MARRS 2 - Rain, Rain, Go Away!!

Saturday morning started off partly cloudy, but rain and thunderstorms were in the forecast all around our region for most of the day. The National Weather Service had Severe Weather warnings until mid-afternoon. I was in Group 8, so the first qualifying session was about an hour before lunch. Tires were my main concern, if the track got soaked, I'd do much better on my full-treaded Toyo RA1s vs my shaved set. I headed over to Gasoline Alley with Rich, of Performance Auto Works, to bring back the rain tires while the first storm was about to hit. High winds, dark sky, Rich's hat blew off, and I almost lost mine simultaneously, but we kept driving to the garage with the rain beginning as we got there. His hat was still on the grass field next to Turn 9 when we headed back to the paddock.

Between showers, I changed to the wets, but I needed to add some air. Then the skies cleared a bit, the sun came out and as I pulled up to grid, the track was drying. I had set the pressures to 34 pounds all-around and pulled into my grid spot. 5 minutes was called, but that was really like 2 1/2 minutes. I wasn't ready so I was held in grid and let out last. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The first few laps, I was contending with damp spots on the track and the full treads, so I was not able to break 1:36. Gradually, it began to get more and more wet as the session went on, more and more cars pulling into the pits each lap. I just stayed out until the checkered to get some practice. Morning times posted quickly and I was 7th in class, 10th overall.

After lunch, the expected violent storms were not a threat anymore, but there was some thunder and lightning and the rain lingered for a few hours. Very few cars went out during the early afternoon groups. Some groups had as few as one car lapping the track! I was debating whether or not to bother going out myself, but as I wandered the paddock, the rain left and skies cleared, so I scrambled preparing to go out again. Not enough time, to change tires, plus it still could be wet, but not so once our group hit the grid. I was ready well before 5 minutes this time, and said to myself, forget the tires, just go for it. The track was dry enough that grip was not an issue, though several cars spun off the track during the session. I improved my time as well as most others, so I ended up with exactly the same time as #15, only he was 5th and I was 6th in class, putting me 8th on the grid (outside row) for the race on Sunday.

I arrived late Sunday morning feeling a bit lethargic, not sure why, maybe it was all the good protein I had eaten on Saturday between the brat and burger for lunch, and then the Famous Dave's wings and ribs over at Jefferson with the NCC BMW CCA. Anyway, after some fluid and preparing the car for the race, I felt better. I made sure to have some energy for the mid-afternoon race by having a hotdog dipped in some 100 mph Chili from Chez Summit. Good stuff.

With the dry tires back on the car, and only a slight threat of rain, I was confident that the race would be run under completely dry conditions. It was, and I got a great jump at the start, falling into 5th by Turn 3. I missed a 2nd-3rd shift and fell back from the leaders going around the Karusel, but it was my only driving error of the race. The #11 IT7 car, whom I passed going into Turn 1 at the start, started to catch me immediately and we battled for several laps, neither of us wanting to lose sight of our competition ahead on track. Is he going to hold me up? Yep, so I'll lead. I'm not holding him up, because he falls back and can't pass and stay ahead. Finally, he did and pulled away. I was left alone for a few laps and then #15 started charging up to me. With three laps left, he was on my bumper, with #27 closing on us both. My only mental error of the race occurred on the second to last lap. It was guessing wrong what a lapped car would do exiting the Chute. He stayed right on line leaving me no room on the inside entering Turn 5, which forced me to pass on the outside in 5. I braked too late and had to rim shot the right edge of the track, dropping two wheels and kicking up dust. When I got all four back on, I was still ahead of #27 and #15, but remained behind #3. I got a run but he almost shut the door at Turn 7 on me, so I short-cut the apex and finally get by him by Turn 8. From there it was a matter of holding off 5th and 6th for one more lap, ten more turns. Coming out of 7, the clutch slipped a bit from my up-shift. I protected the inside going into 10 and again the clutch slipped shifting from 3rd to 4th on the straight. This gave #27 a run on me, so I gave him just enough room on the right edge of the track to pass me if he could. We crossed the line door handle to door handle, not knowing who was ahead. The results had me by .031 seconds for 4th place, 6th overall. We enjoyed talking after the race and agreed that our transponder placement might've had something to do with the 4-foot interval at the finish. It was my best result to date, and I was happy with my driving. There is less than a month until we go at it again. Race Group
#10 next time.