I ran HPDE with Nasa this Saturday, 1/31, and it was a blast ! Great organization, great folks, and fast cars rule.
Like their last event in Dec., many "monster budget trailers" (the kinds that stow cars in the top of the rig, come with elevator gates, come with crews and their own tent/paddocks, etc.).... This is a sure sign that fun is forecast, if you are privileged to run with them in the open passing/instuctor group!
Jim and Mike McCann (Viper Racing League) doing some testing... and fun to run with.. Very fast and professional crew, nice folks.....
The big surprise was seeing the C5R Teams getting ready for 12 hours in March! Nice to see the cars in Yellow in Black again... the Blue at Lemans last year seemed out of place based on prior success in Yellow. The crew teams were cool, letting folks get up close to the cars and their trailers for pictures and peeks.
Looks like they will be running Michelins again this year. The Michelin trailers pulled along side and were installing tires on 2-3 dozen of their rims, dedicated -- all day long.
The C5R guys never did out on the track with us-- bummer!!! I think they were going to do some night/rain weather testing after NASA's last run group. But Ron Fellows and Johnny O were running around, busy, prepping, making adjustments. Guys-- if hard work is any indication of this year's success, then these guys will do very well....
I asked one of the guys (crew) if they had many any mods to make up some ground on the Ferrari's ..... Ans.. "Oh Yeah" Wink. Wink. I did not press for an elaboration. We will all have to wait and see.
My wife and daughter got the tour also, and they managed to get me both Ron Fellows and Johnny O's autographs on my left fuel rail cover !!!
Sorry I did not get any digital pictures. My wife shot some on film, and I will scan them if they develop well.
The track day was great, despite the rain. I am actually becoming more and more fond of the rain. The big MPS Sports kick butt in the puddles, and I think it is a "great equalizer" for me against cars with mega more power and slicks/race rubber on dry days. My rain lap lap times are now faster than my first weekends at Sebring in the dry. It never ceases to amaze me how the car can stick on a wet deck if the inputs are smooth, rolling throttle, etc.
Not so fortunate for some others...
We started with about 9 Z06s and lost the only car of the day (another Red Z06) in the first instructor session.... He was running with me and the McCanns Vipers in pack, a few other cars and a black 427 Z... Not sure how he lost it..??? We had run about 2 warm up laps and were walking a pretty slow pace.. 2:45s, still building.... but his tires were likely still too cold, the race line still damp in spots. Looks like he looped it coming out of the Collier Curve between 11 and 12, unfortunately it was the part where the rubber tires end, and the concrete begins.... He nailed the right wall with front and then rear... Lots of body work coming but hopefully nothing serious to the frame. He left lots of Torch Red paint on that wall. Driver OK! The black flags came out and that wiped out that session.
At his wife's request... no names mentioned... I hope he has a speedy restoration ! [A while back TIMZ06 posted some slobird videos on his site where he lost it in exactly the same spot... Tim did a great job of recovery and spun off harmless into the left grass... The right side is not so forgiving.]
On the way back from Sebring, I went by Daytona and could hear the 24 hours at Rolex from the highway... We stopped for dinner, and I had thoughts of trying to get in and watch a little, perhaps get Heinricy to sign my other Fuel rail cover... ;-) [See my other post about Fellows vs. Heinricy]... I figure that I might as well let my fuel rail covers decide... ;-)
Anyway, we were all tired from a long track day and decided to head home and watch the rest of the race from the couch !!!
Racing in FL was good this weekend !!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you enjoyed some part my half time rambling...
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