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Sat Results
1. Jason Fitzpatrick
2. Chris Ross
3. Clint McMahan
4. Fred Edwards
5. Tom Edwards
6. Matt Strand
7. Ken Van Horn
Sun Results
1. Clint McMahan
2. Chris Ross
3. Matt Strand
4. Fred Edwards
5. Tom Edwards
6. Jason Fitzpatrick
DNF Carl Maier - Mechanical
DNF Ken Van Horn - Electrical
Wow, what a fun weekend of racing. We had the largest showing of F600's to date with 9 cars. Saturday was incredibly hot and humid. I believe the heat index was over 100 with temps in the mid 90's and high humidity. The day started out with a time trial session first with George's son taking their car out first. Unfortunately a sprocket hub cracked and with no spare George withdrew his entry from the race. George has already has plans for a custom made hub that will eliminate the issue of using the kart hub that failed so he will be ready to go by Mid-Ohio. Qualifying was uneventful and had Clint on pole for the split start followed by Matt, Fred, Chris, Jason, Tom, and Ken. The race was scheduled for a 25 minute minimum since combining the wings and things into the group would dramatically shorten the race if they ran strictly by laps.
The equality of the power trains in the F600's made for a tight pack going into turn 1 at the start of the race. Things started to spread out after that with Clint and Matt pulling away and Fred Edwards dropping back with what turned out to be a partially clogged fuel filter. A few laps in Jason put the move on me going into turn 1 and got by me. I promptly returned the favor going into turn 3 under braking. Jason got back by me again and the gap between us kept opening and closing as we worked our way through traffic. I was surprised to see Jason and I close up on Matt Strand who appeared to be having issues with loose bodywork. As I chased Matt through turn 3 I saw the right side pod completely flip straight up into the air stream. Matt pulled off to the side and I went by. Matt's loose bodywork was discovered to be caused by a right rear tire going down letting the right side pod smack the ground and knock the body fasteners loose. Eventually I started suffering from fatigue from the heat and had to back off to avoid wrecking myself and/or Jason. With no F600's in site in my mirrors and knowing we were getting close to the finish I figured the finishing positions were set with Clint, Jason, and I taking the podium.
What we didn't expect was for the race to be taken to the 30 minute maximum even though the race was clean with no double yellow's of black flags. This extra length ran Clint and several other cars in different classes running of fumes and fuel starving in the final lap. This fuel starvation allowed Jason and I to close the gap on Clint and pass him with about 1/2 a lap to go giving Jason the win. I'll post Sunday's race report later this evening.
I was able to watch the start of Saturday's race from the 2nd floor of the tower- wanted to stay in the shade, shew it was hot! You are correct, all of y'all going into 1 along with the sounds was most impressive. :thumbsup:
Sunday started out with slightly milder weather than Saturday, but not by much. Qualifying for me went ok, but was frustrating with a slower FM that refused to let me pass. He would gun it down the straight away and then dive for the apex making it difficult for me to pass without risking a wreck. Twice I went through the pits to try and get a gap only to catch him within a lap or two. Flaggers were not being generous at all with the blue passing flag. In two complete laps I only saw the blue flag twice even though I had my nose stuck right under the wing of the FM at every corner. Very frustrating. After a second trip through pit road to get a gap I figured I only had time for one or two more laps to get in a flyer. I had a really good lap going until the 2nd to the last corner (right hander) when a FE caught up to me and stuck his nose inside me forcing me wide. This completely screws up the line into the final corner (left hander) ruining any good speed down the straight away. To make it even more frustrating he then backed off aborting the attempted pass so screwing up my flying lap was all for nothing. Probably cost me at least 1/2 a sec on the lap and it turned out to be my fastest lap anyway and good for 3rd, narrowly edging out Jason by 0.013 s. This was going to be some good racing!
