Lime Rock "Schools Out" Race

Thank Greg, after seeing that email then reading the words "sessions", it make me wonder.

I would love to double dip. Maybe next time, not in the cards for me this weekend.
 
I don't know anything about the miata stuff but I was told that no dogs at LRP even for SCCA weekends....I was also told that they haven't kicked any dogs out that may have made it through the gate wink wink, nudge nudge.
 
the last two... :) The track was slow yesterday afternoon. 2nd through 11th place are all 1.04's and all within .7 of each other. Should be interesting... currently, Frederick is leading the pack in high 1:03's. i am not sure about the track this am, though it is raining lightly off/on.
 
Had the most fun at a race in a long time. Fun racing and fun hanging with the ITA and IT7 buds. And no one hit me!! Although Abhi tried several times!! ;) (I'm kidding!)

I'll do more of a report tomorrow. Too tired tonight................

Lots of destroyed cars in the Miata classes. Very unfortunate.............
 
Groups 2 and 8, Dave. I was working the station adjacent to turn-in for the Lefthander, and the segment of track before us was today's hot spot. Tom Capizzi's right side bounced off of the guardrail here after an intense fight for the top 3 spots (among Dylan Murcott and Ralle Rookey) in the morning SM race. Rookey was recovering from a brief trip through the dirt after a tough move on the outside in Big Bend; in recovery, he connected with Tom who didn't have much of anywhere to go. Of course, the Flatout guys had the car mostly in shape for its five remaining races.

On lap 2 of the afternoon SM race, the fourth place car of David Hirsch was turned sideways by the nose of Robert Karl, Jr. along/past the second apex of Big Bend (Station 3) ahead of a storming pack of 25 or so. With quick lockup he came to a predictable stop, albeit sideways across the track just a car width from the left edge at trackout; inevitably, the oncoming traffic fanned big time and Dan Moen's left front found the trailing edge of Dave's passenger door and RR wheel. This left two cars stationary across 75% of the track forming a pocket of sorts; Hirsch's passenger side, Moen's driver's. Unfortunately, Steven Berry hit Dan's car pretty square causing some extensive damage to both rides, and Rich Bennett folded up Dan's left rear quarter but was able to limp into the paddock. All were okay to my knowledge.

Group 8's morning run was issue-free (applause for the largest group of the weekend), but the afternoon race hadn't even started when Kim Estep's right front fender and tie rod were damaged as a result of an aggressive "splitting the Red Sea" move by Karl Jr. at the start/finish line which also spun a silver No. 55 who was able to continue.

Mike's weekend was pretty smooth, once Timing and Scoring knew who he was!

The morning races for all groups were nerve-wracking with very brief, very light, but very effective intermittent showers panicking drivers right at the 3 minute call of seemingly every grid. I'd say the only truly wet race was for Group 8. All the afternoon sessions were dry however, with a bit of sun even shining through. The hillsides hosted perhaps 150 spectators or so.

IT7: Norm Latulippe (Sweep, but the race to watch was for fourth between Dick Patullo and JB Swan! JB took it with 2 laps to go on both races)
ITA: Steven Frederick (AM), Brian Blizzard (PM - Chris Raffaelli well in the hunt for both races, completing the podiums)
ITB: Travis Washay (Sweep, but Rick Benazic right behind both times. Nat Wentworth blew up on Friday, and Paul Curran was on a backup motor after doing the same in Tuesday's test)
ITE: Chuck Fernandez (Sweep, but an impressive runner-up and fourth overall from a Mr. Hawke in an E46 M3 in the afternoon, which was the only session he ran all weekend!)
ITR: Doc Bro (Sweep, but mixing it up with the ITS frontrunners all day)
ITS: Glenn Lawton (Sweep, but impressive runs from Tim Dugan in the new Corrado)
SM: Dylan Murcott (Sweep)
SM2: Jimmy Locke (Sweep)
SSM: Can't remember
STU: Anthony Kalkandis (Morning), Chris Jurkiewicz (Afternoon - also won overall, and a bit of a battle with a new STL racer in a Red #11 CRX who only ran today)
STL Morning: Can't remember

All off the top of my head, sorry if there are errors.
 
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Glen Lawton took the ITS wins. Matt took second and a fifth after an off attempting a pass on Tim. we were wishing for rain cuz I don't think anyone had anything for that Corrado in the wet. I will be honest, I never expected that corrado to be first overall ever let alone this weekend! Tim estes got a third and new paint job in anawesome race with Dugan! I hope Dugan posts some of his videos:)

Very sad I didn't run the Audi in ITB to challenge John V in his Audi which looks awesome and appearsto be sorted!

Stephen

thoughts and prayers for the young driver in the formula car.
 
Last couple weekends were a bit of a reality check for me...

