FP Runoffs thread

Quali session ends early due to broken cars in bad places on the track.

Word on the street was mason workman and Rick Harris both lost motors.
 
Yeah, that was a giant cluster F. Got two laps in, where people were being a little more aggressive then I'd like to see five minutes into our week. Got punted in the ass under braking for 8, making for a slight off and a "WTF?" moment. That screwed that lap, and then had a good one going on the following lap while out of traffic, before the black flag flew 3/4 of the way through my lap. Oil down from the kink to Canada corner, and Mason pulled off at the apex. Don't know if he's got a backup, as I haven't talked to him. Harris was blown up, sitting off at the carousel. He says he's done, which sucks a lot. Everyone got three timed laps, tops, so the times are all pretty bad.
 
Eric was the smart one, and pulled out of line at the start of lap 2. He found a little gap, and put it on the pole.
 
1 18 Steve Sargis Frankfort, IL Triumph Spitfire SBS Batteries/Hoosier Tire 2:33.070 No time No time
2 7 Eric Prill Topeka, KS Mazda Miata JPM/Hoosier/OS Giken/Hawk/TP7 2:33.510 No time No time
3 89 Charles Campbell Corry, PA Mazda Miata Campbell Brothers Racing/ Hoosier 2:33.591 No time No time
4 73 Kevin Ruck Delaware, OH Acura Integra Hoosier/Honda/Cobalt 2:34.775 No time No time
5 51 Ken Kannard East Troy, WI Mazda Miata Northwest Cable Construction/Hoosie 2:34.925 No time No time
6 37 Sam Henry Republic, MO Mazda Miata SpringfieldDyno/SafeRacer/Goodyear 2:36.136 No time No time
7 5 John Walker Richland, MI Lotus Super 7 Walker Racing 2:36.590 No time No time
8 28 David Strittmatter Akron, OH Lancia Scorpion Hoosier Tire 2:36.689
No time No time
9 54 Chuck Mathis Saint Jacob, IL Volkswagen Scirocco 247parts.com/Hoosier/Ground control 2:37.239 No time No time
10 10 Brian Linn Hermosa Beach, CA Mazda Miata Hoosier/RedLine/Carbotech/Jesse Pra 2:39.050
 
Grid should end up being this, but unofficial as I haven't actually seen a sheet:

Prill - 2:32.8 (Q3)
Sargis - 2:33.0 (Q2)
Campbell - 2:33.5 (Q2)
Henry - 2:34.0 (Q3)
Kannard - 2:34.70 (Q3)
Ruck - 2:34.77 (Q2)

Surprisingly, the track actually ended up being pretty quick this morning, despite quite a bit of rain last night and really cold temps. Sargis & Campbell didn't go out, and I just sucked. Was fighting with the brake balance, which then led to me missing down shifts or locking up tires, and ultimately dorking up good laps.
 
Hard luck on Eric - great drive until the trip in to the gravel trap . Sorry to see it end that way.

Many congratulations to Steve - fantastic drive to force the error. Good to see an LBC can still run with the modern cars.
 
Haven't been here for a while...

Congratulations to Steve on his second-straight Championship! It was a fair fight and a clean race. It was fun! I know that Steve has lost Championships due to mechanical failure and I think I know that that feels like now!

I had a great week. This is the first time I've driven the same car twice at the Road America Runoffs and I knew we had a little something speed wise. Took a little longer to see the speed, but I think it took a while for the track to come in for everyone.

Just watched both the speedcast footage and my in-car to refresh my memory. I kind of erased a bunch of it after the race and it was actually therapeutic to watch.

On the pace lap, I noticed the pedal felt spongy. Brakes had just been bled. I hoped it would come up when the revs came up. I run a stock master/booster/prop valve setup. Works well with the pad combination I like. It didn't come up, and I made a comment to Jesse on lap one that the pedal didn't feel good even with cool pads. More on this later.

My car wasn't great on low tire pressures and I couldn't quite get the gap I wanted on the opening lap, which left me a sitting duck for people to start drafting past. I then got "lost in the box" (to quote Bill W) in Turn Eight and got a bump from Charlie as I was hunting for a gear. The bump actually knocked the car into pit gear for a second. Haven't looked at the data yet. She didn't blow so maybe the revs weren't too bad. That let Charlie and Ken by and I went from 1st to 5th that quick.

The Miata train lined up but probably not as much as we should have. Oh well, seemed to sort itself out anyway. Charlie was pushing Ken at one point and I was pushing Sam, all of us chasing Steve.

