Mid Ohio

[R. Pare]

Anyone with any news/results so far?

[CGOffroad]

Some session and results here:



http://www.race-monitor.com/Results/Race/95516

[Speed Sport Engineering]

Mid-Ohio 2020 is complete and it was another fantastic event. The weather was perfect all weekend long....if you like it hot. Temps were in the lower 90's every day, but a moderate breeze helped keeps things in check.

Brandon was the class of the field again, able to consistently put laps together quicker then anyone. My hat's off to him for what he's done to get there.

John LaRue struggled on Friday trying to track down a fuel pressure problem. After throwing everything he had at it, he eventually had to concede and retreat to the comfort of an air conditioned shop to investigate further. With him gone, it was up to the rest of us to try and keep some pressure on Brandon.

Dave Weitzenhof was there working on getting up to speed on what I was told was a highly reconfigured Citation. My hat's off to him as well - I'm sure it was a ton of work in the sweltering conditions between sessions. It looks like things were running strong for him by the end of the day on Sunday, so I would watch for him to be quick in the upcoming races.

Bob Wright seemed to come to terms with the R35 Hoosiers the series is now using and scored a fantastic 2nd place on Saturday.

There were two youngsters this weekend, Mitch Regadas and Luca Mars. Mitch came up to me after the first race and offered a congratulatory fist bump. He again showed up in impound after the race on Sunday to congratulate the podium finishers where I learned he damaged his car in the qualifying session on Sunday and was unable to make the race. I think he'll do well in the series. I did not get a chance to speak with Luca but it was a solid drive for him on Sunday.

As for myself, I'm embarrassed to say I made the same mistake twice - once on Saturday and once on Sunday. While running second and desperately trying to keep Brandon in the same zip code, the back end stepped out entering the carousel and I just couldn't save it before I ran out of pavement. Luckily the grass hadn't been mowed in a while and the radiators stayed clean so I could get back on and salvage a podium. I'd say I'll never do that again, but I said that after Saturdays race too.....

Overall it was a very satisfying but exhausting weekend. 9 available 30 minute sessions over the 3 days made for a very intense weekend in the heat. I'm looking forward to the next FRP event I can make and I highly encourage anyone on the fence to come out and play. It's well worth it, and now with FPR using the R35 radials that are competitive in SCCA as well, it's time to give it a try!

Michael Varacins, FC #65

[DaveW]

...Dave Weitzenhof was there working on getting up to speed on what I was told was a highly reconfigured Citation. My hat's off to him as well - I'm sure it was a ton of work in the sweltering conditions between sessions. It looks like things were running strong for him by the end of the day on Sunday, so I would watch for him to be quick in the upcoming races...

The biggest hurdle was (and is), IMO, learning what the new Hoosier spec tires want. We started the weekend at pressures and cambers near the high end of Hoosier's recommendations. Short version - neither was close to what my car wants. We wound up with higher pressures and cambers, both of which improved driveability a lot, but we obviously need to go further. Also, I think increased wheel rates will help, giving more pitch and roll rate, also improving driveability. It seems to me that these new tires want settings similar to what we used to run with the old bias (Goodyear) tires, i.e., stiffer chassis pitch, roll, and heave rates. Can't wait to get out again to try these changes.

Bottom line - we will have a lot of this for our next planned outing at Summit Point. We will not be at VIR.