Racing 2013

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Well its getting that time again. Time to spend a bunch of money and enjoy every minute of it.

2013 Schedule

June 15-16 Castrol Raceway (Short Track) - Nisku, Alberta (NASCC/ARCA Race 1)

July 12-14 Spokane County Raceway - Spokane, Washington (ICSCC Northwest Grand Prix)

August 24-25 Castrol Raceway (Full Course) - Nisku, Alberta (NASCC/ARCA Race 3)

Aug31 - Sept 2 Mission Raceway - Mission, BC - (ICSCC Mission Triple)

September 14-15 Castrol Raceway (Full Course) - Nisku, Alberta (NASCC/ARCA Race 4)

Videos will be posted on the youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/SputnikRSS1

Should have some pics this year too.

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Re: Racing 2013

Well that was an interesting one.

First off I would like to recommend to everybody that wants to do a lapping day to not do one at Castrol on the short track and to not do it in the rain. It is an accident waiting to happen with all the concrete in the worst spots you can imagine/everywhere. It will hopefully get better once they get the full track complete but I have a bad feeling it won't get much better. On the good side they say with 3-4 weeks of good weather (aka Dry) they should have the rest of the north loop complete.

Down to the race weekend we had a good 6 cars in class and 7 in our run group most guys just using it as a tune up for our trip to Spokane next month.

Saturday Practice:
Go out for some early morning practice and the track is cold the air is cold and there is somewhere below zero grip out there and in an openwheel car you cannot see around any of the concrete barriers.
Do about 10 laps and call it good.

Saturday Qualy:
Get into the car and am sitting on pre grid when it starts to rain.
I get sent out as a test car for the track to see how it is do 1.5 laps as not to get an official time and pull in and tell the guys probably not a good idea as the car doesn't even turn thru the banked corner.
I park the car and climb out the rain stops and the sun comes out.
Walk over to the pre grid area and we send out another test car he does a couple laps so he gets an official time that means everybody climbs into there cars and goes out to set a time. I don't and say screw it its not worth it.
Sadly parking it was the smart move and the sports race in our group stuffs it while just puttering along out of the banked corner that's how much grip is out there on slicks.


Saturday Race 1:
Well hook up my helmet camera and get ready to go racing but forget to turn it on during pre-grid.
Race starts dry and i manage to work my way from last to second and seem to be faster than the leading car but on the tight course its difficult to pass.
A couple laps behind the leader it starts to rain pretty hard i get boxed out on the banked corner and then the former leader pulls in due to the wet i putter around for a third place finish as the race is wet until the last 5 or so laps.

Saturday Race 2:
Well I remember to hit the record button this time and there is some good racing through the whole video so if you have 20 min give it a watch.

Manage to pick up a win in the old girl on 2 year old tires not bad if i do say so myself and all of this while having to shift a manual transmission which according to Porsche can't be done.

Sunday Practice:
Cancelled due to rain

Sunday Race 1:
Cancelled due to us not wanting to race in the rain

Sunday Race 2: Points Race
It has stopped raining but the track still has puddles that are creeping onto the racing line in some bad spots . We talk it over and decide we will just pack up the cars and keep them safe for our Spokane trip.
As I am about to lock up the trailer and head out one of the guys phones me and tells me are Racing because one of the new guys wants to go out and get the points for the race.
So much for the group vote so we now all hurry to get the cars ready and unloaded.
5 cars Grid up and go out didn't have time to hook up the camera but it was a pretty straight forward race other than the part where i dropped 2 wheels in the mud making a nice mess of the car.
Manage to bring it home in second and as we pull off the track it starts to rain again.

Pack the car and head home to spend the next week cleaning the mud out of it.

[PRY4SNO]

Re: Racing 2013

Dear Stig,

Please stop racing novices. LOL.

Some awesome lines there, looking forward to vids from Seattle!

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Re: Racing 2013

Only 2 Novices in the group the guy who finished second was a novice but he came from karting and we had a couple good back and forths around the 11ish minute mark.

The other novice is brand new to racing and has jumped straight into the deep end running openwheel so he is doing the right thing and just slowly building up his experience in his car and kudos to him for doing so on this very unforgiving track. Every session we went out he went faster so I say by the end of the season he will be up and running with the rest of us.

psst Spokane not Seattle

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Re: Racing 2013

Well Spokane trip is in the books wasn't my best outing not sure if it was just me and the car not getting along or just me not being able to drive this past weekend.

Will get the full report done sometime this week but here is a little something I think you guys will enjoy.

[cam_wmh]

Re: Racing 2013

"while having to shift a manual transmission which according to Porsche can't be done."
made me lol

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Re: Racing 2013

Multiple angles now too

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Re: Racing 2013

Well Spokane 2013

Arrive Thurs afternoon most of the guys went down Wed and did the test day and got some extra practice in so already behind the eight ball a little. We have a total of 13 car registered in my class and about 20 cars in our run group.

