Hoosier FST Round 11 - the ARRC at Road Atlanta

[dd46637]

Congrats to Rob and Reece.

Rob was the class of the field all weekend.

Reece did a great job and caught Rob napping toward the end.

I had the best start ever and lead for the first half lap but when we came out of turn 7 it was obvious something was going soft in the engine. Rob just motored by and I couldn't do a thing about it.

Reece eventually caught up after his turn one mistake and slipped into second place.

I spent the rest of the race driving the car as hard as it would go but the engine started making weird noises and then I was just praying for it to end before the thing scattered itself across the Georgia countyside.

It was really cool to make the podium but it was a bummer not to be competitive and make them both work harder for it.

Dave FST 8

[dd46637]

Goes out to the RGU Team of Robert,Doug,Matt,and Randy for always being there when disaster strikes. Time and time again they always come to the rescue when things turn bad.
You guys are the Best.

Dave FST 8

[Doug FST 5]

....sometimes you're the bug. I'm still trying to figure out how I swapped ends with the car in the first corner. Cold tires and I guess I needed to be more on the gas at that instant - but I couldn't just punt the car ahead either. I get the winter to think about it - so that's nice....

Thanks to the FFDA for another fantastic season of racing.

Congrats to Jason for putting together a great season of finishes to be our series champ.

Congrats to Rob for a great drive and a well deserved win. He was the quick guy all weekend.

Thanks to our series sponsors - and Hoosier in particular. The season long contingency program is just fantastic.

Mostly - thanks to Robert for everything he does to allow us to enter a competitive car and to Randy, Matt, Brodie and Jamie for keeping it running the way it should!

Doug FST 5

[SamF]

Goes out to the RGU Team of Robert,Doug,Matt,and Randy for always being there when disaster strikes. Time and time again they always come to the rescue when things turn bad.
You guys are the Best.

Dave FST 8

I am with Dave, Thank you RGU team!! Without your support my first season in racing would have most likely been spent watching from the stands, and still wishing I could go racing. 2011 was a great leaning experience for me and now I just can't wait until 2012 to put all the great RGU mentoring into action.

Sam

[lawyerbob]

I'll also jump on the "thanks RGU" band wagon. They are always there to help and genuinely good guys!

Congrat's everyone on a great 2011 season!

Bob

[teamclark]

[FONT=Verdana]Well we had the dream run at this year’s ARRC, despite it being cold the car ran perfectly except when I took a short excursion through the weeds at Turn 3 during qualifying and knocked of a coil wire. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The race itself was a little strange, going 3 wide into the first corner was never going to work so I took a lift, Reece attempted the brave move around the outside and once he hit the grey track was off for a wild ride across the grass, Dave got the perfect shot down the inside and in my mirrors I watched Doug inexplicitly spin. I expected him to recover for what would have been a great battle so I pressed on hard and with Dave having engine problems was able to cruise by him to the lead. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Rounding turn one for the second time I found Doug’s car in the gravel trap - out with collision damage so I settled in to run some conservative laps and build a reasonable lead. That plan was working well until Reece put in a great drive and with the help of me having some terrible laps getting round lapped cars, closed me down to a half dozen car lengths when I finally woke up and put the foot down - Then I almost spun in turn 10 and Reece was right on me with about 5 laps to go. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Reece passed me on the run down the back straight at which point I was kicking myself for squandering the lead, but I was able to pass him back under the bridge and despite a couple of strong lunges from him over the next lap was able to ease the gap out to about 4 car lengths at the line and grab fast lap. Reece really made me work for it and that made the win much better.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]I want to thank SR Racing - Jim, Brandon Jeremy and Greg for all the work this season - and for all the fun at the track. I really enjoy racing with the SR team!![/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]I have some race video, it’s not terribly exciting except for the last couple of laps so I will edit up a highlights reel from the weekend as soon as possible.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3] [/SIZE][/FONT]

[jsteeb]

I'm glad to hear everybody had a relatively fun and safe weekend!

I can't tell you how much I missed being there. Jenn and I are in the midst of finishing up a house remodel before our new little one shows up (in a month or so). We just couldn't spare the time. I ended up wandering by the Lynks a few times this weekend, and kicked myself every time! I've always wanted to run Road Atlanta, and I can't think of a better group of people to head down there with!

Congrats to Robert for what sounds like a pretty awesome weekend. Pole, Fast Lap, and the win! Nice! We've dubbed that the, "trifecta."

Glad to hear things finally started working out for the Everard clan. I hear T1 is one of those places where there are no small offs, so way to recover and race for lead! Carry that momentum into next season. Remember, my garage is right around the corner (of course it's full of house crap right now.

And did I read that right? Doug might have made a mistake!? What?!?! I'm sure it was the cold tires or something weird like that. I've seen the back of that blue Mysterian a lot this summer, and it's never in the wrong place. Quite annoying actually.

Anyway... bring on the vids!!!

[rgu]

Rob’s big speed secret

Traci got new drivers shoes for the ARRC---Hmm!

[rgu]

Dave Blevins accepts the FST Series trophy for Jason Steeb from Bruce Foss.

Congrats Jason on a fine year and the trophy is back in Michigan now. I hope you put a trophy nook in the remodel plan.

[teamclark]

Here's the race video - as FST races go its not the most exciting footage, I cut it down to 15 minutes showing the first few laps and then the end- enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/31984948

Rob

[steve everard]

Rob,
8 mins and 25 secs was the best bit for us .......but not for long.....

[steve everard]

We finally managed to synchronize the track audio into Reeces in car video. I have edited some laps out and just left the good stuff.The commentary for FST is constant from 7 mins 30 secs into the video till the end.

http://vimeo.com/32459806

Steve