1) This sport is dangerous and if you are shortcutting on safety equipment you should re-think things.

2) if you think you are in a safe spot you are not... Especially if you spun into that spot! If you got to that spot so can't someone else! I saw two SRF drivers end up in the wall on the outside of the downhill today... I was surprised to see these seasoned drivers got out of the cars prior to anyone responding. Please remember the safest place for you is in your seat WITH you belts and helmet on until someone responds and says/singles it's safe to get out!

As for the formula car that crashed Friday into the end of the pit wall... Rumor only is that he is in his early/mid 30's and is in a coma with a head injury. Way to young, keep him in your prayers for a healthy recovery.

Raymond
 
Yeah, we were busy in Tech writing up a few cars this weekend...in addition to said Miatae we also had a Spec Racer with a derange front end, a couple of other broken formulae, a FB with a pretty impressive engine compartment fire, and unfortunately our very own Joe Stadtleman's ITS 944 had a broken-fuel-line-fed engine compartment fire in the paddock next to Tech on the way to the grid Saturday AM.

Most importantly, none of the above was injured, just reduced in personal net worth and discretionary time. That we can live with.

But for the FF driver - I did not see the incident unfold - word is he spun coming off the Downhill and did the classic spin-to-the-inside, T-boned the pit entrance wall, then slammed into the inside pit wall Jersey barrier, which has no tires facing it. Judy in grid - a nurse - was first on the scene and called for support "stat", and then a doctor/racer who was on the grid arrived immediately after. They stabilized the driver, back-boarded him out of the car, and then transported him to medical facilities in NYS (Middleton?).

The state of CT got involved in the investigation, and after Tech and the track management released the car, it was transported to a State Police-approved garage off site for "investigation".

I personally spoke to a friend of the family yesterday morning as he was picking up parts from the Goodyear guys, and he told me that the driver was in an intentionally-induced coma, and he said something to the effect that there was no obvious physical trauma, no evidence from CT scans that his condition was worsening, and that they're hoping for his condition to improve to the point there they can relocate him to a Connecticut hospital near home (they're from Middlefield CT). I don't have any more details, but all indications I got from various persons are that the prognosis is optimistic.

This was just one of those freak accidents that you can't accommodate 100% for, but it certainly puts our hobby into perspective. Like Judy said to me as we all tail-gated at Kenny's truck, drinking beer and wine and enjoying the company of our racing community, "this kind of stuff isn't what we all sign up for when we decide to participate in this hobby...."

GA
 
Thanks for the update Greg... If you talk to the family again please let them know we are all thinking of them and praying for a healthy and as speedy as possible recovery.

On another note... I am so happy Tim got the Corrado going as well as he did on it's second outing!!! I think it will be a fun car in ITS trim... Let it rain!!!

Raymond
 
One other note: I had several side conversations with drivers unhappy with their fellow competitors' driving. Most of the complaints centered around "chopping" noses at the turns, not leaving racing room, racing courtesy stuff.

My advice to each of these was to take advantage of the driver's advisory service, where you can talk to the chief steward, have the other driver called up to the tower, and the two of you can discuss the situation in a closed-door room with a steward as mediator. It is an informal system, no paperwork or protest required, and it's an effective way to clear the air and hash out your disagreements with no risk of formal sanction.

I personally find the advisory service to be easier to deal with and FAR more effective than simply walking over to a paddock space and hashing it out. First, you never know what kind of attitude you'll get from the other driver, so it's nice to have a steward present; second, meeting in "neutral territory" minimizes risks of subsequent conflict; third, talking in a formal setting in front of a white shirt tends to dampen the emotions overall; fourth, a white shirt can (and probably will) offer an unbiased indication of how things would have gone had you tossed formal paper at the guy, with no financial and sanction risk to either of you.

Note that none of this discussion, regardless how it comes out, will go on anyone's driving record, so if it's a really egregious situation then you may prefer a driver protest where the result is formally on the record (points will be added to the driver's record so if it happens again, they accrue to further sanction). But if all you want to do is toss a warning flag across the other person's brain, let them know they're not playing in the sandbox nicely, then this service is appropriate to let them know that if they continue this behavior then formal action will eventually follow.

The driver's advisory service is free, it's easy, and you should use it.

GA
 
Greg Amy said:
Yeah, we were busy in Tech writing up a few cars this weekend...in addition to said Miatae we also had a Spec Racer with a derange front end, a couple of other broken formulae, a FB with a pretty impressive engine compartment fire, and unfortunately our very own Joe Stadtleman's ITS 944 had a broken-fuel-line-fed engine compartment fire in the paddock next to Tech on the way to the grid Saturday AM.

Most importantly, none of the above was injured, just reduced in personal net worth and discretionary time. That we can live with.

