Monday, May 10, 2010

We made it home again.




Well, we finally made it back to
Lancaster County and get to sleep in our own beds again. As much as I enjoyed the adventure, it is nice to be home. One amazing statistic is that we went in completely different directions after leaving South Bend compared to last year and all different tracks, but ended the trip with 3 more miles than 2009. Our total mileage including to South Bend and back was 4864 miles. The vast majority of the mileage was transit miles between the tracks, with only about 200 or so track miles. The furthest west was Hallett, Oklahoma and as far east as Millville, New Jersey. Many of the regulars talk of doing the "Big Western Run" again where the transit mileages can grow to 800 plus miles in a day/night. That would also probably add another 1500/2000 miles to the total. This is a very challenging and grueling event and that would make it more so for both man and machine.

We can probably give you a pretty good run down on the menus at Wendy's, McDonald's, Burger King and Denny's. The track food for the most part consisted of hamburgers and hot dogs along with the brats in Wisconsin. To make the finances work we also looked for the more budget side of lodging, but we found out paying more did not guarantee a better shower. It is amazing how interesting the shower restrictors are in some of the motels.
The pictures above show the Yellow Corvette driven by Danny Popp the multiple SCCA national autocross champion. "The Dog Bone Car" of Brian and Harry raising money for their local humane league and the 2006 Lotus that had a little off track excursion that damaged the front valance and left some tire marks along the side. Check back for any final thought I may come up with.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

South Bend, almost the end.




The last event of the week is at South Bend, Indiana. This morning we competed in the Dry Skid Pad competition and finished 23rd. This gives us an overall finish of 26th for this years event. Last year we finished 15th and felt we might be able to improve slightly on that effort. This year when we arrived and saw a lot more awesome cars it looked like it was going to be a little tougher and it was said by one competitor that it seems like "twice as many top ten teams showed up this year".

After our DNF at Road America and dropping to 39th place, my goal changed to a 25th place finish. We got close and finished in 26th, not quite a win but a great experience and with many new friends made. With our exploding pulley problem on Saturday it really looked like a possibility of losing a day or two to get things fixed. As I mentioned in a previous post, without Joel Huibregtse's help we might have been stranded over the weekend and lost several events until getting the car fixed during normal shop business hours on Monday and still the problem of finding the right parts to make the repair. Joel is a Corvette Restoration Specialist with CSI Performance in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin and they were closed for the day since One Lap of America was at the local track, Road America. Fortunately for us, Joel was standing near Danny Popps car when I went looking for other Corvette guys who might have any spare parts that might help us out. While standing waiting for Danny to come out from under his car Joel made some comment that made me ask him if he was local and a mechanic. Many, Many thanks to Joel for his helpfulness and friendliness in our time of need. For more details on the Road America events scroll down to the Road America entry.
Only 600 miles back to Lancaster County and we can call this adventure completed.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Nelson Ledges Sports Car Course

Nelson Ledges Sports Car Course is considered the fastest 2 mile road racing course in the country. It is located near Warren in northeast Ohio. The track has not been paved in quite a while and is extremely rough in many areas. They are now under new ownership and things are beginning to improve but much still needs to be done. The track is so rough that one of the cars had the side curtain air bags go off while in the middle of their run. The driver said it sounded like a shotgun going off and startled her but she kept going and finished the run. One other major problem at the track that day was a supercharged Mustang blew its motor in turn 10 just in front of us who were watching from the tower. While checking the track for debris a safety worker found a wrist pin that had blown out of the engine. With a hole in the block the Mustang was finished for the week. One other incident for the day was when the Lotus went off the track and did a little bodywork alteration when it contacted the tire wall. Just cosmetic damage that a few thousand dollars will cure, but still able to continue on. The track was new to both of us and we kind of slipped a little on this day, not quite getting the finishes we were hoping for.

This will be a short drive today with only about 300 miles back to South Bend to finish out the week with a dry skid pad competition. Maybe we can get a good nights rest so that after the banquet we can still make the 600 mile trip home and get there for Mother's Day.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

New Jersey Motorsports Park, Thursday



Thursday we ran at New Jersey Motorsports Park on the Lightning circuit. This course is 1.9 miles long an has 10 turns. Two of the turns have blind track outs over the crest of hills which adds to the challenge. It is a very fast course and I got a 20th place finish in the morning and was able to improve by 2 seconds in the afternoon run but still finished in 20th. We moved up one more spot in the overall to 27th position. The spot are a little harder to earn this late in the event but we are still trying, With only 3 events remaining I am hoping for a 25th place overall but we need some good finishes to make that happen. You need to take your successes where you can and I think that would be a great comeback after dropping to 39th with our power steering pulley problems and the DNF at Road America. After finishing up at Lightning we will have a short 427 miles to Nelson Ledges race course near Warren, Ohio.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

If it's Mid Ohio it must be Wednesday




We kind of lose track of what day it is. After a couple of days things start to run together and you have to stop and think what day it is. This morning we arrived at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course near Lexington, just a little north of the center of Ohio. This is one beautiful course, very well maintained and a neat park setting. I think the track surface is one of the best I have ever seen on a racetrack. This is a 2.4 mile course with a very fast downhill staight and lots of elevation changes. The gravel pit runoff area at the end of the front straight is called China beach. I don't know where the China comes in but it does look like a beach. It is a very challenging course to get right, but we don't have that chance, we do the best we can. After the one recon lap you are then flagged on for your competition laps, most drivers come back in saying "How much better I could be if I had some time on that track.
Only 527 miles to go and we will arrive in Millville, New Jersey to run on the Lightning 1.9 ten turn road course. After New Jersey it on to Nelson Ledges Road Course in northeast Ohio, then on to South Bend, Indiana to finish the week.

