A - The track was unchanged from the previous week
B - My first qualifier was faster than my second
C - I qualified 2nd
D - Fast lap was again a 13.0 - no 12.9 for me :(
E - I missed 23 laps again
F - There were 7 VTA guys - all in one heat, and paces varied between 18 and 23 laps
However, in the main, I was running in second a ways back from James, but Kevin and I were racing close for second and ran together for a good three minutes with the gap staying between .7 and 1.6 seconds until with about 30 seconds to go, Kevin boarded it giving me the easy second place. It was the first time in a long time I can remember that I was racing that closely for position and didn't get a shaky hand. I finished with a time almost as good as my qualifying, and very much recall how I had avoided any major incidents even with seven guys out there running around. After the race, Matt told me how he felt like a ping-pong ball out there - he had his fastest laps of the night but finished a number of laps below his qualifying pace due to the number of incidents he got tangled up in. It sounded like my story for three months and it took a lot of changes to get me past that (new car, new radio, more practice)
Gen Con was awesome - as always! It's like an extended family that I only see one week each year, but we get a years worth of socializing in during that time! I did wish I was able to race that Wednesday, because when I got home and showed up at the track on Monday for practice, it felt like I hadn't been there in forever. Racing night I heard Jeff talking to Matt and he asked "Where's Joe been?" - apparently I was hiding behind Matt or a pillar or something as he was only two pit tables down from me ;)
 This week's track layout |
Oh - Monday practice - what a good day that was! While I was gone, the track had changed slightly, and I had thought it was the same track until I looked up last weeks layout. The first 6 turns were the same, but the last 5 were changed, and this made the track quite a bit faster. In the first couple lap out, I turn a 12.2. I played with the car over the course of a few hours, changing roll centers, camber links, and rear toe, and am still hitting 12.2's for a fast lap. The last thing I do is clean the front tires off as they were getting a bit of buildup, and reduce the negative camber by about .25 of a degree. On the five laps I turned after that, my last four were 12.3, 12.1, 12.0 and 11.8. I pulled the car off the track and packed up on that string of laps! :D
Wednesday came, and I felt really good about it thanks to my practice session on Monday. James had even told me that Marc had said I was running fast (rumor mill of speed? - w00t!). I checked my car for loose screws, loose CVA joints, loose spool cups and anything else that could go wrong, and found nothing. I had found out on Monday that the short side of my spool is completely rounded out - it's only through sheer screw tension that it's not slipping. So, after finding no gremlins lurking, I went out for the first qualifier without changing a thing. There were only five of us tonight in VTA, but it was a large turnout overall with two heats of 1/12 scale as a bunch of Grand Rapids guys showed up. I'm in the fourth qualifying spot, ahead of everyone but Jeff - well, rather, Jeffs car being driven by Will... James jumps out and is on a great pace, and I have a slight bobble as turn 2 has next to no grip and I'm battling with the car through there. Both Kevin and I are on a 24/5:08 pace , but I close up on him and he lets me by and I finish with a 24/5:03 - fast lap 12.0.
Second qualifier - same ritual of looking for any gremlins, and find nothing, which is such a nice thing! The grip had definitely come up since qualifier #1, and the car is noticeably more stuck through turn 2. A minute or two in, and I stuff it against the board at turn ten, but get my own way out, losing about 3 seconds, which puts me just a bit ahead of Kevin. A lap or two later, and I turn the car hard into turn 2, and find it rolling on me - Luckily right back onto its wheels, and only losing a couple seconds. Now I'm behind Kevin, and pull up on him and we run nose to tail for a bit, with me getting the advantage in some corners, and he in some others - we're turning 12.4's, which is slower than my pace. Kevin lets me by and says "I'd rather let you by than see us both wreck" - well, thank you Kevin :) I proceed to string out a 12.1, 12.0, 11.9, etc. and put quite a bit of distance on him. I finish with a 24/5:06 - slower than qualifier #1, but turn an 11.995 - it's still an 11, and James and I are the only one who dipped into the 11's all night. Without those two incidents that could have been a 25 lap run - 25 is a goal then!
It's time for the main, and we're the last race of the night. I think I'm finally in the habit of checking everything I need to on the car now - I still find nothing loose or missing, which is still a welcome thing. It's then I realize I haven't changed a spur or a pinion in almost a month - I'm still running 100/45, which was what I put on back in July! The order is James, Me, Kevin, Matt and Jeff (who didn't compete well in either qualifier because he has a bad ball cup on the front of his car - change that out man!), and when the tone goes off, James is gone from me, and I am gone from Kevin, which is fortunate as my car is a little loose around turns 3 and 7. The race is fairly uneventful, however I notice that every time I'm getting close to passing Matt, he wrecks sepctacularly. He wrecked once just after turn seven, landing on his lid, I was right behind him, and give him a tap as he's right in front of me, which slows me just a bit but also rights his car. Four minutes in, Marc announces that I'm up to a 25/5:12 pace! I turn a couple more laps, and am closing in on Matt, who slows and pulls over on the inside of turn 6. I pass him, and about to thank him when he floors it and spears me as I hit the apex of turn 7, not such a huge wreck, but it's a couple second delay. With only 20 seconds left, there's not much time to make up the lost time, and I wind up finishing with a 24/5:00.32. James won, but was almost a full lap up on me, finishing with a 25/5:01 and sweeping the VTA points series, garnering a perfect score TQing and winning each of the first six weeks. I congratulated him, and knew he didn't plan to run the last two weeks because there was no need, but I told him I would be happy to finish in second behind him the last two weeks as I am enjoying chasing him down. Everyone I had set out to race with and pass I have. There are a few guys who were fast in VTA that don't show anymore or race VTA - Mike D, John, and Greg come to mind. I'm hoping they all want to race VTA again come the fall season.
I've got some pictures of Dave and his Tigermoth to post soon - he was tearing up the track on foams last night in between qualifiers in his new car... And like the sasquatch, Dave Johnson marshaling is a difficult thing to photograph...
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