March Majors Road Atlanta

[Steve Bamford]

How about an update from those attending the weekend?

Looks like a good turn out, I think largest of the year so far for FF, and very good field of drivers.

When I looked earlier JR2 had pole as of this A.M.'s qualifying. I am sure it was more exciting then the F1 Quali I watched this morning...good thing I PVR'd it and didn't waste my time watching it live in the middle of the night.

Back to FF in Braselton, new cars, old cars, seem to all be able to be at the pointy end of the grid. Who's running Honda's and who is running kent's?

[bobmelvin]

Hey, guys (and lady), tell us about the tires (how'd they work, what did you learn) and, Alex wasn't on an entry list I saw? What chassis is he driving?

Bob

[Raceworks]

How about an update from those attending the weekend?

Looks like a good turn out, I think largest of the year so far for FF, and very good field of drivers.

When I looked earlier JR2 had pole as of this A.M.'s qualifying. I am sure it was more exciting then the F1 Quali I watched this morning...good thing I PVR'd it and didn't waste my time watching it live in the middle of the night.

Back to FF in Braselton, new cars, old cars, seem to all be able to be at the pointy end of the grid. Who's running Honda's and who is running kent's?

It's a very intense weekend.

Friday afternoon Livingston & DeAngelis got together in turn 7, pretty nasty hit (which I almost joined) and Livingston took the worst of it. Him & his dad stayed up all night putting the car back together and he managed to get 3rd on the grid.

Qualfying was (with engines as near as I can remember):

1. Robinson (Swift / Ford)
2. Auriemma (Spectrum / Honda)
3. Livingston (Spectrum / Honda)
4. Harvey (Spectrum / Honda)
5. DeAngelis (Piper / Honda)
6. Ada (Mygale / Honda)
7. Hayes (Spectrum / Honda)
8. Johnson (Piper / Honda)
9. Voss (Spectrum / Honda)
10. Lockwood (Spectrum / Honda)
11. Bjerke (Spectrum / Honda)
12. Hurst (Piper / Honda)
13. Cooper (Van Diemen / Ford)
14. Baggett (Swift / Ford)
15. Brumbaugh (Van Diemen / Ford)
16. Smith (Van Diemen / Honda)
17. Geclelter (Swift / Ford)

About 1.3 seconds separated 1st to 10th.

There was a last-minute shuffle in the grid, with Alex Barron taking over Lou Cooper's car & starting in the back of the field.

From the start it was pretty much a single drafting pack with the first 8-10 cars, with the top 6 mixing it up pretty frequently. Even those farther back could still see the lead battle (I dropped back to 11th or 12th at one point). Caution came out on lap 5 when Brumbaugh had some sort of off. I saw him sliding at me sideways in my mirror coming into 10A and he ended up parked under the bridge.

On the restart it was on again, with the pack staying pretty tight until the last couple of laps as fatigue, tire wear, etc. took their toll.

Kudos to David Livingston for coming back from a crappy Friday to run up front. Also props to Donald Baggett for wheeling the hell out of car that sounded like it was on 3 cylinders most of the time.

Laura Hayes did great in her first real race in an FF car, mixing it up in that mad top 6 scrum for most of the race. Now if I can just figure out the combo to get us just a LITTLE faster.


Finishing order was:
1. Barron
2. Robinson
3. Harvey
4. Ada
5. Auriemma
6. Livingston
7. DeAngelis
8. Hayes
9. Lockwood
10. Baggett
11. Voss
12. Hurst
13. Johnson
14. Gecelter
15. Smith
16. Brumbaugh
17. Bjerke

[Steve Bamford]

Thanks for the update Sam. Will you be there in a few weeks?

What happened to Bjerke? I saw 2 timed laps only in morning qualifying...was there an incident?

Watching on Race Monitor it seemed JRII had the lead all the way until the last few laps only.

[andyllc]

JRII, Baggett, and myself are the only Fords. I developed a horrible miss half way through Thursday and haven't been able to really get it fixed to where it was. Huge thanks to James Lee for coming over to help and to John Robinson for loaning me some parts. Got it to run for the race with no miss but it doesn't really pull like it should or did before and doesn't run well down low. I just messed up today and locked up and hit Ben Hurst in 10 then plugged the rads. The weekend has been hard enough on my engine I didn't want to cook it. I am surprised they through a FCY though. My dad is also entered but we haven't been able to get his car to start since Friday morning practice. Still trying things and maybe he can race tomorrow.

