So what to do? Not much time to work on the car, so 3 things: rework the quiet muffler to fit the Y-pipe changes I made for the loud muffler, install an Auburn OffRoad differential (gears stay at 3.73) with fresh carrier bearings (the old bearings, and the gears, look great, after about 20 full race weekends, and a handful of play days. SWEPCO 80W/140 in a stock 10 bolt with a AAM cooler cover), and study some old Laguna video.
For practice Fri I put the loud muffler on, with the quiet muffler ready if I dinged the 101dB sound window. I started the session gingerly, needing laps to relearn how to drive with a working diff, gradually increasing the intensity of my drives up the hill past the sound shack. The diff was pretty cool - instead of wheelspin out of T4, the rear would gradually step out, and take a set with a little countersteer. I thought "this is just like the Vette!", just need to develop some trust in it and it'll be wonderful. Brakes were shot though, and the session ended with a black all so no cool off, kiss of doom for brake rotors. The good news is my sound was fine with the loud muffler, 98.6dB was the loudest, and I had made several max effort blasts up the hill towards the end of the session. It felt good hearing the sound reverberate off the bridges and walls of Laguna for the first time
Sat a.m. had me up early freshening the front brakes - hubs/rotors/pads, the third set this season, probably should replace the calipers too, but saved that for Sunday if needed. Qualifying was mid morning, clear and moderate temps, and had everybody complaining of a slippery, slow track. Didn't feel slippery to me though, and I was tickling the rev limiter in places I never did before, so felt good about the session. Damned well I should - I took over a second off my personal best, for pole position with a 1:43.092. The BMW was about .5 sec behind, and no one else was within 2 sec of us, so the race was going to be between David Smith and myself. He has gone faster, so I worried a bit about him sand bagging, but I didn't touch the car except for cleaning the brake dust off the wheels and putting 10 gallons of fuel in it.
Sunday's race was early afternoon, I forced myself to eat some lunch and tried to relax by watching some of the other races. With 37 starters, there was a good chance of some pace laps, typical of Laguna races, so I told myself not to panic if David got ahead. Last race, at Sears Point, I overcooked my tires defending the lead for 5 laps and I wanted to avoid that in any case. I like a slow enough start that I can use the top of 2nd gear, and so paced the field that way, but as we approached the starter, David pulled out 1/2 car length ahead of me. I wanted to pull him back or yell at the starter to wave off the start, but he threw the green anyway. David got the jump, and by 4th gear got his rear bumper ahead of my front bumper, and pinched me off on the T1 wall, so I had to lift where Aeromaro has the advantage. Rats, so I follow him around for a while. I was getting into T3/T4 faster, but he would pull away a little on the drive out. I was getting a much better drive up the hill out of T5/T6, David would pull a couple car lengths in the corkscrew, but I was getting through T9 way faster and had to brake early for T10 to avoid ramming him. My car is not geared well for T11, he would get out just a little faster, and his advantage gained all along the straight and through T1. So.. my pass had to be going up the hill or coming down, I waited patiently for an opportunity, filling his mirrors. I stuck a nose alongside between T6 and the corkscrew a couple times but he was able to block me. We got into traffic and I stuck with him, cars separated us only momentarily. There were times when I was right on his bumper, like inches away, as we lapped Mazda's I thought "pay attention dude, there's two of us here". Sometime after mid race I got my chance when David got balked slightly in T5 by a lappee, and I had a run on the corner so he couldn't get over to block my exit in time, and I cruised by up the hill and pulled out a couple car lengths lead. My front tires kinda gave up on the last couple laps, got a terrible push in the slower corners, but held on to win by 3.2s.
Pretty jazzed at how well Aeromaro is working, the diff and the exhaust system have really transformed the car, so I have lots of confidence that I can keep beating the BMW. Next race is Sears Point, where I was oh so close last time, and then 2 weekends at T-hill, where we are strongest, with a bonus race in there somewhere. Just gotta keep it reliable and pointing in the right direction.
I had done little to the car after its wonderful performance at Laguna earlier in the month - retorque the suspension, check brake pads, fluids, order Moser axles, clean the windows.
The slick asphalt was strange - the tires would not scuff, and nobody was flinging tire boogers so the tires came off the track buffed smooth and clean. The good news is the bumps are gone, esses are wonderfully smooth, the big bump in T12 in the concrete valley is gone. T1, T3/3a, the Carousel, all smooth. New berms in T10 really help turnin to that nasty corner, extended berms elsewhere give more margin on exits, esp nice at the exit of the Carousel. SCCA had scheduled 2 practice sessions on Sat to give everybody a chance to tune for the new pavement, and by my 2nd session mid Sat afternoon the grip had improved remarkably, though I was still lifting at S/F for T1, and not gassing out of T10 till the apex. I did some experimenting with lines thru the hairpins T7/T11, with the Auburn OffRoad diff I could gas it earlier than before, even with the curing asphalt. The line was getting pretty good, with some rubber getting laid down, but offline was treacherous - tried going outside in the Carousel and just slid, so passing in a corner was going to be tricky. Also, some of my brake reference points have been erased, so had to find new ones, esp T7/T11. Checked tire temps and made only a minor change and parked the car, got a good long night's sleep, up early for 8:10am qualifying session.