Charlie went wide on the apex at 14 and I was able to get a run and draft past to get to fourth. I got Sam going into Eight later that lap and again couldn't find a gear entering the Carousel but it didn't cost me a spot that time.

The next lap I had caught Ken and he went off at Eight. I later heard that he had a return spring actually hang the throttle open, contrary to its purpose. Tough break.

From there, the car was working pretty well and I was able to reel Steve in over a couple of laps. I couldn't believe when I saw a 31.90 and a 31.91 on my dash on successive laps. Strangely enough, my car and Steve's car were polar opposites of what you would expect. Steve seemed to have the straight line speed (certainly in acceleration if not on top end) and I had the brakes and the corner speed. Steve later mentioned how badly his car felt and then he saw my car and how much it was moving around as well. The radials definitely feel differently from the bias tires, but as we saw, the lap times were there. Once I look at the data, I suspect that on the cool day we may have just been rolling a lot of speed. I know I glanced down at the exit of the kink and saw 118 once. Never seen one that high and I think I even breathed the throttle going in. At least a little.

Anyway, Steve and I had a good back-and-forth from Five through Seven one lap. We also had some side-by-side through one and three earlier. Nice, clean stuff. Steve got a little wide into Seven one lap and I carried more speed behind. He came out and stayed left and I had a head of steam so I needed to drop the left sides on the exit to not hit him. It gave me the run to Eight to make the move.

Lucky for me, despite the pedal being soft, the brakes were biting well early. As the race progressed, the bias seemed to go a little goofy on me. Sometimes, I had great balance when I'd go through the pedal motion and sometimes I'd have a softer pedal and a little more rear. Again, stock prop valve so nothing for me to adjust. I was leading the Runoffs, its not like I was going to pit to investigate it. One time into three, the pedal went to the floor and I got her woed down just enough to make the corner. Yes, I do tap-tap the brakes like everyone else to bring the pads back to the rotor going into each brake zone.

In Turn One on lap 12, I went for the brake real hard as I had learned I needed to and the RF locked immediately. Had more front brake than I expected. That gave me a pretty good vibration and later saw the flat spot. It would have lasted another lap, though. At least I think so. Later that lap, I went for the brake at Canada corner and there was nothing there. I pumped again and got rears. They immediately locked and threw me into a spin. That was it. On board video verified. These GoPros are amazing. I can see everything outside of the car straight down to my clown shoes in the footbox.

Wasn't sure what went wrong. Never have locked a rear before, let alone both. Got the car back to the paddock, opened the hood and saw the fluid beneath the master. It was fine all week. I guess if it's going to fail, it'll fail in the Runoffs race, when you're in the lead.

Gotta say that one hurt a lot. I'd be lying if I said there weren't some tears while I was sitting in the gravel and then driving by the TV interviews and Steve's car trying to go out for a victory lap. But as I said earlier, I'm not the first guy to have a mechanical take him out of the lead at the Runoffs and I won't be the last. Steve would have several more golds if it weren't for mechanicals.

So congrats to Steve and also to Sam and Bill. See Sam, I told you you were a contender! Bill had quite a drive and would have been a factor in the lead had he not started so far back. Tough deal for Charlie (been there). Hope Austin is feeling okay. Tough deal for Rick Harris early in the week. Kevin would have been in the hunt but I think he had an off early. Johnnie Walker was going well before the drivetrain issue. Little Bill had a good run to impound! Sterling is a few tweaks away from contending. Mason, I'll send you Jesse's number. And last but not least, Mr. Weber - congrats on #50.0 - did that big number have a magnet in it that was attracted to Mason's door?

Thanks to everyone that helped my (almost) dream season. 13 starts, 11 wins and two mechanical retirements while in the lead--Hallett Super Tour and the Runoffs. Thanks to Jesse Prather Motorsports, Mazdaspeed, Hoosier Tire, Hawk Brakes, OS Giken and Gumout for the great support. All my family and buds for the advice and encouragement. Also thanks to the prod community for the outpouring of emotion after the race. We race hard and get mad at each other but the number of hugs and pats on the back were very special to me. Indeed, a big family.

I won't be running as much in 2013 as I did this year. Can't afford it. But, I will be back and plan to do everything I can to make the final 16 corners at the 50th National Championship Runoffs...
 
Eric,
Lap 2 or 3, going into T5 your front rotors were cherry red. Did not see that same color in following laps.
Peter
 
EPrill":1ft1rs7m said:
Haven't been here for a while...
And last but not least, Mr. Weber - congrats on #50.0 - did that big number have a magnet in it that was attracted to Mason's door?
Click to expand...

As I viewed this ^, I thought whose driving Mark's car. 88-o That isn't mark's style. His sister & friend were going wild as the magnet drew the cars together up the hill.