The race started with Clint, Matt, and I pulling out a bit of a gap in the first lap or two before Clint and Matt started pulling away from me. With the split start we quickly caught the back of the FV's in the 2nd lap and started working our way through traffic. As the race progressed I found myself with a gap in front of me and behind me relative to the other F600's, but I could see the orange car of Tom Edwards in the distance behind me. The next couple of laps seemed like he was getting a little bit bigger in my mirror. Then a black flag all came out and brought everyone in to remove a car from the track. This is not what I needed because it would put Tom on my tail for the restart or so I thought. A bit of luck fell my way though. I had passed the FM that gave me grief in qualifying on the previous lap. Tom had gotten by him also but he did it on the black flag lap. This put Tom gridded behind that FM again for the restart and would give me a little bit of breathing room. I started right behind Matt. On the restart Matt and I quickly caught up to a pair of green FM's. Matt quickly got by them but I got held up as the two FM's fought it out. This let Tom get by the other FM and start to close on me. Luckily the trailing green FM got by the leading green FM and opened up a gap ending the battle and giving me the chance to try and squeeze by. After a couple of laps I finally got the run I needed coming onto the front straight. This let me stay in the draft of the FM. As we approached turn one I popped out and waited for the FM to brake. Once he did I braked hard and squeezed through on the inside. Looking at the video I'm not sure he saw me until the last second as it looks like our front wheels get very close as he started to turn in before he disappears out of camera view. After that I was able to pull away and concentrate on running clean consistent laps to try and open up the gap with Tom. Tom got stuck behind that green FM for the rest of the race as he was unable to get by him. After a few more laps I came into turn three to see a waiving yellow and Matt facing the wrong direction straddling the curbing at the apex. He ended up spinning in a avoidance maneuver when he and Clint were battling to pass a couple of FM's. With a bit of traffic coming through Matt was stuck for a bit longer before he could get a clear window to get turned around and come after me. I believe it was the next lap around that I saw a frantic waving yellow flag in the museum corner and found Tom high sided on the curbing at the apex. As the race had met the minimum time and was approaching the maximum time the checker was thrown ending the race with Clint in 1st, me 2nd, and Matt Strand in 3rd.
Overall for the weekend I was tied with Clint for 1st with 36 points each. The tie breaker is fastest lap so Clint took the overall win for the weekend, me 2nd, and Jason Fitzpatrick in 3rd.
Congratulations to all of the F600 drivers this weekend for putting on a great show. A big thank you also going to Fred and Jim for putting this series together. Really looking forward to the final two races!
Chris, do you have a link for the official results for the whole group?
I haven't seen them posted yet on Alabama SCCA's website yet. Probably be a few days.
http://www.alscca.net/
Can we get a heads up here, too, when anyone notices photos from the event posted somewhere on the web?
I heard the announcers talk about a site, but I don't remember the URL.
Thanks.
I will be emailing the race results to all the drivers when I get them from T&S. Any day now.
Craig Farr
TVR Race Chair
http://www.theformula600challenge.com/Quote:
Originally Posted by RussMcB
www.clarkmcinnisphotography.comQuote:
Originally Posted by fatdaddy53
Nick Vagner, photos will be available at http://www.stillbandits.com
I am not sure if the photos are up yet but these guys will have them
Here is my race video from Sunday.
http://youtu.be/HvjVMAdjrdI
Hey Chris, what kind of camera setup do you have?
What a beautiful track. It might have the best safety features of any track in the US. :thumbsup: Makes videos from Summit Point a few weeks ago look like the tracks in the 1970s.
Camera is a ReplayXD 1080 filming at 720p x 60 fps. Camera is helmet mounted. Next practice day I'm going to play with a few different configurations with the roll bar mounting to see if I can figure out why it keeps turning off during the race. Not sure if it is a vibration issue or a camera/car harness wiring issue.
Per Chris, the Replay 720 is for motorsports and has come down in price - $150Quote:
Originally Posted by wannabe
to get started.
Jim