Friday

Quali
Instead of practice this year the schedule starts right away with qualifying for race 1. Head out on old tires that are way to old and put in a horrible lap time of 1:35.2 about 6 seconds slower than my best lap last year. I only did about 5 laps as i had a bad feeling i was going to crash if i stayed out there on those tires.

Race 1
Put on a newer set of tires I had with me and sent the other set to get fresh rubber mounted on them. Started the race in the wrong gear 3rd (This is the start of a theme for the weekend) and got passed by a couple cars on the start. One of the cars that passes me is a white/black Swift driven by my dad so as i try and come back past him on the back straight he is swerving and blocking like a drunken sailor trying to keep me behind. Get passed him and a Club Ford and catch back to where i started the race following Steve. I seem to be better under braking but that's about it. I start to drop back until Steve spins in turn 8 and i bring it home 4th in class with a best lap time of 1:29.4 about 0.5sec faster than last year.

Video of Race 1


Hare and Hound Quali Race
To get a quali time for the hare and Hound race we had another short 15 min sprint race about 10 cars. Started in 3rd gear AGAIN! but lucky for me Gavin looks like he also started in 3rd so i got by. Then had a good little back and forth with Zac for a lap or 2 then settled in behind Steve for the race sadly he didn't spin this time. Got a quali time of 1:29.9 for the hare and hound race on Saturday.

Video of Hare and Hound sprint race


Saturday

Quali
Was having an issue with my tach not reading correctly so went out to match speeds with Wade and see if we could figure how far out my tach was. It ended badly as i went to deep into 2 on cold tires and the car just kept washing out so i went off course. Going off course in Spokane is a bad idea no grass just rutted dirt with giant boulders. The off in the video bent the floor of the car bent the side panel back (Pulled the emergency shut off cord) bent a rear toe bar, destroyed my diffuse, and buckled the rear rocker arm. Only timed lap was a 1:39.9 putting me deep in the pack

Video of quali


Race 2
Got the car repaired as best as we could over the 4 hour break. First couple of laps I took ti easy to make sure the car was alright and to lead around one of our new guys showing him some lines didn't hurt that i started in yep u guessed it 3rd gear. After i felt the car was okay i took off and started passing people. 3/4 of the way thru the race Zac broke another halfshaft on his car bringing out a full course yellow. This brought me right back up to the field and right behind the guy 1 position in front of me. I then get to chase Gavin for the last couple laps of the race and on the last lap when i am real close we hit lapped traffic thinking i might take him in traffic i see who it was we caught and its my dad so i assume i am screwed as he will block me no matter what. And what happens is i get picked/blocked behind my dad and Gavin stays in front. Good race at the end though and my lap time drops to a new personal best of 1:28.8

Video of Race 2


Hare and Hound Race
A 10 lap sprint race where cars are released from the pits at a calculated interval as so to arrive at the finish all at the same time. I am released 3rd i believe so 3rd slowest and its pretty boring until i get passed by 2 cars on the second last lap. Good part about this though is our new racer Doug who was steadily improving over the weekend wins the race and gets a fake Rolex for his trouble.

He also got a surprise tool from one of the other cars on track.


Sunday

Quali
Put on my brand new tires and juut go out to scrub them in and get a decent lap. Do about 4 laps and a time of 1:29.4 putting me 6th on the grid and 5th in class.

Race 3
Race is nice and close to start must be me starting in 1st gear this time as I seem to be keeping up okay before I go full retard and don't lift when I was about to go off. Spin the car and damage the floor and diffuse even more.

Video of Race 3


After I pull in every other car from our trailer pulls in one at a time as we all break something on the last race. On the high note this brings my dad up to 3rd in class by the end of the race but he gets DQ'd in the end for being under weight.

Here is how the car looked before we put it on the trailer. We later notice that the front nose fiberglass is broken almost in 2 and the front crush box has peeled part of the front bulkhead out of the frame. Lots of work to do before the August race in Nisku.




Should have some more pictures of the weekend in a couple days as my dad took some but haven't had a chance to get them yet.

[PRY4SNO]

Re: Racing 2013

No family on the racetrack, hey?! That sounds like quite a weekend of fun

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Some pics from Spokane

























Don't worry I advertised while i was down there

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Some of the Repairs after my off-roading in Spokane

Broken Front Nose


Cleaned out for new glass


Re-glassed inside and out




needs some more love but getting there


broke diffuser


Patching diffuser


Bent side panel

[PRY4SNO]

Re: Racing 2013

Wickeeeeeeeedddd

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Re: Racing 2013

Local TV stations coverage of the Spokane Races. we are the second group on the video about the 15min mark.

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Re: Racing 2013

Well repaired and ready to get back to the track tomorrow.

Problem is this weekend most of the guys are down with broken cars. 3 Bad motors, 1 Axle, 1 Wheel bearing and CV joint so we are looking at a small field of 3 in my class.

Diffuser Before


Diffuser After



Nose Before



Nose After



Might need to put some numbers on there.

[P Arkus]

Re: Racing 2013

Nice work Roger. Love reading your racing updates!