Sprints

Unseasonably hot weather given that we had frost warnings a week ago.
Missed P1 due to an electrical issue. Thought we had it fixed as car ran okay in Q1 and Q2 but as I pulled off the grid for the pace lap it acted up again s we missed the sprint race but we ultimately found the problem.
In race #2 I was fighting high oil temps so I couldn't hook up and draft with Brannon to chase own the leaders.
Somehow the race came to me and after racing hard for the last three laps we nipped Vickerman at the line for P2 by less than a bumper.

Video posted below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6WNSVP_JGY&t=4s
 
I noticed on Sunday that there were 10 Did Not Starts and 6 Did Not Finishes. Seems like the track took its' toll on cars. A lot of other groups also had a large number of Did Not Starts, an overall total of nearly 60 cars or about one out every 6 cars.
 
Greg, I think it's time for you to invest in a rear facing camera and do picture in picture videos. I'm sure the action behind you was pretty close. Congrats on the close finish.
 
Lots of casualties. Sargis busted 2 motors in 1 day.

Oil temps in the BMW were the highest we've ever seen since we entered prod in 2017.

RA always has a way of eating engines, 90-95F ambient makes it 10x.
 
Protech Racing":32mhhvzq said:
138 Views . No one mentions the RX7 holding up the race?
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Having not raced there in 11 years (and with 500HP last time), Gauper gave me the download that this racing would be bad and it was the worst I've ever seen at a track and largely related to how Brakke was able to catch me in Sunday's race. Otherwise the top HP cars could turn laptimes 1.5-2 sec faster then some of the F and E cars. However on Saturday when I was uncontended I enjoyed the interclass racing a little and tried to stay out of their way if they were battling. It was frustrating but I enjoyed it in a sadistic way. It was fun to race with cars and the sprite did better then I expected.

Maybe next time we split H and BSpec as I've heard they did before.

Trying to get my video posted it's a little more incriminating (self and others) than Gauper's.
 
Yep. Last year at the Cat Majors we requested a split for H to get away from the slow F cars.
I asked for, and we got a split group for HP and BS together. This helped spread out the slower F cars before we encountered them, and the BS cars were still a lap away from affecting us.
It worked pretty well, but I’d still like to see BS moved to a DOT tire race group.
 
chois":1jer8mtt said:
Yep. Last year at the Cat Majors we requested a split for H to get away from the slow F cars.
I asked for, and we got a split group for HP and BS together. This helped spread out the slower F cars before we encountered them, and the BS cars were still a lap away from affecting us.
It worked pretty well, but I’d still like to see BS moved to a DOT tire race group.
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In SWDIV, BS has been paired with SM or given their own run group at times. They have been 10-15 strong the last several races; at our Memorial day race, our small bore open wheel group (F500, FV, etc) was only like 3 or 4, so so they combined the Things with the Wings and gave BS their own run group. slow, but fun to watch. They bring the numbers to the races, so I agree with the philosophy. A couple of them also double enter as HP.
 
chois":ad2dvpud said:
but I’d still like to see BS moved to a DOT tire race group.
Click to expand...

Where do I sign?

Prod wants it, BS wants it, problem is convincing someone else to onboard.

IMO, if 115% is thrown because of safety and a good race, the overall group should be within reason as well. However, for you HP guys, BS is right there at around the 120% mark inline with some of the HP cars, problem is they just race so different even though their laptime is similar.

I didn't like the HP field on the split at the CAT. It put more of the HP field into scope for lapped traffic on both the shorter Sat. race and Sun race. Where we used to only have to contend with 4-5 BS cars, in addition we now had to navigate a portion of the HP field. That cost me a race on Saturday in T14 on the last lap. I think its a bad practice if the split start puts 2 of the classes in a clash on the last lap/last half of the course.
 
I didn’t realize the split had that effect last year.
I agree that they need to do no harm to other classes.
If we could just get slower competitors to stop racing tooth and nail with the faster cars in a slower class we would never have reason to do this.
 
chois":t2ttonx4 said:
If we could just get slower competitors to stop racing tooth and nail with the faster cars in a slower class we would never have reason to do this.
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wishful thinking, sir! I feel fairly safe in saying we've all done it at one point or another in our racing careers. I try not to, but it happens. until each class gets its own run group, it's going to continue to happen. Too many people are under the self-important guise of "I paid my entry, I gets my laps, I race who I want to."

unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world and have to share the track with others. divisionals and majors? sure, share the track and deal with the traffic. Super Tours and Runoffs? Let's push to enforce the 115 or 120% or whatever rule and see that those well off the pace cannot drastically affect the races of the front of the fields. If you're having a bad day and can't make pace, well you've got your start and runoffs points- move over let the others have their fun. If you're just that far off the pace in general, then maybe Super Tours and Runoffs aren't the appropriate races for you at this time?
 
Yep. I know.
It’s just disheartening when a slow fast car holds up the top 5 in a slower class at a super tour, and when asked about it they say they knew we were the leaders, but there was a car in his class behind us, so he had to race us.
Last time checked there is no contingency for 7th…

Ok. I’m done. Sorry.
 
Yeah agree.

This image was Eagles Canyon back in November. Fortunately I wound up on the lucky end of the conflagration and got around the other STU car when the vette parked in front of him and I got my nose under in a corner. stewards were receptive to a larger split at the start of Sunday's race, and I never saw him Sunday. unfortunately the yellow car beat me that race, but we at least had a really good scrap.
 
BS spec to the DOT group. Sure. Now we have almost 80 cars in that group. Yikes! Yes it is a problem. I though a bigger split on Sun would have helped. Not sure what the answer is....
 
Large split start would help a lot. Move the fast H cars from the overtake of the slow F cars to later in the race. Still the slow F cars will be inside of their 115% rule and fall square inside of the HP times.
A little more class gap would help also. I personally dont mind GT3 and EP with HP as the gaps are large and the passes done quickly. BS and FP or T3 and T4 would have a similar gap , but I know that SCCA hates closing speed because we dont use mirrors well.
 
Closing speed at RA between EP and BS on any of the straights is inline with what closing speed would be if EP ran with GT1.
 
Whoa, this took a little turn. My comments were not about "slow guys". I think the type of racing that we encountered at Road America might be a little unique. Saturday I was running with the 2-4th place FP guys and 4-5 EP guys because I couldn't create separation from them. They were all well within their rights to race and I probably got in their way too.

Finally loaded Sundays video:

https://youtu.be/ac2KNMHbOL8
 
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