[problemchild]

Classy move by Polestar to make sure Barron to come through the last few corners just fast enough to keep his win, but not to pass any of the lead pack FVs who still had a lap to race.

[Purple Frog]

JR2 was the class of the "clubbies". No one could get by him until Barron had worked his way up. The FCY helped Barron by bunching up the field.
Barron got into the grass early in the race just because it took a lap or two to realize the FF didn't have wings. Barron was in Lou Cooper's VD that has very recently been converted to Honda.
At T10 it was an amazing spectator event. Very clean racing in a very tight pack. Quite the show.

[Purple Frog]

Andy having engine problems, Andy's dad can't get his engine started, Don has engine problems... sounds like a Honda promotion reel.

OBTW, Andy's new ride looks sweet. Really nice aero bodywork.

Laura has made a great transition from FV, where she got a lot of training in close order combat.

[racerjon1]

Andy's dad can't get his engine started, ...Honda promotion reel.

Pretty sure Kevin (Andy's dad) has a Honda... that's a "split family."

[Steve Bamford]

Only 5 or 6 laps today with 23 minute lap or something like that...what happened and hope everyone is ok.

[Raceworks]

Only 5 or 6 laps today with 23 minute lap or something like that...what happened and hope everyone is ok.

Somebody (an F5 I think) oiled up much of the track which caused a bunch of spins at the start of lap 2. They black flagged it & re-gridded (which was upsetting to those of us that managed not to spin out) and rolled us back out with about 18 minutes left on the clock. There was an incident in T1 and they went double yellow shortly followed by a checkered they threw about mid-pack, which resulted in quite a bit of confusion about who belonged on the podium.

I think the post-race wrangling was about four times as long as the actual race.

[John Robinson II]

followed by a checkered they threw about mid-pack, which resulted in quite a bit of confusion about who belonged on the podium.

seems like this happens often.
But I did learn that the race ends at the scheduled distance/time regardless of the checkered not displayed until one or more laps later.
john

[M.Sauce]

You can only end a race with a checkered Flag ,a red flag or a Black flag all flag. I would protest the end John. Sounds like the operating Steward really screwed up.

[John Robinson II]

Mike, I made an ass of myself in impound and filled out the protest form. With the help from one of the stewards, looked in the GCR for the specific rule...

[FONT=Univers-Bold][SIZE=1][FONT=Univers-Bold][SIZE=1]

C. Late Checker

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If the checkered flag is not displayed at the scheduled end of the race

and the race is one or more laps longer than scheduled, the race is

scored as if it had ended at the scheduled length. As soon as the Starter

is aware that the checkered flag has not been displayed at the scheduled

end of the race, he may show the checkered flag immediately, if

both Timing and Scoring and the Operating Steward concur.

I then proceeded to apologize to the guys at the front of the vee pack that I might have screwed with my move at T10 and Pam from Polestar.

FWIW, Alex told me he did not see the checker either and white flag was still displayed. Right after the start finish, he slowed down and pointed me by, I thought he was pulling over so not to impact the points. My bad.

John

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[Eric Cruz]

Andy having engine problems, Andy's dad can't get his engine started, Don has engine problems... sounds like a Honda promotion reel.

OBTW, Andy's new ride looks sweet. Really nice aero bodywork.

Laura has made a great transition from FV, where she got a lot of training in close order combat.

"Close Quarter Battle" my friend - ask me how I know Great to see you at RA and I too was impressed by Laura's performance. Please tell Mrs. Frog that Jill and I will be at VIR - she needs to make the trip and we will host "cocktail hour" all week(end) long.

You folks are why we race with SCCA. Can't think of any other valid reasons!

We shall drink again,
Eric

[Eric Cruz]

[QUOTE=John Robinson II;503024]Mike, I made an ass of myself in impound and filled out the protest form. With the help from one of the stewards, looked in the GCR for the specific rule...

John, where did you go my friend? You left me Sunday dealing with power-robbing Prod guys! Seriously, hope all is well with you.

Best regards,
Eric

[John Robinson II]

had issues with truck on way up. thought those were resolved only to surface again Saturday night. decision was made to leave first thing sunday morning rather then be stranded along I-75 at night.

good to meet you as well.

john