Great race by Eric & all the F drivers. :applause:

Actually, great races by all the production classes. :think:
 
My race went up in a cloud of dust after being pushed off the track in Turn 6 on lap one. I'm very happy with how the car ran, and that I finally drove well (was waiting for that all week! :roll: ), but mad that it had to happen from a P11 hole after lap 1. I clicked off some great laps to get back up to 7th, and everyone ahead of me back into view by lap 3. Shortly after that, Ken was off in 8, and I could see the gap forming between Eric & Steve and Sam, Bill, & Charlie. By about lap 5, I was just finally getting close enough to Sam, Bill, and Charlie, to start maybe getting their draft, which I knew if I caught, I was back in it for a podium spot. Unfortunately, at that same time, knowing I had to get a great run through the carousel to keep the hope of the draft alive, I came barreling up on the back of Charlie who was stuck in gear. I just barely was able to not collect the back of his car, but it meant I had to take to the very dirty outside of the carousel to do so. The car bucked all over, and I kept it on the track, but it ruined my speed all the way down to Canada Corner. It then wasn't until I got back to the front straight, that all the crap was off the tires. That whole sequence of events cost me three seconds, while Bill and Sam got in a line and cracked off some serious times. Any hope of getting their draft was gone. I tried like hell to make up the lost time, but apparently too hard, as I then missed three shifts in two laps, putting me back even further. Game over. Kind of upsetting, but the car ran flawless all week (tires and gas, period), I ran my fastest ever "completely without draft" lap, and the car is sitting in the shop in great shape, and could do it again this weekend if we wanted.

Congrats to Steve on another gold. He didn't run the car once all year, AND showed up on not only a tire brand he didn't know, but on an entire style of tire construction he didn't know, setup or driving style wise, and he and the car were still a rocket combination. Seriously, think about that. This is why he's STILL a champion. The ability to adapt, and never accept that there's nothing that can be further developed and improved upon, and to get the absolute best out of whatever he's driving. While so many others have cried fowl and took their ball and went home, he's still working, and he's still winning.

My heart sank when I came around to see Eric in the trap. I knew from my radio that he had been leading. Knowing how Steve & Eric race, I couldn't believe it was from contact. The next time around, I saw the tire tracks, and I knew it was probably a mechanical problem. I can't even imagine that, especially knowing how hard he (and Jesse) have worked for and wanted that win. "That's racing..." as we say, but wow...

Sam, welcome to the podium! You showed great pace all year, at any event you went to, and you drove a very clean, fast, and consistent race. Very nicely done.

Bill......what the....? Where did that come from?! I was behind you guys, watching you wheel the hell out of that car! Dirt tracking through the carousel, dropping wheels off, giving Miata's fits as you'd climb that thing up the big hills. An incredible drive - one of the best I saw all weekend in any class!
 
Thanks guys. Eric, I really was sincere when I said I felt bad about what happened. I feel just as bad for Ken Kannard who had a great year and was every bit as able to run up front. Rick Harris who didn’t even get to start the race and all the other guys who had various problems. Like Eric said I have been there. Looking back at my notes I came up with the following failures while leading over the years, 1990, fuel pressure, 1997, transmission, 2000 oil pump, 2003 intake valve, 2010 distributor rotor. I guess when you run that hard it’s just an unfortunate part of racing but every dog has his day.
From my perspective it looked like Eric caught me fairly easily but once past was struggling just as much as I was. I felt my only hope was to get a good run out of 14 on the last lap and try to draft past by the checker. That really hadn’t worked when I tried it earlier but that’s all I had. The run through 14 would have had to have been perfect.
I’m proud of the class :applause: , 5 different manufacturers in the top 5 spots. Fprod has the most full prep cars still running and three of those were in the top 5 even though the class is half Miatas. As hard fought as the race was it was very clean from my perspective.
 
Eric, All I know is when you lapped me you were FAST...and looked good, I felt so bad when I saw you in the gravel. I really expected to see you on the podium. Killer season though, what a great job you had!!!
 
Great job Steve. Hate to see Eric finish that way. Wow, Wild Bill was on fire. Hoping to run with Kevin to get to the front. I had the rear end looser than I have ever had any car in my life. We got it better for the race by cranking in alot of wedge, changing the rear sway bar, radicaly changing the shocks and tire pressure. The car was as better handling for the race but we sudenly had rear brake lockup causing my spin in turn 1. I don't know how I didn't take out Joe Walker. A lap or two later I spun in the carosel and I decided not smash up the car so I pulled in.
Chuck Mathis
 
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