Gateway International Raceway


On Tuesday we went to Gateway International Raceway outside of St. Louis. We even got a chance to see the Arch from pretty close when we drove through the downtown on the way to the track. Similar to other Speedway tracks, Gateway is a very fast banked oval track. The track also has an alternate layout which utilizes the Speedway from NASCAR turn 3 through turn 4 and down the front straight and then transitions into the infield with several twists and turns to make up a road course for sports car racing.

Scott finished 22nd in the morning event and I ran just a couple of tenths slower per lap in the afternoon but it was only good for 32nd place, but I was thrilled to be that close. The One Lap of America format is extremely challenging with just one reconnaissance lap to learn the track. Immediately after your recon lap you line up at the start/finish line and get the green flag at about 10 second intervals. Typically we do many 20 minute session on a track over a day or two to learn the track and get fast. After the second session we moved up to 28th place overall.

As soon as we are finished I change out of my racing suit and we load the car as quickly as possible and head out for the next track. Tomorrow we will be at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course outside of Lexington, Ohio. The distance this evening is only 478 miles, then we get some sleep and arrive at the track before 8 am.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Monday day is Hallett, and Tulsa Oklahoma


We are climbing the ladder and making up a few positions after our DNF at Road America. Scott earned a 17th place finish at Hallett and I got a 32nd place finish in the afternoon. We are at a distinct disadvantage since we share the events at each track. Many of the teams use one driver for all track events with the other team member helping with the driving on the highway between tracks. Other teams have one driver do all the driving at one track, so he gets some experience in the morning and will likely be faster in the afternoon. We share the driving at most tracks so we both get the experience tracks all over the country.


Hallett is a neat 11 turn track that is about 2 miles long with lots of elevation changes. It is located just west of Tulsa Oklahoma only 483 miles from our last stop in Pacific Junction, Iowa. That doesn't count the extra 17 miles each way through the back country to get to our motel. After Hallett we went 50 miles over to Tulsa Raceway Park for the Drags.


That's all for now, must get some sleep. I will give more details soon. Keep checking back.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Mid America Motorplex

The blogs are a little tougher to keep up with this year. If it isn't getting to the motel at 2am it is a problem with the motel wireless connection. Last night the connection was so slow and I kept losing connection that I could not upload any pictures.

Mid America Motorplex is in extreme western Iowa. It was a fun track, but with mixed success. Scott was able to get a 22nd place finish in the early event. I went out in the afternoon and only got a 42nd place finish. With both finishes added in we did move up to 34th place from the 39 place after our DNF at Road America.


Just a side note on my 42nd place finish. I can get around a track pretty fast after just one session but the One Lap format is just one recognizance lap then 3 hot laps. I seem to have a little slower learning curve and and the One Lap format is very challenging to me. I also think the responsibility of racing someone else's car hold me back just a little. More news tomorrow from Hallet Oklahoma.
The picture above is just a litte humor from the Viper guys.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Problems at Road America







We had problems on Saturday at Road America. Scott went out to run in the first Qualifying session, which would set the order for the next session. The second session set the seeding order for running for the rest of the event. During the 3rd lap the power steering pulley disintegrated and in doing so also took out the power steering pump reservoir and the serpentine belt that runs the water pump and alternator as well. Because of this failure the temperature went up quickly and Scott to shut down and abort the run. As a result we ended up with a DNF for that event which stands for "Did not finish". With a DNF you receive no point for the event and we dropped from 14 th place overall to 39 th place.

The good new is that when I went looking for help and could not find anyone who had a pulley. I stopped at another competitor's car and was waiting to ask him about a pulley until he was finished working on a problem part. While standing ther I heard the fellow say something next to me that gave me the idea he was a local mechanic. I started to tell him of our problem and he told me he works for a local Corvette performance shop but was off today to come to the track for the One Lap event Joel was absoloutely great and went above and beyond in helping us get the car back together in time to get in the last group for qualifying.



Of course nobody local had the pulley or reservoir in stock. The fix Joel helped to come up with was a pulley from his C4 which fit but didn't have the grooves on it like the orginal. We got the pulley on and glued the reservior in time for qualifying, but then discovered it was still leaking and dripping on the serpentine belt. Joel suggested using the C4 Corvette reservoir but it was too large. After everyone else had left for western Iowa Joel guided us to the local Fleet and Farm store where we bought hoses and fitting and mounted the reservior remotely back by the master cylinder so we could still close the hood. A few cable ties to hold everything out of harms way and we were leaving for Iowa. Another big THANK YOU to Joel. It is nice to know how much some one you never met before was willing to be so giving and helpful to get us back in the game. When we get home we will have to mail Joel his borrowed parts and tools back to him.

Of course we didn't get to Pacific Junction, Iowa until 2 am and got some much needed sleep. One Lap of America is certainly an endurance contest of both man and machine.