Mid Ohio Double National
What a busy weekend in more ways than one. Fortunately or unfortunately we only had 2 F1000 racing in Group 6 with 43 cars composed of 8 classes. More F1000 particpants would have been great, but I know the MO event was competing with the Pro events and Sprints.
The 2nd F1000 entry was the God Father of the Van Diemen F1000 conversion Jeremy Hill. Being new to the class I was looking forward to meeting and racing Jeremy to benchmark where we were as I have made a bunch of changes to the car after VIR last month.
I missed Thursday night twilight testing because of getting away late, interstate closed down to one lane north of Cinci and then the malfunction junction on 71 through Columbus. No biggie as30 started early.
Friday dawns and it is miserable weather with rain all night and a conga line of showers hammering the track. Most every sane person skipped Q1 for Sat because it was a downpour. So Q2 was mandatory for Saturday's race and there had been a break in showers. In my paddock there was some slight drying on the surface and the track spray from the other group looked like it had been mostly blown off. Well I had the bright idea of going out on drys and got to to the front of the grid. I asked my Crew Chief if anyone has dry's and he said no. Oh well I am pregnant at this point as they say. We go out and some cars go by as I gingerly try to get some heat in the tires. I come through 10 on the warm up and a car is spun and I am at a snails pace and I spin then 2 more right behind me spin. Luckily no one plows into each other so we are on our way. The second lap is already double yellow as there are spins everywhere and then that lap is black flagged and finished in pit lane. The clock continues to run for us to go out and as I sit there and then it starts raining. I am done with a 3rd from last qualifying position out of 43 cars. The split start of F's 1st and SR's 2nd would help some. The 3rd session on Friday was for Sunday and the track had improved but green. Luckily I could at least get a feel for the balance of the car because I had made many changes and had new calipers with old pads not bedded to the rotors on the car. I had a little bit of a soft peddle that had me doing a few double pumps here and there to make sure the brakes were still working. Certainly Q2 on Sunday morning would have much nicer weather with much quicker times than this one.
Satuday comes and the weather is beautiful. It looked like track record setting conditions but the track never did season as classes in our group had slower lap times than may be expected. So the race starts and I am in the nose bleed bleacher section and start working my way through traffic. Very good practice of patience and evaluating low percentage passes against high percentage passes. Of note, it was critical that I get these two nationals completed so I can get qualified for the Runoffs because I have no more Nationals I can attend due to business commitments. So the car was good and later in the race we get a full course yellow. Well low and behold there is Mr. Hill with 2 cars between us. Make note to self, we may have a chance here. Well I am lolly gagging under the double yellow in some high gear coming up to the top of thunder alley before the carousel thinking we have another double yellow lap to complete. Make second note to self. Never race without a radio. This car did not come with a radio harness and it was one of the things I did not get to. Well all of a sudden on the back side of the course I have like 5 cars go by me on bothe sides no less as they had radio men calling green (dammit I just passed all these guys). I mean we go through the carousel 3 and 4 cars wide stacked of multiple rows and enter the front straight and I go into T1 three cars wide (I am on the inside) and David Watson in A CSR Stohr puts his James Bond knife cutting diffuser end plate on my left rear and after the race saw tire marks over the splitter and up on his front fender. Luckily I kept it together and finished the race behind Jeremy. Also luckily we turned I think the 5th fasted race lap and edged out Jeremy for best time. So I am encouraged we are at least in the game. I will note Jeremy's was working on his car all weekend to still work out issues caused by the huge off he had as Mosport in the Pro race that cleaned the whole side of his car off.
Sunday Q came at 8:30 and weather is beautiful again. We do a split Q with F's out for scheduled 8 laps and then SR's. Great idea. I go out on stickers because of the Watson deep cuts in my LR tire and 6/8 wheels versus the 8/10 wheels that I have run since buying the car. I like the 8/10 because the tires looked so good and I had 8 cycles on those as of the race the day before. So we get going and the car does not feel as good as yesterday even though we turned our fastest lap of the weekend and lucked out and quaified 4 overall and Jeremy was right behind. Well I was ready for the Mid Ohio Van Diemen F1000 shoot out at the OK corral and Jeremy was too.
So I look at the tires and they look very different than what they look like on 8/10 wheels. So I make major camber changes on all four corners and a toe change hoping for a car that would use the tire a little more efficiently. So at the start of the race we take off at the green but a FA from 6th place decided to take off before the green actually was waved and Jeremy after the race indicated the FA really screwed him and it allowed me to gap him. So I am driving had trying to get through traffic to maintain a gap and my crew chief gives me the signal that we are half way so I breath a sigh of relief that I have my 4 Nationals completed. so the car is getting looser and looser and the front bar adjuster is poorly mounted and is hard to adjust and even then my elbow hits it and it moves settings. I guess that's why the prior owner had it wire tied into one position. So I am screwing around with this reaching with my right arm across my body working to adjust it. In the process, I make a bone head move and looped it. Jeremy streaks by and I am sure he had a big smile. OK we are past half way so the shoot out is on. I start digging back and we have I think 4 or 5 laps left and I got a big run into the carousel using a different line and there is a right left switch back coming onto the straight. Jeremy gets loose on the right and then goes for the spin cycle in the left and I slip by for the lead. Yes I did have a big
So overall it was a challenging but satisfying weekend. It was great to meet Jeremy and we had a really good time net of Friday's miserable conditions.
So good luck to all in the Pro Series, Sprints Etc.
I may have some pic's later that a friend is sending.
Best regards,
Michael
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