #577 Prelude's 1:41.2 and #20 06 Si's 1:41.6. I got pole for Friday's qualifying race in the afternoon.
Several hours later, we were up for the first qualifying race. We drove the first warm up lap as usual, then came to a stop at the start/finish line for the standing start. Crap. I couldn't see the starting light at where I stopped. The light was too low and I was too close to the H1 backmarker. Being RHD didn't help the situation either.... I was stuck, all I could do was to watch other cars move first.
Sure enough, the start sucked and 3rd place #20 06 Si got a jump to 1st on the left, and #577 Prelude took off and held 2nd on the right. I was between them in 3rd place and 3 of us hauled down T2 full throttle with the other H2 cars closely behind us. I was able to motor my way slightly pass the Prelude up to 2nd. But at turn-in for T2 (tight right turn), there just wasn't enough room for all 3 of us. The Prelude and I touched and I bounced off to hit the Si on his right rear. The Prelude was still carrying a lot of momentum and went forward to hit the Si on the right front. #95 ITR couldn't slow down fast enough and hit my left rear, #37 ITR then tapped #95. 5 of 7 H2 cars were involved in this chain reaction.
The Prelude and I couldn't continue to race because of the damages. Surprisingly, #20 Si was able to finish and won the race despite the 2 hits that he got. Andy Hope got 2nd in his #7 EG, and Brian Casella got 3rd in his #37 ITR.
I limped back into the paddock to find that my wrinkled left fender was cutting into the tire. With the help from Chris F and the Smith's, my car looked decent enough to pass the 50/50 rule.
It was lucky that we did the photoshoot before everything happened......
<u>Saturday</u>
I went out in morning practice to get a feel of the car after the hit. Tried to make sure that everything was ok.... but it wasn't. The steering wheel shaked pretty badly. I found out that the left tie-rod got some play in it. Also the tires were flat-spotted from locking up yesterday when I tried to avoid the contact. Just at this moment, Mikey and Chase from Factory 5 showed up and they were like life-savers. They helped me put the brand new tie-rod end in (which I got from fellow racer Kevin Helm from Hondaworks!!!), rebalanced the tire and went out for qualifying.
Vibration was much improved, but still could feel the flat spots on the tires. That's ok I could live with that. Came back with a 1:42.1, 2nd in class behind #577 Walter's 1:40.9, and in front of 3rd place #3 Andy's 1:42.2.
In the afternoon, qualifying race again, this one was a VERY interesting one. Walter got pole (front row inside), I was 2nd (front row outside). At the start, an H1 car on the inside row stalled. I could see how 3-4 cars on the inside row, including Walter's, bumped into each other because of that. Andy's EG was able to swerve around and jumped to the lead. I was right behind him at 2nd. It was about 1 lap later, I passed the EG and led the class. I slowly pulled a good distance in the next 2 laps, thinking to myself that the win is in my bag with 3 more laps to go. Man was I wrong......
As I was approaching madness, I saw an H1 car crawling slowly (or even not moving) right at the apex of the turn. I quickly glimpsed at the flag station to see if there's any yellow (passing the H1 car under yellow would be instant DQ), and also backed off to avoid him. This caused me to loose the 1-2 sec lead and the 2nd place EG caught right up to my bumper. I was trying to stay in front of him for the next lap, and as we entered the carousal, he tapped me in the right rear corner and spun me into the grass. I immediately went from 1st to 6th with only 2 laps to go. The EG took the checkered but got DQ'd because of the tap.
Final finishing order was #95 John Reamer's ITR, #37 Brian Casella's ITR, #20 Brian Shanfeld's 06 Si, #577 Walter McKinney's Prelude, #96 me, and #66 Josh Hoffman's ITR.
So with me having a DNF on Friday race, and 5th place finish on Saturday race, my starting position on Sunday's main race was going to SUCK because it will be based on the results from these 2 qualifying races. Sure enough, the grid order was:
1. #20 Brian Shanfeld 06 Si (1st, 3rd)
2. #95 John Reamer (4th, 1st)
3. #37 Brian Casella ITR (3rd, 2nd)
4. #66 Josh Hoffman (5th, 6th)
5. #577 Walter McKinney (DNF, 4th)
6. #96 Wai-Ho Chiang (DNF, 5th)
7. #7 Andy Hope (2nd, DQ)
I was a bit frustrated with the weekend so far. Streak of bad luck didn't only put me in 6th, but also cost me $$$ with all the damages. Luckily my good buddies Matt (Dropspeed) and Ed (sackdz) showed up in the evening. We went out for dinner, hung out with Al and Jim from PIC, Mikey and Chase from Factory 5, along with many other MW race buddies, it made me feel a lot better and realized that it's all about the people!! It's the people who made everything fun and memorable.