But for the FF driver - I did not see the incident unfold - word is he spun coming off the Downhill and did the classic spin-to-the-inside, T-boned the pit entrance wall, then slammed into the inside pit wall Jersey barrier, which has no tires facing it. Judy in grid - a nurse - was first on the scene and called for support "stat", and then a doctor/racer who was on the grid arrived immediately after. They stabilized the driver, back-boarded him out of the car, and then transported him to medical facilities in NYS (Middleton?).

The state of CT got involved in the investigation, and after Tech and the track management released the car, it was transported to a State Police-approved garage off site for "investigation".

I personally spoke to a friend of the family yesterday morning as he was picking up parts from the Goodyear guys, and he told me that the driver was in an intentionally-induced coma, and he said something to the effect that there was no obvious physical trauma, no evidence from CT scans that his condition was worsening, and that they're hoping for his condition to improve to the point there they can relocate him to a Connecticut hospital near home (they're from Middlefield CT). I don't have any more details, but all indications I got from various persons are that the prognosis is optimistic.

This was just one of those freak accidents that you can't accommodate 100% for, but it certainly puts our hobby into perspective. Like Judy said to me as we all tail-gated at Kenny's truck, drinking beer and wine and enjoying the company of our racing community, "this kind of stuff isn't what we all sign up for when we decide to participate in this hobby...."

GA
Click to expand...

The only thing Greg forgot to mention was what a great job he and the others in tech did over the weekend with limited manpower!!

BTW...I spoke with Mike Rand(the FF winner all weekend) and he mentioned that the young FF driver injured fri came under the bridge on to the front straight and was confronted with a very slow moving car in front of him, got on the brakes and....we know the net result!
 
Greg Amy said:
One other note: I had several side conversations with drivers unhappy with their fellow competitors' driving. Most of the complaints centered around "chopping" noses at the turns, not leaving racing room, racing courtesy stuff.

My advice to each of these was to take advantage of the driver's advisory service, where you can talk to the chief steward, have the other driver called up to the tower, and the two of you can discuss the situation in a closed-door room with a steward as mediator. It is an informal system, no paperwork or protest required, and it's an effective way to clear the air and hash out your disagreements with no risk of formal sanction.

I personally find the advisory service to be easier to deal with and FAR more effective than simply walking over to a paddock space and hashing it out. First, you never know what kind of attitude you'll get from the other driver, so it's nice to have a steward present; second, meeting in "neutral territory" minimizes risks of subsequent conflict; third, talking in a formal setting in front of a white shirt tends to dampen the emotions overall; fourth, a white shirt can (and probably will) offer an unbiased indication of how things would have gone had you tossed formal paper at the guy, with no financial and sanction risk to either of you.

Note that none of this discussion, regardless how it comes out, will go on anyone's driving record, so if it's a really egregious situation then you may prefer a driver protest where the result is formally on the record (points will be added to the driver's record so if it happens again, they accrue to further sanction). But if all you want to do is toss a warning flag across the other person's brain, let them know they're not playing in the sandbox nicely, then this service is appropriate to let them know that if they continue this behavior then formal action will eventually follow.

The driver's advisory service is free, it's easy, and you should use it.

GA
Click to expand...

Great info. I spoke with several IT7 racers after their last race yesterday. Several years ago when I had my yellow it7 12a, I got popped from behind at track out on the start of the front straight by a certain silver BMW Z3 from CT. I was sp far left that my left wheels were touching the grass. Said Z3 came up behind me and broke my rear tail lights. Station 11 recorded the incident. Seems like on Sat and at other times, most of the IT7 drivers have had similar experiences with the same driver. The Z3 racer has never offered any explanation for the incidents to the other racers involved.
This would be a great forum to experience concerns!
Thanks for the info, Greg.
 
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i want to start off by saying thanks to raymond a stephen for helping this weekend! And just being them telling me what im doing wrong which maid the battle with Tim Estes a lot more fun! Thanks Tim for making the race one of the best races ive had. Thanks to all the workers that made this weeknd happen. my thoughts and prayers to the driver and his family hope for a speedy recovery get back to the track and start racing again! I will be talking about this weekend for a very long time!
 
Tim, the racing with you yesterday was the reason I returned to racing. Close, fair and fun. Good to see such competitive times in ITS. Hope that it will continue throughout the season.

My thoughts go out to the injured driver as well. As I was picking up the great mug for my third place finish I was reminded of what we are really racing for...
 
Driver advisory

Thanks Greg on the info.
I would like to be on the same page with my fellow driver and it sounds like the right place to get the clarification that the other driver or I need so we play nice in the sand box we are lucky enough to use.
Now where can I find the 2 tenths to break that damn track record?.......lol
 
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