I got to qual grid a little later than I should have, found about 12 cars ahead of me - the good news is that David Smith was only 2 cars ahead, so he had slow traffic to contend with, too. David in the fast BMW was the only car I was concerned about, I needed to gain 8 more points on him in the last 4 races in order to win the ITE championship. Mike with the new WC Vette still did not have the car ready, and nobody else on the grid is within 3 sec of David and myself, or so I thought...
The morning was perfectly clear, warmish, with just a few shadows left on the track, and the grip had improved a lot with the rubber laid down during the prior day's late afternoon sessions. I lifted later into T1, and was gassing it hard through the T3/3a sequence, out the bottom of the Carousel, using the new exit curb way, way on the outside, and driving over the new rumble strip at the enterance to T10. I gradually reeled in David over 3-4 laps, then saw him get really loose in T2, just before I did the same thing, and then caught a bunch of slow cars, so I aborted the session, cooled off for 2 laps, parked it in the hot pits and checked tire temps. Pulled it back into the paddock in time to hear announce run down the qual order - another pole for me! Woohoo! But what is a Mazda doing next to me? Ryan Carl has been getting faster all season, he shares the car with his dad/others who run it in GT3, and he gets it for ITE. Nicely prepped car, dad Rusty runs a body shop in Santa Cruz - big flares, fat Hoosiers, race ported motor, I ran a low 1:51 and Ryan was only .03 sec slower, with the BMW .4 sec behind me on the 2nd row next to a Porsche. So this was good - I could block Davids starting drive (his car is quicker off the start and slow corners, Aeromaro has the advantage in the faster stuff) and as long as Ryan didn't leave a hole in the middle for David, I had a good chance at getting a clean non defensive line into T2. We were both in traffic in qualifying, so the .4 sec margin between David and myself may not be that significant, and I did not want to get into another defensive battle with David, the defensive lines were going to be slower than ever and would hand the advantage to the 2nd place car.
Boy-o-boy, the visual of the pace car veering off the track, creeping around the T12 wall at 4000rpm in 2nd gear with 40 cars behind, staring at the starter, and WHAM, nail it as soon as he moves. Good stuff ;-) Ryan behaved, did not jump, I nailed the start (actually anticipated it a fraction of a second), thru 2nd in a flash, see yellow/blue RX7 fading, into 3rd, 4th, into T1 WOT, a quick look behind and nobody's on my bumper, so normal line into T2, and what this, a Porsche behind me? Good, he's no match for Aeromaro so time to check out, which I did. Later the first lap, I saw the familiar front of Davids BMW behind me, so he quickly got around the P-car, but never got close enough to challenge me, and faded quickly. I had my own drama from inside the car, like the cabin filling with smoke exiting the carousel. Oh crap! what happened? I remembered double checking that the oil filler cap was tight, so maybe it's a tire? Did I rememember the spacers when I put new rotors on for the race? No, smells like oil, and corner workers are hunching down trying to see under the car as I fly by. Smoke fills the cabin avery lap out of the Carousel, clears by T7, and I look with dread at the black flag station each lap. No black flag, oil pressure is good, temp is good, traction is, well, traction is frigging intense! I hold WOT well into T1, still able to get over to track left for T2, push harder and harder into the esses, tires screaming, diff squeaking, but nothing letting loose. I trail brake into T4/T7, rotating the rear while the front pushes ever so slightly. The rest of the race is faily uneventful, I did not want to slow down much after building a lead for fear that Race Control would think something really was wrong with the car, and I know there were about 30 cars to lap, and the track feels great! Lap 5 was my fastest, a 1:50.860, more than a second under my prior best, but .015 slower than Bruce Griggs' ITE race lap record from last season. Rats! If I had not been distracted by the smoke, I coulda/shoulda/woulda been in the record book...
I finished with a 45 sec lead, and on the cooloff lap got waving yellows going up the hill. Uhoh, sombody had an off on the last lap - rounded T4 to see Evan Ginsberg's Camaro on the left, David Smiths BMW on the right. Evan took the BMW's nose square on the drivers door, both drivers are OK, looks like the Bimmer came out the loser hardware wise, tho Evan will probably have sorer ribs than David.
Turns out that David had a slipping clutch and his race was doomed anyway. He had faded to 4th by the last lap, finished 8th after losing the last 1/2 lap by ramming Evan. So, now my series lead is 6 points, AFTER the drop, so I have some slack and can relax and take it easy the last two events at Thill.... Hehehe.
Oh, the oil smoke - when I double checked the filler, I nudged the breather line out of the valve cover rubber grommet. You can bet that that line will be firmly attached for the next race.
