Archive for the ‘Charlotte Road Course’ Category

Week 5 round up

Monday, March 9th, 2009

I missed out a weeks race reports (including my first oval win via Trucks @ Vegas!) but I’m back with some week 5 news. My shifter is still just about holding up which is just as well as I don’t know what I’d replace it with if it completely broke.

Star Mazda Race Results

Laguna Seca

The Mazda series was at Laguna Seca (I love the track!) so I really enjoyed this race. Only 11 racers in total but a huge strength of field (over 3800!).

It was a tough race though; I started 7th and spent the majority of the race with someone snapping at my heels, waiting for a mistake. I did well to keep my composure but made a huge error under braking with 2 to go and missed a braking mark, leading to a self spin. I recovered and held on for a 7th place finish, and 96 points. The opposition were just too strong.

Chevy Silverado Race Results

My Chevy Silverado

I was a bit hesitant about racing at Bristol as my last two races here were very mixed. The first race saw me collect 16 incident points and quit early, the second saw me achieve a clean race (0x). I joined the race and we had a full grid of 20 cars! It was going to be mayhem….

And it was – lots of yellow flags and I was doing really well to avoid getting any incidents as I worked my way through the wrecked cars. Late in the race I did manage to get caught in someones wreck and had to reset :(

Towards the end of the race with 20 to go I took four new tyres when the rest of the front runners gambled on keeping their old rubber…. the gamble paid off and I finished third after restarting 6th. I might have been able to steal a win if the race had carried on a few more laps.

The good result sees me move into third place in my division (3). I definitely won’t challenge for the division but could be in with a shout for a podium placing if I keep up my good form!

Skip Barber Race Results

I really love the Lowe’s road course and especially love racing the Skip Barber here. I had two great races involving some really tight racing back and forth down the main oval section. I was also pleased to make some sizable speed gains compared to last seasons visit. I raced twice and average 111 points for the week – a good result.

Next week the series goes to a new track (Sebring)… should be a nice new challenge!

Week 5 – The Excellent Lowe’s Road Course

Monday, December 8th, 2008
My Helmet Design

This week the Skip Barber series is at the excellent Lowe’s road course, last driven (by me) at the 13th week Solstice challenge. It’s an excellent course that allows heavy drafting all the way around the oval section. It can be frustrating too – pulling out a second over a rival in the infield is usually nullified by the slipstream effect on the back stretch.

I managed to get three races in, and generally enjoyed all of them. I think I discovered a new bogey corner – turn 5 – I really struggled with it as the car arrives with the suspension and weight so loaded that there is really no room for any error or microcorrection that you might need to use.

I finished the week generally improving my points tally in each of the three races. 112 points average for this week.

Here are some highlights from the races.

Due to lack of free time I couldn’t run any other series this week so missed out on the late model at Irwindale :(

My Skip Barber RT2000