Well… We got back home yesterday mid morning from one of the best weekends of racing ever, despite some of the New England bad luck…
First we all want to thank everyone at Mid Ohio for the warm welcomes that were received over and over again. You are all a great group of people that certainly went over and above the call of duty to make us all feel welcome!!!
Our weekend in a large nutshell...
Friday:
The PDX was great. Stephen and our crew member Tim had a great time learning the track. We almost have Tim hooked enough to sell his house and live in a paper bag so that he can afford to build a car to run!!! He was amazed at the difference between NHIS and a “real” purpose built road course like Mid Ohio. I herd several comments throughout the weekend hoping that Palmer was more like Mid Ohio rather than NHIS, we shall wait and see!!!
On Friday night we were a bit busy taking what we learned in the PDX and setting up both cars for Saturday’s races. It seemed that a lot of people left early on Friday night as well so we didn’t get to hang out as much as we had hoped.
Saturday AM:
Saturday AM qualifying was great. I went out on very old junk tires as I decided that a poor qualifying wouldn’t hurt me overall for the weekend and I would be better off on the new tires in the race. Much to my surprise my smack talks somewhat worked as I was able to get into the 49’s and qualify 3rd ahead of Stephen on 2 brand new tires!!! Stephen did put it into the tire wall in the carousel as he was passing me on the outside, not much damage but did tweak the frame a bit in the front. The car was still good to go though and he continued on in qualifying.
Saturday PM:
After watching the great ITA race we were off to grid for the first of 3 great races.
The race started off awful for me as I had to battle with ITS cars that were blistering fast on the straights and unbelievably slow in the turns. It was more frustrating at this track than any other track I have ever raced at. The back straight is soooo long that no matter how big of a lead you get on the cars on the back they were always beside you under breaking into madness. While I battled with the darn ITS cars Dave drove away and the BMW’s quickly caught up to me. I must say though that the ITS drivers were great to race with and left plenty of racing room. I had a great time with them, but it was at the same time very very frustrating for me.
Anyway once the ITS cars were gone (Along with Dave) it was a fierce battle between 2 BMW’s (James Heckman & Brent Louzon) and two Audi’s (My brother and I). We were all in a freight train trying desperately to run each other down. As Dave mentioned those BMW’s are crazy incredible fast in a straight line and easily pulled us down the straights even when we were in their draft. I had always felt (and many others also felt) that we had large motors and could out pull any ITB car on the straights, but I am now convinced we need the 2.3L Audi in ITB or a weight break!!!
On the last lap I switched positions for 3rd place with James in the BMW 4 times I think and he ended up getting me in the carousel on the last lap heading to the finish. I ran so wide that Stephen also got a run on me and if he hadn’t given me a boost at the apex he would have passed me… as it was we finished with his bumper at my front wheel!!!
I was bummed that Vaughan had broke as that would have only made the race more interesting!!!
After the races were over we discovered that Stephen had a wheel bearing failing that would not have lasted Sunday so it was off to Harbor Freight (only 15-20 minutes away) to get a press. When we returned we fought with a bad hub to try and put together a new front suspension assembly. Finally long into the party time we had Stephens car back together. Unfortunately it was late into party time and unless people had visited us we really didn’t get to see a lot of people we were hoping to.
Sunday AM:
We woke up early and took the cars to the alignment concrete pad and set the cars up for today’s races, added some fuel and went to grid. The grid was split simply because of times, and I had hoped that I wouldn’t see any ITS cars after the green flag. On Saturday I had gone to the chief steward to see about getting a split start, but unfortunately he didn’t understand the difference between a split start and a split grid and didn’t understand that even with a split grid we would end up racing with the back marker ITS cars for the first few laps. I was unhappy that I proved the chief steward wrong as the ITS cars did prove to be an issue for the first few ITB cars. Again this made the start very frustrating and through my rhythm off.
During the warm up lap Stephen could tell that his wheel bearing was not tight and came it to get it tightened and thus dropped out before the green flag.
