This weekend was my 3rd race in my local COMMA series. I came in 2nd in my class again. This makes 3 times in a row. There's a Porsche 914 always one step ahead of me - and he won this class last year. Oh well, I had a blast this weekend as usual, and also learned the value of having handy people around with lots of nice tools.

I was in the 4th lap of a 6-lap qualifying race, (started 14th out of 33) chasing down a couple guys in the GT3 class, when we entered a right hander that starts from a decline and then inclines to the right. My back end started to kick out to the left, and usually when this happens, the people in the stands get to see the offending person spin clockwise and exit the track to the left in the grass and dirt. I corrected frantically and jammed on the gas only to find my car heading towards the right of the track where there is a nasty dip, like a pot-hole in the grass if you will. My car bottomed out very hard (still sore today) and the right side of the car apparently got slightly airborne. I started to re-enter the track, hard on the brakes, to no avail. I could see the two cars that I had been chasing through this right hander coming around from the left of me, and I was certain I was going to collide with the second car. Fortunately I missed him by a foot or so, and regained control once on the asphalt. The steering wheel was all jacked to one side, and the car was pulling hard to the right. Luckily, I completed the last two laps without losing my current position. I returned to the paddock and found an insane amount of negative camber waiting for me on the passenger side.


(taken afterwards)

The guys I was pitting next to brought over their tools and started taking a look at the right suspension bits. It looked to us like the arm that goes from the upper joint down to the spindle (what's that called?) was bent inwards. A quick measurement compared to the other side verified it was pushed inwards by nearly a full inch! The toe was off by quite a bit too. They did a quicky alignment and we raised the ground controls by an inch or so on the right. It was still heavily cambered on that side, but at least the toe was fixed (which also fixed a lot of the crooked steering). When we couldn't find anything else busted, I decided to race the feature race.

With everything that was going on, I had not changed back into the Sparco and gotten ready, so by the time I got to grid, I had missed the 1-minute call and they made me grid dead last, #34. Bah! I was really pissed at myself! As I drove the parade lap, cursing myself, I realized all these guys in the back (15 or so of them), were in the back for a reason... they were slow! LOL, so as soon as the green flag came out I rolled past about 4-5 of them and the inside, then dived another 2 in the first corner. At T2, I got past another couple cars. By the time I got to T9, where the main stands are, I was almost back to my grid position, it was really sweet. I got past the other competitors in my class but never caught the 914 who took 1st.

It was a really exciting race - I even saw my first major collision on the 2nd lap. It occurred right in front of me, between two cars that really didn't need to be out in our group. The car hit was the track owner who was out just for fun in an open-wheel spec Toyota racer, and the other car was some cocky *** in a NASCAR-style truck of a beast. Needless to say, that guy was black flagged and possibly banned from the track for his attitude and actions on track.

Anyway, it was a great weekend, and as usual, a lot of fun. I keep thinking I can't have any more fun, especially being the same track every month - but the competition is great, and everyone is really cool and friendly. I also got some remaining things taken care of so I can get my SCCA car tech before school in Topeka in July.

Here's video of the lap I went off course on (and actually my fastest ever lap, lol):
http://www.professorfrink.com/...n.avi
(right-click-save)

And here's the video of the first lap of the feature race. Me rolling the back of the pack and then almost getting smashed in between the two cars that collide.
http://www.professorfrink.com/...n.avi
(right-click-save)



Modified by uncleben at 12:02 AM 6/4/2003

 

that was a cool vid. looks like so much fun. you looked like you were doing a great job for you first lap out.

 

wow, road racing looks like SOO much fun. i've toyed with the idea of making my CRX into a full on road race car instead of selling it, but it seems expensive. someday when i'm older, i'm definantly going to get into road racing. congrats on getting 2nd place though man. awesome post.

 

is it me or did those two cars collide twice?

i love the middle finger btw!

 

Damn that truck was offroad racing and road racing... looked like the Toyota forced him off on purpose after they passed you again.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sackdz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">looked like the Toyota forced him off on purpose after they passed you again.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, yes he did... and without even touching him.

If you listen, you can hear the truck next to me going through the S, he was right up against me reving, looking over and yelling at me, holding his hands up like he was angry that I gave him the finger... what a tool. I gave him the finger because how wreckless he was being out there that day. He hit the spec racer so hard that my first though was that his right side may have gone up on the car, which could have been all sorts of bad stuff for the driver. It was just a rash impulse and I'm not really proud of it... I always tell myself to try and be a good sportsman on the track even when driving agressive.