THE CAR FINISHED EVERY SESSION IT STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was a blast! Was the double regional race at Laguna Seca.....the COOLEST place, but a track that is not too forgiving and has a LOT of concrete walls! I didn't set the world on fire with ITE times, but I learned a lot, and left a TON on the track that I know I can get with practice.....
I started on Friday just trying my best not to SCREAM in TERROR coming over the hump in turn 1 WOT, feeling the car get very light, and driving over the pavement height changes while driving through the pit exit to get to the "apex" without the car dancing its way into a spin at 1XX MPH....good thing I don't have a working speedo! That and learning how to drive a track with my right foot that, in my Datsun, was basically FOOT TO THE FLOOR 110% of the time. was a "learning" experience.... time 1:51 pretty pathetic...but hey...just practice...
By the afternoon, I went out to qualify and to my surprise....95% of the fear from the morning session was gone....was able to smoke a lot of the mid and back packers and learned to be more comfortable driving with the right foot, and TRUSTING the brakes...GOT 'EM FIXED NICE NOW!... was able to "drag race" a couple of Vettes and 928 Porsches up the straight to find that my motor is just as strong as MOST...the leaders are still on another planet for power.....got down to 1:49...
RACE #1.....Pretty pathetic...I pride myself on my starts...in the Datsun it was not unusual for me to get by 6-10 cars in turns 1-4 in most races...I just have always had an aggressive feel for just how hard I can go on cold tires/brakes....always able to find the line between being slow, and blasting off the turns into the weeds....I qualified 12th in the race....out of 21 ITE cars....the green drops and I go to the outside in the dastardly turn 1....don't know why...I have never done that, and know it is a low probability move...so....of course, I get hung up...have to back out....move over....and watch 6 or 7 slower cars go by..... ...get in line behind a 3rd gen Camaro.....hmmmm this guy is holding me up....but the confidence I had in late braking slower cars in the high speed braking zones is NOT there with a car that is close to my own.... ...the guy seems to feel my lack of confidence, and proceeds to BLOCK LIKE A MOFO!!! He is making a MINIMUM of 1 1/2 moves per turn, and where I am WAY FASTER UNDER ACCELERATION....he is like a Highway Patrolman zigging to slow freeway traffic....after 5 or so laps of this I actually manage to get inside him on turn 5, but am WAY PINCHED DOWN in the turn...he proceeds to slam the door hard, causing me to not be able to get all the way back out....BANG...he gets a shot from me, but I am able to NOT SPIN him...(for those of you who want to put roll bar FRONT bumpers in like mine...I have tested it....IT WORKS..:-D)...we move on up to turn 6.....I feel, well I just hit him....I AM NOT gonna try and rattle him this turn....turn 6 is a turn that can eat cars....it is a turn that is pretty serious, yet you GOTTA HIT IT FAST to get momentum going up the hill...easy to go off, or overcorrect into a wall...we both go shooting up there and my MORON friend decides to BRAKE CHECK ME HARD about 30 yards ahead of the brake zone...STILL DON"T KNOW HOW I DIDN'T RAM HIM... ....well, thanks to this move, we BOTH come out of turn 6 doing about 30 MPH slower than usual, bogged down in 4th gear, and a RX7 with a full head of steam....RAMS ME in the back......(for those of you who want to put roll bar REAR bumpers in like mine...I have tested it....IT WORKS.. ;-D ) These shinanigans go on for 7-8 more laps...with me deciding to RELAX, and save my car, that ALREADY has trouble finishing races....I manage to pass the guy 3 times and each time BLOW it due to him getting into my head WAY MORE THAN HE SHOULD....I end up gettng him in the Corkscrew.....and he breaks down shortly after....BUT, BY THE TIME I GET BY.....NOT A CAR IN SIGHT....all the cars I COULD have raced with are gone! BUT I FINISHED!!!!!!!!! Time 1:48
Qualifying for race #2.....I felt the car push in EVERY turn on Saturday, so I decide to adjust my Unbalanced Engineering rear sway bar up one notch, to tighten the rear. Car is NOTICABLEY looser.....I have trouble compensating and only score another 1:48 in an uneventful session.
RACE #2 NOW your talkin' on the start......I am qualified 10th now and on the green flag.....BLAST UP THE MIDDLE this time..... Can't say I can't learn... :-)) ....I come out of turn #2 in 6th place....and PUSHING the poor 'ol Z06 in front of me... I lowered the rear pressures in the tires to compensate for the loose condition and it seemed to help...I had a great race, got a little sloppy in the middle, lost some ground to the Vette.....then came wave after wave of lapped traffic.....and low and behold, I BLEW EVERY OPPORTUNITY to lap a car....screwed myself 20 times! This caused me to give up 2 of the positions to finish 8th....BUT AGAIN I FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!! TIme 1:46
AND.....THE CAR IS IN THE TRAILER AND DOESN'T NEED TO BE REPAIRED!!!!!!!!!
YEAH BABY!