It was a close battle in the front for the first few laps, until I got together with James Heckman in one of the BMW’s at the apex of madness. Certainly a learning experience for me and I was fortunate the contact was with a great driver whom respected my efforts to avoid the contact. Mid Ohio is an interesting track where the lead driver in a battle tends to “leave the door open” and then shuts it quickly as that is the line. I find this to happen in madness and in the carousel regularly. Unfortunately I made the mistake of trying to take that hole in one incidence. In the contact neither car was damaged that bad, however somehow the front bumper on my car was broken off the mount. The bumper was dragging and I was “meathballed” to come in and fix it. That ended my race as the crew tried to remove it the rest of the way. I did get back out on track and found myself just in front of the ITB leaders so I decided to let them pass and follow them for the entertainment. I got to see Dave’s wheel fall off and him spin round and round into the tire wall. While I was rooting inside my car for him to get past the Vaughn in the 924, it was entertaining, thanks Dave!!!
Sunday PM:
With my brother and I starting at the back of the pack, the entertainment for us was sure to be exciting, and those ITS could only help hold up the front cars and give us a chance to catch them!!!
At the Green flag Stephen and I split the field, with him on the outside and myself on the inside. I have no idea how many cars we passed but going into the keyhole was entertaining from my seat to say the least… bumpers were rubbing and positions were changing!!! The race is soooo long it is hard to remember when things happened when but I had a great battle with James again (BMW) as well as Tim Mullen (A3 Golf) and John Lukacz (A2? Golf). My car starting loosing power and slowing down more and more as the race continued on. Finally the engine went and I was out of the race. Stephen continued on and slowly started reeling in Vaughan in the 924, but ran out of time and was never able to catch him and challenge him.
The trip home was pleasantly uneventful. We did stop to get the rig weighted once it was filled up at a truck stop, and the total weight of the trailer, cars, parts, tires, people, etc. was a little over 28, 250lbs… yikes!!!
All in all:
It was a great weekend. The people were very very nice. The format was also perfect (We could have used a 10 minute morning hardship session for those that get approval from chief steward on Sunday).
The cars were far more prepared than I had expected. It was a different group of ITB cars than the ARRC brings and I felt it was as tough if not more tough competition. Next year we will have to up the “A” game and give those bimmers a run down the straights!!!
Congrats to Brent Louzon in his untouchable ITB car
. I do think that Dave Gran is the best but I got to admit, Doug has this thing easily in the bad. It is the fastest ITB car I have ever seen. I would highly expect to see him go to the ARRC. Those BMWs have power, not handling. Road Atlanta is a faster track and will only lead to a complete domination… go get em and make those southern boys cry!!!
The only part that could and may keep me from coming back would be the lack of a split start. If only 2 classes are in the run group and if you are on a track that is as big as Mid Ohio then I don’t understand why a split start doesn’t benefit everyone. It gives both classes their own race, and it certainly makes it far more entertaining for those that are watching IMO as they don’t need to wait nearly 2 minutes for the next front row battle!!!
I hope everyone else enjoyed the weekend as much as I did!!! Next time I plan to party a bit more!!!
Special Thanks:
Special thanks are in order to Force 5 Automotive, Carbotech, Bilstien, Dick (the welder), our mom, most importantly our fantastic crew for the continued support and free labor (Dad, Joanne, Randy, Justin, Tim, Tom, Stephanie, and Margaret), as well as the volunteer workers at Mid Ohio, we couldn’t have had so much fun without you!!! Two 4th's and a 5th for the RST Gang
!!!
Raymond “I wish that Audi’s would be a more reliable car sometimes” Blethen
PS: My video isn’t great, but I will try to get something posted at some point, I need the time and a newer camera to borrow that has the ability to connect to the computer! Unfortunatly I didn’t have video of my incident or Daves hub breaking…
Additional thank you to Bill Stevens for the Ice Cream and for making all of us Northeasters feel at home!!! Got to be one of the nicest guys at the track!!!
Jake, during the race did a fuel line let loose? Mist was coming from the left rear, and if that was fuel, combind with the fire from the right! That would have been IT Spectacular!!