<u>Sunday</u>
This is it.... the main day!
Morning practice session at 8am, I went out trying to scrub off more tires. RA1 is fastest when they are almost down to cord. I think I still had a bit "too much" rubber, so I was using this last chance to wear them down. Everyone was taking it pretty easy, so nothing much to write about.
Honda Challenge was the first race of the day at 10:05am. National Anthem sang, and off we go to the grid. I will let the video do the talking/typing:
<FONT SIZE="4">http://video.google.com/videop...hl=en</FONT>
Credit to Markus F for the pics. More here:
http://markus.smugmug.com/NASA...81278
I would like to thank all of my sponsors for supporting me throughout this whole season.
Greg at GT Motoring for getting me the Spoon calipers, C-West wing, harnesses, Cobalt pads, Motul fluids, etc. etc......
Charlie at Top Setup for the gangsta front splitter and my overall motor needs.
Leo at Password:JDM for taking care of my JDM front end.
Bjorn at Custom Lightz for the retrofit work (will be on my truck for towing).
Also, as posted in the video, special thanks to Mikey for the last minute dyno tuning that netted me extra 5whp peak, and as much as 7 to 10whp at mid-range. And the motor was actually running SAFER and smoother with all the power increase.
Modified by Wai at 12:26 PM 10/17/2007
09-24-2007, 08:54 PM
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Re: Race Report: National Honda Challenge H2. Video + Pics (Wai)
Seing stuff like this makes me wanna race one day 
<--- has to payoff school loans first
<--- has to payoff school loans first
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09-25-2007, 05:14 AM
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Re: (JjuuN R)
Thanks everyone.
I'm happy that I was able to finish the Champ race incident-free.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JjuuN R »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">guy in the Prelude is a jackass.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
No he is a really cool guy! He had to do what he needed to defend his position. Actually the EG was what holding both of us up, but then again, he had to defend his position also.
I'm happy that I was able to finish the Champ race incident-free.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JjuuN R »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">guy in the Prelude is a jackass.
</TD></TR></TABLE>No he is a really cool guy! He had to do what he needed to defend his position. Actually the EG was what holding both of us up, but then again, he had to defend his position also.
Drinker
09-25-2007, 09:53 AM
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Re: Race Report: National Honda Challenge H2. Video + Pics (Wai)
ill have to read this later!! but dude i cant wait! as always awesome stuff Wai.. cant wait till next year and ill be in the do-jo of Wai.. haha
09-25-2007, 10:10 AM
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Re: Race Report: National Honda Challenge H2. Video + Pics (spock_rocker)
Thanks for the inside story on the events, I haven't watched the vid yet, but I will definitely check it out later tonight.
09-25-2007, 01:11 PM
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Re: Race Report: National Honda Challenge H2. Video + Pics (JjuuN R)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JjuuN R »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">^ STFUnGTFO</TD></TR></TABLE>
you can't tell someone with a Recaro cell phone holder to STFU.
you can't tell someone with a Recaro cell phone holder to STFU.
09-25-2007, 01:57 PM
#22
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nice save by the prelude driver.
nothing can be more frustrating as a driver when you are slightly faster than the guy(s) in front of you but you cant for the life of you get AROUND them.
nothing can be more frustrating as a driver when you are slightly faster than the guy(s) in front of you but you cant for the life of you get AROUND them.
09-25-2007, 02:15 PM
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Re: Race Report: National Honda Challenge H2. Video + Pics (Erik95LS)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Erik95LS »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
you can't tell someone with a Recaro cell phone holder to STFU.</TD></TR></TABLE>
So true... looks like a pure ricer to me.
you can't tell someone with a Recaro cell phone holder to STFU.</TD></TR></TABLE>
So true... looks like a pure ricer to me.
09-25-2007, 03:38 PM
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Re: Race Report: National Honda Challenge H2. Video + Pics (TypeRSR)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TypeRSR »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you sponsored by spoon?</TD></TR></TABLE>
No I'm not.... but it was their race car tho.
FWIW, I could be sponsored by J's more than Spoon.
Nice cell phone holder you have there. I tried to fit my wife's pink Hello Kitty seatbelt pads on my Takatas but it's not wide enough.
No I'm not.... but it was their race car tho.
FWIW, I could be sponsored by J's more than Spoon.
Nice cell phone holder you have there. I tried to fit my wife's pink Hello Kitty seatbelt pads on my Takatas but it